/btg/ Battletech General

>>50489246
Yeah, I do as well, but it still is silly that they'll retcon lots of mechs into the SW era via TRO3039 but not the good ol' Toro, a classic and really good design.

Fuck it, anyone have any Toro customs? I don't think I've ever seen one.

>>50489288
>not "Randall is a SJW controlled by pussy" Edition

I just got shown what's going on and holy fuck, this is a ridiculous amount of "I don't understand how ancestry works".

File: (B-A)Cromartie_High_School_-_03_(34D76A8E) JAPAN[(002678)2016-11-16-18-04-18].jpg (101KB, 640x480px) Image search: [Google]

101KB, 640x480px

>>50489411
Well SJW types already have really paper thin armor anyway...

>>50489338
Well yes, because the Toro's factories were destroyed and the plans were shoved into a grinder.

>>50489338
>Fuck it, anyone have any Toro customs? I don't think I've ever seen one.
I have a couple, but I'll juat describe them because phone
>Toro-TR-A-7: super-simple 3050-style refit; dumps a ton of LRM ammo for CASE and armor, switches to DHS and an ERPPC
>Toro-TR-B-7: Based on the -A-7, replaces the LRMs with streak-2s and adds a ML
>Toro-TR-A-8: 60s era, designed for mercenaries; Carries a LBX-5 with two tons of ammo, four RL/10s and an ERML

>>50489630
Stop stepping on my dreams, CA. I want to believe in the Toro.

>>50489630
>the plans were shoved into a grinder.
Apparently not, because the fluff said the TC COULD have restarted producion post-SL, but chose not to, rather than they flat couldn't

>>50489651
You either die fighting the SLDF, or live to see your faction become a joke. Or both, I guess in the TC's case.

>>50489679
Checking TR:3075, yeah I guess so. But since I think it's a kind of boring design it's for the best.

>>50489767
>But since I think it's a kind of boring design it's for the best
What's wrong with an anorexic griffin?

>>50489767
>dat spoiler
I have never hated you more. And I don't even hate you normally. How dare you insult my mechfu.

>>50489798
I need close range guns. A token ML or something would make it better. I've had too many Griffins get rolled up on to feel comfortable without a backup gun.

>>50489806
I didn't say it was shit, I said it was kind of boring. But I understand anon, it's near and dear to your heart. Can we still be friends? I'll give you old SLDF equipment, access to mothballed warships and totally leave you to die at Kerensky's hands.

>>50489856
Sounds like a match made in Battletech. Let's be friends indeed.

As for good ol' Black Bessie, I do kinda feel like it needs a backup ML or something. But I also like the PPC/LRM combo. I'm surprised PPC/SRM combos don't exist more actually, the Toro would be a good chassis for it too.

>>50489856
>I need close range guns. A token ML or something would make it better
Pulling a ton of LRM ammo for a ML is a pretty simple fix.
Plus, it was meant to be deployed alongside tanks and infantry with short-ranged weapons, so it's understandable.
And if you run it in later eras, it pairs well with the TC's later day trooper, the thunderbolt.
I've let my inner drac loose and run lances of a thud leading three toros before, and it does very well. Also, pairing them with the 6ML stinger in light lances is hilarious

>>50489894

The real winner is a LL/SRM-6 combo.

Or PPC/SRM-4 combo if you're some kind of pussy who believes in half measures.

>>50489894
>I'm surprised PPC/SRM combos don't exist more actually, the Toro would be a good chassis for it too.
I feel like that's kinda the panther's thing, and it and the toro are similar enough already.
Swapping one LRM rack for a SRM-4 could be nice, though.
Maybe combine it with a PPC to LL+2ML swap for that sawn-off stalker feeling

File: battletech_broken_locust_and_archer.jpg (237KB, 1001x1280px) Image search: [Google]

237KB, 1001x1280px

Happy day! Found these ladz in a box in the attic, when I was so sure I had simply thrown them away. Looks like a serious repair job is in order, and I can't promise the Archer's rear-firing medium lasers will ever be the same...

>get generic brown cast
aw yeah someone actually read the fluff
>but they have "ethnicities"
WHY
IT'S BEEN LITERALLY A THOUSAND YEARS
THAT'S LIKE PUTTING "GAUL" ON YOUR CENSUS FORM

>>50489968
Oooh, a LL/ML/ML/SRM-4 combo on a Toro would be spicy as fuck. It's the mini-Stalker the Periphery never knew they wanted.

>>50489947
LL/SRM 6 would be sexy too. I wonder if you can get a Blazer/SRM 4 combo on there, for that real Periphirat feel.

File: e6f06a247af8d3e5a429c9432a809cdd.jpg (18KB, 236x334px) Image search: [Google]

18KB, 236x334px

>>50489856
>I need close range guns. A token ML or something would make it better. I've had too many Griffins get rolled up on to feel comfortable without a backup gun.
This. I know a lot of people love the Griffin, and I love the way it looks, but I have the same problems at times.

>>50489996
Because they worship other cultures out of a misplaced sense of guilt. That's why.

>>50490010
More art like this?

So what happened in the inner sphere after the FedCom civil war happened? All my knowledge of the setting comes from the games and the novels, but apparently the setting has advanced like 100 years beyond that?

>>50490009

>a Blazer/SRM 4 combo

Blazers weigh 9 tons.

You can just *barely* cram it all on if you use Endo and Ferro together.

Not sure what the obsession with Blazers is either, given their other designs it seems the PPC, Large Laser, and A/C-10 are more the TC's thing.

>>50489968
>Maybe combine it with a PPC to LL+2ML swap for that sawn-off stalker feeling
>>50490009
>Oooh, a LL/ML/ML/SRM-4 combo on a Toro would be spicy as fuck. It's the mini-Stalker the Periphery never knew they wanted.
It'd be a great buddy mech for the thud, too.

>>50490134

Short answer: Everyone acted like retards for 90 years and now hardly anything makes sense.

There is a longer answer but trying to summarise a decade of fluff and about a dozen SBs in a two thousand character post isn't going to happen. We can help with more specific questions though.

File: BLAZEIT.png (40KB, 630x656px) Image search: [Google]

40KB, 630x656px

>>50490143
I like Blazers, but at some point a few people around here decided that they were "totally PaF" and I'm kinda bemused about it myself. I guess it's an experimental-type weapon the Periphery could actually have since it's just two Large Lasers welded together poorly?

>>50489767
I will cut you

>>50490074
Not many, but here, bud.
http://fuckyeahjapaneserobots.tumblr.com/post/111080890950/rocketumbl-%E3%82%80%E3%81%AB%E3%82%83

>>50490009
A sawn off Stalker is Aces. Fund it. I'd do it, but I'm shitposting between player reactions at my table.

>>50490163
Good luck, I'm behind 7000 Mackies.

>>50490143
>Not sure what the obsession with Blazers is either
I personally like Blazers because they're a unique idea in BattleTech that would totally exist in real life.

>"Guys, guys, what if we taped two large lasers together?"
>"That's genius, Doug!"

I just like seeing them on mechs, they're a neat weapon that gets little to no screen time (kinda like Mech Mortars in that way).

>>50490160

The thing about them is that they basically need DHS to be worthwhile.

The best use the Periphery could make of them until the... mid to late '60s? I forget when exactly they got DHS from the Trinity Alliance... is to pull A/C-10s off things and replace them with a Blazer and 5 Heat Sinks to try and handle the load. Or A/C-20s with a Blazer, 8 SHS, and a ML.

Not sure they have many A/C-10 and -20 things until the later 3050s though so even then I dunno.

>>50490250

I fucked my math. A/C-20 would be a Blazer and 6 HS plus an ML.

>>50490219
Somehow the weebs still nail the BT feel more than BT does.

>>50490158
What happened to Arthur Steiner Davion?

>the literal slavers are the good guys
>the traditional folk who just want to live independent of the FS are the bad guys
reeeeeEEEEEEE

>>50490239
>Mech Mortars
I am probably the biggest fan of these things on this board and even I have to admit how shit they are. I still love them though.

>>50490250
Yeah, I know. I like them all the same but they really are kind of a narrow-application weapon, especially for a group of powers that are technologically behind.

>>50490342

time for fan-creation content that shits all over the main story

randall bills a shit

>>50490302

He became the next in line for leadership of the Word of Blake and vanished when the rest of their forces did.

He's probably still alive and probably still leading the WoB remnant.

>>50490342
>>50490379

I'm not sure what you guys expected.

The Aurigen Coalition is clearly not around after the events of the game and the Taurians are the most expansionist and militaristic power in the neighbourhood.

>>50490379
Well assuming the mod tools are as robust as Shadowrun Returns, that's easily possible. Though Randall isn't writing it, merely cheerleading for it.

>>50490405
I understood it would have to die at the end of the game, but I don't need a lecture about how problematic the Concordat is compared to the GREAT MATRIARCHY.

>>50490405
>Taurians are the most expansionist and militaristic power in the neighbourhood.
What? They're the paranoid leave-us-along guys.
Hell, less than a decade later the MoC fucking *invaded* the CapCon, the first time a periphery state did that since the RWR.
If anything, the factions should be reversed

>>50490299
Considering those mechs were based on the old Dougram mechs (Shadow Hawk, Griffin, Wolverine,) they did a good job.

>>50490419
Are they even going to release mod tools this time around? I seem to remember them saying no during the kickstarter but maybe I'm thinking of something else.

>>50490405
Feels good to know they're gonna get Fronc'ed.

>>50490436
They're expansionist, but in the colonial sense, not in the invading sense. They're about the only state in 3025 that gives a shit about settling brand new worlds.

File: 1479709591338.png (513KB, 1280x720px) Image search: [Google]

513KB, 1280x720px

I mean you guys are saying this like the MOC isn't going to fuck the mcs over at some point.
We're playing a merc group, everyone fucks over merc groups.
Overall, I don't really care one way or the other who the factions are. The gameplay looks solid and that's pretty much all that matters in my opinion. It's silly to put the ethnicities but honestly the nonsense of the mixes makes it look like they used a RAT.
Also, sauce on that "not including white protagonists" thing from HBS.

>>50490545
>They're expansionist, but in the colonial sense, not in the invading sense. They're about the only state in 3025 that gives a shit about settling brand new worlds.
Yeah, absolutely.
I'm just saying that invading neighbors is about 20x more the MoC's thing than the TC's, even more so in 3025.

>>50490615
What really annoys me is that, seemingly, you''e not really playing a merc group - just an iformal unit of the MoC military. If I'm playing mercs i should be able to choose MoC or Taurians, raid the cappies or FS, chase pirates, or sit around guarding something from pirates, or do a down-low job to help one noble sabotage another despite both being nominally on the same side, or try to depose the ruler of this periphery shithole and make it *my* periphery shithole.

>>50490250
>I forget when exactly they got DHS from the Trinity Alliance
They actually all recovered DHS on their own by 54, even the OA. It was mostly XLs and endo and gauss that the MoC got from the CC

>>50490627
>>50490436

The only time I can think of off-hand for the MoC doing that is the Andurien Secession, which was highly unusual for them.

The Taurians started more shit with the Suns and Magistracy than the Magistracy has with anyone else.

The actual "sit off on the side and mind their own business" Periphery faction was the Outworlds Alliance. Definitely not the Taurians.

>>50490654
That's not something you can really plan for narratively though, at least not at this level.
That's the sort of thing you would write minimal script for or do in an open RPG,
That would be an excellent idea for a single player mode besides the campaign, but as long as the narrative is well written I don't terribly mind being railroaded too much.

File: dougrams_last_repose.jpg (718KB, 931x1280px) Image search: [Google]

718KB, 931x1280px

>>50490459
>Dougram

Different style here, but same source material.

>>50490436
> They're the paranoid leave-us-along guys.
Their paranoia leads them to attack people. They're basically a crazy militia type who rants about black helicopters and fluoride in the water, then the moment anyone so much as looks at them funny they gun him and a half dozen bystanders down and claim self defense.

>>50490695
>The Taurians started more shit with the Suns and Magistracy
What, once with the MoC and once with the suns two hundred and fifty years apart and the second under the influence of lolcoleman counts as "aggressive"?

>>50490733

At least twice with the Suns since the Malagrotta Incident was them probing to see what would happen.

So three times more likely to start shit with others than the Magistracy.

Especially if, as it seems from the fluff people have posted this thread and last that the Aurigen Coalition was just a Magistracy front butting up against Taurian space.

They take a historically dim view of that sort of thing.

>>50490699
Sure it is. Open world games are all the rage these days

>>50490731
>>50490436
The problem is, you're both technically right, just at different times.
Prior to the trinity alliance, the taurians were more timid-paranoid, after they went full retard violent paranoid.

>>50490802
>Malagrotta Incident
I would count that half at most since the suns/SLDF were 100% guaranteed going to invade the TC no matter what

>>50490731
Except that the Suns and Capellans and Free Worlders really do attack them.

>>50490923
>Free Worlders
Yeah the FWL doesn't have much to do with the TC my dude

>>50490812
>as soon as coleman starts writing everyone's characterizations get fucked up and people turn into retards for no reason
Yep, sounds about right
>[angry hasek noises]

>>50490958
>get fucked up and people turn into retards for no reason

>Look back at the first novel to have Caleb the madman and his clanfucking daddy
>Written by Coleman

It checks out.

>>50490923
The FWL has very little to do with them simply because of distance, the Suns barely even remembers that they exist half the time, and the Capellans are usually too busy to bother with attacking a periphery state.

Which BT author is the best?

>>50490923

Literally the only times the Suns have gone after them was when the Taurians attacked first.

The Capellans have made unprovoked attacks in the past and were a lot worse on them in their early history. Really you would expect the Taurians to reserve their hate-on for the Capellans.

>>50491019
I actually really like Herb and Randall when they aren't writing for their favorite faction or doing petty vindictive shit. Out of the semi-modern guys anyway.

A bunch of the Battlecorps nobodies who are in the compilation books are pretty great too.

>>50491019

Victor Milan and Thomas S. Gressman tend to get the most respect around here.

I suppose the caveat is that Gressman also wrote The Dying Time which gets people riled up.

A lot of other authors rely on Canon Sue characters and/or the antagonists literally standing around going "Durr? Hurr? Hurr durr." until it's time for them to lose. Which is egregious even in gaming fiction.

>>50491067
To be fair, TDT was pretty bad.

>>50491024
>Really you would expect the Taurians to reserve their hate-on for the Capellans.
I mean, they kinda DID. Like half of the characterization in periphery 2e was "we trust the fucking capcon and especially sun-tzu like a hole in our head", AND 1e suggested that aside from thomas calderon folks distrusted the CC as much as the FS
It just all disappeared because lol trinity alliance magic

>>50491024
That's assuming the hate is cultivated based on actual history. It isn't. It's a tool for keeping the TC's people from realizing that their rulers are every bit as bad as a successor state. These are people who herd their own civilians into battle as human shields, and then flatten both the enemy and their own people with artillery. The Suns is a more convenient hate sink because it is more powerful than the Capellans, and thus seems more threatening.

Anyone have a screen cap of the contentious post on Facebook? I refuse to give them views or revenue.

>>50491084

All of the MechWarrior novels are.

I'd still rate it over shit like Roar of Honour any day of the week.

>>50491146
>All of the MechWarrior novels are.

I liked the one with the invasion of New Syrtis. It made me actually like George Hasek. That's also where that famous Katherine line came from, after he blew her off at the Second Wittington Conference.

>>50491146
Hey, By Blood Betrayed, while somewhat trite, was a pretty good novel. And one of the few Periphery focused novels we've had.

>>50491181
George Hasek was always one of my favorite FedSuns characters, what with the FCCW making everyone else into a total moron. He's probably 25% of why I dislike coleman's writing so much

>>50490419
>>50490544

I'd fucking hope they have mod tools. Otherwise it's release game, players finish game, players move on.

>>50490615
I'd like some sauce on that comment too.

This is probably an odd question but does anyone have either of the Mechcommander games in a non-torrent format?

>>50491389
Like on a CD? Cause I got em both.

How do people feel about Pardoe?

>>50491470
Muh scots, muh south
4/10, not the worst battletech writer

>>50491460
I was hoping for some kind of download that would get past my dormitory's internet blocks. Basically a MEGA or anything similar. Not even sure how well this shit emulates on Wine but I'm gonna go for it.

>>50491389
University, eh?
I can't think of any, but there's probably someone here who could mega the ISOs

>>50491540
Not even. A technical school that just so happened to buy the latest in anti-fun networking technology.

>>50491470
Highlander Gambit okay, impetus to war and roar of honor terrible. Haven't read the others.

>>50491571
Yeah, mine's rigged the same way. I just use phone hotspots and Starbucks wifi to get around it. If I had the ISOs, I'd mega them for you, but I don't. I'm sure someone here does, though

>>50491571
I'm happy my alma mater didn't block torrents. Sounds like yours is a real stick in the mud, man. Sucks, wish I could help you out.

I feel like I'm really sucking with Jump Jets /btg/ How do I get better with them?

>>50491067
What has Victor Milan even written?

Off the top of my head, all I can think of are those books about the girl who is the best ever at being an infantryman.

>>50491643

Putting them on designs, or using them in games?

For the former, remember the break points. 55 tons is as high as you can go for .5 ton JJs, 85 tons is as high as you can go for 1-ton JJs.

For the latter, only Jump if you can cross at least 5 hexes so you can stick your enemy with the same +3 modifier you've got, or if you need to break LOS, or if it gets you to their rear arcs and they have torso ammo.

Otherwise just run.

What was the book where they defend some ground installation during the FCCW(I think) and the MC was a bulldog vet with a Devastator?
I liked that one, whichever it was.

>>50490615
It really doesn't look solid though.

>>50491695

Brain fart.

I meant Robert N. Charette.

>>50491713
I'm sorry I should have mentioned for use. So it's really to hide or rear arc only. It just seems when I do so, my TMMs are so high it's not even worth doing the latter. Am I wrong or is it just pop behind and hope?

>>50491389

It's literally on the archives mediafire.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/hfakkogtxlkmvou/MechCommander.rar

>>50491727
That was a good one.

Flashpoint, I think?

>>50491322
PGI is still going to be putting out mechs that HBS can convert and sell as DLC post launch. So why would they allow custom content that could hurt sales, especially if they decide to do a clan invasion DLC campaign/sequel?

Maybe I'm just being cynical but I'm not hopeful for mod tools.

>>50491713
>For the latter, only Jump if you can cross at least 5 hexes so you can stick your enemy with the same +3 modifier you've got
I would say that you can get away with 4 in 3025 or if you're landing in cover. 3 works in cities or dense hills/woods, but not in more open terrain

>>50491763

Your to-hits might be better with punches too.

What I try to do is use JJ 'Mechs against things playing Turret Tech. That way usually the only modifier is the +3 from Jumping because I'm at short range and they're stationary. Regular pilots will have a 50% chance to hit at that point.

Pulse Lasers also go well on jumping 'Mechs. Have a go at the TR1 Wraith or the Vapour Eagle/Goshawk, those are pretty much the epitome of the jumping backstabber.

>>50491807

>claim to want to reinvigorate the fan base
>pick a sales model that just pisses off the fan base and hasn't been done with any other games they've released
>have released mod tools for all but one of the products they've released

I dunno.

>>50491799
Sounds right

>>50491831
I sometimes like LBX autocannon on jumpers, too, especially for fucking with vees

>>50491763
The more complex the map the more useful jumping becomes. There's a point where they become faster than running if you have chasms or trees in the way and of course you can end facing any side which also adds bonus value. Jumping will almost universally rape your hit chances but also your opponent's so they combo well with things that have hit bonuses. One key thing to remember is that walking takes a penalty when you're at heat 5 or greater but jumping stays constant.

>>50491763
They're also useful for crossing really shitty terrain, like deep water or heavy woods.

File: HBS_not_at_this_time.jpg (63KB, 957x859px) Image search: [Google]

63KB, 957x859px

>>50491839

>>50491991
Well of course not. We might mod in white people and ruin the conversation. Or mod in decent mechs.

File: HBSno.jpg (79KB, 700x720px) Image search: [Google]

79KB, 700x720px

>>50491991

That's some garbage.

>>50491991
That both runs counter to their normal practice and makes me sad. I was looking forward to learning how to mod this one so I could add my favorite mechs (TORO4LIFE). Shame.

>>50492043

I suppose they might be more limited in this regard since they're using MWO assets and the BT video game/software rights are a complete clusterfuck.

>>50492122

But that doesn't mean we can't have a map/scenario editor at the least. No nothing is kinda crap.

>>50492122
And that's full of shit. We have map and level editors for lots of games. Why not this one?

>>50491019
The books that have been consistently rated the highest have been two of the Charrette novels: Heir to the Dragon and Wolves on the Border. His third in that "series -- Wolf Pack -- was not as well received; it's okay.

What's the worst BT novel?

The one with the aliens doesn't count. nor do the german language books.

>>50492293
I would be willing to guess it's one of the Wizkids takeover era books. Possibly the one about "veritable handstands".

>>50492293
Anything written by Hackpole

>>50492293
Ideal War.

File: 1373153362557.png (360KB, 492x755px) Image search: [Google]

360KB, 492x755px

>>50492293
Probably the Proving Grounds Trilogy. It's not just bad, it's everything everyone hated about the Dark Age stacked on top of being really bad. On top of THAT, written by a new guy who didn't know how Battletech worked at all. It was the perfect trinity of shit. And it went on for a thousand pages.

>>50492482
Go on. I haven't read any of the novels and this sounds like a wonderful train-wreck.

>>50492140
>>50492193
But you might encounter an NPC who doesn't have their ancestry form filled out in an unauthorized scenario!

>>50492567
It contains such classic Dark Age moments as

Terra being defended by less than a company of mechs with no aero or space defenses.

HPG's being used like the literal internet with instant and continuous communication for anyone with a home terminal. The sort of thing that cost as much as a new Atlas back in 3063 for a minute, is apparently now available for lower middle class to talk for hours like a long distance telephone

Overheating just by walking (granted DA mechanics but still)

Surprise submarine dropships

Everyone and their dog named Tara or Terra

Highlanders dindu nuffin, they always the mostest loyal for their entire history

Mercenary clannerboos

New girl thinks she's Natasha Kerensky but looks like five miles of bad road at twenty-something when the real Nasty K was a pinup at 50

The big bad traitor they worry about is just a Capellan in a light mech

The infamous Ryoken hot drop jump jet reprogramming moment

The equally infamous Pack Hunter handstand, or was it a backflip?

So much is that everything just feels wrong, like some sort of battletech uncanny valley. You really have to read it to appreciate all the strange and off moments. There's almost one every chapter.

Some people say The Ruins of Power is worse, but that's just a little noble conflict story with a world completely described wrong from previous sources. Proving Grounds takes you big picture to famous places in a much worse way.

>>50492728
>Overheating just by walking (granted DA mechanics but still)
kek

>The infamous Ryoken hot drop jump jet reprogramming moment
>The equally infamous Pack Hunter handstand, or was it a backflip?
Wait, what? Please tell me more. These sound magical.

>>50492728
I liked the medic dude.

>>50492830
And I like Jack Farrell in everything he's in. They couldn't save that mess though, not even a little bit.

>>50492776
>Wait, what? Please tell me more. These sound magical.

You must seek the magic for yourself. It's a lot less magical without context. But the Ryoken was the result of somebody programming the mech to think head down was the correct gyro position in an attempt to assassinate Anny K. The Pack Hunter thing happened in the middle of a duel between Countess Tara's favorite stooge, Other Tara, and One-Eye Jack Farrel. It's kind of hard to describe the absurdity of how those things were executed. Can't dock points for it not being memorable though.

I just remembered there was a whole subplot with the dudes enlisting in the army and basically being footsloggers.

Except for the dumbshit with pretending to be a Jupiter, that segment of the books weren't totally bad.

It's almost like there could have been something salvageable about that trilogy if there had been more/better oversight.

Path of Glory was a good book.

If you disagree, fite me.

The best part was the ending.

>>50492973
The writers actually had a decent trackrecord in other stuff. They just didn't do the proper background research and their editor was nonexistent.

>It's almost like there could have been something salvageable about that trilogy if there had been more/better oversight.

Star Wars Prequel syndrome for sure.

>>50492193
Because the devils want to ship the game in a reasonable time frame. This is their first time working with unity and they're building the entire thing from the ground up.

They've already said that all of the assets will be accessible except for the unity specific ones for the people who want to mod.

Also the skirmish game will (probably) allow you create your own scenarios, just not with characters and voice acting.

>>50492910
The gyro thing actually sounds pretty clever.

File: btech.png (1MB, 1122x816px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 1122x816px

does the centurion have partial cover from the marauder?(tw rules)

>>50493214
If you mean the griffin, no. The marauder has clear los and elevation. If the griffin was two levels below the marauder in the same hex, it would be hidden, but at one level difference, no its visible.

>>50493214
Nothing in that screenshot has partial cover from the Marauder.

>>50493181

DESU, I'm more leaning towards a "wait and see" approach. The game is still 6 months out from it's estimated release date, there's plenty that can change.

>>50493292
This is how people end up disappointed over stupid things, DESU.

>I want something they said will not be included
>I will remain confident that this thing they said isn't included, will be included

>>50492728
You forgot
>a fucking mexican defending the republics big beautiful wall

>>50493305

>"They've already said that all of the assets will be accessible except for the unity specific ones for the people who want to mod."

I'm less hoping for an explicit set of mod tools, and more waiting to see what will be needed to fucker with shit. I'd love a proper set of tools, but then, if it's fuckering with Unity that's needed, maybe that'll be more stable than the progression of the Shadowrun Returns mod tools. (If you're not familiar, the SRR tools were notorious for breaking the mods every update they did.)

>>50491991
Zero mod support is pretty awful, especially considering how enthusiastic the fanbase is about throwing tons of their time into battletech.

It's extra odd since unity mod tools are literally a variation of unity development tools. In fact, it takes more time to write up documentation on how to do things than to actually unlock the capability.

>>50493181
>This is their first time working with unity

No, all of the HBS shadowrun games were on unity. Besides that, they also have significant and powerful mod tools available.

>>50493462
They're clearly more interested in sucking brown people off in a desperate attempt to please an audience that's not there, than to make their product successful among their ACTUAL potential customers.

Marxism, not even once.

>>50492728
To be fair if the internet went down id steal a tractor and juryrig an array of hunting rifles onto it

File: unseen_warhammer_variant_by_stephenhuda-d5d7mwv.jpg (871KB, 2550x3300px) Image search: [Google]

871KB, 2550x3300px

Wasn't the exodus from Terra sparked by an oppressive, high taxes world government?

The whole Inner Sphere exists because people got tired of SJW politics. This is why there are so few democracies.

Battletech is the anti-Progressivism.

pic related. He's running away from PC bullshit.

>>50493751
Why do you think they've set up the TC as the antagonists?

>>50493711
I could almost forgive them if they made the Taurians a bunch of good ol' boys that are genuinely trying to stabilize that area of space while the Magistry is going in and taking slaves from the people you beat and so on. I mean full on 80's caricature Btech.

"Yeeeeeeee HAW! You see me hit that ammo bin Cletus?"
"That shot was sweeter than grandma's sweet potato pie."

"Remind me to feed that asteroid hopper to my leopard after I blow him out of his mech."
"What a waste that would be sister. He fights pretty good....for a man."

>>50493837
They think TC stands for "Totally Caucasian"?

I don't know, but they had to choose the tranny factions as the heroes so it was the Cappies, Free Worlders or the Taurians for enemies.

They couldn't use the Caps, because they're POC's, and the Mariks have facial tattoos (which makes them "alternative."

Probably they just think that the name Calderon sounds too white.

>>50486583
>There's been new LAM miniatures since like five years ago though, spectrals and Mk I's.

Yeah, but you know... It's kind of like the Smoke Jaguars and the protomechs. By the time LAM's were released, they were limited to only one faction who were slated for the chopping block, anyway.

The Protomechs at least had the benefit of not being deemed symbolic of space-nazis, thereby being shunned by every faction thereafter.

I wish that it hadn't been fluffed that way, and instead the WoB toys at least got reverse engineered by the various houses, so that Malaks and Pretas weren't just relics of a dead faction.

File: DBB42CD36A3E7D5236CDE0E8D1648CDB.jpg (897KB, 782x1150px) Image search: [Google]

897KB, 782x1150px

>>50493249
There is a centurion immediately next to the griffin.
...MWO's take on the centurion was very.... liberal. Not quite as liberal as Mechwarrior 4's Hellhound, but it's up there.

>>50493462
They released powerful mod tools for the Shadowrun games and the modding community failed to materialize. Battletech mods for other games all died on the vine or sucked balls. Why in gods name would they spend a moment of time on mods.

>>50494025
>Battletech mods for other games all died on the vine or sucked balls.

You forgetting Mektek and Living Legends already?

>>50494041
No, I am definitely not forgetting that unworkable pile of shit.

>>50494056

Mektek worked just fine until they decided they wanted to make their own game. Turns out being good at modding doesn't make you good at making your own game.

>>50494025
>They released powerful mod tools for the Shadowrun games and the modding community failed to materialize.
It isn't worth making a big-titted waifu to fap to or a MLP total conversion in a 2d isometric game with barely-detailed sprites.

In all seriousness, I wouldn't care too much about no mods for HBS Battletech. The mod community has shown me that they only care about multiplayer.

>>50493875
>Probably they just think that the name Calderon sounds too white.
I mean, non-HBS-coward here, but the only man I've ever met with the last name Calderon was probably the most pure texas son of a bitch I've ever seen. Probably they saw something similar and got scared

File: explainthis.jpg (8KB, 241x252px) Image search: [Google]

8KB, 241x252px

>>50494183

>The mod community has shown me that they only care about multiplayer.

I, uh... eh?

I don't mind that the characters in the game aren't white, to be honest, but I'm kind of weirded-out by the need to include their mixed-race heritages... from over a thousand years past. I mean, planet of origin, absolutely. Faction of origin, yeah. Skin color? This is a new faction in an uncharted area of space with still unknown ethnicities, and there are rules for mutations. They can be blue from genetic mutations due to poor protection from solar radiation for all I care.

But saying stuff like "Swedish/Pakistani"... It's about as relevant in their time as my laying claim to having Pictish / Khazar-Khanate ethnicity. I don't care if they're all various shades of yellow and brown any more than having women in the cockpit, but the ethnicity blurb is even less relevant to the game than sexual orientation.

>>50494259
Let's rephrase. The Mechwarrior/Battletech mod community only cares about multiplayer.

An anon was pretty cool about pointing out a few MC2 single player mods, which somehow in the process have stripped all the Live-Action video from the original MC2 campaign in the process, but MW4's single player has been largely ignored by mektek, needing workarounds to use the mechs, and leaving the campaign completely untouched; Living Legends is just a deathmatch game. Tanks and aerospace fighters on pretty maps aside, it's still just multiplayer.

>>50494288
We wouldn't be able to score brownie points with our potential future fanbase if we didn't show how presently progressive we were in our future setting.

>>50494288

Having seen the content that HBS hosts on their YT/Twitch channel, it's not surprising but it's still saddening. They literally have a show about fucking feelings.

>>50491146
Confirmed for not reading any MW novel

>>50494231
Texans are scary man. I once offered to suck ones dick but before i knew it he was on mine

They call him rollerskate blake

>>50494288

This is a problem with any far-flung future narrative. You've got to bring back things to reference for people. I personally think it's definitely a fun cast of characters that would catch my eye even if this wasn't a game I was looking forward to.

File: youmaynotlikeit.gif (4MB, 386x280px) Image search: [Google]

4MB, 386x280px

>>50494531

i think it's shit and your opinion is shit

fite me

>>50494536

If I get more fleshed out characters than "Texan", "Sean Connery standin," and "Wrasslehog Refugee Pushover," this game is already a resounding literary triumph compared to most previous entries in the franchise.

>>50494472

I've read all of them except for the New Syrtis one.

They are uniformly terrible and frequently retarded.

Like the Ghost Bears being highly adaptable and adept at mobile combat, which the Wolves cannot handle and have their minds blown over the idea that you might want to use hit and fade tactics with fast-moving machines because they're too stodgy to innovate and have never dealt with mobile combat before.

The god damn *Wolves.*

>>50494531
I don't doubt what you mean. There's good reason why the FWL has been the most ignored successor state in terms of lore - their gimmick is civil war... which hasn't really been a thing since the stuff covered in Brush Wars, and you can't describe them as "Space Stereotype Stereotype" that roll off the tongue.

...but I still feel like it's a bit tacky and out of place being this front-and-center right here, especially when it has so little relevance to the characters themselves outside of being brown or having tribal tattoos.

>>50494584

sometimes i wonder if a proper retconning of shit that is profoundly antithetical is in order

>>50494624

Nods to accessibility are one thing, straight fucking pandering is another. The latter is pretty fucking obvious.

>>50494624

In the grand scheme of things, it probably matters very little, but it does give people new to the franchise a little bit of recognition to associate with the series. This is one of those "repeat to yourself it's just a show" moments that sci-fi has. The idea that English is spoken pretty much the exact same 1,000 years in the future is ridiculous, but it's concessions that we make so the audience feels at home.

If they took out those "English/Nepalese" blurbs, people can draw enough conclusions from names and skin colors. I mean, humanity's had 1,000 years to bone each other yadda yadda.

>>50494626
Never going to happen. they're going to ride that lore train until the wheels fall off. Sins of the father and all.

It's a mish-mash of Pardoeisms.

Progressive protagonists, regressive antagonists, main character with a Scots heritage that teaches them how to beat the enemy* and so on and so forth. The only way it could be more Pardoe would be if the Bears also had inspirations from the American Civil War and were able to apply those tactics in the BT setting.

I think the entirety of the novel is moronic and there are other ways the Wolves could have been used as antagonists, especially since it was the Blood Drinkers.

But someone is always, *always* going to have a hair up their butt about something happening to their favourite faction(s) that they don't like, so where do you stop?

*Yes really, this is an actual plot point. Angela Bekker literally draws strength from having learned to play the bagpipes and applies those lessons to her command style. Especially the bit about not giving up because the finger positioning is hard some times. What is this I don't even

>>50494750

In reply to >>50494626.

>>50494288
Weisman's might be part of the reason for ethnicity blurbs. Old 80s BT stuff tended to mention that a little bit more than modern does, namely I recall references of people possessing "American Black" features, since I've always wondered what precisely the fuck that's even supposed to mean.

>>50494950
>namely I recall references of people possessing "American Black" features, since I've always wondered what precisely the fuck that's even supposed to mean.

It's to give you an accurate description to give you a more vivid image of a roided up hybrid monstrosity with a horribly disfigured face.

>>50491839
Yeah it sounds like a shitty cash grab attempt. I hope no one here was dumb enough to donate.

>>50492008
I was going to make a joke about why white characters are necessary, but frankly the campaign concept looks so stupid that I can't even see how they settled on it, what they were thinking, or how the game will be anything but another nail in BT's coffin by ignoring what makes the game popular.

File: best samurai.jpg (246KB, 902x939px) Image search: [Google]

246KB, 902x939px

>>50494950
IIRC mentioning ethnic features was mostly in the style of "had the features of his ancestors all the way back to ancient China" (I think Justin Xiang was described this way) or because the character's appearance was not at all related to his or her name (Minobu Tetsuhara springs to mind - with a name like that, your first idea of what he looked like probably wasn't a black guy) etc.

Rather hilariously the Against the Bot name and portrait generator works rather well for a Space Future. For every white bloke with a Scots name you can probably get someone who I just recruited - a FRR 'Mech driver with blond hair, blue eyes and a completely Japanese name. Hell, it even works as a character hook - why did this guy join a mercenary unit? Well, he looks pure Nordic and has a Japanese name, comes from a Rasalhagian family that completely assimilated into the Japanese DC culture, got shat on for it and decided to see the wider universe with people who only care that he's good at driving giant robots.

>>50494950
>since I've always wondered what precisely the fuck that's even supposed to mean.

Means West African Ivory/Gold/Slave Coast tribes. That's the majority of the original transplants. Not central, east or south like Congolese or Masai or Zulu, but straight original definition negroid phenotype.

>>50495026

I think they got convinced, like a lot of now-suffering or defunct game devs, that the SJW market fucking means something. Like, that's great that your indie company stands for something, except for the fact that you don't have the market foothold to actually survive after excluding everyone but that. And said "diverse" market doesn't have a dollar to give to their pandering bullshit.

>>50493751
>>50493870
It's really weird that the faction who keep slaves and practice literal systemic inequality are the protags and the liberty-loving space cowboys are the villains. I mean just wot. It's not like the Concordat has always been the Dark Age era junta that arose as a result of Shraplen and the Jihad. Isn't this game set in an earlier era?

>>50494531
Nothing really looks fun about the cast.

>>50495055

Probably mirrors how life actually happens better than "forced" diversity. Give a root, roll a die, and explain it tends to give a better story hook than "hurr durr because ethnicity".

>>50495078
But feminist slavers. That makes crimes against humanity okay.

>>50495096

You're right. It looks retarded.

>>50495078

Contrary to popular belief, the DA Junta and Shraplen didn't just pop up out of nowhere.

And due to how long people in BT spend in power this is really just one generation before that.

>>50495078
>>50495122

It's literally set more than century before the DA. And no, no power that's worth more than peanuts doesn't get uprooted or fucked with in a century's time, especially the 3000's.

How do you guys think a CP-10-Q upgrade/later eras version would look like?

>>50495122
Considering the centuries old history of th Concordat, it really did just pop up recently.

>>50492994
I really enjoyed Path of Glory. I was extremely bummed out by the next to the ending part, but the very end was indeed satisfying. If only every day could be like that.

Fucking BDS.

>>50495011
To HBS? Or to PGI?
guilty on both counts

>>50491839
You forgot:

>pander products to an audience that is such a minority in purchasing disposable that they pretty much don't exist, jeopardizing success of product

>>50495214
Keeping like other Cyke upgrades, the 4/6 SFE would likely remain.
Simplest style would probably be 10 DHS and swapping LRM 10s to15s.

Tooling around I've got one with ES, CASE and 13 DHS, with twin MML-9s with 3t ammo, 4 MLs and a snubbie which could be decent and gets back some decent direct fire punch, and yanking a medium laser you could roll with a standard PPC easily.

File: atlas_6_by_shimmering_sword-d877dkm.jpg (173KB, 585x850px) Image search: [Google]

173KB, 585x850px

Here's a challenge for all you mentally deficient trumpcucks out there;

Write a plot for a new turn-based BattleTech vidya that simultaneously doesn't ignore/retcon the existing lore, doesn't cover an event that has already been mentioned or fleshed out, presents a prime opportunity for merc adventures, updates the flavor and feel of the game to fit with the tastes of modern audiences, and doesn't totally alienate longtime fans of the IP.

protip: you can't

p.s ching chong lick my dong whiteboy

>>50495416
I was wondering how long it would take for the SJWs wallowing in fake white guilt to come here and spew their nonsense.

Shillary lost, get over it. Your cancerous ideology is on it's way out with the common people

File: youreafag.gif (1MB, 413x192px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 413x192px

>>50495416

Good christ, take a walk to a store and get some better fuckin' bait. 1/10 do better.

File: CapellanConfederation_DeathCommandos.gif (6KB, 124x150px) Image search: [Google]

6KB, 124x150px

>>50495446
That's where you're wrong, buddyboy.
We were here all along
p.s answer the question next time, k love u xoxo

File: nito.jpg (115KB, 400x400px) Image search: [Google]

115KB, 400x400px

>>50495474

The biggest crime HBS has committed is making a cast that looks like it belongs in Mass Effect, not Battletech

File: Calliope.jpg (270KB, 1043x904px) Image search: [Google]

270KB, 1043x904px

>>50495507
What did they mean by this?

>>50495465
thanks for the (You), here, (You) have one too

so... the major plotlines for the new BT TBS is out and from the looks of it you guys aren't happy.
so what is happening? and why is it bad?

>>50495180

>It's literally set more than century before the DA.

It's literally set one generation before Shraplen's rise to power. He would have been an adjunct to the movers and shakers back then.

>>50495220

The junta did. The underlying issues that led up to it didn't, those seeds were sown at least by the Reunification War and arguably in the Concordat's very founding since they fled the Sphere and were pretty xenophobic right from the start.

>>50495416

Honestly I would have set it on the Lyran/FWL front during the 3rd or 4th SW. That region and era hasn't really been explored that much and you could even do something like have the final mission or set of missions be an attack on or defense of Hesperus.

>>50495643

A lot of people who aren't Periphery fans would have rather have seen it set in the IS.

A lot of Taurian fans are mad it shows their faction in a bad light even though the depiction absolutely makes sense.

Then you've got a small set of people who are buttmad that it's casting the Magistracy in a sympathetic light. I'm not even sure if they're just memeing or trolling any more, I just tune them out.

>>50495670
so basically people are mad because their most favourite factions aren't represented or aren't shown in a good light.

sounds like business as usual to me

>>50495724

I don't really give a shit where they set it.

As long as the factional motivations and location made sense I'd have been fine.

What turned me off was that it was 3025 only, final destination to appeal to the grog crowd and was inventing a new faction that was only going to exist for the period of the game and then disintegrate because it clearly wasn't around before or after it. So what even was the point?

>>50495780
oh so like a one time throw away campaign, meh.
also heard modding capabilities are near zilch?
thats some shit

Okay, I'm happy to report MechCommander Gold works well enough in Wine but the videos don't play which is not unusual. I could not get MC2 to play whatsoever. This wasn't terribly unexpected but there it is. Results will vary.

>>50495670
The depiction doesn't make sense, have you been reading anything here?

>>50495780
>people who don't like 3025
Glad we can tune you cucks out.

File: 30_jalphoenix_cgstau_plastic_loki_1.jpg (93KB, 450x495px) Image search: [Google]

93KB, 450x495px

>>50489288
Needs more Loki

>>50496137
You're being trolled m80

>>50496176
I refuse your colour scheme

>>50496137

We've been through this.

The Taurian Concordat of the era is stuffed with paranoid xenophobes who have a Thing about powers trying to expand near their borders.

Of *course* they're going to drop the hammer on the Aurigen Coalition.

The objections just boil down to "well I don't want the Concordat to be the bad guys."

>>50496147

Actively pandering to the grog crowd only harms the game in the long run. They aren't interested in any other era, they don't buy new product, and there's only so much that can be expanded on for that time period.

It's not that I dislike the period, there are just sharp limitations on how useful it is. Good for introducing new players to the rules and such, not so great as a setting if you're taking a view to long-term growth.

>>50496216
So says you. Make your own game and let's see how it sells, cuck.

File: Loki.jpg (43KB, 300x300px) Image search: [Google]

43KB, 300x300px

>>50496200
It's the happy frog neon green edition.
Maybe this muted blue will work for ya?

>>50496266
I accept

>>50496260
>>50496147
Too busy not being a NEET, sorry

>>50496411
Yet still living in your mom's basement? Pathetic. Get a better hobby than criticizing the fans who keep this game alive, ok cuck?

File: 1461679644731.jpg (46KB, 525x777px) Image search: [Google]

46KB, 525x777px

>see new game
>everyone is brown for some reason
>all of them have these weird origin combinations like it was written 35 years ago
>the slave-owning autocratic matriarchy are the good guys
>the liberty-loving isolationists are the villains
>it's set in 3025 instead of the Republic Era
>characters are given flat, boring background blurbs
>events are in the literal middle of nowhere
>it's a mercs game where it looks like you only work for one group
>MC did strategy better
>MW2 and MW4 did mercenaries better

Not getting my hopes up for this one. Why is it not set in the latest era? Why the periphery?

>>50495507
At this point, between MWO's "Whadda ya mean, low-tech, it's a thousand years in the future" design mentality, and HBS's piggy-backing off of them, it's kind of a given. MWO mechs don't look like they belong in 3025, or even 3050. Maybe post-jihad or something.

Accepting and embracing the 80s roots and making the whole thing into a hair metal and retrowave neon adventure, unfortunately, isn't going to happen. I don't know who to throw money at in order to do so

>>50496638

>Why is it not set in the latest era?

To attract the attention of old fans, who they believe are an untapped vein of profit.

>Why the periphery?

Because they wanted a location and factions that wouldn't have any impact whatsoever on the larger plot line and which wouldn't require any fact-checking beyond the Aurigen Coalition ceasing to exist at the end of the game.

>>50496638
The Canopians aren't the good guys, they'll do the typical "employers turn on you" thing in mercenary games.

Look at who their magestrix in the era is. The power hungry bitch that invades places for more land.

While the Taurian protector at this point is indeed a paranoid but isolationist guardian of civil liberties.

The descriptions are red herrings so players will be surprised at the sudden but inevitable betrayal.

File: bison tuesday.jpg (50KB, 640x286px) Image search: [Google]

50KB, 640x286px

>>50490939
>>50491014
>>50491024
A level of fighting which "barely registers" to a Great House is a lot more significant to a state five to ten times smaller. Read the P1e regimental bios sometime.

File: $(KGrHqN,!isFC73tFvJKBRB3vT2Zhw~~60_35.jpg (7KB, 250x253px) Image search: [Google]

7KB, 250x253px

I've got no problems with inclusion, or anything like that. I wouldn't have any issues with the cast being for the most part ambiguously brown, but really, there's an entire crazy sphere full of possibilities. Pic related.

The bigger issue is the intent and attitude behind the design choice. It bothers me just a bit when values I already hold are forcibly stuffed down my throat because it's an impossibility that I think otherwise, rather than quietly and sensibly incorporated into the game.

The lack of mod support, and the very terse answer given in regards to the question bugs me even worse. At the very least, a "We won't be able to include mod support at launch because X, but we will investigate the feasibility in the future" would have been a lot nicer.
>>50496266
It's a perfectly utilitarian color

File: Lyran throneroom.jpg (433KB, 1920x1080px) Image search: [Google]

433KB, 1920x1080px

>>50496741
Honestly it looks like shit. The game has advanced to 3145 and then some, why do we keep having to go back to 3025?

I mean I fucking love the opening of BT, and I still play introtech, but for the love of Blake can we get something fresher?

>>50496758
Why Griffins?

That has really always bugged me.

Why not a mech that isn't optimized for long range combat? Why not something with a machine gun?

>>50496758
Part of me agrees with you, and would like to see other fun stuff like Invasion Era or Wars of Reaving, or FCCW.

The other part of me is just happy to be able to roll in all kinds of stuff that we haven't been able to before, like the unseens and Stalkers, and the like. (In a non MWO game, I mean)

File: 1st Div.png (59KB, 300x386px) Image search: [Google]

59KB, 300x386px

What did the (reborn) 1st ComGuard division mean by this?

>>50496786

>Why Griffins?

IDEK. I'm not sure whether this is just my headcannon or if it's something they've actually said but I think the Griffin is one of the oldest 'Mechs the Lyrans have had in production and/or when the tradition started was one of their most iconic and common machines.

As for the range issues, the pilots are supposed to be elite and extensively trained in fighting at close quarters.

Ultimately though they're just in the throne room for dick-waving purposes. To show supplicants who's really the boss rather than be proper bodyguard units. If shit really went down what they'd probably do is just move between the Archon and their attacker to give them time to flee.

Or, failing that, vapourise the assassin with a PPC to try and make themselves feel better.

>>50496741

This is about where I am.

Nobody really gives a shit if the characters are minorities and the way to change opinions on things like that is not to make a big deal out of it but just to do it and let it stand on their own.

I mean, think about Samantha Carter in SG1. Aside from one crack to put Jack in his place in the pilot (pilots rarely reflect what a series will evolve into) and Emancipation which never happened just like Highlander 2, they don't waste time angsting over OH NOES SHES A LADY they just get on with shit. Amanda Tapping even went to the writers to make that point early on. Or Ivanova in B5, or Gaeta, Athena and Dee in nBSG, or...

File: ouch.jpg (46KB, 674x221px) Image search: [Google]

46KB, 674x221px

>>50496873
>vapourise the assassin with a PPC

This pic never ceases to amuse me. The tech did not hit ONE time when firing at enemy 'Mechs (he was a 6/7 IIRC), and when I shoot one of the enemies out of his ride, he does this.

>>50496873
I don't think anyone is *too* bothered here that they're PoC or whatever, maybe just that they *all* are.
It looks to me that a slightly larger number of people are annoyed that the Taurians look like they may be the villains while the Canopians are the heroes, and even *more* people simply appear frustrated that it's 3025 forever.

I mean really, 3025?

>>50496915
It was a simpler time, if not a better time.

>>50496915
I'm annoyed because they appear to be NotWhite simply for the purpose of being Not White, rather than any real reason.

It's kinda like how back in the 60s they wouldn't put black actors in TV shows because southern TV stations wouldn't run them if they did.

>>50496873
>Ivanova
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnR3Tyrg_10

Gonna be time to dig out my copy and watch again soon, I think.


>>50496898
I had one of my pilots eject from her mech and land in a minefield I had placed for the game, promptly blowing herself up. That must have been a reaaaaaaaallly shit ride on the way down.

>>50496927
But why do we have to be stuck to it? I want plasma rifles, ATMs & IATMs, RACS, snub-nose PPCs and variable speed lasers.

>>50496950
Granted, your annoyance has merit. I'm just happy /btg/ didn't go full /pol/ over it, and I say that as a guy who does frequent /pol/ quite a bit.

>>50496971
>Granted, your annoyance has merit. I'm just happy /btg/ didn't go full /pol/ over it, and I say that as a guy who does frequent /pol/ quite a bit.

I'm with the previous guy you quoted. It's NotWhite simply to make a political statement, as apparently HBS has commented.

I'm also annoyed that the characters look like they were designed in tune with a team of 'marketing experts' in order to be as inclusive as possible, while excluding their primary market.

File: 1423845946832.jpg (100KB, 1280x720px) Image search: [Google]

100KB, 1280x720px

Speaking of the Dark Age, fellow Dracs have you completely dropped Dragons and Panthers as of the current in-game year in favor of new mechs? Or do you keep a couple of the old designs around?

>>50496971
It's 3025.

These people are too squeaky clean for my tastes.

I want drunks and washed out incompetents. People who don't take kindly to authority or follow orders well. People for whom rules, regulations, and laws only apply if you think they can catch you.

People who are mercs because they have a mech. People who are mercs because it's the only way they can stay in the cockpit.

>>50496971

>But why do we have to be stuck to it?

On the boardgame side, the grogs are *really* loud, the fanbase is small enough that CGL can't afford to lose any more of it if they want to keep BT going, and going back to the SW well allows them to postpone doing anything about the Dark Age plot (refer to small fanbase and not pissing people off).

For the computer game, Weisman has a fascination with the era. Even the DA Clix game was all about trying to get back to the 3025 aesthetic.

>>50497039
As part of their primary market, I couldn't give any less of a shit. I'm just hoping it will be relevant to the characters themselves - would be nice if they actually act like they're from different planets with different cultures.

From the character bios, it sounds like one periphery realm will be sponsoring a rebellion in a small client state of a neighboring periphery realm. Did the HBS email have more info about the campaigns and factional involvement than that?

>>50497110
Now there's a point.

>>50497118
There are genuine game design reasons for using a simpler era too. Having a thousand different weapon options is completely unnecessary to filling the design space, it drags development out, and is off-putting to the vital new blood needed for long-term growth. Plus, the more fact-checking you have to do, the less energy you can put towards actually making the game.

If they instead made the exact same campaign in the exact same region of space, but in the Dark Age, and with equipment limited to sixteen or so weapons (advanced weapon types, but still only sixteen of them), would that make any meaningful difference to the game?

>>50495116
>But feminist slavers. That makes crimes against humanity okay.

Anytime women aren't kept in their place it makes crimes against humanity OK.

That goes double for when the women have feminine penises.

>>50495643
>and why is it bad?

What >>50495670 said. Also, the ethnicities of the characters were chosen purely to pander to the SJW crowd. Battletech is and always has been about and for white people, and it's bullshit they're trying to retcon that away in an attempt to undermine the demographic supremacy of their own userbase.

>>50496216
>"well I don't want the Concordat to be the bad guys."

They aren't and never have been. The only real bad guys in Battletech are the Clans, the Great Houses, and the slave-owning MOC (at least if they didn't own white or male slaves it would be at least partially defensible).

>>50497090
>dat pool
>in so MANY JAVs...

>>50497520
>Battletech is and always has been about and for white people,

What, no it hasn't. Granted those characters suck and are clearly a token minorities play. But Battletech isn't just about white people.

>>50497039
>I'm also annoyed that the characters look like they were designed in tune with a team of 'marketing experts' in order to be as inclusive as possible, while excluding their primary market.

If BattleTech products must include white people in all facets of the universe in order to interest our "primary market", then we will clearly need to find a new primary market, because we as a company (or our license-holders, for that matter) have zero interest in servicing a consumer base of racists, sexists, or persons who may have voted for Donald Trump. Take your demands for "white power" to a different game company that's down with racism. Like Palladium.

-Ray

File: Everyone_is_hitler.png (202KB, 368x475px) Image search: [Google]

202KB, 368x475px

>>50497602
>If BattleTech products must include white people in all facets of the universe in order to interest our "primary market", then we will clearly need to find a new primary market, because we as a company (or our license-holders, for that matter) have zero interest in servicing a consumer base of racists, sexists, or persons who may have voted for Donald Trump. Take your demands for "white power" to a different game company that's down with racism. Like Palladium.
>
>-Ray
What the hell? Was this actually said?

>>50497602
This is honestly a funny example of how some modern companies are insane enough to throw away a perfectly good product in order to try and grasp for markets that aren't there.

Like how Marvel gets shown time and time again that the vocal internet minority that wants inclusive and diverse characters, but they don't end up buying the product costing the company loads of money.

>>50497761

No. Anyone can use the name field however they want.

>>50497761
WTF? I love palladium now.

That company sounds familiar, what products do they offer?

>>50497110
I agreea

And there need to be Blakists

/btg/, I beseech you: please post your Word of Blake pics! Mechs, characters, events, any and all.

File: 1479236567201.png (249KB, 640x434px) Image search: [Google]

249KB, 640x434px

>>50497841
I hope it's as you say. I am tired of all the whiny left political diaper wetting nonsense filtering into every damn thing I am into. I actually started compiling a list of expletive deleted "exceptional individuals" who I will no longer do business with because of these tantrums. Pirate all day; every day. I don't care.

>>50497479
Feminine penises?

>>50497562
It's pretty much for whites though.

>>50497986
post list?

>>50498020
Doesn't/Didn't Japan fucking love Battletech?

File: 1460779252216.gif (425KB, 512x512px) Image search: [Google]

425KB, 512x512px

>>50498020
Why would you think that?
How is anything "for" anyone?
Different people CAN like the same things, yanno?

p.s I really don't get what there is to be upset about with all this. like so what if the cast is all non-whites, that doesn't prevent YOU from being white ingame. what's the big fuckin deal?

I am grog, but I am fair. There is no racial bigotry here. I do not look down on niggers, kikes, wops or greasers. Here they are all equally worthless Peripherats.

>>50498040
I lost most of it during a computer crash within the last day or so, but i saved a tiny bit of it.
>Red Letter Media's Jack Packard opened his filthy mouth on twitter and took a dump on the US for Trump winning the election. (Source: /tv/ plus twitter screencap pic.)
>Hard core gaming 101 (web site) took a rather not too subtle hit as well. This is why I use Adblock Plus or Ublock Origin. Fudge them. (Source /vr/ plus the front page of the very website.)
>Christian (Christine) Weston Chandler has been making death threats to Donald Trump on twitter and facebook. (Source: sonichu wiki plus twitter feeds and pics.)
>Angry Joe is hanging around Chloe Grace Moretz, that flat chested refrigerator-bodied ugly feminist actress. (Source: /tv/.)
>Total Biscuit pissed on I think on bitching at his wife for america voting Trump. (Source: /v/ with pics.)
The Angry Joe thing was just something extra that happened and made I think /v/ and I think /tv/ angry. It's been a while and I forget the details.
The list was a lot longer, but you know how old toasters are. (Sad mech commander)

>>50498209
>holding a professional vendetta against Christian Weston Chandler

what

you let your jimmies get rustled by a literal madman who attacks shop staff over sonic's colouration

File: Vanquisher.png (53KB, 780x1364px) Image search: [Google]

53KB, 780x1364px

>>50497960

For when you absolutely, positively must go BRRRTT through a C3i network.

>>50498275
can't you remove the 4 ppcs add 2 more rotaries and more AMMO

>>50491146
>>50491181

Initiation to War was pretty good, as far as that sort of thing goes. Also a periphery novel.

>>50498396
Was it? I was always interested since it's a former Terran Hegemony world.

>>50498389

They're Light PPCs.

It did begin life as a model with two LGRs and a ton of ammo each plus the four Light PPCs to beef up the ranged firepower a little with the loss of a single hex in accuracy but then I realised 13 tons was enough for a R-A/C-5.

If you want 4 R-A/Cs they're going to have to be -2s.

>>50498209
>>Red Letter Media's Jack Packard
Literally who?

>>50493462
Agreed, modding would be a relatively painless process to implement, and they already know how to do it. It's not a matter of can, it's simply a matter of want.

They most likely don't want to, because they don't want the competition and to milk mech expansion packs. Sad.

Even mechcommander had people chomping at the bit to make their own campaigns and their own units, despite lack of any proper tools.

File: loki_R.jpg (20KB, 260x288px) Image search: [Google]

20KB, 260x288px

>>50498565
He's that bald guy that does some of their videos with them. He does a video series on video games with Rich Evans called Previously Recorded, and he shows up on Best of the Worst from time to time.
Anyway it was /tv/'s doing in finding the whining that they did.
Now back to robits with crap armor.

>>50498651
I love how the Uller got the modular armor variant but the Loki didn't.

>>50498733
Eh?

>>50498651
but I love Loki like sun rise

My cat is named after that mech no joke.

>>50498761
Modular armor can be stuck on as pods on omnimechs. The Uller got 3145 config that is similar to the Uller A except using an ER PPC instead of the GR along with on ERML and ERSL with a Tcomp, and slaps modular armor everywhere it can to help with its thin skin and a supercharger to let it occasionally make up for the speed loss the modular armor causes.

The Loki's even thinner (relative to its weight) skin makes it a prime candidate for a modular armor config, but instead its 3145 config mounts an iHGR with 12 shots, an iHLL, and 3 ERSL. Though at the same time, the Loki II exists by then if you want a tougher Loki.

>>50498894
Mad Cat?

Wait wait wait.

So all the supporting cast is some form of brown or black without a single one matching up with anything from the great houses except Sumire.

But the Player character can still potentially be white?

As in mighty whitey and his brown serfs?

What if this game is actually really racist, but not in the game we thought it was going to be?

File: images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTO9eSySb0FmS0FcnFbaVxLLzAMB_aD0gPtUBEh0EZcUb1YGLgZ.jpg (11KB, 160x315px) Image search: [Google]

11KB, 160x315px

>>50498894
Is your cat also very thin-skinned?

>>50499002
YO DAS RAYCIS

>>50499002
>But the Player character can still potentially be white?
Uh... how about NO?

>>50498994
Loki, and everyone assumes it's the Avengers.

>>50496898
>>50496970
Speaking of ejections, shouldn't the ejected pilot not show up literally 10 seconds later on a hex next to his ejected mech? Shouldn't they be in the air for at least a minute, and land somewhere far far away (depending on wind and planetary conditions)?

>>50497438
>Did the HBS email have more info about the campaigns and factional involvement than that?

Not really.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/battletech/posts/1745111

>>50498632
>modding would be a relatively painless process to implement
I don't know about that, but I do know mods significantly prolong the life and sales of certain games. Particularly strategy or war games. Some of my favorite moments on a PC have been spent playing TW mods, and let's not forget that a whole incredibly popular genre of games literally were created due to a warcraft3 mod.

>>50497842
Robotech

>>50497039
>It's NotWhite simply to make a political statement, as apparently HBS has commented.
I asked for a citation on this several times and it still has not materialized. I'd consider it bunk until it's proven otherwise.

>>50497539
Literally everyone except a few specific characters are the bad guys in battletech. Everyone is an asshole in the setting.

File: 13656456353232.png (18KB, 604x618px) Image search: [Google]

18KB, 604x618px

>>50499356

>50497602
10/10 would laugh at again. Now post it somewhere official and watch the NOT MUH start.

>>50499471
More like I don't necessarily trust what some yahoo on the internet says without corroborating evidence.
I simple screenshot would suffice.

>>50499471
There is a real lack of evidence. There is circumstantial evidence, and it seems plausible, but no real concrete proof that HBS is trying to train its customer base to hate white people or whatever the dev allegely said.

>>50499494
A*.
Fuck.

>>50499031
You would in fact think so. Honestly, I'm surprised there aren't some advanced rules for that somewhere, particularly when looking at it from a campaign/rpg type point of view.

>>50499002
Your post is toxic and *very* problematic.

I, for one, am happy the racist cowboy space ranchers that love nukes are the bad guys. Taurians are the type of people that stole the election to put Trump in power.

>>50499494
>>50499518
Trust the anonymous stranger, Ralphie

>>50499605
I'm a different anon and I'd like a source on that claim about HBS as well. If it is true, the source should be easy to provide, right? Where'd they say it? Who did the saying? What's the context? This all is important to understanding their current stance, something that, as fans of the property they're working on right now, would be nice to be able to do.

>>50499643
If it's on their facebook page, it could have been scrubbed or what have you. Not having used facebook, I have no idea how that would work.

>>50499656
It could have been put in a capsule and shot to the moon, but unless there's some sort of proof it existed in the first place, I'm not holding my breath. I've no doubt they're socially liberal, but asking for evidence to a specific claim shouldn't be too far out there.

Not that I see the point in caring whether the case is all black, all yellow, all white, or anything in between. If the game is awesome, who's going to be retarded enough to say, "well, the campaign was extremely compelling, but the racial balance forced me to give it two thumbs down"?

File: wSoiemK.gif (142KB, 620x626px) Image search: [Google]

142KB, 620x626px

I keep seeing people complain that the Concordat is the antagonistic faction in the plot of the new game, but having read the update on HBS' site, I've seen no mention of that being the case.

Did I miss something?

Because at this point, it almost seems like someone inferred that this was the case and people then took off with it.

>>50499643

It was sourced in the last thread, it was a comment on Randall's FB page, not HBS's. However, everything from the last 48 hours on Randall's page has been scrubbed, so unless somebody thought to make a screencap, we're fucked.

>>50499712
I think it started out as suspicions that have taken off.

Personally I believe: >>50496704

>>50499698
>who's going to be retarded enough to say, "well, the campaign was extremely compelling, but the racial balance forced me to give it two thumbs down"?

I enjoy your irony because that's 90% of negative reviews by people who are sjw's and review things.

>>50499719
How convenient

>>50499719
Thanks for clarifying.
Weird that Randall would scrub it though. I can't see why he'd care; his opinions on the subject are fairly well known.

>>50499735
so people are spazzing the fuck out and going all /pol/ on eachother over nothing?

>>50499719
So no actual source, since no one took a screencap. Guess that's something. What that means is we have Randall, who doesn't work for HBS, making a claim about their business strategy and we have no knowledge of his authority on the matter.

Forgive me for being skeptical still. I'm more a fan of giving them the benefit of the doubt on this one.

>>50499712
The TC is directly called out as backing the people who took over the Aurigan Coalition and turned it into the Directorate. They're backing the villains, making them villains as well. Pretty cut and dried.

Speaking of the Taurians, who I like as a faction, quirks and all, does anyone have any Mech variants that would fit a Taurian force?

Additionally, any custom variants of the Toro or Talos? I know the Talos was reconstituted but I still like it.

>>50499752
lol, point made. I keep forgetting these people exist.

>>50499774
What if the Directorate are really good guys? I mean they're replacing feudal assholes backed by slavers.

>>50499776
>Mech variants
The Locust-1V2 and the Archer-6W are their big favorites. Rocket Launchers for days!

>>50499801
The update was quite clear. Something about the tone just said "Directorate are baddies". Go read it yourself if you want to see what I mean.

>>50499154
Are you talking about dota and league of legends?

But I do take your point, it seems like a mistake to not release the tools.

>>50499774
>I'm more a fan of giving them the benefit of the doubt on this one.

You mean you're a shill.

Look, Randall's opinions on SJW's are well known, and this is completely in line with everything else we've seen from the franchise recently. And given the close contact between HBS and CGL, Randall absolutely IS in a position to comment on their marketing strategy.

He SHOULDN'T, which is almost certainly why all of his recent commentary about the HBS release has been scrubbed. Occam's Razor would indicate that he posted in line with his previously-confirmed SJW leanings, and then HBS contacted him and told him to take it down so as not to cause further trouble.

There is no reason to give anyone even tangenitally connected to the Battletech franchise the benefit of the doubt about anything. They're terrible people, every one, and they don't deserve that sort of beneficial treatment.

Hey NEA? You were talking about Mechwarrior 3rd edition in the last thread and offered to do a sample character build. Could you please do that? I've been looking at the game and it's confusing as shit between all the thresholds, maximums, minimums, and skill points that don't count for some reason.

>>50499084
This is extremely problematic. Where is the diversity? Where is the white male character? Where is the white female character? Where is the white trans character? We need everyone to be represented, not just a few who happen to be in power.

File: 1462611228974.jpg (173KB, 661x489px) Image search: [Google]

173KB, 661x489px

>>50499774
>>50499827
>They're backing the villains, making them villains as well.

I don't know if I'm inclined to believe that. I mean in broad strokes yes, I suppose that would technically make them villains, but I would think they'd back the usurping power purely based on vested interest in future mutual profit, which makes them about as "evil" as every other power in the setting.

If the writing ends up on par with HBS' gold standard that being Dragonfall then they might end up portraying this as a multi-faceted, complicated conflict with no clear right or wrong side, which, in my opinion, would be ideal.

>>50499908
>spoiler
That's my current hope. Let's see if it happens. Right now it looks pretty clear-cut "MoC good, TC bad, ggnore" but I'm hoping I'm wrong on that front.

>>50499903
Your bait is weak, wandering anon.
You must seek to improve it, and attain the true power of the (You).

>>50499908
>but I would think they'd back the usurping power purely based on vested interest in future mutual profit

The campaign is literally about supporting one puppet government controlled by outside interests against another puppet government controlled by outside interests. It's literally 20th century africa or central america.

>>50499903
Where is the blind native american in the wheelchair?

>>50499957
>It's literally 20th century africa or central america.

Well, the MOC is all black people, so their inclusion makes a little sense in that case.

>>50499973
>wheelchair
Heh. So if the cockpit has foot pedals to assist in movement that's ableist or whatever nonsense term they have for something like this?

>>50499719
I asked in the last thread. It was not sourced, it was said "it's there" and it was not. If it was, it surely would have been screencapped.

>>50499900

I've been staying entirely out of this whole clusterfuck. Since we're in autosage, I'll do up a sample character for you in the next thread. Will that work?

>>50499774
>Backing the villains, making them the villains
So the FWL started the Jihad?

>>50500041
I checked Randall's FB page yesterday and I can tell you there wasn't anything there. I'm sure he's a SJW cuck or whatever but he didn't write that post.

>>50500041

Getting a screencap is not a guarantee and you know it. Stop trying to defend indefensible people.

>>50500065
New thread.

>>50500019
Considering you're considered incapable of mech piloting if you have inner ear damage or (until the MD tier prosthetics) full lower limb replacement, yes. But since BattleTech was from a simpler time when calling someone crippled didn't mean they voted for Bernie, who knows? They may have changed that.

>>50500060
Yes.

Fake News: The Thread.
New thread can't start soon enough.

File: 1462119511182.png (10KB, 140x50px) Image search: [Google]

10KB, 140x50px

>>50500066

>>50500133
Here it is:
>>50500065

>>50499827
They're the antagonists, but I don't really see what makes them villains. I main Dracs so I'm used to playing bad guys.

>>50499882
Are you being sarcastic?

>>50494666
>The idea that English is spoken pretty much the exact same 1,000 years in the future is ridiculous, but it's concessions that we make so the audience feels at home.
But that's cause the Star League took the French approach and standardized it, and everyone idolizing the SL meant it stayed around.

>>50495416
ex-FWL noble whose parents sided with Anton trying to make his/her way as a merc.

>>50499957
>It's literally 20th century africa
suddenly all the brown people makes sense

>>50501327
>ex-FWL noble whose parents sided with Anton trying to make his/her way as a merc.

Interestingly, that's almost the Regulan chick they threw in there. Too bad the Regulans sided with Janos during the revolt.

File: Standard MWO design.png (196KB, 497x599px) Image search: [Google]

196KB, 497x599px

>>50494005
>..MWO's take on the centurion was very.... liberal.

Well, it retained some of the characteristics and discarded the rest.
Let's be honest, Centurion is one of the worst designs out there.

As far as Alex's redesigns go, the Cent is one of the absolute best considering it give it some more characteristics, gives it the mobility the thing should have (not like with some shit in the game which couldn't even raise their arms) and some interesting design ideas besides a walking brick.

The 3D model absolutely botched it with the 'wide load' shoulders, the later hardpoints and most importantly locked arms that make the mech look retarded.
If I had to choose a mech that would actually scream Battletech! at me to the point I'd get some of its famous moments animated, it would be this piece.

That's great considering I don't even like that piece of junk.

>>50502167
>it would be this piece.

That's literally a regular centurion with unfucked joints, a stupid gun and a few extra plates welded on.

I'd much rather have old captain sleestack with just the unfucked joints.

>>50501327
like Hansen's Roughriders? pre-FS retcon.

File: 1457254768346.jpg (47KB, 259x294px) Image search: [Google]

47KB, 259x294px

>>50498192
Similarly, I don't care about skin color; as long as they're on the right side it's all good.

>>50499356
Well Randall deleted everything BT related from the past few days from his facebook. Dunno about HBS, I don't get their stuff.