BATTLETECH

Jordan WEISMAN (you know why that’s in caps) made this game an anti-white, DEI, LGBT hellscape of degeneracy. We’ll see if I can mod my own race back into the game, or if it’s another Stellaris situation.

Редко оставляю обзоры, но эта игра разочаровала абсолютно. Скучнейшая пошаговая тактика из всех, что я играл. Даже со всеми ускорениями, терпения хватит максимум на полчаса. Геймплей очень унылый. Атмосфера тоже отсутствует, юниты абсолютно игрушечные.

Великолепная игра, с отсылками на персонажи Вселенной МехВорриор. Жаль, что свернули вторую часть. Я фанат до пальцев ног серии книг и игр по этой Вселенной

As close as its gonna get to Mechcommander unfortunately

There was a time, long ago, before the age of the Gods, known as the 1980s. It was an era of wonders, and the fruits it bestowed upon mankind were many. The great FASA was the cradle that gave birth to two great stories: Shadowrun and Battletech. What these two worlds had in common was the daring fusion of things that seemed impossible to bring together, like water and oil, like man and woman, like leisure and work: in Shadowrun the dynamics of grim social evolution and the reckless use of technology,so dear to Gibson, the father of Cyberpunk, are seduced and tainted by fantasy, in a new genesis of myth set in the present day; in Battletech, humanity is projected into the future, around the year 3000, now master of a small slice of the galaxy, yet fractured by power struggles and hierarchies rooted in European feudalism, with that chivalrous flavour that never goes amiss, not even aboard a spaceship. But in the year 3000, you certainly can’t give a knight a horse: in space, you can’t hear the fodder scream. And so off we go to build mechs, combat robots ready to dominate the battlefield, with their thick armour, their many tonnes, their enormous weapons, instruments of death paraded through the solar systems so coveted by rulers. And if you’re thinking that a 15-metre-tall robot has nothing but disadvantages compared to a modern tank: get lost! We’re dreamers, your rigid logic won’t dampen our self-indulgent fantasies. In Battletech, you’ll command a mercenary company roaming the cosmos, untangling knots with particle projector cannons and missile salvos, in the noble Hellenistic tradition of cutting the Gordian knot. You’ll manage your Mechwarriors, who’ll become increasingly skilled at piloting their steel giants (if they don’t bite the dust first), look after your mechs, modifying their weapon systems and more thanks to an exceptional level of customisation, and stare bankruptcy in the face. And, despite the great freedom befitting free spirits such as mercenaries, you’ll find yourselves caught up in a scheme greater than yourselves, where nobility and misery will clash to the bitter end, if you so choose. So, if you’re into turn-based tactical combat games, if you like getting your hands greasy modding your mechs, and if these giant robots hold a special place in your heart, don’t hesitate any longer: treat yourself to a wonderful gift and pick up a copy of Battletech (complete with all the DLCs – don’t be stingy; it’s no fun enjoying things only halfway). If life allows, you’ll be a little happier (and even happier still if, after your first game, you carry on playing with the BTA 3062 mod) and you’ll have the chance to thank me later on. And, if the Battletech universe slithers its way under your skin like a sexy snake, the MechWarrior series of games awaits you. But that’s another story.

Ultimately, this is a recommend (but in the year of our lawrd '26 or beyond, you should probably wait for a sale. They happen enough). But tbh it's probably an 8/10 game for me. Maybe even 7.5. You can tell the heart's there, but the game design is limited. My big critique is that, regardless of mission structure, every one winds up playing out largely the same. Perhaps early game, you might play around more with light mechs on daring runs to pop vehicles before they get to the escape point, but by midgame, you have your formula. You know how to avoid or respond to ambushes (of which there are plenty; is there no military intelligence in this world?). As a result, replayability and expansions feel hollow. You can give me all kinds of new mechs, new maps, I will always kite the enemy lance into trickling into my killbox. "But if it's not fun, try a different strat?" - Sure, you could, but willfully playing suboptimally feels its own flavor of bad. It doesn't help that there's almost zero incentive to drop anything less than your heaviest lance for every mission. Maybe late game, you might find a Heavy with unique capabilities that fits your style more than a bog standard assault. By then you'll have the parts to core even the heaviest mechs in two turns, at worst. The game addresses this problem by just having you outgunned every mission, which doesn't make them more interesting, it just makes missions longer. It's "HP buffing" in tabletop format. The Gordian Knot of this problem gets thicker because, as a result of the above, well-balanced mechs are frowned upon in favor of specialization/min-maxing your designs, resulting in odd frankenmechs that are often counter to their intended role. Brawlers become effective snipers, and snipers become effective brawlers (or sit in storage to be sold off because the game design tacitly frowns on true long-distance engagements). There are meta weapons in this game, and unfortunately in many cases, they aren't the fun ones. I would love to see some justice for Large Lasers, but it's 2026, that ship has sailed. (Side note: It's just a little sad how heavy some weapons make the mechs, so like, you can't have an AC/2 shredder-sniper without all but running into combat naked. There is a meta to this game, and you will like it, even if it means "breaking" all your favorite toys to play the game). But, like, it's there. The whole time I played this game, I felt the pulse of a good game underneath it all, just unfortunately strangled by the grip of balance changes, emergent meta, and what I assume are coding limitations or time crunch. A presume mods fix some of this, based on discussions online. I got my way through the campaign vanilla and enjoyed my time enough to walk away happy, and maybe someday I'll come back and try one or two mods out. I've been voicing my grumps, so I do want to shine light on some high points: The OST is 10/10. No notes. It does everything I want and more. It's moody and epic in all the right places. Other folks may disagree, but I liked the campaign plot, for what it was. Had I bought this game before twitter-rot set in, I might've even enjoyed going and talking to the various paper dolls scattered around the ship to learn their bits and bobs. Unfortunately I feel like the "downtime" aspect of the game is shortchanged by the game's construction (as compared to, say, Shadowrun, where being a part of the community is a major part of the game's "feel", I never really bonded with the ship's crew in the same way). I don't hold this against the writers, though -- what I read, I enjoyed. I just chose to not dig deep in the petty bs of the crew this time around. Certainly, I think I prefer this plot to something like Homeworld 3's attempt at sci-fi space opera. But that bar is a tripping hazard. So, yeah, it's "fun enough" (Jesus, I have 73 hours in this? When did that happen? Some of that must have been game running in the background, surely). But I wouldn't expect it to set the world on fire.

Do you like mechs? Like stomping stuff? Like turn based strategy? Then this game is right for you! A decent story in a fairly unused part of the Inner Sphere, the game's story will make you feel something at least. But as with anything Battletech what you come for are the mechs and this game has it in spades!

Played this years ago and while it has it's quirks and shortcomings, it's still an excellent and replayable game.

Base game is a perfect introduction for a gamer to Battletech universe. Gameplay is fun for turn based combat and definitely allowing for a lot of different approaches to a mission depending on mechs you bring into it. Mechs can be modified and in as in vanilla it's easy to learn modded experience provide interesting expansion to it. Fully recommend going through full campaign vanilla once and jumping into modded experience like BT:Advanced 3062 or Roguetech. Grass is not greener here if you're from 40k but it has its own shade which some might prefer more

Wer Mechs und Rundenstrategie mag, kommt an Battletech nicht vorbei!