Battletech - Also known as Trannytech

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A game set in the war of 3039 might be really nice, if only cause it'd be something other than IS vs Clans - not that I would not enjoy a well-made game in that setting as well, but I agree that it would be nice to have something else.
And I would certainly appreciate a game set during the Amaris Civil War, even though it would unavoidably end on a downer, once you realize the great houses are all dicks and Kurita declares itself the new supreme ruler.
 
My fever dream is something set in the 2nd Succession War, the one responsible for really punting mankind back to the dark ages. I think it would be absolutely insane, nukes dropping everywhere, galaxy wide war crimes, SLDF tech in all its glory.
 
My fever dream is something set in the 2nd Succession War, the one responsible for really punting mankind back to the dark ages. I think it would be absolutely insane, nukes dropping everywhere, galaxy wide war crimes, SLDF tech in all its glory.
That would be pretty amazing, too.
 
I've picked it up on a sale some time ago, played through the campaign, it had its flaws but it's ok.

Then I've tried the Roguetech mod, and some time thief stole a hundred hours of my time, and he's unlikely to stop. You want multiple lances? You've got them. You want vechicles? They're there. You want more viability to weight classes other than Assault lategame? Done deal. You want a Wolverine toting two one-shot Long Toms like some retarded mechapistolero? Probably not, but some asshole did it.

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I've barely dipped my toe into this mod, and it's a pool of autism deep as the Baikal. I can't recommend it enough.
 
They multiplied the damage of all non-missile weapons by 5 and all missiles by 4, equally, they multiplied Hitpoints of Armor and Internal Structure by 5. Cockpits have 45points of Armor and 16 points of Internals, though, so headshots regularly leave the unit standing with 1HP, which is annoying to say the least. But god knows what they did to weapon heat and heatsink mechanics... It's really wonky.

My greatest pet peeve when it comes to equippement, though, is how they implemented TAG. They made it so any unit automatically spots for everyone else (which I am fine with in the video game tbh), but that left nothing really for the TAG to do... or so I thought. TAGging now gives bonus damage to energy and ballistic weapons and does nothing for guided missile systems, which is just plain weird.
Yup, they also upped AC/10 damage to 12 tabletop damage, probably why they left in the extra internal point on the head. AC/10s and PPC aren't supposed to be headchoppers, you seriously throw off 3025 era play if they are. Originally, energy weapons range and damage were the same, but they increased heat by 33%. Take my beloved Awesome-8Q, firing all PPCs generates 30 head, walking 1, running 2. It sinks 27. You can run a 3-3-2 firing pattern forever, it's one of the reasons they're terrifying. Now, increase that to 39 heat for all three PPCs, you're hitting 12 standing still, so now you're 3-2-2 with penalties. Jump to a Banshee-3M, you have 17 heat sinks, generate 20 with both PPCs in tabletop and you're only firing those until you us that 4/6 movement curve to get 95-tons of angry Leaguer in someone's face. In the PC game? A double tap is now 26 heat, if you move you're now hitting heat penalties on movement which is the only reason to take a Banshee in 3025 era play. Unless you're a filthy Lyran, but the 3S isn't available in the PC game's time frame. It goes on with any energy boat or flashbulb.

TAG doesn't really have a role before 3067 out side of lighting up targets for Arrow IVs. After that, if you're a Leaguer, there's Semi-Guided LRMs. We would never position a fire lance behind cover to take advantage of the superior indirect fire that would offer us. I suppose there's also guided Long Tom rounds if you play with off board artillery. Also not a thing the League would ever use to our advantage. We just hate teamwork and long range fire.
 
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To be fair, that sort of optimism about Kerensky's heirs returning to save the Inner Sphere from itself was rather common. He had already saved the Inner Sphere once after all. Nobody could have predicted his son would turn out to be a power-hungry egomaniac who would create the very thing his father tried to prevent by leaving the Inner Sphere. I'd do a "We have Kerensky's Heirs at Home" meme, but @Drain Todger kinda beat me to it.

As to ComStar... it all depends on who is in charge of things. Myndo Waterly was... Myndo Waterly, but others weren't necessarily so open to overt military action. Tiepolo, Primus during the creation of the Hatchetman was much fonder of covert methods, and in fact opposed the plan to go attack NAIS during the Fourth Succession War. The Tripitz Affair under Yakami was actually somewhat controversial within ComStar's First Circuit because they were paranoid of their fuckery getting found out, but they were on a steady decline for their covert ops as well with the HOLY SHROUD II assassinations not panning out as well as they had hoped thanks to the ISF and MIIO getting paranoid. Yakami's successor had to deal with the Jolly Roger Affair blowing up as well as the C-bill taking a hammering in value as House currencies stabilized as the warring died down, so by the time his replacement, Tiepolo, came around, ComStar's ability to do anything about the Hatchetman program was pretty much gone. Now, he did manage to incite yet another civil war in the Civil War League in order to stabilize the C-bill and root out the secrets of the Dragoon, but that didn't pan out either. I mean, its almost like the Inner Sphere finally wised up by the 3020's on how to keep things from going completely to shit and so ComStar just couldn't hack it anymore.
 
Yup, they also upped AC/10 damage to 12 tabletop damage, probably why they left in the extra internal point on the head. AC/10s and PPC aren't supposed to be headchoppers, you seriously throw off 3025 era play if they are. Originally, energy weapons range and damage were the same, but they increased heat by 33%. Take my beloved Awesome-8Q, firing all PPCs generates 30 head, walking 1, running 2. It sinks 27. You can run a 3-3-2 firing pattern forever, it's one of the reasons they're terrifying. Now, increase that to 39 heat for all three PPCs, you're hitting 12 standing still, so now you're 3-2-2 with penalties. Jump to a Banshee-3M, you have 17 heat sinks, generate 20 with both PPCs in tabletop and you're only firing those until you us that 4/6 movement curve to get 95-tons of angry Leaguer in someone's face. In the PC game? A double tap is now 26 heat, if you move you're now hitting heat penalties on movement which is the only reason to take a Banshee in 3025 era play. Unless you're a filthy Lyran, but the 3S isn't available in the PC game's time frame. It goes on with any energy boat or flashbulb.

TAG doesn't really have a role before 3067 out side of lighting up targets for Arrow IVs. After that, if you're a Leaguer, there's Semi-Guided LRMs. We would never position a fire lance behind cover to take advantage of the superior indirect fire that would offer us. I suppose there's also guided Long Tom rounds if you play with off board artillery. Also not a thing the League would ever use to our advantage. We just hate teamwork and long range fire.
Don't forget the "Sleeper" mechs the Heat rules in this game made/still made (not sure if it was patched). I honestly don't get the idea behind the Ghost heat mechanic in this game and MWO. The Mechs already uses a hardpoint system to tone down the "MLaser boats" to a degree. Hell even the Tactics game doesn't even let you change the engines which would further limit the boats to a degree. It's just a stupid mechanic that really serves no purpose.
 
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Don't forget the "Sleeper" mechs the Heat rules in this game made/still made (not sure if it was patched). I honestly don't get the idea behind the Ghost heat mechanic in this game and MWO. The Mechs already uses a hardpoint system to tone down the "MLaser boats" to a degree. Hell even the Tactics game doesn't even let you change the engines which would further limit the boats to a degree. It's just a stupid mechanic that really serves no purpose.
We said we the same thing on the MWO forums when they implemented it. Everyone was universally against it but PGI being PGI, ignored us. I'm shocked MWO is still going today given how outright incompetent PGI are.
 
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We said we the same thing on the MWO forums when they implemented it. Everyone was universally against it but PGI being PGI, ignored us. I'm shocked MWO is still going today given how outright incompetent PGI are.
Did they Mod it out of MW5? Curious due to waiting till Spring now for that game.
 
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I've never really realized how utterly crazy the Thug 11E is until recently. 4/6 Movement, 2 PPCs, 2 SRM6s and 18 double-heatsinks, that guy can run and Alphastrike all day with one reactor hit and he'd still not be able to build up any heat without being hit by a Flamer. That thing begs to remove 3 heatsinks and improve the SRMs to Streak models.

Don't forget the "Sleeper" mechs the Heat rules in this game made/still made (not sure if it was patched). I honestly don't get the idea behind the Ghost heat mechanic in this game and MWO. The Mechs already uses a hardpoint system to tone down the "MLaser boats" to a degree. Hell even the Tactics game doesn't even let you change the engines which would further limit the boats to a degree. It's just a stupid mechanic that really serves no purpose.
Ghost heat, that rings a bell, but I can't remember... what did they do? I do remember it was an exquisite piece of fuckery. Just looked it up, man that is some absurdly idiotic shit. Feels like it punishes players for optimizing their builds.
 
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Did they Mod it out of MW5? Curious due to waiting till Spring now for that game.
No idea. I've not played it nor have any intention to. My friends that have said it's a dumpster fire in true PGI fashion.
 
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A game set in the war of 3039 might be really nice, if only cause it'd be something other than IS vs Clans - not that I would not enjoy a well-made game in that setting as well, but I agree that it would be nice to have something else.
And I would certainly appreciate a game set during the Amaris Civil War, even though it would unavoidably end on a downer, once you realize the great houses are all dicks and Kurita declares itself the new supreme ruler.
One funny scenario for Battletech would be the Reunification Wars. In this era most of the SL tech was introduced. You could build Mechs with prototypes and to add some random shenanigans add a risk factor that those prototypes could fail or in worst case explode. Or perhaps put a game into the Jihad era. The source books for this era have a campaign where you play as a mercenary unit through the entire Jihad. Though I would like to play with a bigger unit and if possible with vehicles too (not sure Aerospace fighters should be added)
 
One funny scenario for Battletech would be the Reunification Wars. In this era most of the SL tech was introduced. You could build Mechs with prototypes and to add some random shenanigans add a risk factor that those prototypes could fail or in worst case explode. Or perhaps put a game into the Jihad era. The source books for this era have a campaign where you play as a mercenary unit through the entire Jihad. Though I would like to play with a bigger unit and if possible with vehicles too (not sure Aerospace fighters should be added)
Reunification War absolutely, Jihad... eh. I dunno. It took an axe to my beloved Inner Sphere, just so the IP owners could sell their horrendeous Dark Ages clicky-base game (from which I own way too much shit than I am willing to admit).
In a setting where people scheme for generations to make a powergrab, the Jihad felt pretty slapdash and I think even the writers admitted as much. Admittedly, I wouldn't know what I would do with the setting once the Star League has reformed, but throwing everything under the bus and plummeting everything into chaos with some religious fringe group that somehow managed to churn out the strongest army in the Inner Sphere within a decade or so... nah. I don't even like the tech of that setting, ER-LRM, Streak LRM, HAGs... I'm not even a fan of Snub-Nose PPCs and I barely tolerate Light and Heavy Gauss Rifles.

That is not to say that I would tell anyone not to enjoy the Jihad era or what came thereafter, it's just not my type of jam.
 
Oh yeah ghost heat is the absolutely most bullshit, stupid mechanic I have ever seen. I have no words for how infuriated I was when they added it. All those canon designs they fucked over... the Supernova is already this close to becoming its namesake in combat without ghost heat.

And instead of the Jihad, could always go for the FedCom Civil War like in MW4. Love me that Fafnir. Can't think of anything else as shamelessly Lyran except the Steiner Scout Lance.
 
Don't forget the "Sleeper" mechs the Heat rules in this game made/still made (not sure if it was patched). I honestly don't get the idea behind the Ghost heat mechanic in this game and MWO. The Mechs already uses a hardpoint system to tone down the "MLaser boats" to a degree. Hell even the Tactics game doesn't even let you change the engines which would further limit the boats to a degree. It's just a stupid mechanic that really serves no purpose.
Tabletop has a perfect solution to Mlaser boats and that's the overheat scale, a relatively short range, and the fact you're not going to hit the same location with all of them. People keep trying to reinvent tabletop's balance, but tabletop already has solid balance. And unoptimized canon designs. It's made all the worse by HBS having one of the original designers and still fucking up balance.
 
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Oh yeah ghost heat is the absolutely most bullshit, stupid mechanic I have ever seen. I have no words for how infuriated I was when they added it. All those canon designs they fucked over... the Supernova is already this close to becoming its namesake in combat without ghost heat.

And instead of the Jihad, could always go for the FedCom Civil War like in MW4. Love me that Fafnir. Can't think of anything else as shamelessly Lyran except the Steiner Scout Lance.
Tabletop has a perfect solution to Mlaser boats and that's the overheat scale, a relatively short range, and the fact you're not going to hit the same location with all of them. People keep trying to reinvent tabletop's balance, but tabletop already has solid balance. And unoptimized canon designs. It's made all the worse by HBS having one of the original designers and still fucking up balance.

From Heat Scale - MWO Wiki (mwomercs.com)

Heat Scale is a system that penalizes a mech with extra heat generation when multiple weapon systems of the same or similar types are fired within a short time frame. It is commonly referred to as "Ghost Heat" by the community due to a lack of in-game information on how the system works and UI notifications when a penalty occurs. The goal of the system is to limit the practice of taking large quantities of the same or similar weapon systems ("Boating") and firing them at the same time ("Alpha Striking").

This is some stupid ass shit right here, Ghost heat doesn't stop the Alpha Striking they are trying to prevent, especially on maps with intervening terrain. I'm going to Alpha just because there may be small windows on getting the shot off. Boating was happening since the game put out the rules to make your own mech, and according to their "System" standard mechs are 'Boats". The HBK-4P was a thing back in the day hence why it became canon, but at the same time said system is going against canon and penalizing standard AWS-8Q builds
 
From Heat Scale - MWO Wiki (mwomercs.com)

Heat Scale is a system that penalizes a mech with extra heat generation when multiple weapon systems of the same or similar types are fired within a short time frame. It is commonly referred to as "Ghost Heat" by the community due to a lack of in-game information on how the system works and UI notifications when a penalty occurs. The goal of the system is to limit the practice of taking large quantities of the same or similar weapon systems ("Boating") and firing them at the same time ("Alpha Striking").

This is some stupid ass shit right here, Ghost heat doesn't stop the Alpha Striking they are trying to prevent, especially on maps with intervening terrain. I'm going to Alpha just because there may be small windows on getting the shot off. Boating was happening since the game put out the rules to make your own mech, and according to their "System" standard mechs are 'Boats". The HBK-4P was a thing back in the day hence why it became canon, but at the same time said system is going against canon and penalizing standard AWS-8Q builds
Yeah geez... we wouldn't want any kind of "boat" mech with multiples of similar weapons in our Battletech, now, would we?
pics unrelated
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That would just be crazy.

All snark aside, yeah, this is stupid beyond measure. If someone wants to stick two dozen MLasers up their mech, why shouldn't they? If this is meant to avoid people building mechs who can one-shot an opponent, then what's the big problem? A lot of shooters have insta-kill weapons, like the K98 in DoD or the AWP in CS. If they want to nerf that, just make the weapons all aim for a slightly different trajectory and you're done. What's next? Random leg explosions to people who run too fast or jump too far?


also damn that viking is a sexy beast... just imagine what that thing can do with thunder ammo...
 
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Reunification War absolutely, Jihad... eh. I dunno. It took an axe to my beloved Inner Sphere, just so the IP owners could sell their horrendeous Dark Ages clicky-base game (from which I own way too much shit than I am willing to admit).
In a setting where people scheme for generations to make a powergrab, the Jihad felt pretty slapdash and I think even the writers admitted as much. Admittedly, I wouldn't know what I would do with the setting once the Star League has reformed, but throwing everything under the bus and plummeting everything into chaos with some religious fringe group that somehow managed to churn out the strongest army in the Inner Sphere within a decade or so... nah. I don't even like the tech of that setting, ER-LRM, Streak LRM, HAGs... I'm not even a fan of Snub-Nose PPCs and I barely tolerate Light and Heavy Gauss Rifles.

That is not to say that I would tell anyone not to enjoy the Jihad era or what came thereafter, it's just not my type of jam.
Word of Blake wasn't as fringe as you might think, remember that they held Earth and while the Sol system isn't what it was under the Star League it was still the single great industrial system in the Inner Sphere. They also made off with most of the FWLN, which was the largest navy in the Sphere pre-Jihad. Sure, most of the fleet was armored in tin foil for some reason (The League had no Staff Writers, it's why the 3050-3067 era is so bad for them in terms of mech designs, with a brief respite in TRO:3055. I'm still salty about the Wraiths ending up in the Confederation.) but it was a huge navy and the Theras are the best new design capital ship in the Sphere. If it's fighter wings are filled out it'll end anything else in space. It's literally a Battletech version of a Battlestar. The Jihad wasn't awful, but Catalyst had to play by Mechwarrior: Dark Ages timeline, so they did their best to make the best of a lot of suck.

I like a lot of the newer weapons, but a lot of them are very specialized. The LGR was never used well by FASA but it's not a bad weapon if you know what you're doing. An 8 point hit with a medium range band out to 17 hexes? It's an AC/2 with teeth, but it needs to be put on a mech fast enough to keep the range open. It's not hard, but FASA went full retard on the refits with it. Snub-Nose works on melee mechs. I want an updated Banshee-3M with a pair of them, then you use it as a bodyguard in your 4/6 heavy fire lances. Or just pair it with that TSMed Grand Titan variant that's RPing as Optimus Prime.

The only post Dark Age stuff I don't like is the Wolves getting to play with Stealth Armor on their new fast Omnis. Fast Clan ER-PPCs with Stealth Armor? That's straight bullshit. But I can't hate on the era, the new FWL mechs are finally solid shit. The Anzu and Carronade are the designs the League has always needed, and the Quasimodo is very clever upgrade to the Hunchback.
 
Did they remove the recoil to-hit penalty from autocannons? I haven't played in a while. I need to DL RogueTech and give it a whirl.

I never ever understood PGI's desire to add 'ghost heat'. The hardpoint system limits 'boating' anyways, and penalizing canonical designs that are supposed to be boats (and there are a lot of them) is just asinine. Granted, you can sidestep ghost heat by chainfiring but still, if you only have a small window to fire...

As to ComStar... it all depends on who is in charge of things. Myndo Waterly was... Myndo Waterly, but others weren't necessarily so open to overt military action. Tiepolo, Primus during the creation of the Hatchetman was much fonder of covert methods, and in fact opposed the plan to go attack NAIS during the Fourth Succession War. The Tripitz Affair under Yakami was actually somewhat controversial within ComStar's First Circuit because they were paranoid of their fuckery getting found out, but they were on a steady decline for their covert ops as well with the HOLY SHROUD II assassinations not panning out as well as they had hoped thanks to the ISF and MIIO getting paranoid. Yakami's successor had to deal with the Jolly Roger Affair blowing up as well as the C-bill taking a hammering in value as House currencies stabilized as the warring died down, so by the time his replacement, Tiepolo, came around, ComStar's ability to do anything about the Hatchetman program was pretty much gone. Now, he did manage to incite yet another civil war in the Civil War League in order to stabilize the C-bill and root out the secrets of the Dragoon, but that didn't pan out either. I mean, its almost like the Inner Sphere finally wised up by the 3020's on how to keep things from going completely to shit and so ComStar just couldn't hack it anymore.
Comstar was always living on borrowed time. They simply weren't big enough to keep an eye on everyone's technical advancement at once. Worse, they suffered from a level of confidence that was way out of proportion to their actual skills; during the Jolly Roger affair, the ComGuards that got sent after the pirates got hurt bad. "Black" Jack McGirk's crew were wiped out, but not before bleeding the First Division with a 2.3 to 1 kill ratio.

I can only imagine the shitstorm that would've erupted if the ISF or MIIO had been able to ID the Comstar assassins for Holy Shroud. Hell, the NAIS raid precipitated a shadow war between Comstar and the Federated Suns for the next twenty or so years.
 
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