3 replies to this topic

[CeeKay Boques]

I was looking at that fantastic Jenner.

And I saw, what seemed to be... moving parts. The parts that don't usually move, but I had a thought. See how the head seems to be clamped in a fork? And the fork seems to be pivoted on the legs? Now, I know that behind there is a either missile rack, or an engine/heatsink vent.

What if that could move? Say, that the head, could be brought up, and cover that area.

It would protect it, but your heat wouldn't dissipate as fast because you were covering the vent. You, as pilot would also, be physically higher. You could see higher. Scout peering over a hill?

Then, in combat mode, the head comes down, covering the exposed engine, and reveals the heatsinks, you cool down, you look more vicious, you head is more forward, targeting. Options.

Taking this train of thought a little further, what if say, I could decrease the power in my (energy only probably) weapons by rerouting power to my other limbs and increasing my running speed or torso speed? Or vice versa? What if I lost an arm and was able to reroute that power elsewhere? Little details like this will make the cockpit ride a tactical one. Rerouting power is certainly canon, and movable parts could be something taking BT even further, while staying in a logical, futurepunk fashion.

Now, I could only think of a few more mechs that could benefit from that kind of modular movement.

Edited by technoviking, 08 November 2011 - 12:20 AM.

[flyingdebris]

funny you brought up those parts on the jenner.

I put those into the design as a visual implication (just for art's sake really) of kinda sorta shock absorbers. considering that if a jenner falls, its gonna likely be landing face first, and if it runs into another mech, it's impacting face first, and if it slams into a wall, you guessed it, face first.

So i wanted to give the design an implication that engineers factored that in and included a built in shock absorber and/or structural reinforcements around the cockpit. to give the look of survivability

You're ideas are a rather interesting reinterpretation thats for sure Kinda reminds me of tie fighter's energy rerouting gameplay

Edited by flyingdebris, 08 November 2011 - 02:09 AM.

[Amechwarrior]

I remember in one of the novels, a Clan pilot in a Mad Dog had used the 'mechs reverse jointed legs to give her a higher POV by fully extending them and peeking over a wall. Neat little things like that would be fun, but each 'mech would need its own thing as they are all so differently shaped. They would each have their own tricks or disadvantages, like flyingdebris posting about the Jenner cockpit being right up front. I do not see an Atlas or any humanoid leg jointed 'mech pulling off the trick the Mad Dog did. I am not sure if this would be something that would effect the game enough to take the time to make special moves for each 'mech.

Now about the power/coolant routing and subsystem management. I think the Virtual World Pods had something to that effect, but I have never been in one myself. Anyone familiar with the Tesla Pods?

[Raj]

I think, from the novels at least, mech speed isn't just limited by engine power but also by how much myomer they can cram into the mech's limbs. In fact wasn't that the problem with MASC technology? If you ran too much power through the myomer it caught fire.

As to moving mech components around...hmm, I suppose it would be useful to change the position of a weapon. Some very few mechs have hand held weapons (or have they all been retconed?) and being able to switch them from a damaged arm to the other could be useful. Or perhaps stowing a shoulder mounted weapon until you need it.

Having control over your power routing could be interesting as well. Maybe after a heatsink hit you could dial down your total engine output or turn off some weapons to keep yourself from going into the red.

Also, I appreciate Debris taking logical considerations into his mech design (some mechs in the tro really do make you scratch your head and wonder how they're supposed to work).

Edited by raj, 08 November 2011 - 04:43 AM.