BattleTech stomps onto PC this April. Finally. Thank you, Harebrained Schemes.
The BattleTech universe, whether we're talking about tabletop or PC, is a frighteningly tactical game. Area-specific damage. Higher and lower ground advantages and disadvantages. Ammo counts. Resource management. Cooldowns. Overheating. It's this whole thing. So it seems strange—even negligent—that there hasn't been a turn-based tactical strategy version of the BattleTech universe on PC in a long, long time. John remembers one from the Commodore 64 era, but I certainly missed that one. 2018 BattleTech's controls will be as familiar as an XCOM game. But the tactical situation will be different.
What Studio manager Mitch Gitelman is saying in this combat-basics video is largely true. It's the first modern BattleTech title with turn-based gameplay. If there is another turn-based one, I can't find it. MechWarrior: Tactical Command (also in the BattleTech universe) was real-time strategy on iOS in 2013. MechCommander 2 was also real-time strategy on PC in 2001. So, yeah, I'm not sure why nearly every BattleTech game insisted on being a first-person vehicular action game, or, more rarely, real-time strategy, but that's the route most of the developers took. I can't wait for it to finally be turn-based on PC.
BattleTech is on PC this April.
BATTLETECH Pre-Orders Begin Today, April Launch Marked
BATTLETECH’s Unique Combat System Detailed in New Video
STOCKHOLM - Feb. 27, 2018 - Paradox Interactive and Harebrained Schemes today announced pre-orders for BATTLETECH are now live. The first modern turn-based, tactical combat game set within the MechWarrior universe will launch this April for Windows PC and Mac.
In the first of a three-part video series, Jordan Weisman (creator of BattleTech), Mitch Gitelman (Studio Manager) and Mike McCain (Game Director) detail BATTLETECH’s unique combat system and the tactical challenges players will face commanding building-sized war machines on the battlefield. There’s also a fair amount of ‘Mech-punching, naturally.
BATTLETECH Basics: Combat
“BATTLETECH has been a passion project for our team and for the fans who helped to make it a reality. We have done our very best to deliver a tactical `Mech experience that will delight long-time fans and excite new players who have yet to enter the MechWarrior universe.” said Jordan Weisman, CEO of Harebrained Schemes and creator of the original board game and BATTLETECH universe.”We know players are anxious to get their hands on the final game, and HBS joins Paradox in our excitement to deliver this April.”
The year is 3025 and the galaxy is trapped in a cycle of perpetual war, fought by noble houses with enormous, mechanized combat vehicles called BattleMechs. From their starfaring base of operations the player commands a mercenary outfit of `Mechs and the MechWarriors who pilot them, struggling to stay afloat as they are drawn into a brutal interstellar civil war.
