Author Topic: You bought the box set and are ready to expand your BT experience. Now what?  (Read 180687 times)

Sartris

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SO, AToW, and IO have the problem of being too large for the page count reduction mandate that got TO chopped into halves. i doubt they want to turn three books into six so it will be interesting to see what they include.

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Interviewer: Since you’ve stopped making art, how do you spend your time?
Paul Chan Breathers: Oh, I’m a breather. I’m a respirateur. Isn’t that enough?

Daryk

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If page count reduction is a priority, why on earth is the fiction in RULE books still on the table?

Sartris

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That’s your hill

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Interviewer: Since you’ve stopped making art, how do you spend your time?
Paul Chan Breathers: Oh, I’m a breather. I’m a respirateur. Isn’t that enough?

Daryk

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One of them, yes...  :-\

traitorer

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This post is great and has answered quite a few of the questions I had. I'm sure I will have more but this helped. Thank you

Daryk

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Welcome to the forum!   :)

The "prove you're human" stuff goes away after 10 posts... hope to see more of you around!  :thumbsup:

Sartris

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This post is great and has answered quite a few of the questions I had. I'm sure I will have more but this helped. Thank you

always good to get feedback (good or bad) from people. i've been in the thick of this for 25 years so i can really only theorize about what a person experiences when they dive into this crazy universe

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Interviewer: Since you’ve stopped making art, how do you spend your time?
Paul Chan Breathers: Oh, I’m a breather. I’m a respirateur. Isn’t that enough?

Greatclub

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My theory is that Destiny is the ATOW re-write.

ATOW is a very 'simulationist' early oughts game, and suffers a little now that lite rules are the big thing.
« Last Edit: 15 April 2020, 15:30:35 by Greatclub »

Sartris

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i thought the same thing first when it was announced and then paging through it. tptb have said they would coexist but i'm not sure if they meant "forever"

i'm not familiar with either system enough to know this - would the AoTW stuff in the back of the TTS entries compatible with Destiny or would you have to recalibrate those? that seems like the surest way to ID whether something is up

edit - the TTS plothook section is literally called A Time of War Adventure Seeds. any change to that would be some fairly clear signaling
« Last Edit: 15 April 2020, 13:53:10 by Sartris »

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Interviewer: Since you’ve stopped making art, how do you spend your time?
Paul Chan Breathers: Oh, I’m a breather. I’m a respirateur. Isn’t that enough?

Daryk

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I can only hope it's signaling AToW's continued survival.  Destiny has WAY too many problems to be a full replacement.  A "lite" version?  Could be... some day... AFTER a lot of work.  Rules that let Assassins reliably (as in, without taking any damage) kill Hunchbacks and Victors are just not right.

Barnhill

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Jumping back in after a bit of an absence.  I have the first printing of Total Warfare I believe, is it worth updating to the newest version or is there an ERRATA list that exists somewhere?

Now to get to reading all the new stuff, man is there a lot to catch up on.

Daryk

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Errata is posted here: https://bg.battletech.com/errata/

The TW errata specifically is up to v6.0.

Barnhill

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Awesome, thanks for the reply.  And wow 56 page Errata.  Maybe it is worth it to just get a new PDF copy.  LOL

Daryk

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Even with the new pdfs, you'll still want to check the errata...

Sartris

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admittedly you have to worry about far fewer of the entries with the newer editions

also the PDF gets free updates to the newest version whenever they reprint the book (currently 6th printing)

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Interviewer: Since you’ve stopped making art, how do you spend your time?
Paul Chan Breathers: Oh, I’m a breather. I’m a respirateur. Isn’t that enough?

Barnhill

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I will look into that for sure. 

Thanks for all the info!

Daryk

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Also: Welcome to the forum!  The "prove you're human" stuff goes away after 10 posts.  8)

Sartris

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the currentness of my last update did not last long since tptb decided to open the floodgates on new stuff. the tacops split needs to be addressed as well as a minor, but not unimportant, change with the elimination of Historicals as a product category. also the lurch toward ilclan is back on - with the recguides and BMM as clear bridging tools to get people there.

going forward, some of the content of the main post is going to be split off into separate posts that will be placed in the fan articles section since i have done almost everything i can to economize character count under the hood. i'm not a fan of creating multiple posts at the top of anew thread option - it creates the same glaze-over effect as if there was no character limit and i was free to descend into total madness (and trust me, i would have). i've been teaching long enough to know that the typical reaction to reading is that people look at how much there is without examining whether they actually need to read it all. unlike my students, i can't threaten a graded assessment. the purpose has always been a quick and dirty intro, mercifully bound to the post size limit. i fear it already borders on too formidable for the casually interested. there's also something inside me that is hugely resentful of limitations, even if self-imposed.

so over the next several months as time allows i'm going to be writing some more in-depth dives into various aspects of the line. here are my initial ideas - feel free to suggest more. i ESPECIALLY want to hear from people who are relative newcomers. battletech is so old that in vet circles, people like me who came in after 4th edition in 1996 are still considered youngins. keep in mind these are resource guides, not how to play guides. someone else is going to have to write the manifesto on integrating combined arms, space combat, or roleplaying

*Products (including FASA stuff since most non-scenario pack sourcebooks are in pdf)
*Products II: Fiction
*Getting into the Clans
*Building an army (with a nod to rudimentary factional forcebuilding)
*The MUL and you
*Getting to 3150 without losing your mind
*Campaign Resources
*Alpha Strike

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Interviewer: Since you’ve stopped making art, how do you spend your time?
Paul Chan Breathers: Oh, I’m a breather. I’m a respirateur. Isn’t that enough?

Daryk

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Wait, what?  Historicals aren't a thing any more?  What are they now??

Sartris

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uncategorized soucebooks. this actually happened a while back with first and second succession wars - they follow the historical product code but aren't called historicals.

the PoDs for Brush Wars and Wars of the Republic Era are being renamed Brush Wars vol 1 and 2 (with no Historical in the title)

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Interviewer: Since you’ve stopped making art, how do you spend your time?
Paul Chan Breathers: Oh, I’m a breather. I’m a respirateur. Isn’t that enough?

Daryk

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Ah, thanks for the clarification!  :thumbsup:

Sartris

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i've added the first supplemental piece (well about 75% of it). you'll see why i didn't want the multipost guide at the top of a new thread.

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Interviewer: Since you’ve stopped making art, how do you spend your time?
Paul Chan Breathers: Oh, I’m a breather. I’m a respirateur. Isn’t that enough?

NovaChaser

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Wow, thanks for this awesome write up!!!!  So much of what I was looking for.

Sartris

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you're the target audience so i'm super pleased it was useful. let us know if you have any questions

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Interviewer: Since you’ve stopped making art, how do you spend your time?
Paul Chan Breathers: Oh, I’m a breather. I’m a respirateur. Isn’t that enough?

S2pidiT

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Well, I was trying to wait to receive stuff from the Clan Invasion Kickstarter, but now I've gone and purchased both the Beginner Box and AGoAC. Of course, this means I'll have to add additional force packs when Wave 2 opens up (was pretty even between IS and Clan mechs, but now it's tipped very much toward IS)...

Someone send help...  ;D

Sartris, thank you for the awesome write up! With the current situation, I'll be learning the rules playing Megamek. Hopefully I'll be able to play some real BT matches sooner than later!

Sartris

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i've been tinkering with some additional supplementary stuff but am facing a bit of indecisiveness as i have no idea what The People™ want or need. the only things i'm definitively locked in on are 1) some kind of restructuring of the google doc i did for eras with "if you want X, check out Y" suggestions and 2) an MUL breakdown. both are in various stages of assembly

anything else i'm open to suggestions (especially from the primary targeted audience of this guide aka new and returning people)

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Interviewer: Since you’ve stopped making art, how do you spend your time?
Paul Chan Breathers: Oh, I’m a breather. I’m a respirateur. Isn’t that enough?

Plinythemechwarrior

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i've been tinkering with some additional supplementary stuff but am facing a bit of indecisiveness as i have no idea what The People™ want or need.
anything else i'm open to suggestions (especially from the primary targeted audience of this guide aka new and returning people)

Well, since you asked... :D

I'm a new player. I started a local group in June, we have 15 members (~9 active, 4 of those quite new).

I am struck by how hard it is to find concise info to give people. Your post is amazing, but IMO it's overwhelming for new people. A common complaint I get is, "where to start" because people feel like they're drinking from a firehose.

So, a one page synopsis for someone who knows nothing about Battletech. I know that's a big ask, but I think that's what's needed.
Capellans delenda est               Agent #1014, Prince Rupert, Canada

Sartris

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it should be clear concise is not really in my toolbox   :))

there is a brief primer that was included in the boxes: https://bg.battletech.com/download/BattleTech%20Primer.pdf?x64300

was there something missing from this or explained insufficiently?

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Interviewer: Since you’ve stopped making art, how do you spend your time?
Paul Chan Breathers: Oh, I’m a breather. I’m a respirateur. Isn’t that enough?

Plinythemechwarrior

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it should be clear concise is not really in my toolbox   :))

Ha! Fair enough.

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there is a brief primer that was included in the boxes: https://bg.battletech.com/download/BattleTech%20Primer.pdf?x64300
was there something missing from this or explained insufficiently?

On the contrary, nothing was missing whatsoever in that primer - which may be part of the problem!  ;D 16 pages is a lot to throw at someone.

I obviously don't have the answers to this - but maybe a small intro document (eg: one page executive summary) for the exquisite magnum opus you've put together?
Capellans delenda est               Agent #1014, Prince Rupert, Canada

Sartris

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ok, that helps (and i don't think it's impossible). i'll ruminate on it

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Interviewer: Since you’ve stopped making art, how do you spend your time?
Paul Chan Breathers: Oh, I’m a breather. I’m a respirateur. Isn’t that enough?