Difference between revisions of "Developer Blog"

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= BTA Developer Blog #5: Artillery and You, A Primer =
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= BTA Developer Blog #9: The Story of the Sanctuary Worlds =
  
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Artillery has long been a weird component of BTA. [[Weapons#Artillery|Artillery weapons]] (here meaning the major five artillery pieces, the Thumper/Sniper/LongTom/ArrowIV/CruiseMissile50) don't really behave like anything else in BTA. They are large indirect fire single target weapons that have substantial AoE damage. There's other weapons in BTA that do some of those things but nothing else does all of them. Because of this, they have a variety of special rules such as target drift that show up nowhere else in BTA. In a recent patch ([[Patch v11.2 - 2021/9/26|11.2]]), we addressed the subject of target drift (which is where the artillery shot drifts off-target on a miss, landing somewhere else instead of right at the target's feet like it had up to that point) and, to put it mildly, we received some complaints and justly so. The new drift numbers we used were too wide and led to player concerns about the use of artillery going forward. This prompted the team to have a variety of conversations internally about artillery and its intended role in BTA which in turn led to some large changes in how artillery behaves and what it is meant to do in BTA. I want to address those changes and the philosophy behind them here, since they may be unintuitive to folks.
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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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So, before this patch (this blog post was posted for [[Patch v11.3 - 2021/10/8|patch v11.3]] of BTA, released in October 2021), artillery was largely about the primary damage that a direct strike with the shell produced. So, to use the Sniper as an example, it did the most relevant damage if you landed it directly onto the target, with the AoE largely being lower damage and less relevant. This encouraged play based around focusing fire and abusing Called Shots to do surgical strikes with artillery pieces. While this is a fine play pattern, it is also a play pattern shared by almost every large damage weapon in BTA such as the Autocannons, PPCs, Large Lasers, Thunderbolts (which are even indirect capable!) and other weapons besides. Because artillery has other things it is capable of and in order to encourage a different play pattern, the BTA Team decided to heavily adjust how artillery's damage is distributed.
 
  
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Now, by default, the artillery pieces (ignoring the CruiseMissile50, which needed no changes) are heavily balanced towards the AoE damage they can deal. Their primary weapon damage has been reduced across the board but the AoE damage (of every type: standard, heat, and stability) and AoE radius have been increased significantly (by up to 50+% in some cases). These changes are also heavily ammunition dependent. Standard ammo, High-Explosive or HE ammo, has the above AoE focus. However, for those who want to still have the high-single-target gameplay pattern with artillery, Shaped Charge ammunition exists for the three tube artillery pieces that has zero AoE of any kind but does 250% direct target damage, which in all cases increases the weapons direct target damage *above* where it was before these changes were implemented. Now, the artillery ammos have more clear definition between them. The intended play pattern of new artillery is to encourage area saturation effects. Increased AoE damage and radius allows for even misses (which have had their drift reduced somewhat) to ensure damage on enemy formations. Yes, it is imprecise damage, but it is still effective damage.  
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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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To place some numbers on this for an example, the Thumper (the smallest artillery piece), has had its direct target damage (assuming HE ammo) reduced to 25 damage. However, the AoE damage has been increased from 40 to 55 and the radius expanded from 100m to 125m. Additionally, it now deals AoE stability damage and heat damage to all targets, though in low amounts. The intent is to encourage players to bring several Thumpers and combine them into a sustained area barrage, using the overlapping AoE radii to grind down large masses of enemies at once. However, if desired, the Thumper can also change to Shaped Charge ammunition, which loses all AoE effect but changes the base damage from 25 to 62.5, making it an extremely long-range indirect capable direct target weapon. And these numbers are on the smallest and least effective of the artillery pieces. The Long Tom's changes, for example, increased its AoE radius to 325m and its damage to 135, making it the equivalent of an AC/20 firing HEAP ammo at *everything in 10 hexes*. Imagine, if you will, bringing two of those to a fight. The results are foregone and horrifying for the OpFor.
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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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I and the BTA Team know that these changes will not be for everyone and some people will be upset about artillery's role changing so drastically. To those individuals, I can only ask that you try it before you condemn it and us for making the change. We made this change because we believe that artillery behaving in this way will open a new combat tactic that beforehand was only minorly viable due to the lower AoE radius and damage. Now, massed artillery pieces will be able to completely saturate targets in a unique method of gameplay that we believe will be both fun and interesting. Give it a try, you might find you enjoy the new playstyle. Thanks for reading and for sticking with us in BTA, even through the weird times like the last couple of patches (11.2-11.3).
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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 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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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 =
Line 19: Line 22:
 
[[BTA Developer Blog 3: Tanks For All The Fish|BTA Developer Blog #3: Tanks For All The Fish - 2021/5/31]]
 
[[BTA Developer Blog 3: Tanks For All The Fish|BTA Developer Blog #3: Tanks For All The Fish - 2021/5/31]]
  
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[[BTA Developers Blog 4: Abiding Quirkiness|BTA Developers Blog #4: Abiding Quirkiness - 2021/6/11]]
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[[BTA Developer Blog 4: Abiding Quirkiness|BTA Developer Blog #4: Abiding Quirkiness - 2021/6/11]]
 +
 
 +
[[BTA Developer Blog 5: Artillery and You, A Primer|BTA Developer Blog #5: Artillery and You, A Primer - 2021/10/8]]
 +
 
 +
[[BTA Developer Blog 6: The Salvage Question|BTA Developer Blog #6: The Salvage Question - 2022/3/13]]
 +
 
 +
[[BTA Developer Blog 7: Damage Reduction And You|BTA Developer Blog #7: Damage Reduction And You - 2022/4/14]]
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 +
[[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]]
  
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[[BTA Developers Blog 5: Artillery and You, A Primer|BTA Developers Blog #5: Artillery and You, A Primer - 2021/10/8]]
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[[BTA Developer Blog 9.5: The Actual Story of the Sanctuary Worlds|BTA Developer Blog #9.5: The Actual Story of the Sanctuary Worlds - 2022/12/12]]
  
 
[[Category:Dev Blogs]]
 
[[Category:Dev Blogs]]

Latest revision as of 20:09, 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

BTA Developer Blog #9.5: The Actual Story of the Sanctuary Worlds - 2022/12/12

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