Final patch.

So they have 1 more free patch and no more DLC (patch might be out today). After that HBStech is done. Their next 2 projects are not battle tech related.

https://store.steampowered.com/news...VI_zy1mmk89AsfqIwdvuvdSI-KrLwvQR1subn-BOTgROg

Mech Variants

• Trebuchet TBT-7K
• Grand Dragon DRG-1G
• Warhammer WHM-7A
• Marauder MAD-2R
• Marauder MAD-3D
• Zeus ZEU-5T
• Zeus ZEU-6T
• BattleMaster BLR-1GB
• BattleMaster BLR-1S
• Crab CRB-27b
• Cyclops CP-10-HQ
• Javelin JVN-10A
• Raven RVN-3X
• Cataphract CTF-0X
• Phoenix Hawk PXH-1b
• Rifleman RFL-4D

Vehicle Variants

• Striker Narc
• Scorpion Mk.II
• Schrek Snub PPC Carrier
• Galleon TAG
• Demolisher LBX
• Inferno Carrier
• Arvakr APC
• Alsvin APC

Convoy AI

• Fixed some long-range and short-range pathfinding issues
• Escort vehicles can now move through the player’s ‘Mechs and each other
• Killing the entire OpFor now auto-completes escort missions

Theres more than that but those are the biggest additions.


“Now, with our season pass at an end, HBS is going to focus on two brand new non-BattleTech projects,” the company said in Kickstarter post yesterday. “Our last free update, BattleTech Update 1.9, will release in late February. After that, BattleTech will continue to maintain customer support.”

 

"Killing the entire OpFor now auto-completes escort missions"

omg

 

you know it wouldn't shock me if they let the community kinda dictate what is done next. like if the modding guys make mod after mod about the first and second succession wars maybe we see a jump back to the early times. If they keep making mod after mod about clan life and just general clan fighting (like inter-clan stuff, think Mercs but with clan stuff) maybe a true "clan" battletech game set 40 years before the invasion. If we get mod after mod of invasion stuff maybe we see another clan invasion game but from the point of view of something random, like a warden bondsman who is tied to a crusader clan and such. I dunno what they will do but like i said, wouldn't shock me if they let us more or less point the compass.

 

Probably the next battle tech project (whenever that is) will be a whole new game. Not DLC or an expansion. I'd bet on a game that goes from 4th SW or 3039 to either tukayyid or the end of the invasion era (operation bulldog). I kinda want another game that does a different part of operation bulldog. We only have mechcommander covering that and 1 or 2 planets at that. My guess (since they kinda introduced lostech stuff) start in 3039.

I'd love a first SW or reunification war game though.

 

yeah that's what i meant. Like they look at what the super popular mods are and go "well they seem to want X as a game, lets do it for reals"

 

And other people are being all dramatic and "I can't believe HBS isn't doing anymore battleech at all (as in never)". Which is not what they said. What they said was the battletech game is done and they have nothing on the schedule for it. That isn't saying they wouldn't make a battletech 2. No matter what era they pick it would probably need a whole new game and not DLC. Especially if they want to do more than 4 player controlled mechs (like a star or multiple Lance's). I think there are mods that allow it but those aren't official.

And the "the next two projects are not battletech related" could still be true even if one is a battletech 2. It's not battletech the game itself related. It's a different game.

 

I started replaying a campaign recently (non-storyline campaign). I didn't really use any mods, but I hadn't played the flashpoints and other add ons when I played the original campaign. Flashpoints are fun, definitely inject a lot of character into the world that were missing, I'm about 60 days from the 'end' of the scored timeline, done a whole lot of flash points, traveled around, allied with the federated suns, capellans hate me, mostly running a lance with 2 assaults up front and 2 LRM Archers in the rear to obliterate everything (I do mix it up with some snipers sometimes). The Bull Shark though is fucking OP if you get the load out with the 2x UAC5s and 2x LBX-10s. It'll alpha strike the shoulder off a 100 ton assault in one turn.

I think the most fun I had in a flashpoint was when I was forced to go down in tonnage for objectives and run 50 tonners for a infiltration and retrieval mission. That flashpoint was two missions in a row with near impossible odds (if fighting) to get in and get your ass out before you died. The 2nd one was the first mission in a looooooooooong time that I actually lost a mech but I did complete the mission and the pilot wasn't dead, so thats something.

But anyway, will look to more mods in the future, especially if there are any that had additional storylines or missions.

 

I'm not sure how to take Dark Age. I think some of the later TROs have nicely shored up gaps the I.S. ranks with sone retroactive units, but the consolidation of the Clans and Republic of the Sphere stuff was kinda... odd.

Still, anything is better than Jihad.

 

I think Clan v Clan is interesting, and it's the scenario where some of their engagement rules make sense and are at least vaguely enforceable. It's just dumb when they're expecting I.S. units to go into battles with a 3:1 BV mismatch on open ground at ranges they can't fire back.

 

I was totally okay with Dark Age, and I completely missed the Jihad, so I have no strong feelings on it.