Just recently XTRO: Periphery came out. I thus far haven't been terribly impressed with the XTRO line; they've added little new weight to the BattleTech universe and seem fairly obvious plays for quick cash from the hardcore fanbase without quite resorting to asking for donations. That said, I consider myself part of the hardcore fanbase, so I don't mind it so much. The art assets are pretty blatantly reused. I scanned the pictures of the Saladin and Patton variants against their pictures in TRO:3026 and TRO:3025, respectively (the second of which was double-used in that very entry for both the Patton and the Rommel) before I thought to myself that the very fact I was looking for some tiny difference in detail told me all I needed to know about the art.
I realize that the marketplace is changing and that small releases more often are the way to go these days, but I feel like relevance is being punted in the name of faster cycle times. The Turning Points series was nice, and had some good plot information and the like in its summaries, especially when we, the fanbase, for starving for operational details of the Jihad. Especially impressive were the BattleForce-scale planetary maps in the back.
The Field Reports series was also pretty nice, giving a snapshot of the early-3080's Inner Sphere, although they were a bit vague and inconsistent between reports. The Dossiers were clearly an attempt to jumpstart A Time of War, but I've been unable to get them to work very well for any meaningful purpose thus far -- they tend to be extremely special-purpose NPC's, with a few Warchest missions attached. The new Objectives line is interesting, and I feel like it is going to play well into the new Interstellar Operations book, but so far it kind of treads the same ground as Field Reports in greater detail economically.
That covers most of the less-than-50-page releases Catalyst has put out of late in the BattleTech universe. All of these works have a purpose, whether or not they succeed at fulfilling it. The XTRO line, though, is just throwing more canon designs into the mix. I appreciate the handful of designs showcasing new technologies available to players, but really, do we need more choices? Look at the Master Unit List. There's a platform in there for dealing with almost any imaginable mission profile. Usually there are several. I have been told that the new power curve is critical to BattleTech's survival as a game, but I'm not sure I believe it. I still run 3025 designs against Jihad-era taskforces, and with the exception of some true capability-shockers (the Gauss Rifle in 3050, the Clan ER PPC around the same time, etc) the new toys are just providing more bookkeeping for effects that can be provided with weapons going all the way back to the Compendium.
I imagine this post makes me sound like an old man shouting for these kids and their new-fangled ATM's and Heavy Gauss Rifles to get off my lawn, but I'm really sad that so much fluff is coming out of Catalyst recently that doesn't contribute significantly to the tactical interest or the story progression of the game.
Incidentally, I'm going to be MIA next week. Check back here 11/28, hopefully with a report on the tank battle.
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