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Philthy posted:Got to play Alpha Strike at GenCon and my buddy wiped me off the map. But the rules were slick as hell. We were told it was meant for 50-100 minis per side, and that makes sense and sounds like real fun times. Then we saw the minis ran $15 a pop, even in the "sets". I suppose there has to be a medium point based buy system or something so you're not looking at a $750-1500 investment off the bat. Fifty to a hundred per side is probably a bit much, but a battalion of 'Mechs and armor (36) will only take like 4-5 hours to play to completion. The events I run at GenCon and Origins are designed to take 30 minutes set-up, 3 hours to play, and 30 minutes of post-battle wrap-up and most of the time we'll have between 16 and 24 units on a side. That's deliberately designed to be able to be played at a leisurely pace instead of a breakneck one, though. The "ideal" size for a pickup game, if you ask me, is for companies (12) and a two hour commitment. Who was your Demo Agent at GenCon? I spent probably 20 hours running the Alpha Strike Academy last year. 
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Nov 18, 2018 22:28
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SirFozzie posted:Don't know whether to consider this good news or just to shake my head: It's good news. The Beginner Box wasn't (to the best of my knowledge, at least) a short run, it was a full print run of the typical 5,000 units.
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Jan 31, 2019 01:45
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Xotl posted:It was printed, but modern sourcebook print runs are small so you need to move fast on them. I wouldn't count on a reprint; I'm not aware of any non-rules BT sourcebook that's been reprinted in the CGL era. Can confirm, it's improved. Basic rules are presented in much clearer layout, redundancy removed, aerospace got a full overhaul, some balance factors were addressed (mostly in the terrain section), some minor QOL changes (mostly to do with mismatched ground/alternate movement modes), and the whole force building and scenarios section is laid out much better. I may be biased. I'm definitely getting it day one (or zero if it's here for Origins).
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Mar 21, 2019 00:36
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It's also very pretty. The BattleMech Manual's layout and visual design was excellent and this doesn't disappoint.
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Mar 21, 2019 00:52
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Managed to get in a Total Warfare game earlier this week. I took a Battlemaster, Shadow Hawk, Wolverine, and Griffin (all new box set minis) up against a Naginata, Spider, Jenner, and Avatar. We played on a couple of the new neoprene battlemats (which are gorgeous) by the way at 5K BV (he forgot to spend the BV on C3 and played unlinked). It was a massacre. I've never rolled so many double 1s in my life. No damage at all was exchanged for probably the entire first two rounds of shooting, and after that I was able to exploit the Naginata's lack of maneuverability to get on its side. The Shadow Hawk found an ammo bin with a solitary SRM and two turns later my opponent's big centerpiece was a smouldering husk missing most of its engine and all of its gyro, having suffered exactly 10 points of internal structure damage from hostile weapons fire. The Spider was missing an arm and most of the armor on its front facing, the Avatar had taken a smattering of five point hits, and the Jenner was on the wrong end of a kicking match with the Wolverine and was very close to losing a leg outright. In return I took one point of internal structure damage to the Wolverine's right leg during physicals. Everything else internal was completely pristine, even though 3/4 of my 'Mechs were missing at least half of their back armor and had exposed torsos in their back facing. He just couldn't make anything actually connect where it needed to in order to force critical damage. Fun game, would play again.
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Apr 12, 2019 02:26
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I'm actually surprised that they missed a concrete date on the BT side. Usually they don't even give those.
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Apr 27, 2019 01:04
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LeschNyhan posted:Aw, boo. Does MegaMekLab open .ssw files as well? I've got a lot of work I'll lose in the transition otherwise. It opens .mtf, which you needed to use any customs in MegaMek anyway and that SSW can export to already. EDIT: I am also incorrect about .ssw apparently.
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May 4, 2019 17:49
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That's some hosed up house rule because the GM doesn't like being headcapped. EDIT: what the gently caress are you supposed to do, reroll the hit location? 
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May 6, 2019 17:12
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This makes me want to do like a play-by-post game here on SA so you unfortunate souls with no good group to play with can at least do something.
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May 7, 2019 04:58
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I meant like pickup/scenario games because I don't think I'd be very good at running a campaign. I would absolutely run like a Martial Olympiad though. That'd be cool as hell.
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May 7, 2019 15:47
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SirFozzie posted:Actually, something like Ace Darwin's Whip-its would be fun: I'm no PTN, I doubt I could run anything like a campaign well at all. And even if I do, it'll be after figuring out how to run something play-by-post half-way decently. So, with that in mind, does anybody want to be a guinea pig and try a Play-by-Post pickup game? Additional commentary welcome.
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May 12, 2019 03:53
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Mode 7 posted:I’d be up for it. How familiar with the rules will I need to be? For the pickup game I want to try? Reasonably. Be able to determine movement costs, range, and LOS on your own; be familiar with typical weapons and 'Mechs. Be able to play the game, basically. After that, BattleTech is basically just increasingly specialized and detailed trivia, all the way down.  Barring some impassioned plea for something else, I figured a Lance vs. Lance game of whatever each player (or side, in the event of more than two players) wants to field, balances by BV. Otherwise there are hundreds of scenarios to run. In any case: buckle up, because there's no way this gets done fast.
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May 12, 2019 07:20
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A pick-up game got about one and a half interested people, so I went ahead and plunged straight into the deep part of the river before learning how to swim: [BattleTech] Look at the bright side, kid. You get to keep all the money. merc campaign recruitment post in The Game Room.
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May 18, 2019 05:22
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A campaign apparently managed to get eight people in the week and a half it was open, so here's the new campaign IC thread: [BattleTech] Who do you think you are, the Wolf's Dragoons?
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May 27, 2019 22:43
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Clan Invasion box sneak peak posted. Them's some nice looking minis.
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Jul 11, 2019 03:38
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And it's over $200k in less than 90 minutes. The goal was $30k.
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Jul 17, 2019 19:17
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Brent and Ray don't seem like the type to like phonebooks very much. I expect it'll be closer to a big list of names distributed to writers by way of Google Docs with "cross one off if you use it" for any random-rear end character that needs a name for a few years.
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Jul 18, 2019 06:15
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Atlas Hugged posted:Ugh my FLGS won't back unless three other people join me and I do not want to deal with shipping and import duties myself. If you're in the EU or Canada it looks like this is fulfilling from centers in those areas. If you're in Oz, sorry.
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Jul 18, 2019 17:49
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Mugaaz posted:I agree, the higher level pledges adding double of the packs you select makes no sense, I'd much rather just pick 10 different ones. Pledge at the $1 tier, but pledge $121, then pick the six Lances from add-ons at the end of the kickstarter.
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Jul 18, 2019 17:51
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If you take a IS Lance with your reward tiers a salvage box is added EDIT: per reward so you get the same number of Mechs.
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Jul 18, 2019 21:53
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Yeah, when the tiers say "X/Y/Z 'Mechs" they meant it. Since then there's been a couple (I think 1-7, depending on tier) added thanks to stretch goals, but the number shown is still for all initial rewards listed in the tiers section.
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Jul 18, 2019 22:06
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Mugaaz posted:Yeah kind of insane at the rate they are expanding it. To be fair: The number of minis required to be produced hasn't gone up much and scales with backers not cash. The variety on the other hand is a train with no brakes. EDIT: that was phrased really poorly. Without the extra lance/star packs, they would still be making the same number of miniatures to fulfill rewards. That hasn't changed with stretch goals, and presumably was already possible in profitable fashion at low scale. Economics of scale might be helping here. Strobe fucked around with this message at 23:14 on Jul 18, 2019 |
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Jul 18, 2019 23:10
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The Black Lanner is a fantastic 'Mech and looks more like an attack helicopter with legs than anything besides the Cauldron Born. In this objective category it is therefore one of the best 'Mechs in the game.
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Jul 20, 2019 00:27
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Pussy Cartel posted:Please give me a new Black Knight. I would also like the Dark Age Black Knight in plastic.
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Jul 20, 2019 01:22
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The Panther was a SLDF design and is on every availability list except Marik (of course). It's iconic to the DC, but not nearly exclusive. The Wolfhound for a lot of people is less FedCom and more just anywhere. Phelan's use of one wasn't anywhere near FedCom employ and he's arguably the most famous pilot.
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Jul 20, 2019 04:59
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The first wave of digital rewards just went out to backers. TRO 3050 Wallpaper Clan Juggernaut Wallpaper Inner Sphere Response Wallpaper A New Game by Steven Mohan, Jr., a short story set during the early invasion.
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Jul 20, 2019 05:36
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The Panther 9R is on every single availability list on the MUL except the Free Worlds League, because of course the FWL doesn't get anything with a PPC. The Panther 8Z (non-PPC)
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Jul 20, 2019 21:26
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You should update these numbers on August 6th and see if anything changes. Catalyst is going to be ramming this KS down GenCon's throat.
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Jul 21, 2019 00:48
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GenCon is the primary reason I'm currently pledged at $150 instead of $300, and I bet that a pretty significant chunk of those $1 tier backers are just waiting to see how many Lance packs they need to get.
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Jul 21, 2019 01:01
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Death to the shoulder/hip combo joint.
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Jul 21, 2019 17:20
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It's true. And then down the line we get the 8S, which I'm not too sure about in Total Warfare but is hilarious in the best ways in Alpha Strike.
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Jul 21, 2019 18:42
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I'm at Bloodnamed but may bump up to Star Colonel if I can afford to after GenCon.
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Jul 22, 2019 14:53
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Taintrunner posted:So I’m at the Bloodnamed $150 tier, if we hit the 1.5m tier, and unlock Choose Your Own Double Forces, would there be reason to up to a higher tier than that? There are currently 16 Lance/Star packs, minimum. If you like more than four of them, yes.
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Jul 26, 2019 04:30
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I'm happy with 75% of these changes, and at least one of them is me being mad at losing the Fire Falcon because I actually like that 'Mech and I'm 90% sure people voted it off due to looks, which is what this was supposed to solve. I guess I'll have to be happy with even more heavies instead. 
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Jul 29, 2019 04:26
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I'm pretty sure at least someone who can fiddle with the renders is checking the relative sizes with a density tool. So far everything has been consistent in a way I couldn't have dreamed of five years ago.
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Jul 30, 2019 23:28
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I am incredibly biased because I love Alpha Strike to death (and enough to run one of the big convention Alpha Strike events every year) but it's definitely my favorite way to play BattleTech. With a relatively very few edge cases exceptions, I think it's probably also the most balanced (in terms of point costs versus what you actually get on the table) ways to experience the entire franchise. EDIT: in standard Alpha Strike with no optional rules it's literally just "roll to hit, do damage" because each unit has a pool of health.
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Jul 31, 2019 01:29
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Atlas Hugged posted:Nothing wrong with this. I would hope that there'd be some things like as it takes damage it suffers penalties to at least recreate the simulator feel of CBT? I do like that you can neutralize specific threats in CBT, but it's definitely fiddly. There's one row of pips for armor, another for structure. Whenever an attack damages structure, the unit takes a critical hit. The critical hit table is: 2: Ammo explosion 3: Engine hit (+1 heat/turn if you shot anything, the Alpha Strike heat scale is 0-4 where 4 is Shutdown; a second engine hit kills the 'Mech) 4: Fire Control Hit (+2 penalty to shooting, as if everything were one range band farther away) 5: Nothing bad happens 6: Weapon Hit (-1 to all damage you can do with anything except melee) 7: MP Hit (half movement speed, half TMM) 8: Weapon Hit 9: Nothing bad happens 10: Fire Control Hit 11: Engine Hit 12: You're Dead It's not quite as granular; in Alpha Strike, it's probably better to think of the Lance or Star as the analog to a single 'Mech in Total Warfare. Instead of losing limbs you lose 'Mechs.
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Jul 31, 2019 01:36
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Taintrunner posted:I may be getting this all wrong. The Inner Sphere is the world map, for all intents and purposes. ComStar is a combination of both Space AT&T and the Space Vatican. In the late 3040s, the Clans invade from beyond the explored/colonized edge of the Inner Sphere, having not actually suffered a Space Vatican imposed dark age of technology. To put it in Star Wars terms, the Clans are a souped up TIE Defender, and the Inner Sphere is a Y-wing.
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Jul 31, 2019 03:24
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PoptartsNinja posted:And then the Society bested the Clans at their own game. I knew what this was before I clicked on it. The natural counter is even more hilarious for all of the opposite reasons.
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Jul 31, 2019 04:23
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Defiance Industries posted:It... takes a long time. Especially if you don't have the hit location and TM+ tables memorized. I play about once every other week with one of the other local players, and when we play Total Warfare both of us have everything memorized we can possibly be expected to remember to streamline the game. We got through four turns of a 12 vs. 8 fight in three hours a week ago, and that was a loving feat thanks to the victory conditions (one of them was force an enemy to become immobile or shut down due to heat) and me bringing heat generating weapons that required us to not skip the fire declaration phase for the first time in living memory. It takes a long time.
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Jul 31, 2019 04:52
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