2023/04/24 - Patch v16.1

v16.1 (aka the "Too Much to Be a Hotfix" patch) has been released to the installer. This is a very dense patch with a lot of changes, so read carefully!

NEW MECH: The Omen, an 85 ton Clan BattleMech, has lumbered into battle. This heavily armored brick of guns is fielded (and sold) by Clan Snow Raven, specifically their second-line force, Delta Galaxy.

NEW MECH: The Decimator, a 100 ton Inner Sphere BattleMech, is peppering the battlefield with support fire. This mech is the Inner Sphere answer to the Clan's Bane and is based on the same old Star League design as that mech is. The Decimator is fielded by ComStar and the Free Rasalhague Republic and also sold at Grumium and Tukayyid.

NEW MECH: The Wight, a 35 ton light trooper BattleMech, has sprinted into battle. This Kuritan design is fielded by Houses Kurita and Steiner and is sold at Luthien and Son Hoa.

NEW PIRATE HAVENS: The Pirates are an interesting faction, one a lot of players wanted to do stuff with, but since they have no "homeworlds" they were a little tricky to get reputation with. Well, that's been fixed. Now, there are four worlds scattered about the Periphery that are proper Pirate worlds: Antallos (north of the Outworlds Alliance), Novo Franklin (south of the Outworlds Alliance), Port Vail/The Rack (northwest of the Lyran Commonwealth and north of the Rim Collection), and Astrokaszy (southwest of the Free Worlds League and nestled between the FWL, the Marian Hegemony, and the Magistracy of Canopus). All of these worlds offer exclusively pirate contracts. Additionally, the Pirates now have a "faction" store. In reality, it's just another Black Market, but it's one you can get via alliance and not via the BM event. Enjoy your piratical career!

SOME PERIPHERY TECH UPDATES: The Jury-Rigged XL (which was hot garbage) has been swapped out for the Prototype XL in every stock mech that has it (except for a couple of CC mechs). The ProtoXL is the same size as a normal XL but causes extra heat generation. Light Plating is slightly less crap thanks to reducing armor a little less than before (15% reduction instead of 25%). Heavy Plating was nerfed somewhat (+20% instead of +25%). Primitive armor was removed from several shops that sold it (for some reason?) and several mechs with Primitive Armor have been adjusted to no longer use it (namely, the ExcavatorMech-1X was the primary change here). Prototype Endo-Steel has been created (it's normal endo but takes 2 more crits) and several Periphery omnimechs have been updated with both ES-Proto and the Proto XL (the Hepheastus and the Liberty, specifically). Finally, the Rifles now use ammunition boxes. Every stock mech with Rifles has been updated to use ammo boxes. The ammo has also been spread out into Periphery stores and faction stores wherever Rifles are sold.

HO HO HO: Kringle's Killers has been fixed! Hurrah! Sorry about the soft-locks, we got a fix for it now though, so you should be able to accept Kringle's properly now!

SPECIAL NOTE FOR SUB-MODDERS: So, we've heard your cries and pleas for some better AdvancedJSONMerge features and behold! This patch includes an updated ModTek that will help you with your advanced JSON merges! Enjoy! (if you don't know what I'm talking about, this isn't for you, don't worry about it)

COMMUNITY CONTENT: The Matar SAM-3G has been updated, as per the maker's wishes, and comes with a little bit of new gear such as the S.M.E.S. and the Universal Magnification Array. Check it out!

• Several Snow Raven events have had their text corrected so there's no more ERRORs.
• Fixed fusion cores no longer being able to removed. Now they can be removed easily! Enjoy!
• Snow Ravens have tanks/turrets properly now. Whoops!
• Tandem SRM ammo now does 2 structure damage instead of 1.
• CASE II now properly requires ClanArmor.
• The Valkyrie VLK-QD1 has been updated to its canon loadout of ArtIV.
• The Bull Sharks have been given Support hardpoints and the BSK-MAZ has a brand-new loadout involving artillery!
• Lots, and I mean lots, of dll updates.

IMPORTANT: v16.1 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: v16.1 is not a save breaking update, your saves are compatible and will work fine.

REMINDER: This update, and others like it, are made possible by my Patreon and Ko-Fi 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 on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/bloodydoves) and on Ko-Fi (https://ko-fi.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.