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Prime Forge

Recruit
Dec 16, 2017
8
18
Like the title says im thinking of buying battletech.

My big question is how is it? Im a very casual battletech player, so if its not exactly like the tt thats fine


Ive also dabbled in the older mechwarrior rpg, not my favorite but a close secind to vampire. What if any of the rpg elements were included?

Ive played crusader kings 2 i have seen the DLC waves, (if the game is good ill buy them up) do any of you think battletech is going to head that way?

And lastly any personal pros and cons to the game you would like to share?
 
The game is based on the TT game but with some notable changes to bring it to a digital format; most notably the turn order is different. Most changes from TT were made in order to have battles run no longer than 30 minutes.

As for RPG elements, you level up your MechWarriors in four stats and get to choose three abilities (out of eight) while doing so. Each MechWarrior has a different background that may play into events that occur while travelling the galaxy. And of course you have the Mechlab, where you get to customize your 'Mechs (big change from TT is that you cannot change the engine).

There's also the managerial aspect of the game where you decide on pay levels, who to drop in what 'Mech, what salvage to pick, and what missions to take.

Finally, our base, the Argo, is upgradable as well (including a zero-g pool!).

Do you like X-Com? Battle Brothers? The game is a bit like both, in different regards. The goal of the game is to manage your mercenary company and not go bankrupt while doing so (this is the only game-ender; if you still have C-Bills, you can always continue playing even if you lose all your 'Mechs and MechWarriors).

There's four different game modes:
  • Single player campaign (the original game mode, a rather long series of scripted battles in-between which you take on whatever contracts you fancy to build yourself up for the next scripted mission)
  • Single player career (which is more of a sandbox, you roam at will throughout the galaxy, taking whatever missions you want without an overarching story to it)
  • Single player skirmish (one-off battles against the AI)
  • Multi-player skirmish (one-off battles against another player)
In addition, should you buy the Flashpoint DLC, there are flashpoints both in career mode and after the campaign is finished in campaign mode. Flashpoints are a series of connected missions with a short, branching story to connect them. If the campaign is BattleTech: The movie, flashpoints are BattleTech: The TV Series.

Speaking of DLCs, there are three: Flashpoint, Urban Warfare, and Heavy Metal. There won't be any more since HBS has moved on to other projects. I suggest you get all three (they are frequently on sale) for the full experience. The game is perfectly playable without any DLCs, but they each bring something extra to the experience; flashpoints, mega-city maps, and the classic Unseen 'Mechs.

There's also a whole slew of mods to alter gameplay; HBS made sure to make the game easily moddable - and even if you're not a programmer, it's easy to change e.g. your starting lance just by editing a JSON file.

As for being a strategy game, you'll soon notice that strategy actually matters. Running head-long into the enemy is generally not a viable tactic - but it may be from time to time.

In short, if you like BattleTech, if you like turn-based strategy, if you like X-Com or Battle Brothers, this game won't disappoint.
 
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As a long-time player of the TT game, I picked this up recently (just the base game with the latest patches, no expansions), and am about half-way through the main campaign. So far, I'd say it's well worth what I paid, but I probably wouldn't pay full price for it. If you're at all familiar with the "clicky-base" game that came out well over a decade ago, or the BT collectable card game, this has got a few "special action" meta-game elements which remind me of them. It's still "mostly" traditional Battletech, with a few odd twists: armor and weapon damage are scaled up by a factor of around 5, and heat effects and piloting skill checks don't matter at all until you exceed some threshold, in which case you automatically fail and the full effects are applied; skill level changes the threshold slightly. The to-hit odds are MOSTLY based on "chevrons" gained by movement and special actions, with range and weapon skill having smaller effects on those odds than in the TT game.

Be aware that loading times are absurd (I've taken bathroom breaks during loading, and gotten back before it finished), and the map seems to "float" back and forth annoyingly as you plot moves or select things which move the map; it's almost enough to make me sea-sick, and too easy to click on the wrong spot because the map moved as you clicked. The simulation of explosions and flying debris look satisfying, but the firing distances are ridiculously short even for direct-fire weapons unless you have a spotter. Moving fast builds "chevrons" which make you harder to hit, but each time a unit attacks you (whether it hits or misses), you lose a chevron, so it's sort-of like the movement modifiers in the TT game, but not quite, and the shooter's movement doesn't have any effect on its shooting odds (you can jump and shoot with the same odds as standing still).

No, for some unexplainable reason you can't see that huge skyscraper with the turret on top or that large 'Mech lumbering toward you at a mere quarter mile distance, but you can shoot at it with only a minor penalty if one of your lance-mates is close enough to see it.....and it can shoot at you if any one of the enemy is close enough to see you. Basically, unless you have a spotter that gets close enough to allow long-ranged fire, it's all relatively short-ranged weapons, and you can count on the OPFOR having at least one or two fast, hard-to-hit spotters out in front, and LRMs somewhere far behind to rain down on you. In the later stages, when somehow everyone is fielding lances of rare Assault 'Mechs, long-ranged weapons fire is capable of taking down lesser targets before their short-ranged weapons come into play, so seeing is critical.

If you like the particular meta-game that HBS has created, it's a pretty decent game, aside from the painfully slow scene loading, but I've got mixed feelings about it. Still, it's definitely BT, and anything is better than the nothing we've gotten over the past few years.
 
Definitely worth a play through, in my opinion. It is a solid turn based tactics game. There are three game modes, the original Restoration campaign, an open sandbox Career mode, then single skirmish/multiplayer matches.

The campaign is well done. HBS does a good job with storytelling. If you are familiar with the Battletech universe it won't be anything surprising, but it is well built. I recommend starting with the campaign without expansions. There are 3 DLC expansions, but they add more to Career mode than the campaign. Also I think the new guns in Heavy Metal throw off the campaign balance.

Career mode is an open campaign without the story missions or cinematics from the Restoration campaign. You are still building a mercenary company and taking the same sort of missions, just without the structure and restrictions of the campaign. This is where the DLC shines, adding more options and mini-story mission chains called Flashpoints. Things like calling out a Solaris gladiator, participating in a tournament of Urbanmechs, hunting pirates with lostech, or tracking a jumpship carrying a bunch of unusually advanced tech.

The skirmishes are decent for testing builds and experimenting, but it is a bit cumbersome to work with. I think there are still some people playing multiplayer, but it never really took off. The campaign is the real draw for this game and Career mode is practically a second more relatable game on top of it.
 
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Two things that speed a lot the game loading / running - 16gb ram and placing it on an SSD.
Yeah, I have 32 GB RAM and the game on a fast SSD and it doesn't take more than 20-30 seconds from me clicking "Deploy" to when the "Start mission" button lights up.
 
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What everyone has not mentioned is the random events that pop up. Your decisions can have consequences for you. Not to make things sound bad, I have over 3,000 hours in the game and love it. Buy the season pass, includes the base game and all three DLC's (Flashpoints, Urban Warfare, & Heavy Metal). Each DLC adds new mechs, maps, and missions/flashpoints.

If you ever get tired of the base game you can goto nexusmods.com like Battletech 3025 Extended - Commander's Edition (BEX-CE) period covered 3025-3057, The Hyades Rim alternate campaign, Battletech Advanced 3062 (BTA 3062) Fedcom civil war. These are just some of the mods. The options are endless.
 
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