It's not that big a community and the boards don't move all that fast, so most of you have probably read one of my long winded monologues about the need for expanded strategic gameplay and how impressed I am by Mojo Amko's ideas (linked in my signature).
I started this thread because I'm no modder and I have questions. Specifically I'm wondering how much of the stuff that Mojo wrote about is possible. This isn't a begging thread. I know all of you have your own ideas and your own projects. I'm just looking for opinions. So...
Which, if any, of the following seem like things that could be modded into BATTLETECH?
Anyone with thoughts?
[Mod edit: spoiler tag added to wall of text]
I started this thread because I'm no modder and I have questions. Specifically I'm wondering how much of the stuff that Mojo wrote about is possible. This isn't a begging thread. I know all of you have your own ideas and your own projects. I'm just looking for opinions. So...
Which, if any, of the following seem like things that could be modded into BATTLETECH?
- Multiple dropships (which would allow for multiple deployed lances, supply drops, fighter cover/air support, armored blocking forces, etc)
- Some sort of simulated simultaneous deployment of multiple lances with a single overall mission that can change based on the activities of the player controlled lances
- Some sort of simulated armor and infantry (like if the player has armored units they could be used as a simulated blocking force to ensure that the enemy could only come from a single direction - nobody is actually controlling armor)
- New mission types
- Off screen artillery
- AIr support (perhaps the player could invest in aerospace fighters, which would prevent AI air attacks and/or allow the player to call in air support)
- Anything I missed
Multi-Mission Contracts & Making Light Mechs Great Again.
This is a visual examination of a potential multi-stage mission framework to procedurally generated contracts which works something like a board game. This framework creates a layer of gameplay between the Economic Sim and tactical missions which stresses maneuver and the fog of war. At the same time, it is designed to be fairly simple.
By its nature, the system gives value to Light Mechs as reconnaissance and strike elements without having to alter their baseline combat mechanics (which I’m quite satisfied with).
Hopefully, I will have created intuitive visual explanations of the game systems and will need only minor exposition.
Without further ado, here is the contract screen:
This is pretty straightforward and doesn’t really need much explanation. I will note that the ‘Nemesis Warning’ is based on something that @HBS_Adrael mentioned in his Reddit AMA.
Anyway, I don’t think this really needs any explanation beyond what’s written on it, so we might as well head to the next slide, which is the Pre-Op Dropship preparation screen:
This one is a bit info-dense, but hopefully reasonably intuitive. On the left is the available assets on the Argo, comprising a company worth of Mechs, utility assets that need to be loaded onto a Leopard to be used (Drop Assets) and then assets that can be used from the Argo in orbit (Orbital Assets).
On the right, we have two Leopard Dropships loaded for bear and ready to perform a planetary insertion. Each has a lance of Mechs as well as Drop assets in tow, with these being drag and drop to where you can decide on what you want to bring.
The two lances, “Fulcrum” and “Jellicles” are very different from one another and we can see they have numerical ratings for an assortment of their capabilities. “Combat” is like “Drop Rating” in the current game and is just an abstracted measure of overall combat capability. I also added “Cohesion” and “Command” as measures of the Lance leaders capabilities and then maybe something like a combination of the squads experience together and then the fatigue they gain over the course of the operation. Those two measures are not particularly important and would not be required to make the system as a whole work – they were just added for flavor.
The fourth rating - “Scout” - is very important to the system. It’s a measure of the Lance’s aggregate speed, Jump Jets, sensors, Piloting skill, Tactics skill, Electronics Warfare capabilities and….whatever else would fit into this overall “scout” paradigm. A high “Scout” rating will open up a lot of possibilities on the operation, often being used as a mission prerequisite or used in a “mission effectiveness” RNG roll on abstracted recon missions that you don’t actually play out on the tactical map. Fulcrum actually has a decent Scout rating given that their Mechs tick the boxes for a number of these considerations, but they will generally be better utilized in direct combat (also, if they brought something like a 3/5 movement Awesome instead of the Jump-capable Thunderbolt, it would torpedo their Scout rating).
With the loadouts selected, it’s time to…..
DROP!!!
Here we see the planet-side operations screen showing a small theater where we’ll attempt to achieve the objectives of our contract.
In this case, the player has elected to drop both Leopards and their lances right next to Point Ramses. Fulcrum, the Assault lance, is given an Attack order against Ramses, spawning a straightforward mission (in this case, most likely a ‘Battle’).
Jellicles, the Recon lance, has a Probe order. This will be an abstracted mission not played directly under player control unless an interception takes place (ie. Either they get intercepted or they have the option to intercept someone else and decide to take it - in either of those instances there will be an actual tactical combat mission). Even abstracted, this Probe will generate longer-term advantages for the operation which informs the player’s choices and options in later missions - the effectiveness of how this Probe order goes is an RNG calculation based on the Lance’s “Scout” rating as well as the enemy assets in the area. It is somewhat similar to the Covert Operations in War of the Chosen.
Unless Jellicles is intercepted before they complete the mission, it will gather some intel about at least three map nodes: Point Akadia, Point Persimmon and Point Fortuna. It also has a chance of generating intel about any other points, or troops operating in the area or…anything relevant – again, the better the “Scout”, the better the potential of the intel gathered. Also covered by this probe, if Fulcrum’s attack on Point Ramses were to draw enemy reinforcements in, Jellicles would have a chance of intercepting them before they arrived to fight Fulcrum.
The results are:
Turn one sees Fulcrum overwhelm the defenders at Ramses while taking minimal damage – there are no reinforcements. Jellicles also perform their full sweep of the three maps nodes without interruption and gains quite a bit of intel which is visible on the next slide:
Akadia is now known to be an enemy Supply base, which qualifies as a formal “Asset.” That means it’s can serve as a primary objective.
More importantly, Point Fortuna has some highly interesting going’s on – and they’re time sensitive! Major Tomm – who’s elimination is a secondary objective – is fleeing with only a light escort and an Intel Cache! The Intel Cashe is a primary objective and could potentially be hard to find. Let’s attack now!
That we shall, but due to the “Fleeing” designation, there is a “Scout” requirement to perform the mission, even for Lances in adjoining Map Nodes. In this case, it’s a 3.5 “Scout” rating, which Fulcrum does not qualify for (Also, Fulcrum has low ammo and a bit of battle damage). But, Jellicles has a 4.0 “Scout” Rating and is in position.
Cicada Ho! Jellicles receives an “Attack” order on Fortuna and will attempt to interdict the nefarious Major Tomm and his precious cargo. While Jellicles is not an overwhelming Lance in direct combat, Major Tomm’s forces are at least also light, so they should have a chance (and they can also flee easily if things go badly based on their superior mobility).
At Jellicles presses the “Attack,” Fulcrum regroups. Hysteria came with an allotment of supplies and field refit equipment, so some of the battle damage accrued in the Attack on Point Ramses during turn 1 will be repaired (well, unless they get interrupted by OPFOR incursions from either Point Persimmon or Akadia).
The Leopard Pyromania is on standby for Emergency Evac duty if a Lance needs to withdraw from combat.
Lastly, the Leopard Hysteria is flying back to the Argo to pick up the third Merc lance, Baracus. Normally it would take three turns for Baracus to be able to drop onto planet Untram, but the Argo has been upgraded with a High-Grade Dock, which means that Baracus and the accompanying Drop Assets can be loaded into Hysteria instantly. Baracus will, therefore, be available on Turn 4 to press the attack.
What happens next? Well….
Jellicles was successful in striking a blow at the Untram Prosperity Sphere by dispatching Major Tomm – likewise, they overturned a fleeing HQ vehicle before it could get away and secured vital information on the Capellan network’s dispositions on Untram!
Unfortunately, they did incur some damage from the escorting Scorpion tanks and VTOL support craft. Not much damage, but they were rather flimsy to start with, so taking them into any further direct engagements would be a precarious undertaking. They also discovered that at least one Lance of MacGregor’s Armored Scouts has moved into Point Persimmon, which previously looked empty.
Taking all this into consideration, our plucky Mercs decide for two Orders this turn: Jellicles will launch another Probe Order while Fulcrum will perform an Attack Order against the enemy Supply base at Point Akadia. This attack will be greatly aided by Fulcrum having been partially repaired by the Ground Crews dropped off previously by the Leopard Hysteria (these ground crews are also now Attached to Fulcrum and will follow them wherever they go, though at some safe distance back). The original supplies carried by the Ground Crews are almost depleted, so securing the Supply Base will actually be quite useful.
Jellicles Probe Order will hopefully secure some more intel – ideally on enemy forces – and provide some screening against reinforcements coming to Point Akadia.
Finally, Baracus Lance is on their way down in Hysteria and – if all goes according to plan – they will be landing at Point Akadia and reinforcing Fulcrum Lance.
The results are….
Everyone is stacked at Akadia, which was taken by Fulcrum, but with some serious degradation to those Mechs. While more ground Crews have arrived and there are plenty of supplies at the Akadia Supply Base, serious repairs to structure or replacement of destroyed weapons are not actions that can be performed in the field.
More problematic is that the elements of MacGregor’s Armored Scouts who were mustering at Point Persimmon have now been reinforced by Untram Prosperity Sphere forces and are launching an attack against Point Akadia! They are led by Captain Kampfhosen as well!
Fortunately, Baracus Lance has landed as scheduled and is able to take up the defense that neither Fulcrum or Jellicles are prepared for.
Should the defense prove successful, the Probe Order that Jellicles performed on turn three has put victory with sight: Point Dublin is a Military Training Facility, which qualifies as an Asset. Destruction of one more Asset means all Primary Objectives will be accomplished and the Mercs can promptly get off this damn rock.
And then? And then?
Well, they all lived happily-ever-after in the palace. No, actually, I need to wrap it up another time, but I think the proof of concept of how this sort of thing could work has at least been communicated here. That is actually my chief objective.
Thanks for checking it out!
This is a visual examination of a potential multi-stage mission framework to procedurally generated contracts which works something like a board game. This framework creates a layer of gameplay between the Economic Sim and tactical missions which stresses maneuver and the fog of war. At the same time, it is designed to be fairly simple.
By its nature, the system gives value to Light Mechs as reconnaissance and strike elements without having to alter their baseline combat mechanics (which I’m quite satisfied with).
Hopefully, I will have created intuitive visual explanations of the game systems and will need only minor exposition.
Without further ado, here is the contract screen:
This is pretty straightforward and doesn’t really need much explanation. I will note that the ‘Nemesis Warning’ is based on something that @HBS_Adrael mentioned in his Reddit AMA.
Anyway, I don’t think this really needs any explanation beyond what’s written on it, so we might as well head to the next slide, which is the Pre-Op Dropship preparation screen:
This one is a bit info-dense, but hopefully reasonably intuitive. On the left is the available assets on the Argo, comprising a company worth of Mechs, utility assets that need to be loaded onto a Leopard to be used (Drop Assets) and then assets that can be used from the Argo in orbit (Orbital Assets).
On the right, we have two Leopard Dropships loaded for bear and ready to perform a planetary insertion. Each has a lance of Mechs as well as Drop assets in tow, with these being drag and drop to where you can decide on what you want to bring.
The two lances, “Fulcrum” and “Jellicles” are very different from one another and we can see they have numerical ratings for an assortment of their capabilities. “Combat” is like “Drop Rating” in the current game and is just an abstracted measure of overall combat capability. I also added “Cohesion” and “Command” as measures of the Lance leaders capabilities and then maybe something like a combination of the squads experience together and then the fatigue they gain over the course of the operation. Those two measures are not particularly important and would not be required to make the system as a whole work – they were just added for flavor.
The fourth rating - “Scout” - is very important to the system. It’s a measure of the Lance’s aggregate speed, Jump Jets, sensors, Piloting skill, Tactics skill, Electronics Warfare capabilities and….whatever else would fit into this overall “scout” paradigm. A high “Scout” rating will open up a lot of possibilities on the operation, often being used as a mission prerequisite or used in a “mission effectiveness” RNG roll on abstracted recon missions that you don’t actually play out on the tactical map. Fulcrum actually has a decent Scout rating given that their Mechs tick the boxes for a number of these considerations, but they will generally be better utilized in direct combat (also, if they brought something like a 3/5 movement Awesome instead of the Jump-capable Thunderbolt, it would torpedo their Scout rating).
With the loadouts selected, it’s time to…..
DROP!!!
Here we see the planet-side operations screen showing a small theater where we’ll attempt to achieve the objectives of our contract.
In this case, the player has elected to drop both Leopards and their lances right next to Point Ramses. Fulcrum, the Assault lance, is given an Attack order against Ramses, spawning a straightforward mission (in this case, most likely a ‘Battle’).
Jellicles, the Recon lance, has a Probe order. This will be an abstracted mission not played directly under player control unless an interception takes place (ie. Either they get intercepted or they have the option to intercept someone else and decide to take it - in either of those instances there will be an actual tactical combat mission). Even abstracted, this Probe will generate longer-term advantages for the operation which informs the player’s choices and options in later missions - the effectiveness of how this Probe order goes is an RNG calculation based on the Lance’s “Scout” rating as well as the enemy assets in the area. It is somewhat similar to the Covert Operations in War of the Chosen.
Unless Jellicles is intercepted before they complete the mission, it will gather some intel about at least three map nodes: Point Akadia, Point Persimmon and Point Fortuna. It also has a chance of generating intel about any other points, or troops operating in the area or…anything relevant – again, the better the “Scout”, the better the potential of the intel gathered. Also covered by this probe, if Fulcrum’s attack on Point Ramses were to draw enemy reinforcements in, Jellicles would have a chance of intercepting them before they arrived to fight Fulcrum.
The results are:
Turn one sees Fulcrum overwhelm the defenders at Ramses while taking minimal damage – there are no reinforcements. Jellicles also perform their full sweep of the three maps nodes without interruption and gains quite a bit of intel which is visible on the next slide:
Akadia is now known to be an enemy Supply base, which qualifies as a formal “Asset.” That means it’s can serve as a primary objective.
More importantly, Point Fortuna has some highly interesting going’s on – and they’re time sensitive! Major Tomm – who’s elimination is a secondary objective – is fleeing with only a light escort and an Intel Cache! The Intel Cashe is a primary objective and could potentially be hard to find. Let’s attack now!
That we shall, but due to the “Fleeing” designation, there is a “Scout” requirement to perform the mission, even for Lances in adjoining Map Nodes. In this case, it’s a 3.5 “Scout” rating, which Fulcrum does not qualify for (Also, Fulcrum has low ammo and a bit of battle damage). But, Jellicles has a 4.0 “Scout” Rating and is in position.
Cicada Ho! Jellicles receives an “Attack” order on Fortuna and will attempt to interdict the nefarious Major Tomm and his precious cargo. While Jellicles is not an overwhelming Lance in direct combat, Major Tomm’s forces are at least also light, so they should have a chance (and they can also flee easily if things go badly based on their superior mobility).
At Jellicles presses the “Attack,” Fulcrum regroups. Hysteria came with an allotment of supplies and field refit equipment, so some of the battle damage accrued in the Attack on Point Ramses during turn 1 will be repaired (well, unless they get interrupted by OPFOR incursions from either Point Persimmon or Akadia).
The Leopard Pyromania is on standby for Emergency Evac duty if a Lance needs to withdraw from combat.
Lastly, the Leopard Hysteria is flying back to the Argo to pick up the third Merc lance, Baracus. Normally it would take three turns for Baracus to be able to drop onto planet Untram, but the Argo has been upgraded with a High-Grade Dock, which means that Baracus and the accompanying Drop Assets can be loaded into Hysteria instantly. Baracus will, therefore, be available on Turn 4 to press the attack.
What happens next? Well….
Jellicles was successful in striking a blow at the Untram Prosperity Sphere by dispatching Major Tomm – likewise, they overturned a fleeing HQ vehicle before it could get away and secured vital information on the Capellan network’s dispositions on Untram!
Unfortunately, they did incur some damage from the escorting Scorpion tanks and VTOL support craft. Not much damage, but they were rather flimsy to start with, so taking them into any further direct engagements would be a precarious undertaking. They also discovered that at least one Lance of MacGregor’s Armored Scouts has moved into Point Persimmon, which previously looked empty.
Taking all this into consideration, our plucky Mercs decide for two Orders this turn: Jellicles will launch another Probe Order while Fulcrum will perform an Attack Order against the enemy Supply base at Point Akadia. This attack will be greatly aided by Fulcrum having been partially repaired by the Ground Crews dropped off previously by the Leopard Hysteria (these ground crews are also now Attached to Fulcrum and will follow them wherever they go, though at some safe distance back). The original supplies carried by the Ground Crews are almost depleted, so securing the Supply Base will actually be quite useful.
Jellicles Probe Order will hopefully secure some more intel – ideally on enemy forces – and provide some screening against reinforcements coming to Point Akadia.
Finally, Baracus Lance is on their way down in Hysteria and – if all goes according to plan – they will be landing at Point Akadia and reinforcing Fulcrum Lance.
The results are….
Everyone is stacked at Akadia, which was taken by Fulcrum, but with some serious degradation to those Mechs. While more ground Crews have arrived and there are plenty of supplies at the Akadia Supply Base, serious repairs to structure or replacement of destroyed weapons are not actions that can be performed in the field.
More problematic is that the elements of MacGregor’s Armored Scouts who were mustering at Point Persimmon have now been reinforced by Untram Prosperity Sphere forces and are launching an attack against Point Akadia! They are led by Captain Kampfhosen as well!
Fortunately, Baracus Lance has landed as scheduled and is able to take up the defense that neither Fulcrum or Jellicles are prepared for.
Should the defense prove successful, the Probe Order that Jellicles performed on turn three has put victory with sight: Point Dublin is a Military Training Facility, which qualifies as an Asset. Destruction of one more Asset means all Primary Objectives will be accomplished and the Mercs can promptly get off this damn rock.
And then? And then?
Well, they all lived happily-ever-after in the palace. No, actually, I need to wrap it up another time, but I think the proof of concept of how this sort of thing could work has at least been communicated here. That is actually my chief objective.
Thanks for checking it out!
Anyone with thoughts?
[Mod edit: spoiler tag added to wall of text]
Last edited by a moderator:
