View source for 2024/2/23 - Patch v17.2

v17.2 (aka the "Artillery. Again." patch) has been released to the installer. 

'''ARTILLERY REWORK:''' Ok, here's the headline news, artillery has changed *dramatically* with this patch. Artillery now is split into two distinct categories: the true arty weapons (which consists of the Thumper Piece/Sniper Piece/Long Tom Piece/Arrow IV/Sirocco/Cruise Missile50) and the cannons/howitzers (which consists of the Thumper Cannon/Sniper Cannon/Long Tom Cannon/Howitzer 4/8/12). The true artillery weapons now do not behave like any other weapons, instead they are multi-turn weapons that operate in a unique manner and take two turns to activate. Additionally, the true artillery weapons can no longer score direct hits, they are entirely AoE weapons exclusively now. The Cannons have been changed as well, now requiring their own distinct ammunition (for balance reasons they can no longer use the true artillery weapon ammos) and having two fire modes (direct fire, where they operate as they historically have, and indirect fire, where they can fire indirectly at a substantial penalty). The howitzers are unchanged.

'''ARTILLERY REBALANCE:''' Because of the substantial changes to the artillery, all the true pieces as well as the cannons have seen a substantial rebalancing. Additionally, Artillery Master has been changed, now increasing maximum range for all artillery weapons and providing an accuracy bonus and damage buff *only* to the cannons/howitzers. Furthermore, TAG has been changed substantially. Instead of providing a flat accuracy bonus to hit things, TAG now makes TAG'd units take more AoE damage from all sources. Because the true artillery weapons are now *purely* AoE damage, you can see how TAG matters substantially more for an artillery playstyle. Finally, a new skill has been added to the skill tree at Tactics 8 and is detailed below.

'''VIDEO WITH DETAILED ARTILLERY MECHANICS:''' I've made a detailed video about how artillery works, you can see it here: https://youtu.be/u52H58x-31U. I *highly* recommend you watch this if you plan to use artillery.

'''NEW MECH ICONS!!:''' The following mechs (and tanks) have brand new unit icons, with professional art done by the almighty Plog himself! The included units are as follows: Hyperion, Medusa, Cyclone, Dagoth, Hephaestus, Ion, Jotunn, Liberty, Mushu, Sorcerer, Valkyrie II, Great Turtle, Horskr, and Unnsvin.

'''NEW MAJOR MAP EVENT:''' In mid-3063 there will be a new player in the Deep Periphery. Nueva Castile, that small 9-world star cluster corewards of the Hanseatic League, will be invaded and eventually defeated by Clan Goliath Scorpion. The Goliath Scorpions might have more complex desires on their radar but you'll have to stay tuned to find out! At present, you cannot work for the Goliath Scorpions, but again, stay tuned on that. ;)

'''NEW SKILL ADDED:''' There is a new skill at Tactics 8 named Fast Fire. Fast Fire must be used before movement and has no immediate effect this turn. However, it increases your *next* turn's initiative by 4. This skill is primarily designed for the new artillery system as it permits you to get off your artillery strikes before the targets can move out of the radius but it can be used for various other tricky applications. 

'''REDID TRINITY ALLIANCE:''' The Capellans, Canopians, and Taurians now no longer bother each other much and you can ally with them all without issue if you're so inclined.

'''REDID FACTION ALLIES:''' One thing that has been on the radar for a long time has been the idea of re-doing faction allies so that when you do a contract where the OpFor has a buddy with them, it makes some basic sense as to who that buddy *is*. Now, thanks to some long-forgotten code from vanilla, this has been done. When you get an OpFor with an ally, that ally should now make much more sense instead of being random factions from across the map.

'''YANG'S BIG SCORE UPDATED AGAIN:''' The text in conversations now is correct and properly reflects the mech selection available to the player. Hurrah! No more mystery mechs!

'''PILOT CLASS BUG DEFEATED:''' For a long time now, random-gen pilots in BTA have had a good shot at being both mech and vehicle pilots. These MV pilots are widely (and correctly) regarded as very powerful. However, they're not meant to be widely available and them being so easily acquired was a frustrating bug. However, we've licked that bug and now they are quite rare indeed, only being restricted to a few specific ronin as was always intended.

'''A TON OF NEW CLAN MECH VARIANTS:''' A buncha new clan variants have been added, about 30-40 of them. Won't really revolutionize fighting the clans but it should be fun at least! Check them out (and beware of HAGs).

'''NEW FACTORIES AND HANSE EXPANSION:''' There are two more factory worlds in Hanseatic League space (Falsterbo and Braunschweig) that sell some decent kit. The Hanse also have had their spawn list enhanced slightly, with slightly more decent tech.

'''COMMUNITY CONTENT:''' There's some new CC this patch, including a 75t Stalker with pIJJs and several new pilots! Huzzahs!

* Dropships and dropship turrets don't move anymore.
* Cherub has its affinity properly, whoops.
* Several new random mech variants have been added, such as the Imp C (Clantech Imp!) and the Hunchback HBK-4B (Binary Laser!)
* Fixed the mechbay movement viewer so it makes a little more sense. Still doesn't understand sprint bonuses but it's better than it used to be.
* Fixed the CC Streak MMLs, they work properly now.
* Mauler got a new icon, hurrah!
* The Gauntlet contract now always spawns support lances. It's meant to be this huge multi-faction fight and so it should have lots of enemies.
* The Bombard chassis now properly can 360 spin-to-win.
* The Improved Large Laser got a bit of a nerf, it was way too good (it's still very good).
* Several Scorpions got updated hardpoints.
* More weapons got updated to work properly with modern AX ammo.
* Removed some legacy info from the pDHS kit.

'''IMPORTANT:''' v17.2 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:''' v17.2 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. 


== BTA Light ==
BTA Light has been updated to v17.0.lite. This is a small update but includes several faction fixes as well as the ExternalHeatLimit introduced in BTA Classic v17.1. Grab it at your earliest convenience.