Campaign length

[MeiSooHaityu]

None of that is an assumption. I simply stated facts. Hyperbole is exaggerated statements, which clearly isn't the case here. Amechwarrior's various AI mods performed much better than the one we ended Beta with. The sight/radar ranges we ended Beta with severely limited the effectiveness of long range direct fire weapons. I had a couple hundred hours in the Beta and I tested mods heavily to see the difference, so I'm not just pontificating without basis.

Of course Beta is a test bed, but they didn't make a lot of changes while it went on. Therefore, when the game launches, HBS will need to see how successful their changes were and act accordingly, like any game.

Also, nowhere did I judge this game. I'm old, I've played everything to do with BT since 1985 and I am incredibly happy to have this game. I want it to succeed wonderfully and add lots of content over a significant game life. I have faith in HBS or I wouldn't have backed the KS, but I'm not going to naively assume everything will be just right at launch.

You're entitled to your opinion, but my post wasn't negative, it certainly wasn't exaggerated, and it didn't warrant your response at all.

Stating that certain game values and AI performance in the Beta will be identical in the full release game is not fact, and is instead an assumption being made. Those observations may be accurate for how the Beta performed, however automatically applying those observations to the final product (and emphasizing that as fact), is misleading and is it important to make sure that is clarified. Also, a statement saying that the game shouldn't be played until it can be patched down the road due to Beta observations, that does come across as an exaggeration.

That was the intention of my post, and why I felt it was necessary to point that out.

 

[Tnarien]

However, your post is missing an extremely vital piece of information. They explicitly stated that those ranges were intentionally shortened, and spawns moved closer together, for testing purposes. So drawing conclusions based on the Beta numbers is still flawed.

Not to mention the absolute game changer that persistence will be.

 

[Cyttorak001]

Devs already said they were increasing the visual range to 300m, IIRC. They also say the AI is better than in the Beta (and we already knew the AI performed better with extended visual range anyway).
Regarding campaign length, I note that devs also said if you don't support the Restoration and the Collective/Dominion (whatever the bad guys are called) win, they will eventually start giving you procedurally-generated contracts too. It's just that we know there are special rewards for taking Restoration missions. Devs hinted that it was one of only about 3 ways to get a new 'Mech.

 

[stjobe]

Not to mention the absolute game changer that persistence will be.

For sure. Beta was simple death-match; it never mattered if you won with four pristine 'Mechs or with just a one-legged arm-less no-armour 'Mech left. The campaign, on the other side will punish you severely if you run those attrition rates - since you have to pay both in C-Bills and time for anything damaged on the battlefield.

There's a reason they put in a "retreat" button...

 

[Tnarien]

For sure. Beta was simple death-match; it never mattered if you won with four pristine 'Mechs or with just a one-legged arm-less no-armour 'Mech left. The campaign, on the other side will punish you severely if you run those attrition rates - since you have to pay both in C-Bills and time for anything damaged on the battlefield.

There's a reason they put in a "retreat" button...

If for nothing else than it makes DFA a slightly less ridiculously powerful option I'm glad this is the case.

 

[stjobe]

If for nothing else than it makes DFA a slightly less ridiculously powerful option I'm glad this is the case.

Oh yes. DFA doesn't look even remotely as tempting when you know it'll cost you many thousands of C-Bills in repairs. It'll be a last-ditch desperation move like it is actually described in lore.

 

[Gorski123]

I believe all of the missions are procedurally generated, except for the story missions. My current guess for number of story missions is 13. That could be quite a bit off though.

 

[Cynwulf]

I believe all of the missions are procedurally generated, except for the story missions. My current guess for number of story missions is 13. That could be quite a bit off though.

that low i was think more in line of 25...we shall see hopefully we are both wrong and it ends up being even more!

 

[Bilbo999]

that low i was think more in line of 25...we shall see hopefully we are both wrong and it ends up being even more!

I believe he's assuming each mission corresponds to an achievement seen in another thread. I can't imagine that's all there is. You would think there would be runup to most of the events listed in that thread.

 

[Galaga Galaxian]

Not to mention the absolute game changer that persistence will be.

Yeah, I've been watching a hackjob Against the Bot/MekHQ + Btech Beta Let's play, and its usually less "will we win?" and more "Will we win without losing a mech/pilot?" and gets pretty tense.

 

[Eximar]

Stating that certain game values and AI performance in the Beta will be identical in the full release game is not fact,

You need to read my post again. I said "...and a long list of other things that HBS will have changed..." Clearly stating the exact opposite of saying that certain game values and AI performance will be identical in the full game release.

Also, a statement saying that the game shouldn't be played until it can be patched down the road due to Beta observations, that does come across as an exaggeration.

This is also inaccurate. I recommended holding off on the campaign and then said "Play MP and Skirmish and give them lots of feedback." The vast majority of people won't heed that recommendation, but many years of experience just made me want to point that out. I will be playing the hell out of the game from the second I download it and I hope everyone else will too.

Anyway, I understand your intention, but I feel like you missed what I really said. I'll let it go now.

 

[Gorski123]

that low i was think more in line of 25...we shall see hopefully we are both wrong and it ends up being even more!

I have been wondering about campaign length quite a bit recently. I think we will be playing a lot of random missions between restoration missions.

Let's say you have just finished a restoration mission and travel to a another planet to do some missions. There are 5 missions there and you complete them in about 2 months game time(including repairs). Now it is time for another restoration mission. If we go with 13 story missions and say that missions take 30 minutes each, we end up with a campaign length of 30+ hours and about 3 years game time. I fudged the travel time a bit.

This feels off to me for a few reasons. HBS would not have needed Kiva to spend a lot of time designing the merc sim elements to accomplish the campaign detailed above. So, triple the number of random missions and now we have a game that takes 90 hours to complete. You guys might be right about there being more story missions or even a few lead up missions to the 'story' missions that did not take as much dev time. 100+ hours? Now, we are looking at a game that takes so long to play that the majority of the people that bought the game will not complete it. I wonder what the numbers look like for X-Com or Civ.

Anyways, I can't wait for this game. I am confident that HBS has made a fantastic game that will keep me busy for a long time.