3 replies to this topic

[Skyfaller]

We have been asking for a means to purchase mechs without any equipment on them. Aka just the chassis.

Why not use salvage mechanics towards this end?


1- Have the game track what sections of, and what mech chassis model/variant of, you 'destroy' during battle.

For example, in a game you blow off the right arm of a JennerF, the left leg of a Jager-D and the CT of a catapult A1.

2- These 'stats' become salvage currency for you to 'build' your own mech chassis.

Depending on mech tonnage you need to accumulate X number of parts per each component to be able to 'purchase' that mech chassis.

For example, to build a spider 5D:

2 cockpit components
20 arms (left and right each)
20 legs (left and right each)
20 side torsos (left and right each)
40 CT's

Once you accumulate that, you are able to purchase this mech chassis, with no equipment on it (no armor no nothing) at 10% of the cost of purchasing a 'new' fully equipped mech of its type.

Note: Hero/Champion mechs do not qualify for this. Hero and Champion mech parts count double towards the count of the particular mech chassis TYPE they belong to (this means a Jester component would count as 2 components of any catapult model).

[Prezimonto]

I'd be okay with something like this. You'd have to play A LOT to actually unlock a variant of a certain type, and then you'd have to pay for armor, all equipment, and upgrades still.

I like it. I can say it'd probably get me interested in game play again. I also don't think there's any real risk of them losing serious cash here. These are mostly going to be mechs that average joe player isn't going to buy anyway given the time invested before its likely you're going to actually be picking one up.

Mostly, I think it would be folks who have been playing a while, and are interested in checking out a mech without wanting to invest massively in it. This way you pick up the chassis cheap, shuffle around your other armor, maybe pay the 1.5mil for DHS in addition and BAM... functioning mech for you to trial.... don't like it: sell it off, it gets labeled as "scrap" when you first put it together, so you never get very much out of selling the chassis itself (still only worth 10% or even the 5% of the total chassis price).

Edited by Prezimonto, 06 January 2014 - 12:11 PM.

[Stingray Productions]

this is an interesting new take on salvage mechanics, one that PGI might more more accepting of. I wonder.....not a battletech thing, but I've played another game that sort of had salvage as well, but when the salvage became available, you had to manually select that part and pay a small fee to get that salvaged item. Might make it nice so in the end it's still cheaper than buying the full mech, but you don't just get it for free (the small fee.)

[Skyfaller]

Right, plus if you wanted to salvage-build a Spider 5D you literally have to have popped off the components I listed FROM a Spider 5D (not a K or V!). Although of course some parts could be 'shared' if the devs wanted...

legs since they dont carry weapons or special slot capacity... CT and cockpit for the same reason. Arms would be the ones that should come from the specific variant you are after (and in the case of the 5D, the side torso that contains the ECM).

Edited by Skyfaller, 06 January 2014 - 02:27 PM.