5 replies to this topic

[DrTeath]

So I have been playing for a while, I got my founders pack a month or so before the cut off. I have been trying to spend at least a couple of hours a week in game, but between work and girlfriend, I have not been able to play as much as I would like. I do however try to lurk on the forums whenever I have a couple of minutes spare.
The mech lab is great, but much like the rest of the game, it is feeling the effect of being an 'in progress beta' product and sometimes feels like it could use a little more love and attention from the developers.


1. Personal Mech Variants, Saving Load Outs

Now I'm NOT talking about customising a chassis hard points or appearance here.
What I would like to see is the ability to create and save custom weapons loads outs on a per player, per chassis basis.

Weapons, ammunition, engines and some components (like BAP, Tag, NARC) can be swapped out. However upgrades (Double Heat Sinks, Endo Steel, Ferro-Fibrous armour and ARTEMIS) could not be.

A drop down and two button menu on the 'mech info' panel on the left of the mech lab could be use. The dropdown would contain the default variant as well as any player created variants, a save and delete button. The configuration information on each variant could be displayed on the 'details' panel on the right as the player moused over the variants.

If a personal variant become invalid, because the player had purchased the double heat sink upgrade for example, that variant would be highlighted in red and would not be equip able.

I own Hunchback HBK-4P, which I love to experiment with. Listed below are some of the different builds I have tried on the battle field. I would like to be able to save and quickly switch between them.

Spoiler

Name: HBK-4P Default
Armament: Medium Laser 8, Small Laser 1
Equipment: STD Engine 200
Heat Sinks: SHS 20

Name: HBK-4P SL Brawler (These are my own custom names)
Armament: Medium Laser 2, Small Laser 7
Equipment: STD Engine 260
Heat Sinks: DHS 20

Name: HBK-4P PPC Sniper
Armament: Medium Laser 2, Small Laser 1, PPC 2
Equipment: STD Engine 200
Heat Sinks: DHS 15

Name: HBK-4P PPC Brawler
Armament: Medium Laser 7, Small Laser 1, PPC 1
Equipment: STD Engine 200
Heat Sinks: DHS 17

Name: HBK-4P PPC Brawler Mixed
Armament: Medium Laser 4, Small Laser 1, PPC 1, Medium Pulse Laser, 1
Equipment: STD Engine 200
Heat Sinks: DHS 18

2. Purchasing Empty Mech Chassis

Have you ever looked at Cicada CDA-3M and thought, that's a great mech, but I don't want to pay 4 million extra credits for the XL engine just to get the ballistic slot?
Why not order an empty Chassis from the factory?

The empty Chassis comes with no engine, no heat sinks, no weapons, no ammunition and no advanced electronics, it is equipped only with immovable essential components, life support, sensors, cockpit, gyros, joints and actuators.

The empty chassis would be able to be purchased with any of the upgrades (Double Heat Sinks, Endo Steel, Ferro-Fibrous armour, ARTEMIS etc) preinstalled at a slightly reduced upgrade cost.

After the mech is in your mech bay, you can customise it to your heart's content, as per the normal rules.

Tell me what you think.
Any praise, constructive criticism, thoughts and or comments to help refine the ideas above would be greatly appreciated.

[Lishta]

I really like the idea of buying an empty chassis . The first thing i do when i buy a new mech is strip it and buy/put in what i want.

Saving load outs doesn't sound like a bad idea either. Not something high on my list, but would be good for those who like to change things around

[Staplebeater]

I like the idea of load out drop down. I have a couple versions of the Atlases i run. I used to have a LRM D-DC but swapped for a SRM6 version. I would love to be able to go back and forth between them more quickly

[smokefield]

I agree. I was looking for a way to save different versions of the mech, I like to experiment new configurations and without a way to save them it is a hassle to configure every day your mech.

[Apoc1138]

DrTeath, on 08 December 2012 - 06:48 AM, said:

2. Purchasing Empty Mech Chassis

Yes, being able to save a loadout and one button between them (assuming no upgrades and you have all the items in your stockpile), great idea

on number 2... I've previously argued against it... but actually I think they should add this, but for MC purchases only
it would make buying mech chassis more like a micro transaction and I think you'd get a lot of takers

it's a good way of reducing the MC cost of buying a mech without making it P2W-like where people are tempted to buy an XL equipped mech for MC and sell it back to get cbills or just keep the XL engine

[Dex Zytesin]

Great Idea OP!