The Big Deal add-on for BattleTech Extended Tactics (aka BEX) is a pack of flashpoint campaigns similar to the vanilla Heavy Metal DLC, combined with a 'Mech pack. Here’s what awaits you:
– Three flashpoint campaigns of varying difficulty levels, namely:
A) Spite & Violence. This campaign is focused on the early stages of the game, you’ll need at
least a light and medium 'Mechs combo. If you have heavy or assault 'Mechs, then this will be easy.
B) Old Friend. This campaign is designed according to the Hrothgar Heavenlight’s scenario, its
difficulty increases, similar to the vanilla DLC Heavy Metal. However, it’s more difficult than that
DLC.
C) The Big Deal. The entire add-on was originally built around this campaign. Its difficulty is a
nightmare. You have been warned. You’ll need the best you can get to complete it.
– Lots of different notes, descriptions and references.Although the plots don’t claim to be literary masterpieces, I think you will enjoy them.
– 22 new events, 8 of which are random, and it’s up to you whether they happen or not.
– 29 new BattleMechs, including 3 unique chassis, which can only be obtained once. However, you may not get it, it all depends on your choice…
– Several new Ronin Mechwarriors.
– Greetings from MW4 and MechCommander – Rail Gun. An extremely powerful weapon for ranged combat, but very heavy, quite hot and practically useless in close combat; however, even a single hit is enough to terrify your enemies… If they survive after that. It’s not known for certain what war machines were supposed to carry such weapons during the days of the Star League, but if you can find it, it will be worth it.
– 4 new upgrades for Argo that will significantly increase the chances of your MechWarriors surviving when their 'Mechs are destroyed.
– 3 pieces of new unique equipment for your BattleMechs.
– Guardian ECM and Beagle Active Probe are now available not only as fixed equipment: you can find them in stores and FP reward crates (including vanilla FPs), however, these are rare equipment and hard to find; the above also applies to AMS + +. Incidentally, NARC + + and TAG + + have also been added to stores.
– 29 new logos for your mercenary unit.
– Several minor extensions.
– Patch for compatibility with the Solaris 7 mod, and an optional patch for greater efficiency of new medical equipment. If it’s installed, then with all the new equipment for Argo, your MechWarriors will become immortal: they can still be injured, but it will be impossible to kill them by destroying the BattleMech, its head, or inflicting multiple wounds. This patch is NOT required to play, it’s fully optional – no need to install it if you don’t want to.
The mod is fully compatible with existing saves for BattleTech Extended.
How to start The Big Deal campaign:
– If you have started a NEW BattleTech campaign or career, The Big Deal campaign will start after completing The Opportunist flashpoint, which is available from April 3034 to April 3056.
– If The Opportunist has NOT been activated by you yet, i.e. even if it spawned, but you did NOT start it, then everything will work as in the previous paragraph.
– If you have ALREADY COMPLETED The Opportunist, the campaign will start at the start of The Letter event at a random time. In this case, I highly recommend installing it on existing saves ONLY if you have a tough unit: each episode can be completed ONLY once. If you can’t do it or don’t have time (each flashpoint has 180 days to complete, except The Opportunist - its respawn is unlimited from April 3034 to April 3056), the campaign will be considered failed.
How to start the Spite & Violence campaign:
– From time to time, a flashpoint appears in the Cadiz (DC) system. This is your starting point.
How to start the Old Friend campaign:
– From time to time, a flashpoint appears in the Raman system. This is your starting point, but first you need to finish the Of Unknown Origin flashpoint.
ATTENTION! All three starting flashpoints, i.e. The Opportunist, Spite & Violence and Under the Sun are unlimited in respawn. This means that you do NOT need to start all three campaigns at once, if any of these flashpoints disappear from the map, it will reappear later (except The Opportunist, which completely disappears, but ONLY after April 3056). At the same time, each subsequent FP in the campaigns appears only once. In simple terms, it works the same as the Heavy Metal campaign in vanilla, you just have less time for all the FPs after the first one.
Current version is 1.6.3e, added 11/07/2024. IT DOESN’T WORK WITH BEX VERSION 1.9.3.7, ONLY 2.0 OR HIGHER. IN THE INSTALLATION SECTION THERE IS A LINK FOR THE VERSION COMPATIBLE WITH OLD 1.9.3.7.
Requirements:
– All three major DLCs for BattleTech: Flashpoint, Heavy Metal and Urban Warfare.
– Installed modification BattleTech Extended Tactics version 2.0 or higher.
Compatibility with other mods:
The Big Deal add-on will definitely conflict with any mods installed with BEX if they do any of the following:
– Modify the MechSettings.json file at BATTLETECH\Mods\BT_Extended_CE;
– Modify AmmoCategory.json and\or Faction.json files at BATTLETECH\Mods\BT_Extended_Timeline\enums;
– Modify the mod.json file at BATTLETECH\Mods\BT_Extended_Timeline, but ONLY if you are using the Solaris 7 patch;
– Change\add the argoUpgrade_medBay_hospital.json file somewhere EXCEPT BATTLETECH\Mods\BT_Extended_CE\StreamingAssets\data\shipUpgrades;
– Change settings in mod.json in BATTLETECH\Mods\IRTweaks;
– Change the settings.json file at BATTLETECH\Mods\MechAffinity;
– Change the starsystems jsons at BATTLETECH\Mods\BT_Extended_Timeline\starsystemDefinitive. This doesn’t always happen and is not a critical bug, but it can change the tag settings for systems;
– The mod is also incompatible with any mods that change the Mech Bay and the internal construction of the ‘Mechs, i.e. MechEngineer, etc.
To manually configure compatibility with other modifications, you can use the Data For Manual Compatibility Settings archive – all the new data used in the aforementioned files are indicated separately there, but PLEASE NOTE – it’s NOT intended for installation, only for manually entering values from there into your assembly on BEX basis. ATTEMPTING TO INSTALL THE CONTENT OF THAT ZIP IN THE MODS FOLDER WILL DAMAGE YOUR MODS.
Installation:
ATTENTION! The only official download sources are:
GitHub: Link
Mods-In-Exile:
The Big Deal Add-On – Full Pack 1.9.3.7.zip (43.8 MB) – Old version for BEX 1.9.3.7
The Big Deal Add-On – BEX 2.0 Full Pack.zip (25.6 MB) – Latest version for BEX 2.0.0.2
If you downloaded The Big Deal add-on from somewhere else, it’s NOT guaranteed to work normal, nor is it safe to use the contents of the zip.
– For an original BEX version:
Install BattleTech Extended Tactics, then unpack The Big Deal Add-On – BEX zip and move all folders from there to your Mods folder, confirming the replacement of files.
– For an original version of BEX with Solaris 7 mod:
Install BattleTech Extended Tactics, then install the Solaris 7 modification (only Solaris7BEX folder, nothing more!), also confirming the file replacement. Then unpack the The Big Deal Add-On – BEX zip and move all folders from there to your Mods folder, confirming the replacement of files. Finally, extract The Big Deal – Solaris Patch (BEX) zip and move the folder from there to your Mods folder, confirming the file replacement.
– For a patch with improved medical equipment:
Install the required set of mods according to the previous instructions, then unpack the Improved Medical Upgrades zip and place the folder from it in your Mods folder, confirming the replacement of the files. This patch is compatible with ALL versions of The Big Deal add-on.
Once again, the order of installation of all options in a shorter and more accessible form:
BEX + TBD: BEX → TBD → Medical upgrades patch (optional)
BEX + Solaris + TBD: BEX → Solaris 7 → TBD → Solaris patch → Medical upgrades patch (optional)
ATTENTION! Random spawns for flashpoints are disabled in TBD. If for some reason you reinstall Mission Control mod, then make sure that the contents of the corresponding folder from TBD zip are still in place. This is important, because otherwise you have every chance of being unable to complete the campaign – you’ll simply be torn apart.
FAQ:
– I installed this mod and it doesn’t work!
The mod has been tested countless times during development and triple checked before release. Everything worked and the campaign is available for the full playthrough, I’m sure of it. Still, patches are coming and the content is changing, so if something doesn’t work for you, then, I suppose, one of the three:
1) You installed this mod incorrectly: unpacked it in the wrong place, didn’t confirm the replacement of files during installation, or didn’t follow the installation order.
2) Your installation of BattleTech Extended is corrupt, installed incorrectly, or is below 2.0.
3) There’s something third-party in your mods assembly that conflicts with The Big Deal.
In this case, I advise you to delete everything that is in your Mods folder, and perform a completely clean installation of all the necessary mods according to the instructions for them. This should fix the issue.
– My game crashes while launching a mission, what’s the problem?
If an error is indicated in the BT log, the code of which contains the blocks NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object and (UnityEngine.Transform parentTransform), then your CAB files are damaged. So far, only one such case has been reported, the problem is solved through the CAB installer in two ways:
1) Run it, click “Advanced Mode”, check the box “Correct Corrupted Files”, start the installation. Damaged files should be fixed automatically.
2) Complete reinstallation of all CAB directories after deleting the existing ones.
– I can’t launch the next flashpoint in %any% campaign, what should I do?
I’ve been told about this error many times, but I couldn’t reproduce it, and therefore fix it – everything works fine in tests. But there’is a solution, albeit a primitive one: use the contents of the Emergency files – manual FP start zip, there are instructions there.
– I can’t find The Opportunist FP, where is it located?
It’s a vanilla FP, but it’s been moved. It’s currently located in the Awano system, northeast of Terra. If you can’t find it, use the search: on the star map screen, press CTRL + F. And rem,ember that The Opportunist FP is available from April 3034 to April 3056 only.
– The campaign is too hard, I can’t complete it. Can you make it easier?
Campaign difficulty has already been significantly lowered for release. Either you don’t have a powerful enough team, or your tactics are ineffective. In short, get tougher and smarter, if you’re trying to kick the whole galaxy’s ass with just Wasp, Cicada, Quickdraw and Charger – that’s definitely a bad idea.
– The campaign is too easy, I want more difficulty!
I’m very glad that your mercenary unit is so tough. You can always try higher difficulty settings if the current ones aren’t enough for you, but there won’t be any additional campaign difficulty – not everyone likes crazy hardcore.
– I don’t want to play the campaign, but I need the 'Mechs from this mod. Can you post them separately?
It makes no sense – you can just ignore the campaign or refuse to continue at almost any time, in which case The Big Deal will work like an ordinary mechpack.
– Do you know that %anything% doesn’t match TT/BT lore?
Tell that to Victoria and her King Crab.
Nothing in the campaign plot directly breaks the lore of BT – it’s just a side story about a big deal and a lot of money without any attempt to highlight the already existing lore events in the BattleTech universe. Controversial plot events could well have happened, we just don’t know about it.
As for TT, The Big Deal isn’t a tabletop game mod. All loadouts were close to the original ones from MegaMekLab, as far as technically possible. Unique items and chassis may not match the TT, but they cannot be obtained more than once and don’t cause significant balance damage. However, if you want 100% TT match, then, I guess, it’s worth playing BTA 3062 or RogueTech.
– Is it possible to fail the campaign?
It’s possible, and there are more than enough ways to do this. The campaign will automatically fail if you fail to complete any episode within 180 days of its spawn (except The Opportunist, its respawn is unlimited from April 3034 to April 3056), and if you fail the flashpoints, it will not be able to respawn. In addition, you can make the wrong choice directly during the playthrough of flashpoints, but this isn’t difficult to avoid: carefully read the texts of conversations, in most cases the wrong choice is quite obvious. In situations where it’s not completely obvious, you will have the opportunity to change your mind.
Are there any choice situations in the campaign that will not affect the further playthrough? Yes, there are, but there are very few of them. As a hint, it doesn’t matter how you finish The Opportunist, but you’ll have to deal with the rest of these situations on your own.
– Will The Big Deal be adapted to RogueTech, BTA 3062 or BattleTech Revised?
No, as I don’t play these mods, but you can always make your own adapted version. If someone makes it, tests it thoroughly and is sure that it works 100% – no problem, I can add such a version to GitHub.
– Can I play The Big Deal on vanilla BattleTech?
No, because TBD requires some mods from the BattleTech Extended pack. It makes no sense to try to adapt – too much work, will be easier to just install BEX.
– Can I play The Big Deal without one or more DLCs?
No way: some DLC content cannot be recreated using mods. So you need all three main DLC for BT anyway.
– I didn’t figure out how to start The Big Deal campaign?
Apparently you didn’t read the description. I’ll explain again:
1) If you have started a NEW BattleTech campaign or career, The Big Deal campaign will start after
completing The Opportunist flashpoint, which is available from April 3034 to April 3056.
2) If The Opportunist has NOT been activated by you yet, i.e. even if it spawned, but you did NOT
start it, then everything will work as in the previous paragraph.
3) If you have ALREADY COMPLETED The Opportunist, the campaign will start with the start of
The Letter event at a random time. In this case, I strongly recommend preparing your mercenary
unit as much as possible before installation.
– I didn’t figure out how to start the Spite & Violence campaign?
From time to time, a flashpoint appears in the Cadiz (DC) system. This is your starting point.
– I didn’t figure out how to start the Old Friend campaign?
From time to time, a flashpoint appears in the Raman system. This is your starting point, but first you need to finish the Of Unknown Origin flashpoint.
Remember that all three starting flashpoints, i.e. The Opportunist, Spite & Violence and Under the Sun are unlimited in respawn. This means that you do NOT need to start all three campaigns at once, if any of these flashpoints disappear from the map, it will reappear later (except The Opportunist, which completely disappears, but ONLY after April 3056). At the same time, each subsequent FP in the campaigns appears only once. In simple terms, it works the same as the Heavy Metal campaign in vanilla, you just have less time for all the FPs after the first one.
– Is The Big Deal compatible with existing BattleTech Extended saves?
Again, you didn’t read the description carefully. The modification is fully compatible with existing saves for BattleTech Extended.
– What will I need to complete these campaigns?
1) For the Spite & Violence FPs you’ll want at least a couple of medium Mechs, but the better
equipped your unit is, the easier it is. Heavy and assault 'Mechs should make this a walk in the
park.
2) For the Old Friend campaign you will need chassis of different classes: both medium and heavy.
Assaults are highly desirable for the end.
3) I already said that the Big Deal is a nightmare. For this campaign you’ll need the best of
everything, cool heads and brains. And believe me, this isn’t a joke.
– I’m looking for new 'Mechs from the mod, where can I find them?
Here is the complete list:
BLR-1GBc, BLR-1Gc, SPR-4F, CRD-1R, WVE-5Nsl, THG-11Eb, CRB-27sl, EXT-4C, EXC-B1, SHG-2H and GLH-1D: Find ComStar or WoB and kick their asses. Probably they will drop these ‘Mechs. Some of them are also used by Snord’s Irregulars.
KY2-D-01: Primitive 'Mech, can be found almost everywhere, but it’s very rare.
BattleMaster BLR-1Gd, Phoenix PX-3R and PX-4R, Von Rohrs VON 4RH-5 and VON 4RH-6, Hector HOR-1B and HOR-1C, Pillager PLG-1N, Rifleman RFL-2N: All these chassis are considered extinct, so you won’t encounter them in combat as you did in TBD for BEX 1.9.3.7, but you can buy them or their parts. In short, you’ll still hunt them, but instead of the battlefield, your hunt will take place on the Black Markets. Custom opponents, however, are still around, like, Whistler still drives his Rattler.
WHM-6Rk: this is an extinct chassis, so everything is written about it above, but if you have a high reputation with House Kurita and completed some Kuritan flashpoints with the correct ending (i.e. finishing the job), then sooner or later Yamaguchi will call you with a business proposal.
Annihilator ANH-1X: Skirmish only.
Corsair COR-5R, COR-5T, COR-6R and COR-7A: 5R, 5T and 6R have been used by pirates in the northern Inner Sphere, as well as the Oberon Confederation and the Valkyrate, since 3035. You can encounter 7A in battles with them starting from 3050.
All three new unique chassis are only obtainable once, and you’ll have to find them yourself to avoid spoilers. Whether you get them or not depends on your actions.
– I’m looking for new Ronins\Argo medical upgrades\chassis upgrades, where can I find them?
Again, in all cases, this will be a spoiler, but you definitely won’t miss Ronins or ship upgrades. Speaking of ‘Mech upgrades, you will encounter one of them one way or another, while the second upgrade can be obtained through a chain of events, but the launch of this chain depends only on your actions.
– Is it possible to get unique ‘Mechs or new unique equipment more than once?
Not by in-game methods, so if you lose them, you can’t replace them. Unless you’re a cheater, of course, but that would be too easy, right?
– I can’t find the Rail Gun, where can I find it?
These weapons can be found in Former SLDF planets stores or Black Market. The weapon is rare and expensive, it’s very difficult to find it. You’ll have a couple more opportunities to get it and you won’t miss them, but think carefully before you take them – maybe Rail Gun right here and now isn’t worth it, and it’s worth waiting for another chance?..
– How to unlock new emblems for the unit?
They’re available immediately after installation in the paint settings of your unit.
– Some ‘Mechs look weird! My Galahad looks like a Nova Cat, is that normal?
It doesn’t look like Nova Cat, it just uses the Nova Cat’s model. The problem is that some 'Mechs don’t have models in CAB, so they use models from other 'Mechs. If someone makes an appropriate model for this or that BattleMech this will be fixed, of course.
– Are there any further plans for the development of mod or new flashpoints?
No, but I won’t think ahead. All development of the mod is planned to be limited to the necessary maintenance, since this is a finished story. Although it can always be expanded…
Bugs:
Not noticed, but nobody’s perfect, so various minor flaws, despite repeated testing, may still be present. However, there are things you should be aware of.
- Some BattleMechs (only Galahad at the moment) don’t have their own models in CAB, so they use models from other 'Mechs. If someday there will be their own models for them, then this will be fixed, of course.
- Due to the lack of own models, some ‘Mechs don’t have their own affinities, so don’t be surprised, say, that the pilot of your Galahad knows how to drive a Nova Cat 'Mech. Again, this will be fixed if suitable models appear in the CAB.
- Due to fewer internal slots than in the TT, some 'Mechs have a different heatsink layout relative to the TT. In particular, some heatsinks had to be built into the engine. This means that the cooling system is working fine, you just can’t dismantle them to get more free tonnage, but at the same time, you can’t lose these heat sinks in combat – unless, of course, your machine’s CT is destroyed.
- Placement of Endo-, FF- and Endo + FF slots doesn’t match completely with TT loadouts. This is due to the smaller number of internal slots in BT MechLab, and also because BEX reduces the volume of this equipment by 1 slot. Not a problem, but you should be aware of it.
Permissions:
All original files from BT Extended CE, BT Extended Timeline, FullXotlTables, MechAffinity, Mission Control, VXI FlashpointShift, IRTweaks and BTHospitalFix belong to their authors. If you plan to use the files in your own mods, then please contact them. The same applies to the fixed actuators of the new ‘Mechs.
If you would like to use The Big Deal in your mod pack for public release, please contact me:
GitHub
Nexus
And you can contact me about TBD at the BattleTech Extended discord server in the other-mods channel: BattleTech Extended discord server
Credits:
Amechwarrior – awesome guide to making flashpoints, which you can check out here: Paradox forum
lordruthermore – Rail Gun stats calculations, help with advices on BT lore and 'Mechs design.
RJPhoenix – technical assistance with customizing the design of some 'Mechs and provided content from VXI_RealPirates.
mcb – tech help with code, BTHospitalFix mod created specifically for TBD and starmap fixes.
Kierk – various technical assistance.
MRB – improving and simplifying the code for factions and ammo.
CWolf – Mission Control extended lances fixes for TBD, also, with his permission, the Extended Conversations mod was added.
Holda-volk – holoscreen images refinement, as well as portraits for three key characters. You can see more of the artist’s works here: DeviantArt gallery
Anna Shekhovtsova – face and appearance of one of the key characters of the campaign, albeit episodic.
Pode – main idea behind The General’s weaponry.
Lullbaby of me – minor editing of the third episode and idea for the face of the main antagonist in S&V campaign.
Winterless – text edits for the WHM-6Rk and related event.
Taliesin – detection of one of the critical bugs in pre-release builds.
Morgen – translation of the second episode.
Berghild – proofreading the second and third episodes, as well as participating in the testing of the second.
Goodtry – proofreading the second episode, as well as participating in its testing.
Suryn – participation in the testing of the second episode.
Xaero – proposal to add ECM and BAP to stores and reward crates.
Dephylr, aka Sidika – idea for the fanciest new emblem.
Enabling – contract respawn fix.
And many other people from the BattleTech Extended discord server who helped with countless little questions and ideas. You’re all cool and wonderful, you know?
I express my special gratitude to Waladil for a truly titanic work on proofreading and correcting 67 pages of text used in TBD campaign and to Perry Chalmers for proofreading 33 pages of text used in S&V campaign and the whole text for the Carnor Sal’s campaign.
I would also like to thank Haree and everyone who had a hand in the creation of BattleTech Extended 3025-3061 for a great mod, the Sarna.net team, whose descriptions were used in the files of the new BattleMechs, and the MegaMek team, since MegaMekLab data was used to create new ‘Mechs.