9 replies to this topic

[Evil Ash]

Did anyone else find it... weird that the Thunderbolt's cockpit is on the wrong side? I searched the forums for anyone else thinking this, but couldn't find anyone, is this some sort of ComStar conspiracy?

Edited by Evil Ash, 11 July 2013 - 10:14 AM.

[Cache]

Not really, it's not the first Project Phoenix design to do this...




The original stats never matched the art, and honestly I'd have a problem with PGI 'solving' the problem by changing the stats. I don't want 2-3 missile hardpoints and 3 energy hardpoints in the left torso. I prefer having a near equal number of weapons on both sides of my Mech in case I lose a side torso.

[Lusankya]

Cache, on 11 July 2013 - 10:22 AM, said:

Not really, it's not the first Project Phoenix design to do this...




The original stats never matched the art, and honestly I'd have a problem with PGI 'solving' the problem by changing the stats. I don't want 2-3 missile hardpoints and 3 energy hardpoints in the left torso. I prefer having a near equal number of weapons on both sides of my Mech in case I lose a side torso.

That is one of my favourite mechs. It just looks so bad a** .

Edited by Lusankya, 11 July 2013 - 10:27 AM.

[Evil Ash]

In which case, will the other thunderbolts they're releasing, that i'm assuming aren't phoenix variants, have a flipped cockpit?

[Tennex]

probably legal reasons.

[General Taskeen]

Evil Ash,

If you are able to look through the newest Technical Readouts (from Catalyst) they contain the "updated" art that more closely resembles specific variants and their record sheets. You can find some of those pictures on the sarna.net wiki. This is what the concept artists do for MWO as well, since every Mech in the game is based on the record sheet, but uses older artwork as inspiration.

The original, older Thunderbolt artwork was based on a Mech from a cartoon, hence why it originally shows the cockpit and missile pod switched, but the newest art is different since they emulate or try their best to mimic where weapons are located from a record sheet.

The Thunderbolt-5S record sheet for example: http://goodsects.got...te/pdf/4268.pdf (the LRM15 is on the right torso)

You can also search for any record sheet here: http://www.cooltexan.com/bte (just type in the name of the mech in the search field)

Edited by General Taskeen, 11 July 2013 - 10:53 AM.

[Cache]

Evil Ash, on 11 July 2013 - 10:29 AM, said:

In which case, will the other thunderbolts they're releasing, that i'm assuming aren't phoenix variants, have a flipped cockpit?

Since "Unseen" artwork for the other variants was never produced, how do you know the cockpit orientations of them? Yes, I know that's a cruddy comeback/justification, but it's there nonetheless. Look to the BattleTech Project Phoenix artwork for what they will likely do. LT-located missiles are put under the cockpit.

[TehSBGX]

Tennex, on 11 July 2013 - 10:37 AM, said:

probably legal reasons.

Most likely this.

[SgtMagor]

its a Summoner in disguise

[Hans Von Lohman]

It was a typo in the original board game. The Missile Launcher was typed up as a Right Torso weapon.

Well, rather than fix the typo they tried re-designing the mechs to get around the lawsuits, and re-drew the mechs as project phoenix. One of the ways to get the Thunderbolt back in the game was to actually use the typo as fact and their re-designed T-bolt has the cockpit and missile launcher swapped.

That gave them the option to say, "Hey, our mech isn't that other anime Dougram design. See, the cockpit of our machine is on the other side. Don't sue us."

Personally, I actually think the Project Phoenix mech that Flying Debris before did looks better than the official PGI Thunderbolt he is now doing. I miss the roll bars around the cockpit, and the dog jointed lower legs.

Edited by Hans Von Lohman, 11 July 2013 - 12:17 PM.