Improbably good or bad rolls at clutch moments are classic BattleTech.
Seems like they captured the nuances of Battletech perhaps too well for modern players.
Battletech has never been a particularly well-balanced game, and past around 3050 the fictional world doesn’t make sense either. In a lot of ways FASA was half-RPG, half-hex game, a one-shot short story setup and then Go!, and that’s sort of the problem with Battletech.
Because in many ways the most interesting things about Battletech are when you’re forced to play sub-optimally. And being the leader of a mercenary company is one the more enjoyable setups for doing that, doing this with role-playing constraints.
At the same time, Battletech encourages players to twink their 'mechs with obviously broken loadouts because the basic rulesets of Battletech aren’t particularly balanced. And a fully twinked lance will plaster a “role-playing” lance almost every time. So the game discourages role-playing at the same time it tells you that it doesn’t actually work well unless you’re role playing.
There’s also big problems with 'mech differentiation. There’s a reason the US doesn’t have thirty version of Main Battle Tanks; once you get a big one with a big gun, you’re kind of good to go. In Battletech there’s not a lot of reason to choose a 40 ton mech when you could have a 75 or 100 ton 'mech - so you have to tack on more sub-optimal gameplay thematic stuff to make this happen. There’s also not a lot of combat usefulness for light mechs; the game isn’t really set up all that well to have lots of use for spotting or scouting, although there is a bit of that, but generally you’re better off with 19 tons of armor and three PPCs than a light mech that gets a one turn in advance scouting advantage. At least in the PC game they added this initiative system to try to give smaller 'mechs some reason to exist.
Even the slow animation kind of reflections the drawn out hit-card based battles in real time.
Anyway, just sort of interesting that everyone is picking up on many of the very flaws that kind of killed off Battletech originally.
Keep in mind, according to the fluff, mercancies aren’t the only ones playing suboptimally. The Major factions are limited to what can be built or salvaged. And although there are dozens of different mechs, keep in mind there are 6 major factions, and dozen of minor ones. Not all mech are used by all houses. Kurita likes the Dragon and uses it a lot, while other houses have their own preference, and Comcast gets everything they like.
The role of the light mech is scouting and targeting. It’s speed keeps it alive, while you missile boats shot from far away. Also, speed gives you the edge since you can attack more easily from the rear.
There is a great video of 4 locust taking on a single Awesome and winning. Not sure if I could pull it off in the boardgame, but nice to see it on the PC.
I lol’ed.
Oops…
I am keeping it, but it should be Comstar.
In some ways, a computer version like this has more chance of mitigating the structural problems with the BT universe and rules systems than a board game. A digital game can enforce some of the things that usually had to be negotiated among players with house rules, and in a solo campaign at least can certainly structure encounters so that sub-optimal situations are more the norm, and are winnable.
Then again, most RPG P&P systems are fundamentally flawed in similar ways. BattleTech/MechWarrior just suffers more acutely because of the somewhat awkward and imprecise melding of a miniatures tactical battle game with a RPG environment.
If you want to play battletech in a remotely balanced setting, you need to generally limit yourself to stock mech configurations (As soon as you move to custom builds, things get dumb), and probably avoid using any of the level 3 tech. The clan stuff was never balanced.
You can potentially try to use modified battlevalue to balance things, but they never really got that balanced either.
Unrelated, and I know this will never happen…
But I would really like to see this game on the Nintendo Switch. This would be a great game to play while traveling.
I’ve only ever played computer game versions of battle tech/mech warrior. I was wondering if there are any advantages to keep a light mech as a scout in a lance comprised of heavy or assault mechs? I’ve been watching some game play youtube videos and it seems like most players are just slowly progressing to heavier mechs.
Maybe there is a gross tonnage limit for some missions? A light mech might be fit in that way as a scout. But beyond providing sensor lock is there anything else that they can do?
Generally most fights would have tonnage limits, so you’re forced to choose between one big mech, or multiple smaller ones.
Enidigm and legowarrior have a few thoughts on light mechs just a few posts up. I’m going to try out a lighter overall lance if I can get away with it. Probably not sustainable in the long run though. I just have fond memories of tearing people up with my Owens back in the old Mechassault days!
Ah thanks, missed that. Was probably laughing too hard when I read the comcast joke. :)
The best Battletech game strictly by rules by far was Battleforce. It was also one of the best “blind” fog-of-war style games i’ve played.
In tabletop, light mechs were often required in order to complete timed objectives. Sometimes in the metagame of a campaign, the GM would roll up a reason why there was a min/max tonnage limit as well. Beyond those situations, there’s relatively little reason to take a 30t mech when you could take a 55t mech with much the same movement but vastly higher armor and armament.
However, you do seem to have a high bulk apperception.
My brothers and I just set tonnage, and used any mechs in the book that were innersphere, so we went crazy.
Then we got the rule book for making our own mechs, and that just was the end.
Then again, the ability to create your own mechs without a thought to cost was a blast, and the fact that my two brothers could usually beat me at any strategy game at the time usually meant that they gave me an edge in whatever we played (although never enough of an edge to make up for the fact that it was a 10 year old versus two 15 year olds)
I am looking forward to setting this game up as part of a tournament in the future. We’ll probably have to set up some boring rules to keep it fair, which is too bad.
Officially released! Final download.
Just because I always liked this video. I probably posted it above.