42 replies to this topic

[fatcat01]

wanderer, on 08 June 2012 - 02:01 PM, said:

This should help. There's also an LRM variant that carries two Clan LRM-15s with ten shots apiece and lighter armor.

Thank you very much good sir!

[Zack Delphirian]

I always thought protomech as unfinished products...To be honest I never played them, I looked at the rules breefly and moved on.

I don't really know anything about new rules and all, but if someone can answer this, I'd appreciate it :
What always struck me is that, as far as I remember, protomechs carried their weapons like a regular man (using both arms) (obviously not true for the proto presented above...), and yet I never found a rule (never looked for it either) that said something along the lines of : "When a proto is hit on the torso, if he's carrying a weapon in his hands, the weapons has XX % chances of taking the hit instead"

That always bugged me...

[wanderer]

Zack Delphirian, on 08 June 2012 - 02:56 PM, said:

I always thought protomech as unfinished products...To be honest I never played them, I looked at the rules breefly and moved on.

Canonically, that was actually deliberate-see one of my earlier posts. The initial run of Protomechs was deliberately flawed, so the warrior caste would reject them and hand the design and refinement right back to the scientist caste- who would use properly upgraded ones to rebel against the Clans that remained in the homeworlds in the 3080's, along with some other really unpleasant tech.

Quote

I don't really know anything about new rules and all, but if someone can answer this, I'd appreciate it :
What always struck me is that, as far as I remember, protomechs carried their weapons like a regular man (using both arms) (obviously not true for the proto presented above...), and yet I never found a rule (never looked for it either) that said something along the lines of : "When a proto is hit on the torso, if he's carrying a weapon in his hands, the weapons has XX % chances of taking the hit instead"

That always bugged me...

Actually, Protomechs have a "main gun" section, which represents those big handheld weapons (they need both to properly aim it) if the 'Mech is using them. It can certainly take hits (and be destroyed). For that matter, they actually have "near miss" as two of the 12 hit locations, which means even if a shot "hits", there's a small chance it deals no damage as the Protomech gets JUST out of the way.

I've seen what a five-man group of the LRM Svars can do. 150 LRMs to target is enough to shake up even an assault 'Mech- of course, 5 of those things is 70 tons of wing-in-ground-effect trouble flying your way, anyhow...

[Rodney28021]

Classic Battletech TRO Prototypes

Svartalfa Ultra Protomech
Looks like a humanoid horse with wings
14 tons
walk 1
run 1
WIGE cruise mp 4
WIGE flank mp 6
65 points of armor

2 medium chemical lasers with 15 shots each
Machine gun with 50 shots
Streak 6 with 10 shots

Edited by Rodney28021, 08 June 2012 - 05:59 PM.

[Rodney28021]

Since the name of the game is Mechwarrior, i don't think any player should be driving a protomech on the clan side. A point of protomechs could be a combat pet for a Clan player maybe. Pretty much doubt we will see any. But for the TT game, they are an useful piece on the board if you use them right.

[Gnatter]

What is WIGE? Never seen that movement type.

[Alekzandr Sukhanov]

Rodney28021, on 08 June 2012 - 06:05 PM, said:

Since the name of the game is Mechwarrior, i don't think any player should be driving a protomech on the clan side. A point of protomechs could be a combat pet for a Clan player maybe. Pretty much doubt we will see any. But for the TT game, they are an useful piece on the board if you use them right.

Aff, I played with protomechs quite a bit on MegaMek. They we're funny little buggers, and it helped mix up the game play a bit but, in the end, I'd rather have a light mech. Of course, in an urban environment, they got to be quite useful. Could exit and enter building without rolls or movement penalties, iirc.

There was a team developing a mechwarrior clone years ago, which I got to sample. They had playable BA. They deployed in groups of 5 and you moved them like a single unit. It was interesting. Unpolished but interesting. Could easily see that being a plausable option in an engine like this; allowing you to attempt a swarm if you get close to a mech with chances to crit.

Though I won't be holding my breath to see them implemented. Have a feeling the teams got bigger fish to fry.

Edited by alekzandr sukhanov, 08 June 2012 - 06:16 PM.

[Randalf Yorgen]

Gnatter, on 08 June 2012 - 06:14 PM, said:

What is WIGE? Never seen that movement type.

WING-IN-GROUND-EFFECT, think of using your JJ's to slide you very quickly over the surface of the planet. your feet will actually be less than an inch in the air.

All I can say is "watch out for the tree root over there. 14T will crash very easily if it catches it.

[latdheretic]

Gnatter, on 08 June 2012 - 06:14 PM, said:

What is WIGE? Never seen that movement type.

Wing
In
Ground
Effect

http://en.wikipedia...._effect_vehicle

the TT Rules for them is kinda between a hovercraft, and a vtol. Not very common in Battle Tech, but can be downright useful if done right.

[trycksh0t]

When I read the topic "Protomechs, the way they should be", the only thought I had was

Nonexistent.

[Aethon]

trycksh0t, on 08 June 2012 - 07:07 PM, said:

When I read the topic "Protomechs, the way they should be", the only thought I had was

Nonexistent.

At this point in the timeline, no.

[Xantars]

proto mechs are only toe jam for assult mechs

[Gnatter]

Thank you Randalf and latdheretic for the explination.

[a rabid chihuahua]

I hated the protomechs the 1st time I read about them when they were released. I read the TRO and looked at the weight conversion for the equipment and thought ,jeese great something I can pass off.

[Spagunk]

What you have to remember is that although the idea of proto mechs were flawed (in canon and in practice) their lore directly leads to the development of the WoB version of EI. So if anything, it should be considered a piece that leads up to the jihad.

[ZekeTheZealot]

Im not gonna lie, but if i saw one of those things running at me, i'd flip the hell out.

But if i saw one from the cockpit of my 'Mech, i'd just boot it and keep on shooting Ryoken. Or whatever else the clanners threw at me.

[THELONGSHANKS]

I always thought Protomechs should NOT be

[Deathz Jester]

Cant we just stick with battle armors? lol there's plenty of battle armor suits, like the Gnome, the Golem, the Longinus, the Purifier.... even the Elemental.

[Ramien]

Here's what I dislike about that Svartalfa:
It has more internal structure points than a 20 ton 'Mech. (36 proto Vs 33 for the 20-tonner)
It's only four points shy of the max value of armor for a 20 ton 'Mech, and has fewer locations so it can layer up that armor more.
It has more total head protection(armor + internal) than an Atlas (and the cockpit isn't even in there anyways).
10 shots of SRM-6 should be 667 kg, not 600 (nitpicky)
And it has a chance of being missed even when the dice said it got hit?

[80sGlamRockSensation David Bowie]

The way they should be? I hope by that you mean not at all!