Moving forward... ADVANCED BATTLETECH

[Prussian Havoc]

One Big and Stompy , bright and beautiful thing BATTLETECH has achieved for almost all its tens of thousands of gamers is to spark in them a hunger for MOAR-things-BATTLETECH.

Today, there is a bulk of BATTLETECH owners who have mastered its game design and features.

Today, there is a bulk of BATTLETECH owners who have completed its Restoration Campaign.

Today, there is a bulk of BATTLETECH owners who have completed a Career Attempt.


Today there is a bulk of BATTLETECH Owners who are ready for ADVANCED BATTLETECH. : )

But what could that ADVANCED BATTLETECH include?



Moving forward, I would like to see HBS get into all those glorious BattleMech Construction and Maintenance, Mercenary Contracting, Unit Operating WEEDS, they largely opted to abstract away.

Perhaps this could be a joint-effort with @LadyAlekto and the RogueTech Community as so very much of what I see as an ADVANCED BATTLETECH is largely in place with RogueTech.

What do you think?

Where might BATTLETECH go from today?

 

[Prussian Havoc]

For me it would be the oftdn discussed strategic layer. Add that to an updated iteration of the lance level combat and you expand the game way beyond it's current limits.

Agreed.

But I’d take it a step further still...

NEXT ECHELON Command & Control
- And this one has been percolating a lot lately. It is a step between BATTLETECH and MechCommander.

Abstract three of the player’s four BATTLETECH “Entities” into a Lance, and the fourth Entity into a 2-Mech HQ’s Section.



Thus the BATTLETECH Engine would still be moving around the map four player Entities, but their number of “parts”:would increase dramatically.

The player would no longer aim and fire every individual weapons. The player would no longer be giving Move Orders to every single Mech.

Instead the Player would be giving Company Commander to Lance Commander orders each Turn, with the AI “filling in the the blanks” and turning those orders into individual weapons fire and local maneuver exploitation of emerging tactical opportunities.



Key to this would be the Players ability to Shape the Battlespace. Off map artillery and Airstrikes would be useful. Incorporation of ECM (Packrat) into the HQ Section would be useful. Perhaps foregoing ECM and instead taking a single LRM Carrier. Or maybe going with a repair truck and Mech Bay MechTechs to gain a 10% Armor Fix and topped off Ammunition supply bonus. Maybe a “FASCAM” Vehicle to lay down a limited minefield. Or an engineer vehicle to construct an obstacle or three.

Something like this would elevate the BATTLETECH experience to the next echelon and the next level. : )