Battletech - Also known as Trannytech

[Swiss46]

I do not like the idea of explosion damage being capped. What even is the point? Case 2 already exists for modern mechs. In general it makes Ballistic/Missile weapons better because they dont have the chance of instantly killing the mech, but still taking an AC20 to the internals isn't great and you lose the comedy factor of a mech taking 340 damage becoming a smoking crater.

I'm ambivalent towards facing changes, it makes logical sense on the surface, but i always assumed those hits on the opposite side were representing hitting a mech while it was torso twisting.

 

[BlackDragoons]

Got some more information. Some proposed changes for some of the gear stuff.

Note nothing is set in stone for these.

Spoiler: Image Dump

 

[Bulk Bogan]

I'm inherently skeeved out by the idea of the modern rights-holder making any changes of any kind, let alone the sweeping third(?) edition of the entire ruleset this represents. One of the virtues of Battletech is that you can play the modern game with all the shit you bought in the 80s with very little effort spent 'catching up'. The company that can't even support its own wet fart of an era does not inspire confidence in me that they can pull this sort of thing off without gutting a lot of what makes this game what it is. Some of the changes in the image dump seem positive, but is it worth the potential risk? I guess we'll find out.

Where are the goddamn Jihad mechs? Who fucking asked for BattleTech: 40K edition, or GundamTech, or ZeerustTech? Where are my fucking aerospace rules? How come I had to import a resold Hunchback from Australia instead of just buying one at my LGS? Why is it impossible to buy core rulebooks (or again, lance packs) for extended periods of time?

 

[Swiss46]

The gear changes aren't as bad as the ammo crit change, I would actually like Battletech to be more than clan pulse lasers sometimes.

 

[RSU 1741]

After reading the rules, they're decent in theory.

Some of the changes in the image dump seem positive, but is it worth the potential risk? I guess we'll find out.

This, so much this. CGL is completely incompetent and has schizo priorities, and lies are common. If Gothic has shown something, is that the Kickstarter made them utterly detached from what the community really wants. "Hopefully they break nothing" is the best of our hopes.

 

[Corn Flakes]

Got some more information. Some proposed changes for some of the gear stuff.

Note nothing is set in stone for these.

Spoiler: Image Dump

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Overall, I like those proposed changes.

FASA's designers were not good at game balance, and neither Wizkids, FanPro nor CGL have done a great job of it so far either. Ever since the fiasco that was the introduction of ClanTech, a lot of new shit is just supposed to be "sidegrades", but the opportunity costs for them tend to be absurdly outsized compared to their benefits. These changes address most of those. I'd love for vanilla Autocannons to get some kind of buff, but being completely honest here they're a legacy weapon category that's been completely replaced by Ultras, and the changes to Ultras and RAC help with that.

I've seen some bellyaching about how it makes Clan Autocannons even better, but who the fuck cares when the problem with Clan stuff is and has always been Energy Weapons + busted DHS anyway?

This, so much this. CGL is completely incompetent and has schizo priorities, and lies are common. If Gothic has shown something, is that the Kickstarter made them utterly detached from what the community really wants. "Hopefully they break nothing" is the best of our hopes.

That's the difference between the design department and the marketing department. Gothic was 100% the marketing guys going "HEY, HOW ABOUT WE TRY TO POACH MORE 40K PLAYERS?!", the actual game design side of the IP had nothing to do with it since the rules were exactly the same.

Whoever is writing these proposed changes is clearly interested in systems, enough to provide pretty good explanations to both problems in the game and his suggestions to address them. That's a good thing, it means someone in the design team has brains that aren't completely fogged up by HRT.

 

[Swiss46]

These changes address most of those. I'd love for vanilla Autocannons to get some kind of buff, but being completely honest here they're a legacy weapon category that's been completely replaced by Ultras,

Ultras can't load precision. By updating the ratio to be better regular autocannons can now take precision alot easier and the change probably would make some mechs way better. My biggest concern is cheaper precision AC20 mechs because Pulse AC20 sounds obnoxious

 

[Moja Zemlja]

I do not like the idea of explosion damage being capped.

Explosion damage being uncapped can be annoying with some stock mechs if you use nuke rules, I was recently playing with a friend and he has a Banshee-3Q which has six tons of AC/20 in the LT, it was very annoying having to fight a walking nuke.

I'm ambivalent towards facing changes, it makes logical sense on the surface, but i always assumed those hits on the opposite side were representing hitting a mech while it was torso twisting.

I always read it as representing that you're not going to be exactly on their side since its an arc that in theory does include the ability to see the other side but also the rear.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

I'm of two minds. On one hand, capping ammo det lowers the value of CASE.

On the other hand, nobody wants a 20 point internal hit that also removes the armor in that location.

The Ultra change is almost too good though. I just wanted the ability to unjam, a la RACs.

 

[RSU 1741]

Gothic was 100% the marketing guys going "HEY, HOW ABOUT WE TRY TO POACH MORE 40K PLAYERS?!",

This reminds me of the hilarious Sarna interview with Herb, where he told, quote "There was never a serious plan to make Gothic a Warhammer 40K clone, especially since I have next to no real understanding of that IP beyond little anecdotes others have told me."

The title of the game is Battletech: Gothic. The title itself is poached from Battlefleet: Gothic. Sometimes I wonder how dumb they are or how dumb they believe their audience is.

Also, there's always that nagging feeling that one of the greatest points of BT was the retrocompatibility since the 80ies. If they change the rules once for "balance", will they stop when they feel they can change it for "sales" like GW? The risks are immense.

 

[Corn Flakes]

Also, there's always that nagging feeling that one of the greatest points of BT was the retrocompatibility since the 80ies. If they change the rules once for "balance", will they stop when they feel they can change it for "sales" like GW? The risks are immense.

They have changed the rules multiple times through the years. Infernos and the vehicle rules in general come to mind, as well as minor things like MG ammo being able to be taken in half-ton lots. The compatibility with old content is not about the rules, it's about record sheets and previous content like scenario packs being playable in all editions. All it means is that every piece of equipment is still valid and takes up the same amount of crits and tons, even if they work differently. And even then, we've had a few 'Mechs errata'd in editions past when things like fractional accounting during design were replaced with rounding to half-tons.

You can play with an ASD-7 Atlas or a FS9-H Firestarter straight outta 1986 and all the equipment and overall mechanics are the same. But BattleTech has always been a terribly balanced game. As much as I don't trust CGL's business practices and abhor their community managers, the reasoning behind these suggested rules changes is solid. This might be the only chance this game will ever have of a proper rebalance by someone who seems to give a shit about the rules rather than jerking off Alaric Ward.

 

[BlackDragoons]

Whoever is writing these proposed changes is clearly interested in systems, enough to provide pretty good explanations to both problems in the game and his suggestions to address them. That's a good thing, it means someone in the design team has brains that aren't completely fogged up by HRT.

The person behind the rule changes is the infamous Xotl from /BTG/

I'm of two minds. On one hand, capping ammo det lowers the value of CASE.

Case and Case 2 are being buffed with the damage capped.

Case limits the blow out to 10 Damage with no carry over and Case II is pretty much the same.

 

[BlackDragoons]

Sorry for double post but here is another image dumb of some potential rule changes.

Spoiler: aGoAC Image Dump

 

[Corn Flakes]

Sorry for double post but here is another image dumb of some potential rule changes.

Spoiler: aGoAC Image Dump

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Yep, I'm pretty happy with those. The water hex changes in particular. I think it's a good compromise to allow people to walk slowly through water hexes without going up and down like a whore in a hurry because of constant PSRs, but still allow for the risk of taking a bump if they decide to run through. Same with choosing to fail shutdown checks due to heat, and the changes to PSR modifiers due to leg crits. Adjacent hex charges should be funny, too.

 

[Snekposter]

Yep, I'm pretty happy with those. The water hex changes in particular. I think it's a good compromise to allow people to walk slowly through water hexes without going up and down like a whore in a hurry because of constant PSRs, but still allow for the risk of taking a bump if they decide to run through. Same with choosing to fail shutdown checks due to heat, and the changes to PSR modifiers due to leg crits. Adjacent hex charges should be funny, too.

And then of course if you manage to knock them down and you've got a melee weapon you can proceed to use it on them. Sounds like the Banshee might actually be able to use its fists and speed for what they were intended for to begin with.

 

[Bassomatic]

Nervous about tourny tomorrow.

But, the changes, I like most of them. I just don't like the weaker ammo pops. There's also a part of me who wishes melee got cut down. I have mixed feelings. But I really think it should be based on weight and TSM. A niche would have extra tons or something. Maybe I'm just a grog, that a katana hits like a claymore and a raiper all on a 35 ton mech.

Either way gonna do some amazing TT and happy but nervous.

 

[The Bogwater Flows On]

I don't mind ammo explosions not being an immediate kill. It's in a weird position where if you run custom mechs it's useless, but it makes some variants that are overall neat but for some reason don't have CASE I/II and ammo weapons still be useful. Is it perfect? IDK I haven't used the rule yet.

The facing stuff seems neat. I know the group I play with are planning on doing the 2 playtest rules soon. To my knowledge the other stuff is just consideration things. We're going to be running the new side facing and ammo rules. I want to run the new rules and old stuff to get an honest opinion on both.

 

[BlackDragoons]

I don't mind ammo explosions not being an immediate kill. It's in a weird position where if you run custom mechs it's useless, but it makes some variants that are overall neat but for some reason don't have CASE I/II and ammo weapons still be useful. Is it perfect? IDK I haven't used the rule yet.

The facing stuff seems neat. I know the group I play with are planning on doing the 2 playtest rules soon. To my knowledge the other stuff is just consideration things. We're going to be running the new side facing and ammo rules. I want to run the new rules and old stuff to get an honest opinion on both.

It buff's case considerable since it limits the damage to 10 and there are variants of mechs with XL engines that have case in the left and right torsos so if you suffer an ammo explosion your not just gonna lose the mech.

 

[AbduluCthuluZulu]

Got some more information. Some proposed changes for some of the gear stuff.

Note nothing is set in stone for these.

Spoiler: Image Dump

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YES. I've been saying for years that UAC jamming rules are clearly outdated and need to be either updated or removed.

Where are my fucking aerospace rules?

They confirmed on the website they will be testing an aerospace overhaul in the final playtest release. [Trust me, I've been watching aerospace like a hawk for news like this.]

 

[Snekposter]

YES. I've been saying for years that UAC jamming rules are clearly outdated and need to be either updated or removed.

Yeah, ballistics in general have been a poor choice even with Introtech before DHS, and afterwards almost everything going from 10 free dissipation to 20 with no extra crits or tonnage made them unbelievably worse. And then you have the proliferation of ER and pulse variants that make it even worse. The jamming changes are nice, as are the special ammo changes and making immunity to AP rounds rarer. Might be worth it to run something with some LAC/5's with a mix of precision and AP.

Davion fans rejoice!