Category Archives: Convention

Your BattleTech News Roundup For March, 2023

2023/03/31

You know, I’d be pretty upset about the fact that winter is clearly trundling along into April this year if it weren’t for all this great BattleTech news. The Mercenaries Kickstarter was a huge success even after just 24 hours, and it looks like it could even double the funds generated by the Clan Invasion. People love their mercs, I guess.

But besides the Mercenaries Kickstarter, we’ve got plenty of other Catalyst products to share, some MechWarrior updates to peruse, and plenty of exceptional pieces from the BattleTech community. So let’s get to it.

Mercenaries Kickstarter Blows Past Clan Invasion Funding In Less Than Six Hours

Mercenaries Kickstarter Jumpship

We’ll start things off with the biggest news for March which was always going to be the Mercenaries Kickstarter, which kicked things off on March 23. The crowd-funding goal of $50,000 was reached pretty much as soon as the Kickstarter went live. It took just 20 minutes for the funding total to climb past $780,000, and it blew past the Clan Invasion Kickstarter’s total of around $2.5 million in less than six hours. By Friday evening, the Mercenaries Kickstarter broke 15,000 backers and $4 million, and we’re already well past $4.5 million. 

As of the time of this writing, the Mercenaries Kickstarter is cruising towards $5 million, with a very achievable stretch goal that will give everyone who backs at Company level and above a free ForcePack, and everyone who backs at Battalion level and above another free ForcePack. That’ll bring Company-level backing to 3 ForcePacks total. 

What’s interesting here is that a lot of folks backed at Company level and above without even seeing the full list of ForcePacks, which only went live by the weekend. Now we know just what new ‘Mechs Mercenaries is bringing to the table, although we had a pretty good idea of what to expect from the ilClan Recognition Guides. I’m personally going to try and complete my set of Bad ‘Mechs, so that likely means the Inner Sphere Heavy Recon and Pursuit Lances, and then when the $5 mil unlock hits, probably the Security Lance. 

But the physical minis are really only half of what’s available in the Kickstarter. The digital rewards even at the Company level include six novellas, No Greater Honor, Tales of the Bounty Hunter, the Mercenaries issue of Shrapnel, and BattleTech‘s new Graphic Novel #1 all in digital form, plus a few wallpapers to bring the Mercenaries Kickstarter to your desktop. That’s a lot of BattleTech media to go along with your minis. 

Sadly, it’s too late for you to get the free Visigoth fighter, but there’s still plenty of time to join in on the Mercenaries Kickstarter to get loads of BattleTech swag for an extremely good price. 

More ForcePacks Brings Ancient Designs Back From The Dead

And now for some Catalyst news from earlier this month. The Proliferation Pack brings seven ancient BattleMech designs including the Mackie, Ymir, BattleAxe, Gladiator, Icarus II, Firebee, Coyotl. I’m a particular fan of the Gladiator, which I’d take over a Griffin any day of the week, but there’s no denying the Mackie‘s charm either. The Proliferation Pack arrives this spring for $44.99. 

In addition, Snord’s Irregulars are getting a ForcePack which contains a Highlander, a Guillotine, a Spartan, and even the unique FrankenMech that’s basically if a Rifleman, a Warhammer, and an Archer got tossed into a blender and came out lookin’ like an Unseen smoothie. This one is also coming out in the spring.

Not to be outdone by all the new ilClan ‘Mechs, Catalyst has announced a Classics Recognition Guide which compiles all those old-school cool ‘Mechs into a single volume. The Classic Recognition Guide will contain material already published under the ilClan Recognition Guides but will be limited to classic ‘Mechs like the Wasp, Wolverine, Crusader, and others that you’ll probably recall best from the 3025 TRO. Each design has been updated with current-era variants and new art.

Those plushies that have been relentlessly teased for a while now are finally fully revealed and on sale, a Destiny-sized Marauder will also be available in limited numbers, and there are some new t-shirts for sale too. And before I forget, Perception of Victory, a new Mercenary Tales short story by Michael J. Ciaravella, is now available as well as No Greater Honor in audiobook form.

BattleTech Aces Lets You Play Alone Or With A Friend Against An AI Opponent

https://twitter.com/BattletechCom/status/1640026855519539202?s=20

There was a lot to come out of the Mercenaries Kickstarter, but I wanted to highlight this since it really seems like a game changer for BattleTech. It’s called BattleTech Aces, and it turns a competitive tabletop game that can take all afternoon into a solo or cooperative game that takes about an hour or two--along the same lines as your typical boxed tabletop game.

You can see Josh and Randall playing this at AdeptiCon in the Twitch clip above. The “AI” portion of BattleTech Aces is represented by a deck of cards that tells the opposing force where to move and what to attack. Combine that with the quicker rules of Alpha Strike and you get something that really appeals to those who want multiple games in an afternoon rather than one that might stretch into next week.

Mercenaries backers get free access to the open beta at all levels, with a digital version of the playtest sent out via email. I haven’t gotten it yet, but given CGL has over 16,000 people to get back to, I think we might just have to be patient. I’m excited to give it a try though!

MechWarrior 5 Patch Tweaks AI, FPS Controls

MechWarrior 5 Black Knight

We got a patch for MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries earlier this month, and it’s the first one since the Rise of Rasalhague DLC brought both the Crusader, a new series of campaign missions, and AI improvements to what were previously some pretty useless lancemates. And while the improved AI did cause lance members to fire their guns twice as often and sometimes even hit what they were shooting at, it also caused some pathing issues that would occasionally result in your teammates getting stuck on a ruck or just never even leaving the drop zone.

March 9th’s patch fixed that issue, but also introduced a new one. I’m noticing that if you don’t assign targets, your lancemates will bunch up close, often to the detriment of clean sight lines. This will make them fire less often than before, which is a bummer. However, if you manually assign targets, they’ll do some serious work. So it’s a bit of a tradeoff--you get more reliable pathing and excellent manual control, but less reliable automatic AI engagement. I’m sure we’ll get another fine-tuning pass on the AI at some point, but just remember to manually assign targets wherever possible.

Elsewhere in the patch, those new FPS controls are being well-received by console players, and Infiltration missions have been rebalanced so the rewards are more in line with the other mission types. They’ve also gotten slightly harder as now you can’t just pick off every enemy group without triggering the general alarm. 

Of course, there’s also a crapton of squashed bugs in the patch too, so be sure to have it downloaded to get the full benefit of all those fixes. 

A Lance After My Own Heart

I had @attack_llamas make art for me and my lancemates in mw5 enjoy
by u/Professional-Help931 in battletech

Here’s a piece from @attack_llamas made for Reddit user Professional-Help931. It portrays their lance as they stomp around in MechWarrior 5, and it’s a pretty great lance. It can be really tough to be a light ‘Mech pilot solo, but it’s a whole different story when you team up with friends. Suddenly, that Jenner turns from a liability into an incredible asset, being able to quickly respond to threats and go on scouting missions to take out enemy artillery before they can blow your poor Awesome to bits. I very much approve this lance’s composition. 

Kaiju Vs. Warhammer, Who Ya Got?

Anime North is coming up, bringing with it Toronto’s most excellent anime convention. If you’re in the area, I highly recommend coming down for a visit, but even if you’re not, you can definitely enjoy this piece of a kaiju fighting a Warhammer-like ‘Mech in some unfortunate Draconis city. 

I dunno if this Warhammer has the gumption to survive against what is most certainly not Godzilla, but I’m still rootin’ for it all the same. Also, the Focht News Network will be there to do stuff, and that sounds like as well time. 

Um…

https://twitter.com/ShamikaMills18/status/1631730109509160960

No words. None. I don’t know what this is, and I don’t want to know. Don’t explain this to me, don’t even mention it ever again. I’m just showing it to you because I don’t want you to find out from anywhere else.

That’s How You Deal With Fleas

Timber Wolf Lego build (work in Progress
by u/ecdmuppet in mechwarrior

I’m pretty certain that the ‘Mech this Timber Wolf is unceremoniously stomping over is a Flea, but if not, I apologize for the wonky title. This model, courtesy of ecdmuppet, hits a level of dynamism that I rarely see in Lego. Apparently, there’s a gearing system in the pelvis that allows the legs to be locked at multiple angles, so we could theoretically see this Timber Wolf stomping on anything from a Cicada to a Summoner. Ecdmuppet said we’ll get instructions to make this model yourself once they’re done with the build. 

MechWarrior 5 Developer PGI Is Doing “Significant Hiring”

How would you like to work on the next MechWarrior game? PGI is hiring right now across multiple positions, so if you’re a 3D environment artist, a lighting artist, a VFX artist, or a software engineer (and a few others besides), then head over to PGI’s site to apply for any of the eleven positions currently open. 

But because we’ve got a bunch of job listings, we also have a unique opportunity to see what PGI is up to. For example, we know that PGI is looking to create new ‘Mechs for MechWarrior Online thanks to the 3D Artist II listing. “This role will play a key artistic and technical part in implementing new ‘Mechs in MechWarrior Online,” reads the listing, “modeling and texturing weapons mounts and cosmetic attachments for hard surface export/import to game engine, addressing bugs and creating ‘Mech Patterns with customizable colors.”

There aren’t too many clues for the next MechWarrior game to be found in this listing, but the Level Designer II position will require experience in Unreal Engine 4, which is what MechWarrior 5 currently runs on. This could suggest that MechWarrior 6 (or whatever the next MechWarrior game will be called) will also run on Unreal Engine 4, or that particular position will be for continued work on MechWarrior 5.

Remote work options are available, and PGI also has some pretty great perks, like flexible hours and social events (at least for those that can work in and around Vancouver). Head to the links above if you’d like to check ‘em out.

The Black Marauder Stalks The News Blast Once Again

"dark one" model progress
by u/makenzie71 in battletech

From Lego to a completely different type of model. We talked about one MechWarrior 5 mod-maker who’s bringing the dreaded Black Marauder to the game, here we have makenzie71 bringing the Black Marauder to the tabletop. Actually, it’s probably a bit too big for the tabletop game, but it’s certainly a great-looking figure to decorate your desk with. It’s also far more terrifying than any depiction of the Black Marauder I’ve seen, although I will give credit to Juodas Varnas for this version from a few years back.

BattleTech Pride Anthology Announced

https://twitter.com/Detocroix/status/1633600013795495936

BattleTech has come a long way in terms of representation (tip of the rainbow hat to you, Fox Patrol) but if Steven Universe has taught me anything, it could always be gayer. So I’m happy to report an open call for the BattleTech Pride Anthology 2023, a fan-made collection of short stories featuring LGBTQ+ characters. 

All submissions should be between 2,000 to 5,000 words in manuscript format and fit neatly into pre-existing lore and timelines. No making up entire Clans, planets, or climactic battles between Great Houses that nobody has ever heard of, but skirmishes on the periphery between two small-time mercenary outfits are A-Ok. All submissions must be in before May 1 so that there’s plenty of time to get them edited and assembled for release in June. I’m assuming June because that’s Pride Month. More deets are available here.

Opinion: Did TRO 3058 Kick All The Fun Out Of Inner Sphere ‘Mechs?

Sarna Complaints Department

I remember way back when I was still in high school I went looking for an Inner Sphere ‘Mech that could mop the floor with any Clanner out there, and I found it in the Thunder Hawk. How can you go wrong with three Gauss Rifles? You can’t. And that’s why it was good. Maybe even a little too good--45 damage per heatless salvo that could luck out and decapitate a ‘Mech is just plain unfair. 

And it seems I wasn’t alone in this opinion. Bishop Steiner recently doodled the Thunder Hawk (or ThunderChicken, as he likes to call it) where he went into detail about how the ‘Mech was emblematic of the issues with Inner Sphere ‘Mech designs from the era. It was all mostly Gauss Rifles and lasers placed on ‘Mechs that were the most efficient in their weight class.

Thunder Hawk 3058

Did that make these ‘Mechs boring? I’m not so sure. I think we need to look at these ‘Mechs in the context of the still relatively recent Clan Invasion. Inner Sphere armies were looking at what they had that could compete with the Clans, and that meant making ‘Mechs as efficient damage dealers as possible. That naturally works out to lasers and Gauss Rifles--the latter for dealing the same damage at similar range, and the former for simply adding in more damage while taking advantage of then-new double heatsinks. 

But still, the Thunder Hawk took this philosophy to its logical extreme and made something truly terrifying. Lights and mediums are often crippled or destroyed in a single salvo at ranges they can’t respond, while heavies and assaults have to get lucky on rolls to win the damage race.

Don’t get me wrong--there are a lot of 3058-era ‘Mechs that I like. The Dragon Fire, Cestus, Merlin, and Spartan are all great. But going for maximum tabletop efficiency in a ‘Mech just sort of takes the soul out of it. Let me know if you share that opinion in the comments below.

MWO Rebrands Itself As MechWarrior Online: Legends

MechWarrior Online Legends March 2023 Patch Notes

With Solaris having been removed as an available game mode for MechWarrior Online for some time, it makes sense that MWO would rebrand itself, and that’s exactly what’s happened in the latest patch. MechWarrior Online: Legends introduces the new Legendary type of ‘Mech to go along with Champions and Heroes. What makes these Legendary ‘Mechs special are exclusive weapons layouts, “outlier” quirks, and a miniature battle pass system that allows you to earn GSP, C-bills, MC, premium time, and various cosmetic items for earning ‘Mech XP on your Legendary ‘Mech. 

So far, there are two Legendary ‘Mechs. The first is a new Fafnir called The Juggernaut. Its shtick is that it’s got maximum armor, a 400-series standard engine, MASC, and a bunch of Heavy Machine guns and the quirks to make them dangerous. It looks pretty goofy, but not as goofy as the new Legendary Mad Cat MK II: Moonwalker. This thing has a unique quirk that gives it an additional 30 percent to its reverse speed, making it almost as fast going backward as it is going forward. Combined with a bunch of UAC/2s and an ER PPC, and the Moonwalker can ensure it’s always got its best foot forward while it’s blasting away.

This month’s patch also brings us the first new map from PGI’s newly hired level designer, Krazzdaxx. The map is a purple coliseum with low rolling hills and rocky outcroppings that look like bismuth crystals. There’ve also been a few tweaks to Terra Therma so the middle of the map isn’t quite so one-sided in terms of cover.

And as is tradition, we’ve got a few ‘Mechs that have a few new quirks. The Kintaro is the big winner in this month’s patch, with revamped quirks across every variant and additional armor quirks for the ape-like ‘Mechs arms. The Champion line also received some adjustments, and the Dire Wolf has seen its armor quirks improved as well. Finally, all variants of the Fafnir now have much much smaller center torso hitboxes, so hopefully they won’t be quick as squishy.

No Guts No Galaxy Talks To PGI About MWO’s Matchmaker, Maps, and Rebrand

Podcast 231 - MM, Maps, Mechs, more! w/ Daeron & Matt
Watch this video on YouTube.

For a bit of a deeper dive into the recent MechWarrior Online rebrand, we turn to No Guts No Galaxy‘s most recent podcast featuring Matt and Dearon from PGI. A lot of what was discusses has to do with what we’ve already covered in the recent update, but there are a few things worth pointing out. 

First is that discussion still centers around MechWarrior Online‘s matchamaker. While the Cauldron has been instrumental in breathing new life into MWO with massive balance changes to ‘Mechs and suggestions for map tweaks to create better matches, the Cauldron has not yet been able to tackle MWO‘s matchmaking system. There’ve been some suggestions that the Cauldron could help out with making matches fairer and faster, but there seems to be some hesitancy from Matt and Daeron to give Cauldron all the keys to the kingdom despite all the good the Cauldron has done so far. 

Another thing that would help MechWarrior Online immensely is the possibility for multiple spawns in Quickplay matches. One of the biggest problems I have with MWO is that I spend way more time waiting for matches to begin than actually playing them, something that multiple respawns would solve. Respawns already exist in certain event queue game modes, so changing up Quickplay to have longer matches via respawns would help bring the play-to-waiting ratio back to a healthier level. Daeron said that he’d look into it with PGI’s engineers.

And of course, there’s talk of the Stone Rhino. A classic Clan beast that has yet to appear in MechWarrior Online, fans have been calling for this iconic ‘Mech for years. Matt’s response was “no comment,” but the hints are there. It seems like a matter of “when” now rather than “if.” 

Ever Wonder How Iron Wind Metals Makes ‘Mechs?

Heard y’all like mechs..? 👀
by u/IronWindMetals in battletech

Well, thanks to Iron Wind themselves, you can now see how those metal ‘Mechs are made. It looks like the rubber molds are placed on a centrifuge and then spun around as hot pewter gets poured into the center. The centrifugal force then pushes the metal into the molds which then cool after just a few seconds. Just clean up a few of those metal tags and you’ve got yourself a Steiner Scout Squad. 

How About Some What-If ‘Mechs?

Mech Redesigns-banshee-awesome-stalker-daishi (my art)
by u/geergutz in mechwarrior

We’ve featured geergutz before, and that’s because they do good work. Here we have several redesigned ‘Mechs that seem to break out of BattleTech‘s traditional style for something just a little different. I like it, and geergutz has a bunch of them posted over on Reddit that I think are definitely worth a look.

MechWarrior Living Legends Releases April Schedule Of Events

Monthly Events – April
by u/Bird-Thing in MWLL

We can’t have a news blast without an update from everyone’s favorite free multiplayer MechWarrior game. MechWarrior Living Legends will host a number of games throughout April, including control matches on April 2nd and 29th, single-life matches on the 16th, and a Chaos March tournament on Saturday, March 22. Most games start at 7 PM UTC (that’s 3 PM ET), but the Chaos March matches will start at 6:30 PM UTC (2:30 PM ET). Teamspeak info is in the Reddit link above.

All Systems Radical

All Systems Radical
by u/AGBell64 in battletech

There aren’t too many Thunderbolts with jump jets out there. There are even fewer Thunderbolts with massive ‘Mech-sized skateboards. I think that makes this Thunderbolt pretty special. Thanks for sharing, AGBell64.

Whew, another long one for March. I don’t expect April to slow the BattleTech roll, so expect Sarna to return next month with everything you need to know.

And as always, MechWarriors: Stay Syrupy.

stay syrupy

4 Replies

Your BattleTech News Roundup For November, 2022

2022/11/30

Literally nobody has asked me, “Sean, how have you avoided COVID for so long?” And if someone were to actually ask I’d reply that I’ve cloistered myself in my basement apartment where I only go out for food and hiss at everyone who knocks on my door, thus also providing me with a steady stream of “free” takeout food from restaurants that don’t ask me to pay in advance. However, today my streak might have been broken by a wave of malaise and mild congestion that appears to have come from nowhere. We’ll see what the swab says by the time I’m done writing this article.

Anyway, there’s a surprising amount of BattleTech news leading into the holiday season, so let’s not mince too many words getting to all these big surprises. It’s time for all the best BattleTech the world has to offer, courtesy of Sarna.

More Deets On Mercenaries Kickstarter Announced For March 2023

Mercenaries Kickstarter Kodiak Diorama via Catalyst

Catalyst has gotten some specifics with the coming Mercenaries Kickstarter. The new crowdfunding campaign, which brings over 50 new miniature designs, arrives on March 23, 2023 at 11 AM ET--the first day of AdeptiCon, where Catalyst will also be present.

“I’m an equal-opportunity gamer and enjoy playing nearly any type of game,” said managing developer Randall N. Bills in a statement. “But walking past endless tables of amazing terrain and fantastically painted miniatures is an incredible experience unto itself. If you love miniatures games, AdeptiCon is the place to be. And we couldn’t imagine a more perfect venue for launching our Mercenaries Kickstarter.”

Although primarily focused on Warhammer, BattleTech has been around for almost as long, and in recent times has even snagged a few former Warhammer players fed up with Games Workshop’s policies. Announcing what will surely become a multi-million dollar campaign at AdeptiCon is probably a big get for the convention. 

In other Catalyst news, a brand new anthology just got released on Amazon and your favorite e-publications. Fox Tales collects all five Fox Patrol short stories into a single book and includes an entirely new Fox Patrol story that’s never been published. Set at the tale-end of the Dark Age era, Fox Patrol was an independent mercenary unit that had basically three members for the bulk of its history: Captain Katie Ferraro in her restored Kit Fox, Evan Huxlet in his Locust, and Arkee Colorado in his Quickdraw.

I gotta say, I’m intrigued by Fox Tales. Not because Evan and Arkee are boyfriends, which is still a nice bit of inclusion for the 32nd century, but because the gal in charge drives a ‘Mech I’ve always loved. The Kit Fox isn’t quite bad enough to truly be a Bad ‘Mech, at least in my eyes, but it’s close. All firepower and barely enough armor and mobility, the Kit Fox defines what I like to call the “spunky” light ‘Mech. You can never write off a Kit Fox, and making the Kit Fox the star of its own novel series alongside another favorite of mine, the Quickdraw, just demands that I dust off that Kindle app and type in my new credit card info.

There’s also a new digital box version of the Jade Phoenix Trilogy, a series of novels I’ve read three times already so I don’t really need ‘em again, but you can never go wrong with the classics. And finally, the Alpha Strike Box Set is now available for purchase on Catalyst’s website. Ever wish BattleTech tabletop didn’t take multiple days to complete a game? Alpha Strike might be for you. 

No New Rommel Models As Tank Gets Axed From Future Development

Rommel Tank

Even before the official announcement of the Mercenaries Kickstarter campaign, Catalyst teased out a bunch of new model designs for tanks and VTOLs that had BattleTech miniature painters all aflutter on the BattleTech forums. Somebody asked if we’ll see the Patton and the Rommel redesigned, to which BattleTech line developer Ray Arrastia responded, “no Rommel. You won’t be seeing that again.” The scuttlebutt about town is that the Rommel is unofficially dead, potentially due to someone at Fanatics having a problem with one of their IPs being associated with a Nazi general. 

And fair enough. Rommel has often been too hyped for being the Desert Fox that folks often overlook the fact he was a card-carrying Nazi. Historians are divided on whether Rommel was merely complicit or an enthusiastic supporter of the holocaust, but the bottom line is he wasn’t a nice dude, and I’m not upset that his name won’t be used to represent a fictional tank in the future.

Plus, the Patton is basically the same damn tank anyway, so there’s no need for the Rommel to exist. The Patton/Rommel thing was a joke on the M3 Grant/Lee tanks of World War 2, and while that’s probably funny to a significant portion of BattleTech’s players, I don’t think that humor outweighs the cost of honoring a general best left forgotten.

Anyway, the Rommel will still be listed on Sarna and you can still get older models from places like Iron Wind Metals if you desperately need one for your collection. 

Crusader Callback To Comachos Caballeros

And now in Brilliant color! from battletech

I kinda wish there were more BattleTech comic strips. I know comics are way more difficult to produce than novels, but if BattleTech comics were more of a thing, we could have something like this piece from Reddit user meltdonw14. 

I’m pretty sure this scene was taken from the novel Close Quarters, where Father Roberto “Call me Bob” Garcia takes a swing at an Atlas in his Crusader. But it’s been years on this one for me, so maybe it was Hearts of Chaos? Definitely one of the Comacho’s Caballeros novels, that’s for sure.

Art of BattleTech Brings The Summoner To MechWarrior 5 (With A Little Help)

Summoner / Thor Classic mod for Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries - Wolf Trailer
Watch this video on YouTube.

After bringing us the Timber Wolf and Vulture Classic mods, The Art Of BattleTech (aka SankaraSamsara on Nexus Mods) has returned with yet another Clan ‘Mech. The Summoner is at least as famous as the Timber Wolf and Vulture, having been the personal ride of Aiden and Marthe Pryde for most of their respective careers. Ugly and imposing thanks to its asymmetrical layout, the Summoner is a feared design, and now you can pilot one in MechWarrior 5.

Like the previous mods, the Summoner is based on the original Clan design from Steve Venters. The model was done by Alan Yeoh, and Art of BattleTech has a laundry list of folks to thank for helping him figure out the animations, which you can read over on Nexus Mods. You can also download the mod there too, or just search for the mod on MechWarrior 5‘s Steam Workshop. That’s what I usually do for my mods. 

And if the Summoner is here, then you just know it wouldn’t be too long before the Hellbringer showed up. Following Steve Venters’s design meant that half the work on the Hellbringer was already done, with the legs, lower torso, and right arms shared between the two designs. Same deal with the Summoner, find the Hellbringer on Nexus Mods and Steam Workshop.

MechWarrior Online Offers Free Shadow Cat For November

Shadow Cat D MechWarrior Online Event

MechWarrior Online is giving away a couple of ‘Mechs. First, for the month of November, players can take part in the ongoing freebie event which can net them a Shadow Cat SHC-D. That’s the one with the ER large laser, twin medium pulse lasers, a Streak SRM-6, and some machine guns. And an ER small sort of as an afterthought. Honestly, you’re going to want to double up on those ER larges or lean into a medium pulse laser strategy. But first you’ll need to accumulate 9,000 total match score throughout the event. You got a few weeks left as the event goes until early December.

Next is the MechWarrior Online Annual Reward, which actually already arrived on November 22. Those that were active players during the year received 6.5 million C-bills, a free ‘Mech bay, 100 general skill points, and a year 9 cupcake cockpit item. Those that bought MC at any point throughout the year got their choice of any previous year’s light or medium Loyalty ‘Mech and 100 GSP, while anyone who purchases one of this year’s ‘Mech packs (excluding the Platinum or Booster Packs) get their choice of any light or medium Hero ‘Mech and 100 GSP. Those that purchased any of the Booster or Platinum packs will generally get a Hero ‘Mech of their choice, although the rules get evermore specific depending on the precise nature of the purchase. For more details, head on over to the annual rewards page. Note that selections must be made before January 31, 2023, so don’t expect those free ‘Mechs to arrive before then.

And finally, we got a patch with some big changes for MechWarrior Online‘s maps. Terra Therma Classic is now Terra Therma Crucible, with the second floor of the map eliminated in favor of a first floor covered in lava with much more open lines of sight. The capture point on Domination will be right in the center of that lava pool, which sounds pretty dangerous. Emerald Vale and Grim Plexus have had their terrain cleaned up, Hibernal Rift will now prevent people from sniping atop the glacier, and HPG  and Polar Highlands should now have fewer stuck ‘Mechs, and Vitric Station has received a number of smaller adjustments. There’s a few more, but you’ll need to experience those changes for yourself in-game. 

Not too many ‘Mech quirks to talk about so I’m going to skip ’em. As always, the full patch notes are available on the MechWarrior Online site. 

A Lego Catapult Is Here To Offer Long-Range Fire Support, One Brick At A Time

Hansen Bricks Catapult

You might remember Kevin Hansen of HansenBricks.com as the talented modeler who created this Uziel or the even more impressive King Crab. After more than two years, he’s back with a new Lego build: the Catapult. 

Hansen based his design on the MechWarrior Online/MechWarrior 5 version “as it was personally my favorite.” The final model is about a foot tall and uses 2,200 pieces, which you can view along with the model’s instructions over on the HansenBricks site. It’s big enough to fit a minifigure in case you wanted something that’s to scale with Lego’s itty-bitty plastic people.

Catalyst Partners With Humble Bundle To Offer The Perfect Introduction To BattleTech 

Humble BattleTech Bundle

Humble Bundle is usually where I turn to if I want lots of games on the cheap--usually from specific publishers, but sometimes it’s whatever Humble gets its hands on. This time, Humble has gotten its hands on a bunch of BattleTech stuff to offer an “Introduction To BattleTech Book Bundle” just in time for the holidays.

From now until December 16, you can get up to $350ish value in BattleTech books for the low price of $30.00. This being Humble, the idea is to encourage people to pay more for the proceeds to go to charity--in this case, the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, which offers financial and other assistance to US Naval and Marine Service members and their families. 

The 28 items offered are all digital except for the BattleTech Beginner Box Set, which won’t be shipped until January. And if you can’t afford the full $30, you can still pay to receive a smaller number of digital items, which Reddit user honicthesedgehog has kindly broken down for me. All items are listed cumulatively, so paying for a higher bundle gives you everything in the cheaper bundles too.

$1+ gives you:

  • Alpha Strike Commanders Edition
  • BattleMech Manual
  • BattleTech Primer V2
  • Recognition Guide ilClan v1

$10+ gives you: 

  • Chaos Campaign: Succession Wars
  • Combat Manual: Mercenaries
  • House Arano: The Aurigan Coalition
  • Legends
  • Technical Readout: Clan Invasion
  • Technical Readout: Succession Wars
  • Total Warfare
  • Touring the Stars: Tyrfing

$18+ gives you:

  • Battle of Tukayyid
  • Battle of Tukayyid Supplemental
  • Combat Manual: Kurita
  • Empire Alone
  • Era Report 3145
  • Field Manual: 3145
  • IlClan
  • Pesudotech: Arcade Operations
  • Shattered Fortress
  • Spotlight On: Crescent Hawks
  • Tamar Rising
  • Total Chaos
  • Turning Points: Irian
  • Turning Points: Misery
  • Turning Points: Tyrfing

$30+ gives you:

  • BattleTech: Beginner Box (promo code for the Catalyst store, doesn’t include shipping)

“There are MechWarriors like you in every generation. And I have felled every last one of them.”

Nightstar Mihaly Ace Combat 7

Courtesy of ValkyrieRaptor

I see a lot of great minis being painted online, so I can’t really give them all a shoutout otherwise I’d just be gushing over minis every month. But ValkyrieRaptor made this Ace Combat 7 crossover and I simply have to gush over it because Ace Combat 7 is perhaps one of my favoritist games, ever.

Ace Combat has been around for a while, and it’s always generally the same sort of game: a flight-combat action game with an anime-inspired plot that’s about as ludicrous as you can imagine. Ace Combat 7‘s plot involved the silent protagonist being accused of murdering a former president that was inspecting a space elevator, being relegated to a penal colony of fighter pilots, and then saving the world from an army of AI-controlled drones. 

It is all bonkers nonsense, but it’s so off the wall that it’s wildly entertaining. Plus, the game really makes you feel like a fighter pilot, adding just enough real-world fighter concepts to trick you into thinking you’re the greatest ace pilot in the world without needing to have the actual knowledge necessary for a real flight simulator like DCS. 

Anyway, one of the characters in Ace Combat 7 is an older gentleman named Mihaly Dumitru Margareta Corneliu Leopold Blanca Karol Aeon Ignatius Raphael Maria Niketas A. Shilage, or just Milhaly for short. He’s sort of the game’s recurring antagonist and an absolute maniac at the controls of his Sukhoi SU-30, which can perform maneuvers that even the cocaine-fueled and G force-immune protagonist can’t. His line is that he’s seen “pilots like you in every generation,” and he’s “felled every last one of them.” It’s the sort of writing that I wish we could see more of in a MechWarrior game, but I think BattleTech fans have historically been a little too grounded for that sort of thing.

Mihaly’s SU-30 is a thing of beauty, and when applied to a new-sculpt Nightstar, it’s sublime. According to ValkyrieRaptor in his Clan Invasion campaign, this MechWarrior plays the antagonist in his experimental Nightstar. Let’s just hope he’s not also programming a drone army, or whoever’s playing that campaign is in for a rough time.

How Would A Goliath Wear Pants?

Goliath Pants

Courtesy of CorneliusBreadington

We’ve all wondered how a centaur would wear pants (or if it would wear pants at all), so it only seems natural to ask the same question of the Goliath. CorneliusBreadington also provides us with several additional options for the Goliath, including short short shorts. They’re like short shorts, only they somehow hide less of that booty than if you wore nothing at all.

I am very much hoping this goes on sale somewhere before Christmas. 

Stand And Deliver

Last Stand, me, 3D Studio Max + Arnold + Photoshop, 2022 from mechwarrior

I’m pretty sure this is a Warhammer IIC, one of the greatest ‘Mechs ever made and one of the deadliest combatants anyone can ever hope to face on the battlefield of the 31st century. French artist Guilhem Bedos kindly shared their work on Reddit, which is where it caught my eye. Note the almost dazzling urban camo paint scheme that really lights up with those twin PPCs. Just the thing to warm the heart with old man winter bearing down on us.

MechWarrior Online Announces Hatchetman ‘Mech That Can’t Use Iconic Hatchet

MechWarrior Online Hatchetman

I’m about as surprised as anyone on this one. After years of denying us any melee-wielding ‘Mechs, PGI just announced the Hatchetman will be coming to MechWarrior Online. However, melee weapons still won’t be usable in MechWarrior Online. They are in MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, but melee weapons are just cosmetic in the online PvP of MechWarrior Online.

This obviously begs the question of just what the heck that Hatchetman will do with what amounts to a four-ton paperweight in its right arm. Judging by the pre-release specs, the weight of the hatchet is being replaced by some extra heat sinks and armor on the standard 3F-model, with similar swaps being done on the other five variants to be introduced. Early adopters can pre-order the Hatchatman Package for $40, with deliveries expected in-game on January 3.

In game terms, that hatchet will likely just extend the hit-box of the right arm to make it more like a shield rather than a weapon, thus making it advantageous for MechWarriors to place everything on the left side of the ‘Mech. That might prove effective, but there are plenty of ‘Mechs that can dead-side effectively. The real draw of the Hatchetman has and should be the hatchet, and being unable to use it makes me question why the Hatchetman is being brought to MechWarrior Online at all.

MechWarrior 5 To Receive Rise Of Rasalhague DLC In January

As hinted at last week, PGI has surprised us with more MechWarrior 5 DLC. Rumors were that PGI was done with MechWarrior 5 after Call to Arms and that it was now working on MechWarrior 6, but apparently, those rumors were false because MechWarrior 5 is heading to Rasalhague in January.

Rise of Rasalhague will bring an all-new 12-mission quest line for mercenaries to follow in their campaigns. It will also add the Crusader ‘Mech that was recently added to MechWarrior Online and a whopping 11 variants for it. It’ll also bring a new Rival Mercenaries feature, “allowing you to interact with numerous other mercenary companies and the infamous Bounty Hunter.” Working in areas garrisoned by other mercenary groups can result in hostile invasions or friendly assistance, depending on your relationship with that merc group. And doing bounties for the Bounty Hunter can result in some sweet loot.

One of the images on the Rise of Rasalhague page is for a new mission type called “Infiltration,” and I want to point out that the screen capture shows an Atlas sneaking into an enemy base to destroy several ‘Mechs before the general alarm sounds. I’m guessing the Steiner Scout Squad was called in for that particular contract.

In addition to the new expansion, a free game update will be sent to everyone who owns MechWarrior 5 with an improved AI, QOL enhancements, and an expanded ‘Mech hanger. Thank the ‘Mech gods for that last one because I was simply exhausted with swapping out ‘Mechs when I suddenly found myself on a mission with a vastly different weight limit to the one I’d just completed.

Rise of Rasalhague and the free update both arrive on January 26. And, according to PGI president Russ Bullock, there’s “more stuff in development.”

And that’s it for November! Join us next month as we celebrate the holiday season with whatever stuff you got for Christmas.

And as always, MechWarriors: Stay Syrupy.

Update: The test was negative, so I suspect the true culprit was those tacos I had last night.

stay syrupy

79 Replies

Your BattleTech News Roundup For October, 2022

2022/10/31

I normally start these news blasts with complaints about the weather or how everything that could have gone wrong in my new condo has, but instead I’m going to focus on the positives and pose a question to everyone. I’ve been replaying MechWarrior 5 now that I’ve got all the DLC, and it’s really made me fall back in love with perhaps my favorite bad ‘Mech, the Quickdraw. However, I’ve sort of accidentally made the Hunchback my signature ‘Mech thanks to the icon I end every article with. I certainly don’t hate the Hunchback, but I think it’s a little too effective for me. Amusing jank above showstopping power, as I always say.

My question to you: is the Hunchback forever the Sarna ‘Mech now or can I swap to a Quickdraw sometime without people getting too confused (or even noticing)? Maybe I’m just overthinking this. Anyway, on to the news for October.

Duncan Fisher Says Trans Rights

Just in case you were wondering. I never had any doubt, since I’m sure humanity has evolved far beyond petty squabbles over gender identity in the 31st century, but we could certainly use a bit of that forward-thinking right now. 

Wolves Featured In Halo Mod Showcase Alongside 343 Industries

Halo Modding Community Showcase (2022)
Watch this video on YouTube.

It’s rare to go a month or two without talking about Wolves, the fan-made MechAssault game in development from New Day Fiction. Wolves was recently featured in the VKMT Showcase, a YouTube community that nominally shows off Halo mods, but apparently, they let in Wolves simply due to MechAssault‘s adjacency to Halo on the original Xbox. The trailer is a lot of in-game footage of actual combat, real music that you’ll hear in the game, and even Wolves‘ first cinematic that shows the ending of MechAssault 2 from a totally new perspective (and largely redacted by ComStar). 

This is a pretty big deal for Wolves. This showcase even had a few folks from 343 Industries showing off a mod called Digsite. And despite being a Halo mod showcase, the comments from the live chat replay are all universally positive, with Halo fans all demanding the return of MechAssault. 

“It’s evident that the strategy of bringing in new players with MechAssault is working,” said New Day’s Pajama Boy. “I believe that using MechAssault to provide casual players with a laid-back social experience can help, even save the Mechwarrior IP. It’s an answer to a question we’ve been asking ourselves for a really long time.”

Pajama tells me he’ll be asking MechWarrior: Living Legends next time this showcase airs for a potential joint presentation. Oh, and Wolves is also releasing its soundtrack, so be sure to give it a listen if you like bangin’ tunes. 

Solaris: Tranquil Brings The Solaris Games To A Former Smoke Jaguar World

Commando Cup Mission 1
Watch this video on YouTube.

In our second instance of Duncan Fisher appearing in Sarna’s monthly newsletter, Duncan will appear in the upcoming MechWarrior 3 mod Solaris: Tranquil Games, a new single-player mod that finally brings Solaris to MechWarrior 3. Solaris has been a big part of the MechWarrior universe ever since MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries, where commanders would occasionally ignore their more militant trade for a while in order to become gladiators in the Solaris arenas. That’s been the case for every game that’s featured the “Mercenaries” subtitle until MechWarrior 5, but there’s still time for PGI to get a Solaris expansion out for the latest game.

MechWarrior 3‘s restricted narrative made it impossible for the player’s character to just stop their behind-the-lines commando raid of Smoke Jaguar’s occupied territory to go fight on Solaris, but that hasn’t stopped AncientxFreako from bringing Solaris to the planet Tranquil.

I reached out to AncientxFreako to get more details on Solaris: Tranquil, and it turns out that this is but one module of a larger upcoming MechWarrior 3 mod. Others will improve the enemy AI and instant action scenarios, while Solaris: Tranquil will focus on “arena-style free-for-alls.”. AncientxFreako described it sort of like how the NHL will put on the Winter Classic at famous locations, but for the BattleTech universe. Duncan Fisher explains the “Commando Cup” is a re-enactment of the commando-style raid during Operation Damocles, only instead of Smoke Jaguars fighting a single Eridani Light Horse MechWarrior it’s a whole bunch of Solaris gladiators sent out to Tranquil to blast the snot out of each other.

AncientxFreako also told me that the same group working on Solaris: Tranquil, called the MechWarrior 3 Community Project, is also hard at work remaking MechWarrior 3 in Unity. Called Unmech3, the project is reportedly “coming along very well,” with AncientxFreako toiling away since 2003. They’d love to hear more from the community and are especially helpful with getting MechWarrior 3 and the expansion of Pirate’s Moon to work on modern computer hardware. They also host multiplayer games on the weekends too.

You can find out more and receive up-to-the-minute updates by joining the MechWarrior 3 Community Project Discord here.

Catalyst Confirms Mercenaries Kickstarter Is Coming March 2023

BattleTech Mercenaries Kickstarter

After the wildly successful Clan Invasion Kickstarter, Catalyst announced the Mercenaries expansion was on the way. Originally set to arrive Q4 2022, Catalyst had to delay the Kickstarter slightly due to the “overwhelming” success BattleTech has enjoyed following the Clan Invasion‘s release. Methinks they had so much trouble keeping up with demand for the Clan Invasion that Catalyst wants to ensure all their manufacturing ducks are in a row before it pulls the trigger on Mercenaries.

“We simply can’t make new products quickly enough,” said Catalyst president Loren Coleman in an update from October 12. “We’ve created more than a half-dozen new BattleTech products in the past year, including the new Alpha Strike box set. Our miniature sculptors need more time to complete the designs required to launch the Mercenaries Kickstarter.”

Hey, perfection takes time, and that’s fine by me. Mercenaries promises to add over 50 new designs, from ‘Mechs to tanks and VTOLs. Examples include the Demolisher, Galleon, and Maxim tanks, as well as the Goliath, Hermes II, and Rifleman IIC ‘Mechs. There are of course going to be lots more, and you can see a few of those new sculpts in previous months’ news blasts.

In other Catalyst news, we’ve got more ilClan Recongition Guides on the way! Covering the upcoming Mercenaries Kickstarter, Volume 25 will arrive Friday, October 28, while Volume 26 was confirmed to feature something I honestly can’t identify. Is that a new variant of the Avatar? A new and improved Daikyu? Or is it something we’ve never seen before? These two new volumes will be joined by six more (that’s eight total, bringing us to 32 volumes of ilClan Recognition Guides) which will be out by early next year. These new guides will include combat vehicles and battle armor too.

On top of that, Catalyst confirmed they will produce two printed versions of the Recognition Guides in 2023. The first will include all the “classic” designs that have been refitted for the ilClan era and is due early next year, while the second is scheduled for the middle of 2023 and will include all the new BattleMechs, new OmniMech variants, vehicles, and battle armors previous released in the Recognition Guides.

MechWarrior Online Puts The Party Back In The Partyback And Also Overhauls The Osiris

MWO Oct 18 2022 Patch Notes

Those of you who don’t play MechWarrior Online might be wondering what the heck is a “Partyback.” It’s the Hunchback HBK-4P, where the “P” stands for “Party” thanks to all those medium lasers making it a walking rave. I did not coin this ‘Mech’s unofficial name, but I will publish it in Sarna to ensure it remains on the public record.

The Partyback is getting some ludicrous buffs, including a -5% heat quirk and an additional STD/ER or Pulse Medium Laser before suffering from dreaded ghost heat. This will hopefully make the HBK-4P a force to be reckoned with and worth picking up over the Hunchback IIC. 

Meanwhile, the Osiris will enjoy quite a few new quirks over its assorted variants, with all of them receiving structure bonuses to the arms and most receiving fun new sensor, targeting, or consumable-enhancing quirks. 

Snub-nose PPCs have once again been nerfed with a reduction in maximum range, and medium pulse lasers have had their range increased. For more, check out the patch notes on the official MechWarrior Online website.

The Battle Between Warhammer And BattleTech Described In A Single Image

That’s a cute little bolter you have there from battletech

I heard a little while ago that a bunch of Warhammer folks had converted to BattleTech in order to escape Games Workshop. I don’t have any statistics about this or anything, but I can at least welcome our new Warhammer converts with the gift of a Rifleman, as is BattleTech tradition.

Personally, I don’t think there’s really any way to reasonably argue for one universe over the other. Yes, BattleTech has big stompy robots, but so does Warhammer, plus all those weird psychic powers and demonic nonsense that just doesn’t clean my coolant tubes, if you catch my meaning. But hand me a neurohelmet and a Quickdraw with a busted ankle actuator and I’ll show you some real space magic.

Duncan Fisher’s Writer Has Tragically Passed

The last time we hear from George Ledoux today is unfortunately for a eulogy. Ferret Boudoin (born Eric Boudoin) died earlier this month due to complications from cancer surgery. Boudoin was perhaps best known as the lead designer for Fallout 76 and the Dragon Age series, but he was also one of the designers that worked on MechWarrior 4: Black Knight and Mercenaries. Although credited as a designer, Ledoux confirmed that he actually wrote every line of dialogue for Duncan Fisher in MW4: Mercenaries.

“It was an honor to help you flesh out the iconic character by providing the voice for the role,” wrote Ledoux on Twitter. “I’ll never forget you.” And neither should we.

Fochts News Network Announces BattleTech Events for 2023

Are you in the Toronto area and not sure where to play some good old-fashioned tabletop BattleTech? The Focht’s News Network just updated its Facebook page with a bunch of events it’ll be attending for 2023. This includes Anime North’s Halloween Event on Friday followed by Toronto Comicon later in March. Both of those are in Toronto, but Focht’s News Network is also heading to Columbus Ohio in June for the Origins convention.

Did I shout out these folks for being near my hometown or for having a great name? Yes. Moving on.

Xbox Live Returns To OG Xbox Thanks To Fan Project

MechAssault

Back in 2010, Microsoft ended Xbox Live support for the original Xbox console. This meant games like Phantasy Star Online became entirely unplayable, but it also meant games like MechAssault lost their online multiplayer functionality. For over a decade, OG Xboxes have been unable to connect to one another to experience the pure joy of violent giant robots blasting each other with high-explosive ordinance. But that’s soon about to change.

Insignia is a fan-led initiative that essentially replaces Xbox Live’s servers with ones that are run by fans. This will reconnect all those old games and restore game modes that had been previously lost. Yes, that means multiplayer will soon return to MechAssault as well as Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, another beloved FASA title that never got the due it deserved. Insignia will launch with 17 games supported but the group plans to restore more games in the future.

The closed beta for Insignia begins November 15 with signups on the official site here. You’ll need an Xbox or an Xbox emulator like Xemu to join up.

That’s it for October! Join us next month for another roundup of all the BattleTech news that’s fit for human consumption.

And as always, MechWarriors: Stay Syrupy.

stay syrupy

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Your BattleTech News Roundup For September, 2022

2022/09/30

It’s September, and thanks to hurricane Fiona, an unusually wet and dismal one. I’ve also recently moved, and that wet and wild weather is making it exceptionally difficult to convince myself that I should fill my new fridge with foodstuffs. If there’s no October news blast, you’ll know I’ve starved.

But at least we’re never starving for BattleTech news here at Sarna. Here’s what I’ve managed to rustle up for September. Hope you’ve brought your appetite because this month is a doozy.

Dall-E Makes MechWarriors

Dall-E BattleTech

Courtesy of Reddit user JoseLunaArts

A lot of you have probably already heard about Dall-E, the artificial intelligence that can take text prompts and turn them into actual pictures. Depending on the prompt they can look more than a little janky, but some prompts have generated some really beautiful images. Take anything from the DnD Dall-E Twitter account and you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.

Dall-E 2 is currently in an invite-only beta, so not everyone will have access to this AI, but Reddit user JoseLunaArts used their access to generate some BattleTech-themed images. And apparently, one of their text prompts was “Sandra Bullock as a MechWarrior,” because that’s the first of nineteen images that Dall-E 2 spat out. There’s also a lot of Milla Jovovich doing her best Natasha Kerensky impression. 

As cool as I think this technology is, it probably won’t have a lot of application in BattleTech--at least, for the time being. Dall-E needs a large database of images to draw from in order to create its pictures, and while there’s a lot of BattleTech art out there, it’s nothing compared to the vast quantity of photos of Sandra Bullock. On top of that, BattleTech‘s ‘Mechs are extremely nuanced, and Dall-E doesn’t do particularly well with fine details. Just look at the picture above to get a sense of the mishmash of machines Dall-E comes up with.

However, there are a lot of concept artists out there concerned that something like Dall-E is going to put them out of work. It’s not hard to see why; if I can just ask Dall-E to generate convincing fantasy pictures for a D&D setting, then I don’t have to pay someone to draw art for my homebrew expansion. Maybe one day it’ll do the same for ‘Mechs. 

In World Where BattleTech Was Sold At Walmart

Detocroix, who knows exactly how to get my attention, created this fan mockup of a BattleMech singles box while I was away on vacation. Apologies for not getting to this until September’s news blast!

You know how a lot of D&D, Star Wars, and various other game minis can come in little single packs? Well, what if Catalyst did the same thing, but for ‘Mechs? And what if those packs also contained other components so that you technically got four ‘Mechs in one plastic package? Sounds like a fun idea, although I know a few plasti-crack heads who would probably go bankrupt if they had to pay for each ‘Mech individually like this. So long as you can still buy box sets in bulk, I’m all for this idea. Bonus points for using Eldon’s Urbex design on the packaging.

This Is Exactly What The MechWarrior 3 Into Looked Like And You Can’t Convince Me Otherwise

Punakettu MechWarrior 3

Courtesy of Punakettu

Speaking of images that Dall-E can’t generate, this image inspired by MechWarrior 3 was recently posted to the BattleTech subreddit by Travis of the Gallery 3025 Patreon (which you should subscribe to). It was done by Punakettu, and it’s definitely how I remember the intro of MechWarrior 3. Nevermind the fact there’s another image of the true  MechWarrior 3 intro in the gallery; that second image is a fake. Punakettu’s pic is just how I remember it. 

Space Port City Biome Mod Now In Beta For MechWarrior 5

Quick MW5 Mod News Update: vonBiomes SpacePortCity! Polishing the new biome & getting things ready!
Watch this video on YouTube.

As far as I know, there’s no new content on the way for MechWarrior 5. At least, not from official sources. The good news is that means there’s plenty of opportunity for modders to expand on the latest MechWarrior title with their own little spin.

One of those modders is vonSeiten, the guy behind the vonBiomes series of mods as well as the vonHUD mod. His latest mod is Space Port City, a massive biome that turns MechWarrior 5‘s procedurally-generated maps into an enormous urban environment filled with glass-covered skyscrapers and towering satellite dishes. According to vonSeiten’s latest video, there are over 90 randomized tiles in Space Port City, which can make procedural generation difficult. That said, things seem to be coming along pretty well, with DropShips coming and going in the background. 

You can request access to the beta test of Space Port City by heading to vonSeiten’s Discord. The beta is expected to run until sometime next month before it goes live on vonSeiten’s mod page.

The Vindicator Is A Fantabulous Beginner ‘Mech

Catalyst announced the new BattleTech Beginner Box Vindicator Edition earlier this month, largely because it contains the new Vindicator miniature. For some reason, Catalyst decided to pair the Vindicator against the Griffin, which doesn’t seem like a particularly fair fight. The Griffin has the mobility advantage while the two are largely matched for armor and firepower. Hopefully, the Vindicator‘s pilot skills equalize things.

The new Beginner Box set includes a simplified 12-page rulebook, eight erasable Record Sheets, four pilot cards, one double-sided map, two plastic minis, and a 24-page novella. You can order the new box set on Catalyst’s site for $24.99.

Shrapnel issue 10 is also out, which I don’t normally consider newsworthy, but I’m making an exception here. First, it’s twice as big as usual, so if you’re looking for good value, this is the issue worth snagging. And also, there’s a certain new mini design on the front cover that happens to be a personal favorite of mine.

Clan Protectorate Heckin’ Protecc

Latest commission from u/Amenton37 finished. Sea Fox and Spirit Cat Protectorate mechs at their mountain stronghold. from battletech

SU-SMD’s latest commission (courtesy of Reddit user Amenton37) is from an era and faction we don’t normally see a lot of. Here we have a Sea Fox Regent alongside a Spirit Cat Protectorate Amarok out on maneuvers at a mountain stronghold. I was devastated to hear that the Nova Cats had been wiped out in the Dark Age, but it warms me to know that at least some of these Clanner hippies have survived to go on spirit quests in the ilClan era.

Natasha Sleeps With An Uzi Confirmed

Eldonious, our lovely resident artist who does the covers of each and every Bad ‘Mechs article, also takes commissions. One of his more recent pieces was for @AdventuringZone over on Twitter. It showcases Natasha Kerensky at two points in her career, first as the commander of the Black Window Company, and second as Khan of Clan Wolf.

I don’t know a whole lot about Clan Wolf ceremonial garb, so I can’t really comment on whether Natasha’s scantily-clad barbarian huntress look is accurate. However, I’m pretty sure that young Natasha is holding an Uzi in her left hand, which is an Israeli submachine gun that’s about as bonkers as most weapons Israel has ever produced. So now I have to look up whether the Uzi survived into the 31st century or if Natasha just had a penchant for antique firearms. 

Introducing Mech Ball. It’s like Football, But Bigger And Only Slightly Less Violent.

Mech Ball

Courtesy of Slartibrtfast

Reddit user Slartibrtfast shared several images of a custom map they’ve described as ‘Mech Ball. The map looks suspiciously like a football field, only scaled up to ‘Mech size and covered in hexagons. Slartibrtfast describes the game as two teams trying of ‘Mechs that each has their own ball and are trying to deposit it at the opponent’s goal. The first to do so wins.

Is ‘Mech Ball limited to just physical combat or are weapons allowed? Are there weight restrictions so a star of Fire Moths can’t just zip to the endzone in two turns? Can you mine your end of the field so that crossing into the goal results in the loss of a leg? I don’t have the answers to these questions. But I do know that Slartibrtfast is debating selling this map on their Etsy store page. Please do message them for additional info, and then tell me what you find out since this could be the next big thing in BattleTech.

GridlockCosplay Destroys Halloween For Every ‘Mech Dad, Ever

Battlemech/Mechwarrior Mk2, Extreme Cosplay Costume
Watch this video on YouTube.

A couple of years ago, some of you might have seen this video rolling around the internet of the world’s best dad. That’s because he’d created a ‘Mech costume where he’d carry around his daughter in a strap-on seat while he played the role of a walking death machine. The suit had a working cockpit door, a rotating radar array, a buzzing Gatling gun, and a yoke that could order daddy to pick up the pace in order to acquire Halloween candy faster. 

Now, Jack “@GridlockCosplay” Thomson is back with his ultimate creation: a fully-functional Catapult cosplay. 

This thing is incredible. First, it’s got a powered cockpit hatch and motorized torso allowing the Catapult a full 360 degrees of motion (far more than the actual Catapult is capable of). It also has articulated arms allowing the wearer/pilot to aim their payload with deadly precision. The legs aren’t articulated in the same way as the Catapult, but that’d be hard to do when the ‘Mech’s locomotion is entirely human-powered.

According to Thomson himself, this behemoth took two years to create and $1,000 CAD in materials. It even includes multiple two-way cameras so the wearer can actually see where they’re going. This thing is almost as high-tech as a real ‘Mech.

I have yet to ascertain whether or not you can actually put a small child in the cockpit seat. I’ll be sure to report back after I’ve found out. This thing has clearly nuked every other ‘Mech cosplay from orbit, and I’m excited to see what happens when this thing strolls down the street for Halloween.

A Marauder And A Raven Set Forth At Dawn

Dawn Patrol from battletech

1001WingedHussars gives us this painted piece featuring a Marauder and a Raven going on a “Dawn Patrol.” It looks like the Raven has gotten a head start, which is just typical of those little scout ‘Mechs. Always running off and getting into trouble. 

KerenskyCon II Teases New Minis, Vehicles, And A Strategic BattleTech Board Game

KerenskyCon II recently wrapped and we have a lot to discuss. First, hats off to the BattleTech Community Twitter account for throwing a whole bunch of pictures together from various sources to showcase what we missed.

First, there’s a BattleTech strategy game. I see cards, colored plastic minis, and boards with faces likely representing various personalities from the Inner Sphere around the year 3025. I also see a whole bunch of d12s and counters ranging from poker chips to clear plastic cubes. My guess? BattleTech Risk, but better because it’s in the future. 

Moving on, we’ve got alternate mini configurations for the UrbanMech, the ‘Mech that’s quickly becoming BattleTech‘s mascot. Next we got the BattleTech Mercenaries box sets that have already been previewed a few months ago, but I will never get tired of seeing the Nightsky, Gunslinger, Penetrator, and Sagittaire.

Elsewhere we get to see the various ‘Mech packs, such as the Inner sphere Pursuit Lance (comprised of the Cicada, Hermes II, Clint, and Dervish), the Inner Sphere Recon Lance (Firestarter, Spider, Javelin, and what could be a Spector but I’m honestly not sure), and the Inner Sphere Security Lance which consists solely of Scorpions.

I kid. There will probably be three additional ‘Mechs planned for the Security Lance, but they likely haven’t been made/decided yet (really hoping to see the new Assassin in here). Ditto the Inner Sphere Battle Armor Lance. 

Last, there’s something called BattleTech Command, which also looks like a strategic BattleTech board game, only much smaller in scale. I suspect this is going to be a unit-based strategy game, but I’m just speculating here.

All these are coming with the Mercenaries Kickstarter, which is expected to launch any day now. A good thing too as I’m pretty sure I saw a Quickdraw in there, and I needs me my favorite bad ‘Mech.

And that’ll do for September! Join us next time as we discover what fresh hell awaits us in October.

And as always, MechWarriors: Stay Syrupy.

stay syrupy

11 Replies

Your BattleTech News Roundup For August, 2022

2022/08/26

August has been blissfully warm. Which is nice, since renovations have been a months-long string of disasters that have left me a husk of a man. The situation has convinced that perhaps the best life path for me is to actually quit writing entirely to focus on learning how to build kitchen cabinets and standing showers without having to pay anyone else.

While I contemplate the many wrong life choices that have brought me here, I will at least provide you all with your BattleTech news for August.

Catalyst Cuts Ties With Long-Time Author, Blaine Lee Pardoe

This technically happened at the end of July but it was basically right after we’d already published last month’s roundup. And man, this blew up my timeline along with everyone else’s. 

We’ll start with Catalyst’s statement, which simply stated it had “suspended publishing new works by long-time BattleTech author Blaine Lee Pardoe, primarily due to Mr. Pardoe’s online activities which do not align with Catalyst’s publishing vision.” Those of you who don’t follow Pardoe’s Twitter account might wonder just what those “online activities” might be and how they could be so bad as to cause a rift in a business relationship that had lasted 36 years. 

BlainePardoe

For an explanation, we’ll turn to Blaine Lee Pardoe himself, who published his side of the story in American Greatness, a news site that even its own Twitter account describes as “a hotbed of far-right Trumpist nationalism.” Blaine provides his account of what happened in an article titled “My Publisher Canceled Me in Favor of an Activist Who Threatened My Life,” where he accused Catalyst and BattleTech license holder Fanatic of caving to the demands of a “woke mob” that increasingly saw Pardoe’s political discussions online as… concerning.

I’m not even going to get into the bizarre odyssey of Pardoe’s alleged stalker, mostly because it seems like a he-said she-said that Pardoe plays up to rile his conservative supporters. 

Pardoe then posts an update to his personal blog where he goes into the call he received from Catalyst president Loren Coleman (another longtime author of the BattleTech franchise) as well as an email where executive editor John Helfers called Pardoe’s non-BattleTech work “drivel.” In case you were wondering, that “drivel” was book two of Pardoe’s Blue Dawn series of novels that describe an alternate reality where neoliberals overthrow the American government and replace it with a progressive/socialist one. 

Some of you might think that sounds great, but the blurb really makes it clear that the novel is targeting the kind of conservative audience who confuse “socialism” with “bad.” 

Helfers later apologized for what was apparently an accidental email CC, but it’s clear here that Catalyst had a real problem with Pardoe’s non-BattleTech career. Statements from both Catalyst and Coleman confirmed that this separation has nothing to do with Pardoe’s BattleTech works or novels, many of which remain the universe’s narrative cornerstones. 

There’s been a ton of community drama, some siding with Pardoe, some with Catalyst, but all of it just highlights how American politics has become so pervasively polarized. And that’s coming from a Canadian, a country which desperately tries to keep its nose out of American politics (barring softwood lumber or electric cars). 

Also, kudos to Insaniac99 on the BattleTech Reddit for providing links to those Facebook blurbs, since I have a general policy of staying away from Facebook as much as possible even without a category four shitstorm raging. 

Tex Talks About The Inner Sphere’s Great Houses

BattleTech 101: The Great Houses of the Inner Sphere
Watch this video on YouTube.

Another quick hit for July that I totally missed because YouTube’s algorithm is garbage. Tex and the Black Pants Legion did a new video describing the major Houses of the Inner Sphere. It’s a much quicker hit that Tex’s usual Tex Talks BattleTech fair, and is a great primer for anyone looking for a relatively quick explanation of the BattleTech universe. There’s also some new art in here too, so I’m even going to encourage BattleTech veterans to check it out. 

MechAssault 2 Mod Adds Wave Survival Mode

MechAssault 2 | Grinder Enhanced 2 (Dev Update) | Last Resort
Watch this video on YouTube.

I’ll admit it, I’ve never played MechAssault 2. But from the looks of this mod (and Wolves, the fan-made MechAssault game) I missed out on something pretty cool. But if you own a copy of MechAssault 2, you don’t have to miss out on what looks like a pretty cool mod.

Grinder Enhanced 2 comes courtesy of EliteAssault over on YouTube. It adds a new survival-based map where you get to take on waves of Word of Blake ‘Mechs using your choice of BattleMech and with the help of a few friends. Things keep getting progressively more difficult, with more enemy ‘Mechs dropping in until finally the player is overwhelmed. The objective is to last as long as possible and rack up as many kills before your reactor goes nova.

Check out EliteAssault’s Discord for directions on where to download the mod.

Catalyst Brings A Massive UrbanMech To Gen Con (And Previews Some New Stuff Too)

GenCon 2022: Catalyst Game Labs Battletech Alpha Strike
Watch this video on YouTube.

Finally getting to true August news, Catalyst was in full force at Gen Con 2022. And to prove it, they even brought a life-size UrbanMech with them. Sadly, it’s not a real UrbanMech, but a mere inflatable copy. Still, this is the closest we’ve come yet to seeing a real-life BattleMech walking around. Or waving its inflatable autocannon at us. 

Inside Gen Con, Catalyst showed off a bunch of new products, starting with the new Alpha Strike Box Set. Inside you’ll find a quick rules book, a bunch of Alpha Strike cards, some pilot cards, and 13 ‘Mechs, several of which have brand-new designs. There’s the Pouncer, a ‘Mech that proves all you need is Clan tech to make a 40-ton chassis workable, and the Wraith, a 55-ton Inner Sphere ‘Mech that proves all you need are pulse lasers and jump jets to take on almost anything. 

There were also copies of Empire Alone on sale, as well as the BattleTech Beginner Box set, a new T-shirt with a Banshee on it, and a selection of BattleTech‘s latest novels including A Question of Survival by Bryan Young and Land of Dreams by Randall N. Bills.

Elsewhere at Gen Con, Catalyst treated to a bunch of teasers for even more new models. Courtesy of the BattleTech Community Twitter account, we got to see teasers for some new sculpts. I spot a Javelin, a Clint, a Dervish, and a Scorpion, as well as Warrior VTOL and what might be the Behemoth tank. I’m sure there’s way more that I’ve missed, so please do share your best Gen Con reveals in the comments below. 

The Urbie Has The Spirit

Besides getting to see his beautiful UrbanMech design immortalized as an inflatable, Bishop Steiner also gave us… this. I’m not exactly sure what denomination this UrbanMech belongs to, but I understand that communication is the key to a successful religion, and it looks like this UrbanMech understands that too.

What If The King Crab Was In MechWarrior 3?

King crab in style of Mechwarrior 3 from mechwarrior

Honestly, this model seems like it could be good enough for MechWarrior 4. Thankfully, we never had to deal with the twin AC/20s hidden inside the King Crab‘s claws in either game, but TedwinK66’s animation does make you wonder. 

BattleMech Plush Prototypes Spotted

Archer Atlas Plushies

It’s been a while since we’ve seen the teaser of those BattleMech plushies, so it’s about time we checked in. And guess what? We got a set of pics for each of the new plushies coming. 

Courtesy of Reddit user Beskaryc117, who grabbed these pics off Twitter, we get to see what we’re in for. In the first image, we have two Archers and an Atlas. And in the second, a Phoenix Hawk. It doesn’t look like the Hatchetman is part of this set, which is a shame, but you can’t expect Catalyst to bring an entire roster of iconic ‘Mechs in a single go.

But a Hatchetman would have been nice. Outside of a Whitworth of course. 

No New ‘Mechs Planed For MechWarrior Online, But Updates Continue

Podcast 229 - Developer Chat - Q3 - 2022 Roadmap - Mechwarrior Online
Watch this video on YouTube.

And now we move on to MechWarrior Online news. And the news for MechWarrior Online is there is no news. Or there’s at least very little news. 

A new interview with No Guts No Galaxy’s Sean Lang and Matt and Daeron at PGI revealed there’s not a whole lot is going on with MechWarrior Online. New mapmaker Francois has left the company and the MWO team doesn’t have the resources to create new ‘Mechs or maps. Hence why the roadmap has been updated to not include any map after the Terra Therma rework which is still scheduled for October, and why there are no new ‘Mechs on the horizon.

Which is a shame, since apparently, the Crusader was both successful financially for PGI and a big hit with fans. The Crusader was one of the few remaining Unseen ‘Mechs that have never really been in a MechWarrior game, and it’s so nice to see that old battlewagon make its virtual debut. 

That’s not to say that things will remain this way forever. Matt and Daeron are still negotiating with the higher-ups at PGI to get the staff they need for new content whenever they become available. It might just take a little while. And we should keep in mind that staff not working on MechWarrior Online means they’re working on something else. Wonder what that might be?

Support for MechWarrior Online continues with balance updates and bug fixes. The Commando and the Cougar are the big winners in this month’s quirk pass, but there was also some fine-tuning performed on some Phoenix Hawk, Warhammer IIC, and Marauder II variants. Light machine guns were buffed, and Snub PPCs--which have dominated the meta ever since their buff in July--have been nerfed with additional heat and heat scaling. Whether that’ll be enough to stop the Snub-pocalypse in MechWarrior Online remains to be seen, but I’m at least confident that the Cauldron is keeping an eye on things and will take even more drastic steps if necessary.

And that’s it for August! Join me next time where I’ll hopefully have moved successfully and it will still be warm enough for me to call it summer in September.

And as always, MechWarriors: Stay Syrupy.

stay syrupy

Your BattleTech News Roundup For April, 2022

2022/05/01

Taxes. I still need to do mine, and that’s why this intro is going to be extremely short. BattleTech news for April, go!

PseudoTech: Arcade Operations Released For April Fools Day

Eldonious is the fantastic artist who does the cover images for the Bad ‘Mechs series, so of course, I’m going to plug his recent work for Catalyst’s 2022 April Fools product, PseudoTech: Arcade Operations. It’s a tongue-in-cheek sourcebook that offers alternative styles of combat in Solaris with a classic arcade flavor. Think power-ups, boss fights, and even a Tetris mode, which is both confusing and concerning. You can pick up the PDF for three bucks over on Catalyst’s website.

Wolves Previews Puma As Part Of Wave 3’s Planned Multiplayer Update

Mechassault Fangame - Wolves Wave 3 Puma Showcase
Watch this video on YouTube.

Wolves, the MechAssault fan game that’s promising to bring MechAssault kicking and screaming into the future, is gearing up for its Wave 3 update. We’ve seen the folks over at New Day Fiction make significant progress on their passion project over the years, and now they’re gearing up for the release of a new wave of ‘Mechs to be added to Wolves’ roster.

One of those ‘Mechs just happens to be the Puma (or Adder, if you’re nasty). New Day Fiction’s Pajama Boy joined texture artist Knightly Doggo to showcase the Puma in a seven-minute video posted to the MechAssaultReborn YouTube channel. Doggo confirmed a few of the features coming to Wolves, including a planned multiplayer mode that will let players browse and join servers hosted by other players. Waves 3 will contain four ‘Mechs, one for each weight class, with the Puma being the light ‘Mech and the Timber Wolf as its heavy. Best of all, that multiplayer mode will arrive with Wave 3’s launch. 

The only bad news here is that there’s no concrete launch date for Wave 3. Wolves is a fan game, so these folks all have day jobs to attend to first. We’ll hopefully get that launch date in the coming weeks. 

MechWarrior Online Dev Blog Reveals Revamped Skill Tree

MechWarrior Online May Features Update
Watch this video on YouTube.

Some time ago, MechWarrior Online introduced its worst feature, the skill tree. Requiring 92 clicks to complete and so confusing that you needed a degree in brain rocket surgery to understand, the skill tree was roundly criticized by the community at the time, and it hasn’t changed much since then. In my experience, what sucks the most about the skill tree is while it can offer substantial buffs to your ‘Mech’s performance, it becomes mandatory to take a fully-skilled ‘Mech onto the field the further up the MechWarrior Online skill rankings you are. Taking an unskilled ‘Mech into a tier-one match feels like taking a recently-be-shat baby into a sumo wrestling match. 

Thankfully, I have some good news. Developer PGI’s recent development vlog has revealed significant changes coming to MWO’s skill tree. The skill tree will become far easier to understand by breaking up trees into related groups, while the number of clicks will be reduced by letting the player just click once to unlock all skills in a node. 

What’s so amazing about this change is that you’ll finally be able to get the skills you want without being forced to pick skills you don’t want. Getting armor nodes won’t require getting skeletal density nodes, and getting the laser durations nodes won’t require getting every single other node in the firepower tree. Everything will have its own itty bitty tree so you’ll finally be able to customize your ‘Mech the way you want it.

With a few exceptions. Seismic is still locked behind at least four targeting nodes, and a fully-powered ECM is locked behind eight sensor nodes. Consumable slot upgrades are also locked behind several other nodes so perhaps MechWarrior Online will become less Airstrike Warrior Online in the near future.

Best of all is that no refunds will be necessary when the new skill tree rolls out and unlocking new skills will be a lot cheaper than before. This might even encourage new players to stick around for more than a few quick play matches. 

Matt Newman also mentions a few other upgrades coming in future patches, including a specific event queue that might arrive alongside the revamped skill tree. Both are tentatively planned for the May 24 update, according to the recently updated 2022 roadmap, so cross your fingers it all goes according to plan. 

In the meantime, there are two new Platinum ‘Mech Packs for both Inner Sphere and the Clans if you like your ‘Mechs looking like flat chrome, a few adjustments to weapon health, and several more ‘Mechs got a quirk pass in April’s patch. These include the Huntsman, Wolverine, Black Lanner, and Archer, alongside some more adjustments to the Rifleman, Hellbringer, and Dire Wolf. You can check ‘em all out in the patch notes here.

Renegade HPG Posts Remaster Of Remastered BattleTech Animated Series

Watch this video on YouTube.

Renegade HPG and The Art of BattleTech did us all a public service by using modern technology to remaster the ’90s BattleTech cartoon last year. Unfortunately, some of the episodes were still of very low quality simply due to the degradation of the source material. However, Renegade HPG has recently sourced better versions of a few of the episodes that weren’t quite up to par in his initial remaster project and he’ll be replacing those episodes over the coming weeks.

All this is to say that BattleTech: The Animated Series is back and better than ever. Check it out over on Renegade HPG’s YouTube channel if you haven’t already. Or if you just wanna binge the whole series again.

MechWarrior 5 Announces Third DLC, “Call To Arms”

Call to Arms Key Art

Last month, we found out that the Hatchetman would make its MechWarrior debut, and that it’d bring its iconic hatchet with it. Now in April, we’re finding out that the third DLC is called Call to Arms, probably because it’s bringing a full suite of melee weapons to MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries.

Besides the Hatchetman‘s hatchet, Call to Arms is bringing eight other melee weapons, including Battleaxes, Claymores, Katanas, regular Axes, Trench Blades, Long Swords, Claws, and Maces. For some reason, these weapons are broken down into Assault, Heavy, and Medium categories, and it’s not entirely clear why. This might indicate that only Assault ‘Mechs can wield Battleaxes, or it might just be a handy short-hand for identifying the weight of the weapon itself. I certainly hope light ‘Mechs can still wield melee weapons since the Mjolnir seems to wield a mace just fine at 25 tons.

In addition to the melee weapons themselves, Call to Arms brings 23 new melee-focused ‘Mech variants, five more Hero ‘Mechs that are also wielding melee weapons, and an all-new animated Stormsurge skin. It certainly looks cool, but I don’t BattleMech technicians wasting optic camouflage tech on a paint job, so this skin seems a little out of place. We’ll also get three new biomes in Call to Arms to give players a little more variety in where they engage in giant robot mayhem.

Call to Arms will also launch alongside a free update that adds several new features to the game, including a flexible mission tonnage system that’ll let you take ‘Mechs way over the tonnage limit into missions at the cost of some C-bills. If I recall, there’s already a mod that basically eliminates the weight limit for no penalty, but I can see why it’d be a slightly more interesting game mechanic to sacrifice C-bills for bringing the Steiner Scout Lance on patrol. There are also a few updates to the star map and contracts screens, and a new mechanic that lets you switch to a lancemate’s ‘Mech if yours gets taken down.

And of course, there’s a five-mission questline that’ll take you to the Isle of Skye to capture a brand new Hatchetman. So you’ll at least be able to field the Hatchetman almost immediately upon getting the DLC.

So, when is Call to Arms coming out? That we don’t know. The official site says “coming soon,” so my guess is sometime this summer. After that, I suspect that’ll be a wrap for MechWarrior 5, and then hopefully onto MechWarrior 6. Fingers crossed on a Clan Invasion-themed game.

Don’t Piss Off A Wolverine

A painting of that one time my Wolverine pilot soloed a lance of light mechs and won. from battletech

Could a Wolverine solo a lance of light ‘Mechs and win? The answer to this question is apparently “yes” since that’s what happened to Reddit user 1001WingedHussars. They also immortalized the occasion in this fantastic piece showcasing the hero Wolverine charging a Wasp before blasting it in the back with a Gauss Rifle slug. Thanks for sharing, 1001WingedHussars, if you’re curious, you can get the full story straight from the source here.

Catalyst Announced New ‘Mech Packs And Mercenaries Kickstarter

Hansen's Roughriders

Catalyst just made a slew of announcements, which you can view on the official site here. Easily the biggest is Mercenaries Kickstarter, which will attempt to replicate the success of the Clan Invasion Kickstarter with 50 new plastic minis that range from both before and after the Clan Invasion. Examples include the Firestarter, Griffin IIC, Ostroc, and Kraken, but also several tanks such as the Galleon Light Tank, SRM/LRM Carrier, and Demolisher Heavy Tank. “A variety of mercenary-themed stretch goals will also be included,” Catalyst notes. If this is even half as successful as the Clan Invasion Kickstarter, I suspect we’ll see a bunch of those stretch goals become reality.

KS-Mercenaries

There are also several new ‘Mech Packs coming in autumn that might give us a taste of what’s to come in the Mercenaries Kickstarter. The Eridani Light Horse Hunter Lance includes the Sagittaire, Banshee, Cyclops, and Thunderbolt, while the Hansen’s Roughriders Battle Lance includes an Enforcer, Atlas (which is in a new pose), Hatchetman, and Penetrator. The Northwind Highlanders Command Lance includes a Highlander (of course), a Grasshopper, a Warhammer, and a Gunslinger (although the non-final example box has an Atlas), and the Kell Hounds Striker Lance includes a new Wolfhound, a Nightsky, a Griffin, and a Crusader. Later in 2023, the Gray Death Legion will bring a new variant of the Gargoyle (the C variant, from the looks of it), an all-new Regent, a Shadow Hawk, and a Catapult-K2.

New ‘Mech minis aren’t the half of what Catalyst has announced. In July, the first ilClan-era sourcebook arrives in Empire Alone, alongside two updated Tactical Operations Advanced Rules and Units with full errata. The third quarter of this year brings Technical Readout: Dark Age, which will combine ‘Mechs previously featured in Technical Readout: 3075, Technical Readout: 3085 (and Supplemental), Technical Readout: 3145, Technical Readout: Irregulars, Technical Readout: Prototypes, “and more.” Michael Ciaravella’s new novel, The Damocles Sanction, also comes out third-quarter this year, and Bryan Young’s new novel, A Question of Survival, comes out later this summer. And in the winter months, Dominions Divided tells us what’s going on between the Federated Suns and Draconis Combine, as well as how the Rashlhague Dominion is taking the news of Clan Wolf’s victory on Terra, and finally, a new BattleTech Universe primer will do its best to summarize all the important plot beats of BattleTech between now and the year 3150.

That’s not everything, of course, so check out Catalyst’s news update to get the full rundown of products coming.

Atlantic City To Host Classic BattleTech Tournament

Atlantic City Open

The Everything BattleTech Facebook page recently shared this link to what is being billed as a Classic BattleTech Championship in Atlantic City. The tournament is being hosted by Frontline Gaming Community, is being held at Harrah’s Resort, and will run the weekend of June 10. Sign-ups are available now.

I’m not a huge tabletop guy, but the rules sound pretty standard. No force may exceed a total Battle Value of 6,000, no Aerospace units are allowed, and ‘Mechs can be chosen from the BattleTech Force Packs Record Sheets Wave One, Wave Two, and Wolf’s Dragoons. Elemental battle armor is allowed if you’re going for a combined-arms Clan army. Older miniatures are allowed, but tournament organizers are encouraging at least 80% of fielded forces to use minis currently available from Catalyst and Iron Wind Metals. 3D-printed minis are banned.

Apparently, this tournament isn’t just going to be a free-for-all, and specific mission objectives will be announced in the coming days. This could greatly influence your unit composition, so check those objectives before you get your heart set.

Well, That’s A Lot Of Collateral Damage, But I Guess The Contract Has Been Satisfied…

Contract Complete from battletech

Sneaking this one just under the deadline is Reddit user yi-ngo, who posted this amazing piece to the BattleTech subreddit. It depicts the pained expression of a Davion liason seeing just what sort of mayhem this mercenary lance got up to in the service of the Prince. Or at least, that’s how I imagine it.

Tex Talks BattleTech Talks About The Warhammer

Tex Talks Battletech : The Warhammer
Watch this video on YouTube.

It has been almost a full year since Tex Talks BattleTech brought us the Marauder. Now, Tex is back with the Warhammer, and as always, it was well worth the wait. This is an even longer video than the Marauder, as Tex and the Black Pants Legion seem to have no concept of the term “mission creep.” As in previous videos, Tex starts off with an interesting subject that seemingly has little relation to the Warhammer before bringing things full circle with an insightful and detailed dive into the Warhammer’s history, and also a rundown of the most popular Warhammer variants (although, not all of them, because there are a lot of Warhammer variants). There’s also a crapton of new art from various BattleTech artists, an all-new animation from D.C Bruins featuring Randolph P. Checkers, and a full 20 minutes of goofy bullshit at the end. And yes, drunken Duncan Fisher once again makes an appearance.

There are a lot of great BattleTech fan videos out there, but it’s hard to compare them with the monumental amount of effort that the Black Pants Legion put into this one. Watch it.

And that’s it for April! Join us next time as we dive deep into another Bad ‘Mechs ahead of everything that’s happened in May.

And as always, MechWarriors: Stay Syrupy.

stay syrupy

 

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Your BattleTech News Roundup For September, 2021

2021/09/27

courtesy of PGI

September will be a month to remember. This month, not only did many of us receive our Clan Invasion Kickstarter packages, but we’re also getting a very special present in MechWarrior 5. For the first time in a MechWarrior game, we’re going to be able to play giant rock ’em sock ’em robots.

And yes, I’m aware Hairbrained’s BATTLETECH did melee combat first (and also allowed shoulder charges and mule kicks, too), but there’s something viscerally satisfying about punching a ‘Mech in first-person. It’s going to be so sweet.

As usual, we got a lot to talk about so we’re not going to dwell too much on the arrival of melee combat in a MechWarrior game for the first time, ever. Don’t worry, we’ll pick that thread up later. For now, on to the news!

The MechWarrior Online World Championships Are Back

The MechWarrior Online World Championship Series is back, baby! This was technically announced at the end of August, but we’re pushing this into the September news just due to how amazing it is. 

The last time we saw an officially sanctioned competitive MWO tournament was back in 2019 when PGI held an invitational-style tournament due to falling player numbers. The 2020 tournament never happened, which was unsurprising given how PGI was hard at work on MechWarrior 5 and the pandemic was putting a stop to many game events and tournaments.

But that’s all in the past. The MWO Champion Series returns in 2021 in collaboration with the MWO Comp community, a group of die-hard MechWarriors who kept the competitive spirit alive while MechWarrior Online went through its Cauldron-fueled metamorphosis. 

The rules seem to be mostly the same as previous championships, with 8v8 games featuring all tech and ‘Mechs available with a maximum of 3 ‘Mechs in each class with no duplicates allowed. A 480-ton maximum is also applied, so there’s no loading up on heavies and assaults allowed.

The competitive queue is already available to all MechWarrior Online players who are part of a competitive team, with the queue open on Thursdays and Saturdays. The competitive queue closes on October 18, and then round one of the double-elimination finals begins on October 30 with the grand finals on December 11. Prizes will be both in-game and real-life cash prizes. 

It’s going to be a very interesting tournament with all the changes that the Cauldron have instituted. New builds, new ‘Mechs, and new strategies will be employed to account for the refreshed maps that have arrived throughout 2021. It’ll also be exciting to see if there are any new faces that have arrived in the competitive scene thanks to MechWarrior Online’s renaissance.

But speakin’ of new maps, a brand new refreshed Caustic map arrived on September 21’s patch, along with another quirk pass. ‘Mechs like the Griffin, Enforcer, Thanatos, Ebon Jaguar, and Rifleman are all getting revamped quirks along with many, many more designs. Check out the patch notes to see if your favorite ‘Mech just got a facelift that’ll bring it into the current MechWarrior Online meta.

See The Timber Wolf In All Its Glorious Variations

SU-SMD recently started on an expedition to draw every version of the Timber Wolf, from Prime to Z, along with unique camo schemes for various Clans employing each design. I like ’em, since you hardly ever see a Timber Wolf other than the Prime variant, with its big, boxy launchers and paired laser pods. I can’t wait till we get to the U alternate configuration for some underwater Mad Cat action [UPDATE: it’s everything I imagined.]

Sarna Unveils A Searchable Map Of The Known Universe

First off, I want to make it clear that I had absolutely nothing to do with this herculean effort. That credit all falls to Sarna Cartographer Gruese, founder and editor-in-chief Nic, as well as the team members of Operation: Doneve. This searchable map will be made available on the main site as well as in the Discord, which you can find here.

This map covers the Inner Sphere and the rest of the known universe right up until the year 3151. Additionally, each planet will have its own centered map which allows you to see which factions owned it during which period. Just click the little arrow over the map to bring yourself forward or backward through BattleTech‘s eras.

You can see the whole map of the Inner Sphere here, and get an example of the planetary-focused maps by looking at Park Place here. It took over 6 years to catalog over 3,000 planets/systems, but the results I’d say are worth it. 

MechWarrior 5 Generated 160,000 Sales For Steam Release

We don’t know how many copies MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries sold when it was first released on the Epic Games Store, but we do know how many it sold on Steam and Xbox. This comes courtesy of a recent financial report from EG7, developer PGI’s new Swedish overlords. An additional 160,000 units were sold when MechWarrior 5 was re-released on Steam and Xbox in May, with 75,000 Heroes of the Inner Sphere DLC purchases on top of that. About 81% of those sales were on Steam, so Xbox/GOG and Epic accounted for the remaining 30,000 in new sales.

That might not sound like a lot compared to all the many million-unit franchises out there, but EG7 considers this a financial success, and that’s all that really matters. EG7 will foot the bill for marketing and publishing, while PGI focuses on making new DLC and adding features to MechWarrior 5--such as the recently-announced Legend of the Kestrel Lancers. We’ll dive into that in just a second, but first… 

MechWarrior 5 VR Mod Goes Into Beta

Virtual reality compatibility was initially touted as one of MechWarrior 5‘s features back in the day, but the complexities of VR proved too much for PGI’s small development team. The feature was cut ahead of the game’s Epic release and there hasn’t been much discussion about it since then. Perhaps VR will get official support in the future, but in the meantime, we have mods.

Specifically, we have VRWarrior from modder Kitt, now available on Nexus Mods. This mod provides support for Oculus, HTC, SteamVR, and Windows Mixed Reality headsets to experience MechWarrior as never before. 

As someone who only recently got their first VR headset, there is nothing that compares to the level of immersion you achieve with VR, and especially for games that put you in some sort of vehicle. Games like Beatsaber and Superhot are fun and all, but when you can only move a few feet in any given direction before you hit an invisible wall, it sort of ruins the experience.

Sitting down in a chair with a headset and a game controller doesn’t have that problem. What VR does is allow you to move your head and look in the direction your head is pointing. This makes you feel like you’re really in the cockpit of a giant death machine, and that’s a feeling that’s difficult to replicate outside of VR. 

However, VRWarrior isn’t perfect. The mod only works when you actually get into a mission, with all the in-between menus and dropship scenes still happening on a flat monitor. It’s also still in very early beta, so expect there to be bugs (many of them are already noted on the Known Issues portion of the mod’s page). But either way you look at it, I’m excited for VR to finally find its way to MechWarrior. 

Gallery 3025 Brings Us Yet More Great Art

A little while ago, we saw this Archer as a work in progress, but now Jayden Morris has unveiled the finished product on Gallery 3025. It’s pretty amazing, and as always, I encourage you to assist Gallery 3025 by subscribing so they can bring even more precious BattleTech art like this into the world.

MechWarrior 5 Punches Onto PlayStation Along With New Legend Of The Kestrel Lancers DLC

MechWarrior5: Mercenaries - Legend of the Kestrel Lancers Expansion Pack Features.
Watch this video on YouTube.

Big, big news for MechWarrior 5. First, the game is heading to PlayStation. PGI senior community manager Daeron “Bombadil” Katz made the announcement on the official PlayStation blog earlier this month, noting that this will be the first time that a MechWarrior game has come to a Sony-branded console since MechWarrior 2: Arcade Combat Edition for the PlayStation. 

Besides receiving full crossplay with both the PC and Xbox versions, the PlayStation 5 version of MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries will include support for the DualSense controller’s haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. It’ll also come alongside a free update that lets players swap control of lancemate ‘Mechs during gameplay--another all-new feature never-before-seen in a MechWarrior game.

There’s also one other new feature coming with the free update. Fans noted in the PlayStation 5 announcement that there were some UI tweaks, and in the weapon’s table there was something labeled “HANDS.” A follow-up tweet from PGI offered a tongue-in-cheek “no comment,” but basically confirmed that the game was getting melee-based combat--a first for any MechWarrior game. 

Fast forward a week and PGI announced the new Legend of the Kestrel Lancers DLC will arrive at the same time as the PlayStation launch of MechWarrior 5. This new DLC brings MechWarrior 5‘s timeline up to the Fourth Succession War, which saw the newly-formed Federated Commonwealth steal away planets from House Kurita, House Marik, but mostly House Liao. This all-new 14-mission campaign will bring “unique mechanics, authored missions, and custom dialogue and cinematics.”

There’s also going to be new ‘Mech skins, 23 new ‘Mech variants (with a lot of Archers, for some reason), three new biomes (Jungle, Tourmaline Desert, and Megacity), five new random mission types (Scorched Earth, Objective Raid, Targeted Kill, Guard Duty, and Battlefield), and seven new quest lines including the new “all-out-war” battle scenario.

Also confirmed with the DLC features trailer was what MechWarriors have been asking for since as far back as I can remember. Melee combat will finally appear in a MechWarrior game.

It seems like it’ll be limited to just punching, which means only ‘Mechs equipped with fists will get the option to play rock ’em sock ’em robots. However, ‘Mechs with fists are the ones that often needed a little extra to feel the most impactful in the game. My Quickdraw suddenly shoots from bottom-tier to top-tier heavy ‘Mech, along with the Commando and Panther.

The mighty Atlas probably didn’t need the help, but I doubt anyone is going to complain. 

We still don’t know exactly how melee will work, but I’ll assume it’ll be like a weapon system that you can bind to a button and then launch a haymaker at anything that’s close enough. 

Lancemate ‘Mech-swapping and melee combat are included in the free update that launches alongside the PlayStation release of MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries. Legend of the Kestrel Lancers will include the new campaign, sidequests, and 23 new ‘Mech variants. Both are launching on September 23. 

Hatamoto-Chi Is The True ‘Mech Of The Samurai

I couldn’t go without featuring SU-SMD’s other BattleTech piece, a commission from Everything BattleTech’s David for a Hatamoto-Chi in full Draconis Combine samurai regalia. This is the sort of thing that reminds you that the Dracs have a lot of very pretty ‘Mechs so long as you can get over the retro-futuristic aesthetic.

BattleTech Is Slowly Being Turned Into Audiobooks

I’m not sure if any of y’all knew this since I didn’t know it until a helpful Sarna reader pointed it out, but BattleTech’s many novels are slowly being converted into audiobooks. You can head on over to Audible to see which books are currently available, such as The Gray Death Legion saga, Wolves on the Border, and A Bonfire of Worlds. I’m a big podcast guy, so audiobooks are a great thing to slip into my usual listening habits. 

The narrators for books already converted are fine, but I’m holding out for Tex’s rendition of Michael Stackpole’s Blood of Kerensky series. Tex made the announcement on the official Black Pants Legion YouTube page, adding he’s under an NDA so he really can’t offer too much in terms of comments. All he told me was that he needed to upgrade his computer hardware just to render the audio of sufficient quality and that he considers himself an “ultimate amateur” in the audiobook biz, so don’t get too excited.

He also wasn’t able to offer me a timeline, so patience is a virtue and all that.

BattleTech Returns To GenCon 2021

Catalyst Game Labs was at Gen Con this past weekend to showcase many of the new miniatures that arrived with the Clan Invasion Kickstarter Wave 2 packages. I got mine, by the way, and the minis are superb. I hope y’all get your packages in the coming weeks. 

To really make these new minis pop, CGL, Arcturus Rising, and Iron Wind Metal set up a diorama featuring a mixed landscape battle bookended by boxes of Clan Invasion ‘Mech Packs. You can even spot a few new Iron Wind sculpts in there, including the Goliath C, Sojourner, and Archer ARC-9W. 

We’ve got Guardian982 on Reddit to thank for these pictures, which also show a brand new official Annihilator hiding behind a building. The Iron Wind Metals ‘Mechs are available on its website now, while that Annihilator comes as part of a brand new Wolf’s Dragoons Assault Star Force Pack available from Barnes and Noble. This is an exclusive item, so you can ONLY get ’em from Barnes and Noble, and it’s a pre-order item too. Shipping for these Wolf’s Dragoons Force Packs starts December 15. Inside you’ll find the aforementioned Annihilator, but also a Rifleman, Archer, Blackjack, and a re-posed Timber Wolf.

And that’s in for September! Join us next month as we head into the spooky season with some more scary announcements.

And as always, MechWarriors: Stay Syrupy.

stay syrupy

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What’s up with Catalyst? at GenCon 2019

2019/08/06

With GenCon 2019 behind us, I can share a few tidbits from the Catalyst Game Labs crew via their What’s up with Catalyst? session.

Present were John Helfers (fiction director), Bryn Bills (Leviathans line developer), Randall N. Bills (managing director), Loren L. Coleman (owner), Brent Evans (BattleTech line developer), and Jason Hardy (Shadowrun line developer).

Catalyst Game Labs crew

Highlights:

Additional booth and product pics:

The session was recorded! Click below to watch on YouTube:

GenCon 2019 What's up with CGL

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Mech_Con Roundup Day 2 – Harebrained Show, Catalyst Announcements, And A New MWOWC Champion!

2018/12/11

Day 2, electric boogaloo! After PGI had their big huzzah on the first day of Mech_Con 2018, the rest of the BattleTech companies got their chance at glory. We had Harebrained Schemes show off their latest BattleTech expansion: Flashpoint, Catalyst Game Labs revealed some fancy dice and that the new box sets aren’t a year-long fever dream, and the MechWarrior Online World Championships crowned a new champion! 

Harebrained Schemes Has Old Men Fight In Giant Robots

Once again, Harebrained decided to showcase their latest creation by making FASA co-founder Jordan Weisman and Harebrained co-founder Mitch Gitelman duel to the death, but this time, instead of mindlessly jumping on each other for a solid hour, they had Hatchetmen. Er, I mean henchmen.

So that went well.

I sadly did not get to see this hopefully yearly tradition when it was broadcast live on Twitch, but thankfully, PGI kept the whole 12-hour video from last Sunday online. So you can see the entire debacle so long as you’re willing to skip to roughly 6 hours in.

Which I can do for you. You’re welcome.

Watch MechCon Vancouver 2018 from PiranhaGames on www.twitch.tv

Like I said, rather than fight it out themselves, the two grandfathers of BattleTech picked two randos out of the audience to be there “advisors”. And by choose, it was more like Gitelman picked the best BattleTech player in Harebrained’s office, while Weisman got Willian von Wilhelm Helmut, the guy who won the Valhalla Tournament Of Champions. Whatever that is.

But here’s the thing: BattleTech is a game of random numbers. And on top of that, Weisman and Gitelman weren’t all that good at taking instructions. Weisman eventually fired his general, while Gitelman often ignored sound advice in favor of performing yet another DFA maneuver.

This year, the numbers were on Gitelman’s side. While last year he had to serve as Weisman’s bondsman, this year the tables are turned and it will be Weisman who washes Gitelman’s car and brews his lattes. They are from Seattle, after all.

Afterward the fight (and somewhat during), the two hosted a live Q&A session about the future of BattleTech. They revealed that more Unseen ‘Mechs are set to arrive, including the Marauder and Warhammer heavy ‘Mechs, but not to expect them in the next planned expansion which is Urban Warfare.

Catalyst Game Labs Answers Questions, Proves That Box Sets Actually Exist

The boys and girls at Catalyst Game Labs were also at Mech_Con to show everyone going gaga over MechWarrior 5 that there’s a simpler, slower, and lower-tech way of playing BattleTech that involves dice, miniatures, and a lot of reading. No, more reading than that–veritable textbooks of reading. Tomes, if you will.

I kid. I only wish I had the free time to play an actual, sit-down-and-roll-dice game of BattleTech.

But also as with last year, Catalyst answered a bunch of questions from the hardcore BattleTech faithful, chief among them was “where the hell are those brand new box sets you’ve been promising since last year?”

The answer: in the warehouse, and expecting to be at brick and mortar stores by the end of the month. It sounds like it might miss the Christmas rush, but maybe you’ll get it in time for New Years.

Box Sets

In addition to the new box sets, Catalyst Primary Randall N. Bills and BattleTech Line Developer Brent Evans also dropped a few new items on the horizon, such as new map pack called “grasslands” (to arrive sometime in March) as well as a reprint of the BattleTech Manual for BattleTech’s 35th anniversary.

We also got some news about Shattered Fortress, which will become a stepping stone to the hotly anticipated Il-Clan sourcebook. We also got a strong hint that the universe will go back to hammering the Capellan Confederation into space dust in the tradition of the classic BattleTech novels.

As always, new fiction is the top priority for BattleTech fans, which Evans was happy to reveal that there are no less than 30 fiction projects of varying length currently in progress. These will become available via electronic distribution (ie. Amazon) as soon as they’re done, which we’ll report on once we’ve got a title to share.

Oh, and since the whole Unseen business is finally settled, expect to see some new sculpts coming out. We don’t know when, but some redesigned Warhammer and Marauder minis could be here sometime next year.

MechWarrior Online World Finals Crowns New Champions

A new day has dawned in competitive MechWarrior Online. Two-time champions EmpyreaL have finally been dethroned by last year’s runner-ups, Eon Synergy.

Whereas EmpyreaL was the dominant force in competitive MWO for several years, EON Synergy displayed incredible skill and tactics during this year’s tournament that made them completely unstoppable. Despite EmpreaL’s team of veteran players, EON never lost a game, and the look of absolute relief after proving that EmpyreaL is not invincible could be felt even through an LCD screen.

This year’s winning team were awarded medals and a shared first place prize of $34,653. They also got a ton of in-game content, although, with the amount of ‘Mechs these guys probably already have, one wonders just how much value they’ll get with an extra 50 million C-Bills.

And that’s it for this year’s Mech_Con! Join us next year when I’ll hopefully get paid to fly to Vancouver on first-class tickets due to the incredible importance of Sarna’s first-hand reporting! And I’ll be sure to bring my BattleTech TCG cards when I do. I heard there were a bunch of you jokesters playing this year.

And as always, MechWarriors: Stay Syrupy.

stay syrupy

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Mech_Con 2018 Roundup Day 1 – MW5 Release Date, Trailers, And A New ‘Mech!

2018/12/04

MW5 Banner

Another year, another Mech_Con has come and gone. Sadly, yours truly was unable to attend this year’s convention due to financial constraints (and because I couldn’t find a couch to sleep on in Vancouver), but that doesn’t mean we won’t talk about all the latest and greatest announcements that came out of the biggest BattleTech-only convention of the year.

This year’s convention was a 2-day affair, which means instead of trying to jam 24-hours of BattleTech awesomeness into a single 12-hour period (which went well into the wee hours of the morning if I recall correctly), the organizers have spread the announcements over both Saturday and Sunday. As the first day is all about MechWarrior Online and MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, we’ll be talking about those first.

MechWarrior 5 Release Date Announced

Last summer, MechWarrior 5’s December 2018 release date was pushed back to be sometime in 2019. Now, we have a specific date in 2019 when we can expect to see the first single-player MechWarrior experience in nearly two decades.

MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries drops on September 10th, 2019.

Along with the announcement at this year’s Mech_Con, developers Piranha Games dropped a brand new trailer to give everyone a taste of how it will feel to be a mercenary commander.

The trailer very much reminds me of Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries, and I suspect that’s very much by design. First, you see your female commander ride her Victor into battle against a Hunchback and a King Crab. Being out-gunned nearly two to one obviously doesn’t go well for the Victor, who blows up before even being properly introduced.

Next it switches to the player, who starts off in a Cicada. This again reminds me of MechWarrior 2: Mercs as my first ride after performing the Commando-required training missions was always the Cicada.

Of course, I was very young at the time and didn’t understand that the Cicada was a terrible ‘Mech. It went fast, had a few lasers, and weighed more than anything else on the field, and that was good enough for me.

After the Cicada, the player seems to upgrade to the Griffin GRF-1S, then follows that up with a Dragon, a Thunderbolt, and finally a Stalker. The clear implication is you build up your mercenary company from battlefield salvage as you go along, much like the old MechWarrior: Mercenaries games did.

MechWarrior 5 Mercenaries - MechCon 2018 Trailer
Watch this video on YouTube.

Some of the big takeaways here are the sound effects, which seem vastly improved over last year’s trailer, as well as the graphics and environmental effects, which are also improved.

Of course, this is just a trailer and not necessarily indicative of gameplay. That’s why we also have a 20-minute gameplay demo that also shows how far MechWarrior 5 has come since last year.

This gameplay demo comes courtesy of Giuseppe over at Twinfinite, who was lucky enough to sit in one of the 4 “pods” that PGI set up for Mech_Con. Each pod had a full Thrustmaster joystick setup and was tied together to test MechWarrior 5’s co-op capability, which is sure to be a game-changer for the series.

The demo starts off which each pilot walking along a dropship gantry to pick which ‘Mech they’ll pilot. Giuseppe hops aboard a Thunderbolt, which is a fantastic choice if I do say so myself. I’ve gotta say, the dropship’s Mechbay is a very impressive addition to the MechWarrior franchise and really gives you a sense of scale for the ‘Mechs you’ll be piloting.

As soon as the game starts, you can see a drastic improvement in graphics from last year’s game. Last year, things looked very drab, dull, and plain. This year, the colors seem more vibrant and there’s a much greater emphasis on textures and greenery to make the terrain come alive.

MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries New Gameplay (PC)
Watch this video on YouTube.

Admittedly, it does seem that framerate issues remain, so optimization will be a big deal. But PGI has 10 months to figure that out, which should be plenty of time. If last year’s game was a playable alpha build, this year seems much closer to a playable beta build.

Of particular note was the voice acting, which seems to take a page out of BattleTech’s book and casts some memorable voice actors to belt out some lines when beginning a mission.

The music seems adequate if not particularly outstanding, but that’s also subject to change in a year, and I’m sure you can always replace the tunes with MechWarrior 2 covers if you prefer.

Along with the 20-minute demo, we also got a sweet piece of box art for the game. Although it seems highly unlikely anyone will actually buy this game in stores, you still gotta have something to put on a web page to advertise your game, and once again, the talented Alex Iglesias hits it out of the park with this terrifying image of a rampaging King Crab.

Since when did the King Crab become the poster child of the MechWarrior franchise? It seems all the marketing material is going King Crab over Atlas these days.

MechWarrior Online Reveals Brand New ‘Mech – The Corsair

Just like last year’s introduction of the Sun Spider, PGI is bringing yet another brand new ‘Mech to the world of BattleTech.

Corsair

It’s called the Corsair, and Catalyst Game Labs’ Randall Bills has once again given the new ‘Mech his blessing with another fantastic short story describing its origin. I highly recommend going over to the MechWarrior Online website to give the Corsair a quick read-through, or you can get the Cole’s Notes version on our very own Wiki here.

The Corsair is described as a classic “FrankenMech” made from the bits and pieces that periphery bandits and pirate groups can salvage from whatever is available. According to the ‘Mechs description on the PGI website, all of these pirate FrankenMechs are cobbled together from various heavy and assault ‘Mechs and given the blanket designation of “Corsair.” This would mean that Corsairs don’t have any particular weight or loadout and can be made of pretty much anything.

And the Corsair’s visuals certainly confirm its hodge-podge nature. Its chest looks like the blade of a bulldozer, its right shoulder seems to come from a Thunderbolt, while the legs are only vague symmetrical without having any symmetry to their armor plating. Your guess is as good as mine as to where those arms came from.

However, when the Corsair is introduced to MechWarrior Online later in March, it’ll come with a set of standard loadouts and designations much like every other Inner Sphere ‘Mech. This sort of belies the Corsair’s FrankenMech nature by making every version come with the same tonnage (95-tons) and one of 5 weapon loadouts, but it’s likely that a variable weight ‘Mech would require a drastic overhaul of MechWarrior Online’s base code.

With MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries only 10 months away, there’s no way PGI would pour that kind of manpower just to make one ‘Mech a little more flavorful. If we’re lucky, we’ll see some true Corsair-style ‘Mechs in MW5.

The COR-5R sort of looks like if an Orion had sex with a Thunderbolt and then ran headlong into a bulldozer. An AC/10, LRM-15, SRM-6, 3 Medium Lasers, and one Large Laser is surprisingly competent for a pre-Clans era Inner Sphere ‘Mech. It looks like there are enough hardpoints to allow for quite some variation too.

As with any MechWarrior Online ‘Mech, the Corsair’s true performance will all come down to its quirks, but we won’t know about those until closer to the ‘Mech’s ship date on March 19th.

MechWarrior Online Announces Huge Holiday Bonus

via MWO

Last year, if you played MechWarrior Online on December 27th, you got two free hero ‘Mechs (the Sun Spider and the Roughneck) along with a ton of in-game cash and free loot. This year, they’re doing the same thing by giving away the hero variant Corsair as well as the upcoming Warhammer IIC.

A lot of people have fond memories of the Warhammer IIC as the best damned 80-ton assault ‘Mech you could use in MechWarrior 2. Those same gamers are hoping it will be the best damned 80-ton assault ‘Mech in MechWarrior Online. You’ll be able to find out for sure on December 27th if you play just a single game. You don’t even have to win--you just have to play.

Along with the ‘Mechs, you get 6,000,000 C-Bills in spending money (which should be enough to customize one of the two ‘Mechs), 1,250 MC (which is game equivalent of real-world money), and 7-days of Premium Time to encourage you to play a little longer than one game.

And that’ll do for today! Join us next time as we cover the MechWarrior Online World Championship Finals, announcements from Harebrained Schemes and Catalyst Game Labs, and maybe even peek at a few of the posted photos over on Twitter.

And as always MechWarriors: Stay Syrupy.

stay syrupy

 

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