From: lunatic@netcom.com (Lunatic Johnathan Bruce E'Sex)
Subject: Re: Batteltech: Who's in control 'ere
Summary: Battle, not Battel  (:
Organization: Netcom; Renegade User
Date: Fri, 25 Dec 1992 01:08:23 GMT

In article <1992Dec21.160556.1@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz> hamilton_p@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz writes:
> 
> This post would be mainly addressed to Stephane I. Matis, but I'm not
>E-mailing it because I think some others may like to comment or add to it.
> FASA has made a number of changes to the Battletech universe in the past few
>years, obviously. Some, if not a lot of these changes have gone down like lead
>balloons with people who used to play Battletech, and left due to the changes,
>and with die hards who still play the game. My real question is 'who's in
>control here?'. Is FASA so hell bent to change the game system to the point
>where it is unrecognisable from the original. The posts to 'Battletech: The
>Great Debate' on the net, clearly show that a lot of people do not enjoy the
>change the Clans have brought to the game.
 
     _
    |_
    |ASA is hell bent to change the game to where it is as popular as
 possible, equaling $$$.  Sure, there's a lot of people who've been
 playing the game for years who don't like the Clans.  There's also a
 lot of people who really enjoy having the Clans there -- much more,
 IMHO, than the people who've got sick of it and bailed.
 
    ]-[ere's a few reasons why the Clans were a good idea, _for FASA_:
 
 o  It makes the fiction easier for people to understand, and easier to
    relate to.  Instead of having to choose from one of five different
    sides in "the war," a player now has only two, plus a semi-neutral
    (ComStar).  Once a person actually chooses a side, THEN s/he can
    decide which minor faction of that side (house or clan) to ally
    themselves with.  It's simply now "Us against Them," instead of
    "Us and some other guys against those guys and those guys, who are
    against the first guys, but we're not sure if we want to change our
    minds and actually ally ourselves with either one of them to fight
    the other, but then those OTHER guys wouldn't like us so much,
    except maybe if we..." etc. etc.
 
 o  It makes the game mechanics a little easier to understand, since
    Star League and Clan technology is much more of a linear progression
    of weight to power.
 
 o  It makes mechs more powerful and allows FASA to eliminate completely
    the use of vehicles from one side (Clan) of the battles.  This is
    important to people's perception of the game, as mechs are supposed
    to be "the ultimate weapon on the battlefield" which they really
    HAVEN'T been.  (Ever try taking an equal tonnage of hovercraft vs.
    mechs in 3025 era BT?)
 
 o  It allows FASA to introduce new technology and new twists, which
    people always enjoy.  Probably the best selling BT products are
    the Tech Readouts, since they always give you more new official
    weapons (not even specifically the weapons themselves, but the
    mech designs as "weapon systems") and they ALWAYS contain something
    of use.  A lot of the background books have a lot smaller "usable
    material to amount of content" ratios, if not all of them.

     _
    /-\ lot of people may have been complaining about the Clans, but
 also take a look at how well a lot of people have accepted them.  For
 instance, look at all the "in character" banter going on here between
 people who've "allied" themselves with one side or the other.  You
 just didn't get that kind of electricity between supporters of
 different houses before the Clans.  On GEnie there's a whole subtopic
 basically devoted to chest-thumping banter between IS and Clan supporters.
 <grin>  Also look at the designations people have chosen for themselves
 and put in their .signatures.  IMHO, there were a lot less before FASA
 introduced the Clans.  Then there's that thread about "Clan nicknames."
 And if you want to take it really far, look at the very existence of
 this group.  A major reason behind why I created this group was the
 growing popularity of the game BattleTech.  It used to be that BattleTech
 posts would come in waves on rec.games.board.  For months on r.g.b
 before the creation of this group about 30%-50% of the posts there
 were about BattleTech -- and that was over the summer, too.  You have
 to admit that the game has been gaining popularity by leaps and bounds
 in the last few years, and IMHO that's in large part because of the
 introduction of the Clans.


> Is FASA making a game that people enjoy playing, or do they just produce
>Battletech to there own specs. and 'bugger what ever anyone out there wants'.
 
 
    \/\/ell, they have to have a game that's playable, and one that
 people enjoy playing.  In general people like getting new toys, so a
 lot of people like the new tech.  Also it's now actually "NEW" tech,
 instead of old broken down garbage, and people like being able to play
 with the best stuff ever made.  The introduction of the Clans also is
 getting people a lot more into the fiction of the game, which can only
 be good for FASA, since you can only change the game itself so much,
 but the fiction you can write forever.  Small change in tech/
 adversaries (Clan) = large change in number of stories and plotlines
 that can be used.
 

> The latest thing I've heard that is going to be changed, is the movement
>phase for vehicles. Now I'm not a vehicle fanatic, but I do have a armoured
>company, and these things could really just be flushed down the toilet if this
>change is made.
 
    ___
     |hat's really the point.  BattleMechs simply HAVE TO BE better
 than anything else on the battlefield.  It's what FASA has been telling
 everyone since the game came out, so it's what people expect and what
 FASA has to live up to.  Since BattleMechs are really actually pretty
 lousy in their level of technology, FASA has to lower the vehicles a
 little more to make the mechs stand out.
 

> I realise that you are hardly FASA's complaint department, but since you've
>got fingers in some other peoples pies, I figure you might have the answer.
 
 
    ]['m not Stephane, but I think I have a decent grip on FASA's
 motovations behind a lot of what it's been doing lately, and could
 provide some insights for you.

-- 
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 /  lunatic@netcom.com  GEnie: LUNATIC  CI$: 76170,672  /
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