Battletech has been out on PC for a while now, Anyone playing? I’m still early in the campaign, but I’m enjoying it quite a bit. Some reviews have criticized it for being slow, but I don’t mind at all. It’s very much a updated and rebalanced translation of the tabletop game, meant to be played tactically. Managing your finances, personnel and most importantly time add a nice strategic layer on top of the tactical battles. The enemy AI isn’t bad, but it does tend to get predictable- It always attacks the most damaged target, which is logical, but predictable and sometimes make it easy to flank with an undamaged unit you know will be ignored.
I’m playing it.
I like it but it is a bit slow and repetitive.
My biggest complaint is I am missing the feeling of giant, stompy battlemechs.
Still, it is pretty much the tabletop game on PC so I can’t be too critical.
Just seems there is a LOT more potential that is unrealized here.
Maybe expansions and/or DLC will take better advantage of this game’s potential.
Paradox just bought HBS so I hope we’ll see a lot of DLCs in the future.
I finished the campaign once, then started another and played that halfway through or so. Loving the combat especially after I modded it to be a bit faster but they really need to make another balance pass on the weapons, missiles are too good right now and big lasers generate way too much heat. Mostly done with the game for now but I’d be happy to return once there’s more content.
Steam says I played for 33 hours, so I guess I enjoyed it!
I didn’t finish the campaign, though. There’s not enough variety in weapons - it’s pretty much Laser I/II/III/IV, Missiles I/II/III/IV, and so on. Kind of boring after a while.
I really enjoyed it. I hope they make more and wider content for it, not just new or palette swapped mechs.
Also really hope they explore the hunting for LosTech, as they hinted at in the campaign. Very disappointed to find that my exploded Gauss Rifle ammo and Heat Sink (D)s couldn’t be replaced without modding the game, as they teased worlds with Star League backgrounds in the world descriptions.
I played it for a little over 40 hours. I’m waiting for the balance patch, which is due in June/July. Then I’m going to restart the campaign. Right now, missiles, and especially long-range missiles, are stupidly OP but when you use them and against you.
The stability system adds a nice extra factor, but it does allow missile boats to dominate. What kind of change would make missiles more balanced? More damage, less accuracy maybe? Lowering the stability damage? Lower ammo count per ton?
I’m looking forward to new content. I’d love to see new Mechs, and missions that encourage speed or stealth to make the lighter Mechs useful later in the game. I imagine that a Solaris gladiator pack will be one of the first DLCs. I’d also like to see some urban combat, and support equipment like the TAG system and C3 computers.
The accuracy is, I believe, the big change from the tabletop version. I like the higher accuracy because it makes battles quicker, but it means that LRM20 does a silly amount of stability damage. And LRM20 with +2 stab dmg is just broken. I’m not sure the best way to fix. Maybe make it so that LRMs cause stability damage in sets of 5 (so LRM20 does 4 stability damage if all 20 hit). Maybe make it so indirect fire LRM does no stability damage. SRM stability damage is also a little OP, but nowhere near as bad as LRMs due to the lower rack sizes. All in all though, the game is amazing. I stopped playing because I didn’t want to burn out on it before the balance patch which I think will convert it from a 8 out of 10 to a 9.9 out of 10. I’m leaving some room for DLCs to raise the score. 
I am beyond excited that HBS confirmed more BattleTech is on the way.
New mechs are a given since there are a lot they can still import from Mechwarior Online.
If they can just avoid adding the Clans until Battletech 2. Don’t want test tube warriors overrunning the game just yet ;).
Bought it day 1, loved it, slightly surprised that there wasn’t a thread on here earlier.
I didn’t (generally) find the gameplay slow, though loading times dragged a bit and my min-spec PC struggled on some of the story missions with lots of units.
It’s one of the best tactical combat games I’ve played, lots of flavourand the campaign definitely added to it, even though it’s mostly just a mission generator.
Of course, like any such game, once you’ve worked it out it’s relatively easy to min-max vs the AI.
I have a feeling that the game is balanced for the early-mid campaign when you’re fielding mostly medium mechs - most of the issues people complain about come up in the late/post campaign when you’re fielding a full lance of assault/heavy Mechs with ++ weapons and killer pilots (LRMs are much less abusive when you’re firing/facing 20 of them a turn rather than 60).
Regarding balance
- Base accuracy should probably be around 65% rather than 75% - it’s fine in the early game but high-level pilots seem to always be at 80%+ to hit
- Big Mechs should be harder to knock down than small ones
- PPCs, Large Lasers and (especially) the LosTech energy weapons generate more heat than they’re currently worth
- stability-damage-bonus LRMs (which have absolutely no downside apart from cost & rarity) are seriously over-powered
Given Paradox’s record, I’m hoping for ongoing support and expansions with new campaigns, more events and a more dynamic mission system rather than just reskinned Mechs and better weapons. I do hope they don’t put in the Clans until Battletech 2. They’d break the game as it stands, and having the Clans without their Elementals is just wrong.
I’ll definitely play another campaign once the balance patch comes out. Has anyone tried multiplayer?
I know it is all about the gameplay but I am still getting hung up on some of the graphics and not feeling the awesome of running 50’ tall mechs around.
I was playing last night and was so disappointed when I shot my AC2 (actually I forget now which AC it was…not sure it matters for this). It was a completely underwhelming experience. Just a little blap. That’s it. I could barely tell it fired.
I want this: Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - YouTube
Hopefully there will be a mod for it.
Sounds like you shoud be looking forward to this: MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries - Destruction Teaser Trailer - YouTube
Definitely. Have been a Mechwarrior fan since waaaay back.
That said I love turn based games too. For instance XCOM-2, a turn based game, gives an accurate impression of size. From buildings to monsters and all that. Also, the weapons feel suitably impactful.
I think an autocannon carried by a 50 foot tall armored war machine should have a bit more oomph than “pfft”. It is so underwhelming, in fact, that if you are not waiting for it and looking for it the chances are you will completely miss it when it fires. Both visually and audibly.
I got this game on release day, as well. I downloaded a bunch of mods from Nexus, but that affects load times on my overwhelmed rig.
I struggle with this campaign. Early on, I grind my pilots’ skills up before getting too far into the campaign. But there seems to be a mechanism that, in effect, gives the opposing forces (relatively) equally skilled pilots. It sucks to work hard getting my pilot skills to all 8’s, only to go up against some random pirate lance ALSO being given elite level skills, on a supposedly backwater world. It feels like this mechanic diminishes my hard work.
It also seems to make trying to get more evasion pips pointless, as high level gunnery can (over)compensate. Auto brace & entrench for the win, I guess.
First DLC has been announced- Flashpoints. Adds a tropical biome, chained missions, and a capture the flag type mission type, emphasizing speed over firepower.
New mechs are the Hatchetman, Crab, and Cyclops.
Cyclops is disappointing- it’s a good looking Mech, but the standard loadout is very similar to the Highlander and Atlas. (AC20 and LRMs backed by a couple medium lasers and SRMs)
I’m a little annoyed they have so few of the “classic” mechs from the original game (3025 tech readout)- stuff like the Warhammer, Marauder, Rifleman, Crusader, Wasp, Stinger, and Archer.
I mean, I always had the impression that those, along with the Thunderbolt, Griffin, Wolverine and Shadow Hawk were the most common mechs out there, and that ones like the Blackjack (a stinker if there ever was one) were pretty rare. Instead we get the Jagermech and Grasshopper, which aren’t bad, but for whatever reason, I never had the impression were all that common by comparison.
Plus, a 65 ton mech with 2xLRM15, 2xSRM6 and 2xMedium Lasers would be sweet (Crusader).
If you go by the lore, you are right. Unfortunately, the early, cool mech designs were licensed from Japan, and the current owner of the copyright, Harmony Gold, has sued repeatedly (and as I understand it, baselessly). As a result, stuff like the marauder, archer, rifleman and so on are mentioned by name, but never seen (or else, like the locust, redesigned so heavily they may as well be a different mech).
Google it or check Harmony Gold’s Wikipedia page. It’s ridiculous.
yeah its also why when they made MW2 they went with the clan story so they could make brand-new mechs
Some people said/thought the reason why FASA came up with the clans in the first place was to avoid using the rented designs ……
I was going to start a new campaign just before they announced the xpac. Now I think I’m going to wait for the xpac. Great game!