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Xotl posted:It'd be a fun novel or sourcebook excerpt, anyways. A bunch of mechs wildly flailing with their limbs like a Power Rangers episode, with the pilots all yelling about how so and so killed my father and now vengeance is mine and then the flying dropkicks commence. I'd be down for a RetroTech 80s Sourcebook, where all the `Mechs are covered in neon lights, every piece of art has a mullet or legwarmers, and lasers are blasters from Star Trek again. Just promise to add a new SPA called "Yelling While Shooting" which makes burst-fire machineguns do 1d6+1 damage. Edit: And to curb the dumb `Mech argument: BattleMechs are 99% air, just like the heat panels on the space shuttle. 
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May 31, 2017 03:20
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I think Headshots / pilot injuries are in a good place for Skirmish and Multiplayer, but I really hope they turn them down a lot for the campaign. Especially if they make us bring light `Mechs. You have to work to keep Light `Mechs alive.
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Jun 2, 2017 03:38
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isildur posted:(That said, I want you losing pilots and crying about it) I'd like to say "that's fine" since I'm no stranger to killing pilots, but I played eight or nine games and I think in two of those instant-kill headshots happened to completely pristine `Mechs (once to me, once to the enemy). I guarantee most players will reload a save rather than accept that, so the "we want pilot deaths to matter" sentiment still won't. The AI's pretty good, but yeah, it needs to weight some `Mechs missile batteries as lower priority weapons. I had a Centurion run off to a corner to play missile boat rather than contributing to its team. You might want to set an "Is Missile Boat? Yes/No" flag on certain `Mech chassis in addition to the "does this `Mech have LRMs it can indirect fire with?" check. A secondary check for the "should I hang back and shoot missiles?" would prevent Atlases and the like from loving around in the back while still letting the Stalker and LRM Awesome do their thing.
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Jun 2, 2017 04:11
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Mountain / Arctic river aren't very good maps. I know they're supposed to be like 2-fort sniper types, but the sniper weapons in the game (apart from the JagerMech) aren't in a great place right now, so `Mechs like the Griffin, Panther, and Vindicator are pretty anemic. Which is fine, I don't particularly want to snipe, so anything that promotes getting in and punching this is A-Ok. I just know I won't be using PPCs in the campaign. I feel like this is a thing that probably shouldn't be as easy to pull off as it is with dedicated LRM boating: 
PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 04:39 on Jun 2, 2017 |
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Jun 2, 2017 04:35
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Strobe posted:I feel like that's something that could be at least part-way solved by weighting head hits differently in terms of pilot death. Maybe it takes 12 pilot damage to die, and SRMs do 2 each but LRMs only 1. It'd effectively cut LRM headshots in half, which would probably still leave them somewhere higher in frequency than their TT counterparts thanks to individual missiles. Most of those came from LRM-induced knockdowns. LRMs are really great at knocking `Mechs over. If LRMs are unchanged, I know I'll be using the hell out them in the campaign to farm salvage. And that's a good thing. Autocannons do damage, LRMs knock poo poo down, Lasers exist, and PPCs can stay in the box. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 04:42 on Jun 2, 2017 |
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Jun 2, 2017 04:40
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Psion posted:Clearly I need to try this Trebuchet boat strategy of LRM-sandpapering for pilot kills. What's a good rest-of-lance for that? You need two LRM-boats with paired LRM-15s for best success, they'll force a knockdown every turn and get a pilot hit about one turn in three. A light with sensor lock is ideal, but I accidentally brought a Commando with evasion and just ran him back and forth in the woods guarding every turn so he'd have cover, evasion, bulwark?, and entrenched and take like--no damage on the rare occasions when he did get hit. Once enemies get close enough you can reliably sandpaper them, but if they decide to make a run for your LRM boats having something that can intercept them and tank hits (like a Centurion) works pretty well.
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Jun 2, 2017 05:10
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JacksLibido posted:-Missiles and autocannons are way too powerful. They do great damage, have good range (and the way the game is with LOS you're almost never at extreme ranges) and do stability damage. A PPC should be somewhere between an AC10 and an AC20, right now they're between an LRM5 and a med laser. Missiles and Autocannons are fine, PPCs could be safely bumped up to AC/10 damage (75) from their current AC/5 damage (50). I think lasers are in a pretty alright place, small lasers are king poo poo of tiny weapon mountain, and nothing's got flamers yet but I'm eagerly awaiting them. Mediums feel a little anemic at times but they're so ubiquitous I feel that's alright, and larges do respectable damage for their heat. The Swayback feels just as threatening as the standard Hunchback to face, it just runs a lot hotter.
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Jun 2, 2017 06:12
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isildur posted:it made me wish we had the Charger so i could swap all its small lasers for flamers. I would love the Charger in this. Especially its tiny little pistol. I'm sure you've seen this visual bug already, but if you haven't you'll probably get a kick out of it: 
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Jun 2, 2017 06:27
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Gwaihir posted:Plz no ghost heat triggers /shudder It's not Ghost Heat and it's not an inconsistency, it's just not showing you what it's actually doing. It's working like tabletop: it's cooling that first [# heatsinks] weapon heat instantly and then adding any excess to the bar, rather than adding the heat to the bar and then cooling you off after the fact. Take a BattleMaster and fire just one medium laser and the heat won't even show up. I've absolutely cooled down while firing a limited number of weapons. The real problem is that PPCs are a lovely test weapon since their heat is incredibly high for their damage and short-range uselessness. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 19:15 on Jun 2, 2017 |
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Jun 2, 2017 19:11
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If they had an open torso section with ammo in it they might have been bracing to prevent an ammo explosion. Skirmish `Mechs might need an "Am I the sole survivor? YOLO!" flag for their AI behavior.
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Jun 2, 2017 19:17
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CourValant posted:For those who have been playing the Backer Beta, how is the 'overheat causes internal damage' mechanic? It's fine as it is. The damage is relatively low and it sure as hell beats most of the other alternatives (mobility loss, automatic pilot damage, ammo explosion risk). The little angry orange numbers are enough of a deterrent to encourage you not to overheat if you can help it while at the same time the damage isn't anywhere near enough to be deadly if you absolutely need something to die right now. Shutting down is as deadly as it is in Alpha Strike though. Don't shut down. Edit: It doesn't need to do more damage than it does already, the damage is minor but it does weaken you over time if you're constantly pushing into overheat without being utterly crippling if you spike your heat once or twice on accident. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 19:59 on Jun 2, 2017 |
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Jun 2, 2017 19:56
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chutche2 posted:I agree that knockdowns should be less frequent but more impactful. They don't even do damage to the mech other than a pilot hit. Standing up gives the enemy an accuracy penalty, knockdowns are pretty good.
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Jun 3, 2017 01:23
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Isildur, I think most of the status icons could use more distinct symbols. They're workable but Guarded's the only one that's really good. Cover could probably stand to be a tree rather than "guarded but slightly different" and I can't recall ever seeing entrenched's symbol but "weird triangle" doesn't really scream 'dug in.' Evasive looks like a white square with gray corners--it looks more like a graphical glitch than something meant to convery info. I also feel that "Entrenched" is a really awkward status name because that's not what's happening. I'd change it to "Braced" and then change the "brace" skill name to "full defensive" to make it more obvious that clicking it will prevent the unit from attacking. A quick series of "Target evading!" "Target guarded!" "Target braced!" pop-text when you select a target with one or many of those statuses might help, with an option to turn them off in the menus if you want. Zaodai's suggestion to devote a little UI real estate at the top of the weapon list to show your target's defenses would also be a good idea, especially if players can mouse over the symbols and see right away if they're going to be doing half damage and missing every other shot. I'd also like an option to turn off visible damage numbers (because I think it'd make the game harder in a fun way, for challenge runs and the like). Some of the problems with missile knockdowns could be fixed if entrenched was easier to get. A 'brace and shoot 1 weapon' option might be good, it'd make the mediocre precise shot pilot ability a little better; or even if you got entrenched automatically if you chose not to move. A `Mech that's standing still should be harder to knock on its rear end. Likewise, giving evasive a downside by doubling the stability damage an evasive `Mech takes could be a good counter. You can dodge but if you do take damage while you're darting and weaving it's more likely to trip you up.
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Jun 3, 2017 19:52
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 This would be my suggestion for a UI improvement (if you don't want to factor evasive into the hit percentages directly, which you should). A space above the weapons for all of the target's modifiers, plus some way to show whether it's been sensor locked yet in case you bring multiple and are trying to decide whether to shoot or lock and can't remember which `Mech you clicked on.
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Jun 4, 2017 16:41
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Pattonesque posted:Something I've noticed: my winning battles tend to end with my lightest mechs extremely hosed up or dead and my heaviest ones almost pristine. My Atlases rarely get touched. Anyone else have the same experience? I'm wondering if the AI prioritizes getting kills on smaller 'mechs or if I'm just getting them into trouble with my positioning -- although even when I have Jenners and the like come in on wide flanks the AI tends to focus on them. The AI seems to have 2 priorities: getting the highest To-Hit number it can, and eliminating the easiest target it can find. It will absolutely try to eliminate a light `Mech immediately if it can to deprive you of numbers (smart) but I have a feeling the reason why evasive isn't factored into the hit percentages is because the AI would take one look at a 45% to-hit and say "nope" and never fire at an evasive target if it had other targets available (dumb).
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Jun 7, 2017 19:31
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Cyrano4747 posted:Given how often the AI shoots at my evasive mechs I don't think it takes evasive into account when looking for the best to-hit numbers. Yes, that's exactly what I said. Evasive isn't factored into the hit percentages so an AI that looks for the best possible hit percentage won't take evasive into account.
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Jun 7, 2017 20:23
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ZenVulgarity posted:Hairbraned made shadowrun games right It's really hard to say anything concrete since all we have is a skirmish mode against a still-in-development AI, but generally: - There is no waist-high cover, so positioning (maximizing how many of your units can see or attack one of theirs while minimizing how many of your own `Mechs can be seen) is extremely important, just like in Tabletop BattleTech. - Teamwork is vital. Just like in tabletop BattleTech, a BattleMech that's operating by itself is probably dead. - Deciding when to attack and when to brace to soak hits is important. If you've misjudged your positioning guarding instead of attacking can absolutely save a `Mech. Provided you don't get punched. - There is no reaction fire, so fast units that can afford to delay can in and out of combat without taking damage. This is important because these same fast units are very squishy. - Melee is the best counter to most defensive abilities, and is both fun and useful. - Your longest ranged weapons are often your lowest damage weapons, and typically long range weapons have a downside in the form of a minimum range that greatly reduces accuracy if the enemy is too close. Just like tabletop BattleTech. - - We don't know what the campaign game is going to be like, how many and what sorts of maps we'll have, or what sort of objectives we'll need to accomplish. Multiplayer will probably play a lot like skirmish, possibly against a smarter opponent. I have a sneaking suspicion assault `Mechs will be less good against real players who know how to maneuver and can exploit how sluggish Assaults are.
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Jun 14, 2017 17:12
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Skoll posted:Someone bought a Pacer sub and posted this on discord : Ahahahahahahahaha. As much as I hate PGI, Harmony Gold can eat a bag of dicks. 
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Jul 23, 2017 23:58
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^^^ Oh, I'm aware. I just put that up because it amuses the hell out of me and Harmony Gold was involved in the lawsuit that got that particular toy Cease & Desisted.Skoll posted:I'm seriously contemplating contacting HG and asking if I can contribute to their legal fund just to cause the HBS discord grogs mass aneurysms. How many LA apartments will you be buying?
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Jul 24, 2017 00:07
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Q_res posted:So, it looks like to avoid having to tune the AC damage down too much they've rejiggered the calcs for head hits. Then they also boosted head structure by a point. That's interesting. I hope they take that a step farther for the main game, head hits being semi-common are fine for the skirmish game but I'm not eager to eat one every 2-3 missions in a campaign.
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Aug 17, 2017 22:33
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Cyrano4747 posted:That's not too difficult. Past BT-themed strategy games have massaged the head hit issue without too much trouble. I suspect it will result more in pilot injuries and the health of your crew will be just another resource to manage in the campaign. And that I'm fine with. It's just nice to know those variables are easily modified and I'm just expressing my hope that the campaign tweaks them independently of the skirmish and multiplayer skirmish games. Edit: Or better yet, make "player unit head hits" a difficulty menu slider for the campaign ranging from [same as AI] to [some percentage reduced] to [a bigger percentage reduced]. Maybe even go so far as making [none] an option for inexperienced tactics game players or younger kids who like making the robots punch each other. 
PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 22:45 on Aug 17, 2017 |
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Aug 17, 2017 22:38
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Captain Foo posted:hasn't that always been ppc flavor, but never realized mechanically? It's fine for a game-ism, most people associate lightning with electronics getting hosed up, but PPCs are a particle beam and giving they've never had an EMP effect. Tight Stream EMP Cannons show up later, alongside such fun things as iNarc Haywire Pods, Plasma Rifles, Plasma Cannons, and the hilarious BattleMech Taser. TSEMP is pretty great. 
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Aug 18, 2017 19:32
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Great Beer posted:Battletech players are the most resistant to change out of any group of gamers I've ever seen. I wish I could say this wasn't true. Change is fun, embrace the iNARC Bola Pods, the giant robot tasers, and the sheer insanity that is Extra Extra-Light Engine!
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Aug 19, 2017 19:20
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isildur posted:
Split the difference, have it be something different for every backstory choice with the same mechanical benefit. Fury for the Free Worlder, Inspiration for the Davion,
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Aug 24, 2017 18:06
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Remora posted:waitwaitwaitwaitwait What do your critical thinking skills tell you? It can only be one of two things: - how often those 'Mechs can turn up in the shop (and potentially which shops will stock them) - how often those 'Mechs will turn up in campaign missions.
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Oct 25, 2017 21:58
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Remora posted:Also, gently caress you a little, that's not necessary. Yeah, you're right. It's been a rough day, sorry about that. I shouldn't be taking it out on you. We don't know what it's for but if the HBS guys were planning on microtransactions they probably would've told us about them by now, so it's most likely something campaign related.
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Oct 26, 2017 08:03
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The color "pink paint" is lostech, spend $20 real money to unlock.
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Oct 27, 2017 05:05
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Galaga Galaxian posted:Nevermind just owning a Leopard probably makes you above average as far as no-name merc outfits go. Leopards are obscenely expensive to operate. They can't carry enough cargo to cover their operating costs, so they're basically relegated to actual nation-states or morons who can't afford to fix them if something breaks. 
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Nov 18, 2017 05:49
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Yeah, BattleTech's always been about small-scale skirmishes. One of the biggest mistakes they made in fiction was writing big battalion vs. battalion and regiment vs. cluster battles which read and feel really epic but if actually played out in tabletop would be horrifically anticlimactic thanks to the sheer amount of firepower in play. In a 4v4 the average TTD for the losing side's BattleMechs is about 2.5 minutes (150 seconds, or 15 turns). In a battalion vs. battalion battle you're realistically looking at losing at least one 'Mech every 10 seconds which is really nowhere near as epic as the fiction makes it out to be, which is why the early fiction was almost always: "they found the enemy, realized they were evenly matched after the scouts duked it out for a few minutes, and then one side retreated because even odds means even losses and neither side can actually afford that." Battalion fights are best done as a series of 4v4 and 8v8 battles where the results of the skirmishes the scouts have dictate how favorably the battle lances' starting positions are (letting the winner of the scouting game pick the starting side, or have an extra couple of hex rows of deployment, etc). For tabletop players, here's my basic setup: I haven't done one of these in the LP, but when my friends and I do a fight like this I have them divide their forces into 2 groups of eight and then either: - 1 additional group of 8 (if they want another big battle) and 3 scout lances or - 5 lances of 4 'Mechs If they go for the 3x8 and 3x4 job's done, 1 scout lance per battle, winner of the scouting battle gets to pick their deployment in the follow-up 8v8. If they do the 2x8 and 5x4 things get more fun. You only need 2 scouting lances, so I usually let my players pick between taking extra scouts, adding patrol lances, and taking a single lance of reserves. - Patrol lances have a 50% chance of intercepting enemy scout lances which makes winning those scouting engagements harder, taking two patrol lances bumps your odds of catching the enemy's scouts up to 75% - However there's a chance the patrol lances will never see combat - Extra scout lances give you a chance to stack a double-victory, giving you choice of deployment and doubling your deployment zone from 3 hexes to 6 hexes, or giving you a chance to negate an enemy scouting victory and randomly determine starting locations - If the sides don't have an even number of scouts, the side with more scouts gets a free win if the extra scouts are not intercepted by a patrol lance - A reserve lance can be called in after an 8v8 battle is lost to engage the enemy survivors, so it's up to the player to decide if they think they can take the (damaged) enemy survivors or not (usually they can). Reserve lances have a 33% chance of being intercepted by any patrol lance that did not engage enemy scouts (the patrol lances also function as a rear guard) Basically: No 4 'Mech lance can engage in more than 1 fight (for expediency's sake) but the reserve lance can force one of the 8 'Mech battle forces to fight twice. You can also add special objectives and things for some (or all) battles if you want, but those details are best worked out on the spot between players, and if anyone's not happy with an objective it's usually best to stick to skirmish.
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Dec 27, 2017 15:53
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'Mechs have muscles, tanks don't.
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Jan 23, 2018 20:28
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A lot of the "favorite" 'Mechs in the Inner Sphere that have completely garbage armaments make a lot more sense once you realize they're the ones best able to capture a human range of motion. The stock Shadow Hawk is one of the worst medium 'Mechs ever designed but it's still everywhere and Mechwarriors love it because it's easy to pilot and has internal components tough enough to let it move and fight with minimal to no pre-battle maintenance after being half-buried in sand and/or submerged in salt water for 150+ years.
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Jan 24, 2018 02:36
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Phrosphor posted:I am reading through PTN's Btech LP and I just hit the start of 2015, one thing that PTN mentioned around then is that even the torso mounted weapons can change their focus. Apparently they can by moved via myomer! Every weapon on a 'Mech can be independently targeted, or near-to. 'Mechs are in a weird position where they have a high ground speed but their reactions are fairly sluggish. Since most 'Mechs aren't particularly agile they have to compensate for it by giving even 'fixed' torso-mounted weapons a little traverse. Even obvious fixed weapons like the Hunchback's hunch create some extra airspace so the guts of the weapon can be wiggled around a little to help the DI Computer keep it pointed at the target moving faster than a 'Mech can torso twist. That's also why OmniMechs tend to mount most of the weapons in the arms, it's much easier for the DI Computer to calibrate them when the motion of the arm is a thing the computer is already compensating for. The Wolfhound is semi-infamous for being the only 'Mech that doesn't have computer safeties to stop its torso lasers from shooting its own arms off when the torso lasers are tracking a moving target.
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Jan 24, 2018 04:59
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Taerkar posted:When it was happening it very much felt like they were making GBS threads all over the TT to push out the clicktech stuff and tried to retroactively justify it. All of the WoB goes from being an annoying and dangerous nuisance to MILLIONS OF TROOPS AND WARSHIPS EVERYWHERE SUDDENLY made the initial clan invasion look good in comparison. They didn't, actually. They were being built up as a threat with troops able to deploy to major Combine planets as early as 1996--it's just that 9/11 happened and they got put on the back-burner for half-a-decade in favor of the FedCom Civil War.
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Jan 26, 2018 22:58
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vorebane posted:BT Nerds - Taking full advantage of a typo mistake is more important than a fun well balanced game. On the other hand, the "days before ClanTech" people pine for was a span of about 3 years from 1986-1989. BattleTech was never balanced in any meaningful fashion and the Clans being as unbalanced as they are got us the pretty good BV system and the current, improved (but still not perfect) BV 2.0 The real reason BattleTech suffered is because FASA wanted to make it a game where every specific circumstance had a playable rule backing it up. This was an attempt to emulate TSR's splatbook publishing, which is a game Catalyst is still kinda-sorta playing even today. You could play a game of football with BattleMechs using the rules-as-written with minimal house-ruling and that sort of kludge, while amusing, is the reason the game has such a barrier to entry. It doesn't matter if two experienced players can play a 12v12 in two hours when two new players are going to struggle to play a 4v4 in the same amount of time. Then again, I'm a BT fan who admits the series either needs a reboot or a 200+ year timeskip to even out the weapon and engine imbalances to streamline play. Tabletop stats still should have only minimal impact on any video game (they should influence, not dictate, design decisions). I'm glad the guys at Harebrained Schemes understand this, which is why--of all the BattleTech properties--this game is the one I have the most confidence in.
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Jan 27, 2018 18:57
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Skoll posted:200 year timeskip... to the past? Why bother? Future's better since it doesn't have the Sword of Damocles that is Victor Steiner-Davion hanging over everyone's necks. 200 years in BattleTech's past was the 1st and 2nd succession war, which would be boring as poo poo to play. "Ok, I have my defenders assembled." "Great, I've nuked them from orbit. What do you have defending..."
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Jan 27, 2018 21:41
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Skoll posted:Clan weaponry vastly outranged IS. Marginally farther, in some cases no more than a few hexes. The Clans' real advantage was in space, once the Inner Sphere developed warships of their own they lost that advantage and the existential threat they presented was well and truly over (which is subsequently precisely when the Smoke Jaguars got annihilated to prove it). I genuinely, honestly like the Dark Ages Jade Falcons. They throw all that Long Range Snobbishness out the window in favor of TSM melee 'Mechs and kicking their enemies to death. sebmojo posted:U r insane Some of the PGI designs are OK, but others like the Centurion (and their weird flat brick of an Atlas) are mediocre at best. I loving hate the PGI Centurion, they took a tall slender 'Mech and made it fat. They also completely missed the Clan aesthetic, but I've talked about that in other places so I won't bother here. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 02:37 on Jan 28, 2018 |
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Jan 28, 2018 02:35
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Cyrano4747 posted:I guess I'll just be the outlier who thinks that most of PGIs designs are pretty OK. They have some notable stinkers, but for the most part they look like the mechs they're supposed to be and have a consistent style where they all actually look like they're from the same universe. It is, but they all look like they're from the same manufacturing facility, which sucks. Why the hell did they give nearly every 'Mech two thumbs? It's ugly as poo poo, it's gotta be a bear to figure out how to pick something up using only a joystick and the neurohelmet's mind-reading. Cyrano4747 posted:Resizing hosed things up because PGI went all They also don't know what the Square/Cubed rule is which is why the Atlas, which is four times the weight of the Commando, is also "four times" its size (and winds up something like 16x its volume). Nevermind that 'Mechs are mostly airspace and insulation and the few that aren't (the Assassin. the Spider) are notoriously uncomfortable deathtraps.
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Jan 28, 2018 22:20
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on how they did it. They decided that mechs had to have similar volume:weight ratios
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Psion posted:In actually worth your time to read, the trilogy about Camacho's Caballeros is good too. Not for a beginner, to anyone who's gotten invested in the lore they're great, but Close Quarters / Hearts of Chaos / Black Dragon need you to really know who Theodore Kurita and Subhash Indrahar are, and should probably be read after the Blood of Kerensky Trilogy. I'd personally suggest 0) The early GDL books (don't read any past the first trilogy, the Legion sails right into Mary Sue territory really drat quick), you can read these at any point, but they're a reasonable jumping-on point since they don't require any knowledge. They're also some of the earliest novels so they're a bit rough in places. 1) Wolves on the Border If that captured your interest, go right into 1a) (optional) The first Legend of the Jade Phoenix novel (do not read book 2 or book 3, they are trash) to help you understand just how hosed up Clan brainwashing is. 2) The Blood of Kerensky Trilogy 3) If you're interested in further reading and liked: A) The Capellan Confederation 3a) Highlander Gambit and Impetus of War (they're not great but they're fun) B) House Kurita 3b) Heir to the Dragon 3b1) The Camacho's Caballeros trilogy C) Mercenaries 3c) Double Blind 3c1) Highlander Gambit and Impetus of War 3b2) The Camacho's Caballeros trilogy 3b3) Main Event and DRT (when you're ready to understand why BattleTech killed off all the Mercenaries in the Jihad to stop their writers from making a new "pet" mercenary unit every ten minutes) D) The Clans 3d) Test of Vengeance 3d1) Maaaaybe the rest of the Jade Phoenix trilogy if you can tolerate Deus Ex Machina and don't mind watching Aidan's slow progression into crippling depression, nihilism, and insanity (in that order) E) Stackpole's Writing 3e) The Warrior Trilogy F) Wolf's Dragoons 3f) Wolf Pack I guess, but it's mediocre 3f1) Highlander Gambit and Impetus of War G) Phelan Kell, Victor Steiner-Davion, and/or Kai Allard-Liao 3g) god help you (read Natural Selection and learn to hate them as much as we do) H) Ranna Kerensky 3h) You have good taste, read the first hundred or so pages of Natural Selection to watch her clown on Victor Davion, Phelan Kell, and Vlad Ward, then throw the novel in the trash before you read any of the Red Corsair bits (or keep reading to find out how Conal Ward gets murdered I guess but this novel is really extremely bad) I) Dumb Nonsense (the Free Worlds League?) 3I) Star Lord 4) When you're ready to be done with the franchise, Far Country. Or Endgame, I guess, but Far Country is the better of the two. Novels to avoid: - There's a stint after the Blood of Kerensky Trilogy but before the Twilight of the Clans where the main novel line is in sort of a holding pattern while they decide where to take the metaplot. Most of these books (like Natural Selection, Malicious Intent, and half-a-dozen novels of Victor faffing about and/or being tricked into assassinating his relatives by his sister) are pretty dire and they culminate in the Wolf/Jade Falcon war (and the Clan Wolf Civil War) which is a story best delivered by Mechwarrior 2. - There's a couple of good novels in Twilight of the Clans, but most if it is pretty dire "And then the Jade Falcons continued their slow to spiral into pure madness and Ninja Assassins fight an Elemental" - Anything starring Archer "Stonewall" Christifori I'm leaving work now but I didn't want this to be too long.
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Jan 29, 2018 21:07
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Psion posted:for the record I will take Phelan Kell over that utter trash fire protagonist from Main Event/DRT in a heartbeat. Jeremiah Rose is actively hateful to all that is good in the world, both in-universe and out. Phelan is just an otherwise unremarkable Perfect OC Don't Steal. That's bad, sure, but it's not as bad. My guy's name is Jeremy and he's super lucky, like suuper lucky and he's also huge and muscly like Arnold in Predator but he doesn't have to work out he's just naturally fit and he was with ComStar and fought on Tukayyid but all his friends died and he got real angry so he left ComStar to be a mercenary five years after Tukayyid because he had to wait for his ComStar enlistment to expire or something I dunno I'm not in the army lol but he kept some Star League era pyjamas and two neurohelmets that are as valuable as a battlemech but his family doesn't like him so they won't help him except for his hot sister who's really good at buying ammo at the store (girls are good at shopping amirite lol) and his cousin who's kinda lame and they go to Solaris and he can't be champion I guess because Kai's there right now but he can win a match and then rob his employer and steal all of the talented fighters from the Solaris tag-team division (Solaris has a Tag-Team division now, BTW) and go to outreach and he's so awesome his mercenaries totally beat the Dragoons except they were too good at their job and accidentally killed one so now the Dragoons don't like them so they went to fight the Jade Falcons and the local government was like "we don't like you anymore even though we paid good money for you to be here" and so Jeremy gots to fight the government but it's cool he's as good a shot as Phelan Kell but I don't want Stackpole to be mad so he's a worse pilot I guess and then the Jade Falcons showed up afterall but they're only going to be around for about a chapter before Jeremy kills them and takes a Warhawk OK NEXT NOVEL now Jeremy got a job on Wolcott except the Clans can't really attack Wolcott so while there he takes a sub job to go fight the Clans on some other planet and he fights the Smoke Jaguars and and and except everything is hosed up because he can't use his usual ride (who is his girlfriend who gives him rides for free because she loves him and also they're going to have a baby) because she pissed off the Draconis Combine so now the baby will be safe and he's riding in an ex-pirate's dropship instead which is less fun and it crashes and the Clans take it but it's ok because Jeremy blows up the objective and the other objective and then fights in a sweet one on one hand-to-hand boxing match with an Elemental and wins because the Elemental stepped in a puddle of water and then he got the pirate dropship back and it's full of Clan mechs and that's why I don't have to follow Zellbrigen at the table even though I have nothing but Clantech! And then Jeremiah Rose, Word of Blake sleeper agent, betrayed his unit on Galedon and got them all killed in the Jihad which is another reason why I secretly like the Wobbies.
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Jan 29, 2018 23:08
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^^^ It was not just a troll and his lawsuit ("I made this small bit of lore that means I own all of BattleTech!") is part of the reason Mercenary groups were pretty well wiped from the setting during the Jihad.Skoll posted:I thought the Black Thorns perishing was due to a line dev forgetting they were at a certain place at a certain time? Did they go back and retcon Rose being a Wobbie? That's what actually happened yes, but Jeremiah being a Wobbie fits too perfectly. He's Berith without the robot eyes. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 00:08 on Jan 30, 2018 |
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Jan 30, 2018 00:06
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