Mechs & Variants Discussion

Mechs & Variants Discussion

When a mechwarrior falls in battle, what does she leave to legacy?

Moderators: FLOZi, SpikedHelmet, Moderators, Content Developer

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PicassoCT
Journeywar Developer & Mapper
Posts: 10450
Joined: 24 Jan 2006, 21:12

Mechs & Variants Discussion

Post by PicassoCT »

Question: How do you implement the advantage of agility over the strong mechas? Does a fast little mech who gets closeup lower the weaponaccuracy that is aimed at him? I remember there beeing some tag so you could adjust weapon accuracy logarithmic but the problem remains that the typical mech warrior reward of beeing fast and small gets lost ...

"Im at your feet, lazzering your atlas-balls!"
Wouldnt post but, that was my favourite harassment style in MW4.

Also, the problem of perfect coordination. A Team of heavys will automatically help each other, should a enemy be in range, so not the usual coordination problems.

Last Question: Will there be a ejected pillot pod gives experience for the collector minigame?
SpikedHelmet
MC: Legacy & Spring 1944 Developer
Posts: 1948
Joined: 21 Sep 2004, 08:25

Re: Mechs & Variants

Post by SpikedHelmet »

Currently there is a large amount of inaccuracy when a Mech shoots at another fast-moving Mech, lasers and autocannons miss, even missiles have trouble hitting, so yes, they have that advantage, but its debatable how significant it is. There are also a lot of factors still not implemented (minimum range is the biggest one).

As for co-ordination we're trying to design it in a way that promotes not just spamming duplicates of one Mech, but building a varied and complementary "team".

And no, no plans for pilot ejecting to save their XP... yet.
gajop
Moderator
Posts: 3051
Joined: 05 Aug 2009, 20:42

Re: Mechs & Variants

Post by gajop »

SpikedHelmet wrote: HOLLANDER

Model: BZK-F3
Weight: 35t (Light)
Speed: 80kph
Heatsinks: 10
Armor: 4 tons (Ferro)
Weapons: Gauss Rifle

HUNCHBACK

Model: HBK-4G
Weight: 50t (Medium)
Speed: 60kph
Heatsinks: 13
Armor: 10 tons (Standard)
Weapons: AC/20, 2 x Medium Lasers, Small Laser
These two are the most fearsome mechs from MC1, that I'll probably never forget, nice to see they made the initial list.

I've played MC1 and MC2, and I've played the MW games, but I wouldn't call myself a battle tech fan.

There's one thing which bothers me with most MC/MW games, and that's the weird mech configurations. Whenever I played the games, I would always optimize only one type of warfare per mech, and even sometimes enforce that warfare in the entire squad.

I've also played EvE online and there's one pattern of thought there's persistent there as well: don't mix weapon types. This always bugged me when I looked at the default loadouts of battletech's mechs, as they would often break this rule:
Model: WLF-3S
Weapons: ER PPC, 3 x ER Medium Laser, ER Small Laser

Model: AGS-4D
Weapons: RAC/5, LRM-10, 2 x ER Medium Lasers, Machinegun

CATAPULT (generally the worst offender imo)

Model: CPLT-C1
Weapons: 2 x LRM-15, 4 x Medium Lasers
The list goes on, but most mechs seem to mix weapon range and type (ballistic/missile/energy), and weapon cooldowns* (mixing pulse lasers with normal ones).
So why is it like this? Why have multiple "roles" like that? I always thought that vehicles, e.g. LRM carriers and buldogs were purer in their role than mechs were.

Also, what's your take on the whole MW Online idea with having mech roles defined by their size/speed? The whole information warfare thing: which from what I understood allows fast/small mechs to be used to obtain positions(radar signs) of enemy's larger mechs.

*Mixing weapon cooldowns is usually a problem just in the FPS versions, where to utilize pulse weapons you need to keep your target in sight most of the time.

PS: Sorry for asking here but this thread seemed most appropriate. I can move/remove the post if you want to.
SpikedHelmet
MC: Legacy & Spring 1944 Developer
Posts: 1948
Joined: 21 Sep 2004, 08:25

Re: Mechs & Variants

Post by SpikedHelmet »

gajop wrote: These two are the most fearsome mechs from MC1, that I'll probably never forget, nice to see they made the initial list.

I've played MC1 and MC2, and I've played the MW games, but I wouldn't call myself a battle tech fan.
Me neither. The only TT game I play is Warhammer and even that is too mundane for me. But I thoroughly enjoy the Mechwarrior franchise video games.
There's one thing which bothers me with most MC/MW games, and that's the weird mech configurations. Whenever I played the games, I would always optimize only one type of warfare per mech, and even sometimes enforce that warfare in the entire squad.

I've also played EvE online and there's one pattern of thought there's persistent there as well: don't mix weapon types. This always bugged me when I looked at the default loadouts of battletech's mechs, as they would often break this rule:
Model: WLF-3S
Weapons: ER PPC, 3 x ER Medium Laser, ER Small Laser

Model: AGS-4D
Weapons: RAC/5, LRM-10, 2 x ER Medium Lasers, Machinegun

CATAPULT (generally the worst offender imo)

Model: CPLT-C1
Weapons: 2 x LRM-15, 4 x Medium Lasers
The list goes on, but most mechs seem to mix weapon range and type (ballistic/missile/energy), and weapon cooldowns* (mixing pulse lasers with normal ones).
So why is it like this? Why have multiple "roles" like that? I always thought that vehicles, e.g. LRM carriers and buldogs were purer in their role than mechs were.
I actually have the opposite opinion; I rather enjoy the stock Mechs and their attempts to go "jack of all trades" or fit for maximum versatility, and never liked "boating" or stripping everything and focusing on multiples of one weapon. The decision is mostly aesthetic; in my opinion I prefer to see Battlemechs as something like bipedal land ships bristling with an assortment of weaponry as they slowly stalk the landscape, missiles and cannon shells and laser beams pouring out of them. Visually this theme has always been much more alluring to me.

I also play Eve Online, and yeah, this isn't Eve :P
Also, what's your take on the whole MW Online idea with having mech roles defined by their size/speed? The whole information warfare thing: which from what I understood allows fast/small mechs to be used to obtain positions(radar signs) of enemy's larger mechs.
I could write novellas about my opinions on MWO. I will leave it with I think they are doing it wrong. :)
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Neddie
Community Lead
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Joined: 10 Apr 2006, 05:05

Re: Mechs & Variants Discussion

Post by Neddie »

Much like modern society, Mechwarrior circumstantially favours specialization, but across a diverse experience or subsequent to a change in rules, the specialist will be brought down by the sacrifices made.

If I recall correctly, the rationale for diversity in design in Mechwarrior derives from the diverse situations they will face: air, water, land, infantry, other mechs. I think size does play a role in determining scope, but I also think MWO has it wrong.
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