Right now, we have a list of desired UI features and a list of desired expansion features. Why not one for mechanics that aren't just balance-breaking "Moar Gauss Rifles plz"? (disclaimer: No judgement here. I, too, want moar Gauss Rifles)

Here's my list of features that range from the "easy and plausible" to the "Hahaha....maybe after we finish implementing the Warhammer"


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* Salvage value to reflect actual expected sale price (without faction markup/markdown). The salvage value right now is useless window dressing at best, and deceptive at worst. "I've got 10 million C-bills worth of lasers. Guess I'll buy upgrades like crazy, because I can clearly afford it." Having someone give up a 2nd Orion part in favor of a 3rd Jenner part but actually make payroll (and survive for another month) with 26 Cbills to spare shouldn't be common, but if it happens, that's info the player needs to know.

* Tell us where the LZ is at the START of this mission. It's impractical to plan a raid without this info. "I've managed to lure the guard Assault mechs away from the base with my locust, and have captured the scientist. Now I just have to get back to the LZ...where my Locust just brought them all."

I'd lovd to see the planned LZ get changed during the mission 20% of the time (e.g some patroling aerospace-mode phoenix hawks flew into the Leopard's planned flight path on turn 8, and to ensure the Leopard doesn't get intercepted, you'll need to reach a newly-designated LZ. Don't bother trying to shoot down the phoenix hawks with your mechs because they're too far away -- you can't even see them. But the Unseen Phoenix Hawk is there, I promise.). Right now, there's no way to even reasonably plan a sneaky extraction mission.

* More diversity in travel mission destinations. Right now, you can pick any travel mission you'd like, as long as you're going to Weldry. And heck, nix travel contracts for story missions unless they're within two hops away -mercs can either travel on your own dime, or chain travel missions for free transport (but risk having Glitch unavailable for the campaign mission after too many LRMs to the head)

*More variety of random events. After a certain point, it's mostly "3F burger. Poker night. Poker night. Pirates. 3F burger. Videos. 3F burger. Pox."

* Pilot vehicles. Not saying anyone actually would...

* Pay a modest fee for map intel before you drop (similar to Syndicate, you don't have to pay for additional intel, but you probably want to) showing the best guess as to where the mission target is and where you'll drop. In the fine military tradition of dodgy intel, this should be sometimes wrong. That said, it'd give a basis for someone to risk taking a specialized mech versus taking a generic multitasking lance (I've got every assault mech, but for *this* mission, I'm breaking out the Commando).

* Withdraw conditions related to mission type. e.g. If you're fighting pirates, maybe they'll only let you go if you pay them C-bills. A LOT of C-bills. If you're fighting House Liao, maybe they don't care so much (professional courtesy between Mechwarriors and all that), unless you've tanked your rep with them. Then they'll just try to kill you. Of course, maybe they'll send a lance of Battlemasters after you too because they hate you. If you're fighting other Mercs, maybe THEY ask YOU if you'll let them withdraw when they're about to get their Crab legged because they'd much rather keep it. Of course, you can decline to let them withdraw (Crabs are not Awesome, but they are awesome and you want the salvage off one), but you both lose MRB rep AND other reputable factions are less inclined to let you withdraw.

Some responses could be impacted by background choices, so they're more than just another RPG element (If your family is from Marik, maybe they're more likely to give you a hand. Or maybe they consider you a dirty traitor.)

* Purchase mariiuana-based whiskey before a mission, and give your pilots high spirits! (...okay, no more puns; stop throwing rocks at me.)

* Call in for in-mission support on friendly planets of adequate tech level. See-Clan arc of Crescent Hawk's Revenge.

* Company-level command. Yeah, I realize that'd unbalance all the pre-built mission types, require a new AI and new combat UI...they'll never do it. But this is a wishlist, dammit.

* In-game classic Marauder design. Since we're rolling with "it's a wishlist..."

Eh, you know what I was going to say already :P

* Passive sensor mode and hot-shutdown. I'd like to be able to stage ambushes of convoys along their route so I can already be in stomping range before they start shooting. As it stands, there's no way to hide your 'Mech from enemy sensors aside from running out of range.

* Fewer f*cking vehicles. I've actually set the game aside because I lost one 'Mech/-Warrior too many to SRM Carrier spam. Because vehicles don't have any of the weaknesses of 'Mechs (heat problems, ammo stores that can be detonated, limbs to remove, vulnerability to knockdown, etc.) fighting them isn't a puzzle, like it would be if you were taking on an Assault 'Mech with a Medium Lance. Your options are either "plink at them ineffectually with long-ranged weapons" or "try to get into stomping range and pray you aren't ripped to shreds because vehicles get more dangerous the closer you are". Neither of these are fun. I refuse to do Convoy Intercept missions anymore because the columns of Manticores and Carriers are too much to deal with on top of two full enemy 'Mech Lances. The paycheck just isn't worth it. Melee attacks against vehicles also needs to be more reliable in the damage department; I've seen several Manticores survive Death from Above attacks from 75-ton 'Mechs with only scratched paint.

* Better explicit explanation of the rules. The game largely expects you to know the rules of the tabletop. There are lots of little intricacies that are only ever mentioned in the loading screen tips and several more that aren't mentioned at all. For example, the circumstances under which you can identify a 'Mech or vehicle's tonnage before it enters LOS. Tonnage is an extremely important piece of tactical information and being able to get it reliably is crucial to good Lance positioning. I still don't know the circumstances, only that during one mission I was suddenly able to see enemy tonnage.

* No enemy spawns. Enemy reinforcements should either come in from off-map, via dropship, or already be on the map in a shutdown state. As it stands, I've seen enemy 'Mechs appear within my line of sight when mission triggers are hit.

* Morale bar length as a function of base Morale. The only advantage to improving your Morale is starting a mission with the Morale bar more than half full. While this can effectively give you more Morale if you get in some good Precision Strikes that knock down/dismember/kill enemy Mechs, the operative word there is "can", and as a result Morale is often in a "feast or famine" state. Your maximum in-mission Morale should always be twice your starting Morale (though the Inspiration bonus should apply for having more than 25).

* Preview 'MechWarrior upgrades. There's no reason I shouldn't be able to see what stat bonuses my MechWarriors get at each level of each tree, especially considering every tree has something useful to every role. As it stands, I can only see the upgrades if the MechWarrior has the XP to purchase them, which is bollocks.

* MechWarrior 4 MechLab. Let's face it, the BattleTech MechLab is inferior to MW4's in just about every way (aside from MW4's fiddliness with drag-and-drop). We need numbers for movement speed (for run, jump, and sprint), heat vented per turn (including the innate heat dissiplation of the chassis), heat generated per turn, summed armor and structure values, melee damage, DFA self-damage, etc. The bars we have for those metrics, while pretty, aren't very descriptive, especially when comparing 'Mechs of different weight classes. Also, click-button filters? Really? Yes, I'll just click all the things I don't want instead of the one thing I do. That's good UI design, right?

* Better sale prices for complete 'Mechs. This is jumping off the OP's first point. It always costs more to buy one piece of 'Mech salvage than you'd make selling completed example of that same 'Mech on that same planet. That's a bit...nonsensical, even setting aside how valuable and near-irreplaceable 'Mechs are. It makes buying 'Mech salvage a completely worthless prospect unless it's for a 'Mech you desperately need in your lineup.

* An undo button. We all click the wrong button sometimes. It happens. Since this is a turn-based game, there's no balance reason we can't have one. At the very least, a 'Mech's actions should be queued with a big fat "Commit" button at the top that makes them actually act out their turn.

* Combat not starting on enemy detection. This is the XCOM problem of enemies immediately reacting upon being spotted. This often means your scout 'Mech is left twisting in the wind for a full round because you weren't able to move you heavier 'Mechs up because they hadn't taken their turn yet. The player should be able to finish out their turn before combat starts.

* Fewer 2-to-1 odds. As it stands, betting that you'll end up in an even fight is a losing wager. It gets really tedious having to watch my Lance get the snot beaten out of it by six 'Mechs before one of my own is allowed to act every round. Being outnumbered sometimes is a fun challenge. Being outnumbered all the time is tedious. This also ties in with the reinforcements "bug-except-not-a-bug" when enemy reinforcements appear immediately upon reaching the target area. There's no point in having them be reinforcements at that point; they're already there. Reinforcements should wait at least a turn before entering play.

* Multi-target as a default action. It's handy to have, but focusing your fire on a single target is so much more effective that it doesn't jutify actually buying the ability.

* MW4 PPC sound. There is no replacing that glorious screech and the bowel-wrenching terror it inspires.

I'm sorry to be this guy, but every one of your non-UI complaints (all of which are good) just tell me that you're bad at this game. Play just a little smarter and you won't find most of these things to be problems at all.

I would like more ambush options but that would require mechanics changes. You don't need to ambush convoys - just choose a good lance for the mission. Not every mission should be optimally approachable with the same lance. Two LRM15x4 boats, a good sniper, and a scout make convoy ambush missions trivial. Or if you've gotten really lucky early on and managed to pull a fast-moving heavy hitter like a Black Knight, that's your scout and you just melt the convoy while your lance handles the support.

Vehicles are free kills. SRM Carriers, LRM Carriers, Schrecks, everything. If you die to a vehicle it's because you made several bad decisions all in a row. They're slow, and with the exception of the Schreck they can't do much more than scratch your paint when firing from out of sight range (and even the Schreck requires crazy luck to get 3/3 hits from such range). Use Precision Shot on vehicles. The don't have nearly as many armor locations and usually very little internal structure, so even if you don't have high Tactics (and if you don't, that's one of your mistakes) you'll still end up focusing your fire quite effectively. You just need that high to-hit chance and you'll pulverize any vehicle, even with a medium 'Mech loadout (but a decent one, not some crappy SHD default, but maybe your starting Blackjack). And for the love of god, use Sensor Lock when you see a vehicle on your radar (Almost all your pilots have Sensor Lock, right? They should, since most of them should have Master Tactician.)

Enemy spawns are entirely reasonable. It's actually exactly what you want for yourself in your first point - a sensor-blind ambush. And since you go into combat with imperfect information (like real combat) you're looking for Thing A, so Thing B comes as a little bit of a surprise. That's as canon as it gets, btw, since BattleTech lore always has mercenaries doing the dirty work and getting screwed on intel, payment (that's your entire first mission, remember?), and odds.

Use your morale when it will count and you won't have feast-or-famine. Just feast after feast after feast. Get that hit rate up to 90%+ and just target center torso and core Mediums in a single salvo - you'll recover about 60% (120% with High Spirits) of the Morale cost of the Precision Shot. Use it for your LRM boat to push a 'Mech right into Unstable and then punch it over and step on it. Morale refund. Focus fire and get kills. More and more morale. The current cap at 50 points of Morale is enough that you should never run out. If you let it overcap to 100 then there'd be no reason to make good decisions in combat at all. Just morale boost everything, all the time. Too easy.

Better sale price would ruin the game economy. As it is there's no reason for you to have money woes. Only buy what you absolutely need (most likely that should be: Cockpit Mods, LRM15+, SRM6+, Medlas+, and maybe Flamer+) and you'll have plenty of money for pilots, dropship upgrades, and all maintenance. If you're spending a lot of repairs every mission, then get better at combat. Sure, sometimes you're going to take head crits and lose a pilot for a month, and of course you'll get unlucky hits and lose IS and have to put a 'Mech up for repairs, but those should be uncommon. As soon as you get a 'Mech, take off its inefficient weapons (and often, you can then lose some heat sinks too) and stack up that armor. Remember that as the PC of the game, you have different needs than the NPC enemies - they only need to survive one fight, you need to survive all of them. Armor. More armor. ALL THE ARMOR. Then you'll find you don't lose pilots or 'Mech hardly at all, and your money woes disappear.

If you're watching all the enemies go first, then you are fielding a heavy lance with no Master Tacticians, and that means you're asking for the worst setup possible. You should have two Heavies piloted by Master Tacs, at least, even in late game, so you go in Phase 3 and can have that advantage in handling the enemy Heavy/Assault. There's no way to overstate the value of going first when you want to. And when you're getting punched and have to think about the value of bracing to stay stable or taking your turn, Master Tac gives you another option - delay, regain stability, then take a turn. Use Master Tactician more, and well, and the 2-to-1 won't be annoying, it'll be the only way the game has any challenge to offer you at all.

If you're multitargetting all the time, that's part of the reason you think that the game is hard, unbalanced, or unfun. Multitarget is basically only super useful in two cases - LRM15/20 x4 loadouts when you have ++ that adds stability damage and can stagger two 'Mechs a turn, or for a super-specialized multigun sniper with some heavy weapons like Gauss, AC/20, or PPC++ who will use Multi along with Breaching Shot for three Breaches a turn to punch holes in Bulwarked or braced enemies. Don't use it often. Use Master Tactician more. Use Bulwark more. Not Multitarget. Multitarget is a trap.

EDIT: Oh, yeah, one more thing. 'Mech loadouts. Many (perhaps most) of the default loadouts take a jack-of-all-trades approach, mixing short and long range weaponry. That's terrible. Build your 'Mechs for a role and be good at it. Whatever you want to do to have fun, make your 'Mechs awesome at that and you'll be fine. I used a Stalker with exclusively Medlas and SRM6, filling all hardpoints. It was like 400 damage when everything hit. Used nothing but LRMs on my LRM boats, freeing up more room for bigger racks and more ammo. Pulled the LRM off every Shadow Hawk I ever saw and filled it up with SRM tubes. Focus on doing one thing really well per 'Mech, and then balance your lance per-mission based on what you're going to need to do. That will make the game much, much more fun, because even when you're getting the snot kicked out of you, you're putting up one hell of a fight.

Campaign designer

I like the idea of company action.. when she said fill your mech bays and pilots to prepare.. I got 18 mechs and 24 warriors ready to go before the final campaign mission, only to be disappointed

save a loadout and pick it from a dropdown box to ready the mech

pick the priority in the mechbay.. or hire more mechanics to prep mechs simultaneously

more dropship/jumpship upgrades, including weapons.. for ground use and space use (cannons lasers and missiles).. pirates don't know who they are messing with...

buy more drop/jumpships

expand my merc company to send to multiple missions

expanded map.. including unexplored parts, maybe a planet/station/moon to claim

the option to punch whoever wants a 3f burger in the face

aero fighters.. tanks.. reinforcements of mine own

I got mechanics.. and I want a Frankenmech

MASC and Beagle should be around by now

Can I take over my very own space empire???

the Arena.. Whaaaa!!!!???? I need a bit more money to make ends meet

We need to make ONE thread of these suggestions; too many separate threads... anyway... Absolutely agree. hate this cheap mechanic. Have the enemy already present on the map in prepared positions and if they do come in, have a drop ship land them, so we know they came from somewhere and they can`t just jump surprise us.

I would like to hear the actual Startup and Shut down Audio from bitchin` Betty when a mech starts on or off, even if it`s long (make it optional). That has always been a hallmark of Battletech from 20 years ago.

There`s a lot more but I`m tired so I`ll stop here.

* Option to see Hex-grid on the map. The current maps look great, and the cones when you're moving show your weapon ranges, but there's nothing to help us estimate how far the enemy can move and shoot. Experience doesn't count for much here; if you've zoomed in or out, or tilted your display, it's hard to retain a sense of scale.

* make pilot background tags meaningful e.g, former tMerchant guard gives 1% discount on store purchases after the first paycheck clears. Nobles or commoners get a morale-discount if most of the lance is of the same class (maybe one or two points - nothing major). Things where a player can safely ignore pilot background if they don't want to be bothered with it, but marginally useful if a player wants to optimize their crew.

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Per discussion of multi-target above, I think calling it a "trap" is a little one-sided. Multi-target may not be as dramatic as Bulwark or Master Tactician because it's not useful every single turn, but it lets a lancemate support your more specialized mechs in achieving tactical goals without devoting its whole turn to it. e.g A Grasshopper can throw its LRM5s at the same Crab that was barraged by LRMs earlier but didn't -quite- get knocked over, yet still keep shooting its lasers at that Hunchback when you've flanked its right side. Of course, if you're in compete control of the battle at all times so that you only ever deal with a single mech at a time with your whole lance, this kind of situation won't happen; in practice, who can do that perfectly?