I had this picture in my head of those pylons operating like the thrust vectoring nozzles on modern jet fighters, allowing the PH to be extra-nimble, snapping off shots between jumps to devastating effect. We wanted the Phoenix Hawk to be at its best when constantly flanking its enemies, always repositioning to angle for a perfect shot. I don’t believe that these vents were ever given a fictional purpose in the post-LAM days, but they presented us with a natural opportunity to build around. It also has a pair of large, vent-like structures on its back that give it a very recognizable silhouette. There’s something about this ‘Mech that speaks of a gracefulness in combat, and it’s known for leading the charge at the head of lighter lances. I’m glad that we didn’t “punt” on this one, and I’m really happy with the uniqueness its special gear gives it. In the player feedback we’ve been collecting regarding Heavy Metal’s new BattleMechs, the Vulcan has emerged as a dark horse favorite. The Vulcan won’t ever be as resilient as the larger ‘Mechs it goes up against, so we made the CQC system give a substantial defensive boost against incoming melee attacks as well (a thing favored by heavier AI opponents). A simple way to do this was to extend the range of the Vulcan’s Support weapons, and so the Close Quarters Combat Suite was born. In the end, we decided to lean into the things that the Vulcan seems to have been designed around: support weaponry and close-range combat. Despite all of this, it was important to me that we give all of our new ‘Mechs the love that they deserve, including the oddly-equipped “scarecrow” that is the Vulcan. It also makes the job of cooking up a cool quirk a bit more difficult. Our game doesn’t have infantry, and it’s no secret that the AC/2 is one of the least-useful weapons in existence - that’s two strikes against the stock Vulcan being interesting to use. But thanks to the Intercept System, our Assassin is incredibly effective at using the weapons it does have against smaller and more evasive targets. It’d be against the Assassin’s nature to field a massive arsenal of weapons, and that hasn’t changed. I decided to reinforce this concept in the Assassin’s Intercept System, a device that allows it to completely ignore a good hunk of the Evasion pips generated by lighter units.

Unfortunately, its stock weaponry is pretty low on the power curve, but the notion that the Assassin was designed to hunt down and kill smaller prey was really appealing to me. The Assassin is my favorite ‘Mech in Heavy Metal, mostly because of its looks. This helps to keep the Flea competitive with its faster and better-armored counterparts, and makes it surprisingly difficult to kill. This led me to the idea of bundling the Flea with Targeting Baffles, which up the little monster’s defenses with a passive defense bonus. I really wanted to lean into the notion of the Flea’s namesake: a potentially deadly pest, especially if ignored.

While it isn’t as fast as its better-known cousin, it carries far more firepower. The Flea shares some DNA with everybody’s favorite scout ‘Mech, the Locust. In my previous post, I wrote about how the inspiration for these ‘Mechs’ special behaviors was drawn directly from TRO write-ups and the broader lore, so let’s dive into some of the specifics for each ‘Mech: Because of this, any BattleMechs that shipped with this expansion needed to feel both powerful and special. The main focus of Heavy Metal is its ‘Mechs. If you’ve watched any of our live streams you’ll have heard some of this before, but there may be extra tidbits of interest!Īs a preface, I’d encourage you to check out my previous post about the planning involved in kicking off Heavy Metal, and how we defined the design space that we’d be working in.Ī huge thanks goes to Andrew McIntosh for editing these posts for both length and clarity! Today I’m going to write about the thinking behind individual components of Heavy Metal, so prepare to really get your nerd on. Greetings, MechWarriors! Ryan Burrell, Lead Designer of BATTLETECH: Heavy Metal here again. The Nuts & Bolts of Heavy Metal, Part Two: Design & Deployment

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