BATTLETECH - 'Mechs can walk through each other

[jsbenjamin]

One line summary of your issue
'Mechs can walk through each other

What platform are you running the game on?

Steam

What operating system do you use?
Windows 10
Which version of the game are you running?
1.9
What DLC do you have installed?
Flashpoint,
Urban Warfare,
Shadowhawk Pack,
Heavy Metal

Please explain your issue is in as much detail as possible.
During regular combat, both my 'Mechs and enemy 'Mechs can now walk through each other - as in pass through an occupied spot as though it were empty.
Have you tried verifying your files?
No

Steps to reproduce the issue
Go into combat. Watch as 'Mechs pass through, rather than around, one another.

Attach DxDiag (PC), System Info log (Mac), or run sudo lshw -html > specs.html and uploaded specs.html (Linux)

Attach Output Log
Windows: \Users\YourUserName\AppData\LocalLow\Harebrained Schemes\BATTLETECH\output_log.txt
Mac OS: Users >{name} > Library > Logs > Unity > Player.log
Linux: ~/.config/unity3d/Harebrained Schemes/BATTLETECH/Player.log

If the game crashed, please attach the crash file with the time stamp closest to the crash.
Windows: [Steam library folder]\steamapps\common\BATTLETECH\DumpBox
For v.17 and beyond try here: C:\Users\[YourUserName]\AppData\LocalLow\Harebrained Schemes\BATTLETECH
OSX: Macintosh HD > Users > [username] > Library > Application Support > Steam > steamapps > common > BattleTech > DumpBox
Linux: [Steam library folder]/steamapps/common/BATTLETECH/DumpBox

If a save game was loaded at the start of the game session, upload it. Please make sure to upload the save game with the timestamp closest to when you loaded it.
Windows:
Steam: [Steam installation folder]\userdata[SteamID]\637090\remote\C0\SGS1
GOG: 'C:\Users\USER_ID\AppData\Local\GOG.com\Galaxy\Applications\50593543263669699\Storage\Shared\Files\C#\SGS#'
Vanilla:'C:\Users\USER_ID\AppData\LocalLow\Harebrained Schemes\BattleTech\C#\SGS#'
OSX:
Steam: Macintosh HD > Users > [username] > Library > Application Support > Steam > userdata > [SteamID] > 637090 > remote > C#> SGS#
GOG: Macintosh HD > Users > [username] > Library > Application Support > GOG.com > Galaxy > Applications > 50593543263669699 > Storage > Shared > Files > C# > SGS#
Vanilla: Macintosh HD > Users > [username]> Library > Application Support > unity.Harebrained Schemes.BattleTech > C# > SGG#
Linux:
Steam: /home/.steam/steam/userdata/[steamID]/637090/remote/C#/SGS#
GOG: /home/[username]/.config/unity3d/Harebrained Schemes/BATTLETECH/remote/C#/SGS#/
Vanilla: /home/[username]/.config/unity3d/Harebrained Schemes/BATTLETECH/remote/C#/SGS#/

Attach screenshot / video

 

[Prussian Havoc]

Good @jsbenjamin, this is not a bug.

Mitch and HBS_L8Knight shared the conscious game development choice with us a few weeks ago on the livestream Mitch Plays to Win.

It solves a number of much more pressing problems.

As to the aesthetic of Mechs passing through one another, this has happen ever since Launch as I often rapid-fire move my Lance at the start of a Match. My Mechs are forever passing through one another as they close on the AI. But let us not lose sight of the fact that BATTLETECH abstracts the cacophony of chaos that is a 3025 BattleMech battlefield into bite-sized ten-Second turns, where it ONLY appears that every single Mech but one is Moving/Firing/Killing.

I’ll be curious of AndrewT’s response, but as I see it, what you describe here is working as intended. :bow:

 

[jsbenjamin]

Good @jsbenjamin, this is not a bug.

Mitch and HBS_L8Knight shared the conscious game development choice with us a few weeks ago on the livestream Mitch Plays to Win.

It solves a number of much more pressing problems.

As to the aesthetic of Mechs passing through one another, this has happen ever since Launch as I often rapid-fire move my Lance at the start of a Match. My Mechs are forever passing through one another as they close on the AI. But let us not lose sight of the fact that BATTLETECH abstracts the cacophony of chaos that is a 3025 BattleMech battlefield into bite-sized ten-Second turns, where it ONLY appears that every single Mech but one is Moving/Firing/Killing.

I’ll be curious of AndrewT’s response, but as I see it, what you describe here is working as intended. :bow:

With respect, PH, while 'Mechs have been able to visually move through one another during the pre-combat "sprinting" phase for as long as I can remember (I, too, have given countless quick movement orders that resulted in the momentary appearance of 'Mechs in the same space), they have, since launch, blocked one another during the actual combat phases. A 'Mech in the opening of a narrow passage, for example, would prevent its compatriots from passing further along.

If this is, as you seem to be suggesting, an intentional change with patch 1.9, it should probably have been called out specifically. I experienced great surprise when an enemy Thunderbolt passed right through a blocking Orion to get a clean shot at me.

My guess was that this was an unintentional consequence of the explicit change, stated in the patch notes, of allowing escorted vehicles to pass through their escorts and each other - which is why I reported it as a bug. (If it was worth mentioning that escorted vehicles "can now move through the player’s ‘Mechs and each other," it seems even more worth mentioning that so can 'Mechs themselves.)

Either way, it is a serious alteration to the tactical gameplay.

 

[Prussian Havoc]

...Either way, it is a serious alteration to the tactical gameplay.

It is a serious improvement to tactical gameplay.

BATTLETECH combat is an abstraction of actual combat. Mechs do not stand still for upwards of 20-minutes between their 10-seconds of a Move/Fire/Kill Chains. Rather, a Lance is a highly skilled Team if Warrior perfectly capable of permitting other Mechs of passing through their IIRC 30-meters of “Pip” in BATTLETECH.

The “narrow passage”:you describe is very akin to a Tactical “Stick” of door breachers.



Again, BATTLETECH Combat is an Abstraction of type and manner of Mech Combat that Jordan has long tried to capture.

Mid-1980’s TableTops only realized so much of Jordan’s Intent.

As Jordan shared with us at GENCON2017, BATTLETECH’s Turn-Order, Movement, Melee, etc was a quantum-leap of approximations closer to his intent all along.

By working to fix Convoy AI, I believe HBS sets in motion a very elegant and straightforward Feature to breath Big Stompy Life into making realistic use of the square footage wrapped up in each Movement “Pip.”



Skilled, practiced and effective, Special Operations Forces don’t get “stuck” in the door. They weave and dart, coil and uncoil as the situation warrants.

I see great BATTLETECH value in permitting BattleMechs to better and more authentically abstract “narrow passage” movement. :bow:

 

[Timaeus]

Greetings MechWarriors!
This is a bug report thread not a discussion thread. If this is an unintended side effect of the vehicle movement update then it should have been reported as the OP did since it's not called out as something that was changed for 'mechs. Hopefully it will be able to patch if it is indeed a bug. Otherwise, discussions of the merits of the change can go elsewhere.

Thank you
Timaeus

 

[Derek Pullem]

I haven't tested this out but perhaps someone with a save could do so - does the campaign mission where you have to defend a base from enemy APC get affected by the rule change. Because if those APC can now pass straight through the blocking mech then the campaign is MUCH, MUCH harder to the point of being unplayable for many.