Thanks for checking it out! I really like the fact that you played it on a 4:3 CRT, I decided from the outset to support 4:3 aspect ratios and I even design the UI elements around it.
The prebuilt types are unfortunately kinda shit right now, and don't feature very many of the possible weapons - it's one of the easiest things to update, so I'll try and get some better ones out in a bit.
>it quickly grew stale once I realized it was just circle strafe around eachother until someone dies
Yeah, this is my biggest issue right now, too. My current plan is to add more passive equipment and also some active equipment that you can use for defensive, movement, team support, or further offensive purposes. I'm also going to add maps with better cover, and more complex mission objectives than just "kill everyone".
Additionally, having more complex team formations, both friendly and enemy, may help - I'm planning on some pretty cool 'role' based AI, where you can get for example a missile mech hiding behind a hill, and a scout mech that runs around you to get a target lock so the missilier can blind-fire you. You will be able to, hopefully, tell your AI teammates to do things like this, too.
I've already noticed the game gets significantly more fun when playing with AI teammates, even if they're pretty dumb. (You can enable the secret 2v2 setting in the menu if you want)
I'm hoping this will get some semblance of strategy out of the current systems. As of now, It's definitely more in an 'rpg' direction of having your stats, all pre-determined before the fight, matter significantly more than your actual performance. I'd like to even that out.
>might be interesting if overheat is affected by the location
It's absolutely going to be!
>might add some strategy if you can customize your mech for a campaign
You'll be able to see a bit about what you're going up against, and the environment before you start a mission. A large portion of the 'strategy' will be planning ahead effectively with a decent build and fitting fireteam roles.
Last thing - there's actually a mechbay tutorial if you press the "help" button in the bottom left of the mechbay, but It's definitely going to be overwhelming to most people, especially if you haven't played a Mechwarrior title. I need to find a way to onboard people into the mechbay better, considering it's going to account for easily 30-40% of the entire game.
Again, thanks for the feedback!