Mechwarrior Tactics

[JasonPratt]

I'll certainly be looking into the pay-to-win side of things as I go, although I won't be able to say anything pro or con on that until open beta.

I should however clarify that I don't know yet (although the information may be there and I haven't read far enough) whether STACs actually will be bought with real money or not once the game leaves closed beta. If I can find public information to clarify that one way or another I'll post it; or someone else could beat me to it, I won't mind. :)

Obviously I'm trying to stick to information that anyone could find out from MWT's own marketing without being in closed beta. I fully anticipate that the game will allow players to recover material after a battle, since that's a big point to all previous versions of Battletech.


Update: I have now read confirmation one way or another, but I don't think it's from publicly available material. Will keep looking around to see if I can find public data on the question, as I realize it's an important issue. (Presumably once the beta goes open, then all info will be allowable.)

Update 2: I have now read confirmation on one of their public forum pages (I signed out to make sure I wasn't reading something locked to the beta) -- players can buy in-game C-bills with real money and use this currency to buy things in-game. Scrap is also an in-game currency earned in various ways, and can be used to buy STACs as well as other items. Not all items can be bought with scrap, but the implication is that this is limited to a few specialty not-game-winning items.

The devs are aware that the game may devolve into paying-to-win, and are looking for ways to minimize it.

[JasonPratt]

A point I hadn't realized before, but which I had wondered a bit about from screenshots: the game's setting starts where Battletech originally started. The Clans haven't invaded yet or any of those other things. This means Mechs which are now regarded as outdated are still in play (because they aren't outdated yet).

I regard this as a squeeworthy bit of (public not beta) information, although others may wish the game started later during the Clan invasions of the Inner Sphere.

[Nefaro]

So this is an online collectable card game?  Pay to win is written all over this one IMO.

I suppose you could look at it that way, although everything has a point value and the matching system uses that.  So, theoretically, you're still only playing people around the equivalent power as what you're using.

I believe that your match winnings include the in-game currency with which you can buy further "packs".   So you're not forced to constantly cough up cash for new stuff, I suppose.  Pretty much the same FtP model that everyone else uses (minus "Gold Ammo"?).

[MetalDog]

I was introduced to Battletech before the Clans invaded.  I still have my 3025 Technical Readout ;)  Keep up the impressions though.  If there is a CCG like atmosphere and mechanic, I'm digging that.

[Nefaro]

I was introduced to Battletech before the Clans invaded.  I still have my 3025 Technical Readout ;)  Keep up the impressions though.  If there is a CCG like atmosphere and mechanic, I'm digging that.

Can't give much other than what's commonly known.  It has an NDA right now, so the details are all TSNS (Top Secret Ninja Sh*t).

[spelk]

So this is an online collectable card game?  Pay to win is written all over this one IMO.

It's certainly being pitched that way, and I assume thats how they're wanting to make their money.. but for me, I'm not massively competitive in nature, and I don't care about winning against all and sundry on the Internet, whether they've got the money to fund their uber-mechs or not, it is solely a (simultaneous) turn based game where I can move around a hex landscape and then unleash hell-fire with some nicely modelled Mechs!

All the other competitive pay to win nonsense means nothing to me. If it was a single player game with a storied campaign, I'd be a very happy bunny indeed, however, it is what it is, and it's about the best (in terms of presentation and style) that we have for knocking a few Mechs together :)

[MetalDog]

I was introduced to Battletech before the Clans invaded.  I still have my 3025 Technical Readout ;)  Keep up the impressions though.  If there is a CCG like atmosphere and mechanic, I'm digging that.

Can't give much other than what's commonly known.  It has an NDA right now, so the details are all TSNS (Top Secret Ninja Sh*t).

I cetainly understand Mister Ninja, sir.

[JasonPratt]

I was introduced to Battletech before the Clans invaded.  I still have my 3025 Technical Readout ;)  Keep up the impressions though.  If there is a CCG like atmosphere and mechanic, I'm digging that.

I never did the paper version at all, although I certainly saw the game material back then. I got in with the computer game series about the Crescent Hawks; I don't recall if that was set before the Clan invasions. (In fact I recall almost nothing about that game in its plot details.)

Since the timeframe is public knowledge, I will squee a bit about how the autocannon on my mech last night was single barrel only.  ;D Not that I used it; I trimmed it off and stacked on some heat sinks and extra missile ammo instead. (I prefer much smaller autocannons, and that one was size 20.)

I can't get into gameplay specifics of course. But the public material shows the gameplay isn't a cardgame. It's more like the recent Dreadnaught game. In fact at the time (a week or so ago) I praised that game for being in effect MechCommander with destroyers and battleships, wishing there would be an update to that game series. WHY DOES GOD NOT TELL ME IN ADVANCE WHEN HE'S IN THE MOOD TO GRANT MY WISHES!?!?

On a related note, how did the Mechwarrior simulator game turn out? That looked terribly promising and then a portentous silence fell. Does anyone know?

[JasonPratt]

it is solely a (simultaneous) turn based game where I can move around a hex landscape and then unleash hell-fire with some nicely modelled Mechs!

All the other competitive pay to win nonsense means nothing to me. If it was a single player game with a storied campaign, I'd be a very happy bunny indeed, however, it is what it is, and it's about the best (in terms of presentation and style) that we have for knocking a few Mechs together :)

Yep, the devs are quite public about wanting the experience to mimic a minatures battle (although in a WEGO fashion) with the computer handling the calcs.

I can't comment pro or con on how well the CCG aspects fit that notion. About as well as I expected so far--that seems vague enough. ;) But the public marketing so far accurately indicates that area of the game has nothing directly to do with the actual combat.


I have seen nothing yet in the public material indicating there may be a single-player story campaign (for whatever that may be worth). The PR material does indicate that a player can sort of create his own campaign in single-player by building up a mercenary unit and going out on jobs. Scrap is awarded even for a loss, which is part of how the devs are planning to tamp down the pay2win threat. Matches are point graded, too, as noted above, so no one needs to get into a fight with someone more effectively blinged out if you don't want to.

[undercovergeek]

so im trying to buy access but i cant until my email address is verified - ive clicked on the link 3 times in the last 5 hours and it says a verification email has been sent - has it? No

cant buy until verified - Mr P - did you tick or untick the mysterious 'turn email notifications' button - do you have a tick in it or not?

[JasonPratt]

I learned later that button has nothing to do with that kind of email notification (or so I've been told).

A tech resolved my problem before I found a way to try the solution I'm going to suggest (so you may just wish to contact tech support--I can't promise this will work):

Go to the site and sign in. (You should be able to do that without email verification.)

Go to the forums with the forum tab.

Just above the search field on the right upper side of the forum screen, you should (may?) see three little blue hyperlink icons. The one furthest rightward should be your username with a dropdown arrow. Click on that. (If you don't see that or can't find it, just skip the rest of this and contact tech support.)

This will (should?) bring up a big status update field, underneath which are a number of smaller hyperlinks. Find "My Settings" and click that. (On my list it's the top right of the two columns.)

There should be a new set of tabs on the left now (with a new screen). "Notification options" should be near the bottom. Click that to open a new window.

Make sure the community admin notification is checked (at the top of that new screen). I've also checked email options (instead of notification list although both are possible to check) for all the first group and all the last group. There's a drop menu and checkbox for when notifications are to be sent, too (near the top of this window, beneath the first checkbox), and I've set that to immediate.

Save your settings at the bottom of this page.

Now go back and try having the system resend email verification. It shouldn't take more than a minute or two for it to come through, so if you don't see something in 15 minutes (on the outside) fill out and send in a support ticket here.


Note that a brief interruption of service was scheduled about an hour ago today, so that may be affecting things, too.

[undercovergeek]

im in - registered with a different ISP - spent me money - im ready to rock and roll - do you know if it can be downloaded on more than 1 machine (laptop and desktop?)

[Nefaro]

im in - registered with a different ISP - spent me money - im ready to rock and roll - do you know if it can be downloaded on more than 1 machine (laptop and desktop?)

Heh.

It's run through your browser.  Unity will load up through that.

[undercovergeek]

there isnt a big enough slaps forehead smiley!!!!

thanks Nef

[JasonPratt]

Welcome to the bughunt. :)

(That's public knowledge on their own FAQ, btw: the game is still full of bugs and features that probably won't be activated until open beta. They kind of hide that under a small button under the REALLY LARGE COLUMNS AND BUTTONS ABOUT BUYING IN ;), but it's still public knowledge and something potential closed beta buyers ought to clearly understand first. I can't talk about what is still buggy of course.)