BattleTech - Urban Warfare Review

Remove all ads!

Christ Centered Gaming reviewed the BattleTech expansion Urban Warfare.

​

Honestly, outside of the poor performance, I love the new Urban Warfare setting. Missions are more interesting there, as there are so many tactical options. I find battle there quite captivating. Additional tech and mechs were added also, with the most game-changing addition being the Electronic Countermeasures (ECM) components. I ended up slapping my X-1 ECM Equipment on my Atlas II, and went to town. Now, most of my team can't be targeted by LRMs (Long-Range Missiles), unless they decloak through combat, get spotted via a sensor lock, or the enemy is close enough where it doesn't matter.

The other new component, the Active Probe, is much more interesting in theory than in practice. What it allows is for you to place the probe on a unit, and once activated, it performs what is equivalent to a Sensor Lock on every unit within a 250 meter radius. That sounds great, until you realize that mechs have a 300 meter visual range, and that even well-known short-ranged weapons, like SRMs (Short-Range Missiles) can be used within that range. So, this technology, which costs 50 heat to use, lasts for only one round, has a four-turn cooldown, takes up quite a few tons, is extremely expensive, and prevents the mech using it from attacking that turn, is supposed to be worth all that just to increase the chance to hit for your other team members? No, in practical terms, it's arguably more of a hindrance than a help at all. You could have upgraded tons of other components in that same space. Even adding a few more heatsinks is a massively better use of tonnage than this failed attempt. Hopefully, they massively increase the range or increase effectiveness in other ways to make the Active Probe worthwhile in the future.

[...]