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Battletech |KS| Turn-based tactical mech combat, Harebrained Schemes, Summer 2017

L

Lime

Member
www.Battletechgear.com is LIVE

The Atlas pre-order is up and ends on January 17 2017 with 5 different custom emblems. Minimum order of 1000 if the order will succeed.

atlas-color-front.jpg
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Atlas Resin Sculpture

$180.00 Ends: December 19, 2016

17 / 500 Minimum Order Quantity

At almost 10” tall, this highly detailed, massive, limited-edition, resin statue of the Atlas `Mech will dominate your desk or shelf. Customize this monster to be your own! Select which Noble House emblem you want on the shoulders of the ultimate statue of the king of the battlefield.

Projected Ship Month June 2017
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EDIT: Apparently the store was opened before it was supposed to. Well, I guess this is what we can expect.
 
L

Lime

Member
Here's how it works

Introduction-How-It-Works.png


Each month we offer a small selection of super cool stuff. For each item we will set a collective minimum order quantity and only manufacture what exactly you collectively order –this means that every item is a Limited Edition and will never be produced again.

Think of it kind of like crowdfunding–until we have enough committed orders, we won’t make the item, and then we’ll only manufacture what is ordered. That way, we don’t “waste” one of our limited offerings on something only a few of you want or make a ton of stuff that sits in a warehouse gathering dust.

So come back each month to see the new offerings – and grab yourself some cool gear!
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L

Lime

Member
New preview from Mechcon - same demo but iwth some modifications and improvements:

Youtube video with 'new' gameplay

Images:
Battletechjpg.jpg


Battletech-4.jpg


Getting a glimpse of the new melee mechanic (something mech games have rarely done well), the lighting improvements, and the general level of overall polish, I can say that fans and backers will be incredibly impressed with the next milestone / demo from the team. It wasn’t quite at a state where I could capture it for you, so you’ll have to take my word for it for now.

After a year of development, the game looks to be shaping up nicely. The team showed me a behind-the-scenes looks at their upcoming milestone build and there are some very cool new features to be excited about. While we still don’t have a solid release date for Battletech, there is every indication that the team are just as much of fans as we are. We expected good things — they delivered
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http://gamingtrend.com/video-post/battletech-hands-on-at-mechcon-2016/
 
L

Lime

Member
And now www.Battletechgear.com is actually live and up and running. Go check it out if you want the Atlas resin figure with a custom emblem of the different houses.

Battletech-atlas-sculpt-detail01-600x625.jpg


There are also Clan banner sets, Inner Sphere banner sets, and a hooded shirt with an emblem on it if you're into those kind of things.
 
B

BrokenFiction

Member
(Gigantic Update from HBS. See the whole thing here: https://www.kickstarter.com/project...etech/posts/1768032?ref=backer_project_update)

Project Update 34: Melee! Melee! Melee!

When we started working on melee, I proposed a single overarching goal: once you’re close enough to punch someone, punching should usually be the right thing to do (or at the very least, it shouldn’t ever be the wrong thing to do). There are a few reasons for this, mostly having to do with the speed and intensity of battles. When battles get in close, it’s not all that much fun to spin in circles around each other, trying to get a good back-shot but otherwise standing mostly in one place. I wanted the final stage of a battle, when ‘Mechs are in spitting distance of each other, to be brutal and decisive. Once you’re that close, the fight’s about to be over one way or another.
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NemxNQh.gif


One of the first decisions we had to make was: how many different melee attacks are there? On one hand, offering a wide variety of options makes the experience more involved; when you choose to “kick” and your results clearly reflect your choice, it feels like your decisions mattered. But on the other hand, the risk of offering a variety of choices is that some of those choices are always sub-optimal, and thus act as a trap, encouraging less-experienced players to make the wrong choice.
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...

HdRCYrX.gif


The third element that we considered is how melee looks. In an abstract system, we can just declare that a ‘Mech punches, kicks, shoulder-checks, or whatever seems appropriate. Even if it’s an Atlas punching a Commando, we can basically imagine how that would work. But in our game, we’ve committed to animating every single attack so that it looks like something that could hit and do damage. That means the Atlas has to kick a Commando; its punch will swing wildly over the Commando’s head.

Bringing these three concerns together -- complexity, head shots, and visual consistency -- we decided to collapse all melee actions down to just one, “Engage”. When you engage, we look at your relative size, your relative position above or below the target, whether you have arms suitable for punching, whether those arms are intact or blown off, and so forth. Then we pick an attack that best fits what you have available.
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qCAgXkt.gif


To ensure this isn’t unfair to some ‘Mechs, we also collapsed all the consequences of the attacks into one outcome. This means that, in terms of effect, a punch and a kick are the same thing, a shoulder check is the same as a punch, and so forth. Some ‘Mechs are still more powerful in melee than others due to both tonnage and design; the Atlas is always going to wreak more melee destruction than the Catapult. But every ‘Mech can melee, regardless of their build.

The system works like this: every ‘Mech has an “engagement range” at which it can move up and take a swing at an enemy. If you’re within the engagement range of a target when you start your action, that target gets a gold box around it to show that you can punch it. Then, as your entire action for the round, you move up and swing (or kick, or shoulder-check, or stomp).
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XeX2NmK.gif


c41ELwh.gif


We’re still up to our eyeballs in work (gotta end the year strong) so to keep things focused we’ve put together a list of all the stuff we can remember doing since GenCon ‘16.
Click to expand...

  • Updated, expanded, and refined the combat interface
  • Added multi-targeting (so you can split your fire between more than one enemy).
  • Added melee (including Death From Above)
  • Added commander abilities such as calling in airstrikes and artillery barrages
  • Added pilot skills and activatable combat abilities
  • Deepened the Line of Sight and detection mechanics to give more utility to careful scouting and misdirection; pilot skill determines how much information you can get from a radar blip
  • Implemented the first version of the MechWarrior inspiration system, where continued aggression allows you to build and maintain momentum
  • Created a plot system which allows maps to reconfigure certain areas based on the encounter that uses them, swapping buildings and entire installations to increase reusability
  • Refined our map-making process for missions to the point that we can create now a final map (on the design side) in a single day
  • Made a bunch of neat maps of both the highlands/alpine and lowlands/farm variety
  • Began constructing many cool enemy encounters to place on said maps.
  • Tuned the bonuses and penalties from environmental features like forest and high ground to emphasize the role of terrain and positioning
  • Played a lot of BlazeRush at lunch
  • Added "Influence Map" system to allow the AI to select intelligent positions and orientations to move to
  • Increased sophistication of choosing weapons for AI attacks
  • Configurable AI Heat Management, with tactical withdrawals
  • AI “personality” support
  • "Corridor Map" strategic (long range) pathfinding for AI units
  • Lots of work on weapon visual effects, including lighting effects
  • Lots of new audio effects
  • Added heat visual effects for ‘Mechs and environmental features
  • Added an audio emote system, greatly increasing and prioritizing the list of things MechWarriors could talk about in combat
  • Massive load time performance improvements
  • Lots of improvements to overall environment art process to allow for more polish control
  • Created new road system with several custom art presets to quickly lay out dirt tracks, asphalt roads, and even rivers
  • Fully revamped rendering with proper physically based rendering and atmospherics
  • Fog of war improvements, including the ability to coordinate visual effects with mood
  • Developed a system for mission “moods” which change the atmosphere, lighting, and colors
  • Set up a proper wind system with better visual results
  • Made our first pass at water with shallow and deep water effects
  • Built out a huge set of “environment stamps” for us to quickly create map landscapes
  • Major improvements to procedural placement of foliage and ground texturing
  • Revamped and improved environment surface rendering and visuals
  • Finalized a complete process for creating destructible buildings
  • Made lots of new buildings and structures
  • Created two full new “biomes” with distinct geology and vegetation sets
  • Made lots of small decoration elements like barriers, light poles, decorative vehicles, etc.
  • Made lots of new trees, bushes and foliage
  • Made lots of new rocks (Yay rocks!)
  • Tons of work on animations and ‘Mech functionality
  • Lots of new ‘Mechs fully animated, textured, and working in-game
  • Completed an opening cinema for the game. (No, you can’t see it, yet. We’ll release it when the project is ready to get some “buzz”.)
  • Planned out the entire single-player story campaign, outlined all cutscenes and story events, wrote the opening and closing cutscene scripts.
  • Planned out the entire mercenary simulation game, and started implementing the infrastructure to support it
  • Built the first draft of the user experience for the mercenary simulation game
  • Built the initial skirmish mode interface, allowing you to choose your ‘Mechs, map, and encounter
  • Ran our first internal multiplayer games!!!
  • Fixed a metric shit-ton of bugs
  • And even more things that I’m sure we’re forgetting...

Remember last update when I said this was gonna happen fast? Well guess what? BattleTechGear.com is LIVE! As in, right freaking now!
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9l0KPSs.jpg


So much more in the update also, check it out. Plus:

P.S. A Holiday Gift From MechWarrior Online

In addition to being fantastic hosts at MechCon a couple weeks ago, our friends at Piranha have sent along a little MWO holiday gift for everyone. Enjoy!
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0Glwwyg.jpg


Here’s A 3 Day Active Premium time GIFT CODE: “MechWarriorOnline_Gift_2016”
Login to https://mwomercs.com/ and enter the gift code here https://mwomercs.com/profile/redeem

This Gift Code Expires Jan 3rd, 2017.
 
P

Poodlestrike

Banned
Fuckin' GORGEOUS.

My intro to Battletech was through MechWarrior, MechCommander, and MechAssault rather than the tabletop game proper, so melee isn't a huge part of how I think about the property. Still, I really like that they laid out the mechanical reasoning behind the melee system, and it all sounds great. Looking forward to seeing an Atlas shove its foot through a Commando.
 
L

Lime

Member
Wow at that feature list that they've done since August. I seriously cannot wait until 2017, the game will be everything I've ever dreamed off with the talent they have at HBS.

I'm wondering if the update is so big that it requires a new thread along with the news of the Battletech gear site
 
R

RedSparrows

Member
Poodlestrike said:
Fuckin' GORGEOUS.

My intro to Battletech was through MechWarrior, MechCommander, and MechAssault rather than the tabletop game proper, so melee isn't a huge part of how I think about the property. Still, I really like that they laid out the mechanical reasoning behind the melee system, and it all sounds great. Looking forward to seeing an Atlas shove its foot through a Commando.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't a Commando just evaporate?
 
L

Lime

Member
Nete said:
Those minimum order numbers for the merch are really high. Like stupidly high.
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It might be doable come January, at least in regards to that Atlas. Limited high-quality content, especially with a starved fanbase such as Battletech fans, is a highly sought-after commodity in nerd crowds.
 
G

gnomed

Member
Lime said:
is a highly sought-after commodity in nerd crowds.
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I actually just pre-ordered the Inner Sphere banner set. It's not a bad deal for a set of 5.

Been a fan since the original PC MechWarrior game. Never realized Battletech and MechWarrior were in the same universe when I was a kid. And damn at those battle animations.
 
L

Lime

Member
Battletechgear.com did not meet its goal for any of their products (surprise, surprise!)

Unfortunately, the first round of BattleTech Gear items are not projected to meet their Minimum Order Quantities before January 15th. If that is where we end up, we won’t be manufacturing them. We appreciate that many people were excited enough to pre-order the items in the first wave and will be disappointed that we are not making those items.

We, too, are disappointed, but this is what the crowd-funding system was designed to do: make sure that we only produce things that have enough orders to make the manufacturer’s MOQ, cover our product development costs and overhead, and hopefully make some money.

But we’re pleased to let you know that reinforcements are on the way! We’re working on more product concepts with lower MOQs to present for consideration. We are also looking into offering a slightly smaller version of the Atlas with a lower price and lower MOQ for a future wave. We hope to have new products ready and posted on the BattleTech Gear website in the next week or two and will, of course, post here on the Forums when they’re live.
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While we’re disappointed that the Atlas Resin Statue didn’t work out, reinforcements are on the way! We are currently working on more BattleTech Gear concepts for your consideration, many with lower MOQs! We hope to have them ready and posted on the BattleTech Gear website in the next week or two and we’ll reach out to let you know when they’re ready.

In the upcoming months we are exploring offering a slightly smaller version of the Atlas with a lower price and lower MOQ. We will email you when that product is available for pre-order and hope that you’ll consider it.
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I still think it was out of touch to launch the campaign during Christmas season, before people got paychecks, with such a short deadline (3-4 weeks), and with such an insane high minimum order amount.
 
S

ShadowSwordmaster

Banned
Lime said:
Battletechgear.com did not meet its goal for any of their products (surprise, surprise!)





I still think it was out of touch to launch the campaign during Christmas season, before people got paychecks, with such a short deadline (3-4 weeks), and with such an insane high minimum order amount.
Click to expand...
This is sad and not surprising to hear.
 
Giolon

Giolon

Member
There was nothing there that I wanted. Where's the simple short sleeved T-shirts? Where are some collectible little mechs? I'd kill for a ~$50or less CPLT-K2. The Atlas is a snooze, and was way too expensive.
 
L

Lime

Member
Giolon said:
There was nothing there that I wanted. Where's the simple short sleeved T-shirts? Where are some collectible little mechs? I'd kill for a ~$50or less CPLT-K2. The Atlas is a snooze, and was way too expensive.
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Yeah the offerings were pretty underwhelming.
 
E

Effect

Member
Things were just to expensive and things I really wasn't that interested in. Here's hoping their next batch is better priced.
 
L

Lime

Member
ShadowSwordmaster said:
Does anybody here caught up on the new Battletech stuff other than this game or MWO?
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I'm not sure I understand the question. You mean what is new in Battletech as an IP? Well, as far as I know

  • PGI announced Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries during MechCon in December. Release in 2018, but that's a bit early I think considering the engine switch
  • Oh yeah, Mechcon took place with a world championship for MW:O. You can check out the Twitch stream where they had Jordan, Mitch, Russ, and Randall Bills up on stage to talk about Battletech history and stuff.
  • Catalyst Game Labs opened their own webshop
  • They've been re-releasing a lot of the classic novels under the Battletech: Legends moniker in e-pub format.
  • CGL is also bringing the universe further in the post-Dark Age with an upcoming ilClan book that people are supposedly hyping
  • HBS got the merchandise license from Topps so they'll look into producing Battletech stuff (not miniatures though, they don't want to compete with IWL)

Otherwise that's it. Microsoft is still doing nothing with the old games (ie not putting them on GOG or Steam).
 
S

ShadowSwordmaster

Banned
Lime said:
I'm not sure I understand the question. You mean what is new in Battletech as an IP? Well, as far as I know

  • PGI announced Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries during MechCon in December. Release in 2018, but that's a bit early I think considering the engine switch
  • Oh yeah, Mechcon took place with a world championship for MW:O. You can check out the Twitch stream where they had Jordan, Mitch, Russ, and Randall Bills up on stage to talk about Battletech history and stuff.
  • Catalyst Game Labs opened their own webshop
  • They've been re-releasing a lot of the classic novels under the Battletech: Legends moniker in e-pub format.
  • CGL is also bringing the universe further in the post-Dark Age with an upcoming ilClan book that people are supposedly hyping
  • HBS got the merchandise license from Topps so they'll look into producing Battletech stuff (not miniatures though, they don't want to compete with IWL)

Otherwise that's it. Microsoft is still doing nothing with the old games (ie not putting them on GOG or Steam).
Click to expand...

Thank you for information. I heard about the Battletech: Legends from a few people outside of GAF.

I'm sorry is my question is worded strangely too. I should've been more clearer about my question.
 
L

Lime

Member
ShadowSwordmaster said:
Thank you for information. I heard about the Battletech: Legends from a few people outside of GAF.

I'm sorry is my question is worded strangely too. I should've been more clearer about my question.
Click to expand...

no need to apologize at all, I was just unsure.

You can check out Catalyst Game Labs on tumblr or the official forums if you want to be updated.

In general, I think there's a bit of a resurgence for Battletech. The license situation is still incredibly tough, but CGL, HBS, and PGI are managing despite everything. With MW5: Mercs, Battletech by HBS, more merchandise, and CGL doing their thing, I'm really, really stoked about the future.

You can expect PGI to make a Clans game and the same with HBS (provided the games are successful enough)
 
S

ShadowSwordmaster

Banned
Lime said:
no need to apologize at all, I was just unsure.

You can check out Catalyst Game Labs on tumblr or the official forums if you want to be updated.

In general, I think there's a bit of a resurgence for Battletech. The license situation is still incredibly tough, but CGL, HBS, and PGI are managing despite everything. With MW5: Mercs, Battletech by HBS, more merchandise, and CGL doing their thing, I'm really, really stoked about the future.

You can expect PGI to make a Clans game and the same with HBS (provided the games are successful enough)
Click to expand...

Same here. It's really cool to see a lot of Battletech/Mechwarrior stuff coming out in the future. I think the Battletech is going to bring a lot of more people into the franchise just like what they did with Shadowrun.
 
W

Woorloog

Banned
I follow BattleTech proper actively. Seems to be reasonably good times. New art for unseen and minis too, several active mini-product lines, Succession Wars sourcebooks, Alpha Strike faction Combat Manuals, novels getting republished in ebook form, new print novels coming (though slowly) about the Jihad era and a compilation mechs-only rulebook BattleMech Manual coming soon. And most importantly, IlClan is slated for this year, it will conclude the Dark Age era and presumably sets up following era (IlClan begins in 3146 or so).

Introductory box set might be getting a reprint too, and there's supposedly a completely new one under work but that will take time.
 
L

Lime

Member
Haha yeah, I of course forgot to mention that Worloog would know exactly what has been going on in Battletech. I knew I had forgotten something.

I'm down for a Battletech thread once Worloog has it finished for Ilclan and wants to post it.
 
W

Woorloog

Banned
I was never going to wait for IlClan release, just been hoping for additional news beyond "2017" (something that's only semi-official, strictly speaking). Would motivate me to write... (And not just a BT OT but some mech articles, i tend to write in short bursts.)
 
L

Lime

Member
Woorloog said:
I was never going to wait for IlClan release, just been hoping for additional news beyond "2017" (something that's only semi-official, strictly speaking). Would motivate me to write... (And not just a BT OT but some mech articles, i tend to write in short bursts.)
Click to expand...

All right, let me know if you need any visual art. A friend of mine runs the Art of Battletech site, so I got plenty to choose from :)
 
W

Woorloog

Banned
Missed opportunity in making the beer stein look like an UrbanMech.

At least the MechWarrior is pretty accurately.

I'm thinking someone is throwing darts into a wall with various proposals.
This one must have landed into "beer and pretzels", as that is how the original BattleTech tabletop game is described.
 
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