A major update to BattleTech has rolled out on Steam and GOG this week.
One of the biggest updates in this patch is the inclusion of a lot more customization options for campaigns. These adjustments are all about upping the difficulty and making strategic and tactical decisions much more important. So if you found the base game to be too easy, this update is perfect for you. And if you still need more challenge, Ironman Mode is now a thing. So if you toggle that on, say goodbye to save scumming.
Here’s what you can change in the campaign settings in BattleTech 1.10:
- Lethality – when enabled, MechWarriors that are disabled in combat will always be killed.
- ‘Mech Destruction – when enabled, ‘Mechs disabled from Center Torso destruction are permanently lost. This setting is intended for veterans and those seeking a significant challenge.
- No Rare Salvage – when enabled, + and ++ items are no longer generated as salvage results (but remain purchasable in stores).
- MechWarrior Progression – adjust the amount of experience that MechWarriors gain after each mission.
- Advanced MechWarriors – increase or decrease the frequency of more powerful MechWarriors appearing in Hiring Halls in later parts of the game.
- Enemy Force Strength – increase or decrease the baseline strength of the enemy forces you’ll face in procedural contracts.
- Contract Payment – increase or decrease the amount of C-Bills paid by procedural contracts across the game.
- Salvage – increase or decrease the amount of salvage you may obtain from negotiation on procedural contracts.
With Paradox having recently bought out Harebrained Schemes, it seems the increased support and resources available to the HBS team are starting to pay off. The list of outstanding bugs and issues has been significantly shortened with this update, and lots of previous bugs and performance issues have been fixed.
But it isn’t just a lot more granularity and difficulty added to gameplay, BattleTech games will now play out a lot faster as well. Animations and turn times overall have been sped up to address one of the most common complaints gamers had about the game. Other QoL features like a time skip are in as well. Now, when an action is underway, you can tap spacebar to fast-forward that event until it’s complete.
The patch notes for this update are pretty lengthy, and aside from the mentions above, are mostly bug fixes. But if you want to read them, you can see all the details in the full 1.1 patch notes.