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Home of the Official BattleChats! - Next Chat scheduled for 12 PM (Eastern) on Saturday, 26 January 2013
Topic set by Habeas2 on Tue Jan 15 2013 09:44:28 GMT+0100
<martian>: Hello.
<Mimo>: hi
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<Weirdo>: I'm sure you're all wondering why I gathered you here today...
<martian>: Yes, we are ...
<martian>: ... so tell us.
<Habeas2>: We are gathered here today to bid farewell to the WarShip...
<Weirdo>: Alright gentlemen, everything we've planned, everything we've worked for, it's all come down to one question: How do we kill the Burger King?
<Habeas2>: It was a troubled concept in the BattleTech setting, at once all-powerful, yet horribly nerfed.....
<Habeas2>: After decades of trying to make a go of it, someone finally came along to put the failed notion out of its misery
<Habeas2>: And we are all better for it, though (some of us) we mourn its loss....
<Habeas2>: Amen.
<Habeas2>: That said.....
<Habeas2>: Welcome to the first Live BattleChat of 2013
<Habeas2>: I'm your host. I'm not logging. And we have an hour. Be nice or I boot you out. Yadda yadda yadda.
<martian>: I will save the log.
<Habeas2>: We are now ready to to your questions. Don't everybody speak at once.
<wolfhound_88>: can you give us any hints about the great stuff due out this quarter?
<Drufause>: any eta on the first wave of dark age source books
<Gravedigger>: Hey folks
<Mimo>: what can you tell us about record sheets 3057, when will they appear?
<wolfhound_88>: is there any news about when we might expect fark age books?
<wolfhound_88>: dark age books
<Habeas2>: Wolfhound_88 - This quarter? Well, as you know, we hate offering up dates, even estimated ones, because we (okay, *I*) have a tendency to fall horribly behind our own schedules. (Yes; we're always looking into ways to fix that, because nobody is more frustrated about this tendency than we are, but that's another saga.)....
<Habeas2>: Wolfhound_88 - That said, expect the second half of the Liberation of Terra Historical to come out soon, followed by Era Report: 3145. Additional PDF products supporting both eras are also expected to come out as well.
<Habeas2>: Drufause - As noted with Wolfhound_88's response, the answer is "soon"
<martian>: Any progress with BV3? When can we expect it in broad use?
<Drufause>: many of us are waiting to find out if the Lyran Alliance becomes the wolf alliance of falcon alliance
<Habeas2>: Mimo - Not for a while yet. Due to technical issues, producing Record Sheet books is a far slower process than we'd like it to be, and it is doubly (maybe even triply) so when the subject includes (or, in the case of 3057, is dominated by) large spacecraft of any kind.
<Habeas2>: Wolfhound_88 - See earlier response re: Dark Age books.
<Weirdo>: Speaking of this chat's primary topic, can you give us any hints as to what the next product to contain WarShip stats(fully functional or otherwise) will be?
<Drufause>: Is the man called Devlin Stone actually dead in 3145
<Trboturtle>: Are the Blitzkriegs still on track?
<Habeas2>: Martian - At this time, we are hoping to give BV2 one last chance by compiling and reproducing the entire system with errata folded in. BV3 still remains a possibility in the future, and I still have the proposals lined up, but nobody should be fearing its imminent release at this time.
<Habeas2>: Drufause - Neither. It became the Lyran Commonwealth.
<Habeas2>: Weirdo - Liberation of Terra, Volume 2
<Habeas2>: Drufause - Heh. You'll see.
<Weirdo>: Woohoo!
<Garydee>: Any chance we'll see another sneak peak of 3250 this April Fools?
<Habeas2>: Trboturtle - We hope to continue the Blitzkrieg novellas in the future. That's all I can say right now.
<martian>: How many XTROrimitives are due to be published? One, two?
<Drufause>: are you looking forward to having your writers try to create slug fests between Jupiter's and Dire Wolfs
<Habeas2>: Garydee - I dunno. The discussions of 3250 have taken on a life of their own, and some of the backlash was bad enough that I'm no longer allowing myself to say a thing about it publicly. At this time, there's not even really a game plan for our April Fun project...or, rather, there WAS one, and we all plum forgot it!
<Weirdo>: What upcoming product are you most excited about?
<Habeas2>: Martian - A total of five Primitives XTRos were planned out. I think we've published... 3 so far? So that means two more to go.
<martian>: Thanks.
<Habeas2>: Drufause - Sure am.
<Habeas2>: Weirdo - All of them.
<Drufause>: are you going to let your writers touch VSD/Marik or VSD/Kurita prodigy in the plot
<LordHarlock>: What were sales of the Objectives series like? And what made the series hard to work on?
<Habeas2>: Drufause - Only if it's plot-relevant.
<Drufause>: Are the Black Dragons hiding the truth behind the blackout
<Habeas2>: LordHarlock - BattleTech has, right now, 28 years of continuity to slog through--so much so that I have had to start assigning volunteers to just tracking data points like where the factories are, who is building what, where the various regiments are, and so forth. At one point, we needed 100 fact-checkers--and even still the production process would slow down because errors would still get through. No matter how much an expert
<Hammer>: Whats the next Beta Test Part of IO we'll see?
<Habeas2>: LordHarlock - The process was so laborious that, unfortunately, the writer whose brainchild it was, and who was tasked with basically overseeing much of the work for me, burned out mid-way into the process, forcing a lot of the work to be reassigned. Add to this the fact that, even at its best, the Objectives series would have presented just a snapshot of one point in BattleTech history, and, well....
<Habeas2>: LordHarlock - ....the fact is, it was too much work, for too little gain.
<Habeas2>: Drufause - No
<Habeas2>: Hammer - I am not 100% sure, but I think Alternate Era rules may be in the pipeline eventually. Trouble is, there's a LOT of stuf still working its way into that chapter, some of which I really should be writing myself (like the QuadVee construction examples....)
<Drufause>: Is there anything more to the facility the Jade Falcons destroyed on Tomans
<LordHarlock>: As the old saying goes, you have to judge the pluses and minuses. Though I'm shocked about the hundred volunteers since I thought it was closer to fifty, I did enjoy the Objectives series. It's like will probably never be seen again from the sound of it. Sigh.
<Drufause>: I know I loved the Objectives Series as well gives lots of quick data for GM's to plan role playing
<Habeas2>: Drufause - Which one and when?
<Hammer>: Is the hope to still have IO (Understanding that all things are fluid and dates can change suddenly)?
<Habeas2>: LordHarlock - Honestly, the number of volunteers has diminished over time. Let's not forget that except for me, just about everyone we rely on to deliver BattleTech product has something else they should be doing with their life (sometimes even multiple somethings).
<Drufause>: I dont want to out the plot for those that have not read but it is in the battlecorps story 'A wolf in the eyrie' by Philip A lee
<Habeas2>: Hammer - Um, if you're asking whether we plan to cancel IO or something, I assure you, if you hear me say anything like that, I'm just venting. IO's not getting canceled.
<Drufause>: they thought they found iron wombs garded by an unkown merc unit at a hidden base but due to destruction it was inconclusive
<LordHarlock>: Will the Star Adders ever create a warrior genome for the sole purpose of creating "Cunning Plans?"
<Habeas2>: Drufause - Oh. In that case, I don't know.
<Habeas2>: LordHarlock - No
<Hammer>: Thanks for the update. I'll hope for Gen Con then
<Weirdo>: Are there any plans to bring the cartoon back, possibly to prime time?
<Aokarasu>: Oh, God, I hope not
<Drufause>: you mean the hit show 'Nashville' is not about Battletech?
<LordHarlock>: Will there be more hints to types of entertainment in the Inner Sphere?
<lost-my-mind>: Don't tempt me, I'm good at making stuff up.
<Habeas2>: Weirdo - Not from us, no. But then, the cartoon would fall under someone else's license, I imagine. We just make books.
<Habeas2>: LordHarlock - Like what, exactly? The odds are,if you can imagine a form of entertainment, and itstechnologically feasible in the BT setting, it probably exists somewhere.
<lost-my-mind>: oops, sorry
<martian>: Have you thought about printing simple map sheets, similar to old map packs?
<Habeas2>: Martian - Yes. Yes we have.
<martian>: And with what result?
<Hammer>: I remember some mention of PDF adventures for ATOW are they still being considered?
<Habeas2>: Martian - Cost-wise, printing mapsheets is now kind of prohibitive, but we are looking into the possibility of PDF publication, so folks can download and print their own mapsheets.
<Habeas2>: Hammer - Yes. In fact, two are already written. We just need to evaluate te budgets and other technical issues about them.
<Aokarasu>: Is there a process that allows a community member to volunteer for playtesting, kinda like signing up for a beta test?
<martian>: Will Duane Loose do some artwork for CGL again? I'm kinda missing his illustrations.
<Habeas2>: Aokarasu - Not at present. In fact, we recently had to cull the review teams to a more manageable size.
<Habeas2>: Martian - That's up to Duane.
<Aokarasu>: Ah, okay
<Weirdo>: Will any soon-upcoming products give us a paint scheme for the Rim Worlds Republic/Amaris Empire WarShip fleet?
<LordHarlock>: Do any of the Clans have renditions of Shakespeare?
<mib_cgpt02>: Anything on novels?
<Habeas2>: Weirdo - Nothing I can think of.
<Weirdo>: Sad Zug wants to paint OPFOR for SLDF...
<Habeas2>: LordHarlock - The Clans aren't exactly known for their literary bent.
<Habeas2>: Mib_cgpt02 - Nope
<Habeas2>: Weirdo - I'm sure the folks at CSO will eventually get around to something.
<martian>: What about the Intro Box set with reworked miniatures? Can you tell us "rough estimate" when it will be out?
<Habeas2>: Martian - No. Sorry.
<mib_cgpt02>: How is the year looking, product-wise?
<Habeas2>: Mib_cgpt02 - If i can just wrestle the schedule to the point where everything we're planning actually happens on time, we have a good 10 print products for this year.
<mib_cgpt02>: great!
<mib_4cpwus>: Since I just logged on, busy working, anything exciting or new come up or should i what for the log on the forums
<LordHarlock>: Will the FSS Golden Lion's class be identified in Field Report: AFFS 2765?
<Habeas2>: Mib_4cpwus - The nearest two products I dare to mention are the second volume of the Liberation of Terra Historical and Era Report:3145.
<Habeas2>: LordHarlock - Not sure. We plan to reveal what ships the fleet has overall, but name-by-name breakdown is a bit much.
<Gaiiten>: Given the next era (3250), is the development progressing well and as you planned?
<mib_4cpwus>: Will TRO 3145 be coming out this year?
<Habeas2>: Giiten - I will not discuss the next era at this time, sorry.
<Habeas2>: Mib_4cpwus - Yes, if the schedule holds.
<Gaiiten>: Is ok
<martian>: Will Record Sheets for TRO 3145 be out at the moment Technical readout is published? So we won't have to wait for months for canon record sheets?
<Gaiiten>: A question to kickstarting. have you considered to start at least one project using it?
<Habeas2>: Martian - Maybe
<Habeas2>: Gaiiten - Considered, but for now, we're not planning to use Kickstarter for any BattleTech book projects.
<Gaiiten>: Another of your maybe-consideration: an XTRO Warships?
<Lance>: *shudders*
<Habeas2>: Gaiiten - No
<martian>: I am asking because TRO Prototypes is from 2011 and we got RS volume for primary variants only (after months of waiting).
<Habeas2>: Martian - *sigh* The fact is, we do not have reliable software to produce Record Sheets any more. HeavyMetal is hopelessly out of date, and the relentless surge of new tech items and revisions has made it difficult for any third party (most of whom are hobbyists and volunteers doing so without any form of compensation or official sanction) to keep up either. Many RS must now be made by hand, and we have precious few bodies who c
<Habeas2>: all off, print RS books cost us more to produce than they earn us in cashflow, so they drop to lower priority.
<Habeas2>: Martian - I'm sorry to make this about dollars and cents, but that's how RS wind up taking so long: They simply cost more than they make, and the effort involved is still too high to make them cheaper. There is no magic bullet solution to this.
<Gaiiten>: Too bad. There are still some designs being not specified (as the first warships factions made mentioned in Strat Ops, pages 14-17).
<Habeas2>: Gaiiten - Pre-Age of War stuff will likely remain unstatted for a good long time to come, really. We don't want to encourage people to play in that period.
<Gaiiten>: Oh, why not? I have to say, given my experience, games set in this era are refreshing.
<Gaiiten>: And some of the warship in StratOps are Clan designs made in the Golden Century.
<Habeas2>: Gaiiten - Because the closer you get to the real-world "modern" age, the less like BattleTech the setting gets. We are not interested in trying to stat the present day (or anything before the present day), and there is nothing terribly interesting to us about the pre-Age of War period. And, frankly, the continuity issues and the "how did modern tech evolve into BattleTech" questions it would create would actually cost more effor
<Habeas2>: Oh! I lost track of time!
<Habeas2>: Final questions, everyone!
<Habeas2>: Nothing? Really?
<Gaiiten>: Can we hope for a product dealing with the Homeclans this year?
Home of the Official BattleChats! - Next Chat scheduled for 8 PM (Eastern) on Saturday, 26 January 2013
Topic set by Habeas2 on Sat Jan 26 2013 19:18:21 GMT+0100
<Habeas2>: Gaiiten - Nope!
<mib_z3a8if>: How's the weather up there?
<Cateran>: I had a question yesterday, but can't remember it today
<Habeas2>: Mib_z3a8if - Cold.
<Gaiiten>: Short and clear Thank you.
<Habeas2>: Cateran - Well, you have less than 7 hours to remember before tonight's chat.
<Cateran>: I'll try.
<Habeas2>: Thanks for coming, everyone! See you at 8!