13 replies to this topic

[Logray McCall]

I am wondering in all of our haste that we have forgotten about the internal workings of the battlemech, will we be using the newer XL Fusion Plants, as well as the new myomer bundles that we can kick in the extra speed (albeit they can burn up and drop you on the ground like a Marrionette with no strings.

[Major Bill Curtis]

Use the search function: Endo-steel; XL Engines etc. are all going to be available for upgrading your 'mech. Search: "Mechlab"

Also, welcome to the forums.

Have a look at the Developers Blogs.

Edited by Major Bill Curtis, 07 June 2012 - 03:15 PM.

[Roland]

Don't think they've announced MASC being added though.

[Zynk]

Logray McCall, on 07 June 2012 - 03:07 PM, said:

I am wondering in all of our haste that we have forgotten about the internal workings of the battlemech, will we be using the newer XL Fusion Plants, as well as the new myomer bundles that we can kick in the extra speed (albeit they can burn up and drop you on the ground like a Marrionette with no strings.

This should answer your question;

Garth Erlam, on 08 May 2012 - 09:05 AM, said:

QUESTION: Can you give us a list of weapons and equipment you expect at launch? Or at least what you KNOW will make it as of today? -Sprouticus

ANSWER: The weapon list is every Inner Sphere weapon available in the time frame, and they should all be in for launch. The following is a list of the weapons and equipment available at the time.
Weapons
Ballistic:
AC/2, AC/5, AC/10, AC/20
LB 10-X AC
Ultra AC/5
Gauss Rifle
Machine Gun

Energy:
Flamer
Small Laser, Medium Laser, Large Laser
ER Large Laser
Small Pulse Laser, Medium Pulse Laser, Large Pulse Laser
PPC
ER PPC

Missile Weapons:
LRM 5, LRM 10, LRM 15, LRM 20
SRM 2, SRM 4, SRM 6
Streak SRM 2

Equipment:
Standard and Endo-Steel Internal Structures
Standard and XL Fusion Engines
Jump Jets
Standard and Double Heat Sinks
Standard and Ferro-Fibrous Armour
CASE

Obviously not all of this will be stock, and some things will be harder to get than others. The equipment list is everything that I can guarantee for launch, though we’re likely to also have most, if not all, of the following ready to go:

Artemis IV
Anti-Missile System
Active Probe
ECM Suite
Narc Beacon
TAG

Hope you guys enjoyed this, and we'll run another one of these soon!

[Frostiken]

I hope MASC actually has a jam / damage mechanic instead of just building up tons of heat like it has in other games.

[Roland]

Frostiken, on 07 June 2012 - 03:12 PM, said:

I hope MASC actually has a jam / damage mechanic instead of just building up tons of heat like it has in other games.

Agreed, and they'd need to implement the increasing chance of it blowing out the leg actuators as it's used for prolonged periods of time.
First 10 seconds, 3% chance of blowing it... next 10 seconds, the chance jumps up to 8%... next 10 seconds, up to 28%.. And the percentage drops by half that rate.

Would make it a very cool addition to the game, although I suspect people would cry a lot when their mech freezes up and can't move the rest of the match.

[Frostiken]

Well, it doesn't have to be and I wouldn't expect it to be a permanent disability. I'd prefer it to not be luck-based.... even with a 1% chance, there's going to be that one guy who hits MASC in the first ten seconds of the battle and, assuming the most brutal interpretation of the rules, ends up standing there in a useless mech in the wrong corner of the map for the rest of the game

I think the most fair interpretation of it would be to give MASC its own "heat bar" which slowly cools down when MASC isn't being used. When MASC is running in the upper 85% area of the bar, it starts slowly doing damage to leg internals. When it hits 100%, your mech topples forward. Maybe takes some damage from the fall.

Assuming leg internals damage comes with its own speed penalties, you wouldn't even have to add any mechanic beyond this, as slowly grinding your actuators out would impose its own permanent speed debuff for being greedy.

This removes the gamble from it, while still greatly limiting how often MASC can be used in battle, and requires some attention / multitasking to use it to ensure you don't faceplant and everyone just tears you apart.

Edited by Frostiken, 07 June 2012 - 03:29 PM.

[Alfred VonGunn]

Frostiken, on 07 June 2012 - 03:12 PM, said:

I hope MASC actually has a jam / damage mechanic instead of just building up tons of heat like it has in other games.

I hope they use teh Cry3's full soft body physics code so when someone using MASC running at 140kph takes a leg hit they trip and roll and bounce for 60 yards across the ground taking body damage everytime they hit:)

[Frostiken]

Alfred VonGunn, on 07 June 2012 - 04:11 PM, said:

I hope they use teh Cry3's full soft body physics code so when someone using MASC running at 140kph takes a leg hit they trip and roll and bounce for 60 yards across the ground taking body damage everytime they hit:)

God yes, throwing up clouds of dirt every time it bounces.

The funniest part of MWLL is when you leg a light hauling *** around the place and he does cartwheels off a mountainside.

Edited by Frostiken, 07 June 2012 - 04:12 PM.

[Roland]

Frostiken, on 07 June 2012 - 03:25 PM, said:

Well, it doesn't have to be and I wouldn't expect it to be a permanent disability. I'd prefer it to not be luck-based.... even with a 1% chance, there's going to be that one guy who hits MASC in the first ten seconds of the battle and, assuming the most brutal interpretation of the rules, ends up standing there in a useless mech in the wrong corner of the map for the rest of the game

I think the most fair interpretation of it would be to give MASC its own "heat bar" which slowly cools down when MASC isn't being used. When MASC is running in the upper 85% area of the bar, it starts slowly doing damage to leg internals. When it hits 100%, your mech topples forward. Maybe takes some damage from the fall.

Assuming leg internals damage comes with its own speed penalties, you wouldn't even have to add any mechanic beyond this, as slowly grinding your actuators out would impose its own permanent speed debuff for being greedy.

This removes the gamble from it, while still greatly limiting how often MASC can be used in battle, and requires some attention / multitasking to use it to ensure you don't faceplant and everyone just tears you apart.

See, I tend to think that the gamble is an essential part of MASC.

MASC gives you a HUGE advantage.... it's making you go twice as fast. So if your mech is already fast, say a light mech going 120kph... you're now moving at 240 kph. That's an absolutely massive advantage.

If you simply have a heat bar, then you can just "manage" this. You can just choose to go super fast, really as much as you want, as long as you don't do it too much. It's really no different than any weapon at that point. But it's benefit is far greater than any weapon.

However, if you run it like they do in the TT game, then there's a real tangible tradeoff for that immense power that comes with MASC. There's a chance that you are going to be completely immobilized, which generally means you are gonna die. You'll still be able to shoot, but you won't be able to move.

You can still manage this... because, while random, it's still a very small percentage. When using it for less than 10 seconds, only 1 out of 50 times will it malfunction... But you are still taking a gamble, in order to gain that huge advantage in speed.

Maybe, in order to make people not cry as much, we don't cause it to totally seize your leg actuators.. but I think it needs to be far more severe than just slowly doing damage in a totally predictable way. I'd be willing to support just the immediate destruction of one leg.. So, you're not totally immobilized, but you're limping for the rest of the match.

Otherwise, I can't see any time when I wouldn't take MASC, and I'd use it in every single match.

EDIT:
Correction.. wouldn't double your top speed, would double your walking speed. Still a massive advantage.

Edited by Roland, 07 June 2012 - 04:22 PM.

[Kodiak Jorgensson]

Frostiken, on 07 June 2012 - 03:12 PM, said:

I hope MASC actually has a jam / damage mechanic instead of just building up tons of heat like it has in other games.

MW3 did... it failed it caused heat and damage build up to the legs, or worse, destroyed the mechs legs

[Kenyon Burguess]

if you cripple yourself with MASC, that should be a game ender for you imo.

[eZZip]

Kodiak Jorgensson, on 07 June 2012 - 04:24 PM, said:

MW3 did... it failed it caused heat and damage build up to the legs, or worse, destroyed the mechs legs

I don't remember that. Fired up MW3 recently and made a super fast Firefly with MASC and ran around for a while with nothing happening.

Geist Null, on 07 June 2012 - 04:30 PM, said:

if you cripple yourself with MASC, that should be a game ender for you imo.

Maybe if you had a few mechs to play with, but it's really poor game design to allow players to not be able to play at the very beginning of a game (because they used MASC and hit the 1/1000 chance that it blows instantly). Frostiken has the right idea:

Frostiken, on 07 June 2012 - 03:25 PM, said:

Well, it doesn't have to be and I wouldn't expect it to be a permanent disability. I'd prefer it to not be luck-based.... even with a 1% chance, there's going to be that one guy who hits MASC in the first ten seconds of the battle and, assuming the most brutal interpretation of the rules, ends up standing there in a useless mech in the wrong corner of the map for the rest of the game

In other words, MASC damaging the myomers is fine and dandy, but it is plainly bad to fully disable a player at the very beginning. Make it temporary, don't make it random, or give it other disadvantages (or all of these!).

[SuomiWarder]

What I would like to know before choosing my first mech(s) is if XL engines will mean that losing any part of your torso disables you, or if it depends on the total damage and if the XL in that torso is not hit yet you still motor on.