PC BattleTech

So why is this a good thing?

• Because with Paradox’s additional test funding, we’ll have more professional testers banging on the game earlier so we ship the highest quality game we can.
• Because with their help, we can also deliver higher quality localized versions of the game to our overseas players and spend far less time managing the process.
• Because we won’t need to divide our attention away from making the game in order to sell the game. We’re not marketers - we’re game developers, and we want our focus to be firmly on delivering the best BATTLETECH experience we can.
• Because we all love BattleTech and the more attention that Paradox can bring to the game, the better its chances for success in an incredibly crowded and competitive marketplace. As I’m often quoted, “In success, all things are possible.” Paradox’s marketing support will hopefully result in increased sales of the game and allow for years of BATTLETECH expansions and sequels for all of us to enjoy.

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Battletech und Robotech liegen seit sehr langer Zeit im Clinch miteinander. Harmony Gold, welche die Rechte an Robotech halten, verklagten nun sowohl Harebrained Schemes, Jordan Weisman und Piranha Games, da die Designs der Mechs zu nahe an denen der Roboter aus Robotech liegen würden.

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“We’d previously been projecting a late 2017 release but now that we’ve revised our AI & combat mechanics in reaction to your feedback, completed a thorough review of the work remaining on the game, and are poised to release the Multiplayer Backer Beta update, all indications are that Paradox & HBS will release BattleTech in early 2018.

“Throughout development, the message we’ve received has been clear, ‘Don’t rush it, just make it great.’ and we have taken that to heart.”

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Over the next hour, my three remaining pilots were able to take the second base, destroying the main defending mech and completing my objectives. However, in doing so, my mechs were severely beaten up, losing armour plating, limbs, and the pilots themselves sustained injuries.

While technically a win, in the grand scheme of the campaign I had played terribly. I had four injured pilots, all who needed time to heal; four mechs that need to be repaired and refitted, which is costly and time-consuming; and, because I had hammered the enemy mechs instead of taking each out with precise assaults, I had destroyed a lot of the potential salvage from the battle. While I get cash and battle salvage for completing the mission, the rewards are eaten into by the costs - and mine were devastating. Depending on whether I had the parts to repair the damaged mechs, and if the work can be completed by the time I reach my next contract, I could actually be in a worse position for my next mission despite my success.

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Where mechs can be an expensive and rare resource, one worth protecting when you can, MechWarriors themselves come cheap. You still want to keep them alive and improve each of your troops over time - especially if you start getting connected to them, as I almost certainly will - but if faced with a hard choice in combat, you’ll probably want to make sure your mech is coming home one way or another.

Apart from which MechWarrior is piloting it, each mech can be extensively customized. Different weapons and upgrades can be equipped to every section of your mech, with each arm, leg, and body piece getting their own loadout and stats. It’s a complex system, but one Harebrained Schemes tells me the campaign will ease you into.

But the idea still isn’t that you’ll be able to one day max out your behemoths to be unstoppable killing machines. BattleTech is fundamentally a game about just barely scraping by, and deciding what to improve and which mech to repair first can be pivotally important choices to make. Even toward the end of the story, you shouldn’t expect to have a perfectly outfitted Lance, and that’s even if you decide to complete the story.

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Inside your spaceship, the Argo, there's a room past the MechBay, navigation console, and other stations where you can examine your budget. Here, everything gets tallied up: the cost of ship upgrades, mech upkeep, and pay for your pilots, doctors, and mech technicians. It's not a granular, sim-like Excel sheet or anything—for example, you set a single, shared pay rate for all your pilots, rather than typing out salaries for each character.

But unlike other games in the genre, like XCOM 2, nearly everything in BattleTech costs credits. Repairing your mechs. Moving your ship on the galactic map. Even using a hyperjump costs extra, like passing through a cosmic tollbooth. Worrying about your bottom line might encourage you to build mechs that don't expend lots of ammo, because every missile or autocannon round you fire in BattleTech costs money to replace. If you're low on funds or underpaying your MechWarriors, you'll also encounter a set of special events on the Argo.

You'll also have to weigh pay against salvage and your reputation with the factions you take missions from. In a 'negotiation' phase before each mission, you have a chance to set how many credits and how much salvage you'd like to earn. Demand less salvage and less pay, and you'll earn more reputation, a resource that will ultimately drive factions to trust you with harder jobs, or offer discounts at stores on planets they control.

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Time and cash aside, Battletech’s broad overarching campaign dynamics are morale, which is tracked by individual ship crew member or mech pilot, and faction reputation. In addition to four preset base traits (loosely – ranged accuracy, mobility, resilience and perception), pilots unlock valuable battlefield skills with experience, so keeping veterans happy by bumping up their wages is important, though in the event of a departure you can always find fresh meat at hiring halls on each planet. Pilots also come with origin stories that affect the proceedings in little and large ways. Employ the scion of a noble family, for example, and you can put his or her contacts to use when soliciting new missions.

Faction rep, meanwhile, broadly determines the quality of mission you’ll be offered and the size of your payout. There’s a haggling system that lets you adjust the ratio of cash to salvage to reputation gains per sortie: if you’re desperate for one particular group’s affection, you can even offer to work for free. Lest all this seem too much a question of fiddling with sliders, there are also semi-random multiple-choice story events that may affect crew morale and reputation. One example I’m shown involves stopping two underlings killing each other over the last cup of coffee. You can divide it up between them, tell them you’ve got bigger things to worry about, or down the cup yourself in a fit of alpha-dog posturing. A minor incident, for sure, but one that may haunt you on the eve of a major battle when your ace mechwarrior ups and quits.

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