Any amusing Black Friday purchases?

[archer]

I bought Battletech (on Steam).

 

The last time I played Battletech was in person in the 1980's but I had a blast and have wanted to play more ever since.

 

I am the personification of delayed gratification.

[Old Man]

4 hours ago, archer said:

I bought Battletech (on Steam).

 

The last time I played Battletech was in person in the 1980's but I had a blast and have wanted to play more ever since.

 

I am the personification of delayed gratification.

 

Is it the same Battletech?  I enjoyed using anti-mech weapons on humans in that game.

[Matt the Bruins]

I bought myself a knife block with 5 knives. Finally, I can grab a butcher knife out of it when I hear a suspicious noise like the people in suspense movies!

 

Will be buying window valences and a set of Levolor blinds on sale tomorrow, as my mom's Christmas gift.

[archer]

4 hours ago, Old Man said:

 

Is it the same Battletech?  I enjoyed using anti-mech weapons on humans in that game.

 

It's probably closer than Champions Online MMO is to Champions.

 

From what I've seen, the opponents are mechs, vehicles, and installations rather than human troops. But I'll admit I haven't seen much so far.

 

You seem to be trying to run a merc company of mechs, taking contracts for missions, completing the missions, salvaging parts from mechs you've destroyed, patching up your own mechs and trying to upgrade them with the parts you have or with what you can buy at that location, etc. Then looking for a new contract which is usually on another planet, traveling there, shopping, doing the mission.

 

There's a campaign theme running through that you're supporting one political faction and trying to get them into power.

 

The combat system seems close to what little I remember from the Battletech game. Facing, maneuverability, line of sight, and cover are very important. It's a turn base game so you have time to think through your options and move each of your four or five mechs to mini-max the capabilities of their various weapons systems and armor.

 

Each mech has a certain maximum tonnage and can only hold so much weapons, jump jets, and/or armor on each limb. And heat buildup is still a major consideration. So you have to figure out whether you want a mech to be flexible to be able to attempt multiple types of missions. Or whether you want it to be a specialist (sniper, brawler, missile "boat", etc.) Then mix and match the mechs you have available to the description of the mission and go in praying like hell that you guessed right.  

 

Completing a contract helps your company's rep. Not completing a contract damages your rep. Not sure what the consequences of a good rep vs a bad rep are but I'd guess that you can demand more money for jobs and/or get offered better jobs.

[Old Man]

I had to look it up, but the one I used to play was Crescent Hawk's Inception from 1988.  Which played like a simplified RPG version of Battletech, since that's what it was.

 

Anyway, in that game your group was sometimes obligated to park their mechs and go on foot in order to enter walled cities, and in the walled cities you would sometimes get ambushed by criminals or enemies.  These were sometimes tense encounters, until I realized that the city authorities didn't bat an eye if you walked around town with anti-mech napalm bazookas.

 

Played a lot of the original Mechwarrior from around then too.  Never did try the tabletop version though.