2021/12/14 Patch v12.0
v12.0 (aka the "It's Christmas But I Got *You* A Present!" release) has been released to the installer. This patch is a mixed bag of fixes and updates and new content.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!: All of the BTA Holiday Events are back! Sinterklaas returns as long as you have Wulfbanes on your crew. In December 3062, you might be paid a visit by Kringle's Killers, be good and there might be a present in it for you. And then in Dec 3063, Professor Horvath might show up and drop off a small UrbanGift. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!
NEW MECH: The Howler, a 20 ton Clan light fire support mech, has been added. All the Clans field it and the Diamond Sharks sell it.
NEW MECH: The Reptar and Cazador, 35 ton light Clan garrison designs, have been added. The Reptar is actually primitive-level tech and is available from the Deep Periphery factions, despite its unusual Protomech AC/8 and cLMGs. The Cazador is proper Clantech and is available from the Clans. Since the Reptar comes with a Protomech AC/8, that gun (as well as the PAC/2 and PAC/4) have been added to BTA. You can find them in the Clan Diamond Shark store as well as their ammunition.
NEW MECH (sort of): The Reconquista, a 75 ton Primitive Orion knockoff from the Deep Periphery, has been added to the Deep Periphery factions (Hanseatic League and friends). You can get it from them... if you want to for some reason (it has an internal combustion engine, it's not great).
NEW MECHANIC: Convoy truck units (the Burro, J-27, K-27, and J37) now carry a component named the Cargo Component. This piece of gear drops in salvage when a convoy unit is destroyed (say, in Ambush Convoy missions). When salvaged, instead of being an equippable piece of gear, it is actually a lootcrate that cracks open to give you some gear and some cash from randomized lists. Note that you can get mechparts or even, very rarely, an entire *Hero* 'Mech! You want a second crack at getting heroes? Go ambush the shit out of some convoys!
UPDATED VISUALS: A number of gear categories have had their icons updated for visual uniformity. Heat Sink Kits, E-Coolings, Engine Shieldings (XL, XXL, LFE, etc), Engine Cores, Electronic Warfare Gear (ECM, BAP, etc), Movement Gear (TSM, MASC, Supercharger, etc), Sensors and Life Support in the head as well as things that sit on those slots, and the filters in the mechbay for all these things now have distinct icons to make the mechbay a little more interesting and clearer to look at (just go load the game and look around the mechbay for item icons, you'll see what I'm talking about immediately).
NEW QUIRK: There is now a new default quirk for Category:IndustrialMechs (which includes the Reptar, the Loader King, the Dig King, the Crosscut, and the ExcavatorMech). The IndustrialMech quirk increases physical weapon accuracy, grants a bonus hit with a physical weapon and with a punch (this stacks with pilot skills), reduces self-damage from Charges and DFAs, and finally reduces stability damage taken. This might help buff up the industrials a bit so they're less abjectly underwhelming.
SWAPPED QUIRK: The Rifleman and JagerMech have proper Anti-Air Targeting quirks, letting them dakka down aerial units (which include the LAMs in AirMech mode and anything using the Rotor component, such as the zeppelins). Yes, the *quirk* changed. To get this effect, you need to assemble a new Rifleman/JagerMech *or* store and re-ready your existing ones. Note that any existing RFL/JM6/7s that you have will NOT be automatically affected unless you store and re-ready them from storage. However, their old quirk still exists in the files so this is not a save breaking change. Note that their quirk is not identical: the JagerMech ignores 2 evasion on aerial units while the Rifleman has a flat +3 accuracy against them.
NEW AFFINITIES: The Battle Armor squads now have a unique max-rank affinity for their use (Squirrelly Bastard, makes them hard to hit). Additionally, the ronin Virago has a unique affinity for BA, gained at rank 10, named Minimizer making her even *harder* to hit and that stacks with Squirrelly Bastard. You want to BA properly? Get Virago!
NEW HEROES: A new batch of heroes has been added, specifically the Bellerophon, Bombard, Bombardier (this guy is a bitch and a half), Brigand, Hauptmann, Hazard, Hellhound, Hyperion, Ostscout, and Thunder Hawk.
UPDATED FLASHPOINT: The third mission of the Campaign Flashpoint chain, the mission to liberate the Scheria on Axylus, now has a unique reward: a 55 ton Corsair variant, the COR-3X. Have fun with your unique Corsair!
COMMUNITY CONTENT: A bunch of new CC happened for this patch, including edits to the DRG-FR and HGN-IB, added the BJ-1M and its Rotary Light Rifle, added the Surtur medium mech, added a non-crap Reconquista variant, added a new *planet* to the far west side of the map named Mack's Dustball that has a great store for CC gear, added the Bushwacker "Bard" and Thunderbolt "Skald", and added the Fafnir-6X and Marauder-6W and their accompanying Gauss Capacitor.
- Fixed SizeMatters so that the superheavy units weren't totally ruined by size differences. Sorry, Monster/Omega fans!
- There's now 5% options for Shop Sell and Mech Scrap price options in the difficulty menu.
- The Armless UM-R50 somehow made it into the Urbie start and caused serious issues so its been removed.
- Ammo has been made much more common in stores, at user request. Should be a little easier to see the ammos you want to see.
- The Kalki's Cruise Missile/50 has been rebalanced to be more focused on AoE like the other artillery.
- Direct damage reduced to 100 down from 250
- AoE damage increased to 400 up from 250
- Made several small changes to UACs
- UAC/2 x2 mode refire reduced to 1, heat gen increased to 6
- UAC/5 stability dmg per shot reduced to 10 (from 12), x2 mode refire reduced to 2, heat gen increased to 16
- UAC/10 stability dmg per shot reduced to 20 (from 25), x2 mode refire reduced to 3, heat gen increased to 24
- UAC/20 stability dmg per shot reduced to 30 (from 35), x2 mode refire reduced to 4, heat gen increased to 30
- cUAC/2 stability dmg per shot reduced to 4 (from 5), x1 mode heat gen reduced to 5
- cUAC/5 stability dmg per shot reduced to 8 (from 10), x1 mode heat gen reduced to 8
- cUAC/10 stability dmg per shot reduced to 15 (from 20), x1 mode heat gen reduced to 10
- cUAC/20 stability dmg per shot reduced to 22 (from 30), x1 mode heat gen reduced to 12
- Small tweak to Clan ER Small Lasers to make them a little more competitive
- Damage increased to 21 (up from 20), heat generated reduced to 11 (down from 12)
- Small tweak to correct the Rotary ER Small Laser range brackets
- Ranges reduced to 0/70/130/160/260
- Equipment that stops bleedouts now *actually* stops bleedouts.
- The Cowl quirk now prevents bleedouts and was buffed on a few assaults that had it (Cyclops, Gunslinger, Hatamoto-Chi, Highlander, Thunder.
- Fixed the Hairhelment ronin to have the proper stats at start.
- The Easy to Maintain quirk now has better documentation.
- Some mechparts, such as the Devastator and Mackie cost more like they always should have cost.
- The "confirm your ability selection" window now has more BTA-accurate information in it.
- The Improved Life Support quirk is now spelled correctly. :screaming:
- The Big Steel Claw has the Hero quirk now.
- The SturmFeur tank now has FASCAM ammo, to make it a little more distinct.
- Updated some mech sizes so they're not freakishly large or small, whoops!
- The tube artillery should be a little more visually impactful now.
- Updated some core dlls, including PerformanceFix and CBTBE.
IMPORTANT: v12.0 is an "update" update. Run the installer again to let it just update your files and you're set to go. The installer auto-updates the CAB and injects Modtek for you.
IMPORTANT: v12.0 is not a save breaking update, your saves are compatible and will work fine.
IMPORTANT: You can see v12.0's patch notes, as well as any BTA patch notes, on our wiki on this page: https://www.bta3062.com/index.php/Patch_Notes
REMINDER: This update, and others like it, are made possible by my Patreon supporters. Without their support, updates would come slower and be less impactful. If you feel like being a part of the support for BTA, you can find me here: https://www.patreon.com/bloodydoves
REMINDER: Custom mod commissions are still available if you're interested. If you'd like to get your own community content added to BTA DM me, bloodydoves, and we can work something out.