Multiplayer Battletech: 3025

Local Ditch Gaming > Mechwarrior > Multiplayer Battletech: 3025

The first Multiplayer Battletech game was MPBT: EGA. Based off of the original Mechwarrior game, it allowed players to venture online and duke it out. As the game aged, it was replaced with MPBT: Solaris.

Solaris was available through AOL, Compuserve, and a few other portals such as Engage Games. Though it was free for a while, the game eventually settled into a pay-for-play system where players were charged a fee for their playing time. Solaris, according to Mechwarrior lore, was a gladiatorial arena for Mechwarriors, where they would battle in public areas for money and perhaps honor. MPBT: Solaris followed along, allowing players to grab their mechs, select teams and fight to the death. Mechwarriors' stats were recorded for sanctioned events and were available for all to see.

The game's popularity increased and many people aligned with the different Houses of the Inner Sphere, basically the equivalent of clans at the time. The game's shell and chat interfaced allowed gamers to role play, trash-talk, and soak up the Battletech atmosphere.

As with most games, time eventually consumes them, and Kesmai's Solaris was no different. The aged graphics and waning players meant that it was time for something new - MPBT: 3025.

Work began on the new game, promising, of course, new graphics, but also new strategic elements, such as house alliances, supply lines, and planets to target. While dedicated players waited for the latest release of the Multiplayer Battletech game, development began to drift on and on. Release dates were missed and soon Kesmai would no longer be at the helm. The screenshots below are from this period of the game's development.

A look at the structure of House Davion (left), Inner Sphere Map, Wallpaper of the Stalker Mech, Territories and Supply Lines

MPBT: 3025 had officially become an Electronic Arts game and rebuilt from the ground up. Though many of the promised features had been minimized or removed altogether, the game was finally getting its feet off of the ground. A public beta had been opened and many players got a chance to experience the game first hand. Players would side up with a house, battle opponents, and earn their way up the ranks to pilot bigger and larger mechs.

Listed below are game manuals for the MPBT: 3025 beta and a game play movie.

Though many signed up for the open beta test, it would all be for naught. MPBT: 3025 would be cancelled and bring the series to and end.

03/17/08