In a lightweight fight, the lower hit points would be ok. You don’t want to be standing on top of one of these things when it gets blown out from under you. The scariest aspect of these buildings are their low hit points. I thought cities would just be overgrown military bases with the same ol’ military base assets. But there’s an impressive amount of new assets here. Compared to the hills and forests of most other planets, these urban environments are taxing the heck out of that poor Unity Engine. The abandoned vehicles explode in a puff of smoke as we stomp through the streets. We leave potholes in the asphalt. This section of the city was evacuated for these upcoming mech-related festivities, I presume. Pizza Place! (Call Now, Save Dough!) The streets are littered with abandoned vehicles.
The arena down here seems smaller, but that’s understandable, given how much more work it feels like the graphics are processing. It’s concrete, steel, and glass in every direction. We touch down and it takes a minute for the frame rate to catch back up. Knowing what to expect, time after time, has been the only thing slowly dragging down my BattleTech experience. But who knows what I’ll really need down there? It’s fun going into a mission once again not knowing what to expect. I pack a 90-ton Cyclops for fire support, a 90-ton Highlander for its monster jump jets and indirect fire capabilities, and an 85-ton Stalker for its bonkers amount of firepower. I bring a 100-ton Atlas for pure intimidation factor. Once you're fighting with the big boys, BattleTech still makes it nearly impossible to field your lightweights. If this game were a fresh start, I’d be hopping in with lighter-weight mechs. But this is still predicted to be a five-skull battle, so I have to field my heaviest-possible assault mechs. I would rather field four light or medium mechs with jump jet capabilities. Three of them designated “urban.” We head for the mech bay immediately. I burn a month on the books (time is always money) flying across the Inner Sphere, back to friendlier skies.
I sure didn’t miss these long, stiff loading screens, though. It’s appreciated, considering how (appropriately) drab the Argo can be. Just a small increase in attention-to-detail for your base ship’s interior. A computer screen scrolls through monochromatic text behind Navigator Sumire. I also feel like there are a few more pulsing lights and navigation baubles on the desk. Also, it sticks a sort of pin on the map on all the star systems you’ve previously visited. The other dropdown menu filters by environment: jungle, lunar, urban etc. Filtering by difficulty narrows your results nicely, whether you want nasty five-skull missions, or if you want to buff up a greenhorn crew in a light lance with only half a skull’s worth of challenge. Two dropdown menus now filter results across the entirety of the map. Thank you, BattleTech, for improving the navigation map. It’s just part of the cost of doing business when you’re a business in the city-and 100-ton mechs have slammed down on 5th Avenue.įirst thing you have to do is find these urban locations. There are no repercussions, however, for any wanton destruction of public or private property. The destruction can be as casual or as callous as you make it out to be. A couple directed shots, or even a couple stray shots, will bring down a building real quick. But large civilian and corporate buildings have only 100 hit points. It’s tempting and necessary to mount an office building or two while you’re in town. With its city lights, city streets, and city infrastructure, you won’t confuse this type of arena for any other. In Urban Warfare, it just looks a little different while you’re doing those same things. One hexagon closer or further away can make all the difference in sensor locking a primary target, a caravan giving you the slip, or bringing your short, medium, or long-range weaponry to bear in a guns-blazing alpha strike. You’re grabbing an increased shot percentage from higher ground or finding ways to cool your jets. You’re angling your battlemechs for this flank attack or that rear ambush. In the city, it’s still a game of inches. But nothing changes up the battlefield quite like the Urban Warfare DLC does.Īt least visually.
Battletech urban warfare not installing free#
Yes, developer Harebrained Schemes ground a little pepper onto the algorithms making steeper hills and deeper valleys during a past free update. It’s given you jobs on dusty martian landscapes, icy blizzard landscapes, and even steamy jungle landscapes (if you bought the Flashpoint DLC). BattleTech has been hot, cold, temperate, and lunar. It introduces, with a firm handshake, the biggest change to BattleTech’s area of operations so far.