2023/05/29 - Patch v16.2

v16.2 (aka the "Lotta Gear, Lotta Events, Lotta Fixes" patch) has been released to the installer. This is a fairly expansive patch, so be sure to read the notes closely!

NEW MAJOR EVENT: In 3062/3063, the Draconis Combine's coreward borders will be raided by an unknown force. Captured MechWarriors refuse all attempts at interrogation and their mechs and livery displays a picture of an ancient Terran state with the number 331 emblazoned over it. Research into the archives indicate this is the logo of the 331st Royal BattleMech Division of the Star League, who were said to have gone on the Exodus with Kerensky and vanished from history. Yet, here they are today, with Clan Golden Century era weapons and a slew of interesting mechs in unique paint schemes. What do they want? Who are they really? No one can really say for sure. Keep a weather eye on the Drac's borders and read the news closely to find out more.

HEAD LOCATIONS NOW DO SOMETHING: The default Life Support and Sensor slots in the head now do something. The Life Support slots provide a small amount of bleedout resistance (5% slower bleeds per working default life support slot) and the Sensor slots provide either a 2% sensor (lower slot) or 2% sight bonus (upper slot). Note that any gear or quirks that replace the default slots do *not* provide these minor bonuses.

NEW ABILITIES: After we differentiated Artillery/Battle Armor/Bombs into their own weapon categories, there's been an ask for some skills that interact with these. Today, you get those abilities. At Gunnery 8 there is now Artillery Master and Battle Armor Master to match Ballistic/Energy/Missile Master. At Tactics 8 there is now the Bombardier skill to boost Bombs if you want to make a dedicated LAM bomber pilot (which sounds pretty fun honestly).

NEW MECH: The Ironclad, a 100 ton brick of gun and heat sink, has lumbered into combat. This non-canon but extremely cool mech is a favorite of anyone on a budget due to its weird fuel-cell engine. It is fielded by Mercenaries as well as the Marians (elite and regulars), Taurians (elite and regulars), Outworlds (elite and regulars), Canopians (elite and regulars), Rim Collection, and Circinus. It is also for sale at Galatea, where it is being manufactured (also Galatea gained a factory world store!).

NEW MECH: The Disrupter, a 35 ton descendant of the Firefly, has bounded into battle. This mech is fielded exclusively by the 331st Division and is painted exclusively in their unique blue, white, and orange paint scheme. It is also for sale at the 331st's secret base, once that becomes available for travel.

NEW MECHS (kinda):The 331st brought a number of mechs with them that sport their unique paint schemes, including the Pillager, Exterminator, Spector, Pulverizer, Stag, and Mercury II. All of these are for sale at their secret base and sport new loadouts using their retained Early Clan equipment (see below).

NEW HEROES: As per our last Design Contest, the two new Stone Rhino and Juggernaut heroes have arrived. Say hello to the Organ Grinder, Spray and Pray, Fire Horn, and Sesroneos!

NEW BOMBS: There are now a number of new Bomb types (FASCAM, Fuel-Air, Rocket Pods) and a large batch of new LAM variants that use these new bombs (they include 1 new Hector LAM, 2 new Phoenix Hawk LAMs, 2 new Screamer LAMs, 2 new Stinger LAMs, and 2 new Wasp LAMs). The new bombs are sold wherever bombs are normally sold, enjoy.

NEW C3i TANKS: Thanks to a contributor, we now have a bunch of playable C3i tanks. Go beat on the Word of Blake until they cough them up.

NEW HEAD EQUIPMENT: This patch includes a large amount of new cockpit equipment, including a series of true Targeting Computers based on mech weight class that have scaling weight and effects based on their weight class (so the Targeting Computer (Light) is lighter but less powerful than the Targeting Computer (Assault) for instance), a new piece of gear called the Webb Targeting Computer which creates four weapon attachments on your mech when equipped that can attach to any weaponry, and a number of Life Support equipments that increase pilot stats or increase head armor and structure. All of this is in stores as normal.

NEW PERIPHERY EQUIPMENT: This patch includes a big swath of new equipment for the Periphery. However, *none of it is in stores or on mechs yet*. This is temporary but is the case because I didn't have time to make all the mechs for it yet. There will be a new Mech Design Contest to use all of the new equipment coming very soon that will go into detail about what this new equipment is and will serve to let users make some new units for inclusion into BTA that use the equipment. Note that all of the new equipment *will* be coming to stores and mechs as soon as we can.

NEW EARLY CLAN EQUIPMENT: The 331st Royal BattleMech Division retained the technology of the Star League but also has some technologies from the early era of Clan development, as befits their secret origins. This includes the Improved AC 2/5/10/20, the Improved LRM 5/10/15/20, the Improved PPC, the Improved SRM 2/4/6, and the Improved Large Laser and Large Pulse Laser. All of this is equipped on their unique mech variants and is for sale at their secret base.

NEW MINOR FACTIONS: The Chaos March now has four new minor factions running around, as well as a bunch of events through the timeline that involve them. The Saiph Triumvirate, the Terracap Confederation, the Styk Commonality, and the Sarna Supremacy (this last one is actually kind of in the midst of the Capellans but just roll with it) are all here to party. Have fun beating up on the dorks, I guess. Minor Note: the Styk Commonality doesn't always auto-update on saves in progress. Not sure why. You might not see them on the map in your on-going save, but it's not a major issue so don't worry about it. Any events with them will still fire as normal.

NEW VARIANTS: Added the Devil TZ-1, an up-tonned Howler derivative fielded by the Snow Ravens. Also, a new Thorn variant has been added, the THE-F. There is a new Cicada, the CDA-3MA with a Snub-Nose PPC, and a new Jenner, the JR7-C3, running around now.

UPDATED ANCESTRAL MECHS: The Ancestral Mech background option has traditionally been pretty lackluster. However, this is no longer the case. Now, the Ancestral Mech background now provides the player with a *unique variant* acquirable no other way. The mech options were also updated to include a Commando, Firebee, Hornet, Locust, Night Hawk, Panther, Spider, Stiletto, Tarantula, Toro, and Valkyrie (no more shit-ass Crosscut). Give this background a try again, you might get something pretty interesting!

COMMUNITY CONTENT: There is a lot of new CC in this patch, including: a new Marauder and Catapult; a new Highlander (at Mack's); four new tanks, a new variant of the Wawkalak, and a new Platinum Thunderbolt weapon (all at Mack's); a new superheavy mech named the Battlestar that comes with some new 3rd Gen tech; xx. Check it out! Also, uh, Community Content mechs didn't have proper factional tagging for SPAM, so I fixed that. Whoopsie doodle.

• LRM Artemis IV was double-dipping on its effectiveness, making it FAR too powerful. That's been corrected.
• TAGs now have a slightly different weapon animation.
• The ERPPCs have a new weapon animation and the cERPPC has a slightly changed color.
• The Narc Launcher has a new weapon animation (and looks pretty cool).
• Some activatable equipment was broken and has been fixed. Whoops, sorry about that.
• Fixed some issues with equipment that provided bonus pilot hits. They should now work properly.
• The Thorn now has Support hardpoints on most/all variants.
• A number of mechs received proper affinities (Cossack, Wight).
• Fixed a number of factory world lists.
• Updated some Commandos to have Support hardpoints.
• Buffed the Medium VSPL slightly.
• The COIL now defaults to the On mode.
• The Bearhunter SHAC for Battle Armor has been buffed slightly.
• The cER Pulse family has been slightly adjusted.
• The Cargo Crates have been updated to be a little clearer about being special and worth taking (they now have a shiny new treasure-chest icon).
• The UAC/10 and UAC/20 (both IS and Clan) now have 1 worse recoil on x2 mode as was always intended.
• Buffed the Laser Insulator a little to sink more heat.
• VSPLs weren't working properly with several attachments so that's been fixed.
• Rocket Launchers can now take the Periphery FCS attachment.
• St. Ives received two new light mechs in their inventory (Panther and Commando).
• Liao now fields two more early-era Ravens, the -1X and -3X, both for their regular rated regiment, Warrior House Imarra. Neither is good but both should be fielded.
• Some pirate lootcrates now provide full mechs and not mechparts.
• Clans can DFA again, hurrah.
• Players now have infinite amounts of certain gear in career mode: Lower Arms, Hands, and Standard Heat Sinks are now all unlimited. Note that you cannot sell any of these components now, so no free infinite money for you!
• Bunches of dll updates.

IMPORTANT: v16.2 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: v16.2 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 and Ko-Fi 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 on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/bloodydoves) and on Ko-Fi (https://ko-fi.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.