36 replies to this topic

[9erRed]

Greetings all,

Biggest thing that I can see with having an actual "living" Mech Bay, is it needs to be "persistent" on the clients end. Things you change in the bay need to be saved when you log out and still there when you return.
- Probably or would require creating a completely new environment for the pilot to "wander around".
- And linking that element to the UI and servers.
- Additionally, having "interactive" devices that truly tie into the UI for any changes you make.

I would just like to see some background activity happening around the current Mech Lab we have, seems like every time I go there everyone is on "coffee break". Where are the Tech's, Engineers and crew that should be swarming around these machine getting them ready for combat? Even just random Tech's walking around checking things, or a loader driving by in the Bay would add to some emersion.
- Maybe after the big things are installed into the game the team can go back and add in some "eye candy" to this area.

We have the PGI team tasked with nearly more than they can handle right now, so put it on the wish list for after CW, Front and Planetary Warfare is completed.

9erRed

[Haakon Magnusson]

9erRed, on 16 April 2014 - 03:59 AM, said:

From the video we see an Atlas being dropped and showing some form of Jump Jets, this indicates the Mechs can or are mounted with Jump Packs.
Ref: For 'Mechs that do not fit jump jets, a 'Mech Jump Pack may be mounted externally to the rear of a 'Mech to provide limited jump capability or braking thrust to allow a 'Mech to be dropped.

Do you have a lore reference to mechs actually being dropped jump pack or jump jet equipped mech?
Because I can't recall any mention of such capability anywhere in the fluff... sure a small aerodyne might have the space for such mechanism, but I recall all of them merely featured doors.

[Lord Perversor]

Haakon Magnusson, on 16 April 2014 - 06:01 AM, said:

Do you have a lore reference to mechs actually being dropped jump pack or jump jet equipped mech?
Because I can't recall any mention of such capability anywhere in the fluff... sure a small aerodyne might have the space for such mechanism, but I recall all of them merely featured doors.

There is the Drop pod por planetary assault wich are ceramic spheres protecting the Mechs for atmosphere reentry plus JJ and the Jump packs earlier versions (wich i guess it's the structure surrounding the Atlas for a mid combat drop) that allow non JJ capable mechs a way to get a quick deployment in the battlefields.

[SnagaDance]

Lord Perversor, on 16 April 2014 - 01:39 AM, said:

Whoops sorry you are right, think i mistook the Overlord we are supposed to pay with CW to make a merc corp with the Mammoth of Tourmaline.

I haven't really been paying attention to that bit of CW, but I read somewhere it would cost 20 million to buy yourself an Overlord class dropship?

Why an Overlord? That one can carry 36 mechs. Wouldn't a Union with it's 12 mech complement be a more logical choice in our 12 vs 12 environment?

Regardless, 20 million is quite cheap actually.

Gleaning from BattleTech campaign rules getting yourself an Overlord dropship would cost you more than 334 million C-bills. A Union? Over 222 million C-bills. Even a lowly 4 mech Leopard would cost you 171 million C-bills at least.

[Haakon Magnusson]

Had an strange recollection there might have been such a drop pod but thought might just be wh40k bleeding in...
And then again 5s drop from peak of a jump could give you roughly 50m/s so not really THAT far from terminal velocity, so I'll mythbuster it and call it plausible and of course Btech explanation: stuff => works

[Lord Perversor]

SnagaDance, on 16 April 2014 - 06:40 AM, said:

Why an Overlord? That one can carry 36 mechs. Wouldn't a Union with it's 12 mech complement be a more logical choice in our 12 vs 12 environment?

Just to let you know i'm facepalming myself to death due my derpness today... i need some sleep.

You are right the whole cost it's 18.8m per player up to 12 players to make a merc corp wichs makes up to around 230 millions wich is the Union Dropship cost as you clearly points out.

Or at least that was their original idea last time they spoke about it.

Haakon Magnusson, on 16 April 2014 - 06:48 AM, said:

Had an strange recollection there might have been such a drop pod but thought might just be wh40k bleeding in...
And then again 5s drop from peak of a jump could give you roughly 50m/s so not really THAT far from terminal velocity, so I'll mythbuster it and call it plausible and of course Btech explanation: stuff => works

Well i do remember see those in MW4 (at start of missions a pseudo jump pack) and the Drop pods in the BT animation series. Maybe some of your memories draw a bit from those.

Edited by Lord Perversor, 16 April 2014 - 06:54 AM.

[Rhaythe]

I would buy into the clan pack if PGI would add a beginning cutscene of the all of the players deploying by dropship to the start of each map. Doesn't have to be fancy. It can be clouds and obscured vision most of the time. Just so long as Betty starts her speech, "Reactor: online - sensors: online - weapons: online...", just as the landers deploy and every mech hits the ground, followed immediately by, "All systems nominal".

Anything for extra immersion in this game and some additional context would be worth a few shells to me.

[wanderer]

For the folks that need the fluff explained-

The answer depends on where the 'Mech is when it's dropped.

High-atmosphere/orbital drops use an ablative "drop pod" for the first part of the descent. This blows clear of the 'Mech at low altitude, whereupon it's depending on thrust to land safely. If it's got jets, it uses those- otherwise, the 'Mech is fitted with a "jump pack" that provides limited fuel (and if it stays on, serious ground mobility issues, but they're designed to detach automatically) and thrust capacity to allow your Atlas to land as more than a crater.

Drops are delicate- too much early thrust and you're landing with no fuel at terminal velocity, too little and you don't bleed off enough velocity and snap your 'Mech off at the knees, fail to stabilize in-drop and you're landing head first instead AND at terminal velocity.

[Rhaythe]

wanderer, on 16 April 2014 - 07:58 AM, said:

Drops are delicate- too much early thrust and you're landing with no fuel at terminal velocity, too little and you don't bleed off enough velocity and snap your 'Mech off at the knees, fail to stabilize in-drop and you're landing head first instead AND at terminal velocity.

You just described my last few attempts to land on Moho in Kerbal Space Program.

[wanderer]

Quote

You just described my last few attempts to land on Moho in Kerbal Space Program.

If we had actual drop mechanics, most PUG matches would be like watching giant robots mimicking the Perseid meteor showers. And jump jets in quantity would be a LOT more popular.

[Hellen Wheels]

So what kind of ship is it that is crashed on Frozen map? I love going in that thing and looking at those mechs in there.

Is it the same type as the one that crashed on Tourmaline? (not the mammoth ring, the other one.) and the same type as is parked in River City?

Edited by Hellen Wheels, 16 April 2014 - 08:19 AM.

[Hellen Wheels]

wanderer, on 16 April 2014 - 07:58 AM, said:

For the folks that need the fluff explained-

The answer depends on where the 'Mech is when it's dropped.

High-atmosphere/orbital drops use an ablative "drop pod" for the first part of the descent. This blows clear of the 'Mech at low altitude, whereupon it's depending on thrust to land safely. If it's got jets, it uses those- otherwise, the 'Mech is fitted with a "jump pack" that provides limited fuel (and if it stays on, serious ground mobility issues, but they're designed to detach automatically) and thrust capacity to allow your Atlas to land as more than a crater.

Drops are delicate- too much early thrust and you're landing with no fuel at terminal velocity, too little and you don't bleed off enough velocity and snap your 'Mech off at the knees, fail to stabilize in-drop and you're landing head first instead AND at terminal velocity.

In the old days, we had to pay a quarter just to TRY to land a dropship.

Edited by Hellen Wheels, 16 April 2014 - 08:26 AM.

[Creovex]

Jin Ma, on 15 April 2014 - 09:07 PM, said:

Still wondering what the outside of our "mechlab" looks like

LOL the outside is the Aurora (newer version or maybe the older.)

Edited by Creovex, 16 April 2014 - 08:42 AM.

[Zerberus]

Lord Perversor, on 16 April 2014 - 01:39 AM, said:

Whoops sorry you are right, think i mistook the Overlord we are supposed to pay with CW to make a merc corp with the Mammoth of Tourmaline.

I think you`re mistaken.. for the base 18 million or whatever it was , you`ll probably get a Leopard.... anything above thhat costs more, and of course you need to plan an extra 15 million in for DHS on all of them

Hellen Wheels, on 16 April 2014 - 08:23 AM, said:

In the old days, we had to pay a quarter just to TRY to land a dropship.

The emphasis correctly being on "TRY", I always theorized that that game was NASA`s way to recoup the funds from the real landings.

PS: What they never tell you in the novels is that an Atlas hitting the ground at terminal velocity would leave a crater about the size of a football field, not counting secondary (ammo) explosions or stackpoling. If it were coming in at full drop velocity (for example non working drop packs allowing it to survive the fall itself but not slow it down), the result would be the equivalent of a very large nuclear explosion, and the Atlas would be forever immortalized as a thin layer of dust in the planet`s gelogical record

Edited by Zerberus, 16 April 2014 - 09:27 AM.

[Lord Perversor]

Zerberus, on 16 April 2014 - 09:14 AM, said:

I think you`re mistaken.. for the base 18 million or whatever it was , you`ll probably get a Leopard.... anything above thhat costs more, and of course you need to plan an extra 15 million in for DHS on all of them

Yah i corrected myself in an earlier post

[Nemesis Wolf]

SnagaDance, on 16 April 2014 - 06:40 AM, said:

I haven't really been paying attention to that bit of CW, but I read somewhere it would cost 20 million to buy yourself an Overlord class dropship?

Why an Overlord? That one can carry 36 mechs. Wouldn't a Union with it's 12 mech complement be a more logical choice in our 12 vs 12 environment?

Regardless, 20 million is quite cheap actually.

Gleaning from BattleTech campaign rules getting yourself an Overlord dropship would cost you more than 334 million C-bills. A Union? Over 222 million C-bills. Even a lowly 4 mech Leopard would cost you 171 million C-bills at least.

Well.. Though a Union would be a common choice for a 12 mech drop, Don't forget there is a "Command" Variant of the Overlord Class that replaces 2 Companies worth of mechs with a repair facility which could explain why we can "Mod" our mechs inbetween drops. (My merc unit in the old tabletop game(Mechwarrior/Battletech) used a Command Overlord, a Union and one Leopard)

[Hellen Wheels]

Zerberus, on 16 April 2014 - 09:14 AM, said:

an Atlas hitting the ground at terminal velocity would leave a crater about the size of a football field,

which is what happened when that Mammoth class hit the dirt on Tourmaline, that's where all those craters came from:

and all those mech parts laying about.

That must have been a hell of ride down.