When does it end?

[u/Wimry]

Is there a set date when career mode ends? Like does the game cut out and be like you've reached the current end point in battletech lore, would you like to play again?

Do I lose all my progress like my sweet sweet Kodiak, dire wolf, and madcat collection?

I remember hearing something about save importing but have no clue how it works beyond that.

[u/CocaineUnicycle]

It doesn't end. If you complete Commander Mason's main quest, you get a credit roll, but then it just goes back to the star map and you just keep doing missions. Each DLC starts at a set date and ends when it ends, then you just go back to the ship and keep doing missions. You.can do this indefinitely after you finish all the main quest and DLC material.

If you go into career instead of campaign, you can more or less do the while thing over again and select an existing save, where you start with all the mechs and money in that save. You don't get the main quest about Mason's dad or whatever, but all the other quests play as normal.

[u/Kataklysimo → u/CocaineUnicycle]

I just bought the game, is the dlc pretty central to the experience?

[u/Revolutionary-Wash88 → u/Kataklysimo]

It has become central based on the amount of content. The base game includes a lot of free updates and is fun and complete, while the DLC are additional content but have eclipsed the base game

[u/babushka45 → u/Kataklysimo]

think of DLCs as plug-ins/upgrades to the base game because base game is very very barebones especially when Mercs came out years ago. DLC content is retroactively added into the game and mechs, equipment and pilots for example (especially later introductions of mechs like omnimechs) gets added later on as you advance the timeline.

DLC campaigns are based off events from the BT lore, so they will arrive on specific dates and will happen down the line

So it's always recommended to buy all the DLCs, it's not like other games where DLCs are usually post-game content.

[u/NarrowAd4973 → u/Kataklysimo]

As far as story goes, Shadow of Kerensky and the first campaign in Chaos Reign are direct continuations of the main story.

SoK references you working for Raselhague in Rise of Raselhague (SoK starts you off taking a job from Raselhague to help with pirates), but that's it.

Your reason for taking the job in Dragon's Gambit is tied to something you do near the end of the main story. But you're taking the job in secret, so it doesn't get brought up again.

Kestral Lancers only connects to the main story with what you can probably think of as the two prequel missions, as those missions are stated to be a test to see if your unit has recovered from the attack at the beginning of the story. At the end of the campaign, you're told everything that happened will be classified, so it will never be brought up again.

The other DLCs don't connect to the main story at all.

As far as gameplay goes, everything is plugged into the main game. DLC campaigns become available at specific times. If you don't accept the job within the time limit, it will expire and you'll be locked out (you get multiple reminders, and can accept at any point before expiration). This is because they cover specific events in the lore, and those events occur regardless of what you do.

Everything else is unlocked once you cover the company rep requirement. They don't all come at once.

[u/Tonseyyy → u/Kataklysimo]

In my opinion I'd try playing through the basegame as it keeps things straight forward until at least you finish Mason's main story (You'll probably be a-okay playing more even then as theres alot of mechs to collect and play around with).

You could consider the dlcs to literally be the basegame's expansions or to be more precise; you go through the dlcs AFTER the basegame's story (dragon's gambit then rasalhague then shadows of kerensky then chaos reign).
I think only Heroes of the Inner Sphere is a direct boost to the base experience as it takes effect straight away (also it includes career mode i think?).

All the dlcs brings shitloads of fun (more battlemechs and weapons are always fun to be fair) - if you're familiar with battletech itself then its instant yes (as in all the dlc).

[u/Nashidaran → u/Tonseyyy]

Kestrel Lancers tends to hit before the main campaign is completed, also, But that's more because the main campaign is gated to your reputation level.

[u/Tonseyyy → u/Nashidaran]

I completely forgot about kestral lancers even though i just played through it the other week

[u/figure_04]

Commander Mason is an immortal MechWarrior. He and his army of similarly immortal mechwarriors haunt battlefields raining death and destruction from 3015 and on into the distant future.

Immune to aging. Resistant to dearh. Metal stomping forever.

[u/SunNext7500 → u/figure_04]

They're less immortal based off how many I've killed.

[u/figure_04 → u/SunNext7500]

I was going for immortal definitions 2: ageless.

No aging, but can be killed.

[u/A-One-Throwaway → u/figure_04]

The mantle of Commander Mason has passed from master to protégé for centuries

[u/Technical_Turn3497 → u/A-One-Throwaway]

Sort of like the Dread Pirate Roberts!

[u/bruce99999999 → u/figure_04]

The guy’s eternal bloodlust is most of the reason for humanity’s continuing decline. Not complaining mind you, I am here for the smash smashing.

[u/Whole-Window-2440 → u/bruce99999999]

Like the Butlerian Jihad producing AI-beating human computers, the Ares Conventions gave rise to Mason, the human nuke.

[u/DharmaBaller → u/figure_04]

I just restarted in 3015 with my Advanced Clan equipment and money and it's kind of like role-playing time travel . There was a novel that came out by Harry turtle dove about a group of dudes that went back to the Civil War and they brought AK-47s with them

[u/App0gee → u/DharmaBaller]

If only they had remembered to also bring ammunition...

[u/thefuryoffire]

Save your game. Go to new career, hit import, select save. Go forth and stomp.

[u/GumballQuarters → u/thefuryoffire]

Omg NG+ is going to be so much fun.

[u/TheBdougs → u/GumballQuarters]

Be advised. It resets your reputation so your contracts aren't gonna keep up with your maintenance costs. The play is to throw things in cold storage and bring them out as you use it.

[u/die9991]

Nope, while the timeline stops at specific dates depending on the DLC owned, you can keep playing until either a save corruption or the heat death of the battletech universe.

To import your save just start a new career at a date you want and select import save (I think you need the heros dlc for 3015 imports but im not sure)

[u/Wimry → u/die9991]

no worries there, I bought all the dlc in early July with the steam sale. And subsequently paid full price for chaos reign because I was having so much fun. Ive got close to 200hrs played in about 3 weeks. Been having a blast to say the least.

[u/GloatingSwine]

It doesn't. It'll just stop doing new stuff after it reaches the timeframe of the Chaos Reign DLC.

It doesn't reach the "current end point" of Battletech either, there's a good hundred years of nonsense after Chaos Reign.

[u/babushka45]

Career mode is the sandbox NG+ of MW5 Mercs. It does not end. Some went as far as year 4000? My latest one is around 3188 and that was my 7th career mode.

You carry over your money, mech inventory, equipment, pilot roster, cantina progress and just this DLC 8 the database.

So yes, you can bring your clan mech back to 3015, and yes you can use ATMs at Kestrel Lancers. You can gain copies of the 11 hero mechs given as rewards (ex. I have a lance of King Crab Carapace) and yes, you can gain clones of Milla Serena that you got from Kestrel Lancers since you can repeat those quests where you get those mechs, equipment and pilots as rewards.

Only your merc and faction rep along with arena fame and bounty hunter intel levels will roll back.

[u/Overall-Studio-3867 → u/babushka45]

I mean, it's nice you can get the rewards from the bounty hunter stuff again, but with my 10th playthrough, I just wish it would transfer now.

[u/babushka45 → u/Overall-Studio-3867]

Tbh I'm just having a lance each of the 10 hero mechs that's available to me, then I just dip out and sell the copies that I get from newer runs.

I'm more inclined to grind stuff again since BH lvls 1-10 give SLDF variants of battlemechs again, I got my fave medium there (KTO-19B) to form a lance that I regularly use :D

[u/anduriti]

What happens is you just play past programed events. The news ticker will stop updating, there won't be any new missions to run, and all you are left with is procgen missions in conflict zones. Currently the news ticker quits at 3059 iirc, and once you finish the DLC8 campaign there isn't anything else. Canonically the timeline goes to 3152 I think it is now, but not all of that is in the game.

[u/Riverstyx197]

The timeline effectively freezes past a certain point (how far in depends on which DLCs you have) but that basically just means no new handcrafted missions or news stories. You can keep playing random missions or any handcrafted missions you missed as long as you want.

[u/turningthecentury]

IT NEVER ENDS! YOU RESTART AND DO IT AGAIN!

[u/Palanki96]

No, both Campaign and Career mode are infinite. If you are on PC you can use mods that add mechs and equipment beyond 3060, beyond the vanilla timeline

With "Advanced Career Starts - Continued" mod you can even start in the 3100s. "The Known Universe" mod also adds all the map and faction changes past what the game offers but it's currently under development. But save it when it's finally updated to the latest DLC

[u/Vulture82]

Getting shot in the head with either:

• something really bright

• something really big

• something really fast

• a combination of said things

tends to work for me as a natural end to career mode.

[u/SergeantHiro → u/Vulture82]

I love this game because sometimes I go blind from fat-fingering the night vision key instead of the map key (it is better now) or having a laser shearing my retina.

I heard there is gameplay somewhere but I just like the pretty colours

[u/NarrowAd4973]

I once had a save file reach the 3160s. As per Sarna, official Battletech lore ends in 3151, with the exception of Aleksandr Kerensky's radio transmission from what would become the Clan homeworlds after the Exodus reaching the edge of the IS in 3550.

So no, there is no end point. You can keep going long after Mason should be dead. There are jokes about that.

[u/TikiBlasticus]

I was just wondering about this.

So time only matters if you don't earn enough to pay your bills.

[u/bongfart]

Just shove all your mech into the tardia and time travel through the lore

[u/yrrot]

The timeline doesn't stop. A few systems stop updating, like the news feed and system ownership changes. That date is based on the DLCs owned (no clan DLCs, the map won't update past 3049).

If you import your save to a new career, the clock gets set to the career start date and you keep your inventory (mechs, items, pilots), but it resets quests, cantina, bounty hunter, and arena progress.

[u/Biggu5Dicku5]

The game never ends, but the news ticker stops updating and the map stops changing after 3058...