General

[uv_halo]

Originally Posted by The Inflicted

The annoying thing is that the "unseen" were the original battlemechs in the game, and much of the original fiction and artwork in the universe is based on them.
Worse, from a gameplay perspective the designs covered some of the more fundamental concepts of purpose-based mech design. It doesn't make sense for there not to be a Locust, Rifleman, or Archer, for instance.

That and, most of the mechs designed since then just look clunky.

[tiny]

I was just thinking, I wonder if there will be any melee weapons in the new game. Mechs like the axe man, hatchetman, and no-datchi would be pretty fun

[spymongoose]

if you see the "unseen" as tactic specific weapons platforms (the warhammer, the archer, the rifleman, the locust) then yes the game lost a lot of valuable pieces that were never properly replaced. The concept on an 'omnimech' gave couch commanders a toolbox of flexible platforms that could be modified for a specific tactic, specific role, or to a mechjokey's favorite weapon system.

Off topic, almost all my painted mini's are "unseen".

[Marauder_Pilot]

The Unseen Warhammer in the original trailer didn't cause a C&D, and, IIRC, the lawsuit between Harmony Gold and...whoever owns the Battletech license now (FASA? Wizkids? Smith and Tinker?) is over with.

However, in the canon, the Phoenix Project 'Mechs superseded their Unseen versions because the old ones had mostly all been wrecked over the years. Since this game is in the 3040s-3050s, they'd use the Phoenix versions anyways.

However, as a paid DLC skin...

[spymongoose]

so what did cause all the fuss? I never heard why I am not currently playing that game...

[The Inflicted]

Uh-oh.
Sounds like this is one of those games where you have to spend a lot of money on unlocked abilities and mechs to be competitive.



To cleanse the palate:

[tiny]

He says exactly the opposite. You can buy new mechs with money or pay for them with experience points. The only way to unlock weapons, skills, stats, etc, is to actually pay. He states that you cannot buy power.

[Marauder_Pilot]

Originally Posted by spymongoose

so what did cause all the fuss? I never heard why I am not currently playing that game...

All the Unseen 'Mechs were designs from Harmony Gold-owned anime series (Robotech, Gundam, ect) that they bought the rights to, tweaked slightly and used them in the original Battletech.

However, Battletech went on to become way more popular in North America than any of those series, so Harmony Gold pulled a Smart Parts on them. It was a mess that went on for 10 or so years. In the interm, they couldn't use the designs in any media, so they released the Project: Phoenix designs, which took the names and stats and gave them new artwork, the fluff explanation being that they were new, updated designs of old 'Mechs.

In the end, IIRC, they reached some sort of combined-use settlement. Then Piranha released a trailer with an unseen Warhammer in it, and Harmony came back with some other stuff. It was shot down, but I believe they decided to drop the designs anyways because it was too much of a legal pain.

[The Inflicted]

Hope this isn't too off-topic, but has anyone ever gotten into Heavy Gear?
Activision put out a pair of Heavy Gear games after the original Mechwarrior series on PC went on its first hiatus, and the second one was very good.
Never played the tabletop version, but I did pick up some techincal readouts and was amazed at how much creativity and thought went into the 'mech designs and their faux backstories.

[heinous]

nope, i already had mechwarrior so i wasn't going to buy something from the same genre back then.