80 replies to this topic

[Thorgar Wulfson]

A lot of people forget that the Battlemaster was for battlefield Command and Control functions. unfortunately something that never was able to be put into play with the standard Battletech rules or the early Mechwarrior games.If such aspects could be put into a game, then it would become a VERY powerful tool for your team. As to its combat preformance, the PPC was more for keeping light targets at range but when you got up close it was able to lay down good fire over all arcs of combat not just the foward arc.. Personally i removed the ammo weapons and replaces them with more armor and heat sinks. Though the SRM 6 was good for putting down a softened target at close range.

As to my favorite mech, it depended on the class
Light: Panther
Medium: Shadowhawk
Heavy: Warhammer
Assault: Highlander

[Psydotek]

I totally want a Battlemaster. Favorite assault 'mech since MW1.

[Mason Ventris]

I really dont like the handheld gun. Just doesnt seem right.

[Gauro]

AXMAN

[HighlandWolf]

always loved the battlemaster, the original design...hope it gets in the game..good mech for such an old design really..and since we'll be able to modify mechs..very nice..hope its in

[Karel Spaten]

Mason Ventris, on 18 March 2012 - 04:25 PM, said:

I really dont like the handheld gun. Just doesnt seem right.

Well, the Reseen one has it as a wrist mount...

[THOR HAMMER]

That would cool battlemaster was a cool mech but it like many other mechs are now UNSCEEN and cant be used unless reimagined

[THOR HAMMER]

Actualy it was reworked after some investigation

[Smoke Banshee]

Pvt Dancer, on 17 March 2012 - 02:38 PM, said:

They had to take it out of the game due to legal issues. Far as I am concerned, every mech in the 3025 book is a common mech unless stated (they said LAMS are rare, so I have no problem what-so-ever with their removal... they did a poor job with them anyways).

THOR HAMMER, on 24 March 2012 - 09:43 AM, said:

That would cool battlemaster was a cool mech but it like many other mechs are now UNSCEEN and cant be used unless reimagined

You know that the Reseen is COMPLETLY legal right? The Devs can add Battlemasters, and Warhammers and all the rest of the unseen, and Harmony Gold can't do nothing about it.
However the Dev act like they can't even talk about them, which is weird, but we could see them in with NO legal trouble.

[rance]

I'm another old timer (in more ways than one) and I remember the Battlemaster fondly. It wasn't my favorite mech but was up there in the top 10 or so. I'd love to see it and the Warhammer, Crusader, Marauder, Archer and pretty much all the 'old' mechs in the game at some point...along with the newer ones too. After all, this is Mechwarrior and we have a lot of factions so we need a lot of mechs!

[Temu]

As a command mech the BLR-2C (with the Command Cockpit in the Center Torso) the Battlemaster is amazing. But as a combat mech, always kinda fell short. I've taken one down head to head with a WVR-6M (laser based Wolverine). Now, for me, the Archer is the mech of choice (Absolute Favorite ARC-5R)

[80sGlamRockSensation David Bowie]

Anything wielding a large melee weapon or oversized gun gets a no from me. It would need a radical rework by Flying Debris (even the sphere head is ugly as hell), and even then might as well just include a different 'mech in the game. Not worth it. Besides, its armament is pretty damn horrible for its size, too. If I was in a command role, rather have something better.

[Monky]

Battlemaster is a command mech with a bit of long range fire power to provide support/suppression if it has to, and a lot of closeup fire for point defense/bruising anyone who gets through the line.

I think if it's in the game it should get a signifigant visual overhaul, the giant cockpit/head area alone is probably the single biggest reason it needs one, however its center torso is easily shot to pieces as well.

Other than that, I loves me some Battlemaster.

[Denemigo]

this is one of my favorite models. Hope devs to leave the antenna in the new design

[Pvt Dancer]

Smoke Banshee, on 24 March 2012 - 09:57 AM, said:

You know that the Reseen is COMPLETLY legal right? The Devs can add Battlemasters, and Warhammers and all the rest of the unseen, and Harmony Gold can't do nothing about it.
However the Dev act like they can't even talk about them, which is weird, but we could see them in with NO legal trouble.

It is because you are (partially) wrong on the subject... for one, the Battlemaster was not part of Hamony Gold 'rights', But I think Dougram's rights holder. The Battlemaster has just been 'cleared' in the last few years, but was off the shelf for a good while (10-15 years). Legal issues on international copyright and distribution rights are still not completily worked out apparently. Thanks to the recent 'clairification' of the situation, we can hope to se the Battlemaster in the game.

To help get folk on the same page... this is from Battletechwiki on the Unseen (so take it with a grain of salt).

Quote

The Unseen is a term used for some of the first BattleMech designs from the original game. These designs, longtime favorites of BattleTech fans, were based on mecha found in the Japanese anime series' Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Fang of the Sun Dougram and Crusher Joe.
Legal difficulties prohibited FASA from displaying any more pictures depicting these 'Mechs, although they were often freely mentioned in novels and books, and their rules remained legal. Thus, these 'Mechs remained unseen until the publication of Technical Readout: Project Phoenix, which presented "redesigns", allowing them to be used freely once again.
On 24 June, 2009, it was announced that Catalyst Game Labs had secured the permissions needed to utilize the original "unseen" artwork for these designs again.
Shortly after the return of the "unseen" BattleMechs was announced, the BattleTech: 25 Years of Art & Fiction PDF was pulled from circulation. Managing editor Randall Bills made a statement on Catalyst Game Labs' website on August 10th, 2009 explaining the move. An error was made in negotiating the distribution rights for some of the images. Twelve Unseen images, those originating from Macross, were again pulled from circulation and will remain unseen, due to their exclusive distribution rights (within the United States) belonging to another company (Harmony Gold). Whether or not these images will be licensed or purchased in the future remains to be seen. The tone of the article was doubtful.

[Lycan]

The Battlemaster is my personal fav and my mech of choice.

I'm hoping that with a little love from FD, we'll be able to see it (and all of the "Unseen") in the game sometime soon.

[Old Wolf]

I always thought the mech itself had a cool look about it, but I never was a fan of the weapons loadout - it seemed to lack focus. I always wanted each of my mechs to have a clear role in the battle and the Battlemaster's diverse weapons seemed to make it a jack of all trades but master of none.

[Pvt Dancer]

Eh... I disagree Old Wolf... All short ranged weapons except for the PPC (which gives it something to shoot as it closes). It really /is/ a Assault Mech. If attacking, you run at them (as a 4/6 assault, that is impressive in of itself) shooting your PPC every turn, not carring about heat or ammo.

On the defensive it sits back in heavy cover firing off the PPC till folks get in range of it's strengths. Obviously this mech is nasty at close combat due to the tonnage.

When you can get close enough (say 3 hexs and have a dang good chance to hit), you have the potential to do 46pts of damage a Turn, which is more than the base Atlas at that range ( 42pts, since he probably will not be firing his LRM 20 at that range).

Obviously, newer Tech will make this mech better, specially double heat sinks or a XL engine with double heat sinks. But it is already ahead of the curb in comparison.

Edited by Pvt Dancer, 24 March 2012 - 11:41 PM.

[Thorn Hallis]

My thought on the Battlemaster...well, its one of those Mechs where the german name given by FanPro sounds much better then the original name.

[Soviet Alex]

A few points to add to the mix:
1) The Battlemaster is available to all factions, with 3 distinct variants (the standard BLR-1G, Davion BLR-1D & Steiner BLR-1S) & the factories are still cranking them out. New advanced tech variants are starting to come on stream in 3049. All good selling points from a game point of view.
2) The Project Phoenix Battlemaster clearly has no legal issues whatsoever attached to its image, because Catalyst Games use it on everything these days. As long as they let Piranha Games use it, it's good to go.
3) Check out the 2-seater mech thread in Discussions. Battlemasters have 2-seater command variants.