HBS Expansion Thread- its time for II (spoilers)

[Kerfuffin(925)]

I just wish the game was better optimized. Roguetech especially shows how weak the game's engine is. A lot of stuttering and minor freezes even on a very powerful rig (i7 10700) with a high-end GPU (2080) and 32 gigs of ram and on a fast SSD.

I have AAA games that are less taxing in 4K than this game, unfortunately.

I’ve heard it comes down to unity engine having a memory leak, and what they did with the game made it worse. If you restart the game after every mission it makes it much better.

[jasonf]

@Seer,

Can you have several of these mods installed at once or do you have to take one off to try the next?

I think that some of these mods use the same base submods because the RougeTech and BT Extended 3025 mods have a lot of the same features. I think there may be some community mod that forms the base of several of the overhaul mods.

[MoleMan]

Is BT extended particularly demanding on anyone else's computer? My laptop can't handle it which is a shame, I thought it was reasonable quality

[Sartris]

my laptop is about five years old an it was pressing on the fringes of runability. the urban maps got really slow sometimes. the fan was running on max at most times

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

My laptop is four years old and struggled with it.

[Seer]

@Euphonium: what everyone else said, they're one at a time. But thanks to modtek it's not as much of a chore as it used to be to install or switch.

I’ve heard it comes down to unity engine having a memory leak, and what they did with the game made it worse. If you restart the game after every mission it makes it much better.

That's Unity for you. Great for modding but terrible performance. The Roguetech devs have done a bunch of performance fixes and it barely keeps it all running, even then not very well. I can't recommend it for most people for this reason. Advanced 3062 is less taxing and has a lot of what Roguetech offers.

I think that some of these mods use the same base submods because the RougeTech and BT Extended 3025 mods have a lot of the same features. I think there may be some community mod that forms the base of several of the overhaul mods.

This is true. A lot of mods draw from the work of the Battletech Modders' Collective. There's also a discord hub for BT and MW5 modding with links to everywhere.

[PyreLight]

I’ve heard it comes down to unity engine having a memory leak, and what they did with the game made it worse. If you restart the game after every mission it makes it much better.

No, it's not the memory leak bug (which was also fixed), this is stuttering.

[MarauderD]

Oh man.  Got a new 2 TB SSD so it was time to move Steam to the new drive.  Games migrated no problem.  Sad thing is I forgot to back up my mods.  They got tossed in the trash, and I’d been curating them for a while. NO IDEA what I had in there.  Couple mods by AMECHWARRIOR like better AI.  Better reputation by Edmon, but man, I must have had 30 mods.  Tracking them down and installing them will be a fun task.

Doh!

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

So the hard drive on my computer has a problem and needs to be replaced.

This is basically the only game I have that I actually want to keep my saves from, how can I transfer them?

I got the game on GOG, if that makes a difference.

[Sartris]

If you have cloud saves activated in gog galaxy they should update when you log in after putting in the new hdd

[Euphonium]

If you have trouble with cloud saves, or want a manual backup just in case, this website: https://www.pwrdown.com/gaming/battletech-save-location-for-steam-gog-mac/ says that the savefiles are located at C:/Users/USER/AppData/Local/GOG.com/Galaxy/Applications/50593543263669699/Storage/Shared/Files/C#/SGS# which is correct on my PC

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

I'm pretty sure I've got cloud saves active.  Think I'll transfer a few save files to my flash drive just in case.

[Top Sergeant]

The only DLC that I have not picked up yet is Urban Warfare.

Does that add in any new voices / portraits?

[Deadborder]

The only DLC that I have not picked up yet is Urban Warfare.

Does that add in any new voices / portraits?

Plenty, including a few more familiar faces

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Well, back into this game again.  What did you have to do to get a Heavy Metal Lootbox?

[Kerfuffin(925)]

Well, back into this game again.  What did you have to do to get a Heavy Metal Lootbox?

It should come the first month iirc.

[Triptych]

The only DLC that I have not picked up yet is Urban Warfare.

Does that add in any new voices / portraits?

If you want portraits, just go to BT Nexus and grab one of their portrait mods, you can get hundreds of new faces for your mechwarrior.

[Nav_Alpha]

I’ve got a Flashpoints question, well a couple of questions.
I’ve finally caved and downloaded the first of the ad on, but I’m wondering how exactly to go about it.

I’ve finished the main story campaign three times and completed a full Iron Man campaign as well.
So, do I need to pull up one of those saved files and start from there to access the new Mechs and Flashpoint contracts?
Or can I just start a new campaign and gain access to them, etc?
It’s just that all of those “completed” campaigns are pretty old and I’ve not touched them in awhile. 

[Jayof9s]

If you do a Campaign the flashpoints don't pop up until after you finish the storyline.

You get access to them earlier via Career Mode - though I will say several of them are tougher than their difficulty level would indicate - so you may want to wait until you're at least somewhat settled before jumping into them. You don't need to be "just finished the campaign" levels of prepared though.

And mechanics-wise some of them do have maximum drop weights (overall lance and/or per mech) so you have incentive to keep some lights and mediums handy.

The other two expansions add even more flashpoints as well, so you'd have quite a bit of material to keep a Career-mode interesting if they're all new at the same time.

[MarauderD]

I’ve got a Flashpoints question, well a couple of questions.
I’ve finally caved and downloaded the first of the ad on, but I’m wondering how exactly to go about it.

I’ve finished the main story campaign three times and completed a full Iron Man campaign as well.
So, do I need to pull up one of those saved files and start from there to access the new Mechs and Flashpoint contracts?
Or can I just start a new campaign and gain access to them, etc?
It’s just that all of those “completed” campaigns are pretty old and I’ve not touched them in awhile.

Definitely use the career mode.  They'll pop after 100 days or so?  I can't recall the exact moment. 

[Nav_Alpha]

Thanks guys! I pulled up a save from an Ironman Career campaign - after I’d finished the thousand days and straight away saw several flashing planets in the star map.
Tried my first flashpoint - combined Steiner-Davion op against Liao, that required me to take a Hatchetman.
Apart from losing the Hatcheman early on, it was good fun! That axe carves through armour!

[Euphonium]

And mechanics-wise some of them do have maximum drop weights (overall lance and/or per mech) so you have incentive to keep some lights and mediums handy.

I got caught out on that. I went into a flashpoint that said it was restricted to medium-weight units because of the need for speed, so I planned on using my class of '55. When I arrived it gave me a 200 ton drop limit, but I thought no worries, I'll just swap the Wolverine out for a Jenner. 55x3, +35, should be good, right?

Nope.

It was 200t total and 50t maximum per mech, so I had to replace my 5/8/5 55-tonners with 4/6/0 50-tonners, which proved far too slow and I failed the mission horribly.

[Jayof9s]

Yep that's why I brought it up.

I ran into the same problem. I had a few 55 tonners and only 1-2 lights when I got that one and then suddenly had to pull things out of storage and do quick refits to put anything on the field after wasting time traveling there.

Even better was the reasoning "We need to be fast and maneuverable!" So of course we can use 50 tonners but not 55. So I had my 4/6 Centurion and Hunchback because my Griffin/Wolverine/Shadow Hawk were all too slow  ::)

[Nav_Alpha]

I’ve had kinda the opposite so far with Flashpoints - I’ve only played that Steiner/Davion team up with the Hatcheman and the Kurita defector one so far.
But both times, the first mission seems an exercise in slogging through a combat heavy mission against heavies and assaults, leaving you with a battered primary lance.
Then the second mission is just as stacked with heavies, but now you’re throwing in your secondary lance with a lighter tonnage.
Either way, I’ve scrapped by with two very beat up lances and the occasional pilot kill.

[Mendrugo]

The tonnage restrictions were the only things that made the Flashpoints challenging, so I appreciated that. 

I'd gone against what the campaign script expected and spent about a year bopping around the independent worlds of the Periphery, grinding missions - almost always just taking whatever contracts targeted the planetary governments, so my rep grew with all factions, including the pirates.  By the time I showed up for the first Restoration mission (which they expect you to go to immediately, given the dialogue), I had pilots with max skills and LosTech-equipped rides.  Due to my 'death to planetary governments' approach, I got into the black market cheaply and got deep discounts on LosTech, allowing me to assemble super-optimized death machines, which turned even the final campaign battles into an execution, rather than a challenging fight. 

So having to use light-weight rides made it challenging again.  (And, got to admit, using a lone Hatchetman to smoke the custom Crab and his back-up cheat squad was pretty sweet.)

[MarauderD]

So having to use light-weight rides made it challenging again.  (And, got to admit, using a lone Hatchetman to smoke the custom Crab and his back-up cheat squad was pretty sweet.)

Agreed, I enjoyed that solo fight quite a bit.  The Hatchetman was perfect.  Would have been even better if I had an LBX-10, but hey, nothing's perfect.

[Nav_Alpha]

I’m actually really enjoying the Flashpoints. I switched from my completed Ironman career to my last save after completing the campaign. Which means I can save at will and load if I screw up too badly.
Best of all - it gives me my Lostech and heavily customised Highlander.

The tonnage restrictions were the only things that made the Flashpoints challenging, so I appreciated that. 

I'd gone against what the campaign script expected and spent about a year bopping around the independent worlds of the Periphery, grinding missions - almost always just taking whatever contracts targeted the planetary governments, so my rep grew with all factions, including the pirates.  By the time I showed up for the first Restoration mission (which they expect you to go to immediately, given the dialogue), I had pilots with max skills and LosTech-equipped rides.  Due to my 'death to planetary governments' approach, I got into the black market cheaply and got deep discounts on LosTech, allowing me to assemble super-optimized death machines, which turned even the final campaign battles into an execution, rather than a challenging fight. 

So having to use light-weight rides made it challenging again.  (And, got to admit, using a lone Hatchetman to smoke the custom Crab and his back-up cheat squad was pretty sweet.)

I did much the same with my most recent play through. I think I might have taken the first priority mission after close to a year of grinding out contracts and boosting my skills.
When Grim Sybil comes waltzing out in her bolted together Quickdraw I almost laughed - as my four mediums with veteran pilots started raining down LRMs on her...

Later on, some of the campaign scenarios are almost laughably easy because it expects you to jump straight to, as opposed to spending a year working away so you can start buying/salvaging heavies and assaults

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

I just ran Priority: Panzyr tonight.  Dropped my assault lance- Wolverine (scout mech), Royal Highlander, Awesome, and BNC-3S Banshee.

It was a hilariously one-sided fight given that the heaviest things the opposing side had were a Wolverine and a Trebuchet.  Shooting vehicles with a Gauss Rifle is just too much fun.

[Nav_Alpha]

Ran the Defector Flashpoint the other day - two Awesomes (one up gunnedLRM variant, one standard Q model but with +++PPCs, Stalker and an up gunned Grasshopper boasting +++medium lasers over flamers and a ++PPC, against...
And entire Liao armour company.

I actually felt sorry for the lances of Demolishers and Schrecks as they were butchered by my lance.
Not to mention the lance of Scorpions and Strikers who didn’t even get any shots off.
It was pure, beautiful carnage as an assault lance of Mechs ripped tank after tank apart...

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

I've reached the point where I'm using an Atlas II as a backup mech in case my mechwarrior's normal ride is being repaired.

Of course, part of that is because I haven't refit it all the way yet.