29 replies to this topic

[Belorion]

Ah... that's where it came from Linesman...

Good to know I haven't completely lost my mind.

Doing something like this is still the only way we will see those mechs. So its either grouping them, or they won't be in the game.

[Bishop Steiner]

Strum Wealh, on 17 February 2014 - 09:50 PM, said:

or the Grand Dragon is from the normal Dragon (and, yes, those two are considered two separate chassis)

A detail that honestly makes zero sense, as they use the same chassis, same electronics packages and such, and are actually a relatively minor modification compared to many that are considered the same chassis (really being only marginally overall than the switch from the Zeus 6S to the 6T model).

[Escef]

Bishop Steiner, on 18 February 2014 - 06:26 AM, said:

A detail that honestly makes zero sense, as they use the same chassis, same electronics packages and such, and are actually a relatively minor modification compared to many that are considered the same chassis (really being only marginally overall than the switch from the Zeus 6S to the 6T model).

Ah, yes, the "Grand Zeus".

[TELEFORCE]

If the Mauler were implemented, I can see the three variants for this timeline being the Linesman (despite not being canon), the Daboku, and the Mauler MAL-1R.

The non-canon Mauler doesn't bother me very much, especially since there are non-canon hero 'mechs. But that's different from having custom 'mechs like what MekTek did (though they were a nice addition to MW4, I'd rather see the canon 'mech design supply exhausted first).

[Ngamok]

Levi Porphyrogenitus, on 17 February 2014 - 09:14 PM, said:

The Grand Dragon and the Caesar are obvious choices for either new Hero mechs or special c-bill variants (slight geometry differentiation compared to the standard variants). Or PGI could introduce a new class of variant (aside from Heroes, Champions, and Standards).

You can pretend the Dragon Flame is a Grand Dragon.

[SgtMagor]

Black Market, afaik mechs don't have to follow any canon, where you find unique custom Variants IS and Clan. Of course you will probably have to pay more for them.

Edited by SgtMagor, 18 February 2014 - 08:44 AM.

[MeiSooHaityu]

Et tu, Brute?

[Strum Wealh]

Belorion, on 18 February 2014 - 05:13 AM, said:

Doing something like this is still the only way we will see those mechs. So its either grouping them, or they won't be in the game.

No, it simply means that they are unlikely to be in-game in the immediate future, or in the near term.
Each of the Venom, Caesar, and Mauler does eventually get three common variants, but it happens later (the Venom in 3057, the Caesar in 3067, and the Mauler in 3060 (or 3062, if PGI opts not to implement the C3 system needed for the MAL-C)).

That being said, Garth Erlam essentially confirmed (in NGNG Podcast #84, between the 7:40 and 9:30 marks) that there will be time-jumps in the timeline (and that said time-jumps would affect 'Mech availability, and that he didn't know when those would happen as of the point when the podcast was recorded).
The statements therein also imply that the BT timeline is still being used to determine 'Mech and weapon/equipment availability (a point later confirmed/reinforced by Bryan Ekman in Ask the Devs #50, in the answers to questions 13 and 43), even if it is no longer necessarily being employed for marketing and PR purposes (e.g. ISN posts, tweets, etc).

So, such 'Mechs would most likely be relegated to future content to be rolled-out later, where "later" may or may not come sooner than we might think...

Bishop Steiner, on 18 February 2014 - 06:26 AM, said:

A detail that honestly makes zero sense, as they use the same chassis, same electronics packages and such, and are actually a relatively minor modification compared to many that are considered the same chassis (really being only marginally overall than the switch from the Zeus 6S to the 6T model).

Yeah... I don't know why they went down that path, either.
Though, the write-up for the Grand Dragon mentions that "the Grand Dragon, which began full-scale production only in 3040 when the Dragon assembly line shut down, is already undergoing a revision to incorporate Star League technology" - which implies that the Grand Dragon was meant to be a wholesale replacement for the "old" Dragon and effectively fill the role of a "Dragon Mk.II" (prior to the introduction of the heavier Dragon II... which also uses the "DRG-xx" designation).

[3rdworld]

I am normally all for adding new mechs. But I don't see how the Caesar adds anything. Its hardpoint layout / engine restrictions are exactly the same as the CTF-1X

Buy a CTF-1X, name it CES-3R and profit

Edited by 3rdworld, 18 February 2014 - 11:22 AM.

[Myke Pantera]

I truly like the idea of grouping some chassis together to solve the 'need 3 variants of a chassis to gain access to elite skills'. I'm not sure if PGI is willing to model new mechs just for one maybe two variants though. But if they do: Thumbs up from me!

Actually i would love to see the aforementioned restriction to be removed altogether and let each variant have its individual skill-tree decoupled from other variants. Since this thing is the only reason we can't get mechs with < 3 variants into the game right now.