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I am cautiously optimistic.
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Well, release window. It'll be out in April and looks pretty good.
Later in the year we'll also apparently get MECHWARRIOR 5 and the new edition of the tabletop game, so this is a big BATTLETECH year all round.
Specific release date announced.
24 April.
Will it be on PlayStation 4, or is it strictly a PC game.
Will it be on xbone?!
PC only at present. Possible XB1 and PS4 versions could be made but will depend on how successful the game initially is on PC.
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BattleTech - Mercenary Campaign Overview
that just leads to another part of the site...
Let's Play BATTLETECH Pre-Release With CohhCarnage - Episode 1
thats who Im watching.
I already have a selected origin.
I am a bit miffed that they are starting so far back in mechwarrior history, but I KNOW people will b~&!@ b%~&* b**#& if they don't get to play clan invasion. I would have prefered the future/after dark ages, but who knows what they have in mind.
I am however, impressed by the multiculturalism in this go round. I know battletech has done everything they could to distance themselves from the more disgusting elements of the fanbase re: clans and eugenics/final solution nonsense, along with the dated/potentially bigoted aspects of other factions. Not sure why they put peoples ethnic backgrounds in there as their ties to earth are poor by this stage in the galactic game, but its good to see nonetheless.
I, on the other hand, like that they start during the Succession Wars. I never much cared for the Clans and the explosive technological advancement that came with it.
I am however, impressed by the multiculturalism in this go round. I know battletech has done everything they could to distance themselves from the more disgusting elements of the fanbase re: clans and eugenics/final solution nonsense, along with the dated/potentially bigoted aspects of other factions. Not sure why they put peoples ethnic backgrounds in there as their ties to earth are poor by this stage in the galactic game, but its good to see nonetheless.
I think it's good to see Jordan Weiseman come back to these properties 30+ years after he created them and addressing these elements.
Also, based on the level of excellent support shown for SHADOWRUN RETURNS (regular patching, 2 full sequels, each with a "special edition" delivered completely free of charge for existing owners), I'd anticipate BATTLETECH hanging around for a while with more stuff being added.
This year is looking very solid for these mid-tier indie games. BATTLETECH, BANNER SAGA III, PHANTOM DOCTRINE, WASTELAND 3 and PHOENIX POINT are my most eagerly-awaited games of the year (although I think WL3 has slipped to 2019). I can't even think of any AAA games worth getting excited about on the horizon, although both of the next TOTAL WAR games (BRITANNIA and THREE KINGDOMS) look solid.
Is the game going to be modable? Because I'd like someone to replace all the freaking Combine mechs in the rimward periphery with those that fit better.
Is the game going to be modable? Because I'd like someone to replace all the freaking Combine mechs in the rimward periphery with those that fit better.
such as?
Is the game going to be modable? Because I'd like someone to replace all the freaking Combine mechs in the rimward periphery with those that fit better.such as?
I've seen a lot of Panthers and Jenners so far. The list of featured mechs includes the Dragon as well, but that one only may pop up in missions taking place in the Combine.
I hope Harebrained will eventually introduce more mech designs to achieve more variety.
Panthers are very combine, but everyone has Jenners, I think. Besides, the periphery has mechs from everywhere, particularly from houses that border them.
I am however, impressed by the multiculturalism in this go round. I know battletech has done everything they could to distance themselves from the more disgusting elements of the fanbase re: clans and eugenics/final solution nonsense, along with the dated/potentially bigoted aspects of other factions. Not sure why they put peoples ethnic backgrounds in there as their ties to earth are poor by this stage in the galactic game, but its good to see nonetheless.
Can't say I ever met someone who watched BattleTech through a racial lens, especially given how the thousand years in the future setting has clearly has intermingled a ton of genes. You got black-skinned samurai from the Draconis Combine with nordic names and such.
Yeah, the clans work on their genetic purity concept, but that isn't based on race but on using the genes of the winners of their meritocracy to breed better warriors. The other castes are not as hidebound, IIRC.
While I am also sad that we won't get the clan era (in this game at least), I am definitely happy that it won't go into the Jyhad and all the BS which came afterwards. Man, would I be happy if they could just chuck off that timeline and, I don't know, start over from the first part of Prince of Havoc.
Panthers are very combine, but everyone has Jenners, I think. Besides, the periphery has mechs from everywhere, particularly from houses that border them.
Jenners exist outside the Combine, but they are rare.
The campaign takes places in a newly created periphery state next to the Magistracy of Canopus, the Taurian Concordat and the Cappellan Confederation. There should be barely any Panthers there.
Unfortunately, there are no Stingers and Wasps in the game because they use the MWO designs complete with hardpoints.
I am however, impressed by the multiculturalism in this go round. I know battletech has done everything they could to distance themselves from the more disgusting elements of the fanbase re: clans and eugenics/final solution nonsense, along with the dated/potentially bigoted aspects of other factions. Not sure why they put peoples ethnic backgrounds in there as their ties to earth are poor by this stage in the galactic game, but its good to see nonetheless.Can't say I ever met someone who watched BattleTech through a racial lens, especially given how the thousand years in the future setting has clearly has intermingled a ton of genes. You got black-skinned samurai from the Draconis Combine with nordic names and such.
Yeah, the clans work on their genetic purity concept, but that isn't based on race but on using the genes of the winners of their meritocracy to breed better warriors. The other castes are not as hidebound, IIRC.
While I am also sad that we won't get the clan era (in this game at least), I am definitely happy that it won't go into the Jyhad and all the BS which came afterwards. Man, would I be happy if they could just chuck off that timeline and, I don't know, start over from the first part of Prince of Havoc.
the bigots were usually found among clan fans, who took the genetic purity stuff either too far or in the wrong vein. You can find the same guys in w40k among space marine fans, who believe that they are inherently genetically superior, and therefore all others are lesser forms of life. Games workshop did a lot of work to get these guys away from their fandom too, but they seem to show up a lot anyway. Both games have had issues with neo nazis and the like loving the wargame aspect and translating their views through them.
Both Draconis Combine and Capellan Confederation have had issues with how they were portrayed in their writing in the past, especially when taking on or being compared to the "white" Federated Sun and Lyran Commonwealth in the past, but a lot of this may be nonsense taken out of fanfiction as well as dated and poor jokes from the 80s and 90s. I.e. SumTingWong(really?), Capellans portrayed as something out of a somewhat anti-Chinese propaganda film(starving fantatics who love the emperor that mistreats them because they are just dumb that way), etc. I also had some issues with how they were portrayed in Dark Ages with non asians getting an epicanthanal fold out of loyalty, but that appeared in exactly one work and probably will not be visited again.
While I am neutral towards the jihad(really didnt keep up on that although there was a lot of grumbling), I love Dark Ages as it was a perfect jumping on point. I found it did more to bring new people to the game than any other iteration beforehand outside of video games and I still play when I can. I cheer the Republic of the Sphere to cheese off older fans as much as because I love the non race-/ethnicity-based faction.
Panthers are very combine, but everyone has Jenners, I think. Besides, the periphery has mechs from everywhere, particularly from houses that border them.Jenners exist outside the Combine, but they are rare.
The campaign takes places in a newly created periphery state next to the Magistracy of Canopus, the Taurian Concordat and the Cappellan Confederation. There should be barely any Panthers there.
Unfortunately, there are no Stingers and Wasps in the game because they use the MWO designs complete with hardpoints.
Moar Cappy and Canopian (see previous entry) and Taurian (read: FedSun) mechs would not be bad or hard to do.
Moar Cappy and Canopian (see previous entry) and Taurian (read: FedSun) mechs would not be bad or hard to do.Panthers are very combine, but everyone has Jenners, I think. Besides, the periphery has mechs from everywhere, particularly from houses that border them.Jenners exist outside the Combine, but they are rare.
The campaign takes places in a newly created periphery state next to the Magistracy of Canopus, the Taurian Concordat and the Cappellan Confederation. There should be barely any Panthers there.
Unfortunately, there are no Stingers and Wasps in the game because they use the MWO designs complete with hardpoints.
If they don't exist in MWO yet, Harebrained will probably not include them. That being said, they could add the Javelin, the Flea and the Phoenix Hawk, for example, as those models do exist.
Urbies are all that is needed.
the bigots were usually found among clan fans, who took the genetic purity stuff either too far or in the wrong vein. You can find the same guys in w40k among space marine fans, who believe that they are inherently genetically superior, and therefore all others are lesser forms of life. Games workshop did a lot of work to get these guys away from their fandom too, but they seem to show up a lot anyway. Both games have had issues with neo nazis and the like loving the wargame aspect and translating their views through them.
Okay, that must have been an American thing. I got quite stuck into the fan scene through the first decade of the 2000's in northern Germany and I never met a single fan who would fit that description. Rather mostly fat 30-40 year olds who were very keen convincing you that their way of playing the game was the right way. :p
Both Draconis Combine and Capellan Confederation have had issues with how they were portrayed in their writing in the past, especially when taking on or being compared to the "white" Federated Sun and Lyran Commonwealth in the past, but a lot of this may be nonsense taken out of fanfiction as well as dated and poor jokes from the 80s and 90s. I.e. SumTingWong(really?), Capellans portrayed as something out of a somewhat anti-Chinese propaganda film(starving fantatics who love the emperor that mistreats them because they are just dumb that way), etc. I also had some issues with how they were portrayed in Dark Ages with non asians getting an epicanthanal fold out of loyalty, but that appeared in exactly one work and probably will not be visited again.
While both of the Draconis Combine and Capellan Confederation were portrayed as authoritarian regimes, I think only the CC got the worst of it, given that they were the "bad guy" whipping boys for most of the Stackpole era. Given that the St. Ives Compact had a lot of heroic characters, I don't think you can tint that too racial, however.
BWhile I am neutral towards the jihad(really didnt keep up on that although there was a lot of grumbling), I love Dark Ages as it was a perfect jumping on point. I found it did more to bring new people to the game than any other iteration beforehand outside of video games and I still play when I can. I cheer the Republic of the Sphere to cheese off older fans as much as because I love the non race-/ethnicity-based faction.
My dislike of the new era mostly stems from the idiotic, moronic way in which they closed the old era. Having Yvonne Steiner-Davion just cede the Federated Suns half of the Federated Commonwealth, killing Omi Kurita, ugh, just everything was stupid. That in the Jyhad both Wolf Dragoons and the Kell Hounds got mostly obliterated just sealed the deal for me to wish good riddance to bad rubbish to that whole debacle.
the bigots were usually found among clan fans, who took the genetic purity stuff either too far or in the wrong vein. You can find the same guys in w40k among space marine fans, who believe that they are inherently genetically superior, and therefore all others are lesser forms of life. Games workshop did a lot of work to get these guys away from their fandom too, but they seem to show up a lot anyway. Both games have had issues with neo nazis and the like loving the wargame aspect and translating their views through them.Okay, that must have been an American thing. I got quite stuck into the fan scene through the first decade of the 2000's in northern Germany and I never met a single fan who would fit that description. Rather mostly fat 30-40 year olds who were very keen convincing you that their way of playing the game was the right way. :p
Both Draconis Combine and Capellan Confederation have had issues with how they were portrayed in their writing in the past, especially when taking on or being compared to the "white" Federated Sun and Lyran Commonwealth in the past, but a lot of this may be nonsense taken out of fanfiction as well as dated and poor jokes from the 80s and 90s. I.e. SumTingWong(really?), Capellans portrayed as something out of a somewhat anti-Chinese propaganda film(starving fantatics who love the emperor that mistreats them because they are just dumb that way), etc. I also had some issues with how they were portrayed in Dark Ages with non asians getting an epicanthanal fold out of loyalty, but that appeared in exactly one work and probably will not be visited again.While both of the Draconis Combine and Capellan Confederation were portrayed as authoritarian regimes, I think only the CC got the worst of it, given that they were the "bad guy" whipping boys for most of the Stackpole era. Given that the St. Ives Compact had a lot of heroic characters, I don't think you can tint that too racial, however.
i don't think st ives compact was particularly asian or Chinese specifically, and the Capellan Confederation was still shown as an evil Chinese dictatorship in that conflict. Maybe they were meant to be a Tibetan analogue?
OMG, I still have to wait 5 more days?
I've been playing Into The Breach in the interim. A quick, turn-based, rogue-like game where you play mech's fighting giant insects, and win or lose you jump to a new time-line where you try to save Earth again.
i don't think st ives compact was particularly asian or Chinese specifically, and the Capellan Confederation was still shown as an evil Chinese dictatorship in that conflict. Maybe they were meant to be a Tibetan analogue?
Actually, yeah, they were pretty much portrayed as the "good Capellans", i.e. you could probably make a comparison to Taiwan. The Compact was run by Liao family members (Allard-Liao in that instance) and, despite Sun-Tzu's protests, accepted at interstellar meet-ups as its own Inner Sphere power.
Now, I agree that they never particularly focused on any chinese portrayal of the Compact, but given how it was composed of former Confederation worlds and run by a branch of the Liao family, by definition it has to be considered an example of how the Capellan Confederation was portrayed by writers.
While the CC was, as mentioned before, the "villain state" for the Stackpole era, I think very few novels focused on the way people lived there. Stackpole mostly kept it to portraying the ruling family and the only other writer I can think of who actually went to the ground level was Victor Milan in his first novel about Cassie Suthorn (one of my favorite writers and favorite characters of the BattleTech universe, btw).
The CC had a brutal secret police, but let's face it, so had all the other states only that Steiner, Davion and Marik hid it better. Victor Steiner-Davion did some pretty damn unethical stuff to hide Joshua Marik's death with the help of his secret service, for example.
The portrayal of the Capellan Confederation never seemed to me to be particularly about Chinese culture being bad, but about how an authoritarian regime with particular communist/socialist traits (which happened to be run by a family with Chinese ancestry) was a bad thing.
Given how modern China does some really scarily authoritarian stuff just now (I only say "social score"), it's not as if that hasn't modern relevance anymore.
Now, of course one could have a discussion how every Inner Sphere nation is actually an authoritarian regime. :p
First off, thanks for discussing such a potentially hot button topic.
You have more history in battletech than I do, but I would argue davion, steiner and(especially) marik secret police/intelligence were largely laughable. They possessed nowhere near the level of professionalism and fear that Capellan ones engendered, the Kuritan analogue was only just behind them. Given the fantatically pro chinese sentiment of Liao and the pro Japanese sentiment of Kurita, it would be hard to not view them as just (insert state here) in spaaaaaaaace, along with the ugly sterotypes that are aimed at them during the time of the writing.
BT legal battle update.
i dont know if this is going to end quite the way fans think it is.
Strong reviews so far, although RPS cautions that the unit animations can be very slow. Also a bit silly that your mech fires its weapons one after the other rather than all at once, as it presumably would on the battlefield.
Re: BattleTech
I've played the first few missions now and I see where RPS is coming from, but didn't find the pauses in battle to be as bad. The second mission (the first after the tutorial) got a bit laborious with moving your mechs around but the next few seemed to go a lot faster. I didn't notice any major problem with the animations: they seemed to go about as fast, if not faster, than XCOM 2's (especially as usually only 1 unit per turn has a hero shot, unless you're destroying a mech).
I do wonder if the game would be better if it had a Divinity: Original Sin/Wasteland 2 approach where you can move in real time when not in battle but go into turn based in combat. The real dead air in the game comes from the bits when you're not in combat and moving your mechs one by one, turn by turn with no-one shooting at you. That gets real old, real quick.
I can also see where future updates to the game are going to come from. A big thing I think will be putting more voices in the game. It's kind of distracting on the ship to be reading all this text (on the battlefield it doesn't seem as bad) and people standing there, staring at you blankly. Yeah, I know, money and it's not that important, but it does feel like the biggest compromise to the budget. I also had a CTD in the first 90 minutes of the game, which was annoying, but I have a feeling it was my virus checker (it didn't add the game to the protected list until afterwards). No problems since then.
The music is also phenomenal and the opening title sequence does a great job of setting up the story and backdrop. Right now I'd say the game was a solid 7/10 and could go higher.
Oh, and I think they must have changed the weapons thing between the review build and the release version, as your weapons do all fire at once now. That makes a lot more sense.
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Played a fantastic mission (I think it's the first big plot-advancing one) where you have to retrieve a crashed starship. Extraordinarily tense as the enemy base is heavily defended and you have to move around the periphery trying to take out turrets and tanks. Managed it, but I took a fair bit of damage in the process. Arriving at the retrieval site, an enemy lance jumped my wounded mechs and I had to play cat and mouse with them around buildings and rocks. Managed to take them down, only for a tougher enemy boss to jump into my midst. My Vindicator promptly one-shotted it with a fluke critical from its main gun (it had to take serious heat damage in the process, but it was that or die). All four of my mechs made it home, but I think they were held together with rubber bands and paperclips at the end.
I'm having problems seeing where it's slow. These are skyscraper-sized walking robots with enough artillery to level a city.
But, I've played Mechwarrior Online. They're just as slow there, and you're piloting the mech personally.
First off, thanks for discussing such a potentially hot button topic.
You have more history in battletech than I do, but I would argue davion, steiner and(especially) marik secret police/intelligence were largely laughable. They possessed nowhere near the level of professionalism and fear that Capellan ones engendered, the Kuritan analogue was only just behind them. Given the fantatically pro chinese sentiment of Liao and the pro Japanese sentiment of Kurita, it would be hard to not view them as just (insert state here) in spaaaaaaaace, along with the ugly sterotypes that are aimed at them during the time of the writing.
I would recommend you read Victor Milan's BattleTech novels (not the Dark Age one, which is about completely different stuff than the three he wrote during the Clan era). They give a ground level look from a non-Mechwarrior at some of the workings of the intelligence agencies of the Inner Sphere, though mostly at the ISF. A branch of Davion intelligence (the Rabid Foxes) and Liao's Maskirovka were also touched upon, while the LIC and SAFE are not present.
In any case, the Maskirovka is mostly feared due to its brutality, while the ISF also reigns through fear, but seems much more professionally capable. Again, the Capellan Confederation comes off the worst, but mostly due to holding the villain ball for the entirety of the Stackpole era. It did not seem to be focused on any race or ethnicity (an oxymoron, anyway, given the very much present genetic melting pot every Inner Sphere nation is), but on a governing philosophy. And I think we all can still agree that Mao's China (which the Capellan Confederation seems to be built around as a historical analogue) had some human rights problems, can we?
I'm having problems seeing where it's slow. These are skyscraper-sized walking robots with enough artillery to level a city.
The tallest mech, the Battlemaster, is 18 metres tall.
I need to go back and look for what he wrote for dark ages...I think I liked that book.
Yes rending of falcons. Loved it.
Getting back, I think this only cements Capellan Confederation and Draconis Combine as ethnically based bad guys. I think this may be an American based thing, as most people I know who have played the game for years still interchange China and Japan for Capellan Confederation and Draconis Combine respectively. Maybe I am not explaining things the right way, but that's just how it comes across to me. I hope things are a bit less obvious in that vein as this game goes on.
Well, let's agree to disagree then. I think I stated my point of view extensively, if I cannot convince you by now, then further discussion would only entail pointless repetition.
I did the story mission with the two bases and the turrets last night, where you have to destroy mission control in a strict time limit and it was epic. I thought it was genuinely impossible to start with (tried it 3 times with a frontal assault and got wiped out or ran out of time), but then hit on a hit-and-fade approach.
I sent my heavy and a medium mech (my trusty Shadow Hawk which had been chewing up the bad guys all game, but at this point was starting to get a bit antiquated) on the north side of the turret control base, where there's a nice hill overlooking the landing site. They rained hell down on the enemy mechs, convincing them and their heavy (a Dragon) to come up the narrow road south of the hill or the rough hill ascent to the north (which leaves them unsteady so you can zip round the hill and knock them over). My mechs then backed off as the enemy got their range. This forced the enemy to split between the two routes. At the same time I sent two medium mechs down the cliffs on the south side of the base, shielded from the enemy by the massive spherical dropship. With the help of the turrets they took out the Trebuchet down there and then jump-jetted towards the building, firing pot shots into the main enemy mech army's rear at the same time.
To my considerable disbelief, my two mechs at the top of the hill wiped out the Dragon and the entire attacking enemy force apart from the last two, who managed to blast my Shadow Hawk's arm off and reduced it to near death. My Vindicator finished off the building, jump-jetted down to the landing site, again onto the road and took out the last enemy mech with a long-range and chancy PPC blast to the head after my limping Shadow Hawk lured it into line of sight of the Vindicator.
The Shadow Hawk had lost an arm and a leg, but otherwise everyone was fine. 2 mechs took out 5 (I think) just by making use of the terrain and forcing the enemy into chokepoints.
Okay, I think I need to get a bit deeper into this game. Been playing for about ten hours now, started over the campaign from 30 days in and after the first story mission the difficulty still ramps up a bit too fierce, IMO. I managed to get an all-medium mech lance after the first story mission, but as soon as one of them gets knocked out for a few weeks, the one light mech I sub in seems to screw up the mission balance so badly that I have had to re-do several missions by now.
I had one one and a half skull mission where I had to intercept a mobile HQ with two Strikers and an LRM carrier, while a whole light/medium lance bore down on me. After getting my ass handed to me on a platter (seriously, LRM carriers are a sudden jump up in difficulty I did not see coming), I decided to skip it.
Now I am liberating a prison in another story mission and, mama mía, just one heavy mech on the opposite side with two solid medium mechs, plus a Jenner which lived one round too long can make a hell of a difference. I'll try that one again later today. ^^
All in all, a very good game. Failure breeds repetition, which breeds success. ;)
Okay, I think I need to get a bit deeper into this game. Been playing for about ten hours now, started over the campaign from 30 days in and after the first story mission the difficulty still ramps up a bit too fierce, IMO. I managed to get an all-medium mech lance after the first story mission, but as soon as one of them gets knocked out for a few weeks, the one light mech I sub in seems to screw up the mission balance so badly that I have had to re-do several missions by now.
I had one one and a half skull mission where I had to intercept a mobile HQ with two Strikers and an LRM carrier, while a whole light/medium lance bore down on me. After getting my ass handed to me on a platter (seriously, LRM carriers are a sudden jump up in difficulty I did not see coming), I decided to skip it.
Now I am liberating a prison in another story mission and, mama mía, just one heavy mech on the opposite side with two solid medium mechs, plus a Jenner which lived one round too long can make a hell of a difference. I'll try that one again later today. ^^
All in all, a very good game. Failure breeds repetition, which breeds success. ;)
I feel that there is an XCOM situation here where the game encourages you to move on to the next big story/event mission before you're ready. I think you're supposed to be ignoring the story missions to pick up more basic missions at the start of the game and only move up when you're ready (unlike XCOM there doesn't seem to be a penalty for ignoring story missions for weeks or months at a time).
I flew back to the starting area because the missions I was starting to encounter were way too hard and cleaned up a ton of small (half-a-skull to one-skull) missions very quickly. They don't give you much money (you literally make about 1/8th as much as you do from a big story mission) but you build up experience. The only problem here is when the enemy light mechs get a good hit in on one of your heavies or mediums, where the cost of repairs and the time spent recovering can wipe out 90% of the benefit of doing the mission.
I'm starting to have nightmares about when the assaults show up.
Well, we probably will have our own assault mechs by then. I hope. But I can see what you are saying, given how the AI is not shy on concentrating their fire just like a human player will.
What I didn't get until about now was that you can just simply jump back to starting area planets and there will be missions waiting for you. I had thought that you needed to follow the missions given out by the MRB.
Well, we probably will have our own assault mechs by then. I hope. But I can see what you are saying, given how the AI is not shy on concentrating their fire just like a human player will.
What I didn't get until about now was that you can just simply jump back to starting area planets and there will be missions waiting for you. I had thought that you needed to follow the missions given out by the MRB.
Each planet throws up its own missions randomly and you need to physically be in the system to see them pop up. The only missions you'll see from other systems are the ones that pay you to travel there. When you're in a system, it will also generate those missions (which require travel time) randomly. I left Detroit to do a mission on another system and then got recalled to Detroit to do a travel-paid mission and then you ricochet around as long as you want.
Yeah, so I noticed by now.
Since I now have the Argo, I guess I'll upgrade the drive to get to missions faster... I don't want to reach the Clan era too quickly. ;)
Okay, I think I need to get a bit deeper into this game. Been playing for about ten hours now, started over the campaign from 30 days in and after the first story mission the difficulty still ramps up a bit too fierce, IMO. I managed to get an all-medium mech lance after the first story mission, but as soon as one of them gets knocked out for a few weeks, the one light mech I sub in seems to screw up the mission balance so badly that I have had to re-do several missions by now.
I had one one and a half skull mission where I had to intercept a mobile HQ with two Strikers and an LRM carrier, while a whole light/medium lance bore down on me. After getting my ass handed to me on a platter (seriously, LRM carriers are a sudden jump up in difficulty I did not see coming), I decided to skip it.
Now I am liberating a prison in another story mission and, mama mía, just one heavy mech on the opposite side with two solid medium mechs, plus a Jenner which lived one round too long can make a hell of a difference. I'll try that one again later today. ^^
All in all, a very good game. Failure breeds repetition, which breeds success. ;)
I heard the difficulty spike is quite real. From what I have seen, you need at least one light mech for mobility purposes and target identifcation/sensor locking if the pilot has it.