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

Steel

Banned
Finished my first skirmish. I'll have to echo the above about how hard it is to tell movement ranges. Visuals are great but the odd delay between doing damage and seeing the results of that damage is a bit jarring.

There are a lot of tactical possibilities from what I've seen, but the AI seems to suck ass and just bumrush you in a staggered fashion. So far the system is good, though, which is where I want them to be.

Runs surprisingly badly, mere 25-40 FPS (high variability depending on what's on the screen) at 1080p, high presets. R9 390, Core i5 6600K, 16GB RAM. Presumably this is due to Unity engine and the game's unfinished state.
Though low performance in a turn-based game isn't a terribly big deal.

That's odd, I was getting 50-80 with my r1700+GTX 970, the 1700 is only a bit better than the 6600k in most games. I wonder if the game uses a lot of cores. Wouldn't expect that.
 
That's odd, I was getting 50-80 with my r1700+GTX 970, the 1700 is only a bit better than the 6600k. I wonder if the game uses a lot of cores. Wouldn't expect that.
I wouldn't be surprised. XCOM 2 gets a massive performance boost when you let it use more CPU cores for shader threading.
 

Woorloog

Banned
Make that "determining minimum range is difficult". Very much so.

EDIT el oh el. Lost my Commando on turn 2. The AI is smarter in this second match. On the other hand, it was but a Commando.
 

Steel

Banned
Make that "determining minimum range is difficult". Very much so.

EDIT el oh el. Lost my Commando on turn 2. The AI is smarter in this second match. On the other hand, it was but a Commando.

That too. Medium lasers not being able to be used at short ranges is weird.

I wouldn't be surprised. XCOM 2 gets a massive performance boost when you let it use more CPU cores for shader threading.

Still, I wasn't expect that type of optimization from a small studio.
 

QFNS

Unconfirmed Member
That too. Medium lasers not being able to be used at short ranges is weird.

It makes sense in that if you could use them at close distance they would just become the best tool for most of the jobs, right? Good damage, good distance, good in close, the only thing that's bad is they have heat and can't shoot as far as a PPC or AC/20. I mean why ever run anything else?

In fact, I seem to recall doing exactly that in several mechwarrior games. Load up my chassis with powerful Med Lasers and run as fast as possible into range, then blow everything away at mid or close range. Either that or set up for massive long range attacks and alpha-strike everything to oblivion. Hehe fun times.

Mostly, I suspect it's a balancing thing. Or a holdover from the tabletop game, which had it for balancing.
 
Mostly, I suspect it's a balancing thing. Or a holdover from the tabletop game, which had it for balancing.

It never did - medium laser was always insanely overpowered in 3025 era with it's perfect tonnage, heat and range mix.

Only small laser was more OP

That's odd, I was getting 50-80 with my r1700+GTX 970, the 1700 is only a bit better than the 6600k in most games. I wonder if the game uses a lot of cores. Wouldn't expect that.

Might be another example of radeon dx11 drivers "magic" as he has r290.
 

AlStrong

Member
It makes sense in that if you could use them at close distance they would just become the best tool for most of the jobs, right? Good damage, good distance, good in close, the only thing that's bad is they have heat and can't shoot as far as a PPC or AC/20. I mean why ever run anything else?

In fact, I seem to recall doing exactly that in several mechwarrior games. Load up my chassis with powerful Med Lasers and run as fast as possible into range, then blow everything away at mid or close range. Either that or set up for massive long range attacks and alpha-strike everything to oblivion. Hehe fun times.

Mostly, I suspect it's a balancing thing. Or a holdover from the tabletop game, which had it for balancing.

Isn't that supposed to be mitigated by the hard point system? The MW2 games were crazy unbalanced because it didn't have any precept for that. IIRC, MW4 even had a pod limit for omni-mechs so you couldn't just have a 12-laser arm. :p
 

Woorloog

Banned
That too. Medium lasers not being able to be used at short ranges is weird.
There is no medium or short range bracket in this game. Just normal range and long range brackets (and individual weapons have different ranges as usual). Medium lasers are still the bread and butter weapon here and normal ranges, though they seem to be hotter than their tabletop versions.

The small weapons, the ones with 90 meter (3 hex) range in tabletop are "small weapons" here and can be used at melee (a good innovation IMO) in addition to being usable at very short ranges.


My issues is that figuring minimum range for weapons that have it is very difficult. AC/2s and AC/5s, PPCs, LRMs. The direction cone does show them, but i'd like to see them as circles around selected 'Mech while pondering about my move.

It never did - medium laser was always insanely overpowered in 3025 era with it's perfect tonnage, heat and range mix.

Only small laser was more OP
The small laser has good damage to weight ratio but it has far too short range to be truly useful. And since the tabletop game has melee after firing weapons, you can't truly use them as crit-seekers either (until the following turn anyway).
Here, i figuring using a lot of them for a melee 'Mech might be a good idea.

Might be another example of radeon dx11 drivers "magic" as he has r290.

390, not 290. But yeah, wouldn't be surprised it is a thing for AMD cards. This game doesn't seem to be using DX11, min requirements say DX9.
 

Woorloog

Banned
My second game: The AI smartly ganged up on my Commando, and then it started fooling around. It left a Panther in front of my JagerMechs and BattleMaster, using it as a spotter for an Orion and an Atlas missiles. Naturally i killed the Panther fast, and the Orion didn't wait for the Atlas but rushed me. A couple of turns later the Atlas came to stand on the Orion's blasted hulk, and it took forever to hammer the Atlas down. It took down one JagerMech but that wasn't enough. Also, the Atlas insisted on overheating, which wasn't very smart.
 

Woorloog

Banned
More thoughts. Questions are kinda rhetorical, i don't really expect anyone else to know. I'll compile my thoughts at some point and post them to HBS forum as well.

Not sure how important movement is, overall.
It just doesn't communicate its benefits and drawbacks. Sure, there seems to be some kind of status indicator but a random icon doesn't tell me anything. Mouse-over tells what it is (defensive bonus apparently) that feels awkward and slow, not to mention the semi-transparent-white-gray icons aren't visible enough. Do i get to-hit penalty if i move?

I know movement is useful when you have Evasive pilot special. Indeed, Evasive is very good, and almost necessary for lights IMO. For others, i'm inclined to use Bulwarks since i tend to stand around (in forests) a lot.

Apparently there's height advantage but it is also unclear. How much height difference there needs to be for it to become a thing?

Do note my current playing style is influenced by the stupidity of the AI. I see no reason not to wait for it to barge in firing line.


Death From Above is cool but not very good. Not even with Angel of Death. "The attacker taking damage" thing kinda makes it a poor attack. I can attempt the move if it is basically the best option for dealing damage, but otherwise i don't recommend using it, and hence i don't recommend picking a pilot with Angel of Death special.
The attack itself being a desperation move is OK but Angel of Death is too specialized as it is.


What do pilot hits do? Seems they're unimplemented at the moment the message aside.

Delaying initiative doesn't feel terribly useful usually. Because 'Mechs don't just move but also shoot and damage dealt is effective immediately, i prefer to be proactive rather than reactive. Might be just me though. (For contrast, tabletop BT gives the initiative winner ability to react, and this is important because movement determines how well 'Mechs will be shooting, and damage takes effect only after all movement and shooting is done.)

This is fun! It did take 55 minutes to play one 4v4 skirmish, though...

I think it will go in 30 minutes or so once you know what you're doing. That's how long my second and third games were.
 
Not sure how important movement is, overall.
It just doesn't communicate its benefits and drawbacks. Sure, there seems to be some kind of status indicator but a random icon doesn't tell me anything. Mouse-over tells what it is (defensive bonus apparently) that feels awkward and slow, not to mention the semi-transparent-white-gray icons aren't visible enough. Do i get to-hit penalty if i move?

...

What do pilot hits do? Seems they're unimplemented at the moment the message aside.
I don't know if there's a to-hit penalty for moving, but the further you move, the more limited your turn arc. You can get +2/+4/+6 defense based on distance moved (applied against enemy to-hit rolls). Plus EVASIVE kicks in if you sprint, which gives you a 50% chance to dodge. But you can't fire that turn.

I would guess pilot hits damage the pilot's stats (which govern to-hit, etc.), but I don't know if that's in place, and I couldn't find a way to see it.

Also bear in mind some of your issues may be affected by known bugs:

●Settings Menu is currently disabled.​ Expected to be re-enabled in an update.
● Skirmish matches will very occasionally fail to launch - just try it again if this happens
and it should work.
● The selected Mood for a map will very occasionally fail to initialize correctly - just try it
again if this happens and it should work.
● OSX only​: Water may not render correctly (it can appear entirely black.)
● OSX only​: Using ESCAPE to exit a match can cause the game to lock up.
● AI occasionally fails to re-engage after all LOS has been lost.
● AI does not take advantage of certain abilities (Reserve, Called Shot, Sensor Lock,
Multi-Targeting.)

● After using Multi-Targeting, all of that ‘Mechs weapons will become deselected. There
may also be some other issues with Multi-Targeting when trying to switch target
selections or “back up” to previous stages of the selection.
● MechWarrior Skills will have additional impact on their respective areas (i.e. Piloting will
increase the threshold point at which a ‘Mech becomes Unsteady) that are not currently
functional.
● UI incorrectly indicates that “s” is the hotkey for Brace (End Turn). Actual hotkey is the
Minus key (“-”).
 

Woorloog

Banned
Haven't encountered that "fails to reacquire LOS" bug. The AI has kept following me if i break LOS. Though it seems to be prioritizing Bracing to regain stability over following enemy even if they're in bad shape or situation (overheating, unstable, etc.).

Didn't notice that "doesn't use abilities" thing during gameplay though i did read the FAQ before i started. Mind you, i don't use the abilities much either. Passives like Bulwark and Evasive are certainly the best ones if you ask me.
 

QFNS

Unconfirmed Member
Finally got to play a couple rounds. The game certainly feels like the tabletop game allright. For those who remember that, this is probably going to be amazing.

I've only done the light battles so far (15M limit), and it's great. Even the light mechs take quite a few hits before going down so you won't be getting Alpha striked out of the game (at least not without some serious pre-planning and bad tactics combining). Everything feels weighty and lumbering like the giant war machines they are.

I even really enjoyed the melee combat. I was getting horribly destroyed by the AI so I just yolo charged in my armless mech and it headbutted the enemy for a knockdown which let my other 'mechs pound on it from range. Pretty fun, although I definitely lost that match as the melee-er was destroyed summarily the next round by the enemy.
 
For an early backer beta it is most certainly promising... The feel and look is good.. if only we could have tanks, infantry, vehicles and vtol's with a decent campaing, I would be thrilled!
 

Ont

Member
I have only played Mechwarrior 2 before, but I am really liking this game.

One of my Mechs accidentally shot and killed the pilot of almost full health Battlemaster which was pretty cool moment.
 

Woorloog

Banned
Vehicles will be in campaign as enemies for sure. No info about ally or usable vehicles yet.

Indeed, the list of vehicles in the game can be datamined. Along with 'Mechs... though that list has some odd omissions (like the Marauder, which we've seen in the game before!).
 
Looks good.

Seems a bit sluggish... though I'm fairly certain that's my laptop, and not the games fault.

I don't really understand the turn system.
Why can't each mech move each turn?
I though it was going to be like an xcom in the Battletech universe...
 

Woorloog

Banned
Looks good.

Seems a bit sluggish... though I'm fairly certain that's my laptop, and not the games fault.

I don't really understand the turn system.
Why can't each mech move each turn?
I though it was going to be like an xcom in the Battletech universe...

Different weight classes have different initiative. Lights move first, assaults last. You can drop down 'Mechs in a weight class to lower initiative if you want to see what the enemy does first.
 
Seems a bit sluggish... though I'm fairly certain that's my laptop, and not the games fault.
My PC is pretty beastly and performance isn't exactly inspiring, but it's a beta. At least the load times are super-short.

I mentioned this in my first survey for the devs, but they need to add a fast-mode option that speeds up animations, and they also need to give you the option to retain control of the camera during enemy movement. Those two things alone will soothe some of my frustrations.
 

Woorloog

Banned
My PC is pretty beastly and performance isn't exactly inspiring, but it's a beta. At least the load times are super-short.

I mentioned this in my first survey for the devs, but they need to add a fast-mode option that speeds up animations, and they also need to give you the option to retain control of the camera during enemy movement. Those two things alone will soothe some of my frustrations.

This, fucking this.
Also allow use of camera while targeting and firing.
 
Looks good.

Seems a bit sluggish... though I'm fairly certain that's my laptop, and not the games fault.

I don't really understand the turn system.
Why can't each mech move each turn?
I though it was going to be like an xcom in the Battletech universe...

The main difference is in XCom your turn is all your dudes then their turn is all their dudes, while in BT it alternates so you don't walk into an ambush and get alpha striked by four mechs and just die. I actually really like the initiative system; it feels really satisfying when the initiative finally rolls around to your Atlas and it's time for things to die.

That said, the UI needs another pass for sure. It's functional and I can work with it, but it is super unfriendly right now.
 
That said, the UI needs another pass for sure. It's functional and I can work with it, but it is super unfriendly right now.
Yeah, I played one round last night and I noticed this. Even though I read the manual, I had a hard time keeping track of my mechs' status because I had no idea what a ton of the stats related to the mech were.

I feel like Harebrained Schemes could've at least put out a video explaining the mech UI, instead of relying on a PDF.
 

Woorloog

Banned
I feel like Harebrained Schemes could've at least put out a video explaining the mech UI, instead of relying on a PDF.

I'm glad they made a PDF. I fucking hate watching videos, reading is so much faster. A video option? Sure, sounds nice, for those who like videos. (I just hate the trend of making everything videos instead of something readable and searchable at your leisure.)


The UI definitively needs updating. There needs to be a way to check all stats and effects, and see explanations for what they are.
 

Lime

Member
Away for work until sunday but I'm very very afraid that I don't have the patience to wait for a full release and spoil myself by playing the beta
 
Away for work until sunday but I'm very very afraid that I don't have the patience to wait for a full release and spoil myself by playing the beta

It's definitely fun, and I don't think I'm done playing with it, but I don't think I have more than a couple more matches in me until the full game comes out, after there's another pass on the UI and (more importantly) the campaign is in place.
 

Woorloog

Banned
Are there ever any area of effect weapons in the future BT material?

Outside artillery pieces and cannons (cut-down snub-nosed versions of artillery pieces) and Arrow IV artillery missile launchers, not really.
Some missile special ammo are kind of AOE weapons (eg Swarm missiles keep attacking a new target until they run out of valid targets), and 'Mech Mortars have area effect munitions as well.

Artillery is listed in the game files in some form, i assume it is kind of support "power" or some vehicles mount it. Maybe.

Unless there is Battletech 2 set in Clan Invasion era or later, it is unlikely we'll see any of the weapons i mentioned.
'Mech Mortars were recovered from lostech status in 3040s or 50s but became production grade only around 3090 (and beyond some specialist use, are largely pointless with LRMs being better and more common usually). Artillery Cannons are experimental weapons as of 3000s, but again, they're production stuff only after the Jihad, before that they're very rare (and uncommon even afterwards).
 

Purkake4

Banned
Outside artillery pieces and cannons (cut-down snub-nosed versions of artillery pieces) and Arrow IV artillery missile launchers, not really.
Some missile special ammo are kind of AOE weapons (eg Swarm missiles keep attacking a new target until they run out of valid targets), and 'Mech Mortars have area effect munitions as well.

Artillery is listed in the game files in some form, i assume it is kind of support "power" or some vehicles mount it. Maybe.

Unless there is Battletech 2 set in Clan Invasion era or later, it is unlikely we'll see any of the weapons i mentioned.
'Mech Mortars were recovered from lostech status in 3040s or 50s but became production grade only around 3090 (and beyond some specialist use, are largely pointless with LRMs being better and more common usually). Artillery Cannons are experimental weapons as of 3000s, but again, they're production stuff only after the Jihad, before that they're very rare (and uncommon even afterwards).
Thanks for the info. Being able to call in off-screen artillery seems ok.

At the moment there seems nothing to discourage you from clumping up your mechs which seems somewhat unrealistic/untactical.
 

Woorloog

Banned
I like it that way. I dislike having forces spread too out. The way i see it, my units need to be close enough to support each other, close enough to focus fire effectively. Clumping too closely is not wise because it makes moving awkward (learned this hard way when i unwitting blocked another unit's movement so that it couldn't get to a really good firing position).
EDIT Note that i prefer more firepower and armor over speed at small scale. As such, i have little incentive to spread out.

In this video game, 'Mech positioning seems to depend on whether you have lights or not, and whether you have Evasive or Bulwark piloting abilities. Faster 'Mechs are usually thinly armored and need to move to evade fire (amplified by Evasive if possible). And for moving, you don't want too clumped up 'Mechs due to above mentioned movement blocking. Slower 'Mechs can (and probably should) keep together and move little, especially if you have Bulwark.

Shame you're capped to one Lance only. With two Lances at least, i could have a main line and a flanker lance. Splitting one lance between flanking and main line isn't something i like at all.
(But then i think a Company (3 Lances, 12 'Mechs) is the real combat unit, and indeed is such in-universe for most of time. A Company allows for one line lance, one flanker lance and one reserve to be used as needed.)


Clumping is not uncommon in tabletop BT if using tournament (standard) rules as they don't allow artillery or AOE weapons except Aerospace fighter bombs and strafing attacks. Though the way to-hit modifiers work in the game, you usually need to move constantly (except for slow moving long-range 'Mechs, those you park in heavy forest, ideally on a hill behind partial cover and keep firing) and you may not have space to keep a tight formation while maintaining high defensive modifiers.
 
S8cx29X.jpg


Sometimes the luck works in your favor.
 
Clumping is not uncommon in tabletop BT if using tournament (standard) rules as they don't allow artillery or AOE weapons except Aerospace fighter bombs and strafing attacks. Though the way to-hit modifiers work in the game, you usually need to move constantly (except for slow moving long-range 'Mechs, those you park in heavy forest, ideally on a hill behind partial cover and keep firing) and you may not have space to keep a tight formation while maintaining high defensive modifiers.

Well human opponent can punish clumping depending on their own unit composition and terrain but I doubt any AI would be able to do so.
 

Woorloog

Banned
It just seems a bit silly for 4 mechs to all use a tiny bit of forest to hide in.

Effective though.
Amusing how they've been faithful to BT map design style. Forests are usually 3 to 6 hex collections (each hex is 30m across) in BT, ie very small and not really forests.
 

Lime

Member
The PC gaming show stream looks simply amazing. Preview of the dropship / command center and the characters look really really good. I thought it would only be concept art, but it's actual 3D models!!!
 

Woorloog

Banned
Update.

Short version only, someone can post the full version.

A hot fix for the beta today, increases performance and fixes some outstanding issues apparently.

No multiplayer-beta this month. Will take time, they're re-writing the network code.
They will also bring better skirmish AI with the update once it lands, along with some other tweaks and balance stuff.

Campaign work going on nicely apparently, major milestones being done. All missions are implemented with placeholder voice acting, core mercenary gameplay loop is working.
 

Woorloog

Banned
Soo... Did we know Harmony Gold is suing HBS and PGI?
https://dockets.justia.com/docket/washington/wawdce/2:2017cv00327/242820

Filed March 1.

The reason i'm digging around is that tabletop BattleTech got new art for the unseen, the 'Mechs based on various animes, including Macross/Robotech. Well, a new compilation TRO was just released but it is lacking stuff like the Wasp and Valkyrie. The new Wasp miniature (one based on the new art) has been pulled from Ironwind Metals store as well. To top it off, the new sourcebook, Second Succession War, would have been a logical place to present a Warhammer and Marauder variants but that was not done for whatever reason.

Then i remembered that an earlier build of HBS Battletech included the Marauder... yet that one is not even listed in the beta files, which do include 'Mechs not available in the beta (at least some weren't, haven't played for a while).

The question is, is Harmony Gold once again fucking around and making a mess of things?
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Soo... Did we know Harmony Gold is suing HBS and PGI?
https://dockets.justia.com/docket/washington/wawdce/2:2017cv00327/242820

Filed March 1.

The reason i'm digging around is that tabletop BattleTech got new art for the unseen, the 'Mechs based on various animes, including Macross/Robotech. Well, a new compilation TRO was just released but it is lacking stuff like the Wasp and Valkyrie. The new Wasp miniature (one based on the new art) has been pulled from Ironwind Metals store as well. To top it off, the new sourcebook, Second Succession War, would have been a logical place to present a Warhammer and Marauder variants but that was not done for whatever reason.

Then i remembered that an earlier build of HBS Battletech included the Marauder... yet that one is not even listed in the beta files, which do include 'Mechs not available in the beta (at least some weren't, haven't played for a while).

The question is, is Harmony Gold once again fucking around and making a mess of things?

Just....

Ugh.
 

Woorloog

Banned
It occurs to me that Catalyst could be avoiding any Macross-derived 'Mechs until the case has been solved. If PGI/HBS win, presumably that means Catalyst's new art is safe as well.
I mean, this is undoubtedly about the Warhammer, Marauder and other Macross-based 'Mechs, no? What else it could be?

EDIT Huh. The new BattleTech rulebook ('Mechs only compilation BattleMech Manual) had Warhammer in hex-map movement examples. The beta release used the old Total Warfare Mad Cat... and the BMM final too uses that. I wonder...
 

deim0s

Member
Soo... Did we know Harmony Gold is suing HBS and PGI?
https://dockets.justia.com/docket/washington/wawdce/2:2017cv00327/242820

Filed March 1.

The reason i'm digging around is that tabletop BattleTech got new art for the unseen, the 'Mechs based on various animes, including Macross/Robotech. Well, a new compilation TRO was just released but it is lacking stuff like the Wasp and Valkyrie. The new Wasp miniature (one based on the new art) has been pulled from Ironwind Metals store as well. To top it off, the new sourcebook, Second Succession War, would have been a logical place to present a Warhammer and Marauder variants but that was not done for whatever reason.

Then i remembered that an earlier build of HBS Battletech included the Marauder... yet that one is not even listed in the beta files, which do include 'Mechs not available in the beta (at least some weren't, haven't played for a while).

The question is, is Harmony Gold once again fucking around and making a mess of things?

wtf! they're at it again?! Hope saner minds prevail.

The SSW book has the Locust, Griffin, and Battlemaster tho.
 

Woorloog

Banned
wtf! they're at it again?! Hope saner minds prevail.

The SSW book has the Locust, Griffin, and Battlemaster tho.

Yes, but those are not Macross-based.

ONLY Macross-based 'Mechs are missing.

There are few Warhammer and Marauder variants that date during the Second Succession War, yet SSW does not detail them, despite the book being a very logical place for them and showing the art work.

TRO Succession Wars has Battlemaster and other non-Macross classics. No Marauder, Warhammer, Valkyrie, Wasp, Stinger, Rifleman, Archer...

Googling a bit, it looks like "DOES 1-10" means there could be more defendants if they're identified. Or something like that. Naturally Catalyst Game Labs could be one.


Definitively looks like legal trouble brewing...
 

deim0s

Member
Oh right, I'm thinking about ALL of the Unseens when it comes to BT and Harmony Gold.

Aside from CGL, that would include PGI, and Topps no?
 

Woorloog

Banned
Oh right, I'm thinking about ALL of the Unseens when it comes to BT and Harmony Gold.

Aside from CGL, that would include PGI, and Topps no?

PGI and HBS are named in the suit. Topps owns BattleTech so i guess they might be included. And Microsoft, because Microsoft owns electronic BattleTech and licenses it to PGI and HBS. But not sure it has to involve anyone else than those named in the case. Don't know how stuff like that works in the US.
Looks like "DOES 1-10" is kinda "we might include more people in the suit later".
 
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