u/MikeBanzai38

First, I know that Battletech isn’t exactly strict about unit colors, and that there is considerable overlap between even rivals in their unit livery.

That being said, I want to paint some of my minis as 5th Galedon Regulars, because I’m a loyal soldier of the DCMS and I like the paint scheme. Problem is, I like all the paint schemes I’ve found for them, but I want the one that would be the most “official”

I’ve seen the mains color painted light gray, almost white/gray, middle-dark gray, bluish gray, and even a tan/gray.,,not quite desert tan, but a gray that leans tan. I’ve seen the accent panels done in powder blue, sky blue, indigo blue,

They all look sharp, but which is “right”. Even if “right” isn’t that important in Battletech, I still want to do it right.

I’ve been back in the game for a month or so, catching up on the things I’ve missed, and I found the Phoenix Hawk 3PL.

It’s basically a mech I “homebrewed” back in the 90s as a babysitter for my assault mechs. I didn’t call it a Phoenix Hawk, or have a PHX designation, or think of it as a Phoenix Hawk design, but the sheet was effectively the same: a few pulse lasers, a targeting computer, and terrific maneuverability. Pretty much its only job was to keep more maneuverable light/medium mechs off its back. Now it’s stock.

It’s a good enough idea that lots of people were bound to come up with it, including the game designers…I’m hardly some kind of Mech genius…but it was cool to find my old assault mech minder as a stock sheet.

Guess I need to paint up a Phoenix Hawk mini now.

Title says it all. I did my first battles today after more than a week off: 3 Mimikyu in 5 sets.

It’s not just broken…it’s no fun to play against. Trying to dance around a fourth renewable shield just sucks. You either waste charged attacks on it, or you waste charged attacks getting beat down by teammates because you’re banking them for Mimikyu. In fact, every team was Mimikyu plus two bulky Normals just to do that.

It sucks. It’s not even fun.

Do you guys finish your minis with a varnish of any kind? Is it really needed to protect the paint? Just finished up my first four, and wondering if I should find some kind of varnish coat.

Also, what do you recommend if so? I think I’d prefer brush on to make sure I get the bottom, but I’m open to suggestions.

Recently returned to the game after a 30 year absence, largely because my son wanted to play. Happy to discover that the “new” game by Catalyst is actually the “old” game still, and we bought the “A Game of Armored Combat” boxed set and some other minis and got to playing.

He loves it! We both do.

However, I’ve been shopping around for more stuff, and noticed that it’s practically non-existent. I had to order the AGOAC from Amazon. The biggest local game shop has a few Basic boxes, and about 4 Force Packs. Another local chain with 4 locations has a tiny bit of Battletech stuff only at their main store. Other stores had none. Traveling, I stopped at a large shop…no Battletech. A ton of Warhammer (I hate Warhammer) but no Battletech.

Did I jump on board in time to watch the game die again?

Catalyst has run the game long enough that if it was going to take off, it would have. After all these years, the only way to get IWM minis if online, unlike back in the day when the local shop had a bunch of Ral Partha minis in stock.

Among the things I hate about Warhammer are the constant rule changes and the strict and expensive miniature requirements. It’s certainly been profitable for them though, which I guess is why they endure and fill a large portion of a game shop while Battletech struggles despite being a very player friendly and awesome game.

That line is when 3 times today a 3-2 set became a 2-3 when the opponent force-quit the app and hung it when I threw the winning charged move.

To all the players who do that shit: poor form. Take your loss like a grown up instead of forcing us both into the loss.

I’ve seen a noticeable uptick in this behavior over the past two seasons.

I'm an old player...last played in the 90s, when FASA owned it and the Battle of Tukayyid was the most significant current event. My son has heard me talk about Battletech over the years, and asked about playing, but I said I we don't have the time, and a new company ran the game now, and I just don't know.

He bought some miniatures, came home, and said "now we can play!" So, I asked on here about the new game, and got some good advice, mainly that's it's still the old game, and to buy "A Game of Armored Combat" and then wait for the August rule update.

So, I did.

Our first game lasted about 5 hours. Teaching an 11-year-old to play is a bit of an endeavor, plus I'm really, really rusty. Maybe it would have gone faster on a "flat" map with no terrain rules. It was 2v2, using 3025/Succession War era tech. Marauder and Charger on his side, Battlemaster and Shadow Hawk on mine.

I did end up winning, which caused a bit of a moment, but hopefully he wants to play again. I certainly had fun, and it's coming back to me now, so we were getting faster by the end.

Questions:

He bought the Snord's Irregulars and the Legendary Mechwarriors II sets, and I don't have 3025 era equivalent spec sheets for every mech in there. Anywhere to get some of the tech while waiting for the August rule update? I'm trying to build scenarios where he can use all of those mechs he bought. It is tedious that they're pretty much all Assault mechs...makes the games drag on for a new player.

Where to get miniatures in the future? They seem to all be sold in 4 packs or blind boxes, and I HATE blind boxes. It's just gambling, and I don't gamble. Back in the day, you could buy an overpriced, maybe toxic, lead/pewter miniature for every mech in the game. The boxed sets they sell seem rather limited. What if I want to make a Lance of 3 Panthers and a Grand Dragon? Is the only way to do that to buy 3 House Kurita Ranger Lance Forcepacks at $35 per, and a House Kurita Command Lance Forcepack? That seems way less efficient than the soft-metal-miniatures back in the 90s.

Ok, I think that's all for now. I probably should have spotted him up more combat power than I did...I thought I gave him enough of an edge, especially with 30 years of rust...it was like starting over.

A few years ago, one of the most fun things about the first rounds of a new GBL season was just having fun with spice teams, meme teams, whatever. I’d run a “barnyard team” (pig, cow, goat) or an all-pink team, or an Eeveelution team. Whatever. Half the time you’d be up against teams just as fun/bad, even underpowered mons.

I think the player pool has narrowed considerably in the past few years.

Ranks 1-5, started with just goofing around, and every-single-team was some super-meta, pulled right out of Silph or PVPoke or content creator “top teams” list. Every battler is some super-sweaty try-hard Legend player. After realizing now that even at rank 1 they’re all playing meta teams, know every move count, etc., I start getting more serious.

So I make a new team, with meta mons, and the first thing I want to test is Shadow Ninetails. Imagine running a team with Shadow Ninetails in the lead, then running into 5 dragon or water leads in a row. The back lines are just as bad for me. 3 triple water teams.

Ok, new plan. Forretress, Shelgon, Licki. What’s the first team I match against? Ninetails, Walrein, Conkldurr.

And on it went like that.

7-18 to start the season. I’ve never, ever started anywhere close to this bad. Every match a stonewall counter, or in the opening rounds super sweaty against all meta sweaty players when I wasn’t really thinking that would be the case yet. I feel like I might already be done this season. Shrink the pool a little more.

I played Battletech a lot back in the 90s, in high school, when FASA published it. I even still have the old tech manuals. I saw recently that a company called Catalyst had acquired the IP and is publishing the game.

How does it compare to the original? Will an old player find anything resembling the old game?

What do I need? Looking at the website, I’m struggling to figure out what rule books or sets I might need. Beginner’s? Essential? Are there tech manual expansions like the old one?

Tell me about it, especially if you also played the old FASA game.

As the saying goes, unhappiness is the measure of the distance between expectation and reality, and when I moved here I found that distance to be cavernous. Before I get into my story, I think it's worth noting that over the past decade that I've lived in the Twin Cities, I have spent thousands on bike parts, and almost none of it in local shops because of my first year or so here. Thousands. I'm not trying to brag on the resources, just stating that local shops did not receive any of that revenue.

I lived in a lot of places with almost no cycling scene, and often a barely functional bike shop. Nonetheless, I supported those shops because they were often the only act in town, and the owners and employees were typically really great. However, when I decided to move to the Twin Cities I was excited by the prospect of moving to a bike-shop nirvana. I had visited and seen all the cyclists, I had read about the robust cycling culture, and numerous local shops had even made the glossy copy of national cycling publications. It was going to be great.

Shortly before I moved, I had ordered an Alfine hub for a bike build. I completed it when I got here, and found it had a known problem; the roller clutch slipped in 5th. The place I ordered from said I could pull my wheel apart and ship them the hub, but the easiest option would be to go to any Shimano warranty shop for a core replacement.

One very popular local shop was listed by Shimano NA as a warranty center, but I discovered that unless you are one of the regular "barflies" or hangers-on, you aren't getting the time of day there. When I finally got someone to deign to address me, and I explained the problem, the employee said "I guess that's why you shouldn't have bought an Alfine, huh?". Wouldn't even help with the warranty. I never went back.

I went to another popular chain, also referred by Shimano NA as a warranty center. They told me it wasn't a problem, they would pull the core and get a warranty replacement. Two days later I get a call that the bike is ready. That seemed really fast, but I went in, and they hand me a $150 bill for service. I explained that I didn't want them to service the hub, I wanted a warranty claim. They in turn said that if I wanted my bike back, I'd pay the $150, and that it worked just fine now. I paid the money to end the hostage situation, rode two blocks, and the problem was as bad as ever. And, they did the cable housing wrong. I never went back.

I ended up dismantling my wheel and sending the hub back to the online retailer, who promptly replaced it.

Another time, I needed some Shimano road brake cables for a seasonal re-cable I was doing. I called a different popular local chain, who told me on the phone that they had them, and I could come on by. When I got there, the employee handed me MTB brake cables. I explained that those were not what I needed, but he said it's all they had, and they just put them in all the brakes. So, a wasted trip, a lie on the phone about my inquiry, and I certainly would never buy a bike from, or get service from, a shop that throws MTB-end cables in road shifters.

The only shop that seemed halfway competent doesn't pass the "Mellow Johnny's" line for me. If you've never been, Mellow Johnny's is a shop in Austin owned by Lance Armstrong. It's not cheap, but also not super expensive either, especially considering the location in downtown Austin and the fame. They could certainly get away with charging more, but they don't. The shop in question here apparently thinks that they can charge a premium based on their lack of fame, and their honestly just-ok location. In fact, almost no shops locally can pass the Mellow Johnny's test. They all charge hefty premiums, and I don't know why. Austin isn't exactly cheap, and Mellow Johnny's is a REALLY nice shop.

I'll stop there. I have more stories...I visited nearly every shop in the area, and I can't believe just how bad they all have been. Since I gave up on them, I've built four bikes from frames and parts, all purchased online, and purchased two kids bikes from REI, heavily aided by their website ordering.

Maybe the LBSs don't miss my business, because there are simply a lot of cyclists here, and those cyclists are willing to spend their money to support bad shops just because they're "local". Some of that Minnesota culture of "boosterism" might play into this as well. But the only reason that a place with so many cyclists can have so many shops that are so very bad is because either the local cyclists don't know better, or they simply don't hold any of the businesses accountable by taking their business elsewhere. Online, if need be. I preferred to support LBSs everywhere else I lived even at a slight price premium, because of the great customer service and the connections. Here, the ask is that a pay an exorbitant price premium to be treated like they are doing me a tremendous favor, if they can even competently help at all.

If you want better shops, businesses only learn when revenue suffers.

Not that anyone here cares, but I think it's just time to quit. A long time ago I reached 2500/Veteran once. It's really my only goal every season. But since then every single season goes the same way:

I get to around 2400, then I hit the RPS wall. I start getting ridiculous RPSs on every match. Imagine, for instance, opening your Greninja into a Forretress five times in a row. Having determined that at your ELO that's what's happening, you switch to a Talonflame lead, and open into Greninja five times in a row. And the back-line is just as bad for the rest of your team. Even worse when you get RPS'd by bizarre teams that would never work anywhere except when matched up perfectly against your own.

My favorite was in the last cup, where a Quagsire running the well-known tech of Stone Edge/Drain Punch was there for my Gyarados and Umbreon.

The RPS goes hard until I hit 2000 or lower, then it stops, and I start the crawl back up to 2400.

It's not that I'm simply getting outplayed at 2400...I can accept those losses as part of playing the game. It's the impossible RPS matches that continue relentlessly until I bottom out.

I'm now about at the 2000 ELO nadir. Given how long it takes to get back to even 2400, I think it's time to just fold 'em for this season. Maybe after enough of a break I won't even miss it, and I can quit playing this time-suck.

This might be a dumb question, but I haven't powered one up yet or really done a hard look at it. So here goes:

When Aegislash changes form, there's a conversion that takes place to keep the Blade form under the 1500 cap, (Level rounded to whole level, *.05, rounded down if result is a half-level, +1, capped to 1500), because Aegislash blade form maxes out in GL around level 22-ish, while the Shield form at best PVP IVs XLs to level 50.

Here's the question. Say you had a 15/15/15 Honedge, which would be level 37.5 as a Shield form Aegislash in GL. Does that mean that when it changes form it would it strictly follow the mathematical conversion and be level 18 at 1272 CP, or would it round up until reaching it's GL CP cap at level 21 of 1484?

If the latter, then there would be no harm in leveling up a Hundo if you caught one, but if the former, it would be absolute folly to level up any Shield form that reaches the GL CP cap at under level 42.

They keep adding moves to Pokemon...which is nice, especially if the existing moveset is terrible or lackluster, but every Pokemon is starting to feel like Claydol used to. As the move pool expands, the drain on TMs for the odds of getting the moveset you want is growing exponentially.

I'm rolling into this Rocket event with a total of 7 Charged TMs. I had been saving up, but over the past two GBL weeks I burned through 46 TMs trying to get the right moveset on just two Pokemon. I remember the day after Vulpix comm day when I burned 15 just trying to get Weather Ball on a single Alolan Ninetales.

That's all. Just a complaint.