Summary of HBS developer AMA on Reddit

[Packrat]

I think we need to remember the Lore as much as the rules.

Yes, those mechs that need the stock DHS in engines to do anything are going to be in a rough spot, relatively. But so is everything else. What they will still have is versatility. The flip side here is the various Jack of All Trade mechs that are suddenly more useful too, despite being all but useless in base TT games.

And hey, sometimes dealing with an overheat shut down to get an alpha strike is worth it for these other mechs too.

But in the novels and other fiction? Even those heat neutral clan mechs don't run heat neutral. Pilots RARELY alpha strike in any mech, EVER (Heck, remember Thunder Rift? They mention the LOCUST runs hot! that's physically impossible by TT rules!). IMHO, those mechs will finally work more as designed, and if anything are left with some redundancy.

Heck, this game made the SHADOWHAWK useful. That mech is GARBAGE in the TT game compared to most of the other stock builds out there. Here? It's worth it. So I have faith, and am not bothered by the energy thing.

Also, there's at least one item in the game that reduces heat build up on energy weapons by 15%, it does weigh 3 tons, but it's possible a '0' tonnage one might exist for some clan mechs to make up for things too. So yeah, there's ways out there.

I'm not demanding that everything maintain precisely the same level of relative usefulness as in tabletop. I get that things are going to fluctuate seeing as this is a whole new game system and all. I just don't want tons of mechs to suddenly have Rifleman Syndrome where they mount weapon systems they can hardly ever use because of the heat, a situation we already see with the Awesome in this game. If they need to get creative to find a solution, so be it, though I think just tweaking down the heat values of the large and lostech energy weapons would be by far the easiest fix.

 

[project_mercy]

I like the grudge idea, and I'm really hoping they make those options for salvage changes. Really more "second wave" options is nice all around, as is an Ironman setting.

I didn't see anything about the unseen showing up. Did that get asked?

 

[TheWackyWombat]

Clan mechs are supposed to run hotter. That is the tradeoff for the superior range and damage. The fact that they can't alpha strike as often is, quite literally, the balancing factor in lore. That said, there wouldn't be anything preventing you from stripping some weapons to shove in heatsinks.

I thought one of the disadvantages of Omnimechs was even though you could change the weapon pods easily, you couldn't change any of the standard equipment without redesigning the mech.

I know the clans did run battlemechs, but most of the most iconic clan models are omni

 

[dulahan]

I'm not demanding that everything maintain precisely the same level of relative usefulness as in tabletop. I get that things are going to fluctuate seeing as this is a whole new game system and all. I just don't want tons of mechs to suddenly have Rifleman Syndrome where they mount weapon systems they can hardly ever use because of the heat, a situation we already see with the Awesome in this game. If they need to get creative to find a solution, so be it, though I think just tweaking down the heat values of the large and lostech energy weapons would be by far the easiest fix.

The good news is they already said they're rebalancing energy weapons. So I definitely think there's reason to be confident about that.

I like the grudge idea, and I'm really hoping they make those options for salvage changes. Really more "second wave" options is nice all around, as is an Ironman setting.

I didn't see anything about the unseen showing up. Did that get asked?

I imagine they can't comment on that even if they wanted to.

 

[Flying Dice]

Reinforcements appearing at the start of missions confirmed not a bug, but it's unexpected due to poor communication. Likely changes to the difficulty rating of missions though to make them more accurate.

I would get that it happens sometimes, but it is nearly every mission that has them and the "not a bug" conflicts with the VO that you get when you kill the last of the original mechs. it is also very annoying as there is little better salvage in those mission, as they tend to be lower tonnage mechs.

After testing it quite a bit, it seems that the reinforcement alter message specficially bugs out if you make contact with them prior to engaging the primary target. If you damage/kill elements of the primary or the secondary wanders into range after you've made contact with the primary, the message plays properly.

The bug is with the message not displaying at the appropriate time under certain circumstances, not with the secondary force being on-map at mission start.

 

[Wandering Sentinel]

I'll admit that when I first heard about this I thought it'd be possible to help the major powers expand/take over systems from other powers or cause independence movements in systems to cause them to slowly fall apart, perhaps even an option to help form a new nation either by helping the leader of a local planetary government unite their region of space or by starting one on your own kind of thing.

Also, regarding the Unseen I'd assume they can't mention them while the HG vs. PGI lawsuit is still ongoing and they're not willing to poke that hornet nest until either HG loses and the new designs for the Unseen are safe to use or PGI loses and HBS can officially say the new Unseen designs are completely off the table.

 

[Zeusbunnyears]

Do we have a timeline on when said rebalance and freelc are coming out? I love the base game, but really want the energy weapon changes and availability of SLDF weaponry.

 

[mjbroekman]

I thought one of the disadvantages of Omnimechs was even though you could change the weapon pods easily, you couldn't change any of the standard equipment without redesigning the mech.

I know the clans did run battlemechs, but most of the most iconic clan models are omni

The weapon pods were more for being able to change the hardpoint loadout so you could turn an energy heavy loadout into a missile heavy loadout or a more balanced loadout as opposed to changing a medium laser loadout to a large laser loadout.

At least in the Mechwarrior series of games, you could change loadouts almost to your heart's content (same with MechCommander really). I don't see that changing here either.

 

[dulahan]

Do we have a timeline on when said rebalance and freelc are coming out? I love the base game, but really want the energy weapon changes and availability of SLDF weaponry.

No, per the AMA, they haven't even met to do the roadmap yet. I imagine the rebalances will be priority after general stability in the game is done though.

 

[Taricus]

Isnt that supposed to be WAD? It's 3025, there are no DHS in sight, why would engine heat sinks be DHS?

Apologies, I didn't make the wording clear. I meant the SL tech battlemechs that are in game (The (SPOILER) ones)

No complaints about formerly bad mechs becoming worthwhile though, though the DHS affects more than the clans and I do think the IS designs do benefit more from engine DHS due to needing more crit slots per DHS.

Same about clan mechs running hot, though how hot shouldn't be 'will shutdown from one partial salvo'.

I thought one of the disadvantages of Omnimechs was even though you could change the weapon pods easily, you couldn't change any of the standard equipment without redesigning the mech.

I know the clans did run battlemechs, but most of the most iconic clan models are omni

AFAIK heat sinks are part of the equipment that can be put into omnipods, same with targeting computers and the like. Basically it's just the stuff that's integral to the chassis, like armour, that can't be changed without effectively spoiling the omni- part of the mech.[/SPOILER]

 

[SpectralShade]

a) He said that QoL and polish are at the top of their priority list, and that's what they are actively working right now. There will be both new free content and DLC down the road, but they haven't even met to determine a roadmap yet.

b) The mechanic is working as intended, but the use of the word 'reinforcements' carries a connotation that they did not intend (ie that the extra OpFor are backup units that should arrive later, not that they are additional units that were not anticipated by the intel). They're going to reword things.

It's a bug. Plain and simple.

Darius specifically telling you "heads up, enemy re-inforcements incomming" several turns AFTER you already killed the re-inforcements he is talking about quite clearly shows it is not "working as intended". And when he does this right before his next trigger speech fires off: "that's all of them. Good job commander" shows even more clear their triggers are all messed up.

The jumping around of dificulty levels on missions is another pet peeve of mine.
Example:
-Here, there's only this mission for you here. It's within your difficulty parameter to deal with and gives about the same reward (sometimes a little less) than the previous missions you did.
-you accept the mission and travel to the system in question. When you arrive your finances are rock bottom and you need the income from this mission to avert bankruptcy. No other missions available in system without traveling.
-Mission launch. : Oh hey, I just beefed up the difficulty while you were traveling here. It's maxed out on skulls now. Have fun trying an impossible mission you need to complete not to go bankrupt.
-In mission: ok, killed 2 assaults so far, only 2 more assaults from primary objective before I can tail it and 4 assault escorts that are right on top of them. Might be doable... Oh... Nice, a full lance of heavies in my rear too? yeah, forget this.

Seriously, stuff like that makes save scumming a must because your entire game just gets thrown down the drain due to traveltimes between missions and RNG can put you in plain impossible situations.

 

[dulahan]

One thing I'd love to add to my wishlist. Some form of "Intel" bonuses in our upgrade, to make our mission intel less likely to be 'bad.'

Especially now that we know that the reinforcements being on map is 'as designed' instead of a bug. Giving us a better chance of seeing if a mission might be tougher than expected would be nice.

 

[Abydos_1]

One thing I'd love to add to my wishlist. Some form of "Intel" bonuses in our upgrade, to make our mission intel less likely to be 'bad.'

Especially now that we know that the reinforcements being on map is 'as designed' instead of a bug. Giving us a better chance of seeing if a mission might be tougher than expected would be nice.

Regarding intel. I've wondered why, intel never states anything about sighted / expected tonnage in the area (very few might mention or hint at something). We just hear "there is a lance" So tying into your idea of intel bonus, it would be helpful to get an estimate, at least for the main-force.

 

[Aries37]

I'll admit that when I first heard about this I thought it'd be possible to help the major powers expand/take over systems from other powers or cause independence movements in systems to cause them to slowly fall apart, perhaps even an option to help form a new nation either by helping the leader of a local planetary government unite their region of space or by starting one on your own kind of thing.

Yeah I thought this too. Was a bit disappointed with the post-game until this update from the developers

 

[Remnar]

I'll admit that when I first heard about this I thought it'd be possible to help the major powers expand/take over systems from other powers or cause independence movements in systems to cause them to slowly fall apart, perhaps even an option to help form a new nation either by helping the leader of a local planetary government unite their region of space or by starting one on your own kind of thing.

More or less like Mount and Blade, in style.

That's what I was hoping for too, I like what we got but that would be really fun. Hopefully whatever they come up with is great as well.

 

[WarHippy]

I kinda hope they don't as I don't want this game ruined by multiplayer crying killing the balance for the actual game. Seen that in too many other games

I see comments like this a lot in various games, and the reality is that both sides cry and kill the balancing for each other. This game is supposed to have PVP as well and it was already put on the backburner, but it should get some serious attention at some point.

 

[Aries37]

I see comments like this a lot in various games, and the reality is that both sides cry and kill the balancing for each other. This game is supposed to have PVP as well and it was already put on the backburner, but it should get some serious attention at some point.

So far doesn't sound like PvP is a priority for them which is ok with me

 

[Wandering Sentinel]

I mean, in theory they could create a "multiplayer" version of every mech and weapon and have the multiplayer and single player versions balanced for the game mode they'd appear in (multiplayer mechs won't appear in campaign for instance) but that'd be a bit of work still... And I'm sure we all know that eventually someone's going to "balance" the wrong version and send everyone into a frenzy if they tried that solution anyways.

 

[KhazadDhum]

And no one asked about Quads?

 

[Bayushi Tasogare]

Regarding intel. I've wondered why, intel never states anything about sighted / expected tonnage in the area (very few might mention or hint at something). We just hear "there is a lance" So tying into your idea of intel bonus, it would be helpful to get an estimate, at least for the main-force.

Well, if it's part of the contract... when would you find this out that it's useful, if you negotiate it? If it's part of the negotiations, then you can't see it until after negotiations are complete... which means you accepted the mission. So the earliest you could see this would be when you are selecting Mechs and Mechwarriors to execute the contract. You wouldn't be able to say... yeah, no, don't want to do this at this point because the intel has already been provided, and letting you go back would undermine the entire procedure.

So you would get intel after it is too late whether to accept or decline the mission. I guess it might help to know when/whether you should abort the contract, but that seems like... very bad play. Who would give up guaranteed money in a contract to have a better idea of whether they should take it..? I mean, how would this work?

I do like the idea of 'extra lances' helping you. A very easy way for them to do so is to prevent reinforcements. Say you are given a mission that is a straight-up battle. Say you are told that there are reinforcements known to be in the area. In this case, it might give you an option to deploy an additional full lance of Mechs which all have a certain property (e.g., they all need JJs in a mountainous environment, they all need to move 6 hexes / be light). You don't control them, but if you can do that, the reinforcements don't show up. That would be a really nice and likely implementable tweak to the current system.