44 replies to this topic

[plodder]

I read the term Table top many places without reference to what it is. The reason for the question mark is two fold. Is it like I imagine or think, that it is the original figurine table game with the hit points etc.? I think so, and that leads to the 2nd part of the two fold of the question mark. The table game was a genius idea, where real people, friends or foes could play at battletech.

People, real people, would be in the same room together(physically) to stategize with and against each other.......THAT IS AWSOME!!!!!!

Battletech book series connected with the science fiction minded of it's day. These people were, and are "THINKERS," unlike most of the pop shoot'em up bang bang gaming world.

The question 2nd mark is this-why would you not make this online vidio game the best you could ever imagine it? The way you "REALLY" wanted it to be in the table top game, but never could be because of the limitations in calculations, the time, the ability of those that made the game up.

I know I think:Those that played it were more dedicated to the universe of BATTLETECH than anyone else than the writers, or maybe more than some of them even, and they want it the way they see the it, or saw it.

Go way beyond Table top, but keep the laws of physics!!!!or close....

But I never played Tabletop. I read the books, or should I say, "lived the books."

Now a modern gamer (punk kid;mostly-JK) does not know or care about the history.

But we are chatting and telling our side of things, because we want to beat the snot out of some self rightious loser that really isn't near as good or know as much as ouselves or our team. (this is male bonding ).

Read the books Mechwarrior is Based on, if you cannot read, find a friend that will read it to you.

Thanks Uncle danno
P.s. Sorry so long, and sorry if I was wrong about Table top thingy

Edited by plodder, 03 January 2012 - 08:39 PM.

[Dlardrageth]

Main issue with sticking close to the CBT table-top with a computer game release these days would be the fundamental setup. There isn't much of a market left for round-based games, it seems. And no, I don't blame that exclusively on the "modern gamer/punk kid" like you put it. It is probably a general trend of society to go for instant gratification more than a careful, methodical approach, who knows? Only major title that still somewhat incorporates clöassic round-based gameplay as a major part is AFAIK the Total War™ series. And even there it is only half of the gme, if you look at the most recent release, Shogun 2, you see that half the game, the battles, are realtime.

Thus, unless some company is going to take the risk to develop a game diametrically opposed to the main trend, don't expect to see round-based games experiencing a renaissance. And as a consequence from this, a close-to-TT game doesn't have much of a chance, I'm afraid.

(I could elaborate way more in detail, but I don't want to bother the forum with a multi-page essay here. )

[Kristov Kerensky]

1st question..yes, there is a table top game you play with other people in the same room, BattleTech, and it's the basis for all things MechWarrior.

2nd question..according to PGI(they are making the video game MWO), they are trying to bring that table top experience to life with MWO, keeping the core of the game and it's rules and converting them to a real time setting as a video game. They are also including the lore..the 'history' of BattleTech and it's stories, as part of the game.

[Felbombling]

Classic table top Battletech is much like chess with movement and tactics, but with a good measure of Coca-Cola thrown in. Not to mention rule book flipping, dice rolling, erasing, bio breaks and good laughs.

[Slepnir]

Yes the table top, still love it and still play it regularly. there are many many miniature tabletop strategy games, for every type of game and story you can think of. there are a few biggies-the games workshop machine for 40K and fantasy(the 300 pound gorilla in the room), warmachine(steam punk and beasts), flames of war(historical gaming WWII) and yes classic battletech(CBT).

The universe, the drive and the fan devotion to CBT has been going on now for over 25 years. the core mechanics and rules have changed little in that time. a true testament to the game designers.

While video games may be the normal driving force now there is definatley something to be said for getting together with your friends for a little social outing that includes armored titans of war that are battelmechs beating down their opposition.

Here is our group hard at it-
http://www.warseer.c...ad.php?t=267230


.

[TheBlade]

I heard once of a version of the table top game that used the cool down times of each weapon and modeled it in game. Also lets face it Mechcommander was real time and closer to the table top. I have met many people who struggle with the turn based nature of the tabletop game. They quickly lose the immersion. Real time puts you into it much easier.

[ice trey]

Tabletop is very much what it sounds like: a game that is played on top of a table. I'm reluctant to call it a board game, myself, because "board game" tends to conjure up images of Snakes and Ladders, Monopoly, and the ilk. I can assure everyone here that battletech is a far cry from that.

That said, while there are a lot of fans of the franchise overall here, there are a huge number of people that have never tried Battletech. Frankly, although it's a bit more complex than chess, it's not as hard to learn as some people make it out to be (especially with its 'ages 13 and up' rating), and I personally find it to be a whole lot of fun. I'd highly suggest to any fans of the Mechwarrior franchise try the game out sometime - ESPECIALLY those fans of MechWarrior games that go on about basing MWO on the Battletech TT as being a bad thing, yet have never once tried it. Never mind the Mechwarrior Clix game, though.

I don't know about the rest of you, but the reason I started playing Battletech at 18, was because I played Mechwarrior 2 at 8. I'd have started even earlier had I had more liberties at a young age. It didn't stop me from collecting the Card Game in the late 90s, though.

[Xamot]

TheBlade, the rules you are referencing were in the Solaris VII boxed set. Every weapon had a recycle time before it could be fired again. Kinda of a cool dynamic for one on one fights, but a royal pain in the @$$ for large scale battles.

[Wolvers]

Table top game on a traditional map



An updated version of a Battletech map using hex pieces to represent hills better.

[Glorius]

I think, there are remain only one major turn based title not in the wargame niche - Heroes of Might & Magic.

[plodder]

Well

Kristov Kerensky, on 03 January 2012 - 09:30 PM, said:

1st question..yes, there is a table top game you play with other people in the same room, BattleTech, and it's the basis for all things MechWarrior.

2nd question..according to PGI(they are making the video game MWO), they are trying to bring that table top experience to life with MWO, keeping the core of the game and it's rules and converting them to a real time setting as a video game. They are also including the lore..the 'history' of BattleTech and it's stories, as part of the game.

Ok then, here is the détente, the crux, balance of the turn, as the dice leave the finger tips, the want, hope, denial channeling it's power from soul to flesh to inanimate. What are the hopes, wants, denials?

Some hope for a generational realization leap from table top to MECHWARRIOR 5, denying else as what? blasphemy, reckless? Wanting ?

Others desire the truest battletech, denying everything else for the truest book experience, wanting to feel the stress and pleasure of "realistic" battle. Hoping that legging will be eliminated as an easy kill by making it realistic and not like the previous MW3 (man I hate having that stolen by modern warfare) games. ( Me)

The last group that I see, are those that want the game they bought or just played, MW2, MW3, MW4! they loved it! they want it just like that only better, each knowing very little of the history, and why should they? They hope to belong to a community like we all do. They may want to be pirates and don't know it.Some even have a sense of honor in their souls, and are looking to something silly like this game to find it......you know what is sillier?.....they just might find it. So help them

Thanks, Uncle danno

[Rhinehart]

Personally I have to say that the few times I played the board game were very dissappointing. This was likely due to the fact that the group I was with was a group of RPG players that was trying to combine the battletech tabletop game with the Mechwarrior RPG. The actual battles on the board generally took hours to resolve, leaving far too little time for actual roleplaying when we generally had only four hours of so of time available per week. Add a to the mix players that wanted to play as elementals/battlesuit Infantry and you immediatly had a problem. No one wants to go to the trouble to make a detailed, complicated and enjoyable character that can be one shotted by any major weapon system on the field.

The ideal solution for our group was to use the Mechwarrior pen and paper RPG for all Non-Mech combat activity and then use a set of LANed PCs and Mechwarrior 4 to simulate allmech combat. This actually worked out amazingly well despite the limitations of what could be cusotmized in MW4 multiplayer.

In general, I think the Mechwarrior video games tried to remain true to the Battletech universe. I believe MWO will build on that legacy, but I don't think that the Mechwarrior video titles should be sold short for their influence on fans and the community. For immersion the fast paced action of those sims is far more representative of the battletech experience than the mind numbing endless rounds and mathematics of the table top game. Sorry, when I want to fight in Battlemechs I leave my hex map, my scientific calculator and my dice at home.

[plodder]

You know, I think most thing in life are like that. Try something new, and if the wiring of the people you doing it with has a divergent layout, or the amperage is off your own, then it is hard to connect without frying a couple fuses.Better step back and not fry anyone's CPU, or ....

This topic is not VS. topic, I like all the reasons for having MW5-O (hey. thats like Hawaii five oh)

I need to get my books back and read them, looks like I should read the inner-sphere stuff first. maybe read them in some kind of order

[Felbombling]

There was a strategy level WWII game that was fantastic, but the name escapes me. You did all your movement commands turn to turn but you could pan in and around the units during the combat results phase and see the shots being fired, etc. Very intense and well done product. I think some players would be fine with a game like that, where you did turn based movement, plotted weapons solutions and resolved things in a turn based fashion, but this game will not be it. This for sure will be a sim, to my thinking. The Crysis engine would be wasted on a turn based calculator, even though I'd be pleased with a game like that.

[Wolvers]

StaggerCheck, on 07 January 2012 - 09:08 AM, said:

There was a strategy level WWII game that was fantastic, but the name escapes me. You did all your movement commands turn to turn but you could pan in and around the units during the combat results phase and see the shots being fired, etc. Very intense and well done product. I think some players would be fine with a game like that, where you did turn based movement, plotted weapons solutions and resolved things in a turn based fashion, but this game will not be it. This for sure will be a sim, to my thinking. The Crysis engine would be wasted on a turn based calculator, even though I'd be pleased with a game like that.

Combat Mission?

[Jack Gammel]

I love the table top Battletech game. I've played it for years, and I think its important to note that lots of people still play the table top game even after 20+ years. So if someone wants to play the tabletop game they can. It is reasonably cheap to get involved in (compared to many other table top games out there), and I would recommend it for anyone who is interested. However, it is also very complicated. It has a system of indepth rules from an era of gaming in which absolutely everything is quantified as a rule and dice roll. The computer games remove a lot of that setup. Furthermore, all of the rules of the tabletop game are there specifically to simulate real-time combat, exactly what you get in the computer games.

The Battletech fluff is amazing. Its some of the best fluff in the industry. Its fluff that can be experienced in the books, the tabletop game, and the computer games. I love the tabletop game, and I also love playing MW4. I would suggest that neither is necessarily superior to the other, and as long as MW5 stays true to the fluff and is as fun as the previous computer games it should be great (and we can maybe just forget about the Dark Age timeline...).

[Felbombling]

Wolvers, on 07 January 2012 - 11:13 AM, said:

Combat Mission?

Yuppers! That is the one. Thanks for the memory card.

[plodder]

Xamot, on 04 January 2012 - 06:17 AM, said:

TheBlade, the rules you are referencing were in the Solaris VII boxed set. Every weapon had a recycle time before it could be fired again. Kinda of a cool dynamic for one on one fights, but a royal pain in the @$$ for large scale battles.

I hope there will be a solaris in the mwo world, though maybe it should not be free

[Waffles]

If anyone hasn't played the original BattleTech game take a look at MegaMek, its a java adaptation of the original rule sets. There are even a few campaigns out there if you want to be part of those. I enjoy the table top a lot and this lets me play on the go even if it is for only a few minutes of 1 on 1 light mech brawl against the bot.

www.megamek.info

EDIT: which i see now there is a complete thread about

Edited by Waffles, 08 January 2012 - 09:56 AM.

[plodder]

Never played, is the megamek an online version of the table top??