MechWarrior (1989 video game)

MechWarrior
Developer(s)	Dynamix
Publisher(s)	Activision
Platform(s)	MS-DOS, Apple Macintosh, SNES
Release	1989
Genre(s)	Vehicular combat game
Mode(s)	Single player

MechWarrior is the first in a line of BattleTech video games of the same name. MechWarrior was the first video game to offer the player a chance to actually pilot a BattleMech from the view of a pilot (a MechWarrior). With this game the player has a great deal of freedom versus many of the follow-up MechWarrior games, which include choosing missions, buying 'Mechs and parts, hiring lance-mates, and traveling throughout the Inner Sphere. Underneath all of that the game had a story line that would unfold over a five year (game time) period that dealt directly with your character.

Mechs Featured in MechWarrior

• Locust
• Jenner
• Phoenix Hawk
• Shadow Hawk
• Rifleman
• Warhammer
• Marauder
• Battlemaster

Houses Featured in MechWarrior

The planets of the Inner Sphere are ruled by 5 major houses: Davion, Kurita, Liao, Marik, and Steiner. Each house will treat mercenaries differently and some may not honor the terms of their contract. House Kurita is known for their unfavorable contract terms while House Liao may offer excellent conditions only to cancel payment upon completion. House Steiner seems to offer the most favorable contracts and will always honor the terms of the agreement.

Bugs

It is possible to carry out the majority of the game plot without fighting any battles and is considerably cheaper to do so. One could simply sell the initial Battlemech provided, travel around the Inner Sphere for a very low fare, and only when reaching the pivotal point (where you must confront the group that destroyed your home and took the Chalice) must you actively engage in battle. At that point one would need to recruit, fight, earn C-Bills, buy more Battlemechs and generally prepare for the last few tough fights.

In addition one could create nearly invulnerable Battlemechs through an expensive and deadly process. All one would need to do is put a computer controlled ally in the desired Battlemech, go on a mission (preferably a capture or destroy mission so you can take your time doing this as multiple round missions negate the entire process since field repairs take place) and destroy the left, center, and right torso sections of the Battlemech. When the mission is over repair only the arm, head, and leg sections of armor and internal structures of everything. In subsequent missions firing on these sections to destroy them again is necessary. Eventually, while the internal structures will be fully functional, the armor in these sections will appear to be destroyed, making them impervious to damage. Note: this process is highly expensive in both money and lives. Several pilots may die in the process of making a Battlemech nearly invulnerable. In addition you cannot make the legs invulnerable, as no matter how many times they are destroyed (and the internal structures are repaired), the game always reports the armor as being severely damaged to within paper thin levels. Arms cannot be made invulnerable as they are the first items on a mech that are repaired and legs are second. In order to repair any armor damage to the legs the arm damage must be repaired first. It is possible to render the cockpit invulnerable, however due to the immediate death of the pilot in control of the BattleMech, this modification has the highest cost in lives. In addition computer controlled allies piloting a BattleMech with an invulnerable cockpit behave in an erratic fashion and flee for their lives whenever they are assigned to the BattleMech with the special cockpit. If the player wants to create a BattleMech with an invulnerable torso and cockpit it is advised to create only one such BattleMech (Battlemaster is suggestible).

Another sure-fire victory strategy is to take a defensive mission and put yourself in a Locust Mech. As the enemy forces approach your base, you can circle around and come up behind them, and target a single leg with the Locust's paltry weapons. The enemy will not turn around to engage you, so after a few seconds of concentrated point-blank fire, even a Battlemaster can be taken down by a Locust. Usually two Assault Mechs can be taken out of the fight before the remaining Mechs meet and battle your lance-mates.

Technical Notes

This game can be played on modern operating systems through DosBox version 0.61 only. In some later versions of DosBox, setting mpu401 to "none" or "uart" in the DosBox configuration file may make the game playable.

It can be played in any version of dosbox by starting the game with the EGA and "Adlib" switches on the command line: "mw.exe 1 A".

External links

• MechWarrior at MobyGames
• FilePlanet download - Full version of MechWarrior in Fileplanet