Welcome to BATTLETECH 1.3! This release contains a number of quality-of-life improvements and bug fixes, as well as some cool new features. We have also released the Flashpoint paid expansion and the Beta version of French, German, and Russian localizations.
1.3 HIGHLIGHTS: Career Mode, Revision to MechWarrior Abilities, Revisions to Reputation, Revision to Stores… See details in the “New Free Features & Content” section below.
BATTLETECH: Flashpoint expansion now available: Beyond adding over 30 hours of exciting Flashpoints (branching, multi-mission short stories) to BATTLETECH, this paid expansion comes complete with three new ‘Mechs (including the highly anticipated Hatchetman), a challenging new mission type, and a new tropical biome for the biggest and most challenging BATTLETECH experience yet. Purchase the Season Pass to get a deal on Flashpoint plus the next two expansions!
Localized Beta versions of the game: Localization is officially in Beta on Steam and GOG for all OS versions! Select the “public_beta_localization” branch to opt-in, then select German, Russian, or French in the in-game Settings menu. This Beta includes translated Flashpoint paid expansion content for owners of Flashpoint. We will continue to work on bug fixes (including updating any missing string translations), improving the quality of the translations, and updating this beta branch. We also look forward to hearing your feedback on the PDX Forum. Habe Spaß! Повеселись! S'amuser!
Localization known issues:
- If you switch to a different language and it isn’t showing up on screen, you may need to back out to the main menu so that the language pack can refresh.
- Subtitles may play quite fast in cinematics.
- Some text in labels, Career Mode, Flashpoints, and multiplayer may appear unlocalized.
- There may be some minor cosmetic issues with text formatting.
- The test language we used to develop our localization system is visible in the settings menu. It is strongly advised that you do not play the game with this enabled.
- There is no noun declension in procedurally generated contracts.
Linux Beta update: The Linux Beta along with fixes and updates has been integrated with the main game version and is available on Steam, GOG, and Humble!
Linux known issues:
- The game must have write access to the installation directory. If you get infinite loading screens on launch or when starting a new game make sure the directory is writable: sudo chmod -R 777 BattleTech_Data
- Non-English Linux systems may experience infinite loading screens. Please opt-in to the Localized Beta (below) or use the launch option work-around: LC_ALL=C
We hope you enjoy our latest BATTLETECH releases!
-- HBS
IMPORTANT: Additional note for players who mod various game files… Reminder that modding is not officially supported. If you have saved a game with any mod active, that saved game will not work after an update has been applied unless you replace all modded files exactly as they were when the save game file was created. Saved games require the exact same data state in order to function properly.
As always, if you experience further issues please contact Customer Support at: https://support.paradoxplaza.com
New Free Features & Content
All-new Career Mode - Career Mode challenges you to begin the game with the Argo in a random system, with a random group of MechWarriors, with no story missions to rely on for big payouts. Wander the Periphery taking contracts (and Flashpoints, if you own Flashpoint!) and manage and grow your mercenary company to earn a final score. Career mode is played in Ironman mode by default, so it is also possible to “lose” this mode unrecoverably. (But Ironman mode can be disabled, and all the same granular difficulty settings from the campaign can also be adjusted in Career Mode.)
Revamped MechWarrior abilities - We heard a bunch of feedback about the Bulwark ability and how you HAD to take it to finish the campaign and it got us thinking… and then revising Bulwark… and realizing that we should just rebalance the whole dang set of abilities. Then we put it out as an opt-in Beta and got some great feedback - thanks! We’ve been working on it ever since and we’ve released the revised abilities in 1.3. You can read the complete details in this forum post. The first time you load any game session after updating to 1.3, you'll see a popup informing you that all of your MechWarrior skills have been refunded, so that you can review the new abilities and respec accordingly.
Revisions to the Reputation System - We’ve increased the rate at which reputation rises and falls so you can really feel the effects of your actions. When you reach the maximum possible reputation with a faction, you become eligible for an Alliance. By entering into an Alliance, you mark yourself an ally of that faction - and an enemy of that faction's enemies.
Faction stores - In addition to making higher difficulty contracts and salvage available, Alliances also allow you to access faction-specific stores containing items you might not find anywhere else.
Black Market stores - If you play your cards right, criminal elements will allow you to buy access to the Black Market, where you’ll find some equipment that fell off a transport…
New Events, including cameos from two Legendary MechWarriors (these were part of our “social sharing” Backer reward from the Kickstarter, and we expect the other two cameos to make it into the next free update.)
New mercenary contracts - now you can take jobs from Pirates!
New inventory items - including rare LosTech from before the fall of the Star League!
New Achievements - 19 new mercenary and story achievements have been added to the campaign and career modes!
Improvements
- Increased the number of possible encounter types on existing maps for more variety.
- Star Map updates for new Stores and the Black Market
- New space travel animations added
- New camera angles added in group conversations
- Players can now move 'Mechs from one Mech Bay slot to another. Organize away!
UI
- Many added, updated, and fixed Tooltips
- Priority items now remain visible on the salvage list after confirming their selection
- Fixed the broken Settings toggle for auto-selecting units outside of combat
- Fixed an issue which would cause the portrait and description on the “Arrived at Destination” popup message to occasionally be cut off
- Fixed an issue which caused Reputation indicators to be partially cut off on the Negotiation screen
- Removed Reputation status icons for Locals’ (and certain other factions you cannot gain or lose Reputation with) from Stores and AAR. This will keep Reputation focused on the Factions that matter.
- Fixed an issue which caused the pattern selector in the Mech Bay to stop responding after switching patterns too rapidly
- Fixed an issue which caused the 'No existing save games' prompt to display after quitting from the 'Load Game' menu evoked after running out of C-bills
- Made the Settings Menu able to be dismissed using the ESC key
- Fixed the Morale tooltip to not always show '0' value for the Current Morale
- Fixed an issue which caused the background behind the Leopard to change when navigating between screens
- Fixed an issue which could cause the 'Load Save' button on the Out of Funds pop-up not respond for the user's input
- Fixed UI visual anomalies which could occur after using the Pattern selector or the Refit menu in the Mech Bay
- Items in 'Store' and 'Storage' menus are now sorted more by types
- Various small UI and messaging improvements
Accounts
- Special characters are now allowed in account creation passwords (!@#$%^&**()_-=+[]<>)
Bugfixes
- Fixed multiple spawn spots on maps where ‘Mechs would get stuck
- Collision improvements to existing maps
- Fixed a soft lock players could occasionally encounter after commanding fire at the first test dummy ‘Mech in the campaign tutorial
- Fixed an exploit where the player can perform Called Shot on ‘Mechs that are not knocked down by using the keyboard
- Fixed an issue in Character Creation which caused the last screen of 'Your Background' to be missing its background image after returning from the 'Your Appearance' tab
- Fixed an issue which caused the 'Sprint' skill to not be toggled for the next selected Mech if the user attempted to use it on an unstable Mech
- Fixed an issue which caused Player 2/Guest UI to be missing Heraldry Image in Lobby & Combat UI
- Fixed a lighting issue on OSX for some graphics cards. For more info, see: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/battletech-update-1-2-mech-lighting-graphical-issues.1116636/
- Fixed an issue which enabled users to join the lobby of a multiplayer match that was completed
- Fixed a save/load issue which caused overheated ‘Mechs to appear in their shutdown pose after loading a combat save
- Fixed a save/load issue which caused increased map lightning in particular biomes after loading a combat save
- Various small graphical bug fixes on existing maps
- Fixed an issue in the Liberation of Weldry mission that caused you to remain in interleaved turn mode after all your first set of enemies were defeated.
- VFX improvements on some weapons!
- Fixed an issue in the Mech Bay which could cause Filters to be reverted to the default state after deleting a custom 'Mech
- Collision and pathing improvements to certain maps
- Improvements to beacons and objective communication
- Many additional small improvements and bug fixes
Known Issues (to be hotfixed asap)
- Flashpoint owners cannot currently play multiplayer games against non-Flashpoint owners.
- Turret generator destruction can distort audio in Target Acquisition missions. Restarting the title fixes this.
- Skirmish Mech Bay - Deleting any customized 'Mech causes a 'Mech from the custom list to duplicate. This is a visual-only problem and is resolved on re-launch of the game.