362 replies to this topic

[Joseph Mallan]

The rules for 100+ ton Mechs have been around for about ten years. They were created by Dave MacCullock long before he joined the writers of CBT. His rules for Battle Armor construction was tweaked and implemented into the core rules, I know, I have the home brew and playtested the official rules. I also have the original and have read the advanced rules for the super heavy Mechs. They are out there, I have designed four or five even a 200 ton beast named Rhynox.

[Kaldoran Bloodwar]

Dark Severance, on 05 June 2012 - 03:54 PM, said:

Until XL Engines, there wasn't an Engine big enough or powerful enough to power and move it. Until Endo Steel there wasn't a mech chassis that could even begin to hold the strain and weight of that much tonnage. Until advantacements in Myomer fibers there weren't muscles strong enough to actually move the joints of the mech.

I see your 135 ton mech and raise you a dropship. Anything larger than 100 tons is what Dropships are for.

If I recall, everything is broken down in percentages.. I don't have the battletech games anymore due to certain life happenings but that will be changing soon. Just purchased 20th Anniversary Shadowrun and will be buying 25th Anniversary Battletech next payday. Look... Everything is broken down into Percentages. Which means... it does not matter the size. Lets say 5 percent of your weight is devoted to your internal structure. 5 percent is spread evenly among your mech no matter the size. So a 100 ton mech is going to have 5 tons of SI. 5=20 as 20=80. The point is... if a one hundred ton mech has 5 tons for IS, then a 200 ton mech would need 10 tons. I am just going by my faded memory. The main thing is to remember that the biggest engine had a 400 factor. So technically we could have a 400 ton mech.. but it would only have a 1 HEX walk 1 Hex RUN speed. Since we couldnt go less than 1 hex but some may dispute that and say that your run and walk cannot be the same. Then you would go with a 200 ton mech then. A 200 ton mech could have a 400 Factor engine 52 tons, and it would have a walk 2 Hex and 3 Run. Or 20kph and 30 kph. I have made 200 ton mechs and I have made 400 ton mechs. So the only thing that keeps the game from totally getting out of balance is just not allowing Engine factors to go over 400 which is what I did with mycampaigns.

[Madidus]

I'd rather see 100+ mechs any day before they start adding LAMs... with the size of the battles anything bigger than an Atlas will most likely be ineffective. Any mech over 100 tons should only be used for attacking stationary targets.

[Ettibber]

THE Leo, on 05 June 2012 - 03:47 PM, said:

When you think about it, why the hell has no one ever tried creating a Mech over a 100 tons? It would mean more firepower, more space, and more awesomeness. Of course that would also mean even less maneuverability, even less speed, and even less response time.

Imagine feeling like a badass in your atlas thinking 'oh yeah i am a freaking boss' and then BAM! you come up to this Mech that makes you feel like crawling into bed and hiding beneath the blankets (like we all know that helps, ha!)

So a 100+ ton Mech huh?...... hmmmm... earthquake possibilities anyone??

basic reason...because once you hit that much weight it becomes prohibitive. you'd actually lose space just to have the think be over 100 tons. i don't have my creation book with me as it is with a friend but i think the 400 class engine was 55.5 tons, and that would let an atlas move at 4/6 movement. after the base armour i think the atlas would be at around 20 or so tons for weapons which puts it around a 60 ton mech.

[God of War]

super heavy Mechs are just as useless as it sounds.
Super heavys like the Omega http://www.sarna.net...28BattleMech%29 build after
the offical counstruction rules from Jihad: Final Reckoning are simple not worth the money/material!

[Capt Cole 117]

So cool, yet so impractical.

[Bee Darth]

I used to play Mechwarrior on the Amega. In the last instalment of the game, we could have mechs up to 300 tonnes i think.

[CCC Dober]

@Cole
2 words: void shields

Oh and let's not forget armor made from adamantium, the holy grail of materials science. So much for impractical ...

[VxSaAgE]

mmmm no thanks

[Deathz Jester]

necro thread....

[Skylarr]

wanderer, on 25 July 2012 - 12:15 PM, said:

Nope, the Omega is very much canon. It's from Jihad: Final Reckoning, which details the end of the war.



Here's the mini from Iron Wind Metals.

The Omega was not added to Sarna until July 17, 2012 That is why I could not find any info about it.

[Grey Weasel]

MagnusEffect, on 05 June 2012 - 06:48 PM, said:

I am perfectly happy continuing to believe it didn't happen. Again.. **** the Jihad. I don't give a damn if it was an official publishing. All that **** was retarded and poorly written. Anyone saying differently is either a dumbass or secretly hates Battletech. Judgemental? On things like this, you can bet your *** I am.

Good thing you aren't the final arbiter of what is and is not canon, then. We're supposed to respect your opinion, but our own is worthless to you. That does tell me just about all I need to know.

[wanderer]

God of War, on 28 July 2012 - 02:17 AM, said:

super heavy Mechs are just as useless as it sounds.
Super heavys like the Omega http://www.sarna.net...28BattleMech%29 build after
the offical counstruction rules from Jihad: Final Reckoning are simple not worth the money/material!

Actually, some of the better designs are barely heavier than an Atlas. Why?

Because superheavies have much more internal space to work with. A 110-ton energy boat is frightening when you realize that even IS DHS take up only 2 crits per on a SH, and you can fit an ER PPC into 2 crits as well, ditto an XL engine- and IS endosteel only takes up 7 crits as well. You aren't quite rebuilding the Hellstar, but you can do a rather nice design.

[Sporkosophy]

Captain Nice HD, on 25 July 2012 - 05:08 PM, said:

Bah, you unimaginative Mech jocks and your Omegas and Areses. I'll take a SturmFeur Kalki, please; daddy needs his Cruise Missiles.

Don't miss that one shot you have.

[Skylarr]

Captain Nice HD, on 25 July 2012 - 05:08 PM, said:

Bah, you unimaginative Mech jocks and your Omegas and Areses. I'll take a SturmFeur Kalki, please; daddy needs his Cruise Missiles.

• Cruise Missile 50
  
• Cruise Missile 70
  
• Cruise Missile 90
  
• Cruise Missile 120

[Seabear]

Given the canon, even some 100 ton mechs had lots of problems. Witness the Stone Rhino, aka "Aramis' folly", which only clan engineering and technology could get to function. Or the Stalker which had trouble with its legs and hips handling the weight.

[Lokust]

nothing over 100 tons ever existed in canon Battletech. Some people consider the Wizkids "Classic Battletech" story stuff to be canon, but as far as I'm concerned the story ends at the FedCom civil war storyline, because everything Wizkids did was beyond terrible.

[Neput Z34]

If there are mechs over 100 metric tons, it's not 3049 and it's not Mech Warrior.

Short answer is NO!

[Khushrenada]

simple answer: no

not so simple answer: guess everyone that wants a 100+ tons mech thinks more weight means more power and they can kill everything and everyone on the battlefield without beeing killed.

problem with that is: it won`t work out that way in battletech
your super heavy mech that would hardly be able to move around would be swarmed by enemies, easily staying out of its firing arcs and destroyed. if all players would drive such an abomination, the rounds would be over due time out, before anyone could move in range of each other and fire one shot

more armor won`t save you in this game from beeing shot down by even the smallest mechs, it may just take a little longer...

this is not a game that races mechs from big to bigger, to bigger to bigger to bigger and you need to pilot the biggest mech available to be competetive against others and ensures your win cause you simply have the biggest war machine out in the field.
and i really like that

edit: trying to get rid of the space at the last lines.... failed

Edited by Khushrenada, 30 July 2012 - 11:20 AM.

[Nebfer]

Theirs a lot of morons in this thread.

1: Dark age is canon GET OVER IT. You are not in charge of what is and what is not battletech that is the guys who make the game, do not like it? to bad.

2. Even if FASA did not shut down and continued the Jihad would of still taken place as it was originally their idea! The basic plot points where the same, (though Stone was not present). WoB gets pissed off when the Starleague got disbanded and throws a tantrum (at every one) with the forces they where going to gift the starleague to deal with the clans... Makes head way with liberal use of nukes and then slowly gets beaten back via the weight of numbers and a overstretched force, and the clans starting to get involved...

Dark Age skipped that and at first gave scattered info on what happened... (along with confusion over what was going on with reguler B-tech)
3: 100+ ton mechs are canon, and are not going to be very common, even when they get to the time line where the are capable of being built... Even So their is noting in B-tech lore that says 100 tons is the limit of how big a mech can be built, and engineering wise theirs nothing to say so either, In any case 105 or more ton mechs are not any better than the more traditional units, their just as fast or more likely slower than regular assault class, their easier to hit (all super heavy's have a -1 to hit due to their size), their more expensive as well. Lore wise the Star league era built the Ameris folly, which later became the Behemoth, and is supposedly over 100 tons.

4: Time line wise Catalyst is largely skipping the Dark age events and going to a point some time after it left off. (IIRC DA stopped around 3139, catalyst is jumping ahead to around 3150ish).

5: As for the Pulse laser "retcon" (IIRC due to the fact that in the BoK series having Victor and Co seemingly not having or aware of the recovered tech their factions had), well I might point out that if it was a retcon, it came about very very quickly, as the BoK book series started in late 1989, and by 1992 We know that the Dvs-2 Devastator was in operation in 3044, this mech has Gauss Rifles, also the Wolf Trap mech is also equipped with a LBX-10 and was in testing some time before the Clans arrived. Heck IIRC Mechwarrior 2 mercenary had recovered tech long before the clans showed up (but the game came out in the mid 90s). If anything it's possible the BoK books are the problem, with bad research.

Edited by Nebfer, 30 July 2012 - 02:41 PM.