Battletech nerds rejoice? Mechwarrior 5 being worked on?

[caravel]

I quite liked Mechcommander. Too bad that was discontinued.

Despite being based around the IS, Mechcommander was a decent game. It's probably one of the games that I was always surprised to find myself replaying. I've never played any beyond the first one though.

[FactionHeir]

Me neither.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

The second one isn't as good; it lost something in translation to 3d. The controls aren't terribly good and I think the live action stuff crossed the line from good cheesey to bad.

Unfortunately MC1 freezes on my computer and MC2 doesn't. :(

[Ramses II CP]

MechCommander 2 was (IMHO) broken as released, but fans fixed it a few years later and made it even better than the first one. I played through a fan mod about 3 years ago that was fantastic, but I've lost the link (And my MC2 disks) since.

[Whacker]

MechCommander 2 was (IMHO) broken as released, but fans fixed it a few years later and made it even better than the first one. I played through a fan mod about 3 years ago that was fantastic, but I've lost the link (And my MC2 disks) since.

This was probably the mod: http://www.wolfman-x.net/

And both games are now free, 1 and 2. They've even released the complete source code for MC2 as part of the XNA devkit. You can download them all here: http://mechcommander.org/

[FactionHeir]

downloading, thanks

[caravel]

I wasn't aware there was a mod for MC2. I will give that a go (in between STW) when I finish the other game I'm on at the moment.

[Ramses II CP]

This was probably the mod: http://www.wolfman-x.net/

And both games are now free, 1 and 2. They've even released the complete source code for MC2 as part of the XNA devkit. You can download them all here: http://mechcommander.org/

That was, in fact, the excellent mod I played and it looks as though some work has been done on it since I last took a swing at it. Since the game is free now I should make another run through, see what's changed. Mostly I remember it actually being difficult in some spots, forcing me to think and conserve resources to succeed.

I'm still very sad that MW5 is going to be a console game.

[Whacker]

Honestly, I didn't find the mod to be very hard at all. If anything I noticed a few bugs, like the list of clan mechs available for purchase didn't update after a bit. The other really, really obnoxious one was that an updated building model would explode when a mech walked close to it, and it'd invariably take out the mech and the surrounding entire 3 city blocks.

Overall I found the game to be not hard at all, stock and modded. The trick to everything is to pull small groups of enemies and deal with them individually. Mechs are the easiest, just hold numpad 8 when you click to attack so they'll aim for the cockpit. A few shots with PPCs and you have a perfect mech to salvage.

Two things I wanted to mod in. First, give the stupid repair bays and repair trucks a lot more resource points. Having a repair truck run out before it's done patching up even half of my badly mauled Zeus was obnoxious. Second, I want the clan heatsinks to be purchasable in the customization menu.

[Ramses II CP]

Honestly, I didn't find the mod to be very hard at all. If anything I noticed a few bugs, like the list of clan mechs available for purchase didn't update after a bit. The other really, really obnoxious one was that an updated building model would explode when a mech walked close to it, and it'd invariably take out the mech and the surrounding entire 3 city blocks.

Overall I found the game to be not hard at all, stock and modded. The trick to everything is to pull small groups of enemies and deal with them individually. Mechs are the easiest, just hold numpad 8 when you click to attack so they'll aim for the cockpit. A few shots with PPCs and you have a perfect mech to salvage.

Two things I wanted to mod in. First, give the stupid repair bays and repair trucks a lot more resource points. Having a repair truck run out before it's done patching up even half of my badly mauled Zeus was obnoxious. Second, I want the clan heatsinks to be purchasable in the customization menu.

Hrm, as I recall back when I played it the first five or six levels were tough due mostly to tech and mech quantity differences. The basic mechanic of the gameplay, draw individuals and overwhelm them, is simple so once you accumulate the resources to have a decent stable of mechs the game gets a lot easier.

Things may have changed since then, I guess. Eventually I'll make another run through and see. The unmodded game was pathetically easy and broken in a number of ways.

[Reverend Joe]

Hope it's not too off-topic but I wanted to expand on this a little:

In related news, MW4 (and ex-packs) will be free to download from BattleTech.com soon.
http://www.smithandtinker.com/news/m...letech-com.php

Here is a Q&A thread from the people who will be releasing MW4. Apparently it's only going to be Mercenaries (fine with me, that was the best one by far, campaign-wise) plus some expansions and MekPak 3.1, with MekPak 4 possibly coming later. (I never even knew those MekPak things existed... sounds fun.) It will be a few weeks until release, so probably August, maybe a little later.

[Ramses II CP]

The Mekpaks are excellent, Mektek did great work IMHO. All the usual whining came from all the usual suspects, but loads of added content for free is nothing to sneeze at IMHO.

There's still a multiplayer league running out there that I used to play in called MechWarrior Leagues:

http://www.mechwarriorleagues.com/cg...main/index.cgi

[Whacker]

The best things that Mektek and the HDP team fixed were the stupid sounds, IMO. I couldn't stand those damn things.

Here you have what amounts to a big huge sabot shotgun that can punch through very heavy armor and does ridiculous damage. What does it sound like?

"BLOOOOP!!!!"

[Krusader]

Well, I'm just waiting for MechWarrior: Living Legends mod for Crysis myself, until I can check if the new Mechwarrior game is any good or Mechassault in sheep's clothes (never played Mechassault, but have so far not read one positive post about it on various fora).

And as for my faction preference, well my signature image should give a good indication

@Martok:
Clans have better tech and all that yeah. But what offsets them is that they have 710 million or so total population with 0,01 percent of those as warrior caste (compared to Inner Sphere, where any modest planet has average 1-2 billion inhabitants). In addition their worlds are very resource-poor. Plus, what many people seem to not realize is that the Clans are VERY authoritarian...one Clan was outright annihilated because they espoused unClanlike tendencies such as democracy, free speech and freedom. Most Clans can be compared to ancient city states where only a small minority ruled, with the rest having nothing to say.

[Martok]

one Clan was outright annihilated because they espoused unClanlike tendencies such as democracy, free speech and freedom.

Clan Wolverine. The fabled Minnesota Tribe is rumored to be the clan's last remnant.

EDIT: And sadly, yes, I really did know that off the top of my head. (Gods, I'm such a nerd sometimes....)

[Krusader]

Clan Wolverine. The fabled Minnesota Tribe is rumored to be the clan's last remnant.

EDIT: And sadly, yes, I really did know that off the top of my head. (Gods, I'm such a nerd sometimes....)

Ain't that bad...I even know they used to be the Star League Defense Force 331st Minnesota Division.

About Minnesota Tribe:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

DNA tests of a fallen Minnesota Tribe warrior was conducted by the Grand Kurultai and proved that they were indeed Clan Wolverine...and if latest sourcebooks on Jihad storyline are true, the Clan Wolverine remnant is a faction within the Word of Blake.

[Whacker]

Let's keep the discussion clean and not mention any of that horrific, banal Dark Ages nonsense which does not exist. *covers ears, closes eyes, and hums to self*

What I would have absolutely LOVED is them pulling something like Lucasarts did with Bioware. They wiped the slate clean, went back to a relatively untapped/unused era and started from scratch. Lo and behold they ended up producing what IMO ranks up there with the best PC RPGs of all time, KOTOR1. Imagine if they'd done the same thing except going back to the height of the Star League.

[Krusader]

Let's keep the discussion clean and not mention any of that horrific, banal Dark Ages nonsense which does not exist. *covers ears, closes eyes, and hums to self*

What I would have absolutely LOVED is them pulling something like Lucasarts did with Bioware. They wiped the slate clean, went back to a relatively untapped/unused era and started from scratch. Lo and behold they ended up producing what IMO ranks up there with the best PC RPGs of all time, KOTOR1. Imagine if they'd done the same thing except going back to the height of the Star League.

Dark Age is pretty much dead by now.

And the tabletop miniature game is having its Reneissance atm, with new books, minis and whatnot being released including Anniversary book with loads of art, boxsets with 3025 era mechs and a Clan 3050 era boxset later. Add in that they have been allowed to use certain iconic BattleMechs from before now, the so-called "Unseen". Classic Battletech is simply called Battletech now, which is indicative about Dark Age's status. Granted the legacy of Dark Age is that the new timeline the Jihad (3067-3082) has to be written and follow certain historical tidbits established by Dark Age. Although the Jihad was planned by the original creators though.

As for the PC game. I'll say again. I hope they don't dumb it down for a general console audience and instead focus on Battletech fans. As someone said 25 million people have used one kind of Battletech product, be it RPG, miniatures, novels, video games etc.

[Vladimir]

Clan Wolverine. The fabled Minnesota Tribe is rumored to be the clan's last remnant.

EDIT: And sadly, yes, I really did know that off the top of my head. (Gods, I'm such a nerd sometimes....)

The clan that shall not be named. You will pay for this, freebirth!

[Whacker]

As for the PC game. I'll say again. I hope they don't dumb it down for a general console audience and instead focus on Battletech fans. As someone said 25 million people have used one kind of Battletech product, be it RPG, miniatures, novels, video games etc.

I'm not holding out any hope whatsoever after reading the interview with the devs.

What I am considering is writing an impassioned email to them begging for a few scraps and pittances. For one, if they just give us the ability to FIX crap. That's honestly all I ask. Oblivion and Fallout had/have horrible, garbage interfaces that work great for the console but suck horribly for the PC. Even now with what we know and how to modify them, the best mods still fall way short of what could, should be possible. Give us the ability to script, configure, whatever these things ourselves and that'll go a long, long way. There seems to be this overriding mentality that simplicity is best and everything should be boiled down to about 4 control actions, including WASD/mouse, and that the average gamer has no more IQ or ability to memorize 5 keystrokes in a game. FFS, come on. I had every control memorized for several games as complex as ATF simultaneously, and I'm no genius by any means.

[Martok]

Crap, crap, crap. Some bad news regarding the license(s) for certain Mechs:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

“Sometimes things just don’t go as you want them to.”

That’s always an auspicious beginning to anything, isn’t it? Well, in this case it’s true. A few weeks back, we came out with some fantastic news. We were bringing the ‘Unseen’ back! We reviewed documents, talked to a great many people, and spent time with some lawyers. We felt we had a solid position.

Sadly, some of the information we acted upon turned out to be inaccurate. Twelve of the ‘Unseen’ images previously used within the BattleTech universe were involved in a court case in the 1990s: Archer, Longbow, Rifleman, Warhammer, Wasp, Stinger, Phoenix Hawk, Crusader, Marauder, Stinger LAM, Wasp LAM and Phoenix Hawk LAM. This we knew. But at the end of that court case, as part of a confidential settlement, it was agreed that the sole and exclusive world-wide right to these images (outside of Japan) would rest with another US company.

It is for this reason that we have chosen to revise our plans to publish these specific images in current product.

Though we spoke with a number of individuals before making our initial decision, no one involved in Catalyst was aware of this agreement. Still, the owner to these images has been very cool with us about the whole situation. They are a good group of people, and we will continue our attempts to work with them as we look toward the future.

I hope you all know, this was something we attempted out of a true passion to bring you everything you have wanted out of BattleTech over the past 25 years. This was one of those big holes we thought we could patch, and sadly we were wrong. I know there are times where it’s easy to see Catalyst as “The Powers that Be” for the games we make, but let me use this as an opportunity to remind you that we are also huge, huge fans (just in case you didn’t already know that from my years of blogs). Over the past two years there have been several projects behind the scenes that we’ve been working like crazy on because WE want to see BattleTech be a great game from every angle. We want it approachable for beginners, and compelling for veterans. More than anything we want to be able to share as much as we can from 25 years worth of story and products… and this was a big piece of that puzzle. Yet we simply can’t in this one case, and for that we as fans and game designers are truly saddened.

So after all of that, I would like to extend my sincerest apologies. Though we’re still able to use many of the unseen designs, these core twelve remain some of the most beloved. I hope you understand it was entirely out of our own passion for the game that this entire situation has unfolded as it did.

The BattleTech: 25 Years of Art & Fiction PDF has been adjusted accordingly, as has the printed product

Thank you all for your support over these past few years. It’s what has made even set backs like this all worth it as we continued forward making a great game even better.

Randall Bills, Managing Developer Catalyst Game Labs

So in short, most of the mechs I would've wanted to play as are not even going to be in the game. For me, that alone is practically reason enough to not get it.

[Veho Nex]

couldnt they just tweek them slightly in the cosmetics department and change the name?

[Krusader]

Yeah, wasn't happy myself. Of the earliest Mechs, the Warhammer is among my favourites. But when it comes to Battletech rights and licenses, its just one big snafu. Microsoft owns video game rights, Eisner movie rights and some third company other rights again.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Wait, what is this "unseen" thing they're talking about?

[Reverend Joe]

Crap, crap, crap. Some bad news regarding the license(s) for certain Mechs:




So in short, most of the mechs I would've wanted to play as are not even going to be in the game. For me, that alone is practically reason enough to not get it.

They've already been used in the other games, if I remember correctly. I believe this applies only to the tabletop games.

[Ramses II CP]

The unseen mechs, or the ones that don't suck anyway (The LAMS, I'm sorry to say, are lousy art and ripped off from other stuff anyway), are in the expansions to MechWarrior 4. If I recall correctly the Longbow was a stock Mercenaries mech too, so it was put in by MS/FASA before Mektek got involved.

That doesn't mean they'd be in a new game necessarily, but it does imply that Microsoft has or had some access to the rights.

[Vladimir]

No land-air mechs? What a shame. They always rocked in tabletop battles.

[Papewaio]

The Warhammers can be seen in some ports of Japanese Mecha to American... sometimes with rather interesting joining of different series into the same universe/arc.

From memory they are in the same series as the LAMs. And are kind of a ship defense unit that stays put (doesn't fly off) and do a fair amount of damage just walking on the surface.

[mountaingoat]

anyone every play on a battletech mux?

[Mailman653]

http://xbox360.gamespy.com/xbox-360/...1021493p1.html
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