26 replies to this topic

[RiggsIron]

Will add to the various Therma posts.

Others have posted about the absurdity of a 'hot' map having any real effect at all on mechs that have heat sinks a 1000 years on the future that can dissipate heat from a fusion reactor and weapons generating thousands of degrees of heat - but cannot handle air temperature lower than that of boiling water.

Add in long walks around mountains which for slower non-jump jet mechs is AWESOME FUN!

Add in base capping.

Add in a middle slaughter circle that whoever gets there a few seconds faster than the other team can uttterly dominate then - or else to avoid it you have to spend 2 minutes going around a giant mountain.

It is like a map designed by devs to grief players - I mean who would think this was fun in any way? Except for the 2 light mechs that run and start base capping - forcing people to turn around and begin a long slog back over annoying terrain - because that is fun eh!

The new map is fun - and has zero of the features that everyone hates so much about Terra Therma. So why not just take it out entirely? Since making people hate playing a game does not seem like a good long term strategy.

[Solomon Ward]

RiggsIron, on 02 October 2013 - 10:43 PM, said:

Others have posted about the absurdity of a 'hot' map having any real effect at all on mechs that have heat sinks a 1000 years on the future that can dissipate heat from a fusion reactor and weapons generating thousands of degrees of heat - but cannot handle air temperature lower than that of boiling water.

Nothing absurd about it.

This is simply not the high-tech future you are looking for.

It is medieval times but with stompy robots and that is what we love.

Mechwarrior tend to sit almost naked in their cockpits to handle the heat inside.

We just wear an ingame suit for the Americans.trololol

Edited by Solomon Ward, 02 October 2013 - 10:56 PM.

[Sephlock]

Gillopi, on 02 October 2013 - 10:47 PM, said:

girl and keep them comming the hard and more messed up the better... make them earm that xp and cbill's

Edited by Sephlock, 02 October 2013 - 10:58 PM.

[SnowdogJJJ]

Yup the harder the better, no more "everyone gets a trophy" socialist {Scrap}. Darwin said it the best it is not he is the strongest but he who can adapt the best that wins (of course I paraphrased )

Another great sage.. "damn I look good.. come get some" Duke Nukem

and then there is ME! - "For beer and bacon"

[Steelgrave]

Initially I hated Terra Therma in all ways but aesthetically, but eventually it grew on me, and now I love it.

A lot of possible ways the match can go, fights can and often do break out in the damnedest places (though center does get a lot of action often), and it challenges a player to manage their mech well and/or make efficient builds.

Now anyway. When it first hit I saw a great deal of base rushing. Less so now for some reason.

I've had some very entertaining battles there.

[Sephlock]

Steelgrave, on 03 October 2013 - 08:17 PM, said:

Initially I hated Terra Therma in all ways but aesthetically, but eventually it grew on me, and now I love it.

It's your precious...

[Magna Canus]

Terra therma definately has its rewarding moments. last night I dropped in a PUG match; we were down 1 mech (Hunchback disconnected) and the team was wandering about like a bowl of slowly stirred soup. I knew we would never make it to the center first (almost vital for a good Thunderdome performance) so I suggested a base defend and wow, everybody agreed.

Scouts went out a bit and patrolled the perimiter, fire support mechs too to the ridges, Assaults and LRMs stayed in the middle to close breaches in the line. It was a wonderful game and that with PUGs that started out with zero plan. We ended up winning with 2 left alive after the final rush over the ridge to sweep up a Stalker and Two Atlas'.

I dont think that that game would have happened on any other map. Terra therma challenges you to keep one eye forward and one eye in the back. Once you commit to a tactical plan you have to follow through to the end. Fire control and teamwork is of vital importance and I think that is exactly what makes Terra therma great, its like the hard school of the basic philosophy of success in this game; have a plan, stick together, cover your buddy and dont run so hot that you shut down.

[Piney II]

I've been in some epic brawls on Terra Therma. Teamwork is essential on this map.

[Sandpit]

RiggsIron, on 02 October 2013 - 10:43 PM, said:

Will add to the various Therma posts.

Others have posted about the absurdity of a 'hot' map having any real effect at all on mechs that have heat sinks a 1000 years on the future that can dissipate heat from a fusion reactor and weapons generating thousands of degrees of heat - but cannot handle air temperature lower than that of boiling water.

Add in long walks around mountains which for slower non-jump jet mechs is AWESOME FUN!

Add in base capping.

Add in a middle slaughter circle that whoever gets there a few seconds faster than the other team can uttterly dominate then - or else to avoid it you have to spend 2 minutes going around a giant mountain.

It is like a map designed by devs to grief players - I mean who would think this was fun in any way? Except for the 2 light mechs that run and start base capping - forcing people to turn around and begin a long slog back over annoying terrain - because that is fun eh!

The new map is fun - and has zero of the features that everyone hates so much about Terra Therma. So why not just take it out entirely? Since making people hate playing a game does not seem like a good long term strategy.

You do realize that every reference in all of the tabletop rules, canon, novels, etc. Allows for extra heat due to environment right? You give a basis to this due to the technology but everything written about the technology in the history of this universe contradicts everything you just said. Everything.

[S3dition]

Solomon Ward, on 02 October 2013 - 10:54 PM, said:

Nothing absurd about it.

This is simply not the high-tech future you are looking for.

It is medieval times but with stompy robots and that is what we love.

Mechwarrior tend to sit almost naked in their cockpits to handle the heat inside.

We just wear an ingame suit for the Americans.trololol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FASA

Note country of origin.

[Kaijin]

S3dition, on 06 October 2013 - 11:50 AM, said:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FASA

Note country of origin.

Note this:

http://usatoday30.us.../29/statues.htm

[Sephlock]

Kaijin, on 06 October 2013 - 12:31 PM, said:

Note this:

http://usatoday30.us.../29/statues.htm

We're just wearing Star League style coolant suits (which are TOTALLY different from Far Cry style suits... really!)

[S3dition]

Kaijin, on 06 October 2013 - 12:31 PM, said:

Note this:

http://usatoday30.us.../29/statues.htm

Fighting with a straw man? That has nothing to do with battletech, or the fact that the notion of piloting a battlemech naked was created by an American company, but was censored by the Canadian company that is developing the game and produced the pilot model.

[Bhael Fire]

Therma is the best map in the game. I love it.

[Wintersdark]

I love the map, in theory. I think it's awesome in group battles - there's a lot of room for strategy.

I absolutely hate solo dropping in pugs on it, though.

There are essentially 3 ways a battle can play out on Terra Therma in a PUG:

1) People push into Theta, we have a wonderful brawl, either it ends right there or the other side scatters (conquest game is still up in the air but definitely on the side of the victors, or assault is over but for the basecapping)
2) One side stumbles at the entrace with people chickening out. That side loses, period. This isn't a problem in organized play, because you can elect to NOT have half your force try to play sniperwarrior and get focussed down while the other half cannot fire at all.
3) One side decides not to go into the caldera. Battle ends up being a pointless no-combat basecap game, because it takes so damn long to walk all the way around.

For me, it's just insanely frustrating. Either my teammates chicken out and bottleneck in the entrance to the crater, or they decline to go in at all. But because the crater is the only fast way through the map, if we DON'T go in, we play capwarrior.

[Kaijin]

S3dition, on 06 October 2013 - 01:31 PM, said:

Fighting with a straw man? That has nothing to do with battletech, or the fact that the notion of piloting a battlemech naked was created by an American company, but was censored by the Canadian company that is developing the game and produced the pilot model.

It has something to do with it. FASA produced content for a niche market, and subsequent iterations of Battletech and then Mechwarrior were also niche, so it didn't matter how scantily clad everyone was. IGPGI wants to denichefy the IP, and while they are a Canadian concern, the large part of who they're marketing to is the U.S., long held by other Countries as prudish in nature.

As to the OP, I hate the map too. Not because of the heat, but because of the stupid symmetry of it. It reminds me of this:
http://youtu.be/NIHqyfewiCg

Edited by Kaijin, 06 October 2013 - 04:13 PM.

[Magna Canus]

Last night I had my second best PUG match on this map, the first best was on this map as well which I posted above. I can only encourage people to consider the additional option of base defense on this map.

Last time we had 1 disconnect and a bunch of aimless people, this time we had 2 disconnects but the people were more coordianted. Again we defended our base with firing lines, spotters, etc. and ended up crushing the other side. All the PUGs did really well with great communication and focus fire.

This time the enemy had ECM cover on almost all fronts and brought a lot of PPCs to bear. We kept the firing lines tight and when a light would rush our base 3 or 4 people would jump in, kill it, and then return to the line.

[MeiSooHaityu]

The more I play Terra, the more I can see the flaws (the traffic jams that coccur when getting into the volcano is one).

Still, I like Terra for the most part. The only map I dislike is Alpine, but even that map I can live with.

[Gremlich Johns]

Steelgrave, on 03 October 2013 - 08:17 PM, said:

and it challenges a player to manage their mech well and/or make efficient builds.

Assuming you can select the map you are dropping on, this is correct. However, such is not the case.

[Daekar]

This thread requires a huge block of cheese as accompaniment.

Regarding pilot suits vs. near naked MechWarriors: the US was largely colonized by fanatical Puritans and the majority of the Bible-thumping contingent still doesn't see the contradictions inherent in a philosophy that maintains humanity was created in God's image but also maintains that the image is taboo. What do you expect? Some of us don't care, but some of us do. We ALL have money that's worth the same, however, and so IGP would be completely stupid NOT to do what they did. It was a good decision.

Regarding Terra Therma: This map offers strategic problems that must be avoided or overcome if success is to be managed, and it does NOT cater to the masses running assault mechs - it's a chance for mediums and lights to shine. Stop whining that it takes you a long time to get around on the map and drop in a bigger engine. Or... *gasp* buy a mech that can outrun the lava flows and get in the game.