83 replies to this topic

[Odin]

Greetings Gent!

Since this is still an alpha build W.I.P. and supposed to be a "show off" and demo of the basics, I wouldn't look too close at things right now. Most likely everything will be subject to change, until "we" hit beta and test the damn thing ourself.
The hole affair is meant to show the millions of innocents out there *Welcome to the fry*, what's MECHWARRIOR is all about - very basically - just to get an idea.

What conclusion(s) can we draw from it?

• Basic Mech combat tactics still apply, or can be ignored *LOL*;
  
• I identified "the cicle";
  
• maps give plenty opportunities for cover;
  
• the action was obviously not meant to be very "sophisticated";
  
• that's all "close quarter fighting" fast action, no-worries-combat;

Some random observations, thoughts, no complaints:

The damage shown, particle effects and such, are great; I would prefer a faster firing AC and a faster slug; while the cannon effects are nice, for my taste, they appear to be too puffy, flowery ...

missiles fly slow, arc into target, nothing new here, the are "classic" as we know them from other MW games; again, I would prefer a more "realistic" approach here: faster travel and flat trajectory, but that's just me.

while lasers stand out more artificially, hence their nature - compared to projectiles and cannon shots - they are well done, like the rest, I like them to be more on the smaller side;

as I said elsewhere, the 6 dots around the reticle are IMO unnecessary, obscure the few to target and aim;

while "you're on it and about ..." you never take a look at the weapon group window (lower right side of the HUD) - if I can help it, I'll switch it off - love to see more of the cockpit, and want a clearer few outside;

smoke, colour of it and size are nice, no great! but I hate seeing it to vanish that fast - I know framerate, LAG etc. but wouldn't it be cool to have it hang in the air much longer, drawing a more grim look around the action and battle ground??? btw, I want more flying debris, dust, smoke right now its all (still) to clean IMO;

Conclusion:

This is it! Our next MECHWARRIOR. I like what I saw; imagine where we stand in one year from now! Thanks PGI for your vision of MECHWARRIOR and Mech combat.

[Ray Mason]

TheRulesLawyer, on 09 March 2012 - 11:31 AM, said:

25) Two game modes at launch. Team death-match and dropship with 3 respawns (speech)

This is what worries me the most, I was hoping for search and destroy, search and rescue, escort missions, infiltrations, siege/defend … simply anything “more” that a death match.

[Spooky]

TheRulesLawyer, on 09 March 2012 - 11:31 AM, said:

3) Ballistics rock you when they hit

They rock you, but it does not seem to have an effect on gameplay, just for visuals, currently. The reticules are unaffected by it.

Ray Mason, on 10 March 2012 - 03:31 AM, said:

This is what worries me the most, I was hoping for search and destroy, search and rescue, escort missions, infiltrations, siege/defend … simply anything “more” that a death match.

Why does it worry you? More modes will be added over time.

Edited by Spooky, 10 March 2012 - 03:49 AM.

[3Xtr3m3]

I lerned a few things here. you guys saw a few things tht I was not able to. Thnks for a good thread.
I did not see Gauss, Flamer or PPC fire being exchanged. Obviously still under development. That means we still have a ways to go to the game release, and plenty of goodies the Devs. can release over the coming months.

[bangy]

Ray Mason, on 10 March 2012 - 03:31 AM, said:

This is what worries me the most, I was hoping for search and destroy, search and rescue, escort missions, infiltrations, siege/defend … simply anything “more” that a death match.

I beleive they intend to inplement more but for the purpose of getting the game out to our grasping little hands they are keeping it simple for launch. Understandable.

It needs to be said that we are truly fortunate that guys like Russ and Bryan who actually "get it" are attatched to this project. Even better is that they aren't beholden to some publicly traded publisher that insists on making the game instantly "accessible" to the masses. MWO will have a significant learning curve which will give it longevity and purpose.

[Stripes]

Very good, point for point, analysis of video - good work sir!

[Longsword]

A few things I noticed-
1# The Atlas cockpit has a funny shape to it. Its shape suggests that it is located in the left eye of the head.
2# When the atlas is killed, it fell over forwards slowly. Really creates a sense of how heavy and big it is.
3# Very nice looking missile/lasers.
4# Lasers are realistic, instantaneous beams that do damage over time.
5# Actuators are important somehow, must be damageable.
6# Hula girls are not a standard feature of cockpits.
7# The battles largely take place in an open wilderness/natural area rather than an urban environment. Suggests a good variety of environments rather than just urban.

[Thunderwave]

I can't wait for the release!

I read through the past pages but I didn't see anything about laser ammo count going down (I might have missed it), what's up with that?

[Ironhawk]

Longsword, on 10 March 2012 - 04:35 AM, said:

A few things I noticed-
1# The Atlas cockpit has a funny shape to it. Its shape suggests that it is located in the left eye of the head.
2# When the atlas is killed, it fell over forwards slowly. Really creates a sense of how heavy and big it is.
3# Very nice looking missile/lasers.
4# Lasers are realistic, instantaneous beams that do damage over time.
5# Actuators are important somehow, must be damageable.
6# Hula girls are not a standard feature of cockpits.
7# The battles largely take place in an open wilderness/natural area rather than an urban environment. Suggests a good variety of environments rather than just urban.

On #6, this has to be wrong. Hula is paramount. Has to be an upcoming feature for the Beta. Just has to be...

[Aegis Kleais]

Helmer, on 09 March 2012 - 07:08 PM, said:

I could have sworn I read ( or heard during the NGNG live broadcast ) that LRMs where semi guided . You needed to keep your aiming reticle over a target 'mech in order for them to track .
So if your scout lancemate has line of sight , you're able to target the enemy , even tho they are over a Mountain . You would still need to reticle over the target in order for them to track .
Scout loses LoS ? Your LRMs aren't tracking anything sir !

I was watching the gameplay footage and a Mech brought a salvo down onto a standing Hunchback after firing the LRM and then taking the reticule off the Mech. I'd be interested in knowing these mechanics.

Cochise, on 09 March 2012 - 07:55 PM, said:

LRM flight time is waaaay too long.

I calculated the LRMs to have taken 5.3 seconds to fly to 400m, which is about 75m/sec. If that speed is constant, a 1000m flight would take a little over 13 seconds. Let's hope this gets changed.

[Spooky]

Longsword, on 10 March 2012 - 04:35 AM, said:

7# The battles largely take place in an open wilderness/natural area rather than an urban environment. Suggests a good variety of environments rather than just urban.

Why would you have thought otherwise? Urban environments were never the emphasis in any MechWarrior game, due to various reasons (e.g. it looked **** in the older games and could otherwise have a heavy impact on performance ).

Cochise, on 09 March 2012 - 07:55 PM, said:

LRM flight time is waaaay too long.

I agree, also the AC shots were very slow and looked like slow missiles as well. But as they said, they still have to make their balance iterations.

Edited by Spooky, 10 March 2012 - 05:20 AM.

[Ironhawk]

Additional observation: there were no UrbanMechs. :-p

[carl kerensky]

Very good analysis. I want to add something in a general way. I think to speed up and flatten the arc of missles is a mistake. I think having them as they are helps create what I call battle tension and leads me into this observation. Remember one of the hallmarks of good mech battles is the creation of tension. Obviously when one is fighting another mech we want to destroy it before before it does us. This NOT being a FPS but a mech sim you dont want speed kills unless of course its a critical head shot something. Some of the best battles I had was in mech2 playing NETMECH. Some of those lasted a awhile and the tension was incredible. Made it a blast and very rewarding when you did win. I just hope the developers recognize that Battlemechs fighting each other should be drawn out which creates this tension. To me this makes it very rewarding when I do win. Ok mouth piece off...

CK

[carl kerensky]

I agree with you about the LRMs and ballistics doing more rocking. This is another tension builder and really taps into your skills as a player trying to target your enemy. If you remember the 2 year old Mechwarrior trailer....the Altas and the Warhammer. The Atlas kept throwing off the Warhammers aim with his AC 20. That was great. As I mentioned in another thread the Mech4 Test IMO was better than the release because it had some rocking from ballistic hits. Made it fun as hell to nail your opponent. As soon as Mech 4 was released it was all but removed. What a disappoinment. Ruined lots of the fun for me. Im confident though the DEV are headed in the right direction with this because the trailer was magnifcent.
CK

[TheRulesLawyer]

Dataman, on 10 March 2012 - 01:14 AM, said:

to anyone making analysis:

please keep in mind this is alpha stage

Yah, I understand this. I wanted to pick it apart as much as I could and see "the state of the game" It helps us know how far along the game is, and we can maybe get a glimpse of the direction the devs are going, but haven't told us yet.

[Ragotag]

Aegis Kleais™, on 10 March 2012 - 06:00 AM, said:

I'm hoping that LRMs and ballistics do more rocking down the line, because one of the things that helped keep you alive in a battle was throwing your enemy's shots off when timed well.

You an me both brother. Having such a feature will really make this game play like the books read.

[Simon Osis]

TheRulesLawyer, on 09 March 2012 - 12:04 PM, said:

That's the wrong video, and its low res. My link was to the HiDef with the interview stuff in it too. I changed the link. Hopefully it'll work now.

bad*** vid

[Helmer]

Aegis Kleais™, on 10 March 2012 - 05:18 AM, said:

I was watching the gameplay footage and a Mech brought a salvo down onto a standing Hunchback after firing the LRM and then taking the reticule off the Mech. I'd be interested in knowing these mechanics.

I calculated the LRMs to have taken 5.3 seconds to fly to 400m, which is about 75m/sec. If that speed is constant, a 1000m flight would take a little over 13 seconds. Let's hope this gets changed.

Yeah I posted that from my phone. Later that night I ended up watching the video again. And after the second salvo the reticle drifts off target, however, the LRMs do not. Perhaps you need to "paint the target" for only the first few seconds after launch?

Also. Notice when the Hunchback is hit by the LRMs his rear armor lights up? Guess the LRMs really are swarming all over.

[Gremlich Johns]

ACs exploding on targets are finally AWESOME! Otherwise they are just big bullets. AC20 is about 150mm - I've shot 152mm service HEAT rounds from an M60A2 and they make BIG explosions when the hit.

Helmer, on 10 March 2012 - 09:34 PM, said:

Perhaps you need to "paint the target" for only the first few seconds after launch?

You can do that with an IR tracker system - you don't need a laser like you would with a Copperhead munition.

[pcunite]

The video shows that I would like a flat and green HUD. The curved or 3D look was hard to read. Just make it an option and I would personally turn off the map or toggle as needed.