7 replies to this topic

[Fut]

First off, I'm not trying to suggest that Mechs should be able to go over limit on their weights. This is not a suggestion at all (hence, the forum you're reading this in) - I'm just curious about this.

What's the story behind such restrictive weight limits? There must be something in the Battletech books, or novels, that explains why it's impossible for a Mech to go a little bit over their limit (like a 51 tonne Hunchback for example). One would think that you'd be able to push the limits of your machine slightly, so I'm hoping for some good fluff to explain why it's impossible.
Although, I'm bracing for a shitoad of "that's just how it is" responses.

[DegeneratePervert]

Well, the frame, gyros, and actuators can only support so much weight, really. We don't see many mechs outside of 100 tons because without clan tech, they're next to impossible.

A hunchback frame can only support 50 tons, so if you even went 51, you'd start to break your hunchback. And considering the cost of these beasts, it's not something anyone would want to do willingly if they could avoid it.

[Chavette]

It would probably get slower because of the weight...

But now, you can make the engine smaller be slower and get the same extra weight.

[Bishop Steiner]

It's not that one concievably couldn't run heavier, it's that is what is designated "maximum safe payload" for the chassis. If you look at military aircraft for intance, all have a specifiec maximum ordanance payload. Could one go over it? To a degree ye, but at that point it starts adding stress to the structure of the vehicle it was never rated for, and then when you add the manuevers, impacts and such of impact, especially over a prolonged period, could lead to catastrophic failure.

Aside fro that, it is a simplified system meant to emulate that.. enough to add variety, not so much as to bog an already slow game down.

[Kunae]

First off, this is not a Role Playing Game. You can't just weld crap on.

Secondly, and most important, the mech chassis are designed with that weight as the max safe weight when it comes to structural components, etc.

[Darkblood]

Well, you can fluff it out by saying that´s the design weight of the Mech, and every structural piece is designed to hold that, going further would be risky. But going as far as saying that a single extra ton causes a breakdown is wrong. If that was true, the Mechs would be operating at the absolute maximum (or very close to it) and simple drops through the terrain would be fatal.

The real honest answer is: simplicity

The original game used tables to figure out how fast you move with said engine, and wanted to avoid complications, so they decided to only allow Mech weights in increments of 5 (20, 25, 30 ... 95, 100) and the constructions rules say that even if you use less than 50 tons of equipment in a 50-tonner (you have left-over weight) you still calculate your speed using 50 tons as weight. MWO uses the exact same logic.

Having Mechs with 51, 52, 53, 54 tons would increase the size of tables 5-fold, and would still leave the question of why not have 51.5, or 51.1 or 51.01...

[Mercules]

Actually, it's not even that. In Battletech you design the mech for what equipment it has and that is basically it. It doesn't get to swap out weapons, heatsinks, engines, and such except through kits or by a very good mech mechanic who takes time and cobbles it together carefully.

So they sit down to design a Hunchback. They build it around carrying an AC/20 which is why that mech has the shape that gives it the name it has. They decide it will be 50 tons, will have an engine X large, and will carry Y ammo and a few backup weapons. They then build that mech to those specifications.

Later on someone else decides they hate having a mech so dependent on AC/20 ammo and supply lines. So they build a varient based around Lasers. They are stuck with the original design for the frame though, with the "gearing" and balance for 50 tons. So they stick with that weight as it is the "max tolerances" for the frame.

What a lot of people don't realize is that humanity expanded out into the universe in a burst of expansion. Those different areas dealt with war, civil war, that broke the Inner Sphere up. In a lot of places education was lacking and in others information on how to repair and build mechs and the complex systems was horded. Once you create little silos of knowledge you end up with that knowledge possibly being lost before it gets passed on.

This was the dark ages of the future where mankind took several steps backward in understanding and knowledge and the time MWO takes place is the very start of the renaissance. These people are lucky they can build existing models much less design new ones.

Edited by Mercules, 25 February 2013 - 01:26 PM.

[Kraven Kor]

Everything in Pen and Paper RPG's and board games is an abstraction.

So the rules were set up for doing things in nice, round, 5's and 10's.

In reality, a Hunchback probably weighs "more than 50 tons" but the core equipment all weighs "about 50 tons" put together. No vehicle would weigh an exact number of tons.

It is a rules abstraction in order to make mechbuilding and modifying all work and be more or less balanced against other players andunits.