2023/03/10 - Patch v15.3

v15.3 (aka the "Man, Y'all Keep Busy, Huh" patch) has been released to the installer. This is moderately chunky so read on, friends, Marians, countrymen!

UPDATED SUBSYTEM: In patch 15.2, BTA introduced the SPAM subsystem that added various mercenary companies in the place of Local Gov or Mercenaries (as the faction). This made the world feel more alive and complex and demonstrated that there were other mercs out and about in the setting. Now, with 15.3, SPAM has been expanded. Now, SPAM has also added subfactions to all the Great Houses, as well as several other major factions. Now, when you drop into a fight against, say, the Draconis Combine you will face one of their various House regiments (in this case, you can face either the 1st Sword of Light, the 3rd Night Stalkers, or the 2nd Legion of Vega). These subcommands have their own distinct unit lists as well as their own dialogue at the start of a mission letting you know who you're facing (all the dialogues are unique to the command in question). A full list of the individual subcommands is available on the wiki (here: https://www.bta3062.com/index.php?title=List_of_Major_Power_Subcommands_For_SPAM). Worth noting however is that all subcommands are roughly "rated" as either elite, regular, or garrision level forces. The better the rating, the better their tech (elites have the cutting edge, the regulars get a spread of stuff, the garrision guys get the crappy tech). All subcommands on the wiki have their rating listed. The "main" factions that have this treatment are as follows: all five Great Houses, ComStar, Word of Blake, Free Rasalhague Republic, Taurian Concordat, Outworlds Alliance, Magistracy of Canopus, Marian Hegemony.

NEW SPAM FACTIONS: In addition to the subcommands mentioned above, two new SPAM factions have been added. To the planet of Sarna comes the mercenary company Grim Determination. This unit has a long history and was betrayed by their employers and now hold the fort on Sarna against any attackers. They can also be found in missions against Local Gov or Mercenaries. Additionally, the Solaris VII Mercenary League has been added. This faction can be faced in missions against Local Gov or Mercenaries like most mercenary companies and has two notable features. First, they use the arena-intended designs such as the Juggernaut or the Prometheus in combat (those designs have been removed from all other spawn lists outside the arenas). Second, they actually make use of the unique named hero gladiator mechs in open combat, though those are rare to see on the field. This provides a second way to acquire heroes, so go for it.

BIG MECHBAY NEWS: I'm pleased to announce that the Mech Bay is expanding! In the old days of BTA, we had other rows in the Mech Bay so you could store more mechs but they had to be removed due to serious stability and bug issues. It has long been asked to bring them back and today is the day. However, they work a little differently than they used to. Now, after you purchase the upgrade, Mech Bay 2 unlocks (it is accessed via a tab on the Mech Bay tab, just like the BA and Vehicle Bays). The odd thing though is that *before* you buy the upgrade, they're still visible they're just not usable. There are also a few oddities to how they work (you can't move mechs between bays, you can't choose what bay a mech goes in [mechs fill Mech Bay first then move to Mech Bay 2 only if Mech Bay is full], and mechs brought out of storage as 1 piece can only go to Mech Bay, not Mech Bay 2 [though assembling a mech from parts works fine with Mech Bay 2]). There is a YouTube video explaining all this in detail that has been posted to the FAQ to explain how Mech Bay 2 functions.

NEW VOICEPACK: A friend of BTA and a personal friend of mine, FrostRaptor, is a big fan of Morrowind and of Heavy Gear. To celebrate his many, many, *many* contributions to the community, a modeler by the name of LtShade and myself collaborated on a surprise gift for him: a new mech named the Dagoth and a new pilot and voicepack themed after Dagoth Ur from Morrowind. This voicepack is now a part of BTA and available to all commanders if they wish to use it. It was AI generated out of necessity which I know is not to everyone's liking but if that bothers you simply do not use it. This also comes with a unique Dagoth Ur pilot, callsign Sharmat, who can join your crew via an event once you have a certain MRB reputation. He comes with his own mech, the Akulakhan (a unique variant of the Dagoth).

UPDATED FINANCES: BTA's economy has been a thorn in my side for awhile. The Argo has long been very cheap as have mechs while pilots have been unusually expensive to pay for in upkeep. This has been adjusted. Now, the Argo is more expensive by default and mechs are significantly more expensive to maintain (as they should be) while pilots are significantly cheaper. The very very early game may be slightly trickier to navigate but players can compensate by taking a little extra starting cash at first if they find it necessary so it should work out.

NEW MECH: The Buccaneer, a 55 ton Word of Blake medium BattleMech with a hatchet, has sprinted into play. You can find it with all of the Word of Blake subcommands as well as the elite and regular-rated Marik subcommands.

NEW MECH: The Nyx Prototype, a 30 ton super-fast Word of Blake scout design, has dashed into combat. This ultra-fast scout can be found exclusively with the Word of Blake elite subcommand, the 40th Shadow Division.

NEW MECH: The Jackrabbit, a 25 ton Amaris Civil War-era design, has arrived. Originally intended for the SLDF but co-opted by Amaris's forces, the Jackrabbit can now be found with the Rim Collection, ComStar and WoB's garrision-rated subcommands, and a rare variant with the WoB elite and regular subcommands.

NEW MECH: The Dragoon, a 70 ton Amaris Empire design, has been put back into production. This incredible line combat design has been resurrected by the Rim Collection for their military after being discovered in a bunker in the Periphery.

NEW MECH: The Malak, a 30 ton Word of Blake omnimech, has snuck into play. This is the final Word of Blake "Celestial" series omnimech and completes the series in BTA. It can be found exclusively with the Word of Blake elite subcommand, the 40th Shadow Division.

NEW MECH: The Rampage, a 85 ton fast assault mech from the Amaris Empire, has stomped into play. It serves the Rim Collection with dignity after having been rediscovered in a Periphery depot.

NEW MECH: The Great Turtle, a 100 ton gladiatatorial quad mech that is officially indestructible, has slowly lumbered into the arenas. This mech can be found in the arenas, for sale on Solaris VII, and in service to the Solaris VII Mercenary League.

NEW MECH: The Dagoth, a 65 ton gladiatorial mech that is mentioned above, has arrived. It is available in the arenas, for sale on Solaris VII, and in service to the Solaris VII Mercenary League.

NEW MECH: The Naginata, a 95 ton Kuritan force command mech, has rained missiles onto the battlefield. The Naginata is armed for ranged combat and to command a C3 lance with its C3 Master. It can be found exclusively with the Draconis Combine's elite and regular-rated regiments. You can also buy one on Quentin.

NEW MECH: The Stag/Stag II, a 45 ton mech from the Not-Named Clan, has blasted into combat. The Stag is a fast striker design and is available exclusively from the Dark Caste.

UPDATED MECHS: The three "Society" Clan Omnis, the Septicemia, the Osteon, and the Cephalus, have had full-scale production omnimechs produced for their respective Clans front-line forces. You can find the Septicemia with Jade Falcon, the Osteon with Ghost Bear, and the Cephalus with Wolf. The original "prototype" variants of these mechs have been restricted to second-line galaxies and all have some weirdness about them such as only partial omni hardpoints or gear that wasn't suitable for use on the main omnis.

UPDATED LAMS: LAMs now have been a little updated to be slightly more accurate to TT entries (kind of). They now have Landing Gear equipped (which gives a small speed boost but also further reduces stability during AirMech mode). To do this, they had their side torso engines reduced from 2 crits to 1 crit, making them slightly more durable. Enjoy.

NEW HEROES: The Blitzkrieg and Septicemia Design Contests have had their winning entries incorporated as gladiator mechs for the game world duels! Hurrah!

UPDATED FLASHPOINT MISSION: Defense: Panzyr has long been the hardest mission in BTA (the one with the god damn APCs). To adjust this somewhat, the APCs have been downgraded to Prowlers and their pilots have been nerfed fairly significantly. Defense: Panzyr should be a little less punishing now.

NEW LATE-GAME EVENTS: Starting in late 3064 and running through 3066, we now have some pirate and pirate-adjacent factions that will raid nearby worlds as WartechIIC raids. This includes various SPAM pirate subfactions such as the Tortuga Fusilliers or the New Belt Pirates. This also includes the Circinians and the Tortuga Dominions. Have fun with some pirate funtimes! This feature was brought to you by a community member, Scholomancer, who volunteered his time to make them. All praise to Scholomancer!

UPDATED FACTION: ComStar has been very hard to acquire reputation with for awhile due to having a few too many enemies. This has been changed, now ComStar is no longer enemies with Houses Kurita and Davion, as well as the Magistracy of Canopus and the Taurian Concordat. Ally away!

BATTLE ARMOR BALANCE CHANGE: Battle armor weapons have received a significant nerf. BA has been killing things a little too easily and quickly so was nerfed. All BA missile launchers (except the Heavy SRM 4 on the Grenadier and the BA Rocket Launcher 1) now only have 1 shot as they are supposed to (they had two shots as a way to encourage their use but they ended up being super powerful and needed to be scaled back). Most BA weapons also received a significant damage nerf, including most of the missiles, most/all of the gauss-style weapons, and a variety of other weapons such as the Clan lasers and the BA LBX.

OMNIMECH CORRECTION: OmniMechs can no longer mount MASC or TSM unless they come with it by default. This is tabletop accurate and should have been done literally years ago. There are several OmniMechs (mostly Clan though there's one IS omni in this group) with either MASC or TSM equipped by default. These OmniMechs retain the systems and work as intended. This may not be super popular but it *is* the way Omnis are intended to behave. And before you complain that Omnis are being unfairly nerfed, I *am* monitoring the situation and considering possible adjustments if necessary to buff up Omnis a little.

COMMUNITY CONTENT: there is a unique shop on Wynn's Roost (it has a selection of Battle Armor as well as every King Crab and UrbanMech normally available); there's a new Marauder II Omni with a LBX-Rotary AC/5; the Matar SAM-3G has been added, a Matar that uses St. Ives 3G technology;

• Retractable Blades got a buff, now they have an extra attack when used. This stacks with Juggernaut's extra attack bonus.
• A *lot* of Clan and Flashpoint-specific Report Me's have been fixed.
• We fixed the Quad 360 twist bug, now all Quads can properly 360 twist.
• Fixed a shit-ton of back-end bugs and updated a lot of dlls.
• The Crabrauder and Shorty's Rifleman can both be encountered, rarely, in the forces of the Circinus Federation and the Snord's Irregulars respectively. Neither can be salvaged, this is mostly a flavor win.
• You can no longer put a BA Handhold onto a Battle Armor squad.
• There's a number of mechs that had missing affinities, these have been corrected.
• Fixed the VIP's special safety ability in the VIP missions. Now it properly lasts a full turn cycle.
• B-Pods are now mountable in any location.
• The Sturdy Affinity should now work.
• X-Pulse Lasers have been buffed with a heat reduction. Their heat was way too high and has been brought down to manageable levels.
• LRM ArtemisIV ammo has been mildly nerfed with the removal of its general accuracy bonus, instead only having the direct-fire accuracy bonus.
• Tandem SRM should *finally* be fixed.
• There's a new Wasp LAM, the WSP-100. This one comes with bomb bays!
• There's also a new Champion, the CHP C, a Clantech Champion refit. This one can be found with the Clan second-line forces.
• Fixed some weird behavior in a few Blackout contracts involving the player's Commander.

IMPORTANT: v15.3 is an "update" update. In this case, clear your Mods folder manually and then run the installer, it'll do the work for you. IMPORTANT: v15.3 is not a save breaking update, your saves are compatible and will work fine.

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.