More Lances Please

[XxOdinxX]

For Expansions or Battletech 2 Please allow use to control multiple lances .
The game is awsome, can't get enough of it....but again more lances bigger battles .

 

[Serenity84]

They want to keep it at 4 mechs per battle. But what be really cool is larger, parallel battles where you have to drop 2 or 3 lances. And then you get to control each one in turn. That would give you some use for all your mechs and require to have a larger roster of pilots.

 

[Bjorn Jorgensson]

Totally agree, if we can house 24 mechwarriors and the Argo can hold up to 18 mechs we need to be able to field more lances.

 

[Sasuga]

I would like to field three or four lances as well please. The classic game X-Com: Apocalypse allowed players to field tons of squads and units in those squads (I forget how many) and I love(d) that game! I also grew up playing Battletech, and while I played many games with multiple players each running a single Mech, my favorite is to have a large point buy where two sides field 12 or so mechs, several vehicles, and even infantry.

I would love to see Battletech continue to expand, grow, and move closer and closer to the table-top game as a timeline increases with it... To the point that when the Clan's invade players can field three lances against a couple of stars, along with Elemental, Long Toms, and standard infantry. I would like to be a general leading a massive army in a turn based game. It seems to me that so many games these days have been dumbed down. This game is great, but it can be greater!

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Its like game developers think players can't count higher than four. :-/

 

[Nyte Kitsune]

Would also like to be able to deploy more mechs, a lance is all well and good, but why not a reinforced lance (6 mechs) and instead of a Leopard Class dropship, one that carries 6 mechs (Confederate Class, which could carry up to 6 mechs (Less cargo space) or 4 Mechs and 2 Aerospace Fighters) or even upgrade to a Union Class dropship (12 mechs). Many of the missions feel like they were made to be fought against with a larger group, but we're limited to a single lance, making many missions more difficult than really necessary.

Its like game developers think players can't count higher than four. :-/

This does seem to be the standard, many games I play have a "4 man" squad/party, A few examples, Dragon Age: Inquisition, SWToR, FFXIV, FFXV, which is typically 1 tank, 1 healer and 2 DPS (not applicable to Battletech), but you get the point, so yeah.. guys, more lances! If I'm going to have to pay to keep them in my mech bay (Yes, I know I can store mechs), I'd like to be able to deploy more at once. After all, I like to have a scout handy, but I can't send a scout with the lance without sacrificing tonnage, which is almost guaranteed to cause me to fail unless I bring as much weight as possible, which is just plain silly.

Aditionally, mentioned on another thread, how about having some support vehicles on our side, though instead of having them as part of the unit, have them be allied ground support (which could include a few mechs) to even things out on occasion.

 

[DarkSpade]

I think 3 lances would be excessive and probably make missions take too long. Two lances would be fantastic though. As it stands now, you're almost always better off bringing 4 assault mechs to the late game and sitting there watching the AI move its 8 to 12(or more) lighter units before I get to play is rather boring. I'm also sick of being swarmed. It's not fun anymore. I want a tactical challenge, not survive the horde.

 

[Sasuga]

I think 3 lances would be excessive and probably make missions take too long. Two lances would be fantastic though. As it stands now, you're almost always better off bringing 4 assault mechs to the late game and sitting there watching the AI move its 8 to 12(or more) lighter units before I get to play is rather boring. I'm also sick of being swarmed. It's not fun anymore. I want a tactical challenge, not survive the horde.

I'm not that far along, and yet I'm already feeling the same way. I'm only deploying one assault mech right now, and some heavies, and already I'm feeling like sitting in the middle of the map is not only the best strategy, but the only one.

I too was hoping for a more tactical challenge. Three lances would be nice, but a full company would be better: Three lances of mechs, then a lance of light mechs and/or vehicles.

Although, it could just be cool to have four dropships, where one dropship can carry a lance of assaults, another dropship can only handle a lance of heavies or lower, and a third medium or lower, and a fourth lights or lower such as vehicles.

Which would allow you to deploy a large variety, without allowing you to deploy four lances of assaults which wouldn't really give a tactical challenge and instead end up being the same problem we have now, just with more mechs and fire power.

Another option would be to have four dropships, each dropship able to (tonnage wise) carry one assault, one heavy, one medium, and one light. - Ultimately resulting in the same thing, but maybe making more sense in the universe of Battletech.

 

[The Shadowhawke]

They want to keep it at 4 mechs per battle. But what be really cool is larger, parallel battles where you have to drop 2 or 3 lances. And then you get to control each one in turn. That would give you some use for all your mechs and require to have a larger roster of pilots.

It would be one thing if the maps were set for four, but the problem difficulty level means sometimes that's daft and unbalanced as Darius, which of course invokes another argument, regarding enemy numbers.

The game is based on a very strong translation of tabletop battletech to the PC, and unless you have a specific scenario in mind, you are NOT going to accept a contract and drop in to face two lances of mechs and armor and perhaps some turret defenses on a facility.

Even if your mechs are all tricked out and your unit is elite, there are limits to what a lance should be able to do. First and foremost, the balance issue MUST be solved.

I do quite well in many missions, but then you get an overwhelming mission, the sort of stuff any competent Intel is not going to miss. So that's where I roll back to a pre mission save and move on, because I assume I had competent Intel and took a pass on it

 

[The Shadowhawke]

I think 3 lances would be excessive and probably make missions take too long. Two lances would be fantastic though. As it stands now, you're almost always better off bringing 4 assault mechs to the late game and sitting there watching the AI move its 8 to 12(or more) lighter units before I get to play is rather boring. I'm also sick of being swarmed. It's not fun anymore. I want a tactical challenge, not survive the horde.

Technically even a survive the horde scenario is a tactical challenge like anything else: I've simply learned how to fight that. Salvage isn't your concern when facing the horde,; getting mechs and armor dead ASAP, eliminating the high priority targets first IS your concern. Battletech always comes down to numbers, and the quicker you even them them up the better your battlefield attrition and endurance will be.

My formula for the horde is simple; charge or push to good terrain. Areas of high gound where you can limit their field of fire and maximize yours. Water sources where.you can keep pounding them, even after their heat sinks are about to give out.

The best maps have terrain where we can do both, and then you're just epic deadly. To a certain point of practical, fighting the horde can be an adrenaline rush to me.

But I agree with your gripe: the game relIes on it far too much, and if too much tonnage is coming at you, there's a point where a scenario just isn't practical in terms of reward vs risk and effort, because we have a business to run, and getting our units trashed on a regular basis is bad business.


I think the problem is that MW BT games traditionally have bad AI. I've watched this game's AI do some smart stuff, but then it turns around and does really stupid stuff, like running in to physical one of my mechs, but then leaves their back armor open to my assault mechs.

Hordes are the quick way to make the game difficult.