PDXCON 2019 kicked off this weekend, and Paradox is bringing out the big guns. As is customary with the annual event, the publisher is pulling together all of their various in-house projects and external developers to see what’s going on in the grand strategy universe they helped create. And as we all knew was coming, there’s the usual big deluge of expansions being announced for various Paradox games. This being one of my personal favorites, due in big part to the flavor and replayability added by the modding scene, BattleTech. And now, we’re finally getting that third expansion, called Heavy Metal.
This is actually the third of three other expansions to the game, also there’s a bunch of DLC addon content with new mechs available as well. Heavy Metal is joined by Urban Warfrare, which expanded combat options by adding urban environments to the stable of levels. Flashpoint was the first expansion, which added a new series of randomly generated missions to the galaxy map. The addition of this third expansion adds a serious amount of firepower to the fight, it will be interesting to see how the community adjusts to these destructive new choices. And yes, these other expansions are getting new content as well with Heavy Metal, as there are whispers of new Flashpoints involving the legendary Wolf’s Dragoons.
For those who didn’t know the lore, the Wolf’s Dragoons were a Clan recon unit sent into the Inner Sphere by various Clan elements disguised as a merc unit. The outfit eventually developed quite the reputation in-universe, becoming one of the most feared and effective combatants in the Inner Sphere. And despite their Clanner origins, they married quite a few Successor State traditions and Clan ideals together, and have become the pinnacle of the mercenary life in BattleTech. As for what we might see from said missions, it’s not clear, I hope we finally get new mech variants based on the Clan tech the Wolf’s Dragoons introduced in the base game. The Annihilator is already in one of my favorite modpacks ever, RogueTech, but it will be nice to see Imp variants too. It has been confirmed that the Flea is coming in Heavy Metal, so that’s nice.
You can check out the new expansion in the trailer down below.
As someone who hops into BattleTech every now again when I feel like getting in some clanging robot-on-robot action, this is quite exciting. You might be wondering what has folks so excited, well it’s the guns. Between new weapons and mechs coming in this expansion, there’s 21 new additions coming to the base game.
Paradox described the stable of new mechs as offering “unique equipment that reflects the flavor and lore of the original board game.” That probably means and expanded fusion of Clan and Inner Sphere technology. New weapons include the Coil Beam and the Mech Mortar, two specialized weapons systems designed to melt enemies with ruthless effectiveness.
No firm word yet on a Heavy Metal release date. It will cost £15.49/€19.99/$19.99 separately or come as part of BattleTech’s season pass. That there season pass has a 33% discount on Steam and GOG this weekend as part of the PDXCON sale.
