New Turn-Based Battletech Game

[Ranger33]

I'm usually wary of Kickstarter games, but this is one I can't wait to throw some money at. It seems there isn't much to see yet, but it sounds awesome, and is being made by the guys who made the recent string of Shadowrun RPGs which are fantastic games.

It's Battletech, in the style of the pen-and-paper, set in the 3025 era (before the Clans). You manage a lance of mechs in a mercenary company. The campaign is open ended, letting you work for the different houses however you see fit, with some RPG elements thrown in. Sounds like one my dream games come true!

Website

First half of the video is a good interview talking about the game

[roshedwardd]

Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love learning more on this topic. If possible, as you gain expertise, would you mind updating your topic with more information? It is extremely helpful for me.

[Alchenar]

ORIGINAL: Ranger33

I'm usually wary of Kickstarter games, but this is one I can't wait to throw some money at. It seems there isn't much to see yet, but it sounds awesome, and is being made by the guys who made the recent string of Shadowrun RPGs which are fantastic games.

It's Battletech, in the style of the pen-and-paper, set in the 3025 era (before the Clans). You manage a lance of mechs in a mercenary company. The campaign is open ended, letting you work for the different houses however you see fit, with some RPG elements thrown in. Sounds like one my dream games come true!

Website

First half of the video is a good interview talking about the game

These are the team who made the Shadowrun Returns games, so they're 3 for 3 on really solidly delivered kickstarter projects.

[wodin]

Very excited about this..it's in good hands I feel. SO much detail could go into the combat and love to see a complex\detailed damage system with things like cooling systems being damaged etc. Not only that the game has loads of back story to go on so a decent RPG element should be added aswell.

[VPaulus]

I would prefer something more in the line of BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception.
But I will certainly pledge for this one. [:)]

[Kuokkanen]

Do you know about MegaMek and MekHQ?

[Alchenar]

MegaMek is fantastic but it's built for people who have their Battletech manuals and already know all the rules.

What's really great about this is that Harebrained have a track record with Shadowrun Returns of taking an existing rules system and converting it to a video game format with the player being able to dive right in without reading a thing.

[VPaulus]

Jordan Weisman is the founder of FASA and of Harebrained Schemes and one of the original designers of tabletop Battle Tech and Shadowrun, so I would definitely agree that the project is in good hands. [:)]
I liked a lot Shadowrun: Dragonfall.

[Ranger33]

Yep, these guys know what they are doing, are experts on the source material, and have a proven track record with Kickstarter. Couldn't be a better situation. The Shadowrun Returns games are awesome, though I have yet to finish them.

[CarnageINC]

ORIGINAL: Alchenar

MegaMek is fantastic but it's built for people who have their Battletech manuals and already know all the rules.

You couldn't be more wrong sir. You don't need any source material to enjoy MegaMek or MekHQ. The game does literally everything for you. All you have to do is experiment with the button options on the bottom to realize what does what, they are labled, and you can get going in no time.

The one major downfall of MegaMek is establishing a link to play with others. If you don't know how to port forward on your particular router or you are not tech savvy enough to figure it out...then no...MegaMek played with others is not for you. You can still play against the AI, which isn't to shabby to be honest.

[CarnageINC]

ORIGINAL: VPaulus

Jordan Weisman is the founder of FASA and of Harebrained Schemes and one of the original designers of tabletop Battle Tech and Shadowrun, so I would definitely agree that the project is in good hands. [:)]
I liked a lot Shadowrun: Dragonfall.

I'm a huge Battletechead, I've been in love with the franchise since inception in the 80's. But I'm on the fence about Weisman. Granted he founded the franchise but he was also the one who killed it off with the utterly horrendous "Dark Ages" debacle. That one slight addition created the rippling effect of bring the whole Jihad story line and its aftermath to life.

I have high hopes and will support the project, I'm still a bit leery though. At least I don't think he can butcher the essence of Battletech as bad as PGI's Mechwarrior Online rubbish.

[Lecivius]

I'm a mech head, too. Guess I can queue in some dough.

[Kuokkanen]

ORIGINAL: CarnageINC

ORIGINAL: Alchenar

MegaMek is fantastic but it's built for people who have their Battletech manuals and already know all the rules.

You couldn't be more wrong sir. You don't need any source material to enjoy MegaMek or MekHQ. The game does literally everything for you. All you have to do is experiment with the button options on the bottom to realize what does what, they are labled, and you can get going in no time.

In my experience it would help if one of the MegaMek players knows the game, its rules, and something about the universe. I have been both rookie (some 10+ years ago) and trainer. Knowing about things helps whole lot so one doesn't go WTF when hovercraft or VTOL sideslips and crash into woods. Not to mention fighters seeming way slow when on the same map with ground units & scale (unless there has been development since I last played the game).

The one major downfall of MegaMek is establishing a link to play with others. If you don't know how to port forward on your particular router or you are not tech savvy enough to figure it out...then no...MegaMek played with others is not for you.

Port forward on router? WTH are you talking about? All I needed to know was host's IP address and type it on appropriate field. Or tell my own IP address to other player(s) so they could join on my host. I had port # always on default and I didn't have a need to tell about it to router or anything.

And what comes to easily playing with other players, answer is MekWars, the MMO variant of MegaMek. And there are masters who can tell about the games and the universe as much as you care to listen/read.

[CarnageINC]

ORIGINAL: Matti Kuokkanen

Port forward on router? WTH are you talking about? All I needed to know was host's IP address and type it on appropriate field. Or tell my own IP address to other player(s) so they could join on my host. I had port # always on default and I didn't have a need to tell about it to router or anything.

And what comes to easily playing with other players, answer is MekWars, the MMO variant of MegaMek. And there are masters who can tell about the games and the universe as much as you care to listen/read.

"WTH are you talking about?" LOL, more than you think sir. I've played MM since its beginnings. If you've played MM long enough, you'll have run into connection issues at some point (http://mwo.enjin.com/forums/m/7261456/v ... ting-guide). Some people, such as yourself, are graced by the 'internet gods' can connect/host easy as pie or you've just played specifically on servers such as your MekWars. Others who want to play outside the servers with just friends may have to open ports through their firewalls to play this game. Half the people I've played have had this issue, including me.

Since, at the time, we were on coms I could usually talk them through it. You need to set up a static IP addy, know your providers DNS addy's and to how to access your router. Then you have to set up a Virtual Server on your router to open port 2346. This allows the proper opening through your firewall. For some people is stuff isn't worth the hassle.

MekWars is cool but is limiting is a lot of aspects, especially its time period. Sometimes it more fun to run a campaign with friends. MekHQ is a beautiful tool to do this with. I've even went through the pains of creating a RPG'isk type campaign rules, helping modify MekHQ force tags and if you play MM today you will see my maps in game folders [8D].

Campaign: http://megamek.info/forums/index.php?topic=1614.0
Force Tags: http://megamek.info/forums/index.php?topic=1588.0
Maps: http://megamek.info/forums/index.php?topic=1619.0

So do I know what I'm talking about yet Matti? [:'(]

[Kuokkanen]

ORIGINAL: CarnageINC

"WTH are you talking about?" LOL, more than you think sir. I've played MM since its beginnings. If you've played MM long enough, you'll have run into connection issues at some point (http://mwo.enjin.com/forums/m/7261456/v ... ting-guide). Some people, such as yourself, are graced by the 'internet gods' can connect/host easy as pie or you've just played specifically on servers such as your MekWars. Others who want to play outside the servers with just friends may have to open ports through their firewalls to play this game. Half the people I've played have had this issue, including me.

If firewall ever was problem with MegaMek, I just turned the darn thing ( = Windows Firewall) off. Problem solved. Did you know that was too difficult task for some people, and they uninstalled Windows Firewall along with whole WinXP Service Pack?

MekWars is cool but is limiting is a lot of aspects, especially its time period.

How so? There are (or used to be) number of MekWars servers with different settings and different factions & equipment available. First Star League & related wars, Clan Invasion, Word of Blake Jihad, and one taking a place on Earth World War 3 (or whatev) with ICE powered 'Mechs. Not that many anymore though...

[aaatoysandmore]

ORIGINAL: VPaulus

I would prefer something more in the line of BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception.
But I will certainly pledge for this one. [:)]

I more prefer the good ole commodore 64 game Cyber Empires. That was and is the best battle tech game I ever played.

[Ranger33]

A little update, the Kickstarter will begin on Sept. 29th. No other details yet.

[Ranger33]

Kickstarter is up!

You can get the base game for $25, which is a great price I think considering the quality of their Shadowrun series. I went with the $50 option to get beta access and the Michael Stackpole novellas. I'm a bit tempted to bump up to the $125 tier to get a House Davion banner to hang in the man cave, don't know if the wife would appreciate that lol! Also get a military cap and other trinkets...birthday coming up, I'm tempted.

They are already close to their minimum goal but I hope they hit all the stretch goals. The full scale open mercenary campaign they talk about in the video sounds awesome. Storyline based on which houses you work for, side missions, procedurally generated missions, more mercenary company management stuff, sounds really cool.

Edit: After reading through all the details I'm even more excited. The story stuff sounds really cool, they really want to capture the feel of the whole BattleTech universe with political intrigue and everything. Multiplayer also sounds really cool if they can get enough funds, ranked matchmaking and tournaments set on Solaris VII! They are using the same models as MechWarrior Online, which is perfect, those models are amazing. At least 25 mechs in the game with full customization, can't wait!

[VPaulus]

Pledge it.

[Lecivius]

I'm in for $50, anyone wanna raise me? [:D]