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BATTLETECH Heavy Metal has firmly stomped its way to release

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BATTLETECH Heavy Metal, the latest expansion to the turn-based strategy game that has you fight with massive lumbering 'mechs is out now.

We've been told this is the definitive expansion, so it's likely to be the last as Harebrained Schemes move onto their next game. Quite an exciting expansion though and the naming of the expansion is very on point, since it comes with a bunch of classic 'mech designs from the original ​BATTLETECH​ board game plus a new 'mech designed just for Heavy Metal.

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Feature Highlight:

  • Seven classic ‘Mechs from BATTLETECH’s 35-year legacy make their triumphant return along with the first completely new ‘Mech designed exclusively for this expansion. Each classic ‘Mech comes with unique equipment that reflects the flavor and lore of the original board game.
  • Eight all-new weapon systems can be utilized to destroy even the most formidable opponents in a wide variety of unique ways: the new ‘Mech Mortar is the first AOE weapon in BATTLETECH that can destroy multiple units at once while the new Inferno Missiles coat a target in burning fuel causing enemies to shut down in combat.
  • Come face-to-face with two legendary characters from BATTLETECH lore - the Bounty Hunter and the Black Widow of Wolf’s Dragoons. A derelict cargo ship has drifted into the Periphery from deep space; what secrets does it contain, and who will ultimately control its mysterious payload?

Getting access to the DLC content was made relatively simple too. When you start a new game in Career Mode, it gives you the option to get some bonus starting content from Heavy Metal which will pull randomized contents from the new pool of 'mechs and weapons (you don't have to accept it). Each time you start a new career, a different batch will be available. The COIL Beam is certainly an interesting new weapon, charging up the more a 'mech travels to then unleash it in their face—love it.


Pictured: The new Phoenix Hawke included in Heavy Metal in action.

As a turn-based strategy game, BATTLEMECH already had a huge amount going for it so Heavy Metal is truly an expansion aimed at the big fans of BATTLEMECH. To appreciate it, you need to really understand the core gameplay experience it offers. While BATTLEMECH is good, it's still quite a daunting game to get into and understand but fantastic once you do. Getting a 1-shot kill on an enemy mech from behind, it's an awesome feeling when you see it happen. I never get tired of seeing this huge machines lose an arm or leg!

The new Flashpoint in Heavy Metal, Of Unknown Origin, was a lot of fun too and it doesn't take long to appear on a new Career. Well worth doing too, not just for the extra bit of story but what you get out of it with the new Bull Shark 'mech too which is an absolute monster.

Overall, the expansion feels like quite a fitting end to the Season Pass and it nicely rounds out the selection of 'mechs available.

The good news, as expected, the free 1.8 content update has launched alongside it for everyone regardless of you buying the DLC expansion or not.

Something huge came with the 1.8 update—official mod support! Finally. However, there's no in-game modding tools so you do need to do everything manually. At least now though, there's a system in place to make it all a whole lot easier. There's a built-in mod manager, available from the main menu with a little button at the bottom. From what I was told before release the mod "locations are now external to the game, making them more portable and immune to Steam interference and breakage.", however you still use them "at your own risk".

On top of that the free update contents goes on for a while. Everyone gets the Marauder and Warhammer BattleMechs, there's two new maps, over 40 new contracts to take on with these containing "new recurring allied and enemy NPCs", there's new events, new Star Map weapon store filters, a new 'mech viewer, new tutorial slides to help ease new players in.

A great big expansion and a great big update, that's what I like to see. You can find this new expansion on Humble Store, GOG and Steam priced around $19.99 / £15.49 / €19.99. Same price as the other expansions.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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8 comments

TheRiddick Nov 22, 2019
So basically a small copy/paste of community mods such as the asset pack / bt adv or roguetech....

If it was $5 I might have considered getting it sometime, definitely not now at $20.

PS. Yes the modding support is nice, but I feel allot of the ground work was already done by the community.

EDIT: I'm being critical because the game at least before this patch has had major memory and performance leaks, I doubt 1.8 will change that situation. Updating the game to a newer Unity3D engine version could have resolved these issues (and enable vulkan support). They have not don't that yet.

Yes I've tested the game extensively under Win10 and Linux, the issues exist on both versions.


Last edited by TheRiddick on 22 November 2019 at 1:44 am UTC
Purple Library Guy Nov 22, 2019
Everyone keeps talking about memory leaks causing performance slowdown, so I'm sure it's real, but I've repeatedly played for hours on end without noticing anything.
TheRiddick Nov 22, 2019
Yeah well its invoked the more missions you play, you can also cause it by loading your savegame 10-20 times in a row.

I have a 1080TI Ryzen3600 system so perhaps its specific to hardware, I dunno.
The issue manifests itself with stutters/pauses/increased load times. This all affects performance.
Phlebiac Nov 22, 2019
This is published by Paradox now right? Doesn't that mean it will have new DLC regularly for the next 5 years? :P
fractal Nov 22, 2019
QuoteHeavy Metal is truly an expansion aimed at the big fans of BATTLEMECH. To appreciate it, you need to really understand the core gameplay experience it offers. While BATTLEMECH is good, it's still quite a daunting game to get into and understand.

So which BattleMech are we talking about here :P .
Having played the old Mechwarrior 3 and 4 I found everything pretty clear and I can recommend playing these first as a decent introduction to the setting and what to expect from each mech and each weapon. The new BATTLETECH kinda throws you in without explaining much.
Koopacabras Nov 28, 2019
Quoting: Purple Library GuyEveryone keeps talking about memory leaks causing performance slowdown, so I'm sure it's real, but I've repeatedly played for hours on end without noticing anything.

how much memory do you have?? I'm temporarily only with 8gb of ram, (because one module died on me), which is the game requirement and top shows it's using 11gb. Some ppl over the steam discussion page are also suggesting that it has problems with AMD systems, not sure if it is a gpu or cpu problem, it happens on windows too. For me it's unplayable, I'll wait till they fix it, but if it was another publisher I would be asking for a refund, I just can't play this, hopefully harebrained schemes will fix this.
Purple Library Guy Nov 28, 2019
Quoting: The_Aquabat
Quoting: Purple Library GuyEveryone keeps talking about memory leaks causing performance slowdown, so I'm sure it's real, but I've repeatedly played for hours on end without noticing anything.

how much memory do you have?? I'm temporarily only with 8gb of ram, (because one module died on me), which is the game requirement and top shows it's using 11gb. Some ppl over the steam discussion page are also suggesting that it has problems with AMD systems, not sure if it is a gpu or cpu problem, it happens on windows too. For me it's unplayable, I'll wait till they fix it, but if it was another publisher I would be asking for a refund, I just can't play this, hopefully harebrained schemes will fix this.
I'm on an AMD GPU, so if it's a problem with AMD it's presumably CPU. Ummm, I've got . . . a fair amount of memory? Pretty new computer, just a few months old, so.
Koopacabras Nov 30, 2019
Quoting: TheRiddickEDIT: I'm being critical because the game at least before this patch has had major memory and performance leaks, I doubt 1.8 will change that situation. Updating the game to a newer Unity3D engine version could have resolved these issues (and enable vulkan support). They have not don't that yet.

Yes I've tested the game extensively under Win10 and Linux, the issues exist on both versions.

yeah you are absolutely right man! check my post on the forum

this game leaks memory like crazy! makes me remember of ArkHam Knight it's a freaking disaster, the only reason why it still gets positive reviews I think, it's because today having 16gb of RAM is very common. But HareBrained Schemes should update the specs, with 8gb of RAM you cannot run this game. And I think that with the 1.8 update it only got worse. (I'm not sure but I think that version 1.6.2 leaks less memory)

According to you what's the problem, anyways? because I played another Unity game before (Shadow Tactics) and had zero issues. imho this is harebrained schemes fault not Unity. So sad I had the highest esteem for harebrained schemes, I played all the Shadowrun series, I'm really dissapointed. I simply cannot give a positive review to this game when they are basically lying about the minimum specs. They should come straight and admit that it leaks memory or fix it.


Last edited by Koopacabras on 30 November 2019 at 6:40 am UTC
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