Battletech on the PC
Discussion
Released today at 17:00hrs on steam, having been in the beta its got a lot of potential to being a worthy successor to the Mech Commander games (1998 and 2001 for MC 2).
Its sort of like XCOM in the way it plays, turn based, not all about just going around killing things with big Mechs but also about keeping your business above the red line and making money and reputation.
The only down side for me is by the time it was ready to play, it was time to go to work
so a full review will have to wait for a day or two.
Its sort of like XCOM in the way it plays, turn based, not all about just going around killing things with big Mechs but also about keeping your business above the red line and making money and reputation.
The only down side for me is by the time it was ready to play, it was time to go to work
so a full review will have to wait for a day or two.Now having played a few scenario's, i've a better perception of the game, it's improved since the early days of the beta, I am running it on a gaming laptop with all the settings up high (4th gen i7 CPU with a 980M GPU and its smooth), so it will run on lower spec machines no probs.
The easiest way to describe Battletech is that it is similar to XCOM in game play (turn based) but with financial restraints that dictate what mission's you do and what salvage and money you receive.
By this I mean that the game will give you an equal amount on a pair of slider bars, you can adjust this to get the max money to the minimum salvage and vice versa. If your max cash available is say 200000 credits and your max salvage is 2/6 (2/6 means you get the choice of 2 bits of salvage you can choose and the rest up to 6 is given to you randomly) and you go in the middle, it will adjust to say 150000 and 2/4 salvageable parts.
Monthly running bills are going to be your worst enemy, pilot bills and drop ship and other costs are separate (you can reduce some of these costs but you will incur a negative response on the morale front) and you need to spend wisely or go bankrupt.
The game is split between doing the admin and the game play, and the game play is pretty good once you get use to it.
You start out choosing your character, defining a background, doing a start scenario which gets you into the game and once that is completed, you are then off on your own.
Its smooth enough and not over complicated so far, you have your lance of 4 Mech's (you need to fill all the slots available to start a mission) and get the choice of missions later on, some more lucrative than others, denoted by a skull symbol with a maximum level of 5 skulls (5 being the hardest, and half being the easiest), more skulls, greater the rewards, higher chance of losing pilots and Mech's in return.
If you enjoyed the original Mech Commander series and also XCOM then you will love this game, i've not noticed any bugs in the few scenario's so far, its quite addictive and I can see why it gets rated quite highly, and to add to it all, one of the developers is actually one of the original guys who started out doing Battletech table top.
Battletech gets a good, solid 9 out of 10 from me
The easiest way to describe Battletech is that it is similar to XCOM in game play (turn based) but with financial restraints that dictate what mission's you do and what salvage and money you receive.
By this I mean that the game will give you an equal amount on a pair of slider bars, you can adjust this to get the max money to the minimum salvage and vice versa. If your max cash available is say 200000 credits and your max salvage is 2/6 (2/6 means you get the choice of 2 bits of salvage you can choose and the rest up to 6 is given to you randomly) and you go in the middle, it will adjust to say 150000 and 2/4 salvageable parts.
Monthly running bills are going to be your worst enemy, pilot bills and drop ship and other costs are separate (you can reduce some of these costs but you will incur a negative response on the morale front) and you need to spend wisely or go bankrupt.
The game is split between doing the admin and the game play, and the game play is pretty good once you get use to it.
You start out choosing your character, defining a background, doing a start scenario which gets you into the game and once that is completed, you are then off on your own.
Its smooth enough and not over complicated so far, you have your lance of 4 Mech's (you need to fill all the slots available to start a mission) and get the choice of missions later on, some more lucrative than others, denoted by a skull symbol with a maximum level of 5 skulls (5 being the hardest, and half being the easiest), more skulls, greater the rewards, higher chance of losing pilots and Mech's in return.
If you enjoyed the original Mech Commander series and also XCOM then you will love this game, i've not noticed any bugs in the few scenario's so far, its quite addictive and I can see why it gets rated quite highly, and to add to it all, one of the developers is actually one of the original guys who started out doing Battletech table top.
Battletech gets a good, solid 9 out of 10 from me
Oh my, this game is just getting better, though not without a few minor glitches in the graphics (nothing serious, it really is one of the better released games that has virtually no issues that I have played).
Taken up my first challenge and did the first campaign mission which is rated as 2 skull difficulty (on a scale from .5 to 5) and gained a very nice mech at the end of it, plus it's my first (and very well received) Heavy. Welcome to the JagerMech!
It was a fairly difficult mission in parts (I won't ruin it for you if you buy the game), and i've a few of my own Mech's that require a little more than just a bit of paint at the end of it, BUT it was well worth the effort.
The Jager, its equipped for long range fights, 2 AC2's, 2 AC5's and some missiles.
As the salvage let me have all 3 pieces of this, it was available for me to upgrade (refit) or keep as, and in its normal form its pretty pathetic, this is a Heavy Mech and as such should have a bit of armour, what I ended up with (fully kitted out btw) was a Mech with less armour than my Shadowhawk, that needed rectifying immediately.
Unfortunately that also means getting rid of some weapons (bye bye AC-2's and missiles, hello some Med Lasers instead), so now more of a close to medium range mech with a shed load of armour and the ability to take a little bit more punishment than it could before.
Collecting Mech's can be a little tricky, if you kill the pilot and don't do too much damage, then you can end up with the 3 pieces you need, for the majority of the time you will end up with 1 or 2 pieces, these go into your Mech Hanger and once all 3 parts are available, you get that (fully equipped) Mech available to you, and I was quite lucky to get the Jager, glad I did, I really need something with a little more fire power and armour over my Medium's, the ability to 1 shot Light Mech's and remove their guns from the game (and some of the nasty support vehicles like SRM and LRM carriers that just blast the crap out of you), is well received.
Where this game will go, I don't know, there is a huge star system map to explore and many contracts to take up, when I get there I will let you know, but this is one game that I REALLY recommend to Battletech/Mechwarrior fans
Taken up my first challenge and did the first campaign mission which is rated as 2 skull difficulty (on a scale from .5 to 5) and gained a very nice mech at the end of it, plus it's my first (and very well received) Heavy. Welcome to the JagerMech!
It was a fairly difficult mission in parts (I won't ruin it for you if you buy the game), and i've a few of my own Mech's that require a little more than just a bit of paint at the end of it, BUT it was well worth the effort.
The Jager, its equipped for long range fights, 2 AC2's, 2 AC5's and some missiles.
As the salvage let me have all 3 pieces of this, it was available for me to upgrade (refit) or keep as, and in its normal form its pretty pathetic, this is a Heavy Mech and as such should have a bit of armour, what I ended up with (fully kitted out btw) was a Mech with less armour than my Shadowhawk, that needed rectifying immediately.
Unfortunately that also means getting rid of some weapons (bye bye AC-2's and missiles, hello some Med Lasers instead), so now more of a close to medium range mech with a shed load of armour and the ability to take a little bit more punishment than it could before.
Collecting Mech's can be a little tricky, if you kill the pilot and don't do too much damage, then you can end up with the 3 pieces you need, for the majority of the time you will end up with 1 or 2 pieces, these go into your Mech Hanger and once all 3 parts are available, you get that (fully equipped) Mech available to you, and I was quite lucky to get the Jager, glad I did, I really need something with a little more fire power and armour over my Medium's, the ability to 1 shot Light Mech's and remove their guns from the game (and some of the nasty support vehicles like SRM and LRM carriers that just blast the crap out of you), is well received.
Where this game will go, I don't know, there is a huge star system map to explore and many contracts to take up, when I get there I will let you know, but this is one game that I REALLY recommend to Battletech/Mechwarrior fans
Pro tip
In your game folder go to SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\BATTLETECH\BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\data\simGameConstants\SimGameConstants.json (steam version obviously, may vary)
Open it with a text editor and change "DayElapseTimeNormal" from 1.25 to 0.5
Days will go by much faster on the spaceship screen, meaning much less downtime.
There are other tweaks online to speed up combat but it was the inactivity waiting for repairs etc that annoyed me.
Good game
In your game folder go to SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\BATTLETECH\BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\data\simGameConstants\SimGameConstants.json (steam version obviously, may vary)
Open it with a text editor and change "DayElapseTimeNormal" from 1.25 to 0.5
Days will go by much faster on the spaceship screen, meaning much less downtime.
There are other tweaks online to speed up combat but it was the inactivity waiting for repairs etc that annoyed me.
Good game
I bought this last night, originally I was thinking £35 is a bit steep for something that looked a little last gen for graphics, but I've played for a couple of hours and in terms of the amount of gameplay it will give me it seems like good value.
Just started the first proper mission after the intro section, spend some time talking to the crew and learning about the ship so far. I am enjoying it so far...hoping the story is fairly compelling to keep me interested!
Just started the first proper mission after the intro section, spend some time talking to the crew and learning about the ship so far. I am enjoying it so far...hoping the story is fairly compelling to keep me interested!
Still playing this, now making a decent amount of cash in between the missions (I sort of give the missions a bit of a wide birth for a while until it starts costing me too much cash then go and do it), and I have a nice selection of mechs knocking about (must be pushing 50 in store and 12-14 on the deployment list.
Mechs that really make your day (that I own)
Highlander (Assault)
Such a great all round mech, got the fire power to one shot heavies and with the jump jets mean you can get to those hard to reach places.
Battlemaster (Assault).
Not quite as versatile as the Highlander but can still pack a punch and take a beating.
Zeus (Assault)
Its another one that if you get the chance to grab hold of, its worth getting, has enough fire power and it can move round the battlefield pretty well for something that comes in at 80T.
Orion (Heavy).
Between these and the Thunderbolts, they made up the main stay before I had my Assault Mechs, they still get used on those lesser missions or as support for the Highlanders.
Thunderbolt (Heavy)
Can end up being a good gun boat, its versatile for a heavy and has good armour for its size.
Grasshopper (Heavy)
Its 70 tons, its quick, it has enough armour and fire power to push forward and can 1 shot medium and light mechs, whats not to like?
Hunchback (Medium)
Slow as hell, tough as hell, great with the AC20 (4G version), not so great in 4P variant.
The one I want, Atlas (Assault)... still missing from my stable
The O.K one...
BLack Knight (Heavy)
Its not the fact that its bad, its not, its the fact that it just runs so hot, if you have anything that's not Artic or Highlands then its just going to fry your pilot.
The OMG WFT is this doing in the game one!
When I could have had a Victor or another Highlander but no, I went after the 95 Ton POS that has an ac5, a ppc and a small laser.... 95 fecking tons, ok its good at melee but hey, so is an Atlas and those things are walking arsenal's.... if you get the chance, don't get a Banshee (3C variant).
Mechs that really make your day (that I own)
Highlander (Assault)
Such a great all round mech, got the fire power to one shot heavies and with the jump jets mean you can get to those hard to reach places.
Battlemaster (Assault).
Not quite as versatile as the Highlander but can still pack a punch and take a beating.
Zeus (Assault)
Its another one that if you get the chance to grab hold of, its worth getting, has enough fire power and it can move round the battlefield pretty well for something that comes in at 80T.
Orion (Heavy).
Between these and the Thunderbolts, they made up the main stay before I had my Assault Mechs, they still get used on those lesser missions or as support for the Highlanders.
Thunderbolt (Heavy)
Can end up being a good gun boat, its versatile for a heavy and has good armour for its size.
Grasshopper (Heavy)
Its 70 tons, its quick, it has enough armour and fire power to push forward and can 1 shot medium and light mechs, whats not to like?
Hunchback (Medium)
Slow as hell, tough as hell, great with the AC20 (4G version), not so great in 4P variant.
The one I want, Atlas (Assault)... still missing from my stable
The O.K one...
BLack Knight (Heavy)
Its not the fact that its bad, its not, its the fact that it just runs so hot, if you have anything that's not Artic or Highlands then its just going to fry your pilot.
The OMG WFT is this doing in the game one!
When I could have had a Victor or another Highlander but no, I went after the 95 Ton POS that has an ac5, a ppc and a small laser.... 95 fecking tons, ok its good at melee but hey, so is an Atlas and those things are walking arsenal's.... if you get the chance, don't get a Banshee (3C variant).
Well the first DLC is available, some new mechs (Cyclops, Hatchetman etc) and flashpoints (plus a career mode and changes to your mechwarrior skills.
It is improved, the new maps are a welcome addition and the extra game play adds to the game.
I've not started a career mode game yet but it does look good
Well worth getting this addon to an already great game
It is improved, the new maps are a welcome addition and the extra game play adds to the game.
I've not started a career mode game yet but it does look good
Well worth getting this addon to an already great game
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