I'm interested in hearing how this balances for people playing a game that's otherwise vanilla or close to it.
There is a version of this mod that is heavily integrated into Roguetech (I'm on the team now) so I've been mostly playing it as part of that overhaul when I do testing.
I'm running this with GT weapon diversity and JK variants (some others, but those two had to be load ordered correctly with this).
Ignis seems to have trouble. I often find them hung up on a steep angle. Also, it seems like their flamers have medium laser range. I know it says 240m, but it feels longer. I've had one crash to desktop when I put vehicle flamers on a mech (stopped using them after so might have been a fluke).
Edit: Just picked up argo, have only attempted one convoy related contract since last update. Put two vehicle flamers on a mech, 3 missions later and no CTD's yet. Battle type contracts have been heavy on Mech lances, only a few mixed vehicle lances. Kind of feel things have swung toward mech heavy.
Currently at 2 skull pre-argo, on an iron man run. Second run actually, first one with this setup went bankrupt after getting wrecked by the AC20's and LRM20's carried by convoy targets in a half skull mission.
Hmmm there shouldn't be any AC/20 in half skull convoys. Because the only light that has one is the Saladin and it's a hovertank which are excluded. And no medium vehicle has one. Hunters can spawn that early with an LRM20, that was an oversight, they're supposed to have been moved to Medium tier.
The shift away from vehicles toward more mechs is part of the vanilla Battletech structure. This mod doesn' t attempt to change it at this time.
I find the new vehicles to be pretty well balanced. there are a handful that you indeed will want to focus your attention on if they are in range, but I feel no more panic about them than I do about the standard 3xppc shreks.
if people are still having problems with ignis AI, it *could* be because the flame cannons they use are marked as energy weapons, while the turret slots they are supposed to go in are marked as antipersonnel. I kinda doubt it makes a difference, but I ended up changing the flame cannons to be antipersonnel instead of energy in my game, and have not seen any problems with the two variants of ignis tanks. Plus, i like the flame cannons going off when I melee in my Banshee :)
sometimes though, especially if they are part of caravans, they simply refuse to attack. don't know if that is intentional or not.
There are major issues with the current version. ID files do not match their JSON names as will never load. "Id": "vehicledef_APC_MAXIMcv", "ChassisID": "vehiclechassisdef_APC_MAXIMcv",
the "cv" needs to be removed in hundreds of places.
Hey I just tried downloading the mod and unpacking it but it doesn't appear in my mod folder. What up with the file or is it something I'm doing? Does this work with battletech mod manager?
Will this mod see the vehicles become usable by the player at any point, or is that beyond the mod's scope? If not, what about an optional patch for it, or is there something hardcoded that makes it impossible to do?
I am fiddling with adjusting the resizing for the Marsden II (both variants). It is supposed to be a 60-ton tank, but was significantly smaller in-game than the 50-ton Vedette, as I just encountered them in the same mission so I noticed this. I upped the Marsden's size multiplier to 1.84 for both variants, and will report my findings on appearance when I encounter it again.
Also, anyone know a way to put vehicles on the opposing team in Skirmishes?
This mod currently causes an infinite loading screen when trying to enter the skirmish mechlab. The issue is due to a stray desktop.ini file in the lances folder.
1: Is it possible for you to release a "lore/timeline friendly" version?
The following vehicles/variants don't exist by 3025:
* Heavy LRM Carrier (3058) * Light LRM carrier (doesn't exist in lore, or if it does I can't find it) * Light SRM carrier (3058) * Myrmidon (3060) * Po Heavy Tank (3031) * Zhukov (3030)
(Sidenote: Schrek AC should also have extra armor from the stripped heatsinks, not sure if it does in this mod)
2: If it's not something you want to do (I understand maintaining two copies isn't fun), how hard would it be for a player to remove those specific ones from the mod? If it's easy, I'll just do it myself.
3: Does this mod also make sure to add all the side-weapons that these had? Like the PO should have a couple MG's as well as the AC/10, for example.
2. Very easy to do yourself. Each vehicle/variant consists of two files. Open the VehicleImprovementProject\vehicle folder. Delete the ones you don't want. If the game hangs, or you want to be through, open up the chassis folder and delete the ones with the same names.
3 Yes, all secondary weapons, down to the machine guns, are included. As is the (hopefully) correct armor tonnage for each individual variant. I take my stats from the Solaris Skunk Works mech and vehicle builder app and database. I don't have any of the tabletop books myself. Let me know if anything doesn't look right.
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There is a version of this mod that is heavily integrated into Roguetech (I'm on the team now) so I've been mostly playing it as part of that overhaul when I do testing.
Ignis seems to have trouble. I often find them hung up on a steep angle. Also, it seems like their flamers have medium laser range. I know it says 240m, but it feels longer. I've had one crash to desktop when I put vehicle flamers on a mech (stopped using them after so might have been a fluke).
Edit: Just picked up argo, have only attempted one convoy related contract since last update. Put two vehicle flamers on a mech, 3 missions later and no CTD's yet. Battle type contracts have been heavy on Mech lances, only a few mixed vehicle lances. Kind of feel things have swung toward mech heavy.
Currently at 2 skull pre-argo, on an iron man run. Second run actually, first one with this setup went bankrupt after getting wrecked by the AC20's and LRM20's carried by convoy targets in a half skull mission.
The shift away from vehicles toward more mechs is part of the vanilla Battletech structure. This mod doesn' t attempt to change it at this time.
if people are still having problems with ignis AI, it *could* be because the flame cannons they use are marked as energy weapons, while the turret slots they are supposed to go in are marked as antipersonnel. I kinda doubt it makes a difference, but I ended up changing the flame cannons to be antipersonnel instead of energy in my game, and have not seen any problems with the two variants of ignis tanks. Plus, i like the flame cannons going off when I melee in my Banshee :)
sometimes though, especially if they are part of caravans, they simply refuse to attack. don't know if that is intentional or not.
like... I have to wait literally 20 turns for them to finally reach the pick up zone.
current culprit:
pike support vehicle. that thing is just wayyyyyyy too slow.
"Id": "vehicledef_APC_MAXIMcv",
"ChassisID": "vehiclechassisdef_APC_MAXIMcv",
the "cv" needs to be removed in hundreds of places.
I've released this as Better Vehicles at BattleTech Nexus - Mods and Community (nexusmods.com) with credit and linking back to this mod. @SrJoben if this is an issue, please let me know.
All VehicleDefs are loading properly and are linked to the corrected chassis files/moveDef files. The Infinite load has also been corrected.
Also, anyone know a way to put vehicles on the opposing team in Skirmishes?
But I'd like to ask if this mod lets YOU have those bigger threats? Can we buy and use vehicles? Is there any chance for this ever happening?
As much as I love using 4 big mechs I think having an 100-ton tank that can take out a giant mech is pretty cool.
However, I do want to ask...
1: Is it possible for you to release a "lore/timeline friendly" version?
The following vehicles/variants don't exist by 3025:
* Heavy LRM Carrier (3058)
* Light LRM carrier (doesn't exist in lore, or if it does I can't find it)
* Light SRM carrier (3058)
* Myrmidon (3060)
* Po Heavy Tank (3031)
* Zhukov (3030)
(Sidenote: Schrek AC should also have extra armor from the stripped heatsinks, not sure if it does in this mod)
2: If it's not something you want to do (I understand maintaining two copies isn't fun), how hard would it be for a player to remove those specific ones from the mod? If it's easy, I'll just do it myself.
3: Does this mod also make sure to add all the side-weapons that these had? Like the PO should have a couple MG's as well as the AC/10, for example.
2. Very easy to do yourself. Each vehicle/variant consists of two files. Open the VehicleImprovementProject\vehicle folder. Delete the ones you don't want. If the game hangs, or you want to be through, open up the chassis folder and delete the ones with the same names.
3 Yes, all secondary weapons, down to the machine guns, are included. As is the (hopefully) correct armor tonnage for each individual variant. I take my stats from the Solaris Skunk Works mech and vehicle builder app and database. I don't have any of the tabletop books myself. Let me know if anything doesn't look right.
Multiple cars use each one. It turns out you don't really need one for each vehicle, and there are only a handful of different speeds.