Combine Battletech with Stellaris/CK on Innersphere Map.

[Moonsneeze]

Hi,

I'm not sure if this has been suggested before or not. I looked around and didn't see it.

It would be pretty cool if this game could capture more of the feel of the battletech storyline. Politics and scheming dominates in that universe and really you can see a model for it in crusader kings in terms of game mechanics.

Battletech's story has a lot of the same dynastic elements that go into it as well. The sons and daughters of mechwarrior leaders often go on to lead those units themselves. The noble houses speak for themselves in this regard. It doesn't seem like an implementation of these characters/polities into the "clauswitz" engine.

There is also an established historical background on which to base the game much like with crusader kings. A lot of the lore is already written and just needs to be adapted a bit. Perhaps to make the conversion easier it might be best to start with a recent era of the timeline and work backward and forward as necessary for the DLC's. Say the third succession war? But ultimately the most fun would be to play a mercenary unit or some other type of unit that forms perhaps after the Kerensky Exodus or some really early period. Then you play through all the way to the clan invasion which hits much like the mongols in CK. Or Aztecs etc.

The player gets to play as a mercenary unit or low ranking great house officer(vassal) during the game but ultimately with the potential to grow to bandit kingdom, pirate, some kind of military arm of a periphery commonality/banana republic or work their way up the ladder of a great house power structure ultimately to command more and more resources.

I don't want to beat this to death and write a huge page here. I just think that this game needs more flavor and depth. It needs a more open universe and naturally this includes aerotech as an integral part of establishing that invasion beachhead.

The game would need the full aerotech panoply as well as allowing for larger battles and commanding more forces. I'm definitely not talking about removing the turn based combat element or even changing or adapting it. Keep it the same but have combat result as a part of various great house/powers plotting and activities. Just expand all of that to include aerotech. For full on invasions and for providing cover for dropships during raids.

Anyway that's my humble suggestion. Obviously a lot needs to be added to flesh out this suggestion.

Do this and I'm down for lots of dlcs though.

 

[mjbroekman]

It's been suggested and many folks agree It would be awesome to have a 'grand strategy' game set in the BATTLETECH universe. The main problem is licensing the IP for it.

 

[Moonsneeze]

It's been suggested and many folks agree It would be awesome to have a 'grand strategy' game set in the BATTLETECH universe. The main problem is licensing the IP for it.

Weird. I never understand this IP Stuff. IT seems to me like they already have it or atleast access to it. Does the IP license they have define the scope of the game? All I was really suggesting in theory was adding a grand strategy element to the Battletech game that already exists. Just as a dlc.

I'm certainly not trying to argue about it. I wonder what part of the IP license would interfere with a GS dlc for Battletech.

I'm sure your right though. I'm really glad this has been suggested already hopefully some kind of movement happens on it in some way. As it is battletech is really kind of static. I had totally stopped playing the game until I found out about all the community mods. That breathed new life into the game but I'll get bored again.

In the end it's still just Battle Map ---- >>> Area Transition Screens ----->>>> Maybe Event -------->>>> Battle Map : REPEAT.

 

[Jade_Rook]

While a grand strategy version of Battletech would be awesome, I don't see it working as a DLC on this game. The scope and design of this game doesn't fit a grand strategy game. Also, this game isn't made with the Clauswitz engine. I'm not a programmer, but I bet merging two game engines isn't easy.

A Battletech grand strategy game would work much better as a separate game where it can be built from the beginning as a grand strategy game. The minutia of individual battles wouldn't have the detail that there is in this game.

As a separate game it would need to be licensed separately. Currently the license to develop a computer game in the Battletech universe is held by Microsoft. Harebrained Schemes licensed it to make this game, but we don't know all of the details on how much they are permitted to do. I expect a sequel or grand strategy version would require additional negotiations, but I am not a lawyer and I have no special insight into HBS and their contracts.

 

[Moonsneeze]

I really want to clarify my suggestion a bit. You've helped me to get a better idea of what exactly I was trying to flesh out.

Ultimately I don't want a grand strategy game if it would sacrifice the tactical game at all. I'm envisioning something perhaps a bit like total war with a strategic map and then various battle maps. Which is basically what we have currently only without the movable army markers on the strategic map. Instead we move a ship marker.

I love the table top esque Battletech that we have currently. This is the closest anybody has come to that experience I had as a kid playing these table top games with my friends. I want to see it expanded with mines, infantry, artillery, bigger maps, aerotech etc. Not done away with in favor of developing a more classical style grand strategy game.

But ultimately the career mode is kind of unsatisfying and the campaign mode is totally anemic once you have played through it. What is needed is a more fleshed out grander campaign mode. But not from a ground up perspective and nevermind about integrating any sort of other engine. That was clearly off target.

It's not impossible to basically give us the full IS map, expand the event pool, expand the units available per battle/ownership and allow for planetary control/politics. Also with more destroyable terrain and of course fires. Just needed to chuck that in.

The only real drawback would be the duration of a full aerotech/battletech campaign even using the quickened version of the table top rules we are using now. I personally wouldn't see that as a drawback. It's just the nature of this kind of strategy game.