BattleTech Update #57 – Update 1.3 Detailed

Now that we know the release date for BattleTech’s upcoming Flashpoint expansion, we get a new Kickstarter update that details the expansion’s accompanying v1.3 update for the base game. This free update will introduce a new career mode, revamp some abilities, revise the game’s reputation system, add new events, and more. Check it out:

BATTLETECH Update 1.3 Details

Our next free update for BATTLETECH will also launch on November 27th! Update 1.3 adds and improves a bunch of stuff in the base game, including:

• An all-new Career Mode – Career Mode challenges you to begin the game with the Argo in a random system, with a random group of MechWarriors, with no story missions to rely on for big payouts. You wander the Periphery, taking contracts (and Flashpoints, if you have Flashpoint!) and managing your mercenary company to earn a final score. Career mode is played in Ironman mode by default, so it is also possible to “lose” this mode unrecoverably.
• Revamped MechWarrior abilities – We heard a bunch of feedback about the Bulwark ability and how you HAD to take it to finish the campaign and it got us thinking… and then revising Bulwark… and realizing that we should just rebalance the whole dang thing. Then we put it out as an opt-in Beta and got some great feedback – thanks! We’ve been working on it ever since and we’ll release the revised abilities in 1.3.
• Revisions to the Reputation System – We’ve increased the rate at which reputation rises and falls so you can really feel the effects of your actions. When you reach the maximum possible reputation with a faction, you become eligible for an Alliance. By entering into an Alliance, you mark yourself an ally of that faction – and an enemy of that faction’s enemies. In addition to making higher difficulty contracts and salvage available, Alliances also allow you to access faction-specific stores containing items you might not find anywhere else.
• Black Market stores – If you play your cards right, criminal elements will allow you to buy access to the Black Market, where you’ll find some equipment that fell off a transport…
• More Events, including cameos from two Legendary MechWarriors (these were part of our social sharing Backer reward from the Kickstarter, and we expect the other two cameos to make it into the next free update.)
• New mercenary contracts – now you can take jobs from Pirates!
• New inventory items, including rare LosTech from before the fall of the Star League!
• And lots more bugfixes and quality of life improvements (like the ability to drag & drop ‘Mechs in the Mech Bay!)

If you haven’t played in a while, also check out all the new features and improvements we’ve already added to the game in our free 1.1 Update and 1.2 Update. And we’ll be continuing to release free updates at a similar cadence next year.

Localization Beta Incoming (French, German, and Russian)

We know it’s been a long road for Backers awaiting localized versions of the game, and we really appreciate your patience. QA testing for localization is going well, and we’re planning to release a public Localization Beta branch on Steam and GOG by the end of November. We’re targeting November 27th, to release this Beta alongside Flashpoint and Update 1.3, but it may end up being slightly staggered to accommodate testing schedules. This opt-in branch will include French, German, and Russian localization of the base game (including the 1.3 update), as well as localization of Flashpoint for Flashpoint owners.

We expect the Localization Beta to remain open for at least a couple weeks, after which Localization will exit Beta and be released as a free update to the game on all distribution platforms.

Linux

Last month we released a Steam Beta branch of the Linux version of BATTLETECH. Thank you to everyone who’s tested on that branch! We expect the Linux version to exit Beta on November 27th as part of the 1.3 Update on all distribution platforms.

And that’s the news, folks! We can’t wait for November 27th, and we’re excited to already be diving into our next free update and pre-production on Urban Warfare.