BattleTech! MechWarrior!

[Starfox1701]

Your word betray a lack of knowledge of your own past. Aleksandr Kerensky did not desert his post. The house lords; your precsious Liaos among them; releved him of Command and named no replacement. The SLDF answered to 2 people. The first Lord and the C&C. None of the corrupt House Lords had a claim of leadership and yet all of them claimed it. You know well the horror your forfathers perpatrated after that. And now you call us honnorless because our forfathers had the fortitude of will not to decend into madness beside your own? A degenerate accusation from a degenerat mind. I do not need to defend the actions of Aleksandr Kerensky. Your Ares Conventions are defence enough that he made the right choice.

You speak to me of oath breaking? After your House Lord broke his oath as First Lord and turned the new SLDF on his own people? Are you blind? Or are you like your master willing to burn down your own house for personal gain even if your family is still inside?

You call me a 'Wolf-In-Exile' yet I tell you this is no exile. I am on campain as is my Khan Phelen Kell. We do our sacred duty as we were charged by IlKhan Ulric Kerensky. You know nothing of the ways of the Clans hiding as you are on the other side of the Galaxy from them and the wars we fight. I fought other clans for the people of the InnerSpher and I stand ready to do that still. I stand on the front lines. Do not speak to me of oaths and duty when you are too far away to even see the smoke of worthy battle.

You say you defend your people and their ideals from any attack, but who decides these things. You claim your people are free yet it is men like you who crush them the moment they speak diffent the your House Liao. If you trully serve the people of the Confederation then the mad cur the crushes them under his heel in the name of their own good must die. But if you are merely another Liao bootlick then continue as you have.

 

[FahreS]

lol, a few days ago ive tested that game a bit, without knowing that we have a thread about it here^^

Anyway we wanted to play it in LAN... And we didnt get it to work.
One pc had win7 (64bit) and the other winXP (32bit). So if you have ever tried that and got it to work, let me know!

 

[Terra_Inc]

lol, a few days ago ive tested that game a bit, without knowing that we have a thread about it here^^

Anyway we wanted to play it in LAN... And we didnt get it to work.
One pc had win7 (64bit) and the other winXP (32bit). So if you have ever tried that and got it to work, let me know!

The multiplayer thingy is a bit complicated, maybe because of the game's age. I haven't tried it yet, but I've read some stuff about that over at the MekTek forums. I think you'll find the solution there.

 

[FahreS]

The multiplayer thingy is a bit complicated, maybe because of the game's age. I haven't tried it yet, but I've read some stuff about that over at the MekTek forums. I think you'll find the solution there.

Yeah i believe the problem is win7, thanks

 

[thunderfoot]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=936yNAlzgUc

The Grizzly is such a fun 'Mech!

 

[Terra_Inc]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=936yNAlzgUc

The Grizzly is such a fun 'Mech!

Great vid! Yeah, that 'mech is pretty cool. It's not the fastest Heavy, but it definitely has above-average firepower. Gauss rifles and PPCs, I guess? Always a great combination. Did you put JJs on it?

 

[thunderfoot]

I am in the process of creating a new Single Player Campaign for MechCommander 2. This will be adapted from and based on the MechWarrior4: Black Knight expansion. The first two missions are done and look good so far. More on this as it develops.

 

[Terra_Inc]

Solaris VII is a great place. If you're in the vicinity, don't miss it! The pilots there have some of the best 'mechs available, and often you'll see stuff that is really rare on the battlefields. I was there, and I'd like to share some of my photos with you. Of course, I wasn't just watching the games...

Spoiler: Solaris VII

There are several arenas on Solaris VII: The Colosseum, the Factory and the Jungle. The Jungle is where most of the rookies fight. It's a nice place, lots of mountains and trees to seek cover behind. And the landscape is SWEET.

Spoiler: My 'mech

What you see here is one of my favoured Heavies, the Cauldron-Born. It mounts two really heavy LB-X Scattershot Autocannons, a pair of Streak SRM launchers, and a medium heavy laser. The Cauldron-Born is not very manoeuverable, but it's quite fast for a heavy. And it's heavily armored, so if you get to shoot at it, chances are it'll survive it. And shoot back.

Spoiler: The Cockpit

Well, this is my cockpit. Seems to be a pretty cozy place, eh? Just wait until the enemy starts firing at me.

Spoiler: The Factory

The Factory is a dark and dangerous place. Here, your enemy sneaks up on you and punches a hole right into your rear armor. BE PREPARED.

Spoiler: Another one bites the dust

Boom, and there he goes! I wouldn't want to be in his ejector pod right now. It's not nice when your mech goes nova. And if ain't your mech, don't stay too close - that explosion might roast you as well.

Spoiler: There he lies

See the guy on the left? He fell over when my autocannons hit him. He's still trying to get up again.

Spoiler: Heavy damage

Looks pretty bad. That guy won't win the game. Because now I'll finish him off.

Spoiler: Ka-pow!

And the final kill. That match was awesome, just like the others that day. Sometimes you get them... and sometimes they get you. See you next game, Solaris fan!

 

[thunderfoot]

Nice pics, Terra! I have started work on the third mission Black Knight mission and should have it nearly done by Monday or Tuesday. What I'd like to do is finsih the third and fourth missions and then send you and Starfox all four as a mini-campaign.

 

[Terra_Inc]

Nice pics, Terra! I have started work on the third mission Black Knight mission and should have it nearly done by Monday or Tuesday. What I'd like to do is finsih the third and fourth missions and then send you and Starfox all four as a mini-campaign.

Well, that would be epic! I haz been gaming quite a lot the last weeks. Great Highlander signature, BTW.

 

[thunderfoot]

Terra, a Cauldron Born in Solaris matches? Wow! Gutsy. Always found this one a little too easy to shoot at. The way it is designed makes my eye naturally follow to center-of-mass. Torso twist is a little too slow for my tastes as well. Mounts a lot of good weapons and the omni slots allow for diverse loadouts but I like something with a little more oomph. Like a Black Knight or a Marauder.

Inner Sphere for the win!

BTW, wouldn't the Solaris matches be cool with vuvuzelas in the crowd? lol

 

[Terra_Inc]

Terra, a Cauldron Born in Solaris matches? Wow! Gutsy. Always found this one a little too easy to shoot at. The way it is designed makes my eye naturally follow to center-of-mass. Torso twist is a little too slow for my tastes as well. Mounts a lot of good weapons and the omni slots allow for diverse loadouts but I like something with a little more oomph. Like a Black Knight or a Marauder.

Yeah, I know. It's not exactly a Brawler. But I'm experimenting with stuff, and my Cauldron-Born packs dual CLBX20, dual CSTRK6 and a single MHL. Which is quite a lot for a 65 ton 'mech. Its torso twist isn't bad, and the speed is okay, but the turn rate is what keeps you the most from pwning the enemy. The basic strategy with this one is to get your enemy into medium range (~400m) and then keep him from firing back. The dual CLBX20 can knock many Heavies down with one or two shots and the Streak SRM's can really cripple a 'mech. I remember fighting against a Mad Cat MkII in the championship - it lost both Missile Racks and both arms, which was hilarious. Of course, the difficulty was pretty low. I'm still training.

BTW, wouldn't the Solaris matches be cool with vuvuzelas in the crowd? lol

Aw, that would be so great! Ka-pow! Vuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

 

[thunderfoot]

Starfox, Terra, and I have been rediscovering the joys of an old game called MechCommander2 recently. It is available as freeware. Thought I'd share a vid of what I've been doing lately with Y'All.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwhaLE4gqggIt has mecha, lasers, and is RTS(sort of). Missions take about a half hour to play. Multiplayer is a rush as well. Plus, it's freeware! So what's not to love?

Giant Robots! Armed with lasers and missiles! Verah kewel!

 

[thunderfoot]

Just completed the map and doing initial unit placement for the third mission. All I need to do now is figure out how to get the allied and enemy units to move the way I want them to. This is one of my favorite missions in Black Knight and I've had to scale it back some to get it to work properly in MC2. Instead of exact faithfulness to BK, I've had to model for effect. It looks promising so far. But I am quite sure I can still muck things up with the best of 'em. Playtesting will commence later on this week.

The AI for MechCommander2 is far more demanding than that of A2. Units in MC2 do not have hard coded instructions within the game which allows the AI to use them with reasonable intelligence. Instead, each enemy unit must be coded for movement by using map coordinates and timing. The drawback to this is it takes a great deal of time to get units to move and fight the way they should sometimes. The advantage is the unparalleled flexibility I have in making units do what I want. In effect, you will be playing against me when you play these Single Player missions. I used to be a pretty fair tactician with a good eye for ground and a decent understanding of combined arms back in the day. My hope is this background will allow you to be fully challenged to the limit by the AI while enjoying an excellent game experience. I would also like to caution you here that if you insist on trying to exercise your trigger finger while your brain is in neutral, you will pay dearly for such an oversight. You may not lose. But the price for victory may be more than you can afford, lol.

Mission 04 should be far simpler to do, since it is in essence a simple shoot 'em up before the timer expires. I've been studying the map and made some rough sketches for placements. When 04 is completed, I should be able to do a mini campaign which will hopefully be available fairly quickly.

All of these missions will be based on the Stock Game with the Stock units and buildings. I thought hard about basing them on Wolfman's Expansion for MC2, but in the end decided to do them this way. They will play in Stock or either Wolfman's or Magic's Expansion for MC2 the way they are now. I can then go back and re tune everything for Wolfman's Expansion. This means I can match everything up precisely to the MW4: Black Knight Expansion, right down to the weapon loadouts and what 'Mechs are available to the player.

 

[Terra_Inc]

Just completed the map and doing initial unit placement for the third mission. All I need to do now is figure out how to get the allied and enemy units to move the way I want them to. This is one of my favorite missions in Black Knight and I've had to scale it back some to get it to work properly in MC2. Instead of exact faithfulness to BK, I've had to model for effect. It looks promising so far. But I am quite sure I can still muck things up with the best of 'em. Playtesting will commence later on this week.

The AI for MechCommander2 is far more demanding than that of A2. Units in MC2 do not have hard coded instructions within the game which allows the AI to use them with reasonable intelligence. Instead, each enemy unit must be coded for movement by using map coordinates and timing. The drawback to this is it takes a great deal of time to get units to move and fight the way they should sometimes. The advantage is the unparalleled flexibility I have in making units do what I want. In effect, you will be playing against me when you play these Single Player missions. I used to be a pretty fair tactician with a good eye for ground and a decent understanding of combined arms back in the day. My hope is this background will allow you to be fully challenged to the limit by the AI while enjoying an excellent game experience. I would also like to caution you here that if you insist on trying to exercise your trigger finger while your brain is in neutral, you will pay dearly for such an oversight. You may not lose. But the price for victory may be more than you can afford, lol.

Mission 04 should be far simpler to do, since it is in essence a simple shoot 'em up before the timer expires. I've been studying the map and made some rough sketches for placements. When 04 is completed, I should be able to do a mini campaign which will hopefully be available fairly quickly.

All of these missions will be based on the Stock Game with the Stock units and buildings. I thought hard about basing them on Wolfman's Expansion for MC2, but in the end decided to do them this way. They will play in Stock or either Wolfman's or Magic's Expansion for MC2 the way they are now. I can then go back and re tune everything for Wolfman's Expansion. This means I can match everything up precisely to the MW4: Black Knight Expansion, right down to the weapon loadouts and what 'Mechs are available to the player.

Sounds great! Remember, you have my full support for anything MC/MW related. I didn't have the time to learn how to use the editor this weekend, I was busy finishing the campaign. Hope that I can have some more fun this week.

 

[thunderfoot]

To those of you whom are thinking of making missions for MC2, a few pieces of advice.

- The learning curve for the Editor can be a steep, slippery slope if you jump right in without bothering to read the directions first. Even though reading the directions before you try something new does not guarantee success, it does get a lot closer than learning the hard way.
- The odd numbered teams are allied with the player during SP games.
- The even numbered teams will always be the enemy.
- Maximum number of units a player may have is twelve.
- Maximum number of enemy, AI controlled units is 104.
- All AI controlled units will always start with the default "DredAttack01" AI Brain. This brain will not do anything at all with the unit until a player controlled unit comes into sensor range.
- AI Brains can be modified and created using Notepad.
- AI Brains can be changed. To do so open the file "YourMission.fit" with Notepad and find the entries marked "Warrior [XX]".
- Large amounts of Resource Points will only be wasted by the player, since they do not carry over to the next mission. C-Bills do carry over.
Be a little stingy with both.
- Stacking buildings one on top the other gives the ability to recreate almost any real world structure you've ever seen or can imagine. It also makes the game lag and will guarantee no one can capture that factory you made one of the objectives.
- Indestructible Resource and Headquarters buildings are specifically for online multiplayer. They can be used in Single Player missions, but it looks really silly and gives the player too many resources during a game.
- Clan Tech should be rare and very hard to acquire. Makes it more special this way.
- Unless you have a very good reason for doing so, go easy with the trees and buildings. Large numbers of objects placed in unimportant or little played areas of the map are an excellent lag inducer. This effect is even more obvious in multiplayer.
- Big maps and large numbers of enemy units do not make for good missions. Unless you are recreating the Battle of Tukkayid, avoid making mega fights.

If you do decide to recreate the Battle of Tukkayid anyways, think about breaking it into several smaller missions instead of one humongous battle which takes too long and is too hard to control. I have seen several badly done attempts at creating a huge frakkin' fight with whole Com Guard Divisional Combat Teams engaging an entire Smoke Jaguar Galaxy. I am not going to add to this number. MC2 functions very well as a platoon or company level tactical simulator. You want to fight the whole Jade Falcon Keshik at once? Then you probably should go to the tabletop version of BattleTech.

Last but not least: Play test, Play Test, PLAY TEST!! Nothing is more irritating than a mission which CTDs right at the most interesting part because someone placed a typo in the .fit file.

 

[Starfox1701]

Dumb question but where are the destructions for the editer?

 

[thunderfoot]

If the freeware version is the same as the retail version, there will be a folder marked "EDITOR" inside the main folder. This can be opened with Word, Notepad or any other document app.

 

[Starfox1701]

No joy man it isn't here.

 

[CABAL]

Has anybody checked out the Behemoth II mech in Mercenaries? It's an assault class so it takes it a year to get anywhere but it also comes with the Clan Rail Gun, essentially the largest gauss riffle in the game. The rail gun takes up seven slots and deals 56 damage while keeping all the accuracy of the other gauss weapons.

I also had enough weight left to add 6 medium pulse lasers, enough heat sinks to keep the heat well under control, and lots of armor. I have it set up primarily for Solaris, though, and it needs some modifications for missions. Ammo for the rail gun is a notable issue.

MC2 also looks interesting. Once I install a second HDD that I had lying around I'm probably going to get that.

 

[Terra_Inc]

If the freeware version is the same as the retail version, there will be a folder marked "EDITOR" inside the main folder. This can be opened with Word, Notepad or any other document app.

No joy man it isn't here.

AFAIK it's not in the main folder, but you can find it on the CD. The Editor itself really is in the main folder.

 

[Starfox1701]

Many thanks man.

 

[Terra_Inc]

By the way, Tessy makes awesome BattleTech logos which are easily scalable. Just in case you want to decorate something with kewel logos. You can find them in his gallery.

 

[thunderfoot]

Fighting for Leavings

Little piece of background fluff I am using while I am making missions for MC2 It is based on MW4: Black Knight Expansion, but the story is entirely mine. Hope Y'All like it some. Here goes.

***​

From the personal journal of Leftenant Erik "Stryker" Masters.

The unit I recently signed on with, the mercenary battalion known as the Black Legion, had some tough times just before I joined up. "Joined up", hell. I am Dispossessed and grateful they even thought about taking me on as a backup. What good is a MechWarrior without a 'mech? Myself and two others, Benjamin and Isabella, are in the same fix. Colonel Lawhorn told us we'd fight as a lance and as soon as he could, he'd lease us some 'Mechs. We also get the chance to keep a captured 'Mech as ours if the Legion acquired any salvage. Of course, the cost of repairing a wreck which survived combat would be deducted from our monthly settlement. After taxes. Still, it is a better deal than some and beats being bored at home. Especially after that incident which now has the police searching hard for me and leaning heavily on my family. Didn't tell Mom and Dad what I was doing when I ran. Figured the cops would ease up on them once they became convinced my parents didn't have a clue as to where I went. Hard to believe a decorated veteran of Operation Bulldog could screw up his life this badly. Sergeant O'Reillie would be very disappointed. I can almost see her shaking her head and picture that smug, 'I know a bunch more about soldiering than you do, Sir.' grin she used to wear whenever she went into lecture mode. Stravag Clan *******s. Makes me feel better to say it this way. Even though technically, all trueborn Clan warriors are *******s.

Ben and Isabella are fairly sharp. We've been burning up the simulators lately. Ben has quite the flair for ambushes. He also has a mouth and favors using it. I have to constantly remind myself I am not in the AFFC anymore. Discipline and conduct have slightly different meanings now. Isabella is a real find. Ruthless and quick, she makes the correct choices in combat as if she wrote the story beforehand. Sometimes, I have to hustle to stay up with her. I like this. Always did enjoy a challenge. She's ranked as a Mechwarrior, but there is no doubt she'll be running a lance as soon as the Colonel figures out how to put up with her hair trigger temper. Which burns everything down within a one klick radius. I've seen people go incandescent before, but Izzy has taken it to the next level.

The Legion took on a contract from some second level Periphery wannabe warlord. He hotdropped them right on top of the main enemy positions and then proceeded to use the units intended to support them to go raid his enemy's rear areas. The Legion started that fight as a regiment. What's left is just under a battalion in size but it is choice. To add insult to injury, the warlord then attempted to default on the contract using the flimsiest of excuses. Namely, the Legion failed to successfully complete its assigned task. I've not seen the AARs, but from the stories I've heard in the Mess, the Old Man has a bit of a temper as well. Destroying every single DropShip on planet and firing on any which attempted to land seems normal. Blasting every single functioning power plant on the planet to very small pieces does seem to go a little far. The Colonel started his career in the CCAF and then was medically retired. Capellans never handle double dealing very well at all. They also tend to go for permanent solutions. I think firing the warlord out the muzzle of an overcharged PPC might be a little over the top. I'll also not ever say this out loud whenever the Old Man is in earshot.

The unit has decided to stay in the Periphery for awhile. Lots of opportunities here for corporate contracts since piracy is rife. The major corporations of the Inner Sphere have been working hard to increase their presence out here, since it so much easier to bribe officials to look the other way whenever something messy happens. The environmental laws are considerably less complex as well. They also are much lower on the list when it comes to enforcement. This laxness leads to people with weapons trying to make a quick C-Bill or two by taking what others have dug up or made. Sometimes the pirates just occupy an installation and hold it for ransom. Cash is much more liquid and easier to hide than resources. The corporations usually find it simpler to buy the pirates off than risk all that expensive infrastructure.

Corvatti Corp seems to be a little different from the rest. Long connected to House Steiner and the Lyran Alliance, Corvatti's Board of Directors takes a very dim view of people stealing from them. In short, they dislike competition. They do not pay any better than anyone else, but they do pay on time with minimal hassles. Their political connections also mean they can be used as a stepping stone back to the Inner Sphere. This is where the Big Money is. Guarding the home planet of some second cousin to royalty is a gravy contract for any mercenary unit. Lots of pay and little risk for it. No mercenary I've met over the past two years will deny this. But with more mercenaries than contracts, a unit has to have an edge somehow. The Dragoons and the Kell Hounds and all the rest of the big name units have people lined up just begging them to go to work at premium rates. The rest of us get the leavings. But Inner Sphere leavings are a lot better than what's available out here.

My chrono just beeped. The simulator session I scheduled earlier is starting in fifteen. Ben and Izzy are pretty good Mech jockeys. But like anyone, they have room to improve. No Mechwarrior is perfect. Except for O'Reillie. But she's dead because the gods of war decided to pour a little luck onto some Clanners. So today, I think we'll go fight Clanners. I fully expect both of them to fail miserably and in less time than one can say "extended range laser". But the beautiful thing about simulators is failure can be learned from. Instead of buried with full honors. ****it, Sergeant O'Reillie! Why in Hell did you try to turn me into some sort of hero? I'm not. But I guess you'll keep haunting me until then.

***​

 

[Terra_Inc]

We also get the chance to keep a captured 'Mech as ours if the Legion acquired any salvage. Of course, the cost of repairing a wreck which survived combat would be deducted from our monthly settlement. After taxes.

Aaah, that's what I loved most about being a Merc: The salvage! You know, one day or the other you go out and battle that really skilled guy with that really hot 'mech which carries these really kewel weapons. When you get him, there's a chance that you can pick up what's left of his 'mech as a trophy. Repair it and you can ride that thing on your next mission. How awesome does that feel? Absolutely freakin-tastic!

 

[CABAL]

It's especially awesome when you salvage a bunch of heavies that you don't need, effectively increasing your pay for the mission several times over the listed amount.

 

[Starfox1701]

You guys know its easier to just crush the cockpit with your mechs fist then try and shoot it out right. Cost less to fix too.

 

[CABAL]

Yep, a few good gauss shots to the face allowed me to get some free assault mechs that I wasn't interested in. After I sold them, my cash jumped up about 50 million C-bills. Head shots can be difficult to get on some mechs, though, especially if your frame rate is sluggish.

On the other hand, shooting the arms off an enemy mech before finishing them off as they try to run away is always very entertaining.

 

[thunderfoot]

We were fighting a new clan online once. We thought it odd they all had Nova Cats. We all stopped wondering when they opened up on us with weapons which Nova Cats cannot mount. Like a pair of Heavy Gauss Rifles. So, after a quick double check to ensure they were in fact cheating, we shot the arms off of all of them and then went back to near our spawn point with our radars switched off. Doing so makes you harder to find, since you are not emitting. Doctrine for us was radar off and visual search anyways. They could not shoot us since they had no weapons and the only way for them to respawn with a new 'Mech was to self destruct. This of course deducted about 5,000 points per self destruct from their team score versus about 2,500 points per enemy killed. The final score was laughable, to say the least. We never saw them again and for the life of us we could not figure out why. Oh well.

 

[Terra_Inc]

We were fighting a new clan online once. We thought it odd they all had Nova Cats. We all stopped wondering when they opened up on us with weapons which Nova Cats cannot mount. Like a pair of Heavy Gauss Rifles. So, after a quick double check to ensure they were in fact cheating, we shot the arms off of all of them and then went back to near our spawn point with our radars switched off. Doing so makes you harder to find, since you are not emitting. Doctrine for us was radar off and visual search anyways. They could not shoot us since they had no weapons and the only way for them to respawn with a new 'Mech was to self destruct. This of course deducted about 5,000 points per self destruct from their team score versus about 2,500 points per enemy killed. The final score was laughable, to say the least. We never saw them again and for the life of us we could not figure out why. Oh well.

OMG, teh haxx0rs!
It is funny when you pwn cheaters - proves that you're much more skilled than those wannabes. And you're much fairer than those, too.

It's especially awesome when you salvage a bunch of heavies that you don't need, effectively increasing your pay for the mission several times over the listed amount.

Yeah, selling salvaged 'mechs that you don't need is pretty cool, too. And they don't even have to be heavies. In the later missions you usually salvage some Lights or Mediums which you don't need. They bring in some C-bills, too. Of course, you get much more for heavies and assaults. And don't forget the clan 'mechs! Yeah, I'd rather use them than sell them, but after a time you have enough to get rid of a few. Buy a kewel new command 'mech for you instead.

That was the only thing I didn't like that much about MC2. You have to buy the 'mechs you salvaged??? Even though you get them at a pretty low price - you salvaged them, so they should be yours! Without having to spend a single C-bill on something else than repairs!