Obligatory BattleTech Kickstarter video - It’s OK, you don’t have to pledge if you don’t want to

[@frankb3347]

I want two copies of each of vehicle box. At the Battalion I get to chose 6 packs + 2 packs from stretch goals. $275 for the Battalion minus $80 for the basic Veteran level means I'll be paying $195 for 8 add-on packs. That's $24.375 per pack. Buying each vehicle pack individually costs $40 each. So I'll be saving $125.

[@almostgoodvariant]

Yeah, the discounts get a lot better at the bigger levels, especially with some of the new stretch goals!

[@frankb3347]

@@almostgoodvariant yeah without the stretch goals it would be less worthwhile.

[@colbyboucher6391]

3 million bucks in a day and counting. Goddamn. I'm buying into it personally because I don't have any FLGS that sells BattleTech stuff, with the three extra salvage boxes I'm now getting plus the fighter, the big Timber Wolf and the rest it's not a horrible deal like some people are saying it is. Plus I just wanted to see big number go up, admittedly.

[@almostgoodvariant]

Watching that number go full-on STONKS has been awesome to see, hell yeah! All valid reasons to pledge! I really don’t see where the bad deal stuff is coming from. Those are totally OK prices, especially considering *points wildly at everything* I’m honestly still not sure if I’ll pledge or not. I might or might not - for the reasons mentioned.

[@colbyboucher6391]

@@almostgoodvariant Yeah, it totally makes sense for a lot of people to not bother- in fact I'd *encourage* anyone who actually has a store that sells BattleTech nearby not to. And like Catalyst said in their livestream, that's why they're not going as wild with it as the Clan Invasion. In that case they needed a risky move to get people invested, now they're building rep with stores.

[@almostgoodvariant]

@@colbyboucher6391 yeah, the FLGS angle is something I also was thinking of. Once my stint in Germany is done, I’ll be going back to Finland and I want to see the game do well there so I have people to play with, so I’ll eventually buy the new stuff from the gaming stores there. I’ve actually bought all of my lance packs thus far from Finland whenever I’ve been visiting (or when the girlfriend has come to visit me).

[@mcphaimc]

... but YOU are my favorite battletech KZbinr 🥺... Honestly I pledged. 150 was what I set aside for it. I do like the lore, I frame my posters, and I like "feelies". It's cool that I get extra stuff on things I was going to buy anyway... But for somebody who doesn't like the lore and stuff but just wants the minis. I'd say the same thing, but if you can afford it and want it sure why not.

[@jimwatson1013]

If you have the money, the patience and the want. Why not. I don't have these lol, later I will have the money when the stuffs in stores. But if you can. Sure why not?

[@eusebiou-say-bee-oh326]

A very important consideration is what is happening in our world today, where one country is aggressing with so many other countries that it is making it harder and harder to get along with other nations. For instance the sanctioning of a nation where trade is of major concern. Who is to say then that in three months or even a year that the products we "used to shame" like when we visit Amazon for instance and look at the question being asked about a product, 90% of the time someone asks where is it made from, where if someone says China, an impression is made that such product are inferior to the one's made elsewhere. However, looking at to what is happening today, where we see that sanctioning others, shows how economies can spell doom for those who instigate such tactics. Where then if we look at a speculative product such as this kick-starter which has made millions already for something that isn't actually there for purchase. Adding to that the war aggression towards other countries, well it certainly does show that things may turn to the worse. Especially if because of the negative aspects of a brewing cold war which can at any moment turn into a hot one, the value of the dollar itself may crash and burn. Like the old motto goes, if things goes a certain way, well we might as well use our cash to roll tobacco since it would not be worth as much, by then.

[@Draculord666]

This kickstarter is generally a miss for me, but mostly because pretty much all my favorite mechs have already been released so I'm not getting a ton from these boxes. The only ones that kinda tempt me from the lineup are the Ostroc, Ostol, and the Ostscout.

[@almostgoodvariant]

They really did go through the vast majority of the most classic mechs with the relaunch and the Clan Invasion, yeah. As a new player I don’t have that massive an attachment to specific old mech designs so I’ll eventually grab the boxes that have the mechs I like the looks of the most.

[@faffywaffy8872]

I'm generally sad to to see Kickstarter devolve into what is basically a front for pre-orders for already successful companies.

[@jimwatson1013]

The very basics preorders do is few things. Let the company know their demand and not waste money on overproduction, second lets the company pitch to investors with solid numbers and projections which means they get funded for the rest of the releases. We have to remember Kickstarter takes a hefty cut too from this so they need to factor that in this isn't tax free money neither. It also is marketing. It puts things in people's heads like stores "oh yeah that Battletech game made like 3million in a day...maybe I should put that in my store and see about people's interests" It lets the successful company be well...successful, now I know what you mean on preorders as they can be used to prey on people. Yet at the video says basicly "if you don't want the kickstarter stuff or can't afford it you can get it later."

[@almostgoodvariant]

I know what you mean, Faffywaffy. It’s a bit like actual hotels selling their rooms on AirBnB. Not what it was meant for at all. However, despite CGL quite literally being a multi million-dollar company now, BattleTech is still a niche of a niche hobby that already more or less died (more than once!) before, so I get why they’d want to be 100% sure people are going to support the product, and to gauge the extent of that support while they’re at it (like the stuff Jim Watson mentioned). Really big companies that have the money, like GW, don’t need Kickstarters because they can be sure that even if the product fails, they’ll be left standing. You don’t see them doing Kickstarters for something like The Old World or even their Specialist games, and I hope they won’t feel the need to, either. Maybe in the future CGL won’t need to do Kickstarters anymore but I do think they’ll continue to do them anyway, unless they grow massively. BattleTech doesn’t really do full-blown new editions every couple of years and those are generally very good times for the companies, so I guess the Kickstarters can fill that role for them.

[@lorcannagle]

As someone who does get pretty much everything for BattleTech, the Regiment level is a decent value for me - Assuming I'm just paying for the box and the forcepacks the $500 works out around $35 per forcepack and that's a fine price taking the salvage boxes into account. That also nabs me the two map packs, the dice game, physical copies of Legends II and the Art of war book (all of which I would have bought as add-ons like I did for Legends and the map packs/neoprenes last time), and some other bits I'm less interested in but don't mind having. But that does assume I want those extra bits. Last time I went for 2x Star Colonel instead because I was less interested in the extra bits at the Galaxy Commander level and like Battalion this time, Star Colonel was the best price per mini then. I think there's a bunch of things that are causing people concern around this kickstarter that are valid, and some less so - either expectations that were too unrealistic or faulty memory of last time or not being there and getting excited based on second-hand info. Like Double Forces - people seem to think there was a point where CGL said "we're doubling the number of forcepacks people get", and that's not what happened! The original Star Colonel pledge, for example was a choice of 4 forcepacks, and you got 2 of each. The 1.5 million stretch goal changed that to them no longer being 2 of each and you could pick anything instead. Now, the Battalion level pledge started with 6 forcepacks of open choice and yeah, that's not as good as 4 twice each, but they were never realistically going to say "OK, double that to 12" at any point. It's unrealistic to my mind to have expected as big a giveaway as last time. It's clear that CGL were not prepared for how big the last Kickstarter was, and a combination of excitement, crazy ideas fuelled by a need to add more stretch goals and amazement at the amount of cash rolling in meant they were throwing any ideas out there. It worked fantastically but it also lead to massive production issues. In a similar vein there were so many people asking excitedly about getting canon characters despite so many statements from CGL people that that was one of the biggest nightmares of the entire project and they wound up scrapping a bunch of the character decks because work on them was delaying everything else shipping. They were explicit about not doing that again, and even the Leviathans Kickstarter had that semi-canon character thing where they'd do you an art piece that they reserved the right to use in a rulebook but you had no input into the character it was assigned to. All that said, the core point you made here is very good. If you can't afford this kickstarter, don't back it and don't feel bad about it. If you don't feel it's good value, don't back it and don't feel bad about it. There's very little in here that won't make its way to retail eventually and like a lot of people I still have dozens of minis from Clan Invasion unpainted in my house. FOMO is a powerful motivator, that's true but it's definitely something we need to fight against.

[@almostgoodvariant]

Excellent post, thank you!

[@arranbaker7372]

I have pledged at veteran and put a few add-ons, current cost just for the pledge not postage is $160 or in my case £131. The cost of some of it I don't particularly agree with. $80 for the base pledge and $33 for each battlefield support pack added is a bit rich. Thats why I only added 2 of them. It could be slightly better priced or had slightly better value in each base level.

[@almostgoodvariant]

The higher tiers do start getting good discounts but I’m honestly not interested in dropping over $200 on mechs at one time.

[@DanielMartinez316]

How about a battletech RPG that focuses on the characters (pilots) more than on the mechs? Think mass effect, but only in the end of a chapter you use a mech.

[@simonwaarne1584]

Totally catches my feeling on this one. Exclusive miniatures would be the only thing that would get me interested. All the fluff as extras does nothing for me.

[@jimwatson1013]

I looked at anything in my budget and even stretched a little more is pretty empty to me. A merc box with some fluff and no force packs? Or the force pack is vehicles? Nah I'll wait till I can buy 3 force packs for the same price....hell I can buy instores now. But today I shall invest in a small select paints.

[@almostgoodvariant]

Yeah, my point really is that it seems to me that some people might feel pressured into backing NOW NOW NOW because it’s the thing you do and then they end up with with a bunch of stuff they don’t really want. For some people it’s healthier in many ways not to. It’s great and cool if you can pledge and show your support, but no one should feel obligated to do it.

[@thorveim1174]

curious, how are kickstarter pledges afected by things like shipping prices? Because as an europenan shipping prices are often horrible with CGL

[@almostgoodvariant]

I was actually looking for information about this because I wasn’t sure anymore and the KS page does address it. They’ll have multiple shipping hubs and will try to have ”local shipping rates” in North America, Europe etc. So that’s great, actually. Maybe I can edit something into the video to point this out.

[@thorveim1174]

@@almostgoodvariant oh yeah. Because that may make the kickstarter a really good deal for people abroad than compared to having to shell ou a hundred or two JUST for shipping

[@lorcannagle]

They had a logistics partner picked out for the Clan invasion Kickstarter which was why they were able to give shipping estimates ahead of time, but they're trying to get worldwide shipping partners for their webstore at the moment and I assume they plan to use those partners to ship out the Leviathans and Mercenaries Kickstarters too. We still haven't been charged shipping for the Leviathans one even though the pledge manager has closed. Hopefully this means shipping won't be too bad - I paid I think $80 in total for 2-wave shipping to Ireland for Clan Invasion and I ordered like $1200 worth of stuff. I'm not going as heavy this time and it's one-wave only so hopefully this will be cheaper.

[@shanehorvath7670]

Worth every penny

[@almostgoodvariant]

It totally is, if you want all the stuff!

[@NarcolepticLTD]

good points here... I'm not a fan at all of kick-starters. Happy to see it funded so quickly and definitely looking forward to the new models, but I see this simply as a preview as to what will eventually be available to purchase.

[@boneshaman8912]

I would like to but. 1. Have too many mechs from last Kickstarter and mechs dating back to Ral Partha era of miniatures that need paint. 2. No one to play with in my area

[@paulb2474]

I think a lot of people are struggling with the fact that the msrp cost of the boxes etc.. is basically more expensive than picking up the same thing on miniaturemarket for cheaper later.

[@feelnopain666]

This kickstarter is basically turning the backers into a interest-free bank

[@onerosarmakat4456]

Good to hear from you again.

[@almostgoodvariant]

Thanks, I appreciate it :) As mentioned, just been under the weather and busy, nothing serious. Will be going on vacation in a couple of weeks so unless I get some videos done in advance, there might be another break in April. I do have the ideas but just need time to put them together. Luckily I don’t do huge productions with special effects and shit.

[@onerosarmakat4456]

@@almostgoodvariant My take on the goodies is If you don't want some of the Stuff you will find a buyer most surely (You know the "collector" type).

[@almostgoodvariant]

A good counterpoint to my video by TheHobbyHabit talking about the quality of the swag in the Clan Kickstarter for the people who do want the extras: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n2azo39jpNugfsk

[@kudosbudo]

I cancelled my pledge. The extras are crap and I can get em cheaper when they release. Nobody is factoring in tax or postage. Also I didn't want to wait til 2024 haha. I so I bought a few mech I wanted from Iron Wind and bought some 3d printed vehicle from eBay printers.