28 replies to this topic

[G-LOC]

Fusion reactor explosion

Mechwarrior 4 did a lot wrong and a lot right but it did have reactor explosion, granted every time you died regardless of being legged or head shot, but it was satisfying to see.

Sarna has details on reator breaches:

http://www.sarna.net...i/Fusion_engine

Wouldn't it be wonderful if one in every 20 deaths (not headshot or legged) ended up with a reactor breach and explosion? It could be completly random and could do severe damage to mechs within 100M.

An audible warning "reator shielding breached, catastrophic failure imminent" could also be heard in your cockpit giving about 5 seconds after you should have normally died through a cored CT which means you could almost have an almost tactical death.

Thoughts? Feelings? Emotions?

[Karl Streiger]

basically I'm totaly oposed to reactor explosions

after some thinking - i still liked it in MWLL... remember my first time.... wtf...i blind what was that?
"Reactor explosion?"
"Awesome"

So maybe a chance of 3% that a fusion can go off...but only when the CT is destroyed shortly (3sec) after the first internal damage. (would happen mostly with amunition explosion and not using CASE)

Edited by Karl Streiger, 12 June 2013 - 05:31 AM.

[G-LOC]

3% chance works for me, it makes it something very special everytime it happens rather than common place!

[Volthorne]

This comes up every now and then, and every time it send the same way: "no". It's a ****** mechanic that just isn't fun. Edit: not to mention that fusion reactors CAN'T meltdown. It's literally impossible. At best you get a "boiler/water-heater explosion" which would require you to be face-hugging someone to deal damage.

CTF GLOC, on 12 June 2013 - 07:47 AM, said:

3% chance works for me, it makes it something very special everytime it happens rather than common place!

3% is still really common as far as % chances go. 0.01% MIGHT be getting into the ballpark.

Edited by Volthorne, 12 June 2013 - 10:35 AM.

[Dubious]

I disagree with fusion explosions damaging other mechs, but I REALLY want mechs to occasionally blow up like this just from a purely graphical perspective.

BTW Volthorne 0.01% is super silly. It would happen less than once in every 625 games. 1 in 625 would be if all 16 mechs were destroyed every match.

[Volthorne]

Dubious, on 12 June 2013 - 11:24 AM, said:

I disagree with fusion explosions damaging other mechs, but I REALLY want mechs to occasionally blow up like this just from a purely graphical perspective.

BTW Volthorne 0.01% is super silly. It would happen less than once in every 625 games. 1 in 625 would be if all 16 mechs were destroyed every match.

In TT (oh god he mentioned TT!) you had to roll for critical hits on all 6 engine crits in a single turn for a 'Mech to explode. I've seen it happen maybe 3 times ever. 1 in 625 is still very high.

[Dubious]

Volthorne, on 12 June 2013 - 12:06 PM, said:

In TT (oh god he mentioned TT!) you had to roll for critical hits on all 6 engine crits in a single turn for a 'Mech to explode. I've seen it happen maybe 3 times ever. 1 in 625 is still very high.

Not sure if you are talking about some kind of expansion or maybe a house rule, but as far as I know there are no "engine explosions" in tabletop. Critical hitting engine increases heat production and eventually shuts the mech down.

[G-LOC]

Volthorne, on 12 June 2013 - 10:32 AM, said:

This comes up every now and then, and every time it send the same way: "no". It's a ****** mechanic that just isn't fun. Edit: not to mention that fusion reactors CAN'T meltdown. It's literally impossible. At best you get a "boiler/water-heater explosion" which would require you to be face-hugging someone to deal damage.

This is taken from Sarna:
Fusion engines usually will only shut down if damaged, and they are absolutely no risk of being a fusion bomb. ^[2] There have been a number of cases of fusion engines being "over revved" and exploding with devestating force, but this is more akin to a boiler explosion than a true nuclear explosion. More often a destroyed engine will be punctured by weapons fire. Because the plasma is held in a vacuum chamber (to isolate the superheated plasma from the cold walls of the reactor; contact with the walls would super-chill the plasma below fusion temperatures), a punctured reactor can suck in air where the air is superheated. Normal thermal expansion of the air causes the air to burst out in a brilliant lightshow often mistaken for a "nuclear explosion". The Thermal Expansion damages anything within 90 meters of the destroyed 'Mech.


SO yeah it's not a nuke in the strictest terms but still very dramatic and damaging plus all of the ammo will just add fuel to the fire!

Still I'd love to see this 3% or 0.3% afterall the matches are becoming very monetonous right now, and the odd explosion would spice things up!

[Dubious]

Yea Sarna is not tabletop though its canon from the novels. Nor is MWO tabletop. That is why I think that there should be flashy engine explosions that looks awesome, but don't do any damage.

[ExtremeA79]

It would deal severe damage in a very short range, but that's not the worst part in being near a critical explosion. The explosive release of heat would overheat any mech nearby and even cause ammo explosions.
I would really like these explosions, but I want them to be rare.

[Accursed Richards]

We need more incentives to snipe.

[ExtremeA79]

Accursed Richards, on 12 June 2013 - 01:23 PM, said:

We need more incentives to snipe.

First off, this would be a rare occurrence, so rare it would hardly be a incentive.
Second, it would look cool, and add to immersion.
Third, It would attract would-be players. This game needs new blood.

[Dirus Nigh]

Dubious, on 12 June 2013 - 12:45 PM, said:

Yea Sarna is not tabletop though its canon from the novels. Nor is MWO tabletop. That is why I think that there should be flashy engine explosions that looks awesome, but don't do any damage.

No Sarna compiles its information from all battletech sources. Novels, source books from TT and RPG, campaign scenarios, technical read outs, cartoons, comic books and any thing else relevant to battletech.

That discription of the fusion engine given above came from the source book containing the customization and construction rules for battletech by Catalyst Game Labs.

I know this because I own the book, and have read the same sarna article.

[ExtremeA79]

I'm pretty sure critical explosions came from Michael Stackpole, a writer.

[Fabe]

Darren Tyler, on 12 June 2013 - 05:20 PM, said:

I'm pretty sure critical explosions came from Michael Stackpole, a writer.

That what I heard as well,done purely for dramatic effect and the reason reactor explosions is know as "Stackploeing" among fans.

[El Ferret]

i like the idea. it seems a little weird when you kill/die at point blank range and there's no splash damage from an engine exploding. I would think its normal to have a decent amount of damage happen in the 0-25 meter range. might even make a bit of sense for unused ammo to stack on the damage but that's probably just going overboard.

[Sug]

Holy crap. Haven't seen one of these threads since closed beta.

[Sug]

Darren Tyler, on 12 June 2013 - 01:28 PM, said:

Third, It would attract would-be players. This game needs new blood.

I think an actual game would attract more new players...

[egreSS]

I have to agree with adding them.

I got here after searching for a reason why there are no reactor explosions in MWO. It is the only thing that continually bugs me.

I like the most logical idea on this thread in which it is a very rare event brought on by a number of conditions that must be met, such as the mech being overheated due to a previous override engagement and a critical hit being done to the engine before the final internal torso hitpoint is gone.

Edited by egreSS, 30 June 2013 - 09:41 PM.

[Huntsman]

The devs said no to this but it's been a part of every Mechwarrior game do date. As much as it is heresy to the devs because a fusion reactor explosion isn't part of TT rules, it is equal heresy to me NOT to include it as a PC Mechwarrior player going back 18 years.

Such explosions are not only visually dramatic, but add to the immersion of the gameplay experience. Even if it can sometimes be annoying to take damage in this way, the " he's going critical OMG run!" situations have always been an adeneline pumping, fun part of the game. I do hope the devs reconsider.