Balance issues with Heavy Metal

[TLRoff]

So first off LB AC's especially the 2's and 5's are pretty seriously OP. SO much so that I made a mod specifically to pull the damage way back on the LB-2's and 5's.

The other issue is the hidden minus to hit effects v light and medium mechs. It's too strong. If any of you have been watching TheEdmon's "There are more lights" campaign play it's pretty obvious that it turns into EZ mode because the AI so horridly under performs and is apparently unable to be programmed to take advantage of this for AI Movement and combat.

Still getting issues with memory loading. Go hire an expert if you need to. As game play advances data loaded into memory that is no longer needed is not being cleared. Yes a lot of computers are massively endowed with RAM these days (I run 16 gig myself) but it still slows the game down and causes hangs. Memory optimization is very poor, and should you move toward a game as a service model and possibly a Battletech subscription based MMO (which a little voice is saying you very may be!) your going to need to address this and the sooner, the better because the longer it's left undone the more difficult it will be to unravel and fix.

There are unity engine MMO's. A turn based tactical game with a operational layer (ship and crew management, company management, financial) is what you have.. an MMO would allow the game to be taken to a strategic level and has been plugged into at least 2 mod packs out there.

What HBS is willing to do I guess depend on if you want to make a constant ongoing living at this game. You have the fan base for it. Not all of us are mechwarrior players.. or at least not multiplayer mechwarrior players. But a computer version of the tabletop game, yea I'm good with that. I imagine just about everyone that bothered to buy is or they wouldn't have bought the game.

Keep the balance of the TT game please, as best you can.. reinventing the game makes it a different game. Please take a lesson from Star Trek about the dangers of performing a retcon your universe. That's a very friendy pre-emptive cautionary there. (game action and lore kinda need to agree.. how many battletech novella and source books are there.. how many million words? Yea, just don't go there please!).

I've played battletech since it was battledroids.. back when you opened the box for the first time you got a buzz off the printers ink! So yea long time dedicated fan.

I like heavy metal, utterly love the flashpoint series in it, pleased with the new mechs, wondered why you did not go in and refit older mechs or create perk equipment for them.

Next DLC.. please gents, a little more complete and a lot more time testing. Don't fall so in love with the new toys that you neglect game balance next time.

I'm going to pop onto steam now and do some review writing. It's going to be honest. It'll be polite but the lack of fully addressing existing flaws in the game while adding more is a not good. The gaming industry is full of crap like that and you yourselves have experienced it. Please do not contribute to it.

Terrance Roff
Richmond CA

Former owner "it's Your Move" Toys and Hobbies, Oakland CA



d not

 

[Prussian Havoc]

...Keep the balance of the TT game please, as best you can.. reinventing the game makes it a different game...

BATTLETECH was never meant to be a Port of tabletop BattleTech. BATTLETECH captures the “spirit” of the original tabletop rules, but rightly focuses on developing the best PC game possible.


Criticism of BATTLETECH for something it was never meant to be, holds very little credence.

For more than four years now, starting with the above snippet of the Kickstarter Campaign, HBS has been clear on what BATTLETECH was designed to be.

So while we might have individual preferences pointing in other directions, HBS very clearly hit the Targets and Goals outlined in the above linked Kickstarter Campaign.

 

[TLRoff]

Hey I get it.. And I also know just how many issues the original TT game had over the years. When they diverge to much from the expected balance it's gonna be an issue how ever. Toss in some rather glaringly annoying technical issues, and AI scripting that poor at best (and let me caveat that no I'm not a programmer and I have no clue with what goes into programming for it.. well I do have a clue but the devil is in the technical details, and I've played turn based games with AI that do challenge you!) And yea, I just want em to clean up some of the loose ends and tighten up the technical issues before they do to much more.

I love the game, and I love the subject matter, and I will be fair to them, but I cannot help but feel that a better job could have been done especially considering that fans contributed to funding the games development. There is no reason why we should not expect a quality product in all regards. Downside to crowd funding.. your investors and your customers are one and the same. And the crowd funders aren't looking for a piece of the action like your normal money people, they're looking for a better product.

It could be worse. Mechwarrior 5 for instance has issues that are significantly worse. It needs serious work yet. I bought it, and I hope I didn't spend my money on a lemon that's not going to be really playable/enjoyable for another six months to a year which is how long it's likely going to take PGI to fix the problems assuming they make effort.
I'm not going to assume anything, they either do it, or they do not. Won't know until after the holidays. If they start the pumping up to their first DLC right away.... well we will see. But the publisher is Epic and this does not bode well. At least not to me it doesn't.

If I want TT on the computer I have options. One that even has AI that puts what we have in battletech to shame. It's called megamech, and it's been around for many years.. how ever the interface is butt ugly.. pretty is not what the amateurs that made it were focused on, fidelity to the TT rules and an AI that didn't blow chunks was. They succeeded in their goals.

This game how ever the AI does blow chunks. And there's some game rules issue (murphy's rules!) that are inconsistent and problematical. And there are technical issues. Still gonna play, not gonna stop, but HBS? They can do better.

 

[Jade_Rook]

This is the first time I have ever heard someone say the MegaMech AI was good. Either it has improved a lot in the last two years, I didn't know how to properly configure the MegaMech, or we are using different standards to assess the AI.

HBS's AI is good. It plays competently, but not amazingly. A good player can reliably beat it, but a good player should be able to reliably beat it. I wouldn't object to a hard mode AI being added as an option, but we also already have that with a mod. It can be abused, but I think that is true of all game AIs.

I don't know where you are getting the comments on an MMO. I have seen no signs that HBS is working on anything like that.

I agree that some of the new gear needs a balance pass. The ++ rated gear is particularly overpowered.

 

[Donvale]

This is the first time I have ever heard someone say the MegaMech AI was good. Either it has improved a lot in the last two years, I didn't know how to properly configure the MegaMech, or we are using different standards to assess the AI.

HBS's AI is good. It plays competently, but not amazingly. A good player can reliably beat it, but a good player should be able to reliably beat it. I wouldn't object to a hard mode AI being added as an option, but we also already have that with a mod. It can be abused, but I think that is true of all game AIs.

I don't know where you are getting the comments on an MMO. I have seen no signs that HBS is working on anything like that.

I agree that some of the new gear needs a balance pass. The ++ rated gear is particularly overpowered.

As good as it is there are some serious issues with Heavy Metal AI, most notably the threshold for firing a single weapon to reduce evasion is WAY too low now that evasion is built so much easier, you can now literally tank an assault mech in a light by simply running straight at it making the AI fire a single weapon (usually a small one) at you in response, in reality the AI should just open up with anything that has a more than 40% chance to hit.

The balance on the new gear is pretty horrible I agree, the -2 recoil UAC5 is insane and largely renders the Rifleman pointless once you also have the -2 recoil from Guts, no UAC should ever have been given a - recoil stat, it basically destroys the entire premise of the weapon! Also the usual bonuses not being related to initial stats issues are as rampant as they were in the regular + weapons.

 

[Prussian Havoc]

...in reality the AI should just open up with anything that has a more than 40% chance to hit...

I like the idea of the AI firing all the Energy Weapons it can while still remaining Heat neutral. That way it is not building any heat, may even sink away some heat, won’t be using up precious ammunition, but will be putting as many Energy Weapons as it can downrange.

 

[Chaos Theory]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned UAC2++. If anything, that's the worst of the balance offenders. Ton-for-ton, it out-shoots the Gauss Rifle in pretty much every application.

 

[TLRoff]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned UAC2++. If anything, that's the worst of the balance offenders. Ton-for-ton, it out-shoots the Gauss Rifle in pretty much every application.

I did right in the opening post go check the mod I made over on nexus to tone it down.. HMACBalance is the name of it