HBS Expansion Thread- its time for II (spoilers)

[Elmoth]

Skill thing is to prevent playing Stackpole chacrscters. I do not like gods on the battlefield. Removes the challenge and the fun.

[Sartris]

Not going to lie, I’m pretty terrible at pretty much everything and need the help from 10 gunnery murder machines. Could I play a lot and get more competent? Yeah but I got 400 other games to play that keep getting piled on from humble monthly and other stuff so this like most things is just another stop. The only replay option I would probably try is reverting to the vanilla game pre lostech to see how that compares

It will likely get more play than most things in my library as time goes on but I’m not above obliterating computer controlled characters. Chances are good I’ll have extracted my money’s worth and largely moved on before I get bored of doing it

[Greatclub]

I finally got around to finishing the campaign, and got an award for keeping Dekker alive.

Didn't seem so hard. Early on jump a lot and target lock from the rear. I don't think I actually lost anyone.

[Elmoth]

No. The basic campaign is quite doable. You can do it with medium/heavy mechs quite easily in fact. Using default settings I ended it using 2 thunderbolts, and 2 shadow hawks, and I am far from a master tactician when it come sto computer games. I assume this easiness is by design.

[Elmoth]

On a totally unrelated note I just found that the planet of Peratallada is south of the Aurigan Reach.
Peratallada is the village where I have a summer house, around 150 km north of Barcelona. A very nice village if you ever go around the area; medieval, with the external wall still in place and a moat carved out of living rock.
So my fellow villagers seem to have colonized a planet in the periphery. Go them.

[Sartris]

i've was pretty close to there when i took a group of students in 2010. we stopped in Figueres for an afternoon and spent our last day on the beach at Pineda de Mar (it was the off season so the dutch party contingent hadn't shown up yet, thank goodness). i really do love Catalunya




finished the campaign last night. the last couple missions were pretty enjoyable. my steiner scout highlander saved the day by jumping up the mountain to take out the bravo generator before time expired. i was pimped out to the max at the end as i had done a bunch of missions to fix my reputation with the pirates and had a ton of cash to spend on the black market. ridiculousness ensued. my finishing lance was

Royal Black Knight
Warhammer 7A
Cyclops
Gifted Highlander

i'll probably try running a career or the story again with a less super hero-y lance now that i actually understand how the game works.

[MarauderD]

On a totally unrelated note I just found that the planet of Peratallada is south of the Aurigan Reach.
Peratallada is the village where I have a summer house, around 150 km north of Barcelona. A very nice village if you ever go around the area; medieval, with the external wall still in place and a moat carved out of living rock.
So my fellow villagers seem to have colonized a planet in the periphery. Go them.

Not totally sure about Peratallada but I visited a friend of a friend in San Sebastian back in the early 2000's.  It was crazy beautiful and the food was delicious. 

[MarauderD]

my finishing lance was

Royal Black Knight
Warhammer 7A
Cyclops
Gifted Highlander

i'll probably try running a career or the story again with a less super hero-y lance now that i actually understand how the game works.

At end game, in both Campaign and Career mode, any 'losTech' mechs with integral engine DHS are so absurdly OP it is laughable.  The Royal Warhammer and Black Knight are great examples of them.  With the Black Market, you can now upgrade those even further with Clan-spec Pulse Laser+++ or PPC+++.  Then you take those up against a stock 3025 opponent.  Massive Ouch.

I was finally able to get Legendary and Kerensky in Career mode precisely that way.  Star League Marauder, Star League Warhammer, etc.  My heavy lance was so upgraded that I marched through missions, headshotting everything and selling everything on the market.  While it was fun about 900 days in, the last 300 days became so "Monty Haul" campaign-ish that I wouldn't have finished it out if I didn't want the achievement. 

[Sartris]

yeah the black knight and the highlander would basically core anything under 70 tons at close range. the marauder 7A has the 20% energy weapon increase on top of the absurd bonuses from high quality weapons was also a menace. add the cyclops with the battle computer so i had glitch with the tactics initiative passive power in the black knight moving with the lights. it was pretty clear the static difficulty of the campaign missions were not built with that level of firepower in mind  :)) in the locura upload mission i only had one mech take internal damage, and that was due to drawing fire from the turrets at the beginning of the mission so my apcs didn't eat it.

i had a zeus for a bit with three SRM-6s++ that had the +4 damage bonus and and LB-10. just casually dropping 300+ damage tightly clustered with very little heat issue was kind of absurd.

[Elmoth]

Ja chimming in to say that I got an urbie. I refitted it with 2 large lasers (and small laser)

The machine is The Blazer and the pilot is called Daryk. I cannot make a blazer in this game, but this is the closest I can do.

One of my main core-achievers so far.

[Daryk]

LOL!  Glad I could (almost) help!  I'm sure someone will eventually get around to making a Blazer Cannon for the game...  ^-^

[Corky]

Can some one suggest a build for me? I have 2 shadow hawks  how should I outfit them?
Also seems every one seems to put jump jets on everything?

[Luciora]

The movement ability of jumpjets is too useful to pass up generally. 

A single ac/10, med laser build is nifty for a breacher pilot, otherwise you are looking pretty much at a Griffin clone.

Can some one suggest a build for me? I have 2 shadow hawks  how should I outfit them?
Also seems every one seems to put jump jets on everything?

[MarauderD]

Can some one suggest a build for me? I have 2 shadow hawks  how should I outfit them?
Also seems every one seems to put jump jets on everything?

Alternatively, Shads make excellent SRM Bomber 'punch-bots' and it helps you learn the heat mechanics in HBS' version of BattleTech.

Take Shad--strip all weapons.  Max armor to TT max (torsos in HBS BT can hold way more armor than they should.  No need to overload them, if you want suggestions on proper side torso armor on a shad, I'd split it 105 front 25 rear).  Add SRM4 to the head and SRM6s until out of missile slots.  Pull heat sinks and load 5 JJs.  Add medium laser and small laser.

Jump fire as you approach enemy lance until you are in the red zone or near the red zone on your heat dial.  Then next round, use the bonuses to Shadow Hawk's innate punching abilities and punch the bejesus out of an enemy mech.  You will do massive damage, and your heat will drop rapidly.  Then jump fire again until you need to cool off. 

Aggressively ride the heat curve without overheating by alternating firing and jump firing and melee.  It is super fun.  It also takes advantage of all the stability damage of SRM's and melee to knock your foes over, which in the beginning of the game will incapacitate the enemy pilots. 

Super effective and fun.

[DarkSpade]

If I remember correctly, my preferred load out was 2x SRM4 2x medium lasers, 2x small lasers, and all the arm mods it could hold.  I always had jump jets, but I don't remember if I maxed them out or not.   I tried other load outs, but those always ended up just taking up space in my hanger until I either matched them with the normal load out or mothballed them.   Often one of the last mechs to be replaced with a heavier unit in my lance, but I always kept it around just in case.

[Elmoth]

55 tonners are good fast mechs. You can pretty much configure them however you want and they will do fine. And yes, jump jets are very useful. it is my only gripe with the Centurion mech.

[MarauderD]

55 tonners are good fast mechs. You can pretty much configure them however you want and they will do fine. And yes, jump jets are very useful. it is my only gripe with the Centurion mech.

The Cent's relative strength is the payload.  50 tonner moving 4/6 can really load on the weapons compared to the 55 ton trinity.  And I know you already know that!

I think the forgotten mech in HBS game is the Rifleman.  When the Vanilla version shipped, we had the 5/8 Dragon and the 5/8/5 Quickdraw.  Both with sad little payloads and pretty mediocre weapon loadouts.  But with the final patch and Heavy Metal, the Rifleman is a true 'Heavy' mech that you can add a solid loadout.  In my first career after the final patch of the game, I landed a Rifleman on the first planet and was able to equip the Ultra-5 on it.  It was a game changer by the time I reached my second set of contracts, it was wrecking face.

[Luciora]

Quad UAC/2s on a Jager absolutely rule at range.

[S2pidiT]

I've been playing a career with the BattleTech Extended: Commander's Edition mod. 4 parts, unequipped mechs. Pizza's Delivery Company started in 3049 in Marik space, and I started traveling toward the invasion hoping that by time I arrived, there would be enough together to do some low-skull Clan missions. 200 days in, and the heaviest mechs we've pieced together are a Crusader, a Catapult, three Wolverines, and a Dervish. They've each got a variety of +/++/+++ equipment and full front armor.

I attempted a 1-skull Battle mission against Clan Wolf, and I was overwhelmed. I didn't even see the full OpFor, but there were three Timber Wolves. Well, maybe a half skull will work then...

So I enabled Bigger Drops (hoping to get a little help from the second lance, even if it was AI-controlled) and attempted a half-skull Destroy Base mission.

This time, I faced a Viper, an Adder, a Timber Wolf, and two Gargoyles! I'd sent the Crusader, Catapult, Dervish, and one Wolverine; a lance of APCs joined me. I knew it was going to be a good one when I had six evasion pips and the Wolverine lost its RT to two Clan ERPPCs and an LPL from one Gargoyle...  :facepalm: During the battle, the Crusader got cored, and the Catapult and Wolverine pilots both ejected. Two of the APCs were also destroyed. I managed to keep the Dervish alive to finish off the second Gargoyle and the Puma, but it was missing its right arm. The Dervish and the remaining APCs arrived at the base to find... four turrets, each between 250-500+ points of structure/armor. :o Nope nope nope nope. I guess I'm going to have to get some heavier mechs before I attempt any more Clan missions.

tl;dr BEX Clan mission: :thumbsup: ??? :o :'( xp

[DarkSpade]

Wow, Battletech just came in at number 29 in PCGamer's top 100 list.

https://www.pcgamer.com/top-100-2020/8/

[Seer]

I'm currently playing Battletech Revised. It's got a lot going for it because it utilizes the Mission Control (helps with repetitiveness) and Bigger Drops mods, as well as the Community Asset Bundle ('mechs galore). I opted out of the flashpoint campaign so I didn't feel tied to House Arano. What irritates me is that you'll stumble across lostech semi-regularly and even absurdly out-of-timeframe mechs. But the benefits outweigh the drawbacks imo. Suppose I could always do the hard work of blacklisting certain 'mechs... just a matter of finding the will.

Tangentially, what would be the appropriate number of parts to salvage a 'mech? I've gone with 8 in BTR because those are all the major components, but it can go as high as 12. It helps slow down 'mech acquisition, especially with stingier salvage settings.

LOL!  Glad I could (almost) help!  I'm sure someone will eventually get around to making a Blazer Cannon for the game...  ^-^

It's in BTR but I haven't seen one yet.

[Firesprocket]

Decided to fire up the game after not playing it months (maybe even the last year *shrug*).  Had to take some time off from paid sub gaming and decided to go after my 8 part achievement).  Managed to get that down while still running around in lights and mediums.  After a few Assassination missions and several more random missions with opfor getting a 1-1.5 star higher difficulty I managed to nab a Rifleman 3C as my first heavy and a Catapult K2 as the second.  I could not for the life of me get salvage to line up with mech parts in the store so the majority of items were earned through combat.

The MVP though was in random travel finding a Gauss Rifle which for the longest time was the sole weapon that Shadow Hawk would tote around.  Several head caps later I managed to salvage a Banshee 3S which I really never had a chance to play with in previous plays through the game.  I had a build in mind for it, but couldn't commit until I had the double heats sinks to make it work.  After raiding the Star League Cache mission I stripped them out of the Highlander and went to work. I plugged in an LB-10, a Snub, a Large Laser, and 4 Medium Lasers with 2 20% heat exchangers.  Once a target is in medium range things just die.  Unless I end up on a volcanic planet or vaccum it just never overheats.

Other surprises I walked into included the Trebuchet 7K.  Captured one, but I didn't really come up with a configuration I liked for it. It has ports for a little bit of everything which is nice.  I think the issue is I just simply didn't have the necessary parts to tweak it.  The other rude surprise I can into was LBX Demolishers and Snub toting Schrecks.  Having two of them right next to each other and getting target locked sucks when you are in a medium mech.  I believe I'm down to 3 or 4 campaign missions left, but I'm fairly certain the rest is a breeze.

Does anyone know if the Guldra campaign mission has changed?  I did it tonight and rather than rushing to beat up escorts and rescue Lord Maderia from the starting from the south I came in from the west side of the board and walked into a ambush that came in from the south instead?

[MarauderD]

They did change the Guldra campaign mission.  It seemed different to me too, no racing the wrong transport, etc.

As far as your first heavy, the Rifleman 3C is amazing.  4/6 60 tonner with lots of room for ballistics.  That one is fun to play with and looks amazing to boot.  Enjoy.

[PyreLight]

I think that's most likely it for this game. Going by their earlier pattern in Shadowrun, if they want to tell more stories using the systems they created in this project, it would be through a new game as with Shadowrun: Dragonfall and Hong Kong (latter via a fresh Kickstarter). I'm not *that* confident they'll do the same again, however. This will depend on what their association with Paradox means. The publisher may give them the funds to do entirely new things, who knows. Also, Jordan Weisman is a serial entrepreneur who gets itchy fingers when he's been building the same business for long enough. I'm confident that's the source of Golem Arcana, a greenlighted project from a game designer/entrepreneur wanting to try something new.

So it's kind of a who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Be cool if they created a game digging into later eras. The siren call of the Madcat is a strong one for sure.

Sorry for the bump, but in a recent interview with Mitch Gitelman, Mitch states taht Golem Arcana was Weisman's idea (and it unfortunately failed) - so you were correct.

[ArkRoyalRavager]

Is there going to be a Battletech II? It seems such a wasted opportunity if CGL and HBS doesn't coordinate a Clan Invasion-themed game to coincide with the kickstarter minis

[Euphonium]

Sadly I don't expect to see another BT game from HBS. If they wanted to do something to line up with the KS they'd have announced it by now.

[DarkSpade]

They're working on another game now.  All we know is it is NOT battletech related.

[PyreLight]

Is there going to be a Battletech II? It seems such a wasted opportunity if CGL and HBS doesn't coordinate a Clan Invasion-themed game to coincide with the kickstarter minis

No. Paradox owns Harebrained Schemes now and they are no longer willing to put the studio on the Battletech universe. You have to consider that Paradox has  to pay a royalty fee to Microsoft for even using the Battletech IP, so already Paradox would rather have HBS use their talents on growing an in-house IP like World of Darkness that Paradox owns themselves rather than having to pay Microsoft money and increase project costs.

Unless something drastically changes, I don't think HBS will ever return to the Battletech universe.

They're working on another game now.  All we know is it is NOT battletech related.

They're actually working on two games, both not Battletech related. I wouldn't expect any sort of intention towards taking on another Battletech project for at least the next 5 years - if ever. There is little incentive for Paradox the publisher to pay royalty fees to Microsoft for using their IP instead of Paradox' own IP. With their own IP they not only save money, but also build and improve via the use of HBS' work.

[ArkRoyalRavager]

Such is life.

The Stellaris engine would be great for running a BT-themed grand campaign with all the factions to pick and lead

[BirdofPrey]

I'm not so sure, since space combat doesn't factor much into the landscape of Battletech, and Stellaris ground combat has no nuance.

Anyway as far as future games go, they didn't take it off the table, they just want to not do JUST battletech, hence other projects.  We'll have to see if they come back to it, but it doesn't seem impossible.  At any rate, to have hit at the same time as the clan invasion kickstarter, they'd have had to have been working on it not long after the last game released unless they wanted to just plop in a new campaign and call it a new game.  That would have required a significant heads-up from CGL