2024/11/22 - Patch v18.1

v18.1 (aka the "Yes Kowalski, Kaboom" patch) has been released to the installer. This patch is took me awhile to get to but here we are, back in the saddle for real! Let's gooooo!

NEW HARDPOINT: The big headline news here is that there is a new hardpoint, the Superweapon hardpoint. This hardpoint covers a roster of weapons that didn't have a clear home before and all are either unusual in terms of functionality or have such absurd statistics that they count as superweapons. A number of existing weapons have been swapped to the hardpoint and three more weapons have been made that use the hardpoint. A full list of the superweapons is as follows: Experimental Assault Gauss, Scattershot Railgun, 'Death' Ray, HISC Hyper Laser, Mercy, COIL, Lava Gun (CC), Rail Gun (CC), Super MML (CC), Will of the Star League (unique to Ambassador), Wrath of Dagoth (unique to Dagoth hero mech), Experimental MIRV (new), Ground Mobile HPG (new), 'Naval' PPC, and Skyshell Cannon (new). Any existing 'Mech with one of these weapons as the stock loadout now has the appropriate hardpoint.

FACTION STORE UPDATES: To spread around the weapons, one superweapon has been given to each Great House and a few other factions, as follows: Experimental Assault Gauss to Steiner, Scattershot Railgun to Marik, HISC Hyper Laser to Hegemony, Experimental MIRV to Liao, Skyshell Cannon to Davion, 'Naval' PPC to Kurita, 'Death' Ray and Mercy to RWR, and Ground Mobile HPG to ComStar. Each faction sells at least one 'Mech variant that mounts the weapon as well, to ensure you can use the new gear.

MECHBAY FILTER ADJUSTMENT: To give the superweapons a filter tab in the MechBay, one of the existing filters had to go away. To accomodate this, the AMS filter was removed and AMS was added to the Physical Support weapons tab with MGs/Flamers/Fluid Guns/etc. There is also a unique ammo tab for superweapons, though no existing ammo tab had to die for this to happen so AMS still has its own tab in ammo.

NEW STRUCTURE COLOR: Cleaned up the color of structure items, now they're a slightly less bright orange color, it was a little too bright before and has been adjusted; Bomb Bay weapons have changed color to a darkish red color; Superweapons are a light gray color.

NEW VARIANTS: There's a moderate number of new mech variants, such as a Terran Hegemony Helepolis and Mackie, a new UrbanMech (introtech with a LRM-20 :D), and a good number of new superweapon-based variants (Banshee/Striker for the HPG; Argus/Victor for the Skyshell; Stalker/Hatamoto for the 'Naval' PPC; Fafnir for the Experimental Assault Gauss; Lao Hu/Xerxes for the MIRV; Orion for the Scattershot Railgun)

SPECIAL PILOTS UPDATED: The bloodydoves pilot now has two more affinities, one with Mackies and one with Great Turtles; Amidatelion was promoted to BTA Team member so his pilot, Amid, has been promoted as well and has gained a unique skill: Spirit of the Cicada, where he gains +15% walk speed.; if you already have these in your lineup tehy won't update with them. It'll only apply if you find and buy the pilot *after* patching (if they're in the hiring hall when you update, they won't have the affinities either, gotta find them fresh); Cargo_Vroom from RogueTech has had his custom pilot added, complete with unique ability that gives him a unique tank calldown mid-combat, it's a pretty slick ability

RATTLER FIGHT MOVED: The Rattler Mk.2 fight has been moved to Gibson and the Rattler Mk.1 has been added to Terra. Whoops!

BALANCE CHANGES: The Bombard (weapon system) has been nerfed with a damage decrease; the Periphery Rifles have been nerfed with damage decreases, accuracy penalties, and increased heat on attacks; the AC/10, AC/5, and AC/2 have all been lightly buffed to make them more competitive via damage and stability increases;

KURITA/CNC FRIENDS AGAIN: There was a rather silly bug where Kurita and Clan Nova Cat were erronously enemies. This has been fixed, they are buddies once again.

SOME NEW DIALOGUE: SPAM has had some generic and merc-focused dialogue updates. Should see some cool stuff there. Thanks to the contributor who did this update! <3

NEW STAR SYSTEMS: ComStar has a new planet, Pokhara, on the eastern edge of the Terran Hegemony. The pirates have a number of new planets scattered around the map: Barataria (located between Circinus, Marian Hegemony, and FWL), Clew Bay (located nearby the Ghost Bear Occupation Zone), and New Providence (located in the heart of the IS, nestled in-between the FWL, Terran Hegemony, and CapCon; also note that you can fight the Wolf's Dragoons here due to the close proximity to Outreach).

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT ABOVE: The new planets will *not* appear on an existing save. The map is "baked in" at career start and new planets won't make an appearance unless you start a new career.

COMMUNITY CONTENT: There's a little new CC in this patch, including a Superheavy LRM Carrier; a Rotary HVAC/5 (sold at Mack's); a new pilot (Dryke); a Rotary Silver Bullet GR + Gunslinger to carry it;

• Updated Trebuchet hardpoints so they've got more going on.
• Updated hardpoints on the JM6-PA1.
• Updated Vision Quest hardpoints.
• Updated the ENF-6T to be a little more record sheet accurate.
• Removed references to the Chaos March from a number of planets.
• Cleaned up how the RWR/TH faction stores work on the backend, though they're not major changes.
• Updated Kerensky campaign score reward since someone actually did it in BTAU for the first time and deserved a good reward.
• Some weapons fire faster, things like the Howitzers, RACs, and XPulse lasers.
• Corrected Owens, Perseus, Hauptmann, and Templar DHS kits not being fixed to the chassis.
• Ditto for the UrbanMech Omni that most people don't even know exists.
• Lots of minor fixes (typos, bug fixes, etc)

IMPORTANT: v18.1 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: v18.1 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.

BTA Light

BTA Light has received no changes. No superweapons for BTA Light!