[FEEDBACK] PATCH NOTES #35 - NOV 28TH 2014

See, that's one that still confuses me...unless I'm remembering wrong, I could swear that Hauptmanns were showing up as early as Trellwan and Twycross in the books. I could just be losing my mind.

Another mech that I'd love to see is the Exterminator, which was one of Comstar's most dangerous heavy mechs. Their entire purpose was to hunt down and destroy enemy command mechs. Admittedly, in the lore, the only ones in existence are controlled by the Com Guard, as most/all of the others in the IS were hunted down and destroyed during the first succession war. Me still wanty.

 

Comstar is in faction wise soon anyway as they have the horn sound already.

 

I actually saw that after this post, and it excites me. There are plenty of Com Guard mechs that would make superb additions to IS selections, if done right.

 

I actually like Comstar's horn sound! If I was to buy one it would be that one.

 

Ditto.

 

Phoenix Hawk and Crusader are unseen as the design license lies within harmony ogld (Macross Universe). I have a post somewhere regarding all the "stolen" mechdesign.. Will translate it and post it here....

 

Here goes:


There are many posts regarding the unseen Mechs. But I haven't found a satisfying summary yet... So I wrote it myself (almost 2 years ago).

All the Mechs referred to as "unseen" are Mechs that needed to be re-designed, because the original design is/was not licensed by FASA, or as of now PGI.
Most of those Mechs are from the first Battletech edition and their shape is well known and recognized even by those who are not BT-nerds.
After a lawsuit FASA had to comply and re-design those Mechs, while names and loadouts stayed the same. According to the timeline, those designs never existed and were never seen... thus unseen.
Of course no one can take back all the sold artbooks, TRO's or miniatures.. but meh.
The designs were changed and dubbed as re-seens. Although FASA tried to make them resemble their preceding counterparts, most of them are plain ugly.

One of the most prominent Mechs that needed to be re-designed because he belonged into another universe was the Locust.
This Mech belonged to an animeseries form the late 70's: Crusher Joe.
There his name is Ostall and he's the only real Mech in the whole series. All the other vehicles look too weird to be named Mechs at all.
But wait... FASA did not stop here... Some of the ground vehicles and astrofighters were also "stolen" from Crusher Joe.
Just a few examples:
The Leopard dropship could be mistaken for the spaceship Minerva by the unknown eye. And apart from some minor changes, those Sirens and Harpyes used in the series look a lot like the Corsairs and Sparrowhawks/Ironsides in Battletech. (Although many still think the Corsair is a copy form Battlestar Galactica's Vipers.)
Well, anyway... you can't deny the resemblance.
But hey, why stop with the design... why not assimilate the name as well...? The Galleon tank is exactly the same thing... design- AND namewise. Not even the depiction was changed. The (coloured) depiction in the TRO is exactly the same as on the diecast package from the original.
Almost 40% of all the vehicles in Crusher Joe have found their way int othe first edition of Battletech.
Well done FASA!

And you know there's more.
You'll notice that some Mechs have striking resemblances or seem to belong to the same design family. So... most of the Phoenix Mechs have the same features:
They usually have handheld weapons and hands.
Most of them have shouldermounted weapons.
Most of them have high shoulder pads.
The CT-sections are very similar to each other, noticeable on the Shadow Hawk, Griffin and Wolverine.
Well, no wonder... all those Mechs are derived from the same universe.. another animeseries from the 80's: Dougram.
All the Phoenix Mechs look exactly the same as in this series.
The Main protagonist is Dougram, for Battletechers better known as Shadow Hawk. (Hey, maybe they stole the design from FASA.... no, not really.)
In the series the Mech is almost identical to the Roundfacer (aka Griffin)... Roundfacer? Well, just look at the original design.
Then we have the four-legged Scorpion. Even this Mech was originally from this series. There it was called Blizzard Gunner (the six-legged version Desert Gunner).
The Scorpion might not be the most popular Mech in BT, on the series it was a very important Mech. And it's shape is unique...
And speaking of four-legged designs: The Goliath (in the series Crab Gunner/Tequila Gunner) is NOT derived from Star Wars ATAT's as many might think. This would be the perfect example for Russ' "Mechs are like tanks with legs. (Actually Wanzers (derived from the german words Wandern and Panzer (wandering tank)) are very popular in Japan.)
And of course other Mechs form Dougram made it to BT. The Blockhead matching the Wolverine (with anothe obvious name), the Bigfoot is the Battlemaster and the Ironfoot is an exact replica of the Thunderbolt.
E-V-E-R-Y Mech in this series was transferred to BT without even changing any details except (Thank Kerensky!) the names. Every Mech? Well, not quite. But if you google the Mackerel and the Cabbarov, you'll see why those didn't make it.

And now we are getting to the finish line... the Harmony Gold Mechs.
Those are the most known unseen Mechs, which actually belong to the Macross universe.
The most used Mech form this franchise was the Valkyrie VF-1 in all it's variants and mods.
FASA assimilated those designs and (with the obvious exception of the Valkyrie itself) just changed the names.
The VF-1J is exactly the same as the BT Valkyrie, the Stingers are nothing less than a VF1-A and the Wasps the VF-1D. The heavily armoured Valkyrie from the series is nothing less than the Crusader in BT.
Even the Phoenix Hawk, recognizable by the jump modules, is a VF-1S Super Valkyrie used by squadron commanders.
This explains, why there are LAM-versions (Mechs which can transform into aerocrafts) of most of the here named Mechs in BT, as thus transformable Mechs are a trademark of the whole Macross-series.
Also well known Mechs (to the tabletop players, as those barely managed to make an appereance in a video game) include the OST-series. The Ostroc, Ostsol and Ostscout are re-designs of a Zentraedi tactical battle pod.
Although the torso section ws heavily modified, there are many similarities, e.g. the legs.

Sadly enough, some of the most beloved Mechs are also just copies from Macross.... since that hurts a lot, I'll make it quick.
Spartan Main Battle Robot, a fronliner in Macross, a supporter in BT.... Archer.
Another LRM-supporter who stayed true to it's original role (due to it's design) is the Phalanx, better known to BTers as Longbow.
The Warhammer is an exact replica of the Tomahawk.
The Anti-Aircraft Defense Robot Defender also stayed true to it's role in BT as the Rifleman.
And the of course there is the most wanted of all times. Even though he is a mean and evil on in Macross: The Marauder/Marauder II which actualy is a Zentraedi Officer Battle Pod.
There are others in Macross, like the Monster, where a certain a resemblance with the Behemoth/Stone Rhino can't be denied... and many more who will not be named here but the expert eye will recognize as well.

And as far as I know even the Jenner and the IIC variants from the 3055 TRO belonged to other franchises (Victor Music?), which explains the versa different design.
Let's just say that the first edition of Battletech was heavily influented by those three series and that originality is a word that did not really exist in FASA'S vocabulary in the first years. (Did you know that FASA was sued by George Lucas because the first launch was named Battle Droids and Lucas held the patent for the word "Droid"?)
Almost all Mechs form the 2750 and 3025 TRO'S are such designs.
There was a major lawsuit in the 90's which forced FASA to redesign those Mechs. The Re-seens were born.

Most BTers share the opinion, that the new designs cannot compete with the "originals" and that those "Illegals" are amongst the most beautiful machines in the whole BT-universe.
So it's no surprise that names like Marauder, Warhammer and Archer are known even outside the BT-world.
Last time I checked, Harmony Gold was charged with som tax issues and was fighting off a major lawsuit, which could brake the enterprises neck... maybe they will need to sell off those licenses...

There's always hope.

 

See that's what's always confused me. Here's a full list of the Unseen: http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Unseen (clicky spoiler to not go to Sarna)

Spoiler

Archer
Battlemaster
Black Python (Viper)
Conjurer (Hellhound)
Crusader
Galleon Light Tank (Technical Readout: 3025 image only)
Glass Spider (Galahad)
Goliath
Grand Crusader
Griffin
Griffin IIC
Horned Owl (Peregrine)
Howler (Baboon)
Incubus (Vixen)
Jenner IIC
Locust
Locust IIC
Longbow
Marauder
Marauder II
Marauder IIC
Nexus
Phoenix Hawk
Phoenix Hawk IIC
Phoenix Hawk LAM
Raijin
Rifleman
Rifleman IIC
Samurai AeroSpace Fighter
Scorpion
Shadow Hawk
Shadow Hawk IIC
Stinger
Stinger LAM
Thunderbolt
Valkyrie
Vapor Eagle (Goshawk)
Warhammer
Warhammer IIC
Wasp
Wasp LAM
Wolverine

So many of those names are currently in-game as is, so couldn't they just re-design the mechs and use the names, like they apparently have with the Jenner and so many others? The Crusader, for instance, sounds like a great missile platform for a heavy. I've never understood how the Unseen can still be in MWO heh.

 

Well, fuckinh harmoney gold does not own the batttech names. So yes, if there is a major redesign of the mech they can't do shit.

Obviously we would all celebrate if those fuckers go under. They are way too anal about their so-called rights. While I do agree some changes to the design should be made, HG are just fucking over reacting. I am sure even the original company in japan would let lots of Doujin or parody design slide. In fact, lots of those anime mech things are quite similar to Macross, the the original companies are quite ok with them.
Fuck Harmoney gold. IF you are from HG and you are reading this. Fuck you.

 

Oh, and that's not the end of the line.
There are also the Mechs from Microsoft (e.g. Uziel) and Mektek (e.g. Deimos)... that, although included into the most recent TRO's, are legally owned by it's creators.... not FASA.

 

Sigh...I will be very sad if I never get an Uziel again I loved that little bastard.

 

Will be difficult. Last thing I heard was that M$ is not willing to give away that design, because it was the trademark for the Mechassault series (and was also on the cover of MW4 Vengeance). But you never know. M$ seemed to have little to no interest in reviving the franchise under their banner.