Episode 36
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArnIAeHLhPA3rd December 2024
Guests: Ray Arrastia, BattleTech Line Developer; Aaron Cahall, BattleTech Assistant Line Developer
News:
-Recap of Pax announcements
-Mercenaires retail release
-Aces
-Ray talked about Hot Spots Hinterlands, about how the book picks up where the campaign material in the Mercs box leaves off. The Hinterlands has been very popular, reminding a lot of players of the chaos March and a great place to put your unit.
-Hot Spots: Draconis Reach. Expected in late 2025, maybe 2026, a book on the FedSuns/Combine border post retaking of the Dragon’s Tongue
-Aaron talked about how a lot of the sourcebooks in recent years were more story than game aids, and they want to change the balance so there’s more gaming material again.
-IlKhan’s Eyes Only.
--The last in the line of Sourcebooks about the aftermath of the battle of Terra.
--Goes through what happens behind the Fortress Wall, the space around Terra and what happens when the wall comes down.
--Takes place over about 18 months.
--Will have a section that moves beyond the ends of the prior three books.
--The book was very hard to do, which is part of why it was the last of the 4 books to be done.
--Aaron described it as “the Dog caught the car, what next?”
--Aaron shouted out Josh Perian as developer, and Wunji Lau, Stephen Toropov and Eric Salzman’s work on the book
--Alaric’s comeuppance will come, but they want people to almost feel bad for him when it happens, and they hope that journey starts here.
-Force Manuals
--Mercs is up next
--Invading Clans is well into development
--In early Development on Steiner
-They’ve had some pitches on other books, they’re looking at FASA products as well to see what kind of books they could bring back
-Ray would like to know what people would like to see
-They’re slowing down on plot sourcebooks for the moment while the fiction expands into the space they’ve created
-They’re going to focus on the rules side, slowly revamping and developing.
-Ray is looking forward to faction-oriented packs, two FedSuns ones are up first, then two Draconis Combine
-He’s also looking forward to retooling things. He mentioned Fox Patrol has been added to the list and is going to try and get that pushed as high up the list as he can.
-Ray and Aaron are both looking forward to the Ares forcepack. It’ll have all the omnipods for the different weapons configurations
-There are a number of products they’re working on now that they can’t talk about yet that Ray is looking forward to people seeing. He talked about how he doesn’t get jaded about waiting for work to get out after he’s finished with it, he feels like the payoff is worth it when people are excited to see it. Aaron likes the hype cycle as they build up to releases
Q&A:
-Any word on the Premium BattleMaster and Wolverine being added to the Webstore? Unsure, Rem will ask again
-When will the patches from the Mercs Kickstarter be available for sale? They haven’t seen anything on the schedule. As the patches would be webshop/con products they’re not on the retail list.
-Any update on EU Kickstarter fulfillment? Rem hasn’t heard, she usually follows up with QML on Monday but missed that due to travel, she’ll be contacting them this week, hoping to have an update this week.
-If we’re not going to see awesome warship battles in the ilClan era, can we get some more in past eras? There’s naval action in ilKhan’s eyes only at least
-Is there any insight into why tanks traditionally operate in matched pairs? It’s way before Ray and Aaron’s time. There’s a lot of military tradition involved in the early history of BattleTech but Ray doesn’t know it.
-Can we have flare LRMs back? No
-Can we get light mech-centred forcepacks? It’s on the list, Ray still wants to do a Bug Company with lances made up of wasp, stinger, locust and like one more light, maybe the Valkyrie. Nothing solid yet, though.
-Any updates on the Brush Wars PDFs? The problem is the layout pipeline, they don’t have the assets to spare right now. It’s neck and neck between it and Print on Demand for stalled products that needs a layout person attached.
-When will the ELH Dice pucks and athletic shirts be back on the webstore? Not sure on dice pucks but a T-shirt order is going out soon. QML will be returning unused dice pucks from the kickstarter soon but no idea what will be in the list.
-Are all force manuals planned for the Clan Invasion era, will they all need ilClan supplements, how much will the PDFs cost? Yes, yes, and price isn’t finalised yet. When the first two supplements are in the can they’ll know more.
-When will the force manual supplements be out? Probably Q1 2025
-Any plans for Destiny sourcebooks? Not yet.
-Any RPG stuff in the pipeline? Nothing solid
-Any plans to offer the plastic minis individually? No, it’s not an option presently. They said it’s not an issue because of IWM’s license, which is a common assumption. It would be a lot of SKUs to add to the product line to do all the forcepack minis individually
-Any updates on MUL 2.0? Not at this time. Josh Perian is moving forward, Aaron shouted out Josh’s heroic efforts
-Are there plans for improving logistics to get products to us? There are plans in motion like a webshop upgrade, discussion with international distribution partners, but they’re reluctant to make any statements until contracts are signed or delays happen.
-There will be a Hinterlands AMA with Josh Franklin in the CGL Discord on Saturday
