2022/7/22 Patch v14.1

v14.1 (aka the "SCORPION!!!!!!!!!!!!!" release) has been released to the installer. This is a decently content rich patch (thanks to precisely 1 thing), so strap in for it! Let's go:

NEW MECH: The Scorpion, a 55-ton quad mech, has scuttled into play. Notably, this quad is of a different body shape and animation than our previous quads and opens the door to more unique and interesting quad mechs in the future. The Scorpion can be found fairly widely but the Word of Blake has the most unique variants and the Lyrans sell a Scorpion variant on the open market at Furillo.

NEW MAP EVENTS: The map has changed somewhat in this patch. The Marian Hegemony no longer controls some of their northern systems and instead they are controlled by the Illyrian Palatinate (as they should be canonically). The Marians will now invade the Illyrians in early 3063 via a timeline event (which has been rewritten to represent this). However, more than that, several of their controlled northern systems will be subject to a violent rebellion by a conquered faction, the Lothian League. The Lothians will attempt to retake their conquered worlds and rejoin the starmap as a full faction. The Lothian rebellion takes place in early-mid 3062. **As a note**: The Marian Hegemony has been buffed in this patch and now spawns in packs of five, as is their lore deployment size. Ye be warned.

NEW FACTIONS: The Illyrian Palatinate and the Lothian League are both fully fleged factions, complete with offering and being the target of contracts, having a fully operational faction store, have OpFor Specializations against them (you monster), and being able to gain and lose reputation with. The Illyrians and Lothians are friends with each other and enemies with the Marians, Circinians, Pirates, Mercenaries, and Locals (not the Mariks, who hardcore don't care about either of them). Go join in their wars, save them or destroy them, have fun with it!

NEW EVENTS: A community member (you know who you are) has provided the rest of the FedCom Civil War events, running out through May 3067 when Katrina surrenders her forces and the war is over.

REBALANCED WEAPONRY: A large number of weapons had minor rebalancing performed on them. A rough list follows: Clan Ultras make a little more heat and had their base fire mode adjusted to be the single shot mode, like IS UACs have, they also have their jam chance increased slightly; Clan TAGs now fire faster; Machine Guns had their heat adjusted; the AC5/LAC5/PAC4/Prototype AC5 now fire 2 shots per trigger pull at half damage each (like how the AC2s work; AC5 ammo boxes were doubled to account for this); Rocket Launchers were standardized in terms of damage; the Periphery Cannons have doubled damage; heat weaponry was rebalanced (heat ammos are weaker, flamers are more powerful); the Bombast Laser was buffed with base damage and reduced base heat; the Mech Taser was buffed slightly; the Heavy PPC makes less heat; the Inner Sphere Streak LRM does 4 damage now instead of 2 and does 1 stab damage instead of 0.5 stab damage; the Clan Streak LRM now does 5 damage instead of 4; various ER Small Laser changes (I hate small lasers *so much*); the Clan ER Medium Laser does less range and makes 1 more heat; Large Pulse Lasers both IS and Clan gained more range; the IS UAC/5 had its damage buffed back to 40; the Large X-Pulse Laser gained some range, gained some damage, and makes slightly less heat.

ARTILLERY ADJUSTMENTS: AoE Artillery ammos (only the major artillery weapons, so the Sniper, Thumper, Long Tom, and ArrowIV) had their radius reduced by 1/3rd. AoE was arguably too powerful so it was adjusted to be a little less ridiculous if possible.

AMMUNITION ADJUSTMENTS: AC/5 ammos were adjusted to account for their new 2 shot at half damage thing. Several AC ammo boxes had their descriptions updated to accurately represent their effects (the effects were not changed, only the descriptions). Tandem-Charge SRM ammo no longer does what it used to do. Now, it does zero armor damage and 1 structure damage with no chance of crits.

MINE OVERHAUL IN PROGRESS: FASCAM is being reworked. However, right now, it may not be working properly, I've not had time to check in depth. More changes are coming, FASCAM is undergoing some attention.

MECH QUIRK UPDATES: The Blitzkrieg's 360 Twist quirk also now works as a Narrow Profile quirk. Easy to Pilot was nerfed. The Hussar's quirk now also provides 360 degree twist. Nimble Jumper now provides 20% instead of 15%.

CONTRACT UPDATES: B-Team, Training Day, and Show the Flag contracts now should properly factionalize the NPC mechs instead of having fixed mechs each time. No more shitty Griffin on Show the Flag!

COMMUNITY CONTENT: A pair of new Superheavies are in this patch, the Olympian and UrbanKing. There's some Rotary Clan Lasers and some mechs that carry them as well. There's a new Scorpion, Mongoose, and Grasshopper too that all have CLPS and NullSig for maximum stealth!

• The Royal Highlander (and the Highlander-IB from Community Content) use the base Highlander model now. The HBS Royal Highlander model appears to have some major issues right now that I'm unclear how to solve so for quality of life it was swapped to the standard model.
• The Highlander Heavy Metal (the hero) now is properly drop legal. Whoops!
• Several Battle Armor suits now have more fixed weaponry (specifically the Gnome, Golem, Kanazuchi, and Marauder suits).
• Mechs may actually be out of regular shops more seriously now, we'll see.
• The Gargoyle has a fixed DHS kit now as intended.
• Bristol properly has a factory and sells the Fury tank, which is now playable.
• The Royal Von Luckner and Royal Zephyr are now playable, if you can scrape one off the battlefield.
• The Adarga Tank, in response to many, many complaints, now has more ammo than just smoke. Maybe it'll use some of it.
• Faction stores now sell complete mechs instead of mech parts as a rule.
• The Dakota and Unnsvin now say in their descriptions that they have BA Firing Ports. The Alsvin, Vargr, and Badger APCs now also have BA firing ports, making them a more reasonable option for BA transport.
• The original 8 St. Ives planets now have a tag that will let Ives attempt rebellions now and then to take the worlds, even after being conquered by House Liao. Might help folks keep them alive!
• Mercenaries and Dark Caste now have some actual OpFor specializations! Whoops!
• Just so many DLL updates, yo, you don't even know!

IMPORTANT: v14.1 is an "update" update. In this case, clear your Mods folder manually and then run the installer, it'll do the work for you.

IMPORTANT: v14.1 is not a save breaking update, your saves are compatible and will work fine.

IMPORTANT: You can see v14.1's patch notes, as well as any BTA patch notes, on our wiki on this page: https://www.bta3062.com/index.php/Patch_Notes

REMINDER: This update, and others like it, are made possible by my Patreon supporters. Without their support, updates would come slower and be less impactful. If you feel like being a part of the support for BTA, you can find me here: https://www.patreon.com/bloodydoves

REMINDER: Custom mod commissions are still available if you're interested. If you'd like to get your own community content added to BTA DM me, bloodydoves, and we can work something out.