/btg/ BattleTech General

hey gaiz?
how come you don't have catalysts forums listed?

community.battletechgame.com/forums

okey dokey

pastebin.com/mJgwTeTG

Same way you make anybody do anything.

Make it good, or make it porn.

Because nobody wants anyone else to go there, unless they hate them.

>Because nobody wants anyone else to go there, unless they hate them.
This, oh so this.

oops. there is supposed to be a * on paragraph 91 to mark the scene transition. I copied this from an old story I posted on the old forums, it deleted the white space.

That's not the Catalyst forums for one.

Harebrained Schemes, I mean

That place is even worse than Catalyst's forum . The OF people at least know what is going on with the franchise

this I don't mind folk who only know the video games, I was once in their shoes. but some people don't care one ass bit about the franchise as a whole and won't wrap their heads around it when they make unbelievable demands of the vidya.

It has one great utility: it's the center of the modding scene right now, meaning it is te best resource for learning how game files operate. Very handy for that.

And as long as they leave everything as unpacked JSON/XML files, it'll be trivial for fans to make their own mods and modtools.

That's actually already a non-issue. They've stated that nothing of that nature is changing for the final release.

Probably the plan all along, though will there be ways to prevent cheats? If not, then goodbye multiplayer. It almost feels like a Bethesda game. "People are gonna mod this shit anyway so get the engine working, write the plot, make a main quest chain and some subquest shit and then release it for $60 and let the fans finish and refine it for us."

That's easy to fix: checksum all of the files. If checksums don't match, they're disallowed.

Okay, I'm a coding/programming nooblet. Does that mean both players would have to be using the same alterations? Does that mean mods just wouldn't work in multiplayer at all? I did some brief snooping into checksumming and it seems to point to the latter?

Or just host games server side, with default files. Easy enough.

I don't get that feeling. I get more of a "we want people to be able to customize things to their liking while still playing the fane as designed."

Or maybe I'm just dumb, but the fuck do I care? I have zero intention of playing the multiplayer with anyone other than people I know already. Fuck random matches. I'm mostly here for the campaign goodness.

It could be either case. Official files would be signed with a checksum and if they don't match, they're disallowed or the client simply can't connect. Mods could definitely work if the server owner has loaded them or disabled that checking.

That would work too. But that's how they'd be verified.

I'm not saying its necessarily a bad thing; most Bethesda games since Oblivion have been better for mods anyway. Oblivion was garbage stock and Skyrim was bland.
>no randos
I agree with this shit 110%.

Okay I gotcha. Thanks user.

True. I liked stock Skyrim, but mods do add some flavor. About the only thing I'd want from mods for BT would maybe be some more 'mechs, possibly a change to some weapon animations(the autocannon seems too machinegun like to me).

I kinda like how the Autocannons work, but I have always preferred them to be like actual, RL autocannons that fire rapid bursts of smaller shells. Course, that doesn't really hold water for LB-X Autocannons, so I dunno why I still feel that way. That said, you reminded me how strange the game balance and mechanical changes they made to the game for HBSBT are in general. It's even more jarring than the first time I played MechCommander way back when.

What sort of balance issues? I know some people have a problem with rockets having more impact on stability than ballistic weapons, and that they chanved armor and damage outputs and so forth. What else is off?

(different user)

Mostly, it's little stuff, like weapon damage numbers and how stability works. I know there's no way to really implement PSRs in the game (at least no good way) but the stability change was unusual. Also, AC/10s are fucking bullshit right now in the beta and need to be changed like this very second.

Play with the Orion. It has a one-shot autocannon. There's different manufacturers in the game and they look and sound distinct.

I liked how the ACs were portrayed in MW3 -- a burst of shells. The first time shooting off the AC/10 in the Bushwacker was a great feeling. MW4's LB-X was great as well, a good thump with a cloud of shot hitting the target, distribution of it being dependent upon distance.

>when the salvage op goes just right

They are described in some novels as firing a 'clip' of rounds held in a cassette.

That would make sense, storing each shot as its own cassette. Would make ammunition loading a ton easier, too.

Yeah mostly what people have echoed about stability and stuff, especially the missiles > autocannons stability thing. Also agree that AC/10s are way too good. Apparently there are also diminishing returns on autocannons if you fire them every round? I haven't confirmed that yet; I honestly wasn't paying attention. LRMs also seemingly always hitting at least once (I have personally never missed a shot with one even at ~30% to hit) is kinda strange too.

Sounds good.

Makes me think of them as the Euro revolver cannons; fucking love those damn things.

>Apparently there are also diminishing returns on autocannons if you fire them every round? I haven't confirmed that yet; I honestly wasn't paying attention.
There is a refire penalty of +2 for firing autocannons in consecutive rounds.

>LRMs also seemingly always hitting at least once (I have personally never missed a shot with one even at ~30% to hit) is kinda strange too.
Every missile rolls hit chance and hit location independently, which is why so many of them hit. Also why they can't actually kill anything but they knock stuff down really well: damage and stability are conveyed on each missile individually.

>>Makes me think of them as the Euro revolver cannons; fucking love those damn things.
More like those quick firing Bofors 40mm cannon.

Yeah I know that's more what you were referring to; I was just saying it reminded me of my favorite autocannon type.

Sweet Blake in the Main Frame...

Found a website that has extracted a bunch of portraits from the 1994 PC-98 Japanese Macross strategy+dating sim game.

Figured it would make for a nice addition for MekHQ. Enjoy.

mediafire.com/file/2qj8bzhiib4ka7p/Macross.zip

Huh, that makes me wonder if I can extract the sprites from Jagged Alliance II..

Also, if you want some other mecha, have the sprites I pulled from the PS1 Gundam game G Generation 0. The hole is where I pulled some personal info, disregard.

Gundam main series characters. The first one is the new charas made for the game.

Various mission-specific portraits.

>If not, then goodbye multiplayer.

As promised yesterday, an updated version of the old pdf. I've added more Japanese names and some background on the shows as it relates to fanart, as well as the helpful input from a Japanese player who was hanging out here a few months ago. Also added in info on a bunch more Japanese BT items that I've found around the web.

Grand Dragon "Yamato no Orochi" - keep in mind this thing packs a damned nasty headcapper in the CT

And the Cyclops "Hecatonichres" - it's a King Crab on fucking 'roids. I've tested it, and it's absolutely brutal in play in the SW era. If it can catch you, it WILL fuck you.

I should also point out that at least some players are trickling in on the JP side from MWO.

Post your ideal 3025 company. 3 balanced lances, all that.

>Post your ideal 3025 company. 3 balanced lances, all that.
I'm coming at this as a merc player with a fondness for Unseen and a disgustingly large mini collection.
"Go home, Doc, you're Drunk"
> Command Lance
TDR-5SE (CO)
AWS-8V, pretty much any Stalker, or a CGR-1A9
BJ-1 (flak ammo on standby)
SHD-2H (flak and infernos ready)

>Scout Lance:
Pixie (XO)
Cronus CNS-3M
Locust
Stinger/Wasps depending on availability.

>Fire Lance
ARC-2R (Lance Leader)
ARC-2K (I like the all-range firepower and the better punch over the ARC-2S, although in terms of heat and close-ranging the -2S is objectively better)
TBT-5N
GRF-1N

Ideal for what? Assault, recon, cavalry? Ideal as in representative or favorite cherry picked machines? Fuck it, I'll go with generic all rounder and crank the fun up to five. Variants are standard unless otherwise indicated.

Recon lance.
Stinger LAM
Rambo Stinger
Stinger
Firestarter 9K

Mobile Attack demilance
Griffin x2

Light Show demilance
Ostsol
Discoback

Command lance
Archer x2
Stalker
Thunderbolt (commander)

Cronus is 3031

Merlin, Lancelot, Black Knight, Rifleman.....in trade for your 3025 Awesome? Not bad!

>Ideal for what?

Ideal in that nobody could possibly complain about your Mech selections for whatever purpose the company is built to serve.

According to the TRO, Gilmour was founded during the 3SW (before 3025, by definition) and making Cronus rebuilds almost from the get-go.I wouldn't really trust the MUL on that one, but if you must piss in the cornflakes I'd probably pick a Kintaro, another Griffin, or a 'Mechbuster Vulcan to round out the unit (depending on the operational history of the unit and the command lance's Assault)

>Ideal in that nobody could possibly complain about your Mech selections
ahahahahahahahaha
You don't know BT players very well, do you?

I think you're right with the original TRO 3067, but the corrected reprint says he retired after serving in the final years of the 3rd War which was 3027'ish depending on when you want to draw the line and then within a few years had his business up and running. Pretty sure that's how they got the date.

I only knew 3031 for it because I was also looking at 5/8 mechs toting a large laser to pair with my Ost and would have taken it myself otherwise. Probably doesn't matter much. You calling the Vulcan 5T the Mechbuster? My friends always called it the Fire Vulcan, after the Fire Javelin.

My only grognism is hating the 3025R and 3039 retcons and downgrades.

what's the best ever atlas variant? asking for a friend.

MoC List

Command Lance
Thunderbolt
Phoenix hawk
Vindicator
Archer

Scout
Phoenix Hawk
2xVulcan 5T
Firestarter

Fire Lance
Stalker
Archer
Thunderbolt
Awesome

Fair enough on the reprint, I pulled my original copy of '67 off the shelf for reference. My group always called the designs that swapped a smallbore AC for Lasers/PPCs "Mechbusters", with the Fire Javelin being a bit of an outlier.

As far as the downgrades/retcons? I honestly don't mind the added breadth the Star League designs add to the era - not least because most of the ones they chucked in were a bit potato anyway. The illustrations in 3025r are steaming turds, of course. But I, for one, gleefully encourage Davion players to embrace the Kintaro in the stead of yet another fucking -D variant heavy or Pixie. Moving the >tech< threshold back to the 3030s, now, that was irritating as Hell.

>what's the best ever atlas variant? asking for a friend.
Derek Hasbani's. SATAN

I miss the mystique shock factor mostly, that when Comstar took the field with them or gave them to the Snakes people were like Holy Lostech Batman!

The old ass way of a few of just about anything running around because somebody found an old Star League cache prospecting was fine, but increasing the numbers to crazy levels and putting parts and manufacturing support online throughout the wars was just a plain bad idea.

What headcapper? All I see in the CT is SRM ammo.

>Mechwarrior 2
>A Centurion
Wasn't MW2 all about Clantech?

>What is: Mechwarrior 2 Mercenaries?

I'm more perplexed that they use a Mechwarrior online design to talk about a PC game from 1996...

...though I'm actually getting the feeling that it's more about them thinking about resurrecting the first edition Battletech RPG, since MW1e is the only edition they'd ever had.

From the perspective of the Japanese, its description is listed since it has some corrections.

The English version translated into Japanese is as follows.
· BattleTech, 2nd Edition BOX (FASA-1604)
· CityTech, 1st Edition BOX (FASA-1608)
· MechWarrior: The BattleTech Role Playing Game 1st Edition BOOK (FASA-1607)
· Tales of the Black Widow Company BOOK (FASA-1605)
· Gray Death Legion Scenario pack BOOK (FASA-1617)
And
· Gray Death trilogy (Decision at Thunder Rift, Mercenary's Star, The Price of Glory)

Other source books are not translated.
The Japanese gameplay environment has stopped in front of The Fourth Succession War in 3028, and board game players do not know War of 3039 or Clans.

And a considerable number of PC games are translated into Japanese.
· MechWarrior (1989 Video Game) "バトルテック 奪われた聖杯" for PC-98 and X68000 and SNES
· MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat
· MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries
(MechWarrior 2: Ghost Bear's Legacy Expansion Pack has not been translated)
· MechWarrior 3
(MechWarrior 3: Pirates Moon Expansion Pack untranslated)
· MechWarrior 4: Vengeance
· MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries
(MechWarrior 4: Black Knight Expansion Pack untranslated)
· MechCommander
· Mech Commander 2
Are all Japanese translated PC games. I hope it will be helpful.

Sorry. I forgot one.
· MechWarrior 3050 (バトルテック3050) for SNES
This is handled by Shoji Kawamori only box painting. The contents are the same as the English version.

you're a hero man. never forget that.

Mechwarrior 1 is a port, not just a translation.

The definitive version of the game, if I may add.
Pixel art that is leagues ahead of the crap used in the original, actually has music, better sounds and better 3D action.
Basically, as long as you speak Japanese, there is zero reason to play the DOS game.

Is the BattleTech starter box set out of production? What would be the next-best way to start with the tabletop game if that's the case?

A game I never played, alas.

Yes, it was a transplant that changed graphics rather than just translation.
PC-9801 and X68000 ver.
youtube.com/watch?v=KI8-Oq3G9CI

SNES ver.
youtube.com/watch?v=ndG5uVEk728

However, in Japan now, PC-9801 (NEC version variant of DOS machine) is no longer being manufactured, it is extremely difficult to play "奪われた聖杯".

I derped. It's the trio of SRMs-6 in the side torso. As noted in the PDF, there's an error in the JP rules that makes SRMs all hit the same location rather than grouping.

Thank you, Japan-friend. I'll update the pdf after breakfast. I made the product list by using Amazon.jp - so I was pretty sure there were gaps in it.

So there's basically no reason to take streaks over standard srms in the Jurassic Park rules?

You are welcome.
So I will also write about Japan's original replay and light novels.
www003.upp.so-net.ne.jp/Irregulars/japanese.htm
This page is a list of BattleTech products published in Japan.

Two of them first.
バトルテックがよくわかる本 ISBN: 4-8291-4267-7
"バトルテックがよくわかる本" is like a guidebook for people who do not know BattleTech.

戦乱のタマラー協定領 メックウォリアーRPG・シナリオ集1 ISBN: 4-8291-7234-7
"戦乱のタマラー協定領" is a Japanese original scenario pack, which includes some scenarios and partial translations of "Mercenary's Handbook" and "House Steiner".

And Replay.
There are a first season and a second season, the author and illustrator are different.
Kenichi Sonoda participates in only the first season.

1st season
魔女達の饗宴 バトルテック・リプレイ集1 ISBN: 4-8291-4261-8
女神達の彷徨 バトルテック・リプレイ集2 ISBN: 4-8291-4271-5

2nd season
魔弾の射手 メックウォリアーRPGリプレイ集1 ISBN: 4-8291-4309-6
エニウェアの嵐 メックウォリアーRPGリプレイ集2 ISBN: 4-8291-4328-2
虚像たちのワルツ メックウォリアーRPGリプレイ集3 ISBN: 4-8291-4345-2
終末へのカウントダウン メックウォリアーRPGリプレイ集4 ISBN: 4-8291-4355-X

Lastly it is a light novel, but this is the one that transcribed the contents of Replay as a novel.
One book for the first season, four books for the second season was published.
Although it is a personal opinion, the contents are not so good.

1st season novel
戦士たちの邂逅 ISBN: 4-8291-2562-4

2nd season novel
出撃!独立愚連隊 ISBN: 4-8291-2657-4
脱出!独立愚連隊 ISBN: 4-8291-2692-2
激闘!独立愚連隊 ISBN: 4-8291-2716-3
決戦!独立愚連隊 ISBN: 4-8291-2768-6

This is the end of the BattleTech related books published in Japan.
There are other magazine appendices etc, but it is a few decades ago and there is a high possibility that it is not left anymore.

>rather than grouping.
err, "Scattering"

"DOSBOX" へあそびませんか? CPUの時計。。"抑制"?。。があります。
dosbox.com/download.php?main=1

fullmotionvideo.free.fr/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1161 - more JP persokan emulators.

>Is the BattleTech starter box set out of production?
Yes, although theoretically it's going back up soonish. Probably after GenCon.

>What would be the next-best way to start with the tabletop game if that's the case?
Grab the quick-start stuff off the website (or out of the PasteBin ) and fuck around a bit until you have the basics down. Then get teh BattleMech Manual out of the OP, read the BattleTech Universe pdf (also free on the CGL website/pastebin) and see what factions you like. $60 worth of Lance Packs online will get you ~16 'Mechs, which isn't >quite< as good a deal as the boxed set but still not bad at all. I'd also read TRO 3039 and 3050 to get an idea of the capabilities of the stuff in the Lance Boxes, plus the Era Reports, to get a quick overview of what's up.

In the Japanese environment Clan does not come, so "streaks" has only SSRM 2 of lostech.
So no one was aware of the danger of Jurassic Park.

By the way, there are only vehicles included in CityTech 1e. VTOL does not introduce the rules themselves.

>"DOSBOX" へあそびませんか? CPUの時計。。"抑制"?。。があります。
Thank you. DOSBox is used when playing with MechWarrior2 series of DOS version. It's very useful and nice.
PC-98 DOS is a unique variant of Japan, so regrettably "奪われた聖杯" did not work with DOSBox.

Thought so. :/
DOS which is not compatible is cruel.

Revision two of the resources pdf is done, I think.

A really fast job!
As a result of checking, the Japanese version of MechWarrior RPG is a translated version of "1st edition setting in the 3025s".
Because MechWarrior 2e is set in the 3052's, it is a rule book of the era when Clans is already here. But Japanese players do not know Clans.

We should translate some of the Clan Invasion sourcebooks into moonspeak, introduce our nipponese brethren to the new plot-lines released since the early 90s

Streaks save ammo if they miss. Also the Japanese rules still have the two-pack restriction for Infernos, as I understand it.

Streaks and infernos are incompatible though.

Unfortunately I'm not the one to do it - Japanese is my fourth language and far from my best. I'm at about a second-grade reading/writing level.

Thank you again. I'll change that up for the next time I post.

As there are several private translation sites, enthusiastic Japanese fans also know about Jihad and Dark Age's plot line.
If there is a problem with introducing Clan Invasion, it is likely that the sight that the player will be tired of "Clan cheat weapons" will be reproduced in Japan like the former America.

And there is a disparity in the operation of the vehicle. Even Ontos does not exist in Japan.

With the rules up to "BattleTech Compendium: The Rules of Warfare" you can load inferno ammunition into the SSRM.
MechWarrior2 Mercs was able to use inferno-SSRM2 according to this rule.

has anyone else tried playing on tabletop sim?

I know it can be clunky sometimes but having the models snap to the hex facings and such really does make it play okay.

tried with a friend of mine, both first time players. was fun enough, though a little slow due to us being new. believe it or not, this completely surrounded jenner survived.

If it integrates Megamek or a diceroller to automate, it might be fun.

Otherwise nah.

Jurassic Park?

Is that not what JP stands for?

Overrated

This.

All of the Mechwarrior titles, up until they released MWO, were pretty damn overrated. That one is good at least.

Oh, derp. I'm dumb today.
Say what you will about the gameplay, but MW2 had amazing music.

If I'm not mistaken, the contents of the TAMAR scenario pack are a tie-in with the first-season novellas/replays.

That's right.
However, it is necessary to note that the "TAMAR" in the first-season novellas / replays / TAMAR scenario packs creates a unique setting for the Japanese version.
Specifically, it seems that translators have confused "FRR" and "Principality of Rasalhague", the history and circumstances are strange.

It is very strange that Tamar Pact people want to independence from Lyran Commonwealth in 3025? As Skye people can still understand.