[Campaign/Story] Hyades Rim

[Hobbes__]

Version 0.7.3.1 released - the echoes of the 4th Succession War are beginning to be heard...

There was a change of plans because it has proven impossible to write all the remaining FPs until the end of the year. So the release date got pushed to next year.

Meanwhile, this update contains two new Flashpoints, Backdoor Man and Dark Forest, several new events plus other goodies.

 

[Prussian Havoc]

Version 0.7.3.1 released - the echoes of the 4th Succession War are beginning to be heard...

There was a change of plans because it has proven impossible to write all the remaining FPs until the end of the year. So the release date got pushed to next year.

Meanwhile, this update contains two new Flashpoints, Backdoor Man and Dark Forest, several new events plus other goodies.View attachment 769701

News Anchor?

Is that stock, from the original game?
: )
Or did you, amazing and incomparable Modder that you are, add it afterwards?
:bow:

 

[Hobbes__]

News Anchor?

Is that stock, from the original game?
: )
Or did you, amazing and incomparable Modder that you are, add it afterwards?
:bow:

Character was written by me for this mod, original artwork made by DarkKhaos (who has also done artwork for other mod characters)

 

[jrhmurray]

Hi Hobbes

I have just finished Part II nd now have offers of Letters of Marque from most of the major Houses or I can stick to the Periphery.

I am not sure if this is a Spoiler question, which I am not looking for, but I don't want to run into a dead end with the story. I need to make a choice. I was thinking about sticking to the Periphery rather than get involved with any one individual House.

Will the Story progress no matter what choice I make?

p.s. I am enjoying the Hyades Rim experience.

 

[Hobbes__]

Hi Hobbes

I have just finished Part II nd now have offers of Letters of Marque from most of the major Houses or I can stick to the Periphery.

I am not sure if this is a Spoiler question, which I am not looking for, but I don't want to run into a dead end with the story. I need to make a choice. I was thinking about sticking to the Periphery rather than get involved with any one individual House.

Will the Story progress no matter what choice I make?

p.s. I am enjoying the Hyades Rim experience.

Sticking to the Periphery is the choice to keep campaign.

I'll add (Continue Campaign) to the choice to make it more clearer for the next version.

If you select any of the 3 Houses, the FPs and star map (in the case of Kurita/Steiner you'll be stuck to the Periphery star map) will unlock. Once you complete all the FPs of that House, you'll get another offer of a letter of marque. You'll play the House FPs in difficulty progression, up until the FP that allows to alliance with them.

If you select Periphery, you'll unlock all the DLC FPs that take place in the Periphery, and you'll receive a communication in a matter of weeks that is the beginning of part 3 of the campaign. You can still do all the DLC FPs during part 3 of the campaign.

On part 3, most of the story FPs are still unfinished in the dialogues/test but you can playtest all of them. You'll eventually won't be able to progress until I'm able to finish writing the FPs.

Glad you're enjoying it.

 

[Harmon Ward]

Sticking to the Periphery is the choice to keep campaign.

I'll add (Continue Campaign) to the choice to make it more clearer for the next version.

If you select any of the 3 Houses, the FPs and star map (in the case of Kurita/Steiner you'll be stuck to the Periphery star map) will unlock. Once you complete all the FPs of that House, you'll get another offer of a letter of marque. You'll play the House FPs in difficulty progression, up until the FP that allows to alliance with them.

If you select Periphery, you'll unlock all the DLC FPs that take place in the Periphery, and you'll receive a communication in a matter of weeks that is the beginning of part 3 of the campaign. You can still do all the DLC FPs during part 3 of the campaign.

On part 3, most of the story FPs are still unfinished in the dialogues/test but you can playtest all of them. You'll eventually won't be able to progress until I'm able to finish writing the FPs.

Glad you're enjoying it.

That explains a lot. I chose a house. Is there a way to get back into the Campaign?

 

[Hobbes__]

You can either use JWolf's BattleTech Save Editor [mod edit: no unapproved links]

Select 'Edit Company Tags' and delete the tag "letterofmarque_(faction)".

Or, if you give me a download location for your saved campaign I can do it for you.

​

 

[Harmon Ward]

Cool. Thanks Hobbes. Let me try the BattleTech Save Editor.

 

[jrhmurray]

Hi Hobbs

I have been playing A Country Too Far. First, not what I was expecting as far as drop tonnage was concerned, it took me 70 days to re-configure my mechs and eventually after 5 attemps I completed part 3 of the flashpoint.

That's not quite accurate, when I moved my two remaining mechs to the Evac Zone, the flashpoint doesn't end. It's almost as if something else has to happen. I destroyed the enemy base, also destroyed all the enemy mechs, about 24 of them. There were still 2 structures of the base I had to defend left standing.

Just to make sure it wasn't my system, I closed down windows and then re-loaded my last save, but still the same thing happens, Evac Zone doesn't work.

 

[Hobbes__]

Hi Hobbs

I have been playing A Country Too Far. First, not what I was expecting as far as drop tonnage was concerned, it took me 70 days to re-configure my mechs and eventually after 5 attemps I completed part 3 of the flashpoint.

That's not quite accurate, when I moved my two remaining mechs to the Evac Zone, the flashpoint doesn't end. It's almost as if something else has to happen. I destroyed the enemy base, also destroyed all the enemy mechs, about 24 of them. There were still 2 structures of the base I had to defend left standing.

Just to make sure it wasn't my system, I closed down windows and then re-loaded my last save, but still the same thing happens, Evac Zone doesn't work.

Restart the FP or use debug to win the contract, that's a known bug with the base game.

 

[jrhmurray]

Thanks Hobbs, didn't know it was a known bug.

I tried going back to the end of part 2 again rather than start the whole FP but the bug was still there so I ended up searching the internet to find how to use Debug.

In my case, what makes this FP hard for me is the two light mechs are really just cannon fodder as the opposition seem to gang up on them and although I pack them full of armour, they have little offensive weaponry, so they rarely last more than 6 or 7 rounds of combat. With one medium sent to attack the opposition base and one medium and two lights to defend my base, the 2nd wave of reinforcements arrive before I can destroy the opposition base. I think I need to learn how to use the 2 light mechs more efficiently.

I am still a novice when it comes to tactics, so overnight, my subconcious must have been working on this problem. I might try this FP again and send one or both lights with the medium to destroy the enemy base. They would still be cannon fodder but they would keep the opposition busy while the medium attacks the eneny base. Might stop the 2nd wave of reinforcements from arriving so that I don't lose both light mechs and their pilots.

 

[Hobbes__]

Thanks Hobbs, didn't know it was a known bug.

I tried going back to the end of part 2 again rather than start the whole FP but the bug was still there so I ended up searching the internet to find how to use Debug.

In my case, what makes this FP hard for me is the two light mechs are really just cannon fodder as the opposition seem to gang up on them and although I pack them full of armour, they have little offensive weaponry, so they rarely last more than 6 or 7 rounds of combat. With one medium sent to attack the opposition base and one medium and two lights to defend my base, the 2nd wave of reinforcements arrive before I can destroy the opposition base. I think I need to learn how to use the 2 light mechs more efficiently.

I am still a novice when it comes to tactics, so overnight, my subconcious must have been working on this problem. I might try this FP again and send one or both lights with the medium to destroy the enemy base. They would still be cannon fodder but they would keep the opposition busy while the medium attacks the eneny base. Might stop the 2nd wave of reinforcements from arriving so that I don't lose both light mechs and their pilots.

That FP is still being developed (and I should be finished by the next release) so your feedback is most welcome. And it will also have the no-tonnage limits version, so you can try the FPs without these restrictions.

 

[jrhmurray]

Hi Hobbs

I don't know if this feedback is any good but this is what happened when I tried Bandits and Tyrants with the lower tonnage limits. Some dialogue is missing but enough was there to get the guist of the mission.

I found this quite an easy FP. I used two Kintarros and a Panther with ECM. Unlike Country To Far, where I used the two Kintarros and two Locusts, the enemy mechs don't come 8 at a time so it was just like most of the standard missions. The hardest part of the FP was part 1 because of the gun emplacements. In part 2, I did lose one of the buildings before I could engage both enemy Assault mechs but since they didn't get into range of the buildings until round 8 it was easy to keep them engaged for 2 rounds. Part 3 was very easy as my 3 cloaked mechs let the opposition kill one another until only 2 beat up mechs were left.


I went back and tried a Country To Far with the Kintarros and the Panther. I sent the Panther with a Kintarro to attack the enemy base. There was 8 enemy mechs defending the base, they still ganged up on the Panther because they were able to get inside the ECM shield but the Panther lasted long enough to protect the Kintarro while it destoyed the base so that only one wave of reinforcements arrived instead of two waves. It was still quite a difficult FP for 2 Kintarros plus the home base emplacements to destoy 24 mechs. What made it slightly easier was once the enemy base was destoyed, a few of the 8 defending mechs turned around and headed towards my base, so the Kintarro that attacked the base was able to sneak up behind some of them and shoot them in the back.

 

[Harmon Ward]

You can either use JWolf's BattleTech Save Editor [mod edit: no unapproved links]

Select 'Edit Company Tags' and delete the tag "letterofmarque_(faction)".

Or, if you give me a download location for your saved campaign I can do it for you.

​

Hobbes,
Normally, I like to try things myself, but my coding work goes back to HTML and I haven't progressed that far from that. By Download Location, you mean Google Drive or something like that? Thanks
Harmon

 

[Hobbes__]

Hobbes,
Normally, I like to try things myself, but my coding work goes back to HTML and I haven't progressed that far from that. By Download Location, you mean Google Drive or something like that? Thanks
Harmon

Yeah, Google Drive works but it's better if you send me the link through private message.

 

[Hobbes__]

Hi Hobbs

I don't know if this feedback is any good but this is what happened when I tried Bandits and Tyrants with the lower tonnage limits. Some dialogue is missing but enough was there to get the guist of the mission.

I found this quite an easy FP. I used two Kintarros and a Panther with ECM. Unlike Country To Far, where I used the two Kintarros and two Locusts, the enemy mechs don't come 8 at a time so it was just like most of the standard missions. The hardest part of the FP was part 1 because of the gun emplacements. In part 2, I did lose one of the buildings before I could engage both enemy Assault mechs but since they didn't get into range of the buildings until round 8 it was easy to keep them engaged for 2 rounds. Part 3 was very easy as my 3 cloaked mechs let the opposition kill one another until only 2 beat up mechs were left.


I went back and tried a Country To Far with the Kintarros and the Panther. I sent the Panther with a Kintarro to attack the enemy base. There was 8 enemy mechs defending the base, they still ganged up on the Panther because they were able to get inside the ECM shield but the Panther lasted long enough to protect the Kintarro while it destoyed the base so that only one wave of reinforcements arrived instead of two waves. It was still quite a difficult FP for 2 Kintarros plus the home base emplacements to destoy 24 mechs. What made it slightly easier was once the enemy base was destoyed, a few of the 8 defending mechs turned around and headed towards my base, so the Kintarro that attacked the base was able to sneak up behind some of them and shoot them in the back.

Nice report, thanks.

That FP is getting a full rewrite of the text and dialogues once I have time.

 

[Harmon Ward]

Yeah, Google Drive works but it's better if you send me the link through private message.

A link to the Cloud location? Or send a copy of the local files as an attachment?

 

[Hobbes__]

A link to the Cloud location? Or send a copy of the local files as an attachment?

As you prefer

 

[jrhmurray]

Hi Hobbs

The next FP I tried was Backdoor Man. I would rate this FP as medium\hard. I would probably do things a little different on a 2nd run through but these are my thoughts on the 1st attempt.

What I am going to write is maybe a Spoiler if someone hasn't tried the FP.

My lance was again 2 Kintarros and a Panther with ECM.

Part 1 starts off against 2 heavies and 2 mediums but there is plenty of time to manouver and destroy these mechs. It's the next stage that was a little harder. When I pick up the convoy I was attacked by four medium mechs. That in itself is ok but the convoy only takes 3 turns to reach its destination before another lance of mechs comes into play. So you have 3 rounds of combat to destroy 4 mediums. I managed to destroy 3 of the original mediums as the convoy reached its destination. The vehicles get away safely. I don't think it is possible to make a run for the Evac Zone. You would have to sprint and turn your back on the 5 remaining mechs which included two heavies. Just took my time and killed the 5 mechs. In conclusion, it is only the short distance the convoy has to travel that makes this part of the FP hard.

Part 2 I would definately do differently. I engaged the lance of mechs at the primary location, 3 heavies and a medium. The second enemy lance appeared on my flank and each of them was equipped with LRM's. They did quite a lot of damage to my mechs before I finished off the first lance. When I closed with the second lance, their LRM's were not as effective so it was straight forward to kill them. I think I would attack the secondary location first and deal with that lance of mechs. The first lance mostly consisted of closer range weapons so would have taken a few rounds of combat to get into effective range of my mechs, hopefully in that time I could have crippled the LRM lance.

Part 3 is very tricky, those locusts just keep comming and comming and they are deadly. I tried to fight my way to the door but four locusts ganged up on one of my Kintarros and in two rounds of combat totally destoyed my Kintarro. After that I just ran straight for the fortress door. I think I would change my strategy in this mission and just charge straight for the door to the fortress, get my mechs with their backs to the door and see what happens.


If a report like this is any good to you, I will write up some more FP's. Let me know if you want me to write any more.

 

[Hobbes__]

Those are always useful to read, but currently I'm finishing development of another mod project for another game (had been on a hiatus for more than two years, while I wrote Hyades Rim), so I won't have much time in the next weeks to read them, but I will check it later.