Devs, can we get a streamer who knows BT mechanics?

[Hippy]

If you want to player tabletop BattleTech... there is MegaMek. This is not table top and was never supposed to be table top. from the start HBS has been saying of bringing the feeling of table top and updating it to a tactical turn based computer game. There are things that just do not work in a computer game (like simultaneous turn actions) and things that a table top player cannot be expected to do (like over the top, complex to hit allocations).

I personally think they have created their own vision of the BattleTech universe and created something VERY playable. I also think that players from Mech Warrior Online will have issues with the "lack of customisation" compared to their own game. That table top players will have issues with several things like heat damage or turn orders etc. Everyone has their own starting point in the BattleTech IP. Just enjoy the game for itself instead of comparing it to your background in the universe.

With the above said, watching some of the streamers from a MechWarrior Online background I can see their influences clearly in the knowledge's they present on the game. Personally I myself have had a LONG history with BattleTech dating back to the Crescent Hawks Revenge. But my recent resurgent knowledge came from MechWarrior Online, then the HBS BattleTech forums, then the Hyper RPG show Death From Above, then this lead me to both Table Top and the Role Playing systems. The only thing I am missing is the books... I would put my hand up for a streaming key, but I know I have no (almost non) followers for my channel and my channels not devoted to gaming, rather live role playing. Some of the Streamers have done well, others poorly. There are many different ways to stream, even "Lets Play" can be done so differently. In this case Cohh Carnage was amazing.

 

[Panpiper]

There really is no way to post this question without risking hurting feelings I suppose, but it is supremely frustrating to someone who has been steeped in Battletech for 35 years, to watch those streaming the game, floundering about. Even those streamers who have invested dozens of hours seem to have learned very little at all. SideStrafe today as a forinstance, after something like sixty hours already with the game, had to wonder how much a heat sink weighed, while clearly having not a clue how to upgrade his lance.

Are there any streamers or YouTubers out there who either have an extensive background in Battletech, or enough wargaming acumen to actually understand numbers and the concept of min/max optimization?

 

[President Jyrgunkarrd]

It is a brand new friggin' game, dude. Chill out.

Literally nobody knows what they are doing yet, except maybe the game's internal QA team.

 

[Panpiper]

It is a brand new friggin' game, dude. Chill out.

Literally nobody knows what they are doing yet, except maybe the game's internal QA team.

It is NOT a new game. It is not even close to a new game. The original creator of the game, originally created 35 years ago, was intimately involved in creating this one as a faithful adaptation of the board game to computer, with a few additions made easy by virtue of it being a computer game. But virtually everything anyone learned in the boardgame is 100% transferable to this game, especially things like how to outfit mechs and combine arms (weapons) for maximum effect.

 

[President Jyrgunkarrd]

It is NOT a new game. It is not even close to a new game. The original creator of the game, originally created 35 years ago, was intimately involved in creating this one as a faithful adaptation of the board game to computer, with a few additions made easy by virtue of it being a computer game. But virtually everything anyone learned in the boardgame is 100% transferable to this game, especially things like how to outfit mechs and combine arms (weapons) for maximum effect.

While this is true, there are enough balance changes (especially in terms of heat) to shake-up the meta. Builds that used to be TT staples will probably not be mainstays in the game.


The point is, though, that expecting YouTube or Twitch content creators to be instantly familiar with BattleTech and have optimal builds or tactics (and be demonstrating optimal use of both while also interacting with an audience) is totally unreasonable.

 

[Eisberg]

It is NOT a new game. It is not even close to a new game. The original creator of the game, originally created 35 years ago, was intimately involved in creating this one as a faithful adaptation of the board game to computer, with a few additions made easy by virtue of it being a computer game. But virtually everything anyone learned in the boardgame is 100% transferable to this game, especially things like how to outfit mechs and combine arms (weapons) for maximum effect.

Why does it even matter? Battletech fans already know about this game and would have already determined if they are going to buy it or not. The Streamers are for marketing towards non Battletech fans, to entice these types of people to buy the game. Makes more sense to use people who are not experts to market towards those who are also not experts, it makes it more relatable for the watcher

 

[DerAva]

Are there any streamers or YouTubers out there who either have an extensive background in Battletech, or enough wargaming acumen to actually understand numbers and the concept of min/max optimization?

For what it's worth I played my first game of tabletop BattleTech in '94 and played it a lot in the late 90s / early 00s. Not much opportunity to play it in recent years, but I can probably still list the weapon range/damage/heat/weight table from the top of my head. You're welcome to check out the series to see if that's what you are looking for, although at the current state of the campaign I've not spend much time on mech customization yet - I'm trying to do more missions, and don't want to take a mech out of the field for such a long time just yet. It will happen at some point, that's for sure.

 

[Tophat]

Kanashi who does MWO videos is a good streamer and I believe a backer of this game. Look for vids from him Friday,over the weekend or shortly after release.

 

[President Jyrgunkarrd]

FilthyRobot, who is a very good min/max player when it comes to games in general, put on a good show tonight featuring excellent play.

...Till he drank a bit too much champagne to celebrate with his wife the completion of her PhD dissertation, anyway.


Observations from the stream: Holy crap, LRMs are just ridiculous when fired with direct LoS. They absolutely trash their target.

 

[Prussian Havoc]

So many, many Streamers now... anyone have any thoughts as to which one appears to be most steeped in BattleTech Lore and BATTLETECH game mechanics?

 

[Conray]

really enjoyed watching this streamer: https://www.twitch.tv/tabletopweekly

wasn't too familiar with BT, but had a quick grasp on concepts and is a fast learner i think, on top of that i really liked his melee centric playstyle

 

[Delta Assault]

BradM73 on youtube had a really long stream today. He actually got to play through Liberation Panzyr and it was pretty epic. Really enjoyed it.

 

[Daneiel Adder]

So many, many Streamers now... anyone have any thoughts as to which one appears to be most steeped in BattleTech Lore and BATTLETECH game mechanics?

I personaly enjoyed the stream of Magz , but sadly he is Australian and the time zones make it a bit difficult for me to watch it .

P.S. I hope he will put it on youtube so i can watch it .

 

[Bam_Boozler]

I agree that Anaro Sunfire is one of the better Beta Streamers. I've learn more about BattleTech tactics from him compared to all the other Streamers combined.

Check you some of his BattleTech Beta YouTube videos: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCXECXwzCIEYHfZl_y7163ag/playlists?shelf_id=10&sort=dd&view=50

 

[Havamal]

Greetings Mechwarriors,

Mechwarriors are welcome to share their personal perspective, but;
Please remain civil and respectful even in critique.

Posts choosing not to do so risk unfortunate Jump Drive malfunctions to the Far country to be used as nesting materials by the locals.

Thank you

 

[SectionZ]

I backed the game, never heard of Cohh until now. And already it's clear he's sold a zillion copies of the game just from how many times he's stopped to explain to buyers where his GOG sponsorship kickback link is. Between stopping to answer questions about the mechanics he did learn along the way, and saying it's a million times deeper than X-com to people comparing it to X-com.

Funny enough, the most educating parts of newbie streams even for people familiar with the setting has been watching them follow the screaming advice of "Veterans" only for it to fall flat and turn into people asking them to stop instead.

"More PPC snipers, MORE PPC SNIPERS!-Oh turns out a Panther and a Griffon with it's missiles removed so it can PPC harder can't spread the damage around fast enough against multiple heavy targets with bulwark and an AI smart enough to use cover terrain. Go figure."

 

[Flying Dice]

It is a brand new friggin' game, dude. Chill out.

Literally nobody knows what they are doing yet, except maybe the game's internal QA team.

What's genuinely frustrating are the people who don't do any of the tutorials on the Leopard, don't read alerts, don't read mouseover text, ask why they have low hit chance/whatever but never listen to chat or follow up. People who keep doing the same [Mod edit: Please be respectful in critque] over and over while making no attempt to learn from it.

That's immensely frustrating, and it's why I like Odd's videos, because he actually reads things and works out what he's doing wrong... eventually.

 

[Cyttorak001]

FilthyRobot, who is a very good min/max player when it comes to games in general, put on a good show tonight featuring excellent play.

...Till he drank a bit too much champagne to celebrate with his wife the completion of her PhD dissertation, anyway.


Observations from the stream: Holy crap, LRMs are just ridiculous when fired with direct LoS. They absolutely trash their target.

I only saw the last mission, and the replay of the same mission this morning. I came away with the impression that he didn't know what he was doing.
I would say that he's no better than an average player at this point.

 

[MacroNova]

One of the sharpest gamers in the biz started a playthru. He goes by xwynns on youtube.

 

[Marauder3D]

The thing is about all the streamers: if you haven't played the Beta, or have TT experience, you aren't going to understand the value of facing your strong side toward the enemy, sharing armor, focus fire, and all the little tricks to make the game easier. Let's be honest: BT has a curve that can be...unkind to new players.

I think the streamers are probably learning at the same rate we all did, way back when we started. It just seems slow to us now because we know the mechanics so well.