12 replies to this topic

[Tereva]

Everything is in the title : )

Shoot straight

T.

[Tereva]

I guess that means no

ok, will tell you how it was on Sunday.

T.

[Darth Futuza]

Tereva, on 08 December 2017 - 07:37 PM, said:

I guess that means no

ok, will tell you how it was on Sunday.

T.

Let us know, a trip to Canada isn't in my budget.

[Koniving]

Tereva, on 08 December 2017 - 07:37 PM, said:

I guess that means no

ok, will tell you how it was on Sunday.

T.

Likewise. Tell us.

[The Basilisk]

Whatched the stream till after the Battletech advertisement....looked as if a lot of ppl did not go to mechcon.

A shame .... so a lot of ppl missed how they not announced more actual content tonns of maps and background for MWO.

They also missed how they did not announce their plans to make the game more fitting to all the older mechs and IS-stuff that so many Battletech fans hold dear and instead announced some non lore made up clan mech in ideal tonnage range to fit their stupid game.

Good thing a lot of people wheren't there and got not disgusted and disappointed again.

Edited by The Basilisk, 09 December 2017 - 10:59 PM.

[Rogue Jedi]

I have just finished skimming the Mechcon twitch Archive which can be found at the following link
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/208145385

if you want to watch it for yourself here are the highlights

Spoiler

at 3 Hours 10 minutes there is a Battletech Tabletop presentation
at 5 hours 57 minutes there is Battletech PC game presentation including a multiplayer battle demo,
at 8 hours 21 minutes there is the PGI presentation including MW5 and MWO,

if you just want a summery keep reading

Battletech tabletop are releasing new stuff including new more detailed figures

there was a demo of the Battletech PC game, no real new information if you have been following the project

MWO
City map preview, if the preview is accurate it will be by far the prettest map to date, likely release in March

Solarus intro video narated by "Duncan Fisher" (voiced by George Ledaux) from the MW4 Mercs solaris campaign, including plenty of new info including;
showing how extra geometry addons will work,
a Mechlab allowing you to walk around your Mech,
an explanation of how sponsorship will work and other stuff, likely release early spring (presumably March-May)

2017 christmas rewards
log on on the 27th of December 2017 and play 1 game to get a lot of free stuff including:
25 Stocking Stuffer redeems
3 days premium time
3 million cbills
1250 MC
new Roughneck Hero (to be delivered in March)
new Sun Spider Hero (to be delivered in March, Sun Spider is the latest preorder Mech, a PGI origional. 70 ton Clan Omnimech, looks kind of like an oversized Locust)

MW5 trailer, showing off some ingame footage which looks pretty good, they announced 4 player coop is available for the campaign
MW5 will release during December 2018

[Koniving]

Four player co-op came out of left wing.
I admit I'm a bit excited about that, will make the game even more streamable.

[jss78]

That Mitch vs. Jordan match of HBS BattleTech was the highlight for me. However that was 4-5 am for me and fell asleep at that point.

I really, really love that MW5:M is getting co-op. A lot of my gaming buddies aren't really interested in an MWO type of game, and now I can play with them.

The tabletop boxed sets look great. Especially the new miniatures, they're really taking a step forward with those. I love that they're using the classic "unseen" which are not affected by the ongoing legal complications (i.e. not from Macross).

2018 is going to be amazing for the franchise.

[Davegt27]

jss78, on 10 December 2017 - 11:12 AM, said:

That Mitch vs. Jordan match of HBS BattleTech was the highlight for me. However that was 4-5 am for me and fell asleep at that point.

I really, really love that MW5:M is getting co-op. A lot of my gaming buddies aren't really interested in an MWO type of game, and now I can play with them.

The tabletop boxed sets look great. Especially the new miniatures, they're really taking a step forward with those. I love that they're using the classic "unseen" which are not affected by the ongoing legal complications (i.e. not from Macross).

2018 is going to be amazing for the franchise.

I thought the HBS play through demo was cool
they really spiced things up and made it interesting to the watchers

the melee combat was hilarious with kicks and blows below the belt lol

I might have to take a closer look at that game

[Tereva]

Mech Con like you were here (warning, wall of text!!!)

So......

First the venue,
I personally like the Pinacle. It is a very confortable place with lot of floor to ceiling windows that give a decent view on the North Shore (the montains on the north side of the city just on the other side of the inlet).
Mech Con was occupying two large rooms. One dedicated for the activities and one for the food.
While there was enough place for everyone to not feel cramped, you still had to navigate your way around people when you wanted to go somewhere. A little more place and a LOT more chairs to sit would have been welcome, but I am being a little picky here
Overall a great place, for the event.

The attendees
Something was very unique, the age of everybody! I mean, you can tell when you listen, in game, to the voice chatter (sorry, I mean tactital communication). Everybody is 30+ or 40+. I saw a couple of "young" guys (late twenies), but the average was late 30's, early 40's with some, clearly above 50.
Something else about the crowd, we were all fan-boy of the franchise. Most played the tabletop back in the days. They were some hardcore guys wearing bomber jackets with tons of patches, and arguying why the 1vs1 tournament should not have a jungle map since it is hosted by House Steiner. I got lost in the technicality very fast, so I skiped ahead to go play a round. I like playing a lot more than talking about playing To each his own.
Being a small group of ppl (200 maybe 300 in total) and all fan to the game, made everybody very nice to engage. I talked to about 5 millions people, and everybody was happy to chat. Also, since the convention is still pretty small, you kept running into the same guys. This allows you to know a bit about everybody by the end of the day.

The organization
Organizing events this size is a tough job, and you could tell that a lot of work and sweat were involved in the process. They started on a interesting note by having us to line up outside in the damp and by 4° (yes, that's centigrade, we are in Canada after all ). There was a couple of hipcups, at one point Tina was running around not happy with the way the interviews were played, but overall it well ran.
There was also a LOT of food with some great sushi (it's Vancouver man, there has to be sushi). It was funny to see all the local guys from Vancouver preying on the sushi plates while the visiting folks were destroying the mountains of mini hamburgers.
Last but not least, a special thanks to all the volunteers, in yellow tee-shirts, that were crewing boring but needed positions. Thank you guys!

The guest stars
There were 15 to 20 special guests. I am not following social media that much so I only recognized MoltenMetal (his YouTube pseudo). He is a lot taller than was I expected for some reason
A special mention to "Katy" << pretty sure I got the name wrong :/ , first because she was one of the few women around and second because she was wearing a nice green dragon scale armor shirt!

So, let's talk content now!

The Tabletop
They had a nice corner, with a lot of guys doing demo for anyone wanting it. I admirably resisted the urge to buy anything, as I know that none of the monsters at home, will want to play with me. However they sold a LOT of stuff. From special dices, t-shirts, to special packs (damn, maybe I should have grabbed one of those packs....).
Close by a friendly guy was painting figurines. I had a long chat with him, I love that kind of stuff.

The tournament
Not my favorite part personally. The teams were selecting the same maps over and over, Tourmaline and Network Canyon and were snipping from far away. However, it was interesting to see how they were not moving as big blobs (like in pubs and even CW) but used a lose deployment pattern where they can support each other while covering a lot of the map at the same time.

Battletech ( the turn by turn video game)
I didn't know much about it when I walked in. I am not a backer (shame on me, I know), and had not seen the game when I sat down for a 30min 1vs1 game.
The first thing you notice are the graphics. That game is truly beautiful and the firing animations are fun to watch.
The user interface seems well done. With absolutely no prior knowledge of the game I was able to get my lance of four mechs on the go and shoot at the over guy without too much trouble.
However, there is a lot more than just moving around and shooting in this game. Terrain gives bonus or hinder your mech. Initiative have interesting features. For example, you have the option to "wait" (it is called Reserve) and use all your movement at once so that your light Mech can zip across the map in one go. Pilots have special abilities, and so on.
My overall impression is that the tactical depth is here to make the game truly interesting.
Careful though, this is a very slow game. Each player have about 2 min to complete their turn (more than enough, especially if you know the game). The result is a slow paced game, where I see games last a lot more than 30 min. Again to each his own, if this is your jam, definitively check it out.
Myself, I am seriously considering spending the $50 to get immediate access to the playable beta.


Solaris 7 , 1vs1 tournament
A very fun station. You play against another guy and the winner draw a gift code card from a box. Three maps were available, a frozen place with not much cover, a piece of jungle with too much cover and a steampuck styled arena with a funny looking Zepplin hovering above.
The stations were using special logins with all the mechs unlocked. You just had to agree with your opponent on the weight class that you want to play, any pick a mech. The issue - for me- is that all the mechs were using their default load-out. So finding decent ones were not that easy. At least this is the excuse I am using for having done so poorly
I am clearly not as good as I thought (cries.... )
The good news though, is that this mode will be incorporated to the game very soon. This is going to be fun for sure.


And finally, MechWarrior 5 Mercenary.
Everybody was givent a specific time slot to play it for 15 min. Just enough to get a taste of the game, but nothing more. They basically had to physically kick off ppl outside at every rounds
After clicking " Begin", you start off walking in the hangar! This is going to sound weird, but that was maybe the best part of the entire demo for me. Walking in the hangar on a passerelle and looking at the available mechs on each sides was exhilarating. I loved that part.

After, you have to launch a map, click on a system / planet, read the mission and accept it. I just picked the first I found any did not read any of the objectives, eager not too lose any time. After that you lose an excruciating minute or two for your ship to jump to the planet, go in orbit, and finally drop you and the mech you selected on the surface.
The fun part is when you hear " reactor online" with exactly the same voice as in MWO.
The mech handles and feels a lot like the ones we have in MWO. It just shakes a lot more when it moves, but that must have been this particular mech.
One thing I hated right away was that they are not using throttle decay (we had no access to the settings so I do not know if that cana be changed). It is not that bad though since you are not doing any peek-a-boo and the map was large with not a lot of obstacle to navigate. After a minute or two it actually feels natural.
Graphics are a lot better. You are not blow away, but they are a nice improvement over MWO.
After that, the game was all about reaching a base and blowing up everything you meet. From choppers, to tanks, and finally some Ravens and a Catapult.
So here come the little disappointing part for me. I was not transported by the game of feel any thrill. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the choppers and tanks as you mow them pretty -too ?- easily. This is not the case of the opposing mechs though. Those guys feel a lot tougher than their equivalent in MWO.
Again, I did not read the objectives (something about finding and killing someone, well I guess I glanced at them a bit after all), and just walk around and shoot everything that moves (bad time for anyone strolling around ). It is not that different than playing MWO except with even dumber opponents
Do not get me wrong, I will probably buy the game no matter what, but I am a bit disappointed by the lack of thrill and immersion I felt while playing.


Here you go. Everything - and probably a lot more than- you wanted to know about Mech Con 2017.

Cheers,

T.

[Rogue Jedi]

Davegt27, on 10 December 2017 - 12:21 PM, said:

I thought the HBS play through demo was cool
they really spiced things up and made it interesting to the watchers

the melee combat was hilarious with kicks and blows below the belt lol

I might have to take a closer look at that game

I am in on the beta for Battletech and can verify it is great fun, I strongly recomend it.

[Koniving]

Yeah, the only three women I know of that play MWO/Battletech are... an ordnance disposal expert (she is in a few of my older videos), BBWolfe (met her a few times; I cannot say we are friends. You will recognize her as the "Eject" computer voice in MWO as well as newer MWO computer dialogue as well as ALL MW5 computer dialogue)...and as far as I understand it she works at PGI. And finally there's Kalista (that's not her handle on here), whom has a strange obsession with Kurita. She's a former 13 Bravo whom I met during a reunion at my old field artillery base.

So two out of three have military specialties. Wonder if that says something?

(Side note: The "Mother's" voice in the MW5 trailer, I believe, is Tina Benoit.)

---

Battletech the computer game: Some interesting tidbits for those who try to compare it to tabletop.
They modified movement a bit. Assaults and heavies kind of split their moves twice. Mediums split it three times and Lights split it four times. By splitting I mean they take their tabletop capabilities and just slice them up. Where this pays off is that lights are able to fire four times as often than tabletop, but that adds up real quick in heat. This also lets them react better, which is the big thing that is supposed to make mechs better than tanks is reaction time. So its good to see the emphasis.

BT and MW5: Mercs are going for the same story premise but in very different directions. Both have you as a mercenary. Both have you housed in a dropship. There are differences, of course, and their stories will be completely different. But both are more or less giving you semi-textbook scenarios from the Battletech Mercenary handbook.

I do wonder if either might have a nod to the "Think Tank" TV show. The more structured Battletech could easily do something like this. Mechwarrior 5 would be the more immersive one, if say there were a TV, holovid, or something else that you could see giving news reports of things that happened so you know what kind of good -- or damage -- you are doing in the universe.

Seen at the end of the series of news reports.

[Koniving]

I do agree. The tanks and helicopters appeared to die far too easily. Compare them to tabletop, and yes helicopters tend to die easily if you hit their propeller, but otherwise they can take a good bit of damage and they deliver some NASTY damage for the non-scout helicopters. And scout helicopters are much faster than mechs, as are many helicopters... so the ones in MW5....meh...

Tanks..
Well I admit those aren't the 100 ton tank beast here, but I mean tanks are not push overs, even the weaker ones. Considering the SHK 2D being played a group of three 30 ton tanks at once is likely to mow a Shadowhawk 2D into the ground. Even two would be a formidable fight, with the only thing going for the SHK being speed and small size -- which we aren't getting the lore size in MW5 so... that one's out.

But yeah this 100 ton tank, after getting tracked (in other words forced to be stationary) only had 2 AC/10s and 4 LRM-5s.
In 30 seconds, it levels 7 out of 8 Enforcers [3 disabled completely, 5 killed outright] and an Atlas.

(My Commando was obliterated in a single blast from the Atlas.) In this turn, the Behemoth 100 ton Armor variant [more armor than a 100 ton mech can even carry; and yes it is a canon variant... tanks can have more armor than mechs of equal tonnage] is simultaneously using the turret on the Atlas while lobbing an LRM-5 at each of four other Enforcers. It only missed the Enforcer top-most of what you see, mainly due to the near impossible arc the missiles had to take from the front of the launcher and the close range.

But yes. One tank. 8 mechs destroyed. 450 tons of enemy mechs destroyed. In 30 seconds.
Tanks.
Are.
Not.
Pushovers.
(This tank costs as much as a medium mech, btw.)

Wonder if MW5 has the same treatment for heavier tanks, or if these are just light tanks for the power fantasy?