Difference between revisions of "Developer Blog"

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= BTA Developer Blog #7: Damage Reduction And You =
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= BTA Developer Blog #9: The Story of the Sanctuary Worlds =
  
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HBS BT has a fairly basic cover system, everyone knows this and intuitively understands it: stand in cover or brace, get damage reduction; have Bulwark and do those things, get more damage reduction; do all three, get the most damage reduction. Simple, easy to understand, functional, boring, not easy to modify. The HBS system works in grades of 20% and gives you a stack of Guarded. Guarded stacks with itself up to 3 times, for a total of 60% reduction. This is fine and basically works. However, we ran into issues with it when we started looking at implementing a new, better, system.
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With BTA v15.0 comes a brand-new addition to the mod, and to BattleTech as a setting, the Sanctuary Worlds and the nations and peoples that live there. Because the Sanctuary Worlds are non-canon I invented them whole-cloth and I figured some folks might have a small interest in where they came from and why I went to such an effort to make this entirely new faction. Additionally, some folks might want to know more about their background and history in-setting (not much of which appears in BTA v15.0), so I'm taking some time to discuss the factions both in and out of setting. We'll start with the real life aspect to the factions, i.e. why did I make them?
  
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Recently, the question of artillery has come up a few times. Specifically, it was asked if we could make an artillery-specific Damage Reduction effect. The answer turned out to be that yes we could do so. In so doing though, the BTA Team ran into the larger question of where we put such an effect. Do we put it on a pilot skill? That might work, but what if you don't have that skill and you still need the DR? We realized that the most logical place to put it was on the Brace action. We then discovered that Brace is effectively hardwired and we needed to implement new code to make it modifiable. Once we did that, we realized that we had the ability to heavily diversify and deepen the DR system the game put into place. So, we did that.
 
  
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The "new" DR system works like so: certain skills give a base level of DR, amount and type are variable based on the skills. Further, alongside v13.3's weather system (EnvironmentalDesignMasks or EDM), we diversified the number of terrains that provide DR and how those work. Bracing also gives a certain amount of DR, both normal and AoE. Finally, we cleaned up some gear that provides DR (such as the Null Signature System). All DR sources in BTA now stack together perfectly. The intent of the new system is to make it such that more units have DR more regularly but that the DR numbers are lower in general. This has the effect of slightly increasing the durability of all units while making it harder to make an uber-tank.
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For many years I've had a desire to make something unique and new about BattleTech. It's the old "OC Do Not Steal" vibe from the earlier days of the internet. Everyone has their own headcanon after all and wants to make stuff that's uniquely theirs. The Sanctuary Worlds started life in like 2014 as the Dane Sacellum, a Clan-like faction that fled the Inner Sphere during the Star League era to make their own space nation with blackjack and hookers. I wrote out a rough fluff document and included some notes about rules for their weapons and that was it. I attempted to figure out how Solaris Skunk Werks (a tabletop BT mech design program) functions so I could make their gear in there and actually print and play with Sacellum mechs and gear on the tabletop, but at the time SSW was rather difficult to mod and I abandoned it in favor of having other stuff to do in my day-to-day life. When 2018 rolled around and HBS BT was released and I fell into modding it, I realized that this custom faction could be resurrected somewhat in HBS BT, which is much easier to mod. In fact, in the very early days of BTA (2019ish) I even took a stab at making the Sacellum into a real faction. However, the demands of running BTA quickly interfered and I set the project down, vowing to return one day to finish it.  
  
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* The skills that provide DR are Bulwark (15% normal and 10% AoE), Sure Footing (5% AoE), Shielded Stance (50% normal), and Defensive Formation (20% normal to entire force).
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Which brings us to August 2022. I had been slowly burning out from constant updates to BTA and from the daily grind of making content. Don't get me wrong, I love the job and wouldn't trade it, but even a job you love can wear on you after 3+ years of doing it. I realized that something had to change, and quick, or the ultimate result was going to be me quitting BTA and walking away, which I didn't want to do. I love BTA and I love the community and didn't want to ragequit because I was sick of it. I went digging through my storage files to see if I could find something to revitalize my interest and energy and lo and behold, the Sacellum files were just hanging out waiting for me to rediscover them. I decided that I was going to set out to bring this idea to life and I'd do it right this time.  
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* Brace provides 20% normal and 20% AoE DR as well as 50% less stability damage taken.
 
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* Environmental sources include Forests, Whirlwinds, Destroyed Buildings, and Crystal Fields. Forests/Whirlwinds/Buildings provide 10% DR while occupied *and* for 1 turn after passing through them (to represent that combat is meant to be simultaneous and you were targeted while moving through the cover). Crystal Fields provide 5% DR while occupied and for 1 turn after passing through.
 
  
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'''IMPORTANT NOTE:''' All DR sources stack perfectly, but it is worth noting that they are multiplicative not additive, so you'll see things like 24% DR from a combo of Bulwark and Forests (1 * 0.85 * 0.9 = 0.765 which is displayed as 24% to the player).
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To that end, I made an announcement on August 19th, 2022. I told the community that I was burning out and needed to shift focus. From then on, I was focused on the new project and normal BTA would get backburnered for awhile until I got it done. The community was immensely supportive and understanding and I felt I had the freedom to go for it so I did. I took the original single faction, the Dane Sacellum, and I spun it out into four factions: the Dane Sacellum, the Mallard Republic, the Jacobson Haven, and their mutually-assembled army the Sanctuary Alliance. I wrote an entire history for the region of space they settled and how they got there. I reworked their entire techtree from the ground up, redid all the weapons, made new ones, adjusted old ones, invented all their new equipment and gear (such as heat sinks and armors and structures and such). I sketched out how many units they'd need to be roughly viable as factions, including tanks and turrets. I figured out where their worlds would be located (trickier than you might expect). I figured out how they'd interact with the Inner Sphere, who would be in their warpath, and how their war would turn out (decently well, as it happens). I even made little characters for the faction representatives that the player gets missions from and who say things to the player at the Mission Complete screen (all factions have this in the upper left-hand corner, that portrait and name and text is all changeable). I sketched out ideas for events that would happen in their space to immerse the player in their lore and personalities, though these were left out of the initial v15.0 release for lack of time due to real-life commitments involving my family (they're coming in later patches, promise!).  
  
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The design goal is to encourage mobile play and risk taking (more doable thanks to the more constant DR from things like Bulwark and cover sources) while not making everything a defensive tank (because the numbers are lower across the board). At the same time, if you want to play extremely defensively and form cover-based gunlines (I'm a big fan of this style of gameplay), you still can because Bulwark and cover and Brace still stack well and even can help cover you while you reposition from cover to cover thanks to the sticky effect of the cover sources. There are now also AoE DR sources such as Bulwark and Sure Footing and Brace to help you out if the enemy brought artillery and to give you some level of protection, though not enough to trivialize the artillery.
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The project brought me back to life and rekindled my love of BTA and of working on BTA. Playing with the new gear felt *fresh* in a way that BTA hadn't felt in a long time. I know that not everyone will want to play with non-canon content, that's fair, and I made sure to keep it relatively contained to a corner of the map so that you have to go looking for the new factions to encounter them instead of them coming to find you wherever you are (sort of like the Clans). I do hope that folks approach this with an open mind and give it a fair shake. I want people to experience something new and get to see it with new eyes for the first time, there's something magical about seeing something for the first time that you've never seen or know anything about.
  
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This change may sound scary or unusual, but I've been playing with it extensively as has the team and we're convinced it's a good gameplay change that mixes things up in a positive and enjoyable way. Your gameplay style hasn't been nerfed or removed and you may find that this helps you generate new strategies that you might not have considered before now. Give it a try and let us know what you think. I've opened #dev-blog-discussion again for conversation about it, please be respectful with your commentary or criticism.
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Anyways, that's the deal. That's how we got here and what I was thinking the whole while. Hope you give it a shot and enjoy it, it's fun stuff, I promise! :)
  
 
= Previous Developer Blogs =
 
= Previous Developer Blogs =
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[[BTA Developer Blog 8: BD's Favorites!|BTA Developer Blog #8: BD's Favorites! - 2022/4/15]]
 
[[BTA Developer Blog 8: BD's Favorites!|BTA Developer Blog #8: BD's Favorites! - 2022/4/15]]
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[[BTA Developer Blog 9: The Story of the Sanctuary Worlds|BTA Developer Blog #9: The Story of the Sanctuary Worlds - 2022/12/12]]
  
 
[[Category:Dev Blogs]]
 
[[Category:Dev Blogs]]

Revision as of 20:08, 12 December 2022

BTA Developer Blog #9: The Story of the Sanctuary Worlds

With BTA v15.0 comes a brand-new addition to the mod, and to BattleTech as a setting, the Sanctuary Worlds and the nations and peoples that live there. Because the Sanctuary Worlds are non-canon I invented them whole-cloth and I figured some folks might have a small interest in where they came from and why I went to such an effort to make this entirely new faction. Additionally, some folks might want to know more about their background and history in-setting (not much of which appears in BTA v15.0), so I'm taking some time to discuss the factions both in and out of setting. We'll start with the real life aspect to the factions, i.e. why did I make them?


For many years I've had a desire to make something unique and new about BattleTech. It's the old "OC Do Not Steal" vibe from the earlier days of the internet. Everyone has their own headcanon after all and wants to make stuff that's uniquely theirs. The Sanctuary Worlds started life in like 2014 as the Dane Sacellum, a Clan-like faction that fled the Inner Sphere during the Star League era to make their own space nation with blackjack and hookers. I wrote out a rough fluff document and included some notes about rules for their weapons and that was it. I attempted to figure out how Solaris Skunk Werks (a tabletop BT mech design program) functions so I could make their gear in there and actually print and play with Sacellum mechs and gear on the tabletop, but at the time SSW was rather difficult to mod and I abandoned it in favor of having other stuff to do in my day-to-day life. When 2018 rolled around and HBS BT was released and I fell into modding it, I realized that this custom faction could be resurrected somewhat in HBS BT, which is much easier to mod. In fact, in the very early days of BTA (2019ish) I even took a stab at making the Sacellum into a real faction. However, the demands of running BTA quickly interfered and I set the project down, vowing to return one day to finish it.

Which brings us to August 2022. I had been slowly burning out from constant updates to BTA and from the daily grind of making content. Don't get me wrong, I love the job and wouldn't trade it, but even a job you love can wear on you after 3+ years of doing it. I realized that something had to change, and quick, or the ultimate result was going to be me quitting BTA and walking away, which I didn't want to do. I love BTA and I love the community and didn't want to ragequit because I was sick of it. I went digging through my storage files to see if I could find something to revitalize my interest and energy and lo and behold, the Sacellum files were just hanging out waiting for me to rediscover them. I decided that I was going to set out to bring this idea to life and I'd do it right this time.

To that end, I made an announcement on August 19th, 2022. I told the community that I was burning out and needed to shift focus. From then on, I was focused on the new project and normal BTA would get backburnered for awhile until I got it done. The community was immensely supportive and understanding and I felt I had the freedom to go for it so I did. I took the original single faction, the Dane Sacellum, and I spun it out into four factions: the Dane Sacellum, the Mallard Republic, the Jacobson Haven, and their mutually-assembled army the Sanctuary Alliance. I wrote an entire history for the region of space they settled and how they got there. I reworked their entire techtree from the ground up, redid all the weapons, made new ones, adjusted old ones, invented all their new equipment and gear (such as heat sinks and armors and structures and such). I sketched out how many units they'd need to be roughly viable as factions, including tanks and turrets. I figured out where their worlds would be located (trickier than you might expect). I figured out how they'd interact with the Inner Sphere, who would be in their warpath, and how their war would turn out (decently well, as it happens). I even made little characters for the faction representatives that the player gets missions from and who say things to the player at the Mission Complete screen (all factions have this in the upper left-hand corner, that portrait and name and text is all changeable). I sketched out ideas for events that would happen in their space to immerse the player in their lore and personalities, though these were left out of the initial v15.0 release for lack of time due to real-life commitments involving my family (they're coming in later patches, promise!).

The project brought me back to life and rekindled my love of BTA and of working on BTA. Playing with the new gear felt *fresh* in a way that BTA hadn't felt in a long time. I know that not everyone will want to play with non-canon content, that's fair, and I made sure to keep it relatively contained to a corner of the map so that you have to go looking for the new factions to encounter them instead of them coming to find you wherever you are (sort of like the Clans). I do hope that folks approach this with an open mind and give it a fair shake. I want people to experience something new and get to see it with new eyes for the first time, there's something magical about seeing something for the first time that you've never seen or know anything about.

Anyways, that's the deal. That's how we got here and what I was thinking the whole while. Hope you give it a shot and enjoy it, it's fun stuff, I promise! :)

Previous Developer Blogs

BTA Developer Blog #1: BTA's Core Philosophy - 2021/5/18

BTA Developer Blog #2: BTA and the Clans - 2021/5/24

BTA Developer Blog #3: Tanks For All The Fish - 2021/5/31

BTA Developer Blog #4: Abiding Quirkiness - 2021/6/11

BTA Developer Blog #5: Artillery and You, A Primer - 2021/10/8

BTA Developer Blog #6: The Salvage Question - 2022/3/13

BTA Developer Blog #7: Damage Reduction And You - 2022/4/14

BTA Developer Blog #8: BD's Favorites! - 2022/4/15

BTA Developer Blog #9: The Story of the Sanctuary Worlds - 2022/12/12

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