18 replies to this topic

[Rhialto]

I'm not familiar with all the MWO universe, all I do is that I enjoy playing MWO:Online.

Was wondering if there could be a smaller Mech than the Locust one day.

[DONTOR]

Flea is supposed to be coming soon, it also weighs 20 tons. Well just have to wait and see how big it will actually be.

[Rhialto]

Cool... hope it will run 200 Km/h and by addind a wing as an option it will have flight capability.

[kuangmk11]

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

[Bront]

Generally, there were no combat mechs smaller than 20 tons till Proto-mechs which were more like armor suits than mechs.

[Father Tork]

There were also Mechs that can fly, but we're not allowed to talk about those...

[FireSlade]

Father Tork, on 10 December 2013 - 11:35 AM, said:

There were also Mechs that can fly, but we're not allowed to talk about those...

Yep LAMs a direct rip off of Macross/Robotech. And I will probably be sued by HG for mentioning them

[Bront]

FireSlade, on 10 December 2013 - 11:38 AM, said:

Yep LAMs a direct rip off of Macross/Robotech. And I will probably be sued by HG for mentioning them

Post reported to Harmony Gold.

[Selfish]

Rhialto, on 10 December 2013 - 10:03 AM, said:

Cool... hope it will run 200 Km/h and by addind a wing as an option it will have flight capability.

Heh. The Flea's max capable speed is ~126 kph. It's notable for equipping MASC, which lets it move faster but risk permanently crippling itself. Even with its MASC speed (estimated using MWO conversion value for lights, or 1.3) it'll only be able to hit ~154 kph. It's extremely slow for the tonnage. I don't think players will be extraordinarily pleased when/if it's released!

For the OP, it's highly unlikely there will be any mechs smaller than 20 tons. The only official mechs that exist in that range are either way out of the timeline or so insane they wouldn't fit within the brackets of balance. The Celerity, for example, would have a max speed in 300 kph range. This game can barely handle speeds half that. There is a variant of the Flea that weighs 15 tons, but it's essentially a completely different mech that manages to move even slower.

[ShadowWolf Kell]

As I recall, there was a 15 ton mech and it was in an issue of BattleTechnology. I can't really look since all my old BTech stuff is boxed up and packed away but I'm positive there was one.

In general terms though, Elementals are about the closest in terms of sub 20 tonners and were initially more than a match for the vast majority of light mechs and their variants for 3020-3025.

[tucsonspeed6]

You can check sarna for any mechs you might be interested in. There are some 15 ton mechs, but they belong in a class called ultra light. I'm not sure how many if any were available in the 2050 timeframe.

Also a note on the flea: Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think PGI kinda fudges with the max engine size when designing a new chassis. Sarna gives the max speed of a stock engine, but PGI may come in and say that the mech is capable of holding a slightly larger engine. So it might be possible that the flea could hit the 150 range before masc.

[SaltBeef]

I am waiting for a MASC equipped 216kph dasher you think the spider was a PITA wait until the dasher arrives with clan weapons.

[Morsule]

Considering how difficult the Lotus can be to pilot (survive) and how light the armor and possible weapon load.

[Nekomimi]

Yeah, anything less then 20 tons you're going to be light on fire power or have paper-thin Armour. Getting a decent build off the Locust-1M that used all of the hardpoints was a pain in the butt. it only has five tons to spare for weapons and Armour essentially.

[kesuga7]

Spiders have the smallest legs and torso's in width of any light

that includes the 20 tonner locust/25 tonner commando which is much easier to hit compared to a spider with 10 more tonns!

off topic plea to make either spider bigger or commando and locust smaller :{

even if they are less taller 20 tonners need a dam boost to something !

[Escef]

ShadowWolf Kell, on 31 December 2013 - 02:12 AM, said:

As I recall, there was a 15 ton mech and it was in an issue of BattleTechnology. I can't really look since all my old BTech stuff is boxed up and packed away but I'm positive there was one.

AFAIK, Battletechnology is not considered canon at this point. At one point in time, the rules for constructing 10 and 15 ton mechs were removed from the core rules because mechs that light were not generally viable and existed only to exploit the charging rules.

ShadowWolf Kell, on 31 December 2013 - 02:12 AM, said:

In general terms though, Elementals are about the closest in terms of sub 20 tonners and were initially more than a match for the vast majority of light mechs and their variants for 3020-3025.

What made Elementals good was the fact that they traveled in packs of 5. That effectively upped them from 1 small laser and a 2-shot SRM2 to 5 small lasers and a 2-shot SRM10. The SRMs alone were enough to thoroughly ruin the day of most lights. However, with a top speed of 3 movement points (32.4 kph, but very jump capable) the only real defense they would have in MWO is their puny size making them obscenely difficult targets.

[Not A Real RAbbi]

Rhialto, on 10 December 2013 - 09:48 AM, said:

I'm not familiar with all the MWO universe, all I do is that I enjoy playing MWO:Online.

Was wondering if there could be a smaller Mech than the Locust one day.

Short answer? NO, most likely not. Assuming MWO evolves that far, the protomech thing would likely have to be ignored in the timeline. Honestly, if we were going to consider anything outside of the 20-100 ton range of battlemechs to be controlled in-game, we'd also have to consider aircraft, aerospace, dropships, warships, space stations, artillery (marginally in-game), infantry, combat vehicles, naval vessels, and soon enough also elementals, battle armor, and so on. There would also be those mechs over 100 tons (can't remember what they're called--check sarna), quads, and so on.

MWO seems to be focused on mostly proper battlemechs. Sorry, but 20 tons is the lower limit for the foreseeable future.

In lore, even for that time, it could be argued that some of the other 20-ton mechs were smaller than the Locust. MWO has not been particularly kind to the Locust, though, and most other mechs are going to be slower. That doesn't bode well for the survivability of a mech that can only equip a max total of 128 (4 tons) armor.

[9erRed]

Greetings all,

Yes, the Locust does suffer from pretty much a lack of everything, but, it did have speed and it's small chassis size as a plus.

One of the variants, [-5M] equipped with an XL engine topped out at near 200kph, other chassis with somewhat smaller engines additionally mounted MASC for that "there it was, gone" speed boost.

The one crazy speed model/variant of this Mech:
The newest variant of the Locust, the 6M used a massive 280 Hermes XL Engine to propel it to an astounding speed of 226.8 km/h and was capable of bursts of speed reaching 302.4 km/h through a MASC system. - You had better have a pretty clear straight line for those bursts.

9erRed

[Not A Real RAbbi]

Dunno if MWO could handle that kind of speed.

Also, for right now, there are Commandos (all but the ECM-capable one, I think, by 1.4 kph with speed tweak) that can outrun a Locust in MWO.