Battlechat 28.April (Teil 1)

Zuletzt aktualisiert am 28. April 2012 von DarkISI

HIer also das Log des ersten Teils des heutigen Chats. Geloggt wurde es von martian.

Zeit zum Sortieren habe ich derzeit leider nicht.

Topic set by Habeas2 on Tue Apr 10 2012 08:04:17 GMT+0200
<Habeas2>: So, back to qestions! Thus far, I’ve answered a whopping…. one
<Weirdo>: Any news for Aero nuts?
<martian>: I would like to ask if there is an intention to replace current rulebooks (such as Total Warfare and Tac Ops) with something newer or will they suffice for next two or three years?
<Bronzite>: I believe there was an open question on the BV replacement search.
<Habeas2>: Weirdo – Aerospace rules still suck?
<Dukeroyal>: What books do you hope to have out by the end of the year?
<Habeas2>: Martian – There is no plan to replace the core rulebook line any time soon, aside from the normal later printings and such that will fold in errata as available.
<Weirdo>: Any news for Quick-Strike nuts?
<martian>: Thanks
<BJones>: Herb, what are your thoughts on the possibility of some sort of a Battletech Kickstarter? There was some musings about one in the forums a couple weeks back with the Shadowrun kickstarter going on.
<garydee>: What percentage of the St.Ives April fool’s supplement was factual?
<Trbo>: Is this thing on?
<Savage_Coyote>: ci
<Klep>: yeah, i had asked how the search for a BV replacement was going
<Habeas2>: Bronzite – Ah, yes! The BV replacement system. Well, I could continue my joke about a color-based Battle Value system (these days only half a joke, really), but at this time I have not yet proceeded very far as other products need to move along in the meantime. I have, however, received over 10 different approaches to changing the BV system, all aimed at my stated goals of simplifying the math and leaning toward a more approxi
<Dukeroyal>: Is there a possibility of future Handbooks as PDF only?
<Bronzite>: …and that was the last transmission from ECV Beas…
<martian>: Dang toasters!
<Drufause>: I think the big question for Kickstarter and Battletech would be to what purpose. The shadowrun Kickstarter I believe was for getting development of a Video Game funded. Battletech has 3 such games coming now.
<Habeas2>: Dukeroyal – At this time, the books I hope to have out by year’s end include: Era Report: 2750, Field Manual: SLDF, A Time of War Companion, Total Chaos, Interstellar Operations, Interstellar Expeditions (IP3), and Handbook: House Kurita.
<Drufause>: That is an awe inspiring list of books
<Habeas2>: Weirdo – For the Quick-Strike nuts, at this time, I have no immediate news, beyond the fact hat we firmly believe in continuing our support for that game system
<Weirdo>: So no hard plans for a seperate or expanded Q-S book, then. S’okay, I’m patient.
<Dukeroyal>: That’s a great list. What is Total Chaos?
<Trbo>: Herb, Are all the books you listed DTF, or just PDF?
<Bronzite>: Total Chaos is running a regimental-scale engagement at a convention where each player controls a lance. I have no idea what the book is about, though.
<Habeas2>: BJones – I’d prefer not to entertain the concept of Kickstarter projects for BattleTech unless I can guarantee our ability to produce such products in a timely manner and that they will ultimately help the line. Kickstarter, IMO, should not be used too much like a „make a wish“ fund, lest we actually have a crippling NEED for something.
<Habeas2>: Garydee – A surprisingly high percentage of the underlying material behind the Free St. Ives! PDF was based on future plans.
<Habeas2>: Trbo – Yes, this thing is on.
<martian>: Do you plan to produce posters, T-shirts, patches or similar stuff?
<Hersh67>: Greetings, sibkin.
<Klep>: i would love so much poster-sized maps i could frame for my wall
<Habeas2>: Klep – My apologies for the delay on the BV answer
<Klep>: no problem
<Dukeroyal>: Randall mentioned patches in a recent tweet.
<garydee>: Thanks Herb. I like that answer.
<Trbo>: Not going the Kickstarter route makes sense….
<Habeas2>: Dukeroyal – Not really, faction-specific faction Handbooks sell poorly and are expensive to produce. EVen a PDF route (which only saves us in the printing/distribution areas) will not save us enough money to justify the costs of production vs. sales. Once Handbook: House Kurita comes out, the series is done.
<Klep>: yeah, kickstarter makes sense when you have more people than funding or projects to work on. battletech does not seem to have quite that problem
<Habeas2>: Weirdo – No; no hard plans for a searate QS book. We are trying not to separate out too many of the game’s elements, lest it wind up the way AeroTech and BattleSpace did, as the „unwanted stepchildren“ of BattleTech
<Habeas2>: Dukeroyal – Total Chaos is a campaign product based on the Jihad.
Bronzite loved BattleSpace.
<Habeas2>: Trbo – All of the books I listed are print products, yes.
<Habeas2>: Martian – Posterm T-shirts, and such are commonly produced on short run demands for convention sales. There is, at the moment, no hard plan to release them year-round, due to production costs.
<Habeas2>: Hersh67 – Hello
<Habeas2>: Klep – I believe poster-sized maps are something we’ve only produced periodically
<martian>: Thanks
<Bronzite>: Out of curiosity, does CGL have an estimate you can share for the total number of active BattleTech players globally?
<Klep>: well next time you do it my money will be waiting
<PaWeasley>: Sorry if this one’s been asked. Regarding the new BA equipment in the TacOps errata, is it safe to assume any with a mech scale equivalent will get the same TROrototypes rules level change?
<Dukeroyal>: What PDF only products do you plan to have out by the end of the year?
<Habeas2>: Bronzite – I would call any estimate wildly approximate. Once upon a time, I would have estimated it around 7,000 players. A few years ago, however, it looked more like 3,000. BUT that was taking into account mainly the size of product runs and how much of them are sold over time and/or the analysis of web-based activity (such as membership in forums or slaes via BattleCorps)
<PaWeasley>: Also, will BA tube artillery become Advanced like other artillery and BA LB-X ACs become tournament level?
<Hersh67>: On the poster thing, would it be possible to produce user printable PDF maps of the BTU?
<Habeas2>: PAWeasley – I’m sorry, can you be more specific?
<Habeas2>: Dukeroyal – I plan to finish off the Objectives series and get quite a few XTRs out by year’s end. With any luck, we may even introduce an RPG Adventures series this year. Also on tap for PDFs are 2765-era Field Reports for other other factions, to coincide with FM: SLDF.
<Klep>: i have to say that i really love everything that’s been coming out since i got back into the game, and my only concern is how i’m going to keep up with it all
<PaWeasley>: Sorry about that. Example, BA Angel ECMs. Currently Experimental level. .0
<PaWeasley>: Gah, cat just stepped on the keyboard while I was typing.
<Bronzite>: We’ve heard that certain products don’t sell well (Faction handbooks, and in the past Randall has mentioned plotbooks in general don’t move terribly quickly.) What kinds of products really do sell well, and how is that impacting what we can expect to see going forward?
<Habeas2>: PaWeasley – The changing of tech levels is era specific, and most of the core rules are written from the 3070-3080 perspective. However, IO will incorporate other era play rules that will draw from the example of the Tech Advancement Table in TRO: Prototypes, so there will be some rules shifting, but what speifically will change and what won’t is open for discussion.
<BJones>: Herb, a question from the forums: Are there any plans for for future unit dossiers like Lamenkov’s Liability or Salazar whatshisname? In the same vein of what is being done for the Bounty Hunter.
<Habeas2>: Hersh67 – It’s lways possible, but the issue is, will it be profitable.
<Habeas2>: Klep – By buying as fast as it comes out
<Klep>: well i DO that, reading it all in time is hard though
<Dukeroyal>: I am ready to buy when they become available.
<Klep>: which reminds me, i’m behind *heads to battleshop*
<PaWeasley>: Thanks Herb. Just one more reason to pick up IO.
<Habeas2>: bronzite – Until recently, TROs and core books were among BattleTech’s strongest sellers (but TROs, being 50% art and 50% writing, actually run among the most expensive to make). After hat, we’re looking at Field Manuals, I think–but ONLY if multi-factional.
<Bronzite>: Fascinating. Thanks, Herb!
<Habeas2>: BJones – Yes. Bountry Hunter is, in fact, one of the next ones to come. We also have a Davion and a Clan Dossier pack in the works
<Habeas2>: 39 minutes
<Dukeroyal>: Are there any plans to cover the Absortion War?
<Bronzite>: This might be a question more appropriately addressed to BattleShop, but every year I audit my collection to make sure I have everything, and invariably something has slipped my attention. Might there be a future capability to „subscribe“ to BattleTech releases, for those of us who are persistent launch-day customers?
<Habeas2>: Dukeroyal – Nothing yet
<martian>: Any progress on Clan Box Set?
<Habeas2>: Bronzite – We are actually in an ongoing process of updating our websites and their features. While I don’t know if a subscription to new products is in the immediate plans, I’m sure something like that may matrialize in the future
<Habeas2>: Martian – Sadly, nothing much I can report at this time
<martian>: 🙁
<martian>: Thanks
<Habeas2>: 32 minutes
Bronzite is trying to meter himself to one question every five minutes.
<Trbo>: Anything due to be released in the next three months?
<Drufause>: Herb can you please start to nuke random people at Piranha Games until they get the open beta for Mechwarrior Online out
<Suralin>: Guh. I completely forgot this was going on today.
<Bronzite>: Speaking of MWO, I’ve been reading the ISN news on the MWO site for an entry in the Bone-Norman Times on the triumphant return of Outbound Light having found nothing in the coreward periphery, or a small note indicating it is now overdue. That made me wonder how much input the BattleTech Line Developers will have in the „offset“ timeline of MWO?
<Lance>: Randall Bills generates all the ISN blurbs on the MWO site.
<Habeas2>: Trbo – Yes, including Era Report: 2750
<Habeas2>: Drufause – Sorry; I have been forbidden to nuke other folks working in the BattleTech IP….for now
<martian>: What about Unseens? Will you retcon their looks from Project Phoenix into the past? I ask because Harmony Gold and Palladium Books are contemplating to grant licence to someone to produce Unseen miniatures such as Warhammer/Tomahawk or Archer/Spartan …
<Bronzite>: I read that on Facebook, but I wasn’t sure if those blurbs were just pre-launch marketing, or if there was A Plan for the MWO plotline going forward, and who had the helm on that.
<Habeas2>: Bronzite – WHile we may have some input, we do not have a particularly heavy influence in how closely MWO will follow canon. This is typical of our working relationships with the electronic versions of our properties
<Bronzite>: That makes a lot of sense.
<Habeas2>: Martian – The option to retcon the Unseen remains on the table, but it would not be to make the Project Phoenix models into the new art. Instead, we are considering something closer to a more „primitive“ look
<Habeas2>: 22 minutes
<martian>: Like Wasp or Banshee from XTRO: Primitives?
<Suralin>: Speaking of XTROs — and i realize, having shown up late, that someone may have asked this already — but when is the next XTRO planned for release?
<Habeas2>: Martian – Yes
<martian>: The chosen artist will have great responsibility. If he fouls it up, he will have to go through sewers for the rest of his life.
<Habeas2>: Suralin – I cannot guarantee a date; the XTRs–and indeed all PDF-exclusives–were sidelined while working on other overdue projects in our schedule.
Suralin nods
<Habeas2>: 14 minutes
<martian>: What about XTRO: Phantoms? Is it about the past or from current era?
<ERRatty>: In regards to the Dark Age. Will we be getting products that cover the various plots left at the end of „Bonfire of Worlds“ and more specifically, the deadly situation the Lyran Commonwealth and her Allies are forced to face at the end of that novel?
<Habeas2>: Martian – XTR: Phantoms is set in the present times
<Habeas2>: ERRatty – Yes
<BJones>: On the XTRO series, once we get through the planned releases, are there any plans to continue the series for designs that either don’t fit in normal TRO’s, or wouldn’t normally be big sellers, such as Vehicle Annex type designs?
<martian>: I saw one mention about WoB „Phantom Divisions“, but I thought it was a paraphrase of previously unknown Militia and Shadow divisions.
<Habeas2>: BJones – Yes
<garydee>: Are we going to see the first Dark Age products pop up at the end of this year or will it be 2013?
<martian>: When can we expect TRO: 3067 reprint?
<Habeas2>: Martian – Most likely in 2013
<Habeas2>: Martian – 2012
<Habeas2>: 5 minutes
<Bronzite>: Riffing off garydee’s question, looking past 2012, can we expect a wave of plotbooks carrying us through the Republic Era for a few years, or will the product cycle simply skip ahead to the 3130’s?
<Habeas2>: Garydee – Sorry; first Dark Age products will likely be in 2013. Erroneously attributed the answer to Martian’s question there
<Habeas2>: Martian – TR 3067 reprint is slated for this year
<garydee>: No problem, herb.
<Dukeroyal>: Will the Unabrigded Recored Sheets also come out this year?
<Habeas2>: Bronzite – The period between 3085 through 3130 is not condusive to a steady stream of sourcebooks; what conflicts occur are spread out and localized, and everything else is about how the IS readjusts in the wake of the Jihad, the creation of the RotS, and the Clans deal with being cut off from their Homeworlds. Content-wise, it’s a bit of a dull area, so we would be jumping a bit, but with a bit more respect for filling in th
<Habeas2>: Dukeroyal – They should
<Habeas2>: 1 minute! Last questions, all!
<ERRatty>: Will any factions die or fade away in the future?
<Bronzite>: That is rather what I expected; just curious if there were any major surprises in that 50-year gap. Thanks for taking the time to field our questions, Herb!
<Habeas2>: ERRatty – Oh, most definitely!
<ERRatty>: Excellent!
<Dukeroyal>: Will any dead factions return to life?
<Bronzite>: You could argue the Republic of the Sphere is the second coming of the Terran Hegemony.
<Habeas2>: Dukeroyal – That’s far too open a question for me to answer
<Dukeroyal>: Will Clan Blood Spirit be heard from again?
<Habeas2>: Dukeroyal – Who?
<Bronzite>: …*grumble*…beat me to it.
<martian>: 🙂
<Ghost0402>: indeed
<Habeas2>: Alright folks! Thank you for participating in this Catalyst Game Labs BattleTech Line Developer-aided Enrichment Activity! There will be another chat in 6 hours!
<Habeas2>: Don’t forget to tip your waiter, and enjoy a nice piece of cake….