11 replies to this topic

[Vajrabhairava]

Hey everyone,

I have an nice addition to the non-lethal equipment-box mechwarriors choose their supportive payload from:

An auto-repair (dont hve2b supervised;)) drone or bot-like automaton serving the mechpilot as in-game battlefield "medic" for his mech. The repair-drone can only fix some sheets of replacment armor to a mech, bypass broken wirelinks or minor internal damages. So in game-terms this would mean it could handle light and partly medium damage, but only very limited lower heavy damage being helpless confronted with critical repair orders.

I came up with two different options for integration of a repair drone into the game's design:
1.
Repair drone is designed as a new pilots module and the parts and materials used for repair could be designed as consumables.

2.
The RD is like the beagle active probe a piece of equipment to be installed to a mech. In this case I would suggest to give the RD a weight of 1.5 tons using two slots internal space and each unit repair-material which must be like ammo bought and loaded seperatly a weight of 0.5 tons and one slot space requirement.

I would be happy if you would think about the idea and we may be could give it a try to prove itself in the game.
All comments are very welcome. If you like to support the Development of a RD please like the thread.
Thank you for reading and considering in ernest;).

[Elyam]

Automates of that nature don't exist in the BTU. Repair should remain a between-combat event. One exception could be certain uncommon minor repairs (life support single hit, single heat sink, gyro single hit, sensors single hit) that the pilot might do if shut down for 3 minutes (or similar). But this would also require the tracking of pilot tech skills.

[Enzane]

No Repairing in Battletech.

These things have TONS of armor in the way of components. To repair something you have to remove a LOT of slagged armor just to GET to the damaged components.

[Zarlaren]

BTU didn't think outside the box on this one ether so no regen armor, no nanobot regen structual, no shields, no transporters,no photon torpedoes, no phasers, no adaption, no repair drones, no warp cores on drop ships, What you got in BTU is what you got only under special conditions BTU is modified for change. So Basicly only tech allowed here is what is in BTU.

Edited by Zarla, 06 November 2013 - 07:10 PM.

[Fabe]

Zarla, on 06 November 2013 - 07:08 PM, said:

BTU didn't think outside the box on this one ether so no regen armor, no nanobot regen structual, no shields, no transporters,no photon torpedoes, no phasers, no adaption, no repair drones, no warp cores on drop ships, What you got in BTU is what you got only under special conditions BTU is modified for change. So Basicly only tech allowed here is what is in BTU.

And what is so bad about that? Why must BTU copy 'Star Trek' or nay other sci-si series? Not copying every one else is what makes the BTU unique

[Zarlaren]

Fabe, on 06 November 2013 - 07:22 PM, said:

And what is so bad about that? Why must BTU copy 'Star Trek' or nay other sci-si series? Not copying every one else is what makes the BTU unique

Well yeah it is unique it is both good and bad. I do wished BTU had tougher armor for mechs but that is about it. Nothing major as nanobot repair.

[Corralis]

Other than the fact that repair bots are not in lore (which in itself is too big to ignore), repair bots would still be a very bad idea because it would take aspects of tactics out of MWO. If you could just push straight through an enemy line knowing that the only consequence is that you have to run and hide somewhere to repair your Mech, it would make suicide tactics viable and that defeats the whole point of MWO. I say this too many times but this game is not your bog standard FPS shooter, it's a simulation and as such you need to think about every move you make. It's tactics ladies and gentlemen, and we should never be trying to find a way to remove the few features we have to keep it as a simulation and not the FPS shooter that some people think it is (or that maybe PGI would like it to be).

[Enzane]

I think it's IGP (Infinite Games Publishing) that wishes MWO was a FPS Run'n'gun cash cow like PlanetSide 2 is.

PGI (Piranha Games Inc) has the MechWarrior/BattleTech Fans in it. They have stated several mechs and maps were made internally, that fans would love, that were shot down by IGP.

PGI is just the programmer and Developer. They Make the game. IGP (infinite Games Publishing) Decides what we actually get, and takes most of the money.

[Corralis]

Enzane, on 07 November 2013 - 04:54 AM, said:

I think it's IGP (Infinite Games Publishing) that wishes MWO was a FPS Run'n'gun cash cow like PlanetSide 2 is.

PGI (Piranha Games Inc) has the MechWarrior/BattleTech Fans in it. They have stated several mechs and maps were made internally, that fans would love, that were shot down by IGP.

PGI is just the programmer and Developer. They Make the game. IGP (infinite Games Publishing) Decides what we actually get, and takes most of the money.

I'm not convinced that IGP are the evil publisher they are made out to be, they are certainly not on the same level of pure evil that EA are.

[Enzane]

Corralis, on 07 November 2013 - 08:39 AM, said:

I'm not convinced that IGP are the evil publisher they are made out to be, they are certainly not on the same level of pure evil that EA are.

You have a point there. I'm not TRYING to make IGP out to be evil. Only that it's their JOB to make the Game Profitable.

While it's PGI's job to be fans and make the game Epic. It's just sad that so many of the ideas seem unable to fit both these goals.

[CDLord HHGD]

Zarla, on 06 November 2013 - 07:08 PM, said:

BTU didn't think outside the box on this one ether so no regen armor, no nanobot regen structual, no shields, no transporters,no photon torpedoes, no phasers, no adaption, no repair drones, no warp cores on drop ships, What you got in BTU is what you got only under special conditions BTU is modified for change. So Basicly only tech allowed here is what is in BTU.

I love BTU the way it is.... Nitty gritty warfare. No shields, no ablative armor, none of the fancy **** listed above.

[Elyam]

Adding to my previous post: I see it here the same way I did as a GM running BT/MW campaigns for many years. The Mechwarrior can have a range of basic or highly accomplished tech skills that allow minor and specific simple repairs from within the cockpit (re-route power, reboot systems, various modular computer routine runs, physical module or board replacement, wiring harness repair or replace) or even something similar during a very short stroll outside the cockpit. And these could account for an ability, with the right skill, to do something like bringing a single heatsink back online, repair of a single gyro hit, a life support hit, a sensors hit, maybe even a small chance of repairing a weapons hit.

This minor addition from the original Mechwarrior RPG rules wouldn't be a bad thing in MWO, but it should require a cost, like a 90-second shutdown, and it should have a chance of failing. Perhaps even allow a buddy to park alongside for that time and use his higher skill to do the repair. It could be displayed in the HUD by something as simple as a system list (aka the same systems shown on the original mech record sheet) that is normally green, and if a system takes repairable damage (like a single basic gyro hit), the line goes yellow. If it takes irreparable damage, it goes red. You shut down, select a yellow system, and wait. Or if we want a player-skill system, use a mini-game. After 90 seconds (or whatever), you succeed or fail. Start back up and go on your merry way, perhaps with a fixed system.

Would we really want such an addition? eh, perhaps not. You'd get you're butt shot out from under you more times than not. Is a simple system repair of 1 HS or a shaky gyro worth pulling your firepower from the company for that length of time? Can't really say it is. So in the end, such player-driven repair systems should be saved for the between-battle experience, where repair and rearm would have a slightly reduced cost if your pilot's own tech skills are good.

Edited by Elyam, 14 November 2013 - 02:56 PM.