I never played BattleTech in the tabletop days. I am beginning to wish I had. I've gotten very into the PC game. Actually, in a tabletop format, it would have been perfect for my GMing style, which is a combination of off the wall humor with tactical combat segments.

Does anyone play ironman? If so, how much more difficult is it than playing without it?

I've been playing a normal game and didn't need to reload until completing the first few story missions. IIRC a random headshot instantly took out my Trebuchet which was almost undamaged. I guess that on any given mission there's a small chance that a lucky headshot will instantly take out one of your mechs and pilots and basically screw over that mission. Too much like real life, lol. Some little stupid thing happens, and it causes a big problem for everyone.

Since then, it feels like the seal has popped or something. I'm considering reloading on another mission. I'm considering the small chance I might be able to salvage it, spending lots of time carefully thinking through each move, while possibly getting multiple trashed mechs and dead pilots, versus the oh so easy *click* and reload and try the mission with fresh dice rolls and just get it done so I can continue with the game.

I'd thought that maybe I'd be able to get through the whole game without reloading, but maybe not. Not without spending a lot more time endlessly grinding to replace dead pilots. Plus your overhead costs go up so I feel like you can't really mess up very many missions after you upgrade the Argo.

So, I thought I was beginning to understand the game and that maybe I'd be able to go through the whole game on a legit single playthrough. But, maybe I actually suck. I don't know.

Has anyone finished the game on a single Ironman playthrough? How likely does it seem to be able to do this? Did the devs say if the game was intended to be played as Ironman or Ironman style, or if they thought you might have to reload sometimes? Philosophically, how do you feel about reloading versus ironman?

If it were a table top game, you wouldn't be able to reload, but since you'd be playing with a group of people, you might be able to say, "You know what? I think we're screwed." And then either, "Let's just say we all died, throw out the campaign, and make new characters next time for a different story", or else "Oooops, everyone died. However we want to continue this campaign and storyline. Let's just think of some plot twist that lets us continue the campaign, like you got rescued by someone after everyone blacked out or something like that." Whatever happened, I don't think most groups would have said, "Well shit, now we have to grind a lot more to rebuild a similar roster of levelled-up characters, or alternately spend the next 3 sessions slowly watching our company go bankrupt (Although, a group might decide the company went bankrupt after that and decide to fast forward to that point as the starting point for a new story). Hmm, maybe we'd better go buy a case of scotch now for our remaining games."

Seriously, the reloading feature is the single best thing about Battletech on the computer . .
I killed so many important stories off with one single roll of the die on the tabletop, it is only a little bit funny . .

Completely clean Awesome. (80t Assault Mech, 3 PPCs, fully armored, no Ammo, no XL-Reactor, enough Heatsinks to fire 3/2/3/2 of his PPC and still advance) A vertiable Juggernaught, nigh unkillable if you try it with sheer brute force and strpping armor and internal structure . .
Meet my Centurion. 50t Mech. LB-X10 AC. Basically, a Mech Sized Shotgun.
First round of combat. need 12 to hit the Awesome. Rolls 12. How many of the 10 pellets hit? 1. Where does it hit? Head. Goes critical randomly through armor. Where does it hit? Cockpit Location. Pilot dead. Enemy 80t Assault Mech Juggernaught that could kill almost everything else at extreme ranges destroyed by ONE SINGLE POINT OF DAMAGE DEALT.

Other Game. Clan vs IS. Honour-Duel. Marauder MK2(100t Mech, Energy Boat, one Heavy PPC(deals 15 points of Damage) versus enemy commander in a Direwolf. CLAN100t Assaut Monster Mech. Could eliminate my Mech in a single Salvo.
First round of combat, only Heavy PPC in Reach. Need 12 to hit. Hits. Hits where? Head. Head only has 9 armor and 3 internal Structure. 12 Points. HPPC deals 15 Points. Head GONE. Honour Duel over. Campaign basically over.

And those 2 are just the ones i can remember off the top of my head because of the ammount of BULLSHIT/RRAAGEE! i created with them.

First playthrough, go ahead and reload. The map set-up and the AI can pull some BS and gang up on you if you don't know what you're doing.

Second run, hit only the most important Argo upgrades and maybe a stable of 8 mechwarriors, and you can live for months off one successful mission (I didn't buy a second mech bay until very late my first run, and never regretted it). I'll do ironman with some knowledge of how to play.

Also, they tried to design it so a single failure wouldn't ruin you, even a huge one (kills your favorite mech and mechwarrior). Their goal was that people would usually choose not to reload, and just flow with the punches.

Thanks for the reminiscing.

I guess it wasn't "only" shadowrun that resulted in ignomious TPKs when using published modules.

And it can get even worse, if you play with the hillarious Engine Detonation Rules . .
A 300 rated Engine(so basically the stock fpr the faster heavies and most Assault Mechs) will deal grivious damage to the world around it, when it decides to stackpole itself out of its misery . .

I also remember an Atlas (100t) being taken out by a single shot of an AC/2 from a Warrior (small helicopter), because it hit the center torso (critical) location with two gyro crits.

Fun times.

Too bad, the Atlas was on our side...

Bye
Thanee

Yeah, RNG is an equal opportunity killer . .