Battletech: The Forum Thread

[Graphite]

Inspired by my lengthy post on Multiplayer Battletech: 3025 (http://www.cohguru.com/forum/showthread.php?p=90960#post90960), I decided to start a multipurpose Battletech Thread. Feel free to discuss every and all things regarding the Battletech/Mechwarrior Universe: The original tabletop, books, minitures, clix, video games, computer programs, even the short lived television show.

Guess I'll go first. Who here plays Battletech?
Me I've been captured by the series since childhood. I picked up a source book in a store not knowing what it was, but had real awsome pictures of giant robots. Since then it kinda evolved to the television show, their toys, Mechwarrior 2, the table top in college, MPBT 3025, then the clix game.

Random discussion points:
One of these days I'll get an xbox for Mech Assult, but am I the only one who thinks 360 torso twists sounds like blasphamy?
I've never gotten into the books, but wouldn't it be awsome if some company like Dark Horse started a Mechwarrior Comic line?

So, who's up first?
:cool:

[Inertial]

Long live the warden Wolf. :)

And give me my u/ac 5 nothing fights crime faster then depleted uranium shells. ;)

[Meltman]

Television show?

Also, I've always been partial to the Vulture.

[Inertial]

Yes 360 torso twists are foul.

Only free birth toads would need or want such a thing, a true clan warrior can devastate his opponents without it.

Gargoyle's I always loved those mechs, 80 ton that hit like a 90

[Gold Rush]

Yes 360 torso twists are foul.

Only free birth toads would need or want such a thing, a true clan warrior can devastate his opponents without it.

Gargoyle's I always loved those mechs, 80 ton that hit like a 90

But, from what I've seen, master the torso is one of the keys to devistating your opponents on the Arcade Battletech Center linked pods. Also, knowing what all those buttons do helps, too.

I think I still like the Battletech Centers the best, although I admit, it's cheaper/more relaxing to do it from your home on your computer than going to a place and waiting in line and paying around $5.00 for 10-20 minutes of game time. But, it is an all-immersive experience with an "ultimate" control.

Oh, and I tend to like designs like the Mad Cat more than human-based ones. But I am a "lite" fan.

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Gold Rush

[bpphantom]

Been playing BT since the beginning on highschool... so... 17 years. ICK!

When my friend and I started we had no rulebook. he had just bought the Reinforcements boxed set and I had picked up the TR: 2750.

We made up rules and played on the grid in my hallway with actual debris as terrain.

Gauss rilfes stripped all armor on a location they hit. Lasers did 5-10-15 points. Clan Omnimechs in the record sheets only had the Primary configurations so we figured you could only have 1 of them and it was your Primary mech. /shrug.

Now I've played table top through 3067, all the video games, including both xbox versions and the quasi-RTS MechCommanders.

The cartoon bothered me because they had the spirit of the Clans and the game so wrong, but at least it was something.

The only new novels being written are in german, so we're funneling them through a friend that's german for translation :)

As for UAC-5's... Why bother when I can mount a RAC-5 :)

Edit: Oh yeah, I have a bunch of Clix too. Don't play though.

[Darknesse]

For the Celestial Throne!

[GargoyleKDR]

I started playing BattleTech back when it was still called Battledroids. Ok, so that dates me a bit. I've played BattleTech in pretty much every game incarnation it has ever been in. This includes the PnP miniature game, online as Multiplayer BattleTech (MPBT), Multiplayer BattleTech: Solaris (MPBT:Solaris), Multiplayer BattleTech: 3025 (MPBT:3025), in the games Mechwarrior, Crescent Hawks Revenge, Mechwarrior 2 and its expansions, Mechwarrior 3, Mechwarrior 4 and its expansions, the Virtual World pods, and even a few versions of the pc based open-code interpretation of the PnP game.

I started playing MPBT back in 1991 on GEnie Services. That was the online game developed by Kesmai Studios founder Kelton Finn that recreated the Inner Sphere wars between the 5 Houses. It used the Mechwarrior combat engine for the combat portion of the game. Outside of combat was an entire RP strategy game that allowed for each House to quest for domination over the others through planetary capture. The game supported all 5 House military groups and mercenary groups. Each House had a command structure that allowed for commanders to hire/fire the commanders below them. The House Leader was the ultimate leader for their population, and their command position within the game was granted by Kesmai based on the decisions of each House's method of governance. I had the opportunity to serve as 1 of the 9 House Leaders of House Davion throughout the online life of MPBT, MPBT:Solaris, and MPBT:3025.

MPBT:Solaris was intended to be the proof of concept for a upgrade to MPBT. The focus of the game engine was to move away from MPBT's PvE into PvP. However, the planetary capture part of the design went through many changes and was ultimately shelved for several years. MPBT:Solaris went onto AOL and Gamestorm (Kesmai Studio's pay-to-play gaming site) around 1996.

Eventually Kesmai restarted the development of the MPBT under the title MPBT:3025. The game was originally to include all of the thousands of planets in the Inner Sphere, and allow for an extensive strategic game. The combat engine was redone for the third time. Unfortunately the design was continually simplified due to the huge financial burden such an elaborate game was projected to cost. I was one of the seeded commander ranks populated by Kesmai during the Beta. Originally we had to gain ranks and money like everyone else during the resets that happened. As the beta developed I was put into House Davion's Rank 97 (Field Marshal in House Davion) command rank by the developers, and had the fortune to owned every mech in the game. The House Davion website we put in place for 3025 is still active. It can be found at www.davion3025.com (http://www.davion3025.com)

Along the way Kesmai Studios was purchased by EA Games. EA was after something other than the games of Kesmai. They wanted the golden prize, the contract Kesmai had to provide exclusive games to AOL. Within a year of the aquisition the beta of MPBT:3025 was shut down and Kesmai Studios was closed.

My Virtual World pod experiances include over 400 missions (that's over 150 hours of in-the-cockpit playing time). I was able to do those at the original Wizards of the Coast game store in Seattle. All the missions were in the TESLA pods.

I played Mechwarrior 2, 3 and 4 as they were published. For a period of time I also participated in online leagues that used those games to fight out a planetary wargame that recreated the Houses and Clans of 3058. WarOnline and a few others were great attempts to recreate the magic many of us had discovered in MPBT.

My pod time and Mechwarrior PC gaming allowed me to win the 2002 GenCon Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries Tournament. Some information on that can be found here at Dropshipcommand. (http://www.dropshipcommand.com/forum/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=7&topic_id=13648&mesg_id=13648&listing_type=search) The tournament used the Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries game that was specially coded to work in the TESLA pods. Eventually Virtual Worlds released that as the VW Firestorm pod. Out of a field of 64 players who entered I outmanuevered and outshot them all.

My PnP games over the years have included a couple of different gaming groups. I played a weekly BattleTech game with one group for just over 5 years. We ran several different campaigns over the years. One memorable battle we had took us 4 months of real time to complete. The battle was a planetary assault that ended up moving across the length of a ping-pong table 5 times. We started with a full regiment of Mechs fighting against the opponents. At the end of the 4 month time we had barely a full company left standing.

Today I still communicate daily with many people I played MPBT with. A couple of them are involved in the development of IS3028 (http://www.is3025.com/) which is a game that will feature the Inner Sphere as it is known in the year setting 3028, the Five Major Houses, the arena Solaris, a Planetary Capture system, Player Generated Independent Mercenary Units, In game Communications, Fully developed Military and Ranking Systems, and the Majority of the Mech's available during the 3028 time period.

[Inertial]

Torso twist is key Goldy but NEVER 360 degree torso twist. It was a 70-90 degree range depending on factors 360 is a new fangled thing.

[Meltman]

There was 180 on some of them, wasn't there?

[Graphite]

Wow... I always noticed your Davion Suns avatar but never realized.
We are in the presence of a truly seasoned vet.
/em salute

And now if we would, today is the four year anniversary of MPBT:3025 being taken offline. So it feels appropriate to have a brief moment of silence.




















:|

[Tarberetta]

I play and read lots of battletech/mechwarrior. No tabletop though.

[GargoyleKDR]

There was 180 on some of them, wasn't there?
In the PnP game the arc of fire limit is 60 degrees to the front arc with a 60 degree torso twist to either the left or right. On top of the torso twist you also had the arm movement that increased the coverage to allow for roughly a 270 degree arc in theory but was restricted by the quantity of weapons that could fire into each segment of the arc. Certain mechs can flip their arms to point directly behind them so they have 360 degree coverage with the arm mounted weapons only.

In the Mechwarrior games and MPBT the standard arc was 90 degrees side to side with arm mounted weapons increasing that arc if you shifted your view to that firing side. In MPBT certain mechs could also flip their arms into their rear arc. The most notable ones were the Jenner and the Rifleman variants. The arm flipping code was never implemented in MPBT:Solaris or MPBT:3025.

A few Clan Mechs introduce the ability to twist to a 180 degrees arc. This was most noticable in the Mechwarrior games.