1978 replies to this topic

[Dark Severance]

I think you are doing it wrong. You really shouldn't have to tweak weapons if you design matchmaking to pair clan style. For example 12 vs 5 with the 12 being Inner Sphere and the 5 being only Clan.

The once Inner Sphere ramps up to start to be more equivalent, then it scales to 12 vs 10.

[Scryed]

see I have been saying for so long that there is too much freedom with the hardpoint system and they should just have ran with a different system long ago. Now we will have clan mechs that aren't customizable but there will be variants, isn't that just stock mech gameplay???

So what about clan mechs that come default with targeting computers, yet we have instant convergence so its a waste of tonnage, Game needs some serious help right now with how its being done cause from what I have seen IS mechs are more Omni than the clan mechs.

Edited by Scryed, 20 December 2013 - 05:55 PM.

[Aros]

[color=#959595]Even through lore, zellbrigen was essentially phased out due to non-adherence by the Inner Sphere MechWarriors on the field of combat. [/color]<----- WTH are you talking about? The clans follow this BECAUSE it sets them apart from the Inner Sphere mechwarriors. They always follow it until they the rules are broken,,

[Isamu The Mad]

Unfortunately, I can't see myself investing any more time or money into this game in its current state and the state being proposed for Clan mechs. There are just too many balance issues, poorly implemented functionality, lack of new maps, and lets not talk about matchmaking.

There is only one way to make this work PGI. Are you listening?

Make them separate clients. Make your customers choose which side to play (IS vs Clan). Do not allow any cross tech between them. Do not allow Inner Sphere C-Bills to be spent on Clan Tech or mechs. Make Clans earn less C-Bills (since they fight for the honor of their Clan and not for personal gain). Inner Sphere mech pilots who have Mastered their mech (pilot skills and modules) should be able to go over their tonnage requirement. Clans never fielded the same number of mechs compared to Inner Sphere in combat anyway. So when doing IS to Clan matchups, let the IS keep their 3 lances (12 mechs) (or maybe up it to 4 lances of 16 mechs) and put them up against 2 stars of Clan (10 mechs). With the ability to exceed their tonnage values, the Inner Sphere could easily out weigh the Clans, especially if you forced Clan stars to always require 2 lights, 1 medium, 1 heavy, and 1 assault whereas Inner Sphere can bring whatever they want. Even if Clans were allowed to bring 1 light, 1 medium, 2 heavy, and 1 assault per star... Inner Sphere would still have more tonnage.

So, now the Inner Sphere has the ability to compete with the Clans and you don't have to change tonnage, heat, ranges, etc. Especially if you go back and fix Ghost Heat and some of the balance issues with the various IS weaponry/tech and make them each viable for use.

Edited by Isamu The Mad, 20 December 2013 - 08:17 PM.

[Talon Pryde]

I love the Clans as much as anyone but the pricing is a little far out there; I agree with the idea of choosing IS or Clan with no cross tech.

[TJ Saint]

I would say, Take the easy way out: crank the heat up in direct ratio to how much more compact clan tech is in relation to IS tech. Another thing, I think this obsession with balance in gaming has gone too far.

[Wolfways]

At this point i think a better idea (than PGI's) would be to have clan equipment function exactly the same as IS equipment with the only advantage being weight/crit slots requirement, and make clan mechs just as customizable as current IS mechs.
At least then clan weapons will be as equally unbalanced/broken as IS weapons.

But i don't care how OP clan tech is. I just like the clan mech designs.

[Taemien]

Miken, on 20 December 2013 - 01:48 AM, said:

Then it's not omnimech at all
Look here - this is true omnislots on true omnimech
http://bte.battletec...te/pdf/4969.pdf

And so is this:

Mad Cat (Timber Wolf)
Mass: 75 tons
Tech Base: Clan
Chassis Config: Biped Omnimech
Rules Level: Tournament Legal
Era: Succession Wars
Tech Rating/Era Availability: E/X-E-E
Production Year: 2945
Cost: 21,366,406 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,066
Chassis: Unknown Endo-Steel
Power Plant: Unknown 375 Fusion XL Engine
Walking Speed: 54.0 km/h
Maximum Speed: 86.4 km/h
Jump Jets: Unknown
	Jump Capacity: 0 meters
Armor: Unknown Ferro-Fibrous
Armament:
	27.5 tons of pod space.
Manufacturer: Unknown
	Primary Factory: Unknown
Communications System: Unknown
Targeting and Tracking System: Unknown
Additional:
 
================================================================================
Equipment		   Type						 Rating				   Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Endo-Steel				   114 points				4.00
	Internal Locations: 1 CT, 1 LT, 1 RT, 2 LL, 2 RL
Engine:			 XL Fusion Engine			 375					  19.50
	Walking MP: 5
	Running MP: 8
	Jumping MP: 0
Heat Sinks:		 Double Heat Sink			 15(30)					5.00
Gyro:			   Standard											   4.00
Cockpit:			Standard											   3.00
	Actuators:	  L: SH+UA	R: SH+UA
Armor:			  Ferro-Fibrous				AV - 230				 12.00
	Armor Locations: 1 HD, 2 LT, 2 RT, 1 LA, 1 RA
													  Internal	   Armor	
													  Structure	  Factor	
												Head	 3			9		
										Center Torso	 23		   36	  
								 Center Torso (rear)				  9		
										   L/R Torso	 16		   25	  
									L/R Torso (rear)				  7		
											 L/R Arm	 12		   24	  
											 L/R Leg	 16		   32	  
================================================================================
Loadout Name: Prime										  Cost: 22,892,188
Tech Rating/Era Availability: F/X-E-E						 BV2: 2,738
Rules Level: Era Specific
Equipment		   Type						 Rating				   Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heat Sinks:		 Double Heat Sink			 20(40)					5.00
	Heat Sink Locations: 2 LT, 1 RT, 1 LA, 1 RA
	Actuators:	  L: SH+UA+LA	R: SH+UA+LA
Equipment								 Location	Heat	Critical	Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 Medium Pulse Lasers						RA		8		 2		 4.00
2 Medium Pulse Lasers						LA		8		 2		 4.00
3 Medium Pulse Lasers						RT		12		3		 6.00
3 Medium Pulse Lasers						LT		12		3		 6.00
Medium Pulse Laser						   CT		4		 1		 2.00

But as you can see, true omnis aren't going to work here.

Thats just something derpy I whipped up in literally 2 minutes. Imagine what kind of abominations someone could do with a little time. Maybe something like a daishi equipped like this:

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Gausszilla

Well actually no since engines are limited. But you get the idea.

I think its safe to say... using TT to explain this {Scrap} isn't going to work here. Again.. MechWarrior =/= BattleTech... Thank God.

Edited by Taemien, 20 December 2013 - 11:17 PM.

[Russhuster]

the big Question seems to be in general
HAS clan tech to be balanced ? or does it give more spice to the game when it is not nerfed to just a different looking mech?
DO we, the players WANT clan tech reduced in every aspect to inner sphere standarts or even lower?
what sense would there be left to spend th absolutely ridiculous ammount 0f 210 or even 240!! Bucks for what?
a mech that is less omni than the inner sphere ones? tech that will be nerved down to nothing?

By the way thjere is there a major mistake in the collection? correct me if iam wrong there. Isnt summoner a 65 ton mech known as Loki and the Thor, a 70 tonner is known as Nemesis here addressed as summoner and thor in one line

Rußhuster

[Borgadun]

Russhuster, on 21 December 2013 - 04:59 AM, said:

the big Question seems to be in general
HAS clan tech to be balanced ? or does it give more spice to the game when it is not nerfed to just a different looking mech?
DO we, the players WANT clan tech reduced in every aspect to inner sphere standarts or even lower?
what sense would there be left to spend th absolutely ridiculous ammount 0f 210 or even 240!! Bucks for what?
a mech that is less omni than the inner sphere ones? tech that will be nerved down to nothing?

The tech could be balanced, but should be at a later time. In my opinion Clan-tech shoud be limited to Clan-mechs for a few months at least. Since there is a need for multipel variants to be skilled there is only the way they go with their idea of "Omni" but we will still be able to costomize the loadout. Maybe some mechs, like the ULLER will come with a different number of slots since the variant Prime, alt. A, and alt. B look like the same.

Russhuster, on 21 December 2013 - 04:59 AM, said:

By the way thjere is there a major mistake in the collection? correct me if iam wrong there. Isnt summoner a 65 ton mech known as Loki and the Thor, a 70 tonner is known as Nemesis here addressed as summoner and thor in one line

Rußhuster

Shown mech in the collection is the Summoner (Thor).

http://www.sarna.net...oner_%28Thor%29

By the way, there is no Nemesis. You mean the Hellbringer (Loki).

http://www.sarna.net...nger_%28Loki%29

Edited by Borgadun, 21 December 2013 - 07:27 AM.

[Friedhelm Stein]

Every game has Rules. These rules are fpr balancing the game and make it fun.
When people play a game, they have to accept the rules the game has.
These rules can and must be sometimes challenging just for the sake of fun,
because overcoming and using the rules to beat your opponent ist the goal of evry game.

To include the clans without the technological advancements and the rules they are bound to,
is just giving more diffrent looking mechs to the audience.
(Which is, sadly, one step further to another WOT-clone with just more adjustment options of the tanks.)

Just bring in the Zellbrigen.
give Clan players C-bill punishments for not following the rules.
Maybe a honor system can be included.
Let them fight against more Innesphere-mechs, they have the power for that.
Reward the innersphere-players with c-bill bonuses and maybe some little clan-tech.

In my opinion:
To soften up a game to just reach a greater audience ist just wrong, because this is the case by the most games these days.
There are very few challenging games these days.

[Russhuster]

thank you Borgadun
i may ve been irritated by that
http://www.mizukage....bc/nemesis.html

in my opinion the ballancing by number or better by dropworth as described by an former writer seems to satisfy all requirements for ballance. the clans were never conceptet as an even force or ballanced
therefore one should be payed in clan honor with allowes one to buy clan equipment and fit it into clan mechs only for a very long period of time that should spiceup the fun factor in the game for the spherers as they have a chance to play the defence of the is with advantage in number and the clanner to have the flair of superior tech.

for example

the inner sphere pilot is payed in c bills for its victory 126 000
and can buy inner sphere stuff to equip and upgrade his mechs

the clanner is grantet in the same system but when in a clan mech the currency is honor, allowing him to get better equipment for his mech so both can easyly done by the same engine

Edited by Russhuster, 21 December 2013 - 10:35 AM.

[J0anna]

Wolfways, on 20 December 2013 - 09:13 PM, said:

At this point i think a better idea (than PGI's) would be to have clan equipment function exactly the same as IS equipment with the only advantage being weight/crit slots requirement, and make clan mechs just as customizable as current IS mechs.
At least then clan weapons will be as equally unbalanced/broken as IS weapons.

But i don't care how OP clan tech is. I just like the clan mech designs.

And how would you suggest UAC-20's should work? Medium ER lasers? What about SSRM-6's? There are many clan weapons that there are simply no equivalent IS weapons. That was the whole point, even though greatly outnumbered, the clans pushed the IS to the brink of defeat. Only the Comguards (who had screwed over the rest of the Inner Sphere for centuries) were able to stop the clans (and they used Star League era weapons/mechs)

This totally ignores the fact that the Clans could have easily defeated the entire Inner Sphere if they used their navy for orbital bombardment. The Inner Sphere had NO warships at all, the clans could have obliterated enemy concentrations from space with impunity.

The Inner Sphere (really the Com Guards) won on the ground with superior numbers, tactics and Artillery/Air assets. We have no chance to accomplish that feat in this game

Simply put - DO NOT nerf clan tech/omnimech to the extent described. Allow IS mechs to use clan weapons, but allow clan mechs full functionality (i.e. IS mechs must use IS engines/Endo and FF, clan mechs can use Clan ENDO and FF and Clan engines, but can't change Endo and FF choices, also as opposed to swapping weapons, they swap parts - this allows for engine and armor fine tuning, yes eventually everyone will use clan weapons, but think of it this way, in 3055 - will anyone be using the obsolete weapons from 3050? To put it another way, Why do we even need single heat sinks to be 'balanced'? Doubles were significantly better, and once produced in mass, very few new mechs bothered using them). Thus when the later advanced weapons come around, there will be no need to nerf anything, as both sides gain significantly better weapons.

For those who say Omnimechs couldn't adjust Armor/Engines, remember IS mechs couldn't change anything - so that taboo has already been violated.

So Sorry PGI, if you want my money, you'll have to produce real clan mechs, the kind that make the IS tremble when they see them.

Lethal Heritage:

" A cold chill ran down his spine as Phe­lan re­al­ized the Grif­fin and the Ri­fle­man had been sim­ilar­ly sav­aged. Ei­ther thoseother guys are very un­lucky, or they're plac­ing shots with greater care than al­most any Mech­War­rior this side of Jaime Wolf or my fa­ther.

As if they had read his thoughts, the three un­known 'Mechs moved in. The one that had brought the Lo­cust down came to a stop just over nine hun­dred me­ters from the Pan­ther and brought both pods up. Twin large-​laser beams flashed out and caught the Pan­ther in the back of its thighs. What lit­tle ar­mor still re­mained on the pi­rate 'Mech's legs van­ished in a cloud of ce­ram­ic steam. My­omer mus­cles ran like wa­ter and boiled away where they touched the ti­****­mag­ne­sium fe­murs that held the Pan­ther up­right. The lasers am­pu­tat­ed the Pan­ther's legs with sur­gi­cal pre­ci­sion. Its legs cut out from un­der it, the Pan­ther smashed flat on its back and did not move as the dust stirred up by its fall quick­ly drift­ed down to coat it with a red blan­ket.

“Blake's Blood!Did you see that, Phe­lan?” A trem­ble in Jack Tang's nor­mal­ly calm voice be­trayed his un­ease.

Phe­lan stared at the com­put­er pro­jec­tion of the range and dam­age done to the Pan­ther. Sev­en hun­dred me­ters for a large laser! That's im­pos­si­ble! They can on­ly hit at 450 max. He hit a but­ton that opened a tight chan­nel be­tween him and Hound Lead­er. “I don't like this, Jack. Keep Trey and Kat out of this. Je­sus Christ Almighty, look at what they've done to the Ri­fle­man!”

The twin 'Mechs mov­ing in on the last op­er­ational pi­rate ma­chine si­mul­ta­ne­ous­ly let fly with short-​range mis­sile bar­rages and bursts from their du­al au­to­can­nons.The mis­siles cov­ered the trapped Ri­fle­man with ex­plo­sions. The blasts stag­gered the ma­chine and opened cratered wounds in its ar­mor, which oozed melt­ed met­al. The pi­lot, fight­ing for con­trol, some­how man­aged to keep the Ri­fle­man on its broad, flat feet.

Phe­lan sud­den­ly found him­self hop­ing for the im­pos­si­ble, that the Ri­fle­man could win out.

The gray 'Mechs it faced did not give the pi­rate a chance. Sparks lanced from the bar­rels of his guns as one of the pi­lots walked his au­to­can­non fire along them and in­to the Ri­fle­man's right shoul­der. Ar­mor flew in a bliz­zard from the dam­aged limb, thenan ex­plo­sion flipped the arm up and out. It cartwheeled through the air, bounc­ing off sev­er­al rocks be­fore it crashed to the ground.

The sec­ond mys­tery 'Mech raked one stream of au­to­can­non shells across the Ri­fle­man's bel­ly. The pro­jec­tiles ripped jagged scars in the 'Mech's ar­mored flesh while the oth­er au­to­can­non's de­struc­tive fire gnawed away at the Ri­fle­man's al­ready-​mauled left shoul­der. It sliced through the re­main­ing ar­mor and drive mech­anisms with the ease of a ra­zor carv­ing flesh. The 'Mech's left arm lurched, then dropped to­ward the ground, on­ly to be jerked to a halt by use­less drive chains and belt­ed links of au­to­can­non am­mo. Swing­ing slow­ly back and forth, the arm dan­gled like an or­na­ment, mock­ing the Ri­fle­man's once-​formidable de­struc­tive ca­pa­bil­ities.

“Hound Deuce, I'm go­ing to hail these guys. I'll of­fer them the sal­vage on these 'Mechs. Maybe they'll give us Ken­ny to take back and col­lect our pay.”

Fear boiled up from Phe­lan's gut. “Jack, don't. Get the hell out of here.” He start­ed run­ning the Wolfhound for­ward. Move it, Jack! They're up to some­thing!

“Get back here, Phe­lan! That's an or­der!” Anger rip­pled through Tang's voice. “Dammit, fol­low my or­ders just for once!”

“And let you die? No way. Move it, Jack! Jump out of there!”

The two 'Mechs that had dust­ed the Ri­fle­man locked their weapons down on the Black­jack in the plain be­low them. As they trig­gered their bursts, the Ri­fle­man shot at both of them with its tor­so-​mount­ed medi­um lasers. At the same time, Tang hit his jump jets, send­ing his 'Mech in­to the thin at­mo­sphere on sil­very ion jets.

The Ri­fle­man's at­tacks caught the mys­tery 'Mechs by sur­prise, spoil­ing their aim some­what. Still, de­spite the dis­trac­tion, the range, and Tang's jump, one of the pi­lots man­aged to hit with both au­to­can­non shots. The de­plet­ed-​ura­ni­um slugs zipped up the back of the Black­jack's left leg. Its ar­mor peeled off and fell away as if it were di­aphanous silk in­stead of tons of ce­ram­ic ar­mor. A sil­ver spray of ions shot out at the back of the Black­jack's thigh, start­ing the 'Mech in­to a slow spin.

“Feath­er the right jet, Jack! This rock's light grav­ity and thin air mean you can go fur­ther. Get clear!” He'll make it if that oth­er 'Mech doesn't take a shot at him! Burst­ing in­to the open, Phe­lan turned to­ward the first gray 'Mech he had seen. He brought the Wolfhound's large laser up and trig­gered a shot, but be­ing be­yond his max­imum ef­fec­tive range, the shot did noth­ing.

The first gray 'Mech launched two flights of LRMs at the slow­ly spin­ning Black­jack. Mov­ing at ten times the dam­aged 'Mech's speed, the lethal rock­ets slammed in­to it mer­ci­less­ly. Ex­plo­sions wreathed both legs in gold­en-​red flame, thena sil­ver coro­na ripped the fire­ball in half. As the bril­liant light of un­con­trolled jump jets van­ished, tak­ing the Black­jack's legs with it, the air­borne 'Mech's arms flailed help­less­ly to counter the back­ward som­er­sault the mis­siles had giv­en it.

Phe­lan tried to turn away as Jack's 'Mech tum­bled to the ground, but he could not tear his eyes from the dis­play. The 'Mech's leg stumps slammed in­to the ground first, scor­ing deep fur­rows in the plan­et's sur­face.The sud­den stop re­versed the 'Mech's ro­ta­tion and smashed it face-​first against a rusty hillock. Ar­mor flew whirling in un­even clumps, then­the Black­jack's domed head sheared off. It bounced halfway up the hill as the tor­so flipped and twist­ed awk­ward­ly. The Black­jack's body ripped it­self apart as the au­to­can­non am­mo nes­tled in its breast det­onat­ed.

Hot, salty tears poured down Phe­lan's cheeks as he cut his 'Mech to the right. The first 'Mech's twin lasers burned par­al­lel tracks through where he had just been, re­duc­ing iron ore to glow­ing slag. There, dammit, you missed! You're not in­vin­ci­ble.

Some­thing in­side his head screamed at him that what he was do­ing was sui­ci­dal, but an­oth­er part of him didn't care. Yet his aware­ness of the hideous threat posed by these uniden­ti­fi­able 'Mechs made him key a dump of his bat­tle recorder's da­ta and cre­ate a si­mul­ta­ne­ous bat­tle-​feed to a wide­beam broad­cast. He pumped ex­tra pow­er in­to the broad­cast, drain­ing it away from the Wolfhound's rear-​arc medi­um laser. “Trey, Kat, any­body.I hope like hell this makes it out. Get clear. This da­ta is more im­por­tant than get­ting killed to avenge ei­ther one of us.”"

THAT's the CLANS - and That's what I'll pay for.

Edited by Moenrg, 21 December 2013 - 11:55 AM.

[Fate 6]

Borgadun, on 21 December 2013 - 07:20 AM, said:

The tech could be balanced, but should be at a later time. In my opinion Clan-tech shoud be limited to Clan-mechs for a few months at least. Since there is a need for multipel variants to be skilled there is only the way they go with their idea of "Omni" but we will still be able to costomize the loadout. Maybe some mechs, like the ULLER will come with a different number of slots since the variant Prime, alt. A, and alt. B look like the same.




Shown mech in the collection is the Summoner (Thor).

http://www.sarna.net...oner_%28Thor%29

By the way, there is no Nemesis. You mean the Hellbringer (Loki).

http://www.sarna.net...nger_%28Loki%29

And we won't see the Hellbringer since it will break the game - fast ECM heavy with dual ERPPCs and a SSRM6. Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

EDIT: And it has anti-personnel pods. It's too bad, that was one of my favorite mechs in MW2 (alongside the Summoner, Timberwolf, and Dire Wolf).

Edited by Fate 6, 21 December 2013 - 12:13 PM.

[Half Fast]

Opinions follow....if you are uncomfortable with that, stop reading now...

I see people calling for pitting a smaller number of clan mechs against a larger number of IS mechs. I don't see that being sustainable. I, for one, would much rather play a kick-bot mech and take out a few IS mechs each drop then have to team up with a couple other IS mechs in the hope of taking out one of the enemy.

I very much believe that repair costs should be brought back into play as a balancing tool. Expensive equipment may be fun and effective...but you better play smart/well.

I thought the beta phase was over....sounds very much like we get to look forward to an extensive stretch of Clan-Beta.

I enjoy playing. I'll keep playing as long as that's true, but I have to admit that even I find myself frustrated more than I used to be.

[Fate 6]

Half Fast, on 21 December 2013 - 12:53 PM, said:

Opinions follow....if you are uncomfortable with that, stop reading now...

I see people calling for pitting a smaller number of clan mechs against a larger number of IS mechs. I don't see that being sustainable. I, for one, would much rather play a kick-bot mech and take out a few IS mechs each drop then have to team up with a couple other IS mechs in the hope of taking out one of the enemy.

I very much believe that repair costs should be brought back into play as a balancing tool. Expensive equipment may be fun and effective...but you better play smart/well.

I thought the beta phase was over....sounds very much like we get to look forward to an extensive stretch of Clan-Beta.

I enjoy playing. I'll keep playing as long as that's true, but I have to admit that even I find myself frustrated more than I used to be.

The balancing factor would then be that something like 5 Clan vs 12 IS leaves NO room for error by the Clan mechs. If even one goes down without severely damaging the IS forces you are pretty much done for. You have to play almost perfectly if you want to come out alive as a Clan pilot against those odds.

[Borgadun]

Friedhelm Stein, on 21 December 2013 - 08:08 AM, said:

Every game has Rules. These rules are fpr balancing the game and make it fun.
When people play a game, they have to accept the rules the game has.
These rules can and must be sometimes challenging just for the sake of fun,
because overcoming and using the rules to beat your opponent ist the goal of evry game.

To include the clans without the technological advancements and the rules they are bound to,
is just giving more diffrent looking mechs to the audience.
(Which is, sadly, one step further to another WOT-clone with just more adjustment options of the tanks.)

Just bring in the Zellbrigen.
give Clan players C-bill punishments for not following the rules.
Maybe a honor system can be included.
Let them fight against more Innesphere-mechs, they have the power for that.
Reward the innersphere-players with c-bill bonuses and maybe some little clan-tech.

In my opinion:
To soften up a game to just reach a greater audience ist just wrong, because this is the case by the most games these days.
There are very few challenging games these days.

Then make IS mechs stock again and unable to refit like they want. Everyone shouting for major disadvantages for using clan-mechs should rethink the fact that it would be uneven to the now used System for configeration of IS-mechs.

Clan-mechs HAVE their disadvantages by NOT being able to fully refit like the IS do. Instead they get their advantage by lighter, less bulkier and cooler runnig equipment AND the possebility to exchange complet parts like sidetorso, arms, legs and head ( to get any Omnimech feeling).

[Wolfways]

Moenrg, on 21 December 2013 - 11:47 AM, said:

And how would you suggest UAC-20's should work? Medium ER lasers? What about SSRM-6's? There are many clan weapons that there are simply no equivalent IS weapons.

Obviously i only meant for identical weapons. I.e. ML, LL, etc.

Looking at PGI's history i don't expect clan mechs to be anything close to what...well i was going to say what players would like but it looks like nobody agrees with each other anyway

[Icewraith]

Ok, I know what you said, but here's how it came out:

"Anything we don't blatantly nerf by toning down the range, damage or heat advantage the Clans have we will instead be ignoring TT tonnage and space values or adding performance "enhancements" a la gauss rifle until everything is "balanced". If we don't change the tonnage or space or weapon performance we'll increase the cooldown so the weapon's dps is lower than it should be.

Also, even though IS players don't have to deal with any of the drawbacks of the normal 'mech customization system (such as permanently screwing up your mech), we're not letting you change the engine size, armor value, or structure type on any omnimech and we're locking in the critical slot distribution as well. Again, even though omnimechs in TT can be customized in this fashion, with the same risks as battlemechs (permanently unbalancing the mech)."

Keep in mind that this is going to render certain omnis, like the Hellbringer/Loki, significantly less useful than they would be otherwise because of crappy stock armor or critical space allocations.

Here's how I think it should work:

Clan tech will be superior, but all Clan units will drop as binaries- the Clan team will ALWAYS be down two players. The Clan tonnage limit will be proportionately lower so the average weight of the Clan team will be the same or somewhat lower than the average weight of the IS team.

A lot of what I read I'm not a fan of, but the actual component swapping bit where you can trade arms or side torsos in lieu of complete control of your pod configuration I do understand based on the limitations IS players are facing in that department, and hopefully it will be a cool effect visually.

However, the proposed limitations and nerfs on clan tech are significant, and you're taking the majority of the bells and whistles and levers used to customize mechs out of clan players' hands- and customization is a large part of why many people, including myself, play the game.

Additionally, what's not addressed is the fairly pressing issue of actuators-when mounting PPCs or ACs/Gauss in arms, the hand/lower arm actuators are supposed to be stripped out. This actually increased the TT mech's field of fire since arms with minimum actuators can be flipped to fire in the rear arc (while maintaining the wider arc of fire), but the way you guys are planning to implement this, most Clan mechs will always have their arms locked to the torso, which is a fairly significant disadvantage.

Finally, some Clan weapons generate even more heat than their IS counterparts, which is going to make the double heat sink situation even worse, compounded with ghost heat. Any chance Clan 'mechs will at least get a less nerfed heat dissipation rate?

It sounds like what we'll be getting are Clans that are still technologically superior on paper, but have a whole bunch of usability nerfs that make them worse than their supposedly inferior IS counterparts.

Edited by Icewraith, 21 December 2013 - 06:42 PM.

[Hythos]

I just wanted to make sure I didn't forget to add my thoughts, in that I feel the intended "spirit of the clans" is abhorrently wrong.

The spirit of the Clans was a balance through their honor system....... to be outnumbered but with superior equipment, restricted to follow heir strict rules of Zellbrigan. This is the way of the Clan Warrior.