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Battletech is getting mod support and a mech that’s new to the entire IP

The Heavy Metal expansion completes the season pass and arrives alongside a free update

Battletech’s third expansion, Heavy Metal, will release alongside its free version 1.8 update on November 21. The update adds official mod support, while the paid expansion adds eight new mechs, including one that’s entirely new to the BattleTech IP and designed from scratch for the videogame.

That new mech is the Bull Shark, a beefy assault mech with a deadly ‘thumper cannon’. We got to see this in action in a hands-off demo: it can only fire twice per mission, but it deals big damage across a huge area-of-effect, and can level buildings in a single blast.

If you’re poised to point out that mech equipment in Battletech isn’t exclusive to particular mechs, that’s changing. The new mechs in Heavy Metal and 1.8 will have unique equipment inspired by the original BattleTech lore. Take for instance the Warhammer, an iconic mech in the IP that’s coming free to all players in the 1.8 update. Its unique gear, optimised capacitors, grants bonus energy weapon damage to reflect the Warhammer’s association with laser weaponry.

The Warhammer is joined by the Marauder in the 1.8 update, while the Bull Shark and seven other mechs from the original IP will be exclusive to Heavy Metal. They will all get unique equipment, but older mechs will not (though modders can add them in).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT6X47vJNHM

Heavy Metal also features eight new weapon systems and a new Flashpoint mini-campaign, though this one will run throughout your mercenary career, rather than being a focused short story. Heavy Metal will be Battletech’s third full expansion, and complete its season pass.

The 1.8 update – which, again, is free – also adds new mercenary contracts and events, and a number of quality-of-life refinements to the star map.