127 replies to this topic

[Felix Dante]

We all now know the basics of how the Mech-Lab will work.

So let's see what the general opinons are shall we!

Personally I think it will work well, so let's see what everybody else thinks!

[Soule]

At this point all I want is to know how the variants work... love me a two ppc pult.

[Hayden]

I'm at peace with it so far. With variants, things should work out OK.

[Grithis]

My big question is whether or not there will be weapon hardpoints in places where there weren't weapons before. Say you save half a ton, somehow or another, and don't want armor or anything. Can you put a small laser in that weaponless left arm? Abstaining from the vote for now because, while I'm upset I can't put jjs on my mech, I can deal.

[Trevnor]

Yeah, looking good. I'm liking the general direction thus far.

[Vexgrave Lars]

No surprises happy with the concept.. and the screens...wait..well.. you know what I mean. The charts were nice.

[Strumtruppen]

i think you should be able to switch out weapons from balistic to energy (What!? I can't put a PPC where my Autocannon used to be..)
but it should cost more. i think it should work out quite well though

[Paul Inouye]

Why is this in OT?

Bumping up to General cause I'm actually interested in the results.

And editing the title.

[CeeKay Boques]

I think its a good design, MW4 had a good mechlab design, no reason to deviate much. "The words "Purchase armor" are interesting... can I "Sell off" all the armor on the chassis I'm not using to put more stuff on the one I am??

[Aegis Kleais]

I think kudos is going to win, with "I can't put whatever weapon I want where I can fit it" coming in a distant second.

[Listless Nomad]

Nice to see the devs are interested Paul.

I voted that its great because I feel it is. I've raised my concerns a lengthy post in the actual dev blog comments, and in the Q&A section. Hopefully one or the other will be answered. Overall great job however, taking the best of what you had and making it work.

[Felix Dante]

Paul Inouye, on 04 April 2012 - 12:11 PM, said:

Why is this in OT?

Bumping up to General cause I'm actually interested in the results.

And editing the title.

As you command Imperious Leader...

Edited by Felix Dante, 04 April 2012 - 12:20 PM.

[Nick Makiaveli]

I voted Great and all that, but I hope it's fairly expensive to make radical changes. I do like the idea of say removing jump jets as I suck using them, so the fact that I can turn them into armor and heat sinks is sweet news for me

[Famous]

I'm loving the idea behind this mech lab as it ties in to the "strut" concept behind IS mechs. There has to be an underlying frame to hold a weapon, you can't just cram them into an open space

[Red1769]

Voted it's great! Also glad I can get rid of jump jets...I ain't a jumper. I'm very much satisfied with it.

[Kudzu]

I'm still waiting to see if other balancing measures will be taken. Allowing loadout changes opens up a very nasty can of worms without putting in something like BV to regulate it's use.

[ELHImp]

Just pure HATE. Customs for ones who can't handle with whole six weapon groups on Atlas.
...
...
But...
Who cares?!

[Hawkeye 72]

I wasn't shocked/impressed by the mechlab, and that is a good thing! I feel they found a healthy blend between the old mechlab and the newer ones. Seeing the left arm filled with actuators and endo steel will put me right back in the MW2 era. I do expect the Clan mechs to have more flexibility in hardpoints, but I definitely do not feel like they screwed up the system.

I also feel like there are a few surprises they haven't informed us of yet.

[Monky]

I think it is good, I would like to see the ability to have added weapons show up visually, but given how many small lasers you can cram onto a single arm I can understand if this doesn't happen.

What I would like to know is how engines are handled (looked over it twice and couldn't find) and how chassis are handled (same as armor? certain variant is stuck with certain internal structure?)

All in all it seems pretty simple, but I would like to see you guys focus on making the interface super easy to understand - nothing is more daunting to the new mechwarrior than trying to figure out the difference between a 2 slot large laser and a 1 slot medium, much less an 8 slot ULTRA AC20.

Color coding, visual 'hardpoint' boxes defining exactly what can be added/removed (MW4 is a pretty good template for communicating this) etc.

I kinda understand the jumpjets thing, both from a dev workload (flying animations) and a practical concern (why buy a mech that focuses on jump ability over any other mech when you can do anything you want regarding jumpjets?) and it has a good plausible explanation (jump jets would need internal ducting to channel the pressure from the fusion engine to the jet, and if it wasn't designed that way it could easily cause internal damage at that high pressure/heat).

[Bouncin]

It seems to be a well-thought-out balance between the old TT system and the spirit of the B-Tech universe (hence omnimechs being more diverse than regular battlemechs in the TT fluff). I voted "Eh....I can work with it....I guess...." simply because the customization aspect has always been tertiary to my enjoyment of B-Tech and Mechwarrior. That being said, this system looks pretty cool.