@@TheInsomniaddict it says he has an affinity for Awesomes. If you mouse over him in the mission prep, it tells you familiarity lvl for mechs piloted. After piloting any Awesome 10 times and surviving, he gains the passive.
When he was talking about the life in jumpships I thought, that could be a cool story. Like a fly on the wall, living on an active jumpship during the war. Catering to soldiers and mercs on both sides.
Man, I loved how the Taurians met Kamea's shiny new SLDF-equipped force and abruptly stopped their demand for surrender with an "oh shit!" when they realized what they were up against.
i found you either by searching "battletech lore" or as a recommendation because GrimDark Narrarator started covering Battletech earlier this year or late last year. Either way, I believe the Amaris Civil War series was the first of yours I watched, and I've watched the whole Tex Talks playlist twice since then. Battletech was the 2nd complete TTRPG I ever played, D&D 2nd ed being the first. I say complete because my DM for the first few missions [who was a huge Robotech fan] was running a strange hybrid or Palladium Robotech [based on Rifts which is based on GURPS] for characters and dice rolling and FASA Battletech Tech Manuals and Mercenaries sourcebook. A few months in and we acquired the Mechwarrior book and the Battletech and Aerospace boxed sets. Yes he converted actual Veritechs into LAMs, which we ended up with a lance of in our eventual regiment. Yes they are crap when you have to balance "fly like F-14 tomcat" with "walk in hooker heels" in a fair environment.
they could so easily do what Tex suggests. Build a campaign drawing on all the years of lore that Battletech has under its belt. I would happily go back to this game if they did that
You are right about that. Would not feel sorry for paying for DLCs either. But.... slightly better story would be nice as I think that Arano and her henchmen are weakest part of this game (frankly most of the game I would rather help the other side than trying to help that whining bunch of [whatever] get her throne back over corpses of her people who were mostly glad to see her go). Unless that is goal of the game ofc - you are mercenary fighting for whoever pays you, other stuff be damned.
One deep lore attention to detail that I notice is with the jump animation. One thing that stuck with me [more memorable than the 4th mech in our first lance] is the mechanic from Battlespace where a jump can be detected before the jump is completed, i believe for 1/2 the time the jump takes [which itself is a number of seconds equal to the distance in LY x the number of attached dropships /2]. While the Jump sequence is a stock animation, that little energy twinkle is the detection of the incoming jump.
Yo Tex, there are in fact tonnage restricted missions, though not many in the campaign, IIRC they're a lot more common in the expansions, in career mode and they're more restricted in "all mechs have to be under X weight limit". The big mods add in total tonnage restricted missions that you'd be more familiar with, RT, BTech Advanced, BEXCE and such.
Tex you might not be fond of clanners..... don't lie it would be hilarious to walk around the periphery with a full company of clan heavies. Like a squad of MMA fighters showing up at a middle school rumble. On a related note, always respect your techs! We cant fix stupid but we are well versed infixing what stupid does.
I thought that "Clanners isolated in the IS/Periphery" would be a neat game premise. You're leading a Clan binary on a mission somewhere, when your clan gets either absorbed by another clan or shattered by Inner Sphere attack. Either way you decide to contest the outcome, you're now stuck in the inner sphere, and have to figure out how to build up enough force to either refuse the absorption, or get yourself recognized as the legitimate successors to your old Clan (depending on premise), possibly with two other options from gameplay, which is get to the point where you're a major mercenary command and can get a title and land grant from one of the IS great houses, or you grab some planets in the periphery to start your own pocket empire. You'd have to balance keeping your clanner personnel happy with where things are going (and possibly dealing with a special trial mission if they decide you're behaving in an un-clanlike manner) against the opportunities to gain resources by working for the sphere, against the fact that until late game, you will have no way to replace your Clan mechs or pilots, and no way to repair damage beyond armor loss, and possibly in late game, keeping your inner sphere crew happy with the idea of heading to the Clan homeworlds.
@@BlueGrimgrin in all seriousness bolt clanners weapons on an inner sphere mech, that alone would suddenly change the power dynamic. For crying out loud clan missile racks are half the weight.
@@mikewaterfield3599 Fair point, and that would be a neat player choice, you can scavenge your clan mechs for upgrades, and not have your "ace" for difficult missions, or you can keep them intact, and be forced to make do with IS mechs, or anywhere in between. I'd probably have ammo for Clan projectile weapons be limited as well though, at least until you get manufacturing going for it, or have penalties for using IS ammo. On the theory that what you are doing is like trying to run black powder cartridges through a modern semi-automatic firearm.
@@BlueGrimgrin There is some lore along those lines. There's the "Dark" on Antallos/Port Krin in the Deep Periphery near the DC. There's also the group that Devlin Stone had. Both were largely Smoked Jags for obvious reasons.
@@BlueGrimgrin it goes to a point Tex pointed out, and happens to have real world examples. The clans allowed cultural norms to neuter them in war. Not unlike the Japanese. In universe clan Mech’s, and associated equipment aren’t exactly stocked in your average arms store post invasion. Not unlike 8mm ammo. Sure you can get it but it’s not like 308, 06, or 5.56. Even weapons like a gauss rifle, great you got your hands on one, got enough ammo?
Hey Tex. You made a good point in this video. Jump Ships, the vast majority of them... are unarmed ships that 'Jump' from system to system. Always from either the Zenith or Nadir Jump Points of stars ('north', or above, and 'south', or below' the star's planetary plane of the Ecliptic). The ship makes most of it's earnings providing things that Drop Ships just usually don't have... malls, shops, more extensive workshops, 'standard' cargo carrying capacity, anything from 'steerage' to luxury accommodations in their centrifugal 'G-Decks' that range from 1G all the way down to as little as 1/4G or less. Their primary 'mode of operation' is to move freight, goods, and Drop Ships, from one star system to another. And even though I say that they make more in providing services, the fees for transportation of Drop Ships alone is staggering when considered on a 'yearly' basis. Jump Ships live and die by the old adage of 'Time is Money', and rarely spend more than a couple of weeks inside any single solar system. Just long enough to recharge their K-F Drives to Jump to the next system. A Jump Ship will carry as many Drop Ships as it can, if there are enough potential 'passengers'. Some types of Drop Ships, like the Argo, 'block' other Docking Ports, and thus are charged double the Transit Fees for doing so, since they are keeping the Jump Ship from docking other craft at that Docking Port (even if their are no additional 'passengers' to carry, they still will charge double for blocking the access). Usually, as you mention, the Jump Ships are 'Family owned businesses' and are passed on to the next generation to operate. When Jump Ships 'meet' at a Jump Point, they communicate. They pass on news from their latest ports of call, swap mail, and even arrange transfers of personnel, passengers, Drop Ships, AND doing a bit of 'trading' amongst the crews to spread the gene pool. Entire 'Clans' of such families exist and wander the space-ways. And they keep Very Detailed genealogical records to prevent inbreeding. More than half of all Jump Ship family crews can trace their lineages back to either a Civilian Crew, or an ex-Star League crew. A very few can even trace back to crew of vessels that were part of the Great Expansion, long before the Terran Hegemony. I started out this missive saying that 'the vast majority'... I meant that. Most of the Great Houses have fewer than 50 total Jump Ships in their inventories. Most Minor Houses and Periphery States have even fewer. Some Might be totally dependent upon 'Civilian' Jump Ships making the rounds of their territory. Thus the total of 'civilian' owned Jump Ships wandering around the Inner Sphere is fairly large in comparison to any one House, although the total barely exceeds twice the total of 'House Owned' ships. One would think that Piracy of Jump Ships would be a 'thing' in the Battle Tech universe... until you consider that ANY star system that does NOT aid a Jump Ship in distress, just fails to have Jump Ships return to it. This, is catastrophic for the System Economy. Such an even is ranked right up there with 'Dinosaur Killer Asteroids, 'World Burning solar flares', Nuclear Carpet Bombing, etc. Also, the Jump Ships themselves have stringent controls over who boards their ship, when, and what access they may acquire aboard. While maintaining heavily armed and all too willing guards to deal with any problems that do pop up. Most Jump Ships also maintain methods to cripple or even 'kill' Drop Ships attached to them in various manners... Even though such measures are rarely spoken of, and hard to prove since the Jump Ship crews will most certainly NOT allow anyone access to their ship to 'inspect' it THAT thoroughly. By 3025, most House and State Jump Ships are family operated businesses that 'cater' to one client. This is because the House or State 'acquired' their services by supporting the Jump Ship for decades or even a century, supplying the Jump Ship with needed parts, supplies, and occasional 'fresh blood' for the family-clan aboard it. Yes, a few New Jump Ships are actually built in the remaining Shipyards of the Inner Sphere, but the total numbers are pretty low. If memory serves me, fewer than a dozen and a half are produced yearly... and that figure seems 'high' to me. Of those 'New Builds', most are bought and paid for by Jump Ship Clans pooling their resources to expand their Clan's business. Jump Ships themselves are extremely complex pieces of Los-Tech, and most of their components are made from rare metals and other hard to obtain parts and equipment. ONE part might require as much of a rare element like: Element 72: Hf: Hafnium, as a planet can produce in a decade. A Hafnium 'rich' world might produce enough to make Two or Three parts a decade. Just gaining that much of such a rare element is tough enough, NOW you have to 'machine' it to tolerances that only a few worlds can achieve... there is, of course the TIME to ship all that tonnage of material to be machined, plus the additional time required to turn that component into an actual working part of a Jump Ship's Drive. Because there actually is a trickle of new Jump Ships adding into the pool of existing, operational ships, the Inner Sphere still has interstellar commerce. Without that, one ship after another would rapidly cease to operate and be cannibalized for parts to keep others operational, with the net result that within a century the interstellar commercial markets would collapse and throw the entire Inner Sphere into a Dark Age even worse than what the Blake-ists accomplished in the early part of the 32nd century (3132). Just a few thoughts, spoken Frank-ly
Wouldn't it be great if Ian from Forgotten Weapons did one of his videos, but about like a Defiance Model F AC/5 or something? Did the whole run down about it being made on Hesperus by Dave the engineer and giving the whole history of the series. And then taking it to the range to put some rounds through it. 😂
I heard a rumor that the sequel is being worked on. Between the Clan Invasion kickstarter and ilClan Era coming, I imagine it will be further along the timeline, but a continuously updated game would be incredible. There are always mods.
Can't wait to see Tex discover the joy of a snub ppc refit of the Awesome as his point mech... Goes from 3-2 firing of the ppcs to firing all ever round you got a target due to extra weight for heat sinks (and even more armor!)
Using ONLY 3025 tech, Tex can put FOUR PPCs into each Awesome. AND remain 'relatively' cool. I've done it in my play through often. Not quite max armored, but close! Believe me, Four PPCs a 'turn' is devastating. Add in Marauders with FIVE standard Large Lasers, and you've got some real killing potential. Two of each type in a Lance (Two 4-PPC Awesomes, and Two 5-Lrg Laser Marauders) is a 'killer' team.
I know there's a massive time delay, but just incase you aren't finished with the game yet I have a build recommendation for you I think you'll find hilarious. I introduce to you the Sleepy Awesome! the TL DR version is that you get an awesome and put 6 PPC on it, jump jets, and ZERO heat sinks. Every turn you jump into a position at the maximum range of your guns and alpha strike, which cooks it so hard it emergency shuts down. Next turn he has his nap, then the turn after he jumps and shoots again. It's a supremely stupid build that makes heavy mechs melt like butter. Thought you might find it funny and I think it's worth a try.
I like your idea of starting with a 'blank slate' dropship and reconfiguring it to carry different compliments and thus your different frontlin/auxiliary forces. Maybe start with a Mule-class cargo ship, plenty of spare room in one of those.
Some of the narrative type missions that you are looking for can be played in career mode with the Flashpoint missions. There are also the drop tonnage limits that you are looking for in some Flashpoints.
I really like the sound of what you were going for at the beginning. Don't forget the dropships themselves have weaponry. Leopards are nothing special, but drop a few overlords down and shit starts hitting the fan. Also have the Mechs be vunerable for the first round or so just to simulate unloading(the extra evasion never made sense to me.) Maybe be able to call in an aerospace fly-by to pop a particularly tough target (at your own expense.)
To add more, drop in with your scout lance and find a spot to drop in a dropships carrying your big guns, but they are only protected for the 2 turns or so to land and unload them by your dropships guns and your forward lance. You can choose where to land them, but enemies can fire on the dropships. Let you start off with something small like a hrothgar or a leopard, and eventually but more or larger ones going up to behemoths and overlords.
I love the Vindicator, kept one around in my lance while I was playing for longer then I should. It's a shame the game sorta forces you to use heavy and assault mechs later on to be effective. Some easier missions would be nice to take your light and medium Lance's out. Hopefully you'll cover the Vindicator in one of your Tex Talks, and thanks to you and this game I'm getting into the tabletop. Going to have a Vindicator of course.
Tex - his head just exploded off. that's no way to get ahead. Me - facepalm in agony. My lawyer - that might qualify as a form of assault will look into a case for you mr. Lobo
Incidentally, any Mercenary commander worth his salt would see an opportunity to cement himself to a noble household via Kamea. A lifetime of success via the Mercenary company, or make that the core of the Restoration military and secure generations of comfort in Nobility for your offspring... This said Scrombles might just punch.
Your comment on the Vindicator brings something up for me. Like you I am no fan of the Capellans but the first book I bought after TRO:3025 was the original Cap Con sourcebook, because I liked the Vindicator. I also liked the Cataphract and the Raven and then the Cappellans gave us the Thunder which I like, especially the LBX variant. My son, when it came time to choose a faction chose the Cap Con. I recently asked him why. He said he does not like the Cap Con, but he likes their symbol and he likes their mechs and battle armor.
The Vindi is the one thing Capellans didn't fuck up on. Have liked it since I got into BTech/MW2, but fell in love with it when I used to play Neveron. Vindis and Trebs were the two mechs I could always count on to wreck house and be replaceable.
A morale system for the enemy would be nice in a sequel. If a bunch of SLDF-spec assaults are coming at me in my Locust, I’m going to try to fall back to better terrain or if I’m crippled I’d probably try to eject
If they make another iteration of this game, it might be nice to transition from pure turn-based combat to a 5-second tick based system like what Phantom Brigade uses (see early access gameplay content in youtube for details). I think that would open up new tactics that just cannot happen in pure turn-based (e.g. poptarting, swapping engines would actually have a noticable effect, lights would be able to capitalize on their speed instead of just "initiative", meat shielding, even torso twisting would matter). Just imagine: AC20 Centurion steps forward from behind cover, left side forward, twists in, fires AC20, twists out and steps back into cover all in the span of one 5-second turn
0:50 I want a game like Star Wars Empire at War set in the Battletech universe. Set it up as separate campaigns of house vs house wars or well known conflicts from the lore, or the entire Inner Sphere and have it play out like a game of Stellaris. Have you manage resources and maybe even researching new mechs and weaponry as time goes on like any other grand strategy. Let you build/buy whatever chassis you want and either use stock variants or let you customize each mech individually and make a blueprint to repeat it like Stellaris to fit more into the macro management of things. Plus it would need an in-depth diplomacy so you could talk your way through the Ares Conventions if you're tired of your planets getting Alderaan'd, or talk your way out of them if you're a Capellan. But what I really want the option to fight over planets in real time Mech Commander style like you do in Empire at War. Land X amount of forces and secure a foothold, drop in more reinforcements as you take losses. Capture strategic locations with light mechs, vehicles or infantry and build defenses. Call in air support if not just give you control of air units and artillery yourself in the field, maybe even hotdrop pilots and salvage equipment in the field like Mech Commander2. I imagine the game would be really hard to produce, be super complicated and most likely end up looking like you're just studying spreadsheets between the ground battles, but I think I would love a game like that. After all, I still play Empire at War to this day.
While I agree that a Battletech II - Twilight of the SLDF would be a very cool setting, I feel that from a gameplay perspective, it could feel very restrictive being part of a military system and being directed to the next mission, rather than the wide choice of where to go and what to do seen here. I suppose you could do it like Mech 2 Mercs, where you have fixed missions but get to chose what one to take, as that has worked for numerous games in the past. It would take a lot of work, but I think it would be very cool if this was blended with the mech commander games. Get the multiple lances and directed mission structure, mixed with this gameplay style and maybe some choice over what to do. Chuck in some multiplayer support, make it so light mechs have a purpose late game rather than just ramping up tonnage, and different ways of accomplashing some missions, and it could be an impressive game.
What they could do is establish a sort of autonomous unit in the SLDF you play as. Some black ops unit with 'undercover cop' vibes, whose job it is to gather intel on Amaris through mercenary work (with the authority to act against the SLDF if necessary, to create some truly tough fights) and act with the SLDF when they're needed for action. Set it in the Rim Worlds Republic, so it's more plausible, with maybe a post-war Career Mode where you try to make as much money as you can before the First Succession War starts up. Some of it can go on to help maintain ComStar's bullshit, but it could primarily inspire the original mission of the Wolf's Dragoons.
Instead of the BattleTech system, use the engine and create a campaign that was similar to the old Mechcommander games. Especially if you’re going to go with the path of playing as an SLDF royal unit.
The main thing that needs to happen with any kind of major expansion or sequel is a massive re-balancing of combat. 1. Lighter Mechs need to have a point in the late game. Multiple Lances is the obvious fix but high drop costs could also make it so that you don't go Steiner Scout Squad over every mission no matter how little it pays. (Despite how hilarious that is.) 2. Skills rebalancing and more variety. 3. Nerf called shots. 4. Make missions less annoying endurance rounds where you take on four times your number and basically have to abuse called shots and shove max armour on your mechs to get done in any reasonable time and intact. 5. Rebalance weapons. (AC 2s and PPCs need it the most.) 6. Give Mechs Chassis's more traits/equipment. Edit: Also kick whoever thought Target Acquisition was a good idea in the ballsack.
Hello Tex. Ah yes, Jump Ships. Although a few dozen are produced per year in the Inner Sphere, the vast majority have been in service for literally Centuries. And yes, a LOT of them are 'family' owned and operated. Those 'family' Jump Ships usually have a wider radius of trade than others. This is because most of the most lucrative Trade Lanes are plied by House Owned and operated Jump Ships. House Jump Ships that are not part of the established trade lanes are usually those assigned as Transport for Military units. Some Houses can even afford to establish Jump Ship Circuits. A string of Jump Ships that allow a Military Unit to move from Jump Ship to Jump Ship after each Jump. In this manner, the Military unit does not have to spend the weeks needed to recharge the Jump Ship for the next Jump. Instead, they transfer to a charged Jump Ship and Jump again, and again, and again. So, instead of taking months to go some long distance, the Military unit can be there in days, or at most a couple of weeks or so. Back to the 'other' Jump Ships. A lot are run by Corporations, and they use the established Trade Lanes, as well as Trade Lanes of their own. Although I have no 'hard' numbers for this... it is my considered opinion (having played the game since 1984, as well as having delved deeply into the Lore myself) that upwards of 35% of all Jump Ships are family owned. And of that number, at least 40% of those are jumping from star to star on the strength of rumors, profit projections, or just the whims of the owners. Such Gypsy Ships carry generalist cargo, and are always on the hunt for profit. Such a Ship usually jumps into a System and broadcasts its cargo listing, and the availability of Drop-Ship attachment points, as well as a list of the ship's other services. As you mentioned, they include things like accommodations, entertainment, medical bays, maintenance bays, and even Battlemech Repair Bays. A Mercenary unit making its way to a Jump Point with an awaiting Jump Ship, might pre-arrange the sale and transfer of Cargo, book accommodations for the Unit, and its auxiliary personnel, book usage time in any repair facilities, and book for the care of wounded personnel. All before actually docking with the Jump Ship. Of course, the first thing negotiated would be the Jump Fees for Jumping to a Destination, as well as Docking Fees for their Drop-Ship (Such fees usually also cover re-fueling of the Drop-Ship). In some cases, a Mercenary Unit can actually make money shipping fuel out to an awaiting Jump Ship to top off its fuel tanks. When I was running my old Mercenary unit, after establishing my own Colony, I made a 'killing' by selling Jump Ships RTGs (Radio-Thermal Generators) that they could use to 'trickle-charge' their Jump Drives. Allowing them to recharge and Jump again in far shorter time frames, than having to rely upon a Solar Sail Collector. One has to remember that at the distances where a Jump Ship can actually use its Drive, the collected energy from even a large sail is measured in the dozens of kilowatts, where an RTG can provide hundreds of kilowatts for decades before needing new nuclear fuel spheres. This is not 'pull it out of my rear' science. The Cassini Probe was powered by three RTGs that collectively provided 888 Kilowatts of power for the Probe at Launch. Even though the Cassini Mission was extended several times, and after a total of 20 years in the area of Saturn, by the time the Probe was crashed into Saturn's atmosphere, it was still producing 350 Kilowatts of power for the Probe. And that's after 20 years of continuous use! Those three RTGs measured only (roughly) 2 feet wide and about 6 feet long, total. It should certainly be possible to build RTGs far larger, with higher outputs, and still be small enough to 'ship' out to a Jump Ship at one or the other of the Jump Points (Zenith and Nadir). RTGs that produce thousands of Kilowatts per hour. Ones large enough to seriously shorten the recharge times for any Jump Ship, especially those with Lithium Batteries for a 2nd Jump before requiring recharge.
Eh, if this is an SLDF era security system it would have been made back when the factions they worried about probably had enough warships or nuke armed dropships of their own to forcibly redirect the asteroid.
I liked what modders brought in with the likes of Roguetech and Advanced 3062, it makes me mad that the engine can't handle more than one mission without dying. I'd love to see Battletech make a come back with Unreal Engine, in a similar style, but with more like you said, more mechs, added ability of playing with tanks, elementals, etc, like i got a glimpse of in Roguetech. The ability to really customize your company and gear would be really neat. Oh yeah, and being able to at least bring in a friend.
this mission always again is an absolute pleasure to watch, no matter who plays it ^^ and seeing Tex' reactions to it, golden ^^ tho, i had assume he would be alot more happy to see the SLDF Mechs under his control hehe
My headcanon is that Dr. Farah Murad is a comstar agent and the only reason you're allowed to keep the tech is because you're doing what comstar wants.
I have to say i love the idea for the sequel. The preamble is a great idea to build you own custom charachter based on your performance. Yes itll still be a dice roll. But it would engross you into trying again. Say you wanna be a marksman and not a fire support role you keep attempting a gunnery challenge to get good rolls. Then as the story starts. You either *Based on Preamble performance or choice* Start off as a part of the main sldf going INTO the periphery. Or as a unit thats in the periphery and surrounded. Two branching campaigns. The second ones stpry could be more of a mechwarriors mercenaries with a twist. And at tge end you are getting over ran. Just for you to hear a voice on your comms. Saying something akin to "Steel your nerves SLDF reinforcements inboud"
It would be interesting to see BattleTech utilize aerospace, vehicles, or infantry. I know they tried that out in Mechwarrior 2 mercenaries, but your aerospace hire was always so buggy, and I think that it was disabled when they issued the patch. In other nostalgic reflection, M2M took up a quarter of my hard drive space and only ran best on DOS. Crashed all the time when run on Windows 95.
Since you recorded this so long ago, did you do some to fthe post campaign/Career Mode flashpoints? They can be very fun, especially the grand crossover fanfic of the Heavy Metal flashpoint campaign.
'Brian' cashes are old SLDF Bases, or repair-refit bases. Some are 'Storage Depots' of Mechs, Vehicles, and other equipment needed to keep a unit of 'usually' Regimental size in operation. Finding one that has NOT been looted down to the bare stone floors is a near-miracle. If memory serves me, the Grey Death Legion found one, used 'Royal' Mechs to fight off a group that massively outnumbered them, while their employer stripped the base of as many Mechs, Vehicles, and tech items they could, all while Carlyle was copying the Base's primary database (the Helm Memory Core). That undamaged, full Core, was worth more than all the assembled Mechs, Vehicles, Tools, Equipment, storehouses of food, clothing, ammunition, etc, combined!
As far as suggestions to expand the game for a sequel, do a naval version as well. If your starting early in the universe and the starleague is still around, I would love to attack the Lola3s with a couple McKennas. A target with the frontal area of an 8Q, because it is an 8Q, and they couldn’t hit it with a gauss rifle? That pilot needs to be duct taped into the simulator for awhile.
Jump ships strike me as the space trucks/buses in this universe. It would make sense for families to pass them from generation to generation; entire generations being born and dying never once setting foot on a planet.
I know this is old video to start with. I know this is record weeks or months before. But i must say, i'd dread these BattleTech 2 ideas. Things like campaign, module, co-op are fine and i'd want. DLC/Expansion that cost $40? That's a bit steep. If you've made the engine easy to make new content for, then you should be able to pump these products out vastly cheaper than the game. Price it at $20, i'd definitely let no VC slip by. At $40 i'd be wanting some really nice polish and/or a big sale(thus defeating the $40 price tag). As for drop locations, this sounds like a feature which will basically result in one option being taken, and all other ignored. It doesn't increase depth while increasing complexity. Adding timers to missions would help, but not by much. The combined arms ideas might be good, but that's really a implementation problem. Maybe they can implement it well, maybe they don't have the skills.
Apparently the team later said Dr. Murad was ROM the whole time, thus Comstar played you like a fiddle from the beginning. Given he bombed the Cache, Yang may also be ROM.
Who isn't ROM? One of the Roguetech devs made the point that you're basically surrounded by overly competent people on a single ship in the Periphery, how likely is that to happen if it isn't an espionage assignment? Also, Darius *IS* actually competent, he's just trying to find a way to kill you and make it look like an accident.
It is so hard to get that Griffin out intact, you basically have to jump every turn for the extra evasion even if it measn you run hot and can't hit anything.
Sorry tex but you are wrong. A Highlander 732, is 2 uac 20's all day. Then ammo a couple double heat sinks and whatever armor it can carry. That thing is a walking death star.
![Scrombles The Mechwarrior: A Battletech Story [Episode 18]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/O73f1s4-sjk/mqdefault.jpg)
![Scrombles The Mechwarrior: A Battletech Story [Episode 18]](/img/tr.png)
12:00 - What do you call a Taurian mech that got knocked over? Ground beef.
Boo.
@@madcat789 Moo.
That hurt me. Good job!
Triple F
oh.. I was going to say that's an improvement ;)
"Yeah! Take that, priceless artifacts!"
Tex... Cranston Snord wants to know your location. He has some strong words for you.
Snord's Irregulars are hilarious.....bunch of kleptos.
I love how Tex gets just shredded for 16 episodes and is like "This game needs more things that can just absolutely fuck you" at 4:40
I want to see Tex's character use an AWESOME 8Q mech here. I kinda wish my merc company could send one his way on this game.
What about Sleepy Awesome - for sheer hilarity? :D
Fun fact. If you play the mods with his character as a hireable pilot, he gains a passive skill while piloting any Awesome called "To Angry To Die".
@@andrew3038 I did not know that, are there any other hidden passives like that, or is that on his card and I never noticed it?
@@TheInsomniaddict it says he has an affinity for Awesomes. If you mouse over him in the mission prep, it tells you familiarity lvl for mechs piloted. After piloting any Awesome 10 times and surviving, he gains the passive.
That would have been an... Awesome sorry.. :p system to have in this game. A sort of multiplayer interaction, like Mech trading and parts swapping.
i just feel that battle tech has so much to offer the game community.
"Wow, that was like dropping an anvil on a puppy." xD
Oof indeed lol
How did it take me this long to notice the "We're cheap!" On the shoulder armor plate.
I would like a clan pack circa 3048, instead of a merc company, you are trying to earn a place in the upcoming invasion.
That would be pretty cool actually
The Atlas-II, for when someone considers "superior to everything else" to not be superior enough.
44:00 "oh its just the ammo popping open"... I would be running a fucking mile if the can of explosive metal things decided to start moving.
When he was talking about the life in jumpships I thought, that could be a cool story. Like a fly on the wall, living on an active jumpship during the war. Catering to soldiers and mercs on both sides.
Take my love, take my land, take me where I can’t stand….
Highlander on that first round of combat, I think it just has one button for weapons that just has the word DELETE in big red letters on it.
Man, I loved how the Taurians met Kamea's shiny new SLDF-equipped force and abruptly stopped their demand for surrender with an "oh shit!" when they realized what they were up against.
i found you either by searching "battletech lore" or as a recommendation because GrimDark Narrarator started covering Battletech earlier this year or late last year. Either way, I believe the Amaris Civil War series was the first of yours I watched, and I've watched the whole Tex Talks playlist twice since then. Battletech was the 2nd complete TTRPG I ever played, D&D 2nd ed being the first. I say complete because my DM for the first few missions [who was a huge Robotech fan] was running a strange hybrid or Palladium Robotech [based on Rifts which is based on GURPS] for characters and dice rolling and FASA Battletech Tech Manuals and Mercenaries sourcebook. A few months in and we acquired the Mechwarrior book and the Battletech and Aerospace boxed sets. Yes he converted actual Veritechs into LAMs, which we ended up with a lance of in our eventual regiment. Yes they are crap when you have to balance "fly like F-14 tomcat" with "walk in hooker heels" in a fair environment.
they could so easily do what Tex suggests. Build a campaign drawing on all the years of lore that Battletech has under its belt. I would happily go back to this game if they did that
You are right about that. Would not feel sorry for paying for DLCs either. But.... slightly better story would be nice as I think that Arano and her henchmen are weakest part of this game (frankly most of the game I would rather help the other side than trying to help that whining bunch of [whatever] get her throne back over corpses of her people who were mostly glad to see her go). Unless that is goal of the game ofc - you are mercenary fighting for whoever pays you, other stuff be damned.
One deep lore attention to detail that I notice is with the jump animation. One thing that stuck with me [more memorable than the 4th mech in our first lance] is the mechanic from Battlespace where a jump can be detected before the jump is completed, i believe for 1/2 the time the jump takes [which itself is a number of seconds equal to the distance in LY x the number of attached dropships /2]. While the Jump sequence is a stock animation, that little energy twinkle is the detection of the incoming jump.
Yo Tex, there are in fact tonnage restricted missions, though not many in the campaign, IIRC they're a lot more common in the expansions, in career mode and they're more restricted in "all mechs have to be under X weight limit". The big mods add in total tonnage restricted missions that you'd be more familiar with, RT, BTech Advanced, BEXCE and such.
Yeah. Keep a lance of mediums in the garage once you're properly solvent.
Ah Tex, so in love with Awesomes he turns a Royal Highlander into an Awesome.
Tex you might not be fond of clanners..... don't lie it would be hilarious to walk around the periphery with a full company of clan heavies. Like a squad of MMA fighters showing up at a middle school rumble. On a related note, always respect your techs! We cant fix stupid but we are well versed infixing what stupid does.
I thought that "Clanners isolated in the IS/Periphery" would be a neat game premise. You're leading a Clan binary on a mission somewhere, when your clan gets either absorbed by another clan or shattered by Inner Sphere attack. Either way you decide to contest the outcome, you're now stuck in the inner sphere, and have to figure out how to build up enough force to either refuse the absorption, or get yourself recognized as the legitimate successors to your old Clan (depending on premise), possibly with two other options from gameplay, which is get to the point where you're a major mercenary command and can get a title and land grant from one of the IS great houses, or you grab some planets in the periphery to start your own pocket empire. You'd have to balance keeping your clanner personnel happy with where things are going (and possibly dealing with a special trial mission if they decide you're behaving in an un-clanlike manner) against the opportunities to gain resources by working for the sphere, against the fact that until late game, you will have no way to replace your Clan mechs or pilots, and no way to repair damage beyond armor loss, and possibly in late game, keeping your inner sphere crew happy with the idea of heading to the Clan homeworlds.
@@BlueGrimgrin in all seriousness bolt clanners weapons on an inner sphere mech, that alone would suddenly change the power dynamic. For crying out loud clan missile racks are half the weight.
@@mikewaterfield3599 Fair point, and that would be a neat player choice, you can scavenge your clan mechs for upgrades, and not have your "ace" for difficult missions, or you can keep them intact, and be forced to make do with IS mechs, or anywhere in between. I'd probably have ammo for Clan projectile weapons be limited as well though, at least until you get manufacturing going for it, or have penalties for using IS ammo. On the theory that what you are doing is like trying to run black powder cartridges through a modern semi-automatic firearm.
@@BlueGrimgrin There is some lore along those lines. There's the "Dark" on Antallos/Port Krin in the Deep Periphery near the DC. There's also the group that Devlin Stone had. Both were largely Smoked Jags for obvious reasons.
@@BlueGrimgrin it goes to a point Tex pointed out, and happens to have real world examples. The clans allowed cultural norms to neuter them in war. Not unlike the Japanese. In universe clan Mech’s, and associated equipment aren’t exactly stocked in your average arms store post invasion. Not unlike 8mm ammo. Sure you can get it but it’s not like 308, 06, or 5.56. Even weapons like a gauss rifle, great you got your hands on one, got enough ammo?
Hoping we get to see Tex run through Flashpoint missions sometime. The political fuckery and petty Great House shenanigans are just so entertaining...
Hey Tex.
You made a good point in this video. Jump Ships, the vast majority of them... are unarmed ships that 'Jump' from system to system. Always from either the Zenith or Nadir Jump Points of stars ('north', or above, and 'south', or below' the star's planetary plane of the Ecliptic).
The ship makes most of it's earnings providing things that Drop Ships just usually don't have... malls, shops, more extensive workshops, 'standard' cargo carrying capacity, anything from 'steerage' to luxury accommodations in their centrifugal 'G-Decks' that range from 1G all the way down to as little as 1/4G or less.
Their primary 'mode of operation' is to move freight, goods, and Drop Ships, from one star system to another. And even though I say that they make more in providing services, the fees for transportation of Drop Ships alone is staggering when considered on a 'yearly' basis.
Jump Ships live and die by the old adage of 'Time is Money', and rarely spend more than a couple of weeks inside any single solar system. Just long enough to recharge their K-F Drives to Jump to the next system.
A Jump Ship will carry as many Drop Ships as it can, if there are enough potential 'passengers'. Some types of Drop Ships, like the Argo, 'block' other Docking Ports, and thus are charged double the Transit Fees for doing so, since they are keeping the Jump Ship from docking other craft at that Docking Port (even if their are no additional 'passengers' to carry, they still will charge double for blocking the access).
Usually, as you mention, the Jump Ships are 'Family owned businesses' and are passed on to the next generation to operate. When Jump Ships 'meet' at a Jump Point, they communicate. They pass on news from their latest ports of call, swap mail, and even arrange transfers of personnel, passengers, Drop Ships, AND doing a bit of 'trading' amongst the crews to spread the gene pool.
Entire 'Clans' of such families exist and wander the space-ways. And they keep Very Detailed genealogical records to prevent inbreeding. More than half of all Jump Ship family crews can trace their lineages back to either a Civilian Crew, or an ex-Star League crew. A very few can even trace back to crew of vessels that were part of the Great Expansion, long before the Terran Hegemony.
I started out this missive saying that 'the vast majority'... I meant that. Most of the Great Houses have fewer than 50 total Jump Ships in their inventories. Most Minor Houses and Periphery States have even fewer. Some Might be totally dependent upon 'Civilian' Jump Ships making the rounds of their territory.
Thus the total of 'civilian' owned Jump Ships wandering around the Inner Sphere is fairly large in comparison to any one House, although the total barely exceeds twice the total of 'House Owned' ships.
One would think that Piracy of Jump Ships would be a 'thing' in the Battle Tech universe... until you consider that ANY star system that does NOT aid a Jump Ship in distress, just fails to have Jump Ships return to it. This, is catastrophic for the System Economy. Such an even is ranked right up there with 'Dinosaur Killer Asteroids, 'World Burning solar flares', Nuclear Carpet Bombing, etc.
Also, the Jump Ships themselves have stringent controls over who boards their ship, when, and what access they may acquire aboard. While maintaining heavily armed and all too willing guards to deal with any problems that do pop up. Most Jump Ships also maintain methods to cripple or even 'kill' Drop Ships attached to them in various manners... Even though such measures are rarely spoken of, and hard to prove since the Jump Ship crews will most certainly NOT allow anyone access to their ship to 'inspect' it THAT thoroughly.
By 3025, most House and State Jump Ships are family operated businesses that 'cater' to one client. This is because the House or State 'acquired' their services by supporting the Jump Ship for decades or even a century, supplying the Jump Ship with needed parts, supplies, and occasional 'fresh blood' for the family-clan aboard it.
Yes, a few New Jump Ships are actually built in the remaining Shipyards of the Inner Sphere, but the total numbers are pretty low. If memory serves me, fewer than a dozen and a half are produced yearly... and that figure seems 'high' to me. Of those 'New Builds', most are bought and paid for by Jump Ship Clans pooling their resources to expand their Clan's business.
Jump Ships themselves are extremely complex pieces of Los-Tech, and most of their components are made from rare metals and other hard to obtain parts and equipment. ONE part might require as much of a rare element like: Element 72: Hf: Hafnium, as a planet can produce in a decade. A Hafnium 'rich' world might produce enough to make Two or Three parts a decade.
Just gaining that much of such a rare element is tough enough, NOW you have to 'machine' it to tolerances that only a few worlds can achieve... there is, of course the TIME to ship all that tonnage of material to be machined, plus the additional time required to turn that component into an actual working part of a Jump Ship's Drive.
Because there actually is a trickle of new Jump Ships adding into the pool of existing, operational ships, the Inner Sphere still has interstellar commerce. Without that, one ship after another would rapidly cease to operate and be cannibalized for parts to keep others operational, with the net result that within a century the interstellar commercial markets would collapse and throw the entire Inner Sphere into a Dark Age even worse than what the Blake-ists accomplished in the early part of the 32nd century (3132).
Just a few thoughts,
spoken Frank-ly
Wouldn't it be great if Ian from Forgotten Weapons did one of his videos, but about like a Defiance Model F AC/5 or something? Did the whole run down about it being made on Hesperus by Dave the engineer and giving the whole history of the series. And then taking it to the range to put some rounds through it. 😂
Or The Chieftain doing a virtual walk around of a Mech.
I'd pay to see either so this.
Or Sofilein doing a fund raiser for recovery of abandoned rare mechs XD
If someone made a nominally functional mockup of an AC/5 and explained the lore to Ian, he'd probably be down for it. :D
Tex, I love your vision for the sequel. Combined arms would be amazing.
I heard a rumor that the sequel is being worked on. Between the Clan Invasion kickstarter and ilClan Era coming, I imagine it will be further along the timeline, but a continuously updated game would be incredible. There are always mods.
Can't wait to see Tex discover the joy of a snub ppc refit of the Awesome as his point mech... Goes from 3-2 firing of the ppcs to firing all ever round you got a target due to extra weight for heat sinks (and even more armor!)
Using ONLY 3025 tech, Tex can put FOUR PPCs into each Awesome. AND remain 'relatively' cool. I've done it in my play through often. Not quite max armored, but close! Believe me, Four PPCs a 'turn' is devastating. Add in Marauders with FIVE standard Large Lasers, and you've got some real killing potential. Two of each type in a Lance (Two 4-PPC Awesomes, and Two 5-Lrg Laser Marauders) is a 'killer' team.
I loved that SLDF mission. I jacked the Battlemaster and used it as my scout mech the rest of the campaign.
Urbie's Horrible, No-good, Very Bad Day.
I know there's a massive time delay, but just incase you aren't finished with the game yet I have a build recommendation for you I think you'll find hilarious. I introduce to you the Sleepy Awesome! the TL DR version is that you get an awesome and put 6 PPC on it, jump jets, and ZERO heat sinks. Every turn you jump into a position at the maximum range of your guns and alpha strike, which cooks it so hard it emergency shuts down. Next turn he has his nap, then the turn after he jumps and shoots again. It's a supremely stupid build that makes heavy mechs melt like butter.
Thought you might find it funny and I think it's worth a try.
The last time I came this early I slept on the couch.
🤣🤣🤣
I like your idea of starting with a 'blank slate' dropship and reconfiguring it to carry different compliments and thus your different frontlin/auxiliary forces. Maybe start with a Mule-class cargo ship, plenty of spare room in one of those.
Some of the narrative type missions that you are looking for can be played in career mode with the Flashpoint missions. There are also the drop tonnage limits that you are looking for in some Flashpoints.
Commando, for when you want to see the enemy for 10 seconds before exploding
Now I'm imagining a Star of Elementals reinforcing your Mechs
love the atlas when the fire starter died just kind of look toward the mech shooting and was like oh was something behind me?
Tex, I refitted an Archer with two SRM sixes, and some Med Lasers, jump jets and all the armor. It is devastating as a hunter/killer.
More Scrombles make for happy brain meats. Ty Tex
i'd love to see a sequel ... (different game engine though.. less memory leak). company level action.
I really like the sound of what you were going for at the beginning. Don't forget the dropships themselves have weaponry. Leopards are nothing special, but drop a few overlords down and shit starts hitting the fan. Also have the Mechs be vunerable for the first round or so just to simulate unloading(the extra evasion never made sense to me.) Maybe be able to call in an aerospace fly-by to pop a particularly tough target (at your own expense.)
To add more, drop in with your scout lance and find a spot to drop in a dropships carrying your big guns, but they are only protected for the 2 turns or so to land and unload them by your dropships guns and your forward lance. You can choose where to land them, but enemies can fire on the dropships. Let you start off with something small like a hrothgar or a leopard, and eventually but more or larger ones going up to behemoths and overlords.
An Urbie has evasion like a church with a mortar in its belfry.
Battletech, the Tale of Scrombles
Episode 17: *Let's go to Weldry!*
Finally got into the game and it's big fun to see how you approach campaign missions I just finished. That Highlander is very cool, jumpy shooty boy
I love the Vindicator, kept one around in my lance while I was playing for longer then I should. It's a shame the game sorta forces you to use heavy and assault mechs later on to be effective. Some easier missions would be nice to take your light and medium Lance's out. Hopefully you'll cover the Vindicator in one of your Tex Talks, and thanks to you and this game I'm getting into the tabletop. Going to have a Vindicator of course.
Tex - his head just exploded off. that's no way to get ahead.
Me - facepalm in agony.
My lawyer - that might qualify as a form of assault will look into a case for you mr. Lobo
"What if" about BattleTech game with a good plot? You're playing that game literally right now!
The Taurians have sent a Battalion of their Best Mechs!
"I'm using a Griffin to SCOUT"
I usually hang around that one tropical planet with the Lostech in the upper right corner of the no-man's space by the Aurigan and Capellan border.
Incidentally, any Mercenary commander worth his salt would see an opportunity to cement himself to a noble household via Kamea. A lifetime of success via the Mercenary company, or make that the core of the Restoration military and secure generations of comfort in Nobility for your offspring... This said Scrombles might just punch.
SCROMBLES PUNCH
Your comment on the Vindicator brings something up for me. Like you I am no fan of the Capellans but the first book I bought after TRO:3025 was the original Cap Con sourcebook, because I liked the Vindicator. I also liked the Cataphract and the Raven and then the Cappellans gave us the Thunder which I like, especially the LBX variant. My son, when it came time to choose a faction chose the Cap Con. I recently asked him why. He said he does not like the Cap Con, but he likes their symbol and he likes their mechs and battle armor.
When I did the Grave Robbing mission that Griffin had an ECM field I used to hide my mechs so they couldn't pop me.
The Vindi is the one thing Capellans didn't fuck up on. Have liked it since I got into BTech/MW2, but fell in love with it when I used to play Neveron. Vindis and Trebs were the two mechs I could always count on to wreck house and be replaceable.
I loved this mission! I had an enemy Zeus end up turning his back on the Black Knight. I turned him into a hyper charged tanning booth.
A morale system for the enemy would be nice in a sequel. If a bunch of SLDF-spec assaults are coming at me in my Locust, I’m going to try to fall back to better terrain or if I’m crippled I’d probably try to eject
If they make another iteration of this game, it might be nice to transition from pure turn-based combat to a 5-second tick based system like what Phantom Brigade uses (see early access gameplay content in youtube for details). I think that would open up new tactics that just cannot happen in pure turn-based (e.g. poptarting, swapping engines would actually have a noticable effect, lights would be able to capitalize on their speed instead of just "initiative", meat shielding, even torso twisting would matter). Just imagine: AC20 Centurion steps forward from behind cover, left side forward, twists in, fires AC20, twists out and steps back into cover all in the span of one 5-second turn
0:50 I want a game like Star Wars Empire at War set in the Battletech universe. Set it up as separate campaigns of house vs house wars or well known conflicts from the lore, or the entire Inner Sphere and have it play out like a game of Stellaris. Have you manage resources and maybe even researching new mechs and weaponry as time goes on like any other grand strategy. Let you build/buy whatever chassis you want and either use stock variants or let you customize each mech individually and make a blueprint to repeat it like Stellaris to fit more into the macro management of things. Plus it would need an in-depth diplomacy so you could talk your way through the Ares Conventions if you're tired of your planets getting Alderaan'd, or talk your way out of them if you're a Capellan.
But what I really want the option to fight over planets in real time Mech Commander style like you do in Empire at War. Land X amount of forces and secure a foothold, drop in more reinforcements as you take losses. Capture strategic locations with light mechs, vehicles or infantry and build defenses. Call in air support if not just give you control of air units and artillery yourself in the field, maybe even hotdrop pilots and salvage equipment in the field like Mech Commander2.
I imagine the game would be really hard to produce, be super complicated and most likely end up looking like you're just studying spreadsheets between the ground battles, but I think I would love a game like that. After all, I still play Empire at War to this day.
While I agree that a Battletech II - Twilight of the SLDF would be a very cool setting, I feel that from a gameplay perspective, it could feel very restrictive being part of a military system and being directed to the next mission, rather than the wide choice of where to go and what to do seen here. I suppose you could do it like Mech 2 Mercs, where you have fixed missions but get to chose what one to take, as that has worked for numerous games in the past.
It would take a lot of work, but I think it would be very cool if this was blended with the mech commander games. Get the multiple lances and directed mission structure, mixed with this gameplay style and maybe some choice over what to do. Chuck in some multiplayer support, make it so light mechs have a purpose late game rather than just ramping up tonnage, and different ways of accomplashing some missions, and it could be an impressive game.
What they could do is establish a sort of autonomous unit in the SLDF you play as. Some black ops unit with 'undercover cop' vibes, whose job it is to gather intel on Amaris through mercenary work (with the authority to act against the SLDF if necessary, to create some truly tough fights) and act with the SLDF when they're needed for action. Set it in the Rim Worlds Republic, so it's more plausible, with maybe a post-war Career Mode where you try to make as much money as you can before the First Succession War starts up. Some of it can go on to help maintain ComStar's bullshit, but it could primarily inspire the original mission of the Wolf's Dragoons.
Instead of the BattleTech system, use the engine and create a campaign that was similar to the old Mechcommander games. Especially if you’re going to go with the path of playing as an SLDF royal unit.
1:16:00 - Hey, the hospital has decent food, pretty nurses, and nobody's shooting at me. Can you blame me for liking it so much? ^_^
Cattywampus is the most texan word ever and I love it.Very useful word too.
"I'm here to club seals and pad C-bills"
Also
"Ewww, another Awesome part, mine!"
C-bill fund: 😭😪
The main thing that needs to happen with any kind of major expansion or sequel is a massive re-balancing of combat.
1. Lighter Mechs need to have a point in the late game. Multiple Lances is the obvious fix but high drop costs could also make it so that you don't go Steiner Scout Squad over every mission no matter how little it pays. (Despite how hilarious that is.)
2. Skills rebalancing and more variety.
3. Nerf called shots.
4. Make missions less annoying endurance rounds where you take on four times your number and basically have to abuse called shots and shove max armour on your mechs to get done in any reasonable time and intact.
5. Rebalance weapons. (AC 2s and PPCs need it the most.)
6. Give Mechs Chassis's more traits/equipment.
Edit: Also kick whoever thought Target Acquisition was a good idea in the ballsack.
I second that edit. I'll provide the steel toe shoe as well. I wanna make it an ENDO-STEEL boot.
Hello Tex.
Ah yes, Jump Ships. Although a few dozen are produced per year in the Inner Sphere, the vast majority have been in service for literally Centuries. And yes, a LOT of them are 'family' owned and operated.
Those 'family' Jump Ships usually have a wider radius of trade than others. This is because most of the most lucrative Trade Lanes are plied by House Owned and operated Jump Ships. House Jump Ships that are not part of the established trade lanes are usually those assigned as Transport for Military units.
Some Houses can even afford to establish Jump Ship Circuits. A string of Jump Ships that allow a Military Unit to move from Jump Ship to Jump Ship after each Jump. In this manner, the Military unit does not have to spend the weeks needed to recharge the Jump Ship for the next Jump.
Instead, they transfer to a charged Jump Ship and Jump again, and again, and again. So, instead of taking months to go some long distance, the Military unit can be there in days, or at most a couple of weeks or so.
Back to the 'other' Jump Ships. A lot are run by Corporations, and they use the established Trade Lanes, as well as Trade Lanes of their own.
Although I have no 'hard' numbers for this... it is my considered opinion (having played the game since 1984, as well as having delved deeply into the Lore myself) that upwards of 35% of all Jump Ships are family owned. And of that number, at least 40% of those are jumping from star to star on the strength of rumors, profit projections, or just the whims of the owners.
Such Gypsy Ships carry generalist cargo, and are always on the hunt for profit. Such a Ship usually jumps into a System and broadcasts its cargo listing, and the availability of Drop-Ship attachment points, as well as a list of the ship's other services.
As you mentioned, they include things like accommodations, entertainment, medical bays, maintenance bays, and even Battlemech Repair Bays. A Mercenary unit making its way to a Jump Point with an awaiting Jump Ship, might pre-arrange the sale and transfer of Cargo, book accommodations for the Unit, and its auxiliary personnel, book usage time in any repair facilities, and book for the care of wounded personnel. All before actually docking with the Jump Ship.
Of course, the first thing negotiated would be the Jump Fees for Jumping to a Destination, as well as Docking Fees for their Drop-Ship (Such fees usually also cover re-fueling of the Drop-Ship). In some cases, a Mercenary Unit can actually make money shipping fuel out to an awaiting Jump Ship to top off its fuel tanks.
When I was running my old Mercenary unit, after establishing my own Colony, I made a 'killing' by selling Jump Ships RTGs (Radio-Thermal Generators) that they could use to 'trickle-charge' their Jump Drives. Allowing them to recharge and Jump again in far shorter time frames, than having to rely upon a Solar Sail Collector.
One has to remember that at the distances where a Jump Ship can actually use its Drive, the collected energy from even a large sail is measured in the dozens of kilowatts, where an RTG can provide hundreds of kilowatts for decades before needing new nuclear fuel spheres.
This is not 'pull it out of my rear' science.
The Cassini Probe was powered by three RTGs that collectively provided 888 Kilowatts of power for the Probe at Launch. Even though the Cassini Mission was extended several times, and after a total of 20 years in the area of Saturn, by the time the Probe was crashed into Saturn's atmosphere, it was still producing 350 Kilowatts of power for the Probe. And that's after 20 years of continuous use!
Those three RTGs measured only (roughly) 2 feet wide and about 6 feet long, total. It should certainly be possible to build RTGs far larger, with higher outputs, and still be small enough to 'ship' out to a Jump Ship at one or the other of the Jump Points (Zenith and Nadir).
RTGs that produce thousands of Kilowatts per hour. Ones large enough to seriously shorten the recharge times for any Jump Ship, especially those with Lithium Batteries for a 2nd Jump before requiring recharge.
Eh, if this is an SLDF era security system it would have been made back when the factions they worried about probably had enough warships or nuke armed dropships of their own to forcibly redirect the asteroid.
That star league shit is more amazing than I’d have guessed.
I liked what modders brought in with the likes of Roguetech and Advanced 3062, it makes me mad that the engine can't handle more than one mission without dying. I'd love to see Battletech make a come back with Unreal Engine, in a similar style, but with more like you said, more mechs, added ability of playing with tanks, elementals, etc, like i got a glimpse of in Roguetech. The ability to really customize your company and gear would be really neat. Oh yeah, and being able to at least bring in a friend.
this mission always again is an absolute pleasure to watch, no matter who plays it ^^ and seeing Tex' reactions to it, golden ^^ tho, i had assume he would be alot more happy to see the SLDF Mechs under his control hehe
My headcanon is that Dr. Farah Murad is a comstar agent and the only reason you're allowed to keep the tech is because you're doing what comstar wants.
I have to say i love the idea for the sequel. The preamble is a great idea to build you own custom charachter based on your performance. Yes itll still be a dice roll. But it would engross you into trying again. Say you wanna be a marksman and not a fire support role you keep attempting a gunnery challenge to get good rolls. Then as the story starts. You either *Based on Preamble performance or choice* Start off as a part of the main sldf going INTO the periphery. Or as a unit thats in the periphery and surrounded. Two branching campaigns. The second ones stpry could be more of a mechwarriors mercenaries with a twist. And at tge end you are getting over ran. Just for you to hear a voice on your comms. Saying something akin to "Steel your nerves SLDF reinforcements inboud"
Urbanmech, OK so who brought the trash compactor to a buzzsaw and laser fight.
It would be interesting to see BattleTech utilize aerospace, vehicles, or infantry. I know they tried that out in Mechwarrior 2 mercenaries, but your aerospace hire was always so buggy, and I think that it was disabled when they issued the patch. In other nostalgic reflection, M2M took up a quarter of my hard drive space and only ran best on DOS. Crashed all the time when run on Windows 95.
Check out the Roguetech Mod. It has the tanks and vtols atleast.
Probably been pointed out elsewhere below, but would love to see a Clan version of this. Sorry, can't help it; "We are Jade Falcon."
Since you recorded this so long ago, did you do some to fthe post campaign/Career Mode flashpoints? They can be very fun, especially the grand crossover fanfic of the Heavy Metal flashpoint campaign.
Adam Jenson monologue is a longer version of I didn't ask for this.
It's kinda funny to see all the different ways people have tried to spell RogueTech...
It's the elder things messing with their perception.
Comstar shows up and is all "I found this. =D" smoking craters fucking everywhere...
Actual lore question. The Bryant cashes seem to be a common plot point in mechwarrior games. How many of these damn things were there?
'Brian' cashes are old SLDF Bases, or repair-refit bases. Some are 'Storage Depots' of Mechs, Vehicles, and other equipment needed to keep a unit of 'usually' Regimental size in operation. Finding one that has NOT been looted down to the bare stone floors is a near-miracle. If memory serves me, the Grey Death Legion found one, used 'Royal' Mechs to fight off a group that massively outnumbered them, while their employer stripped the base of as many Mechs, Vehicles, and tech items they could, all while Carlyle was copying the Base's primary database (the Helm Memory Core). That undamaged, full Core, was worth more than all the assembled Mechs, Vehicles, Tools, Equipment, storehouses of food, clothing, ammunition, etc, combined!
Answer: Anywhere they tactically serve a purpose
As far as suggestions to expand the game for a sequel, do a naval version as well. If your starting early in the universe and the starleague is still around, I would love to attack the Lola3s with a couple McKennas.
A target with the frontal area of an 8Q, because it is an 8Q, and they couldn’t hit it with a gauss rifle? That pilot needs to be duct taped into the simulator for awhile.
Damn ammo stealing ghosts.
Jump ships strike me as the space trucks/buses in this universe. It would make sense for families to pass them from generation to generation; entire generations being born and dying never once setting foot on a planet.
TEX ... You Start with a drop ship with four doors.. ME 4doors 4more........ I didnt know the rotunda was drop capable!
If it's for an Awesome, it's never a waste.
51:22 _Two_ ammo explosions in a row? Oof. RNGsus has it in for that Dragon pilot...
Cattywampus- I used to bullseye those in my T16 back home.
I know this is old video to start with. I know this is record weeks or months before. But i must say, i'd dread these BattleTech 2 ideas.
Things like campaign, module, co-op are fine and i'd want.
DLC/Expansion that cost $40? That's a bit steep. If you've made the engine easy to make new content for, then you should be able to pump these products out vastly cheaper than the game. Price it at $20, i'd definitely let no VC slip by. At $40 i'd be wanting some really nice polish and/or a big sale(thus defeating the $40 price tag).
As for drop locations, this sounds like a feature which will basically result in one option being taken, and all other ignored. It doesn't increase depth while increasing complexity. Adding timers to missions would help, but not by much.
The combined arms ideas might be good, but that's really a implementation problem. Maybe they can implement it well, maybe they don't have the skills.
I'm astonished he hasn't seen a single cockpit mod to protect his people against head hits lol
Yeah Com-star would 100% Fuck up your day for this part.
Saying the difference between archaeology and grave robbing is time is like saying the difference between religion and history is time.
Apparently the team later said Dr. Murad was ROM the whole time, thus Comstar played you like a fiddle from the beginning. Given he bombed the Cache, Yang may also be ROM.
Who isn't ROM? One of the Roguetech devs made the point that you're basically surrounded by overly competent people on a single ship in the Periphery, how likely is that to happen if it isn't an espionage assignment? Also, Darius *IS* actually competent, he's just trying to find a way to kill you and make it look like an accident.
The Enforcer. Named after the third Dirty Harry film I think. But looks like Doom Guy
Sigh, i so wanted to treat that commando at the beginning of the SLDF mech missing like a football and kick him back to the droppoint
1:24:28 - Guass Rifle: For when you want to turn light mechs inside out.
It is so hard to get that Griffin out intact, you basically have to jump every turn for the extra evasion even if it measn you run hot and can't hit anything.
I haven't looked into it but some more terrain maps for battletech (Roguetech) would be great. Remember the old warcraft and starcraft editor's.
Always get headshots on the missions where you're not claiming salvage. A complete Thud would have been nicce.
What is this... Sleep, you speak of?
Sorry tex but you are wrong. A Highlander 732, is 2 uac 20's all day. Then ammo a couple double heat sinks and whatever armor it can carry. That thing is a walking death star.
Awesomes are never a waste of money
Tex claiming he could somehow hold bunker after Taurian commandos killed all of their salvage team. . . how?
Archangel one part 1... 8 vehicles waxed
1:53:00 Had two 8Q's in a campaign recently: one had ER PPC's and the other I fitted with Snub-Nosed PPC's. What'd'ya think?
34:19 the moment the plan changed
Vindicator, Shadow Hawk, Centurion and Wolverine is my standard medium lance