73 replies to this topic

[Alaric Wolf Kerensky]

Nick Makiaveli, on 01 June 2012 - 03:16 PM, said:

Oh wait, we don't even know if the Clans will be playable, so again, maybe wait till we have the beginnings of a clue?

Actually, I do believe the developers have said that the clans will operate as factions. I do not remember which thread it was in, and thus cannot quote it, but it was said. Clue enough for you?

Edit: Found a repost of it:

Bryan Ekman, on 03 May 2012 - 03:27 PM, said:
Since Clans are Factions, and not player run (at launch), this would fall under the Faction Unit rules.
Players can earn the privilege to be a member by earning loyalty points and performing certain feats/actions.

Edited by Alaric Wolf Kerensky, 01 June 2012 - 04:39 PM.

[Kartr]

Alaric Wolf Kerensky, on 01 June 2012 - 04:36 PM, said:

Actually, I do believe the developers have said that the clans will operate as factions. I do not remember which thread it was in, and thus cannot quote it, but it was said. Clue enough for you?

Edit: Found a repost of it:

Bryan Ekman, on 03 May 2012 - 03:27 PM, said:
Since Clans are Factions, and not player run (at launch), this would fall under the Faction Unit rules.
Players can earn the privilege to be a member by earning loyalty points and performing certain feats/actions.

They've also talked about how they're trying to figure out how to balance the Clans in some of the interviews. Mentioning things like using Zelbrigen and Clan unit structures to even out the fight. They've also talked about having match types that are Clan v Clan and IS v IS in those same interviews.

[GrizzlyViking]

Kartr, on 01 June 2012 - 03:00 PM, said:

What are BattleMechs, what are OmniMechs and how are they different? Glad you asked!

=============================================================================
BattleMechs are giant robot like machines piloted by a human being. They are designed to carry a specific loadout of weaponry and equipment, there are often variants of a specific design. Variants are professionally designed variations on a standard BattleMech chassis, designed to allow a BattleMech to preform roles that it wasn't originally designed for.

BattleMechs can be modified to meet a pilots preferences, but this is a time consuming and very expensive process. It is so time consuming that BattleMechs cannot be optimized for every engagement. In fact BattleMechs are almost never optimized for their next mission. Since DropShips can move you around the world in a matter of minutes or hours you could find yourself fighting in Northern Europe for one mission and a couple of hours later be engaged in North Africa. You have to pilot the same 'Mech because there simply isn't enough time to reconfigure a BattleMech on the trip over.

Even though there's time to reconfigure BattleMechs during the transit to a different planet, it's still extremely rare for BattleMechs to be optimized for a certain environment. Why? It's still extremely time consuming and planets have such a wide variety of conditions that it makes it very difficult to actually optimize. It's not like a video game where you know that the area you're fighting in is going to be jungle, or city, etc. When you're invading a planet you will wind up fighting in different climates and environments.

Bottom line is BattleMechs are almost never optimized for individual missions. It is simply to time consuming and difficult and in the "real world" not particularly practical.

=============================================================================

OmniMechs are giant robot like machines, piloted by a human being. They are designed to carry a highly variable weapons load in OmniPods. These pods allow for rapid and easy switching of weapons systems. This allows OmniMechs to carry almost any combination of weapons and equipment without having to be redesigned or rebuilt to carry them.

This system gives OmniMechs incredible flexibility and power because they can reconfigure the entire loadout in a few hours, in the field. Compared to days in a fully equipped 'MechLab like a BattleMech. This means that a 'MechWarrior can have his techs swap hardware and weapons to a different configuration while he is getting briefed on the specifics and or in the hours before a mission start.

This means a 'MechWarrior piloting an OmniMech has the ability to optimize his/her configuration before all but the most short notice missions. Perfectly tuning the OmniMech to fit personal preferences and the tactical and environmental situations.

=============================================================================

What does this mean for MW: O and all of us players? Well the Technical Director has stated that they intend for players to be able to rapidly switch their configurations to best fit the game about to be played (paraphrased). This could be a horrible mistake, or highly accurate and very good depending on how they implement it.

If they make it so that players can optimize BattleMech configurations before each battle, then PGI is making a horrible mistake. BattleMechs are not supposed to be optimization, pilots/players are supposed to find the blend of weapons and equipment that works best for them and then make the best use of that system in any and every environment. By allowing BattleMechs to be optimized for every battle they no longer act like classic BattleMechs.

The pre-battle optimization of BattleMechs would also make OmniMechs essentially worthless, because their biggest advantage over BattleMechs is their flexibility. The line becomes blurred and essentially there are no BattleMechs and everything is an OmniMech.

If PGI restricts the rapid configuration switching to OmniMechs they will have made the right call. This preserves the uniqueness of the OmniMech and its advantage over BattleMechs. This choice isn't ruled out by the interview linked above, though neither does it lean for this choice.

=============================================================================

The quickest and easiest way to prevent BattleMechs from being optimized before every battle, but allow OmniMechs to be, would be to lock BattleMechs out for one battle after they've been customized. By locking a BattleMech after it's been modified players cannot optimize their BattleMech for the upcoming battle. However if the OmniMechs aren't locked after modification they could have their configurations quickly and easily changed to optimize them for the next battle, just like "real" OmniMechs.

This system has the advantage of being more fair to new players. Since new players don't have the experience or credits to optimize before every battle, they would be at a disadvantage to experienced players who could optimize their 'Mechs for every map. Rather this system would force even the most experienced and richest player to create a jack of all trade BattleMech to use in almost all situations, reducing their advantage over new players.

This also has the advantage of making stock and factory variants more viable since they're usually designed to be jack-of-all trade BattleMechs to begin with. It also promotes diversity, because rather than all the experienced players using a single optimized configuration on every map, it forces them to use something they're comfortable piloting in many different environments.

Simply put, players are able to have mutiple Mechs of the same type in their stable of Mechs, which would essentially eliminate the need for any refits. Not to mention no cost for making changes or time other than the time it takes for the pilot to climb out of one Mech and into another.

[Ilithi Dragon]

Well, it sounds like the devs already have the first part of the equation in place: conventional battlemechs have strict hardpoint and weapon type systems, and omnimechs can simply have dedicated weapon type slots replaced with omni-slots.

The second half of the difference between conventional battlemechs and omnimechs is the fact that making significant modifications to a conventional battlemech takes time, and often requires significant mechlab facilities to make those changes, where as omnimechs can make several major changes in the field by just swapping out modules. This can be easily simulated in-game by simply locking out the usability of a battlemech that has undergone significant changes for a certain amount of time - i.e. I take my Hunchback and do some serious modding to it, but I can't use it for the next three games because it's down until the work is completed. If possible, restrict some of the more significant changes from being made if the area the mech is in does not have access to serious mechlab facilities. Conversely, the omnimechs would be able to make most changes without any time delay before being usable, and regardless of available mechlab facilities for the most part.

[Kartr]

GrizzlyViking, on 01 June 2012 - 04:43 PM, said:

Simply put, players are able to have mutiple Mechs of the same type in their stable of Mechs, which would essentially eliminate the need for any refits. Not to mention no cost for making changes or time other than the time it takes for the pilot to climb out of one Mech and into another.

I'm ok with this as long as there's a limit to the total number of 'Mechs you can buy.

Ilithi Dragon, on 01 June 2012 - 05:06 PM, said:

Well, it sounds like the devs already have the first part of the equation in place: conventional battlemechs have strict hardpoint and weapon type systems, and omnimechs can simply have dedicated weapon type slots replaced with omni-slots.

The second half of the difference between conventional battlemechs and omnimechs is the fact that making significant modifications to a conventional battlemech takes time, and often requires significant mechlab facilities to make those changes, where as omnimechs can make several major changes in the field by just swapping out modules. This can be easily simulated in-game by simply locking out the usability of a battlemech that has undergone significant changes for a certain amount of time - i.e. I take my Hunchback and do some serious modding to it, but I can't use it for the next three games because it's down until the work is completed. If possible, restrict some of the more significant changes from being made if the area the mech is in does not have access to serious mechlab facilities. Conversely, the omnimechs would be able to make most changes without any time delay before being usable, and regardless of available mechlab facilities for the most part.

Except locking people out for that many rounds does more than just prevent people from changing the configuration to adjust for map conditions and penalizes them pointlessly. If you make it so that the BattleMech is locked for one match after it's been modified you achieve the goal of preventing people from optimizing for every match, without pointless penalizing.

The other method would be to have people pick the 'Mech, then find out what the mission is and if they have an OmniMech they can select a different configuration before the drop, but if they have a BattleMech they have to take it with whatever configuration it currently has.

[Gun Bear]

ZnSeventeen, on 01 June 2012 - 04:15 PM, said:

So, how about they are customizable like regular battlemechs, but you can modify each of their loadouts! That would allow you ten plus "variants" that you can modify, for the price of one, expensive, mech! (So a hardpoint system for the prime, different hardpoints for the alpha, etc, that you can then switch between. Of course you still have to buy the stuff.)
Does this make sense to anyone else?

There is that too, store multiple configurations of the same 'mech with an Omni.

[Kartr]

ZnSeventeen, on 01 June 2012 - 04:15 PM, said:

So, how about they are customizable like regular battlemechs, but you can modify each of their loadouts! That would allow you ten plus "variants" that you can modify, for the price of one, expensive, mech! (So a hardpoint system for the prime, different hardpoints for the alpha, etc, that you can then switch between. Of course you still have to buy the stuff.)
Does this make sense to anyone else?

Yeah like GunBear said that's basically how Omni's work. You have your Prime(stock) and then you have alternate configurations that you can switch between. This is how Omni's should work because it allows you to create different configurations and then pick the one that best suits your upcoming mission. However as it stands right now that ability seems like it might be given to BattleMechs as well, which is not only against the lore, but would turn every BattleMech into an OmniMech-lite. That would encourage and facilitate munchkins and griefers, in addition to making OmniMechs pointless when they finally arrive.

[Zso Sahal]

Kartr, on 01 June 2012 - 05:33 PM, said:

I'm ok with this as long as there's a limit to the total number of 'Mechs you can buy.

And I'm glad you're not a dev. We're both entitled to our opinions.

Now, on to the crux of your arguement; you seem to want to penalize players for customizing their battlemechs, while having no such penalty to omni-mechs. There have already been multiple posts in this thread breaking down how different the two classes are, and why its self limiting to one extent or another. I won't requote, but a brief summary will suffice:

Battlemechs. Limited fitting options, as necessitated by hard points. Your counter was that "varients make this meaningless." That is your opinion, and in certain cases I might agree, however, a blanket statement like that is just begging to fail logically. Multiple varients will mean that I need to buy 3 mech chassis to do what one omni mech could. If I choose to spend my C-Bills that way, I can. I've earned it, and spent it to make myself a better, more flexible, merc. Some arbitrary number you pull out of the air to keep battlemechs limited is unnecessary.

Omni-mechs. Are not, contrary to popular belief, the be all, end all, of uberawesomesauce. They have fitting limitations just like Battlemechs, however these are more subtle due to the nature of omni-pod technology. As stated earlier, all pods are not created equal. Some things just won't bloody fit in an omni pod on all mechs.

The real reason people think omni-mechs are godly is because we were introduced to the technology while it was packing Clan tech.The Inner Sphere, on the other hand, had decided to play a game of "lets punch each other in the ***** repeatedly for several centuries" instead of updating their tech. Its important to make this distinction; many Omni mechs really suck if you only use Inner Sphere weapons, and a lot of Battlemechs will rock if you pack captured clan tech. I'm afraid you're taking it as a forgone conclusion that Clan Weapons Tech= Omni Tech, when the two are subtly different.

Finally, as to the quoted statement above, its ridiculous. Why would a games developer limit the number of mechs a player can own, when it is in their interest to encourage people to play the game, and buy more stuff for RMT? If you have a good answer let me know, and I'll retract the "ridiculous" label. Currently tho, its just got me scratching my head.

I need coffee.

Edited by Zso Sahal, 01 June 2012 - 10:05 PM.

[PKNecron]

Who cares, it's a COMPUTER GAME not tabletop or pen and paper. People will want to customize there mechs however they want, and should be allowed to as long as the have the hardware and cbills to do it. Restrictive rules from the TT game may turn off the less knowledgeable players and because the game is F2P the devs first job is to make it enjoyable so that non-MW fans want to play it. They have to turn a profit not shine some fanbois apple.

[Kelly Redde]

There should be a difference between Omnis and normal mechs. Otherwise, the only difference between them is that Clanner tech is three times better than anything the Spheroids can throw back (at least in 3050 tech)

Now, the system of locking certain weapons in place was done in MW4, and it failed miserably. The main problem with it, however, was the lack of difference between regular battlemechs and Omnis.

I think their current system works great, in that missiles should be placed where missile pods are, lasers should go in laser housing, etc. They also have it where you have all the extra space to work with, which I find a step above MW4's style.

Omnis should work different. Where the Timberwolf has twin missile pods on its shoulders, these pods can be simply taken off, and replaced with an autocannon or gauss rifle if you so prefer. Arms can be replaced with missile pods, hand actuators can be added where there were none before, and such things like that.

In short, regular battlemechs should be limited, Omnimechs should be far less strict in weapon/equipment placement. Otherwise, what's the point of calling it an Omnimech?

[Evinthal]

PKNecron, on 01 June 2012 - 09:36 PM, said:

Who cares, it's a COMPUTER GAME not tabletop or pen and paper. People will want to customize their mechs however they want, and should be allowed to as long as the have the hardware and cbills to do it. Restrictive rules from the TT game may turn off the less knowledgeable players and because the game is F2P the devs first job is to make it enjoyable so that non-MW fans want to play it. They have to turn a profit not shine some fan boys apple.

No, the developers job is to make a game as balanced as they can while catering to both the tried and true BattleTech fan base that they have as well as bringing in new members. It is a fine line to walk and would not want to be walking in their shoes while doing it.

Freely being able to customize your 'mechs without limits brings about such monstrosities such as gausszilla among other cheesy designs. Freely being able to customize in the TT is even worse because then you get people with nothing but pulse lasers with a targeting computer and jump jets, and I pretty much refuse to play with custom chassis because of it.

Free customization also takes away one of the perks that omni-mechs have over standard mechs. You take this away and all you are left with is a higher maintenance cost and nothing much else.

However, it is my belief that the driving force behind this game is going to be the fan boys, like it or not, because we love this universe and we want to see it done right and as close to canon as possible.

Edited by Evinthal, 01 June 2012 - 09:59 PM.

[Kanil]

PKNecron, on 01 June 2012 - 09:36 PM, said:

Who cares, it's a COMPUTER GAME not tabletop or pen and paper. People will want to customize there mechs however they want, and should be allowed to as long as the have the hardware and cbills to do it. Restrictive rules from the TT game may turn off the less knowledgeable players and because the game is F2P the devs first job is to make it enjoyable so that non-MW fans want to play it. They have to turn a profit not shine some fanbois apple.

Wouldn't the non-MW fans be precisely the kinda people who wouldn't be bothered by restrictive rules? Given that they've (presumably) never played a MW game before, they wouldn't go into MW:O with the expectation of being able to customize their units. Those that have played previous iterations of MW however are familiar with the systems, and expect them -- as uncanonical as they are.

[Zakatak]

I'm not answering a poll that forces me to speak Clanner. Concerning on how this should translate to gameplay...

Omnimech

• The time required to refit a mech is cut to a quarter, the refitting costs are halved.
  
• Can mount various weapon pods on the arms and side torsos, to fit all types of weapons.
  
• Cannot change skeletal structure or engine. Adding/removing jumpjets takes three times longer.

Battlemech

• High costs for refitting mech, and much more time is required.
  
• Can only mount weapons similar to the previously mounted weapon, depending on variant.
  
• Skeletal structure and engine is possible. Adding/removing jumpets takes less time time.

[buckaroo]

It would make more sense to have there be a cost in C-Bills to modify your mech. Just have the Omnimech fees be way lower. Then there's an incentive to find a single config for your non-Omni that works, without having to mess with locking out modifications for certain mechs or preventing people from making informed loadout decisions.

Also, isn't the game clock sort of in realtime? Modifying a mech could prevent you from using it for X minutes or something. Vary the time depending on the type of mech and the amount of changes.

[Kartr]

Zso Sahal, on 01 June 2012 - 09:21 PM, said:

Now, on to the crux of your arguement; you seem to want to penalize players for customizing their battlemechs, while having no such penalty to omni-mechs.

Not true, there should be no penalty for customizing a BattleMech. BattleMechs should just not be allowed to be optimized for each battle.

Zso Sahal, on 01 June 2012 - 09:21 PM, said:

Battlemechs. Limited fitting options, as necessitated by hard points. Your counter was that "varients make this meaningless." That is your opinion, and in certain cases I might agree, however, a blanket statement like that is just begging to fail logically. Multiple varients will mean that I need to buy 3 mech chassis to do what one omni mech could. If I choose to spend my C-Bills that way, I can. I've earned it, and spent it to make myself a better, more flexible, merc. Some arbitrary number you pull out of the air to keep battlemechs limited is unnecessary.

No need to buy three chassis, just buy a Centurion or a Dragon or an Atlas. With the way 'MechLab works those three are functionally OmniMechs. We do not know how many other currently confirmed BattleMechs have had hardpoints added that aren't reflected in their stock profile which could actually function as OmniMechs once we get our hands on them. Any future BattleMech that has hard points for every type will be functionally an OmniMech.

Limited fitting options due to hard points is a constraint designed to prevent boating and has no basis in the TT rules (what the game is being adapted from). Traditionally any BattleMech can be modified as greatly as it's owner can afford, so long as it does not exceed tonnage and critical space requirements. The OmniMech never had an advantage in how much it could be modified, just how quickly and easily.

There are BattleMechs of every weight class that have hardpoints in all three types. Every time one of those BattleMechs is added to the game it becomes an OmniMech in terms of customization options. If you're not interested in a certain type of weapon (I don't care for missiles) then any BattleMech that has the other two types of weapons, is as good as an OmniMech to you, (no point in trading my Cataphract in for an IS Omni since it's got plenty of energy and ballistic hard points).

Since the MW4 style hardpoints are gone, the MW4 method of making OmniMechs superior to BattleMechs is also gone. The MW4 method to making Omni's better was to allow you more room for customization, since the customization advantage of Omni's has been almost entirely negated we must find a new way of making the OmniMech desirable. The simple cannon answer to this, that fits beautifully with the 12v12 quick battle style that MW.O is initially going to have, is to not let BattleMechs be optimized before each battle.

Zso Sahal, on 01 June 2012 - 09:21 PM, said:

Omni-mechs. Are not, contrary to popular belief, the be all, end all, of uberawesomesauce. They have fitting limitations just like Battlemechs, however these are more subtle due to the nature of omni-pod technology. As stated earlier, all pods are not created equal. Some things just won't bloody fit in an omni pod on all mechs.

Not true, OmniPod sizes was a creation of MW4, just like hardpoint sizes. Neither of which exists in MW.O. Right and Left Torso's have 12 critical slots, that means every Clan OmniMech without an XL engine or permanently mounted equipment, has 12 critical slots in the R/L torsos. Every single Clan OmniMech has critical slots in the arms. As long an OmniMech has the tonnage and criticals available it can mount any item.

Zso Sahal, on 01 June 2012 - 09:21 PM, said:

The real reason people think omni-mechs are godly is because we were introduced to the technology while it was packing Clan tech.The Inner Sphere, on the other hand, had decided to play a game of "lets punch each other in the ***** repeatedly for several centuries" instead of updating their tech. Its important to make this distinction; may Omni mechs really suck if you only use Inner Sphere weapons, and a lot of Battlemechs will rock if you pack captured clan tech. I'm afraid you're taking it as a forgone conclusion that Clan Weapons Tech= Omni Tech, when the two are subtly different.

My argument has nothing to do with Clan tech vs IS tech. OmniMechs are better than BattleMechs because they can optimize their equipment for every mission, BattleMechs cannot. It doesn't matter if you're using Clan tech or IS tech, a BattleMech with IS tech is going to be at a disadvantage to an OmniMech with IS tech. This is because the IS BattleMech will have to go into combat without optimizing it's load out for that map/mission, while the OmniMech will be able to. That's how the OmniMech/BattleMech system works and why BattleMechs should not be allowed to reconfigure before every battle.

The technological and industrial decline of the IS was not due to the Succession Wars. The Succession Wars, should have increased the level of technology and made it more common, not less. The only reason that the IS declined so far was because of ComStar and their campaign to cripple the IS so that they could use their more advanced technology to take over.

Zso Sahal, on 01 June 2012 - 09:21 PM, said:

Finally, as to the quoted statement above, its ridiculous. Why would a games developer limit the number of mechs a player can own, when it is in their interest to encourage people to play the game, and buy more stuff for RMT? If you have a good answer let me know, and I'll retract the "ridiculous" label. Currently tho, its just got me scratching my head.

I need coffee.

Someone was suggesting a way to make BattleMechs and OmniMechs stand out from each other, and I was ok with it if there was a limited number of 'Mech slots, because having unlimited 'Mech slots would negate the gameplay balance that their suggestion was trying to establish.

Personally the optimal way to make the BattleMechs and OmniMechs different is to have people pick their 'Mech for the battle, then get briefed on the fight and if they have an Omni they can select a specific configuration while a BattleMech would have to go "as is."

PKNecron, on 01 June 2012 - 09:36 PM, said:

Who cares, it's a COMPUTER GAME not tabletop or pen and paper. People will want to customize there mechs however they want, and should be allowed to as long as the have the hardware and cbills to do it. Restrictive rules from the TT game may turn off the less knowledgeable players and because the game is F2P the devs first job is to make it enjoyable so that non-MW fans want to play it. They have to turn a profit not shine some fanbois apple.

Except if the devs want to sell OmniMechs (with C-bills) in the future people need a reason to want to switch from their BattleMechs. If BattleMechs are allowed to change their configuration to best fit the map they're about to fight on then OmniMechs have no real advantage over BattleMechs and that content won't be important or utilized.

[Kartr]

Zakatak, on 01 June 2012 - 10:06 PM, said:

I'm not answering a poll that forces me to speak Clanner. Concerning on how this should translate to gameplay...

Omnimech

• The time required to refit a mech is cut to a quarter, the refitting costs are halved.
  
• Can mount various weapon pods on the arms and side torsos, to fit all types of weapons.
  
• Cannot change skeletal structure or engine. Adding/removing jumpjets takes three times longer.

Battlemech

• High costs for refitting mech, and much more time is required.
  
• Can only mount weapons similar to the previously mounted weapon, depending on variant.
  
• Skeletal structure and engine is possible. Adding/removing jumpets takes less time time.

Putting time locks on modifications is a bad idea as it keeps players from playing which is the opposite of what PGI wants. Besides we don't have to wait to get from planet to planet and any modifications could be done "en route" so again no time penalties. Just focus on what makes OmniMechs better than BattleMechs, which is the ability to refit them to different configurations in the field.

Also some of those things have been addressed in the MechLab dev diary. We have weapon hard points which basically means if you have a ballistic hardpoint in a location you can put any ballistic weapon in there as long as you have enough tonnage and critical locations. So sort of like what you said. Jump jets can only be increased or decreased in number (decreasing to 0 counts as removing I guess) but cannot be added to a chassis that has them.

[Kartr]

buckaroo, on 01 June 2012 - 10:09 PM, said:

It would make more sense to have there be a cost in C-Bills to modify your mech. Just have the Omnimech fees be way lower. Then there's an incentive to find a single config for your non-Omni that works, without having to mess with locking out modifications for certain mechs or preventing people from making informed loadout decisions.

This would be one way to decrease the frequency of people using BattleMechs like OmniMechs, until the game has been running for a while and people have enough money to switch configs every time. Plus it isn't consistent with the lore which should be held to as much as possible unless it makes something broken.

Better to just not let BattleMechs be optimized for each battle.

buckaroo, on 01 June 2012 - 10:09 PM, said:

Also, isn't the game clock sort of in realtime? Modifying a mech could prevent you from using it for X minutes or something. Vary the time depending on the type of mech and the amount of changes.

One day in real time = one day in MW.O universe. However this doesn't apply to things like transit and shouldn't apply to modifying your 'Mech as that keeps people from playing which is bad.

[Orzorn]

Rapidly switching configurations does not exactly make the mech an omni-lite.

The way I see it, omni-mechs will not have hardpoints, only pod space. Omni mechs will play much more like Mechwarrior 2-3 mechs did.

Quote

With the way 'MechLab works those three are functionally OmniMechs.

Yeah, because they can mount any weapon they want?

Oh wait, they can't.

Edited by Orzorn, 01 June 2012 - 10:54 PM.

[Jade Kitsune]

Ok... so op... your post while good... actually somewhat contradicts itself.

Your basic issue is that battlemechs, if able to hotswap between configs, could be optimized for environments, thus negating the reasoning of Omni mechs...

You seem to forget that Battlemechs in MWO are restricted by a hybrid critical/hardpoint system, that makes it so that, if you want to swap an energy weapon with another energy weapon, fine... but want to swap those ballistic's with an energy weapon... NOPE NOPE NOPE.

Omni mechs wouldn't be restricted by this... they would run off a pure critical system. Also your post about the cataphract and it's hardpoints. You say you don't use missiles... that's fine, FOR YOU.

That's the ENTIRE POINT. Omni's are easy to customize no matter the pilot, Take an omni, kit it out just right for you... go.

Battlemechs, you have to take more care in choosing something that works for you.

Basically bro, I hate to say it but your argument is invalid. Not having hardpoints is a rather large advantage for Omni's... not to mention the clantech they'll be bringing to the table ANYWAY.

The end point is, Omni's would mostlikely be restricted purely by criticals, allowing for FAR more diverse or specilalized loadouts. With a battlemech, you MAY have hardpoints for all 3 weapon types... but you're still limited by criticals in said area, how many of those criticals are allocated to a sepcific hardpoint type? Sure I can mount all 3 weapon types to a mech, but maybe I can only put missles in my left torso, but I'd rather have lasers spread across ALL my torso's? This is what we're talking about concerning Omni's... they would suffer no such restrictions.

In the ABSOLUTE end, it doesn't matter for another year... quit QQing... damn vatborn's.

Edited by Jade Kitsune, 01 June 2012 - 11:10 PM.

[String]

Thay could make it that changing the layout of a battle mech takes time and mony(your mech gets locked for that time) and on omni mechs it will be faster and cheeper to modify.
If thay dont want to go with locking then it could jbe just cheeper to change omni mechs.