7 replies to this topic

[ManDaisy]

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/MASC

Myomer Accelerator Signal Circuitry is a piece of equipment that allows a BattleMech to move twice its walking speed. However, actuators were not built for this kind of stress, and prolonged usage of MASC systems can lock up the actuators in a 'Mech, and cause it to be immobilized.


1) Assuming walking is 60% of throttle for battle mechs.

4/6, 5/8 , 7/11 dividing by all, is around 62.5%

2) Masc would make a battle mech turn and move at 120% speed.

However this poses a problem for game conversion. In table tops legs would freeze randomly during masc usage. This is not how masc should behave in MWO.

In MWO masc should behave this way.

1) Because mechs can operate at 0 -100% throttle under normal circumstances,
2) There should be no penalty to the battle mech using masc if it is moving only at 100% speed or less with masc engaged.
3) In fact it should have no negative side effects, even with the boosted turn ratio as if its true speed was at 120%.

4) When moving over 100+% speed,
5) Legs Components should take internal damage Critical hit Damage similar to overiding shutdown sequence.
6) When the legs break under stress by accumilated damage, it mimics table top.
7) Rate of damage should be dependent on % over 100. For example, 10% over throttle damages less per second then 20% overthrottle.


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Updated

Edited by ManDaisy, 23 October 2012 - 02:23 PM.

[Pershaw]

To simulate the leg lockup, there could simply be a increasing % during prolonged usage where the mech has a chance to randomly flopp over like when colliding with another mech. That's plenty of penalty considering you're a sitting duck during and after the stand up animation.

[ManDaisy]

Not really masc is suppost to really screw you over. A simple fall down won't reflect that.

[Noth]

ManDaisy, on 23 October 2012 - 09:00 AM, said:

Not really masc is suppost to really screw you over. A simple fall down won't reflect that.

I'd say falling over with heavily damage legs (maybe even one destroyed) could effectively screw over a mech.

[ManDaisy]

Well... when you screw up with masc it destroy's you legs. There is no in between. The way this is set up is the only way masc screws you over is if you destroy you legs by overusing masc and bleeding away all your internals. No randomness involved. The masc "lock up" is effectively translated game wise to you killing your legs by accuminlated internal damage over time. This will ensure that masc is used in "spurts" like it is suppost to be, and not just left on. Of course I am advocation you can leave masc on for extra turn strength as long as you stay under 100% throttle, because you could do that normally, masc on or not. Its only at 100%+ throttle that you take damage.

It also makes sense that if you legs are damaged, masc would have more of a chance of tearing you legs apart, so by making masc stack on to existing leg damage, a critically damaged leg already would reflect the increased risk of using masc from a critically damaged leg.

Edited by ManDaisy, 23 October 2012 - 09:36 AM.

[ManDaisy]

Edited so that all weight classes are equally effected. When Leg actuators are destroyed by critical hit hp depletion for components, legs should stop functioning despite full internal structure etc. Previously bigger mechs had advantage becuse of more inherit internal structure however with using critical hit component hit points, all weight classes are now equal.

Edited by ManDaisy, 23 October 2012 - 02:24 PM.

[Sparks Murphey]

ManDaisy, on 22 October 2012 - 09:14 PM, said:

5) Legs Components should take internal damage Critical hit Damage similar to overiding shutdown sequence.

I think you're on the right direction here. A lot of people seem to be trying to simulate what MASC does in tabletop BattleTech, without realising that that's an abstraction in itself. The abstraction of the "Roll 3+ to not break your legs" is representing that the enhanced myomers are pulling the leg's actuators around past their stress tolerances.

So, what if we model that instead? Not down to the nitty gritty, but put an extra gauge on the HUD alongside where the jumpjet gauge goes if you have MASC. Have it measure "leg stress" ie how close you are to breaking your legs. Everytime it goes above tolerance, bam, your legs take some damage, proportional to the amount above tolerance. You'll see it flutter up and down every step you take, with faster steps (or longer falls) pushing it higher. Activating MASC then applies a multiplier to that stress level, with the multiplier steadily increasing the longer you have MASC active.

Note that when I'm talking about "leg stresses" I'm not looking for anything much more complicated than what's already in the game. We already have leg collision damage for when you fall (or occasionally just trip over a rock). To implement MASC you just need to make sure there's always a small, >0 value when moving, that normally fits under the threshold for causing damage, and activating Masc acts as a multiplier to that existing falling distance for the purposes of determining damage.

[General Taskeen]