Hands-On With MechWarrior Tactics

Acronym Games was kind enough to allow me to barge in on their appointment schedule during the GDC to check out MechWarrior tactics. As it turns out, their take on the original hex-based Battletech/MechWarrior table-top game, translated to a digital environment, is brilliant. You can probably guess how the rest of this preview will go.

For fans of the original table-top game, MechWarrior Tactics will seem like some kind of amazing gift bestowed by really awesome people whom really seem to know what they’re doing! Oh, and for free. For people that never played the original, of which I’m sure there are many, what you’ll find in MW:Tactics will be a robust, customizable turn-based strategy game, with some impressive combat mechanics and a ton of cool stuff to be interested in.

MechWarrior Tactics takes place in the year 3025. Humans have colonized a roughly circular area of the galaxy about 1000 light-years in diameter called the Inner Sphere, which is split up territorially and culturally by five royal houses: Davion, Liao, Marik, Steiner and Kurita. The rulers of every house all claim to be the rightful successor to the throne of the Star League, a uniting government entity with power over all the nation-states. As a result of this mutual claim, the Successor States are continually warring with each other. There, now you know why there are five factions to choose from, and why you should bitterly hate your human opponents. There’s much more to this Universe, but, well, Wikipedia exists for a reason.

MW: Tactics is a Free-to-Play, browser-based game built in the Unity engine, as that’s the new thing that everyone is doing now, and it’ll be be supported with a microtransaction / Collection-based system allowing for the purchasing of things like ‘Mechs, weapons, decals, paint jobs, and other very nifty things that can be fiddled with in the game’s detailed “Mech Bay” customization menu. Those of you not willing to spend money on things have nothing to worry about, as every single purchasable item in the game can be earned simply by playing. It’s a convenience, model, see? Spend real money to get X-thing NOW, or play for a bit and get X-thing LATER. Acronym will also be offering these things called STACs (Surplus Tech/Armament Container), which are basically booster-packs. They’ll contain a nice little collection of a few neat things for a lower price than they’d normally cost if bought separately, or earned if players decide to go that route. They’re avoiding the whole “Pay-to-Win” thing entirely, which is fantastic, because the idea behind that model is horrid.

Combat in MechWarrior Tactics takes place on a traditional hex-tile map, but in a 3D environment that can be totally explored with the camera. This is a great thing, as different tiles contain different types of terrain and cover, and just like in the table-top version, getting your ‘Mechs into the cover of a forest tile or on the high-ground of a mountain tile can make all the difference. Getting your Mechs to stand in water will reduce their accumulated heat, too. Being able to see the map from almost any angle is a vital key to playing this game effectively.

The actual gameplay involves two phases, Movement and Combat. The movement phase has a specific time limit set to it at the start of each game, which can last from a few seconds to (in theory) hours. During this phase of planning, players use what are basically Action Points to either run, sprint, or (if their ‘Mechs are equipped with jump-jets) jump to various tiles on the map within their available AP point range. Once all players have set their intended move targets, the end of the Movement phase is confirmed by all parties and the Combat phase begins. Combat takes place with all players choosing options simultaneously, from the vast weapons selection available in the Battletech universe. Players will fire lasers, auto-cannons, PPCs, Gauss Rifles, missiles and I-can’t-even-remember-what-else at each other during these matches, all of which have varying ranges and accuracies which are shown with a color codes regarding their chance-to-hit ratio. The Aconym guys are making certain that MechWarrior Tactics speaks to both veteran players of the table-top games and more casual gamers that just like to play based on basic visual cues.

Once all players have made their choices, the game removes them from control and shifts into a bad-ass cinematic combat sequence, a result of the decisions the players just made. You’ll get to sit back and watch the turn play out, always with the fear that you’re about to see your precious Atlas get the stuffing kicked from it by a lucky missile strike or whatnot. What’s more, if you want to get a friend to start playing, you can save an entire game as a seamless combat cinematic, which they can load up and watch at any time. The Unity engine is gorgeous, and Acronym did wonders with it with for the Battletech franchise.

To be totally blunt, I didn’t see a single thing about the game I didn’t love. Acronym appears to have the right ideas in mind going forward, and I’ve literally dreamed about a version of the classic Battletech table-top game I could play in some kind of digital format. I want to play this game, right now! Fortunately, it’ll be entering some form of open-beta later this year. Watch for it!