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I am probably a bit odd in this but I like the idea of my team being made up of characters. What I mean by this is that I want Apex to be named Farida Lamb, always use the same face and voice. At the same time given the nature of the game and the potential for having lots of pilots killed over the course of the game procedurally generated pilots make sense from a technical standpoint. So my question is whether all characters will be procedurally generated or will there be a number of "fixed" character pilots to augment the RPG element of the game?
From listening to the Q and A's and how Mechwarriors and Events will be handled, I'd say it would lean more to procedurally generated, with maybe a few fixed characters showing up?
I believe, unless this has been superceded since, that you can rename Mechwarriors and change portraits to whatever you want anyway.
I would guess our initial lancemates will be set ( though we can modify names / sex etc. And the backer mechwarriors also set, but after that generated.
I am probably a bit odd in this but I like the idea of my team being made up of characters. What I mean by this is that I want Apex to be named Farida Lamb, always use the same face and voice. At the same time given the nature of the game and the potential for having lots of pilots killed over the course of the game procedurally generated pilots make sense from a technical standpoint. So my question is whether all characters will be procedurally generated or will there be a number of "fixed" character pilots to augment the RPG element of the game?
With the exception of your Mercenary Commander and key ARGO Crewmembers, it is my understanding that none of the MechWattiors in the game will be "fixed."
Kiva has made perfectly clear that all MechWarriors can be at risk on any Mission. Again the exception is our Mercenary Commander who can't die but may or may not end up Medically-retired from being a MechWarrior if he gains too many wounds.
But each MechWarrior can have different BATTLETECH Event System tags and triggers, leading to very fun and immersive Command Decisions being presented to us. : )
I had forgotten about the backer MechWarriors. So that kinda answers my question potentially. Has anybody who backed at that level been contacted by HBS and had any input into the characters beyond the use of their names?
(If this is under NDA let me know and I will withdraw the question).
Someone described the process on the HBS forum. Basically, it was name, a brief description and then a choice of 5(?) year timeblocks- education, first career, 2nd career, etc, which could span a fair amount of time. Each timeblock had a group of choices, which would influence stats [piloting, gunnery, guts, tactics]. The main restriction seemed to be simply that the final career was 'Mechwarrior,' since, well, to hire them as MWs they'd have to be active.
But you could have, for example, a farm girl turned pilot turned Mechwarrior, and each piece would increment skills.
I had forgotten about the backer MechWarriors. So that kinda answers my question potentially. Has anybody who backed at that level been contacted by HBS and had any input into the characters beyond the use of their names?
The MechWarriors that you start the campaign with will most likely have the callsigns "Behemoth", "Dekker", "Glitch", and "Medusa" (@Fairborne corrected me below that you won't start the campaign with MechWarriors who have the callsigns "Shoe" and "Trigger").
The following MechWarriors will be hireable in the campaign (this was confirmed later in this thread by @HBS_Kiva):
Except for any MechWarriors that we may meet in story missions, the rest of the hireable MechWarriors are procedurally generated except for:
62 Kickstarter backers (including myself) backed this game at the MERCENARY MECHCOMMANDER funding level or higher, so we were able to:
* Become a HIREABLE MERCENARY MECHWARRIOR in the game! Your notes will guide the creation of a BACKSTORY for an experienced MechWarrior that players can encounter and hire.
* YOUR IMAGE or description will guide the creation of the Mercenary MechWarrior’s in-game portrait.
There are 62 hireable MechWarriors that are not procedurally generated but were created by Kickstarter backers.
Kiva Maginn tweeted within the last few weeks that she was working on creating these Kickstarter backer created hireable MechWarriors.
The ingame hireable MechWarrior that I personally created is named Chris "Deadeye" Winzar, so keep a lookout for him while playing the campaign.
Kickstarter backer SmokemJags created a hireable MechWarrior named Viona "Succubus".
Kickstarter backer DocBach created a hireable MechWarrior named Lars "Flatline" Reichenbach.
Kickstarter backer Phaelon created a hireable MechWarrior who has the callsign "Deedah".
Kickstarter backer Laxtonto created a hireable MechWarrior named Captain Nikolaus “Devil” Peters.
Kickstarter backer Lantalia created a hireable MechWarrior who has the callsign "Tinker".
HBS sent us Kickstarter backers an email circa early December 2016 that gave us access to an online form to create our ingame hireable MechWarrior using - that form included the following relevant information:
MechWarrior Lifepath
To help us build your Hireable Mercenary, we need you to fill out the following LifePath Options. For each choice you make, you can provide us with additional notes or explanations, and as best we’re able, we’ll work those notes into the character’s dossier. Please note that mercenary MechWarrior dossiers are not detailed backstories. They’re more like a resume: short bullet points that give the salient details. What did you do? Why did you start? Why did you stop? The more notes and details you provide, the less likely we are to be able to incorporate them into the character’s dossier. Please be brief and to the point.
To create your Lifepath, you will select an Origin, and then a Childhood and Coming of Age. At the end of the Coming of Age, you’re around 20 years old. After that, you may choose one to four jobs, each one representing five years of your life.
Each choice increases one or more of your Mercenary's skills. At the end, we’ll sum all of them to determine your Mercenary's final starting values. Choices may also add Tags, which describe some of the characteristics of a Mercenary, and may be used by other game systems. For instance, a Mercenary with a Criminal background might know a black market source for supplies.
If you have an idea for a Tag that you'd like us to add to your Mercenary, just indicate it like this: (+New Tag). We don't promise that the game content will actually use any new Tags you suggest, but it might!
Example: Kallista Vasiliou, age 36
Here's an example of a completed Mercenary.
Origin: Periphery (Aurigan Coalition)
Kallista was born on Mechdur, in the Aurigan Coalition.
New tag: Aurigan Coalition
Childhood: Blue Collar Family
Kallista’s family worked in the skilled trades in the industries of Mechdur.
Tactics +1
Coming of Age: Tech School
Given her background, it was natural that Kallista would enroll in the same technical school her parents and grandparents went to.
Piloting +1
Tactics +1
New tag: Gearhead
Career
Job 1: Civilian: Space
Kallista signed up for a tour as a JumpShip mechanic, wanting to get off-world and see more of the Coalition and maybe even the Inner Sphere.
Piloting +1
Tactics +1
New tag: Spacer
Job 2: Military Support
After her discharge from service, Kallista found work in the Rimward garrisons of the Capellan Confederation, working as a MechTech.
Tactics +1
Piloting +1
New tag: Military
Job 3: MechWarrior
Called on in an emergency to take command of a Jenner, Kallista discovered her talents as a MechWarrior. Her unit destroyed, she fled and booked transport for herself and her Jenner, Rimward to the Aurigan Reach, where she worked as a mercenary and guard.
Gunnery +1
Guts (Lowest skill) +1
Skills
Gunnery 1
Piloting 3
Tactics 4
Guts 1
Tags
Aurigan, Gearhead, Spacer, Military
Where did your mercenary come from? The opportunities available to a scion of the Inner Sphere are much greater than those afforded the relatively poor Periphery-born, and the desperate struggle of life on lost or independent worlds leaves the Outcast tough beyond their years.
Pick one of these options. If you need to elaborate on your mercenary’s origins, feel free to do so below. Note that there are no options to come from a ComStar or Clan family; those sorts of characters would be very unlikely to be working as mercenaries in a backwater Periphery state.
The basic choice you have here is between Inner Sphere, Periphery, or Outcast.
Inner Sphere: Your mercenary is a child of the Inner Sphere, born on one of the worlds of the five Successor States. This doesn’t mean you’re a member of the Great House, but you think of yourself as a citizen of that state, and a subject of that House.
Periphery: Your mercenary was born in one of the frontier states of the Periphery. Used to struggle and self-sufficiency, you also have a simmering resentment towards the pampered Inner Sphere.
Outcast: Your mercenary was born on a lost world, cut off from civilization, or on an independent world cut loose from all interstellar governments. Your world view is very narrow and parochial.
Where is your Mercenary from? *
Inner Sphere: Davion
Inner Sphere: Kurita
Inner Sphere: Liao
Inner Sphere: Marik
Inner Sphere: Steiner
Periphery: Taurian
Periphery: Magistracy
Periphery: Outworld Alliance
Periphery: Marian
Periphery: Aurigan
Periphery: Other (explain below)
Outcast (explain below)
Childhood
Regardless of your region of origin, childhood in the fourth millennium is much the same everywhere. Choose how you spend your childhood, and what advantages it gives you now.
Pick one of these options. If you need to provide additional details, do so below.
How did your Mercenary grow up? *
Blue Collar Family -- Skilled labor is a requirement for any industrialized society, from the low-tech craftsman to the high-tech automation operator. Your childhood was spent in a family of laborers, learning the value of hard, skilled work. (Tactics +1)
War Orphan -- The Third Succession War has just come to a close, but it raged for almost two centuries and touched the lives of almost everyone. Your family was killed in the war, or one of the innumerable skirmishes that spun off the war, and you grew up with a foster family or in a group home. (Guts +1)
Rural Family -- Agriculture is a critical requirement for any inhabited world; it’s just too expensive to ship in food from off-world. And no matter how advanced the planet, many people still choose the slow and peaceful life of the countryside. (Guts +1)
Noble Family -- In the chaos of the Succession Wars, human civilization has fallen back on the oldest and most stable form of government: feudalism. You come from a landowning family, to whom lesser nobles, freemen and serfs owe fealty. (Tactics +1 +Tag (Nobility))
Urban Poor Family -- The cities of the Inner Sphere are teeming metropolises, declining slowly into ruin as the technology needed to maintain them falls into obscurity and is lost. In these fallen cities, poverty is common and brutal. Your family is one of the many struggling to survive in the streets of a major city. (Guts +1)
White Collar Family -- A government that rules over a single planet is impossibly complex, with layers upon layers of bureaucracy. A government that rules multiple planets is almost unthinkable. You come from a family of mid-level office workers, tasked with keeping the engines of civilization running. (Tactics +1)
Additional Details
If you want to elaborate on your childhood, please do so below, in 400 characters or less.
Coming of Age
The path your life takes begins with your first choices: how do you become an adult? Some pass through formal schooling, while others come of age on the streets. What defined your transition to adulthood? Choose one of the following. If you need to provide more details, do so below.
How was your Mercenary schooled? *
Military Academy -- You qualified to enter a military academy, where you would be trained to be an officer. You graduated with the expectation of beginning a career in the armed forces of the state where you were schooled. (Gunnery +1; Tactics +1; +Tag (Military))
Military Enlistment -- There is always a need for the able-bodied to fight in wars, and a military enlistment can provide a much-needed way out of desperate circumstances at home. You finished your basic training and expect to be deployed to one of the many hot zones throughout the Inner Sphere. (Gunnery +1; Guts +1; +Tag (Military))
Academic (Science) -- Few universities still remain, as the Succession Wars have taken their toll on the sciences and the relative peace needed for the free exchange of ideas. Still, some persist, and you have graduated from one such institution. - (Tactics +2; +Tag (Investigator))
Academic (Humanities) -- The study of arts and literature, politics and economics, has become critically necessary in the Succession Wars period. As institutions struggle to hold their societies together, smart and competent academics have to fill in the gaps, and you’re one of those. (Tactics +2; +Tag (Organization))
Tech School -- Most of the technology of the Inner Sphere is poorly-understood and cannot be replaced. This makes technical disciplines of vital importance for maintaining the dwindling technological base. You’ve earned a certification in this vital industry. (Piloting +1; Tactics +1; +Tag (Gearhead))
Criminal Enterprise -- Some criminals turn to crime later in life, but there are those who know their calling from a young age, and seek out training just like any other trade or apprenticeship. Whether self-taught or as part of an organized syndicate, you’ve ‘graduated’ from this dangerous training. (Guts +1; Gunnery +1; +Tag (Criminal))
Additional Details
If you want to elaborate on your education, please do so below, in 400 characters or less.
Career
You emerge from your coming-of-age choice somewhere between the ages of 16 and 22. Once your adulthood is underway, you follow one of a variety of careers available in the BattleTech universe. Each tour represents about five years of work, life experience, and training.
To represent the path of your career, select how you spent each five year period leading up to the present. You can pick the same option more than once, and you can select as few as 1 or as many as 4 jobs.
You always end with ‘Military: Mechwarrior’ or 'Military: Solaris VII'. So if you have only one job, it’s ‘Mechwarrior’ or 'Solaris VII'; if you have four jobs, the fourth one is ‘Mechwarrior’ or 'Solaris VII'. You can take the Mechwarrior or Solaris jobs more than once, but it must always be the last job you take.
If you want to provide additional details on your career path, feel free to do so below. However, your dossier in-game will be bullet-points explaining each job you had through your career, so if possible, keep your notes short bullet-point-length snippets that we can use to flesh out each career step.
Tour 1 *
Civilian: Academic -- A scientific or medical career -- a professor, a researcher, a doctor. (Tactics +2; +Tag (Investigator))
Civilian: Technical -- A technical career, in maintenance, IT, salvage, or engineering. (Piloting +1; Tactics +1; +Tag (Gearhead))
Civilian: Space -- A career aboard a DropShip or JumpShip as a member of the crew. (Piloting +1; Tactics +1; +Tag (Spacer))
Civilian: Rural -- Working in agriculture or living off the land. (Guts +2; +Tag (Tough))
Civilian: Blue Collar -- Manufacturing and construction jobs. (Piloting +1 - Guts +1 +Tag (Tough))
Civilian: White Collar -- Office jobs, in administration, politics, advertising, and so forth. (Tactics +2 +Tag (Organization))
Military: Special Ops -- Covert operations, high-risk policing, and guerilla warfare. (Gunnery +1 Guts +1 +Tag (Military) +Tag (Operator))
Military: Solaris VII -- Gladiatorial Mech combat in the arenas of Solaris VII. (Gunnery +1; Piloting +1; +Tag (Gladiator))
Military: Pilot -- Piloting aircraft, armor, and ground vehicles. (Piloting +2 +Tag (Military) +Tag (Vehicles))
Military: Infantry -- Foot and mechanized infantry, deployed as support for Mechs. (Guts +2 +Tag (Military) +Tag (Grunt))
Military: Support -- Logistics, field repair, battlefield medics, and any other non-shooter role. (Tactics +1 Piloting +1 +Tag (Military) +Tag (Organization))
Military: Ship Crew -- A crewmember aboard a military DropShip. (Piloting +1 Gunnery +1 +Tag (Military) +Tag (Spacer))
Military: Officer -- An officer, usually rear-echelon, responsible for strategic planning and administration. (Tactics +2 +Tag (Military))
Criminal: Space -- Piracy, smuggling, and hostage-taking in the black void of space. (Piloting +1 Guts +1 +Tag (Criminal) +Tag (Pirate))
Criminal: Organization -- Enforcer or mid-level employee of an organized crime syndicate. (Gunnery +1 Tactics +1 +Tag (Criminal) +Tag (Syndicate))
Outcast -- A wanderer, adventurer, vagabond, or just someone traveling among the stars looking for a thrill. (Guts +2 +Tag (Wanderer))
Military: MechWarrior -- Piloting a BattleMech, whether for an established military or as a freelance mercenary. (Gunnery +1 (Lowest Skill) +1 +Tag (Military))
Additional Details
If you want to elaborate on this five-year period, please do so below, in 400 characters or less.
Your answer
Done With Career? *
Remember that your final career choice must be 'MechWarrior' or 'Solaris VII'.
No, take me to the next five-year tour
Yes, I'm done. My MechWarrior has five years of experience.
Career
Tour 2 *
Civilian: Academic -- A scientific or medical career -- a professor, a researcher, a doctor. (Tactics +2; +Tag (Investigator))
Civilian: Technical -- A technical career, in maintenance, IT, salvage, or engineering. (Piloting +1; Tactics +1; +Tag (Gearhead))
Civilian: Space -- A career aboard a DropShip or JumpShip as a member of the crew. (Piloting +1; Tactics +1; +Tag (Spacer))
Civilian: Rural -- Working in agriculture or living off the land. (Guts +2; +Tag (Tough))
Civilian: Blue Collar -- Manufacturing and construction jobs. (Piloting +1 - Guts +1 +Tag (Tough))
Civilian: White Collar -- Office jobs, in administration, politics, advertising, and so forth. (Tactics +2 +Tag (Organization))
Military: Special Ops -- Covert operations, high-risk policing, and guerilla warfare. (Gunnery +1 Guts +1 +Tag (Military) +Tag (Operator))
Military: Solaris VII -- Gladiatorial Mech combat in the arenas of Solaris VII. (Gunnery +1; Piloting +1; +Tag (Gladiator))
Military: Pilot -- Piloting aircraft, armor, and ground vehicles. (Piloting +2 +Tag (Military) +Tag (Vehicles))
Military: Infantry -- Foot and mechanized infantry, deployed as support for Mechs. (Guts +2 +Tag (Military) +Tag (Grunt))
Military: Support -- Logistics, field repair, battlefield medics, and any other non-shooter role. (Tactics +1 Piloting +1 +Tag (Military) +Tag (Organization))
Military: Ship Crew -- A crewmember aboard a military DropShip. (Piloting +1 Gunnery +1 +Tag (Military) +Tag (Spacer))
Military: Officer -- An officer, usually rear-echelon, responsible for strategic planning and administration. (Tactics +2 +Tag (Military))
Criminal: Space -- Piracy, smuggling, and hostage-taking in the black void of space. (Piloting +1 Guts +1 +Tag (Criminal) +Tag (Pirate))
Criminal: Organization -- Enforcer or mid-level employee of an organized crime syndicate. (Gunnery +1 Tactics +1 +Tag (Criminal) +Tag (Syndicate))
Outcast -- A wanderer, adventurer, vagabond, or just someone traveling among the stars looking for a thrill. (Guts +2 +Tag (Wanderer))
Military: MechWarrior -- Piloting a BattleMech, whether for an established military or as a freelance mercenary. (Gunnery +1 (Lowest Skill) +1 +Tag (Military))
Additional Details
If you want to elaborate on this five-year period, please do so below, in 400 characters or less.
Your answer
Done With Career? *
Remember that your final career choice must be 'MechWarrior' or 'Solaris VII'.
No, take me to the next five-year tour
Yes, I'm done. My MechWarrior has 10 years of experience.
Here is all of the information about the Kickstarter backer created hireable MechWarrior "Flatline":
note: Flatline uses the same voice actor as Medusa.
Here's some statistics and information about Kickstarter backer created hireable MechWarrior "Adrenaline":
The MechWarriors that you start the campaign with will most likely have the callsigns "Dekker", "Shoe", "Medusa", and "Trigger".
Except for any MechWarriors that we may meet in story missions, the rest of the hireable MechWarriors are procedurally generated except for:
62 Kickstarter backers (including myself) backed this game at the MERCENARY MECHCOMMANDER funding level or higher, so we were able to:
* Become a HIREABLE MERCENARY MECHWARRIOR in the game! Your notes will guide the creation of a BACKSTORY for an experienced MechWarrior that players can encounter and hire.
* YOUR IMAGE or description will guide the creation of the Mercenary MechWarrior’s in-game portrait.
There are 62 hireable MechWarriors that are not procedurally generated but were created by Kickstarter backers.
Kiva Maginn tweeted within the last few weeks that she was working on creating these Kickstarter backer created hireable MechWarriors.
The ingame hireable MechWarrior that I personally created is named Chris "Deadeye" WInzar, so keep a lookout for him when you play the campaign.
HBS sent us Kickstarter backers an email circa early December 2016 that gave us access to an online form to create our ingame hireable MechWarrior using - that form included the following relevant information:
MechWarrior Lifepath
To help us build your Hireable Mercenary, we need you to fill out the following LifePath Options. For each choice you make, you can provide us with additional notes or explanations, and as best we’re able, we’ll work those notes into the character’s dossier. Please note that mercenary MechWarrior dossiers are not detailed backstories. They’re more like a resume: short bullet points that give the salient details. What did you do? Why did you start? Why did you stop? The more notes and details you provide, the less likely we are to be able to incorporate them into the character’s dossier. Please be brief and to the point.
To create your Lifepath, you will select an Origin, and then a Childhood and Coming of Age. At the end of the Coming of Age, you’re around 20 years old. After that, you may choose one to four jobs, each one representing five years of your life.
Each choice increases one or more of your Mercenary's skills. At the end, we’ll sum all of them to determine your Mercenary's final starting values. Choices may also add Tags, which describe some of the characteristics of a Mercenary, and may be used by other game systems. For instance, a Mercenary with a Criminal background might know a black market source for supplies.
If you have an idea for a Tag that you'd like us to add to your Mercenary, just indicate it like this: (+New Tag). We don't promise that the game content will actually use any new Tags you suggest, but it might!
Example: Kallista Vasiliou, age 36
Here's an example of a completed Mercenary.
Origin: Periphery (Aurigan Coalition)
Kallista was born on Mechdur, in the Aurigan Coalition.
New tag: Aurigan Coalition
Childhood: Blue Collar Family
Kallista’s family worked in the skilled trades in the industries of Mechdur.
Tactics +1
Coming of Age: Tech School
Given her background, it was natural that Kallista would enroll in the same technical school her parents and grandparents went to.
Piloting +1
Tactics +1
New tag: Gearhead
Career
Job 1: Civilian: Space
Kallista signed up for a tour as a JumpShip mechanic, wanting to get off-world and see more of the Coalition and maybe even the Inner Sphere.
Piloting +1
Tactics +1
New tag: Spacer
Job 2: Military Support
After her discharge from service, Kallista found work in the Rimward garrisons of the Capellan Confederation, working as a MechTech.
Tactics +1
Piloting +1
New tag: Military
Job 3: MechWarrior
Called on in an emergency to take command of a Jenner, Kallista discovered her talents as a MechWarrior. Her unit destroyed, she fled and booked transport for herself and her Jenner, Rimward to the Aurigan Reach, where she worked as a mercenary and guard.
Gunnery +1
Guts (Lowest skill) +1
Skills
Gunnery 1
Piloting 3
Tactics 4
Guts 1
Tags
Aurigan, Gearhead, Spacer, Military
Where did your mercenary come from? The opportunities available to a scion of the Inner Sphere are much greater than those afforded the relatively poor Periphery-born, and the desperate struggle of life on lost or independent worlds leaves the Outcast tough beyond their years.
Pick one of these options. If you need to elaborate on your mercenary’s origins, feel free to do so below. Note that there are no options to come from a ComStar or Clan family; those sorts of characters would be very unlikely to be working as mercenaries in a backwater Periphery state.
The basic choice you have here is between Inner Sphere, Periphery, or Outcast.
Inner Sphere: Your mercenary is a child of the Inner Sphere, born on one of the worlds of the five Successor States. This doesn’t mean you’re a member of the Great House, but you think of yourself as a citizen of that state, and a subject of that House.
Periphery: Your mercenary was born in one of the frontier states of the Periphery. Used to struggle and self-sufficiency, you also have a simmering resentment towards the pampered Inner Sphere.
Outcast: Your mercenary was born on a lost world, cut off from civilization, or on an independent world cut loose from all interstellar governments. Your world view is very narrow and parochial.
Where is your Mercenary from? *
Inner Sphere: Davion
Inner Sphere: Kurita
Inner Sphere: Liao
Inner Sphere: Marik
Inner Sphere: Steiner
Periphery: Taurian
Periphery: Magistracy
Periphery: Outworld Alliance
Periphery: Marian
Periphery: Aurigan
Periphery: Other (explain below)
Outcast (explain below)
Childhood
Regardless of your region of origin, childhood in the fourth millennium is much the same everywhere. Choose how you spend your childhood, and what advantages it gives you now.
Pick one of these options. If you need to provide additional details, do so below.
How did your Mercenary grow up? *
Blue Collar Family -- Skilled labor is a requirement for any industrialized society, from the low-tech craftsman to the high-tech automation operator. Your childhood was spent in a family of laborers, learning the value of hard, skilled work. (Tactics +1)
War Orphan -- The Third Succession War has just come to a close, but it raged for almost two centuries and touched the lives of almost everyone. Your family was killed in the war, or one of the innumerable skirmishes that spun off the war, and you grew up with a foster family or in a group home. (Guts +1)
Rural Family -- Agriculture is a critical requirement for any inhabited world; it’s just too expensive to ship in food from off-world. And no matter how advanced the planet, many people still choose the slow and peaceful life of the countryside. (Guts +1)
Noble Family -- In the chaos of the Succession Wars, human civilization has fallen back on the oldest and most stable form of government: feudalism. You come from a landowning family, to whom lesser nobles, freemen and serfs owe fealty. (Tactics +1 +Tag (Nobility))
Urban Poor Family -- The cities of the Inner Sphere are teeming metropolises, declining slowly into ruin as the technology needed to maintain them falls into obscurity and is lost. In these fallen cities, poverty is common and brutal. Your family is one of the many struggling to survive in the streets of a major city. (Guts +1)
White Collar Family -- A government that rules over a single planet is impossibly complex, with layers upon layers of bureaucracy. A government that rules multiple planets is almost unthinkable. You come from a family of mid-level office workers, tasked with keeping the engines of civilization running. (Tactics +1)
Additional Details
If you want to elaborate on your childhood, please do so below, in 400 characters or less.
Coming of Age
The path your life takes begins with your first choices: how do you become an adult? Some pass through formal schooling, while others come of age on the streets. What defined your transition to adulthood? Choose one of the following. If you need to provide more details, do so below.
How was your Mercenary schooled? *
Military Academy -- You qualified to enter a military academy, where you would be trained to be an officer. You graduated with the expectation of beginning a career in the armed forces of the state where you were schooled. (Gunnery +1; Tactics +1; +Tag (Military))
Military Enlistment -- There is always a need for the able-bodied to fight in wars, and a military enlistment can provide a much-needed way out of desperate circumstances at home. You finished your basic training and expect to be deployed to one of the many hot zones throughout the Inner Sphere. (Gunnery +1; Guts +1; +Tag (Military))
Academic (Science) -- Few universities still remain, as the Succession Wars have taken their toll on the sciences and the relative peace needed for the free exchange of ideas. Still, some persist, and you have graduated from one such institution. - (Tactics +2; +Tag (Investigator))
Academic (Humanities) -- The study of arts and literature, politics and economics, has become critically necessary in the Succession Wars period. As institutions struggle to hold their societies together, smart and competent academics have to fill in the gaps, and you’re one of those. (Tactics +2; +Tag (Organization))
Tech School -- Most of the technology of the Inner Sphere is poorly-understood and cannot be replaced. This makes technical disciplines of vital importance for maintaining the dwindling technological base. You’ve earned a certification in this vital industry. (Piloting +1; Tactics +1; +Tag (Gearhead))
Criminal Enterprise -- Some criminals turn to crime later in life, but there are those who know their calling from a young age, and seek out training just like any other trade or apprenticeship. Whether self-taught or as part of an organized syndicate, you’ve ‘graduated’ from this dangerous training. (Guts +1; Gunnery +1; +Tag (Criminal))
Additional Details
If you want to elaborate on your education, please do so below, in 400 characters or less.
Career
You emerge from your coming-of-age choice somewhere between the ages of 16 and 22. Once your adulthood is underway, you follow one of a variety of careers available in the BattleTech universe. Each tour represents about five years of work, life experience, and training.
To represent the path of your career, select how you spent each five year period leading up to the present. You can pick the same option more than once, and you can select as few as 1 or as many as 4 jobs.
You always end with ‘Military: Mechwarrior’ or 'Military: Solaris VII'. So if you have only one job, it’s ‘Mechwarrior’ or 'Solaris VII'; if you have four jobs, the fourth one is ‘Mechwarrior’ or 'Solaris VII'. You can take the Mechwarrior or Solaris jobs more than once, but it must always be the last job you take.
If you want to provide additional details on your career path, feel free to do so below. However, your dossier in-game will be bullet-points explaining each job you had through your career, so if possible, keep your notes short bullet-point-length snippets that we can use to flesh out each career step.
Tour 1 *
Civilian: Academic -- A scientific or medical career -- a professor, a researcher, a doctor. (Tactics +2; +Tag (Investigator))
Civilian: Technical -- A technical career, in maintenance, IT, salvage, or engineering. (Piloting +1; Tactics +1; +Tag (Gearhead))
Civilian: Space -- A career aboard a DropShip or JumpShip as a member of the crew. (Piloting +1; Tactics +1; +Tag (Spacer))
Civilian: Rural -- Working in agriculture or living off the land. (Guts +2; +Tag (Tough))
Civilian: Blue Collar -- Manufacturing and construction jobs. (Piloting +1 - Guts +1 +Tag (Tough))
Civilian: White Collar -- Office jobs, in administration, politics, advertising, and so forth. (Tactics +2 +Tag (Organization))
Military: Special Ops -- Covert operations, high-risk policing, and guerilla warfare. (Gunnery +1 Guts +1 +Tag (Military) +Tag (Operator))
Military: Solaris VII -- Gladiatorial Mech combat in the arenas of Solaris VII. (Gunnery +1; Piloting +1; +Tag (Gladiator))
Military: Pilot -- Piloting aircraft, armor, and ground vehicles. (Piloting +2 +Tag (Military) +Tag (Vehicles))
Military: Infantry -- Foot and mechanized infantry, deployed as support for Mechs. (Guts +2 +Tag (Military) +Tag (Grunt))
Military: Support -- Logistics, field repair, battlefield medics, and any other non-shooter role. (Tactics +1 Piloting +1 +Tag (Military) +Tag (Organization))
Military: Ship Crew -- A crewmember aboard a military DropShip. (Piloting +1 Gunnery +1 +Tag (Military) +Tag (Spacer))
Military: Officer -- An officer, usually rear-echelon, responsible for strategic planning and administration. (Tactics +2 +Tag (Military))
Criminal: Space -- Piracy, smuggling, and hostage-taking in the black void of space. (Piloting +1 Guts +1 +Tag (Criminal) +Tag (Pirate))
Criminal: Organization -- Enforcer or mid-level employee of an organized crime syndicate. (Gunnery +1 Tactics +1 +Tag (Criminal) +Tag (Syndicate))
Outcast -- A wanderer, adventurer, vagabond, or just someone traveling among the stars looking for a thrill. (Guts +2 +Tag (Wanderer))
Military: MechWarrior -- Piloting a BattleMech, whether for an established military or as a freelance mercenary. (Gunnery +1 (Lowest Skill) +1 +Tag (Military))
Additional Details
If you want to elaborate on this five-year period, please do so below, in 400 characters or less.
Your answer
Done With Career? *
Remember that your final career choice must be 'MechWarrior' or 'Solaris VII'.
No, take me to the next five-year tour
Yes, I'm done. My MechWarrior has five years of experience.
Career
Tour 2 *
Civilian: Academic -- A scientific or medical career -- a professor, a researcher, a doctor. (Tactics +2; +Tag (Investigator))
Civilian: Technical -- A technical career, in maintenance, IT, salvage, or engineering. (Piloting +1; Tactics +1; +Tag (Gearhead))
Civilian: Space -- A career aboard a DropShip or JumpShip as a member of the crew. (Piloting +1; Tactics +1; +Tag (Spacer))
Civilian: Rural -- Working in agriculture or living off the land. (Guts +2; +Tag (Tough))
Civilian: Blue Collar -- Manufacturing and construction jobs. (Piloting +1 - Guts +1 +Tag (Tough))
Civilian: White Collar -- Office jobs, in administration, politics, advertising, and so forth. (Tactics +2 +Tag (Organization))
Military: Special Ops -- Covert operations, high-risk policing, and guerilla warfare. (Gunnery +1 Guts +1 +Tag (Military) +Tag (Operator))
Military: Solaris VII -- Gladiatorial Mech combat in the arenas of Solaris VII. (Gunnery +1; Piloting +1; +Tag (Gladiator))
Military: Pilot -- Piloting aircraft, armor, and ground vehicles. (Piloting +2 +Tag (Military) +Tag (Vehicles))
Military: Infantry -- Foot and mechanized infantry, deployed as support for Mechs. (Guts +2 +Tag (Military) +Tag (Grunt))
Military: Support -- Logistics, field repair, battlefield medics, and any other non-shooter role. (Tactics +1 Piloting +1 +Tag (Military) +Tag (Organization))
Military: Ship Crew -- A crewmember aboard a military DropShip. (Piloting +1 Gunnery +1 +Tag (Military) +Tag (Spacer))
Military: Officer -- An officer, usually rear-echelon, responsible for strategic planning and administration. (Tactics +2 +Tag (Military))
Criminal: Space -- Piracy, smuggling, and hostage-taking in the black void of space. (Piloting +1 Guts +1 +Tag (Criminal) +Tag (Pirate))
Criminal: Organization -- Enforcer or mid-level employee of an organized crime syndicate. (Gunnery +1 Tactics +1 +Tag (Criminal) +Tag (Syndicate))
Outcast -- A wanderer, adventurer, vagabond, or just someone traveling among the stars looking for a thrill. (Guts +2 +Tag (Wanderer))
Military: MechWarrior -- Piloting a BattleMech, whether for an established military or as a freelance mercenary. (Gunnery +1 (Lowest Skill) +1 +Tag (Military))
Additional Details
If you want to elaborate on this five-year period, please do so below, in 400 characters or less.
Your answer
Done With Career? *
Remember that your final career choice must be 'MechWarrior' or 'Solaris VII'.
No, take me to the next five-year tour
Yes, I'm done. My MechWarrior has 10 years of experience.
In this thread on the old forum https://community.battletechgame.com/forums/threads/10895?page=1 Kiva's twitter posts confirm a change of the names of the starting Mechwarriors to Dekker, Medusa, Glitch, and Behemoth. Shoe and Trigger were from beta files.
I'm curious if the backer mechwarriors will be in a json that can be added to not just edited.
Thanks for the insight into the process. Do you know if this is how our in game character will be generated? It does look similar to the Traveller character generation flow. I'll definitely keep my eyes peeled for Deadeye. ☺
I do not remember the fine details of the Hireable mechwarrior I created.
I assumed most would create some handsome daredevile types so I went the other way
Liao Warorphan enlisted young straight military career
I believe the physical description I gave was overweight alcaholic balding burnout --- but very experienced - a survivor.
Edit: just remembered something else I recieved an email some time later asking for a call sign for him.
Callsign: Loki
I do not remember the actual name I gave the character something scandinavian.
Assuming all great houses a mixed enough to have citizens of all ethnic backgrounds.
Thanks for the insight into the process. Do you know if this is how our in game character will be generated? It does look similar to the Traveller character generation flow. I'll definitely keep my eyes peeled for Deadeye. ☺
I thought it was quite similar to the A Time of Warfare, the Battletech RPG, character generation rules, but now that you mentioned it, I realize the similarities to Traveller too.
I guess what I'm saying is, that both rule-sets use the "previous tours of duty" in the character generations (but, to my knowledge, only in Traveller your character can die during character creation, which is still a wired thing but really, _really_ hits my nerdy-bone - hard ).
Not sure if it was mentioned yet or not. There might be a difference between "MechWarriors you create and build up from green recruits" and the procedurally generated "experienced Mechwarriors you hire which come with pre-selected backgrounds. (Aside from out MechCommander player character). I'm not sure if the former is a thing or not. So we might be able to take a green recruit and make them what we want...choosing their background, but an experienced "hire" we can only change the name and portrait...etc.
It's just an impression I had and I could be way off base on it. It's a good question for the next Q&A if one of the devs don't reply here.
Not sure if it was mentioned yet or not. There might be a difference between "MechWarriors you create and build up from green recruits" and the procedurally generated "experienced Mechwarriors you hire which come with pre-selected backgrounds. (Aside from out MechCommander player character). I'm not sure if the former is a thing or not. So we might be able to take a green recruit and make them what we want...choosing their background, but an experienced "hire" we can only change the name and portrait...etc.
It's just an impression I had and I could be way off base on it. It's a good question for the next Q&A if one of the devs don't reply here.
Or that its just an on going event, where you never technically have to restart, and you just go on with your existing party. Take them into future expansions, future modules, other player's mods. You know, kinda like Shogun Total War, you make an army, they get veterancy and you play with them forever....
The crew you have in 3025, isthe same crew you have in 3050 to stuff the clanners.
Or that its just an on going event, where you never technically have to restart, and you just go on with your existing party. Take them into future expansions, future modules, other player's mods. You know, kinda like Shogun Total War, you make an army, they get veterancy and you play with them forever....
The crew you have in 3025, isthe same crew you have in 3050 to stuff the clanners.
That seems unlikely. Both for pilots aging and for the clan problem. Taking a single IS lance against clan forces is... no.
Clans would need to appear in a sequel with significantly reworked mechanics. And almost certainly from the Clan point of view for campaign play, as multiple lances against Stars and emplacements like the miner mission we've seen would have a very bizarre and 'off' feel.
I made this diagram a while ago from the beta files... Even as messy as this looks, I'm pretty sure it's less linear than this. For example, pretty much anyone can switch to becoming a merchant or a criminal, or a navy background can easily switch to a pirate, etc.
One thing that really stood out was that it looked easier to get a very high tactics skill on a randomly generated MechWarrior than any other skill, so that may help making sniper/LRM lances viable in the early game. I'd say piloting looks like the hardest one to get a very high initial number on with this system, so if this looks at all like the final game you may have to put some effort in to get AoD pilots. Hopefully in the late game we can start hiring MechWarriors who somehow avoided being Kiva'ed long enough to accrue 30+ years of experience, and those would be easier to get initial piloting at or near AoD levels.
There were also a couple anomalies, for example the officer training node didn't cost as many years as its peers, and the worst one was that MechTech had way more skill points granted than its peers, for no extra time. Presumably this was all a work in progress at the time the beta files were pushed out, and has all been polished up since then.
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