2022/02/07 - Patch v15.2

v15.2 (aka the "Holy Shit That's a Lotta Mechs" patch) has been released to the installer. This is a fairly substantial patch, so let's get to it:

EVERYONE READ THIS DAMN YOUR GOD DAMN EYEHOLES: This patch has a new installer attached to it, you will need to download the new installer for this patch. While this is unexpected and annoying, it also comes with our next piece of big news...

READ THIS ONE TOO CURSE YOU: ...we have major performance upgrades! The new installer is required to install these performance upgrades. They should provide a noticeable upgrade to performance, though they will not fix the entire memory leak that the game suffers from, just helps with it. You'll definitely want these upgrades though, so go get the new installer and download BTA!

NEW SUBSYTEM: BTA has introduced a brand-new mechanic, named SoldiersPiratesAssassinsMercs, but we'll call it SPAM for ease of reading. SPAM is a mechanic that permits the on-the-fly dynamic adjustment of OpFor factions. What this means, in a practical sense, is that sometimes you'll drop against a faction and someone *else* fights you instead, usually mercenaries. Example: The Taurian Concordat has the famous mercenary unit the Lone Star Regiment on their payroll right now. When you drop into a contract against the Concordat, there is a chance that the Lone Star Regiment either replaces the Taurians *or* sends a support lance to back them up. This means you can fight much wider rosters of enemies and there is a much greater depth of possible enemies. If you want to read more (and you do, there's so much more SPAM does), there is an FAQ post about it with more practical examples and more details on how it all works, find it in the Discord FAQ or the FAQ on the wiki!

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT SPAM: One of the things SPAM permits me to do is to divide up the Clan factions into their front-line forces and their second-line garrision forces. In Clan fluff, the front-line galaxies get OmniMechs and don't use shitty IICs or BattleMechs because real warriors get real weapons and the second-line garrison forces get the IICs and BattleMechs and do *not* get good Omnis. BTA now reflects this, as the four Clans you can fight in combat all are divided up into their front-line and second-line factions, with appropriate units. Example: There is now Clan Jade Falcon and CJF Iota Galaxy; Clan Jade Falcon is the front-line force and Iota Galaxy is the second-line garrison boys. Jade Falcon will field their OmniMechs and their good stuff while all the IICs and garrison designs will be relegated to Iota Galaxy. This is the case for Jade Falcon, Ghost Bear, Wolf, and Nova Cat, enjoy!

UPDATED RESOLVE MECHANIC: Resolve in BTA has long been individual by pilot in terms of *use* but has been global in terms of *gaining resolve*. That changes today. Now, resolve gain is individually tracked per pilot and unit. This means that if you have a Mackie with Improved Communications, it only works for *its pilot's resolve pool*. Most resolve sources in BTA have been swapped to this (including quirks, most gear, and affinities), with a few that make sense remaining global. Generally, gear will now say if it is individual resolve gain or global resolve gain, read the descriptions closely.

NEW MECH: The Night Chanter has arrived. This Golden Century OmniMech twist on the Crab is available from the Dark Caste! It is a 45 ton OmniMech version of the Crab. Check it out! Note: Turtrus's special Crab affinity *also* works with the Night Chanter! **Requires Flashpoint DLC**

NEW MECH: The Spirit Walker is here. This Golden Century OmniMech is a Star League-era Black Knight rebuilt with Clan and OmniMech technologies. It is fielded by the Dark Caste, go get one!

NEW MECH: The StarDrive Stiletto has skittered into play! This is an apocryphal 15-ton ultralight. It is *extremely* goofy looking and I love it. It's fielded almost exclusively by House Kurita and is even sold at Al Na'ir! Go buy one.

NEW MECH: The Mushu has lept into the fray! This is a non-canon 45 ton Inner Sphere design that's all about that CT firepower! It is the first homegrown Aurigan Coalition design and can be found in their faction store, in their factory at Mechdur, and among their forces.

NEW MECH: Technically, the Wyvern IIC is a new chassis. It's really just a Wyvern with Clantech (and uses the same model, much like the Clint IIC does), but there you go. You can find it with Clan second-line garrison factions.

NEW MECH: The Piledriver has arrived. This is a new 100 ton assault mech for the Sanctuary Worlds powers. It is a terrifying gunbrick, slow but heavily optimized for firepower. All the Sanctuary forces field it (and the Dane Sacellum's faction store sells it), go nick one.

NEW MECH: The Rattlesnake has slithered into battle! This is a 35 ton Inner Sphere mech that is a Davion fork of the Kuritan Jenner. Originally apocryphal, it was canonized recently and we have a model that works well for it. The Davions field this one and they also sell it on New Valencia.

NEW MECHS: BTA has added approximately 150 or so new variants to the spawn lists for OpFor units. All of these are taken straight out of canon sources and are mechs we were missing. Many are from the mid-3060s but since BTA is really BTA 3060s Edition these days, that was deemed fine. Included are Clan and IS mechs of all kinds, from Primitives and super-early designs from the Golden Century and Age of War all the way to cutting-edge 3060s death machines. The IS got more mechs than the Clans, but the Clans still got a good amount of stuff. Some of this has been rolled into factory stores and faction stores as appropriate. Also, there's some spicy variants out there, like the Ostroc Mk.II and an Awesome with some unique gear. Keep your eyes open, MechWarrior!

UPDATED MECHS: All Industrial Mechs, no matter what, have hardwired engine types now. People complained about them being inconsistent, so they're consistent now.

UPDATED PRIMITIVE MECHS: The three pieces of Primitive Technology (armor, engine, cockpit) have all been updated. The Engine now gives 1 bonus evasion on movement, the Cockpit now gives +2 pilot hits, and the Armor now gives 50% incoming melee damage reduction. They still do all the bad stuff too, but they have a few perks about them now. Also, importantly, all Primitive mechs now have Primitive Armor as a *default component*, meaning you can replace it but you cannot permanently remove it to get standard armor.

UPDATED FACTION STORES: Airdrop beacons have been lightly scattered throughout various Periphery faction stores, as follows: Mech Beacon (Aurigan, Tortugan), Turret Beacon (Chainelane, Illyrian), Tank Beacon (Circinian, Lothian), Strafing Run (Hansa), Drone Beacon (Rim).

UPDATED BLACK MARKET: Someone correctly pointed out that the mech selection in the Black Market was somewhat lacking. Well, it's god damn fixed now. The list has expanded by more than 35 possiblities, and that's before counting the Clan, Sanctuary, or Blakist mechs that can spawn (oh, and almost every Corsair is possible now). Oh, and you can sometimes buy Pallas parts now, just in case you never managed to fully salvage it when you find it naturally. ;)

UPDATED BATTLE ARMOR: The Salamander Clan BA suit is now properly resistant to fire. They're supposed to be immune and I think they are, but let us know if they're not.

COMMUNITY CONTENT: Some new CC landed this patch, including Insanity PPC turrets; a new Stalker (the -3DC);

• Clan Endo-Steel has been brightened up in color in the mechbay a little, to hopefully make it less of a beige mess in there.
• The Commandos, Cyclopses, and Panthers have had their engines corrected.
• The Avatar's were supposed to have hardwired CASE but did not, so I've fixed that.
• The IED explosions have been removed from urban ambushes so as not to destroy the ears of anyone listening. Christ on a cracker that shit was loud.
• Fixed the Gulon GLN-3A's undertonnage issue.
• Updated the Behemoth (the very rare Wolf's Dragoons IS version of the Stone Rhino) to be record sheet accurate since it has one now.
• Fixed the Community Content AS7-RG to be drop legal since it was not.
• Fixed the Black Market in the Jacobson Haven, now all their worlds properly have Black Markets.
• Rotary ACs have had their minimum range removed, because they don't have min range in canon I guess?? Well, they can shoot in melee now, hope someone enjoys this responsibly.
• The Perseus has been fixed as its were not particularly TT accurate and now have been made to be so. All hail the leg weapons!
• The planet Hardcore is now a gameworld. Enjoy?
• BattleMech Claws now do extra attacks, because claw go snibsnab.
• Just so many DLL updates, you don't even know.

IMPORTANT: v15.2 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: v15.2 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.

v15.2.3

Hotfix v15.2.3 has been released to the installer. This patch adds a variety of minor content and updates and fixes as listed below:

• Fixes a variety of Report Me issues for Clan factions and a Flashpoint-specific faction (Security Solutions Inc).
• Provides affinities for mechs missing them (Albatross, Coyotl, Mercury II, Gulon).
• Adds a missing Banshee, the -7S.
• Minorly buffs Clan ER Large and ER Medium Lasers with a slight accuracy boost.
• Disables SPAM in a variety of missions, including the BTA Throwdown, Kringle's Killers, and the vanilla Campaign missions.
• The Cephalus, Sepicemia, and Osteon have received some adjustments to their hardpoints and their fluff (mostly to make them slightly weirder).