11 replies to this topic

[Smedlee]

I'm not knowledgeable about the lore. Clan mechs are supposed to be better ton for ton as I understand it. With that superiority comes additional cost. The clan packages are significantly more expensive than the phoenix packages were for a like number of mechs. However, I believe the Devs are planning to nerf the clan mechs so that they are interchangeable with the inner sphere mechs for match making. If they are going to be approximately as effective on the battlefield, shouldn't they be approximately the same cost? I'll probably by the clan mechs anyway, but would like to know what I'm paying extra for.

[Rear Admiral Tier 6]

Balance is probably going to be an issue for PGI,but the general consensus is that IS mechs are obsolete as soon as the clans roll into the scene.
So bonus c-bills for destroying clan mechs please or something similar.

Oh and the tech is not interchangeable.

[Modo44]

Smedlee, on 27 April 2014 - 11:51 AM, said:

I'll probably by the clan mechs anyway, but would like to know what I'm paying extra for.

You buy months of playtime earlier than with Cbills variants, a huge pile of grind reduction, and multiple fluff items. You are probably not buying strictly better mechs, but that part is not clear yet (not enough details released on Clan tech).

All items available for real money in MWO provide fluff (camos, cockpit items, unique loadouts) and/or grind reduction (XP/Cbills, loyalty points when Community Warfare arrives). The packs are set up in a similar way -- prime variants are hero mechs, and you get camos, cockpit items, premium time, etc. The additional value over buying all of that separately is a big discount plus very early access to the content -- some of those mechs will not be available for Cbills for many months after June.

Edited by Modo44, 27 April 2014 - 11:13 PM.

[Ashan An]

Well better tech and balance are actually 2 different things here.

Clan tech is Better than IS tech, however IS mechs have a few advantages over clan one.

Let's take XL engines as an example:
Clan XL are a straigh out better than is ones, since they take 2 less slots and you need to both side torsos to die but you can't chose the rating and the type of the engine on clan mechs (you a stuck with the stock engine), while IS mechs are mostly free to choose which engine to use.

And for what they said in the Omnitech post they will use a similar approach with everything, so basically Clan tech will be more powerfull but will have disadvantages (more damage but longer coodowns for example)

[ShinVector]

This one is going to controversial.

Omni Pod technology was suppose to make it so, that clan mech to quick requip any available omni pod slot to any weapon type. This was done at a cost of no being able to change your engine, structure, armour type...

IS can already do something similar at great cost and time. But thing like weapon slot type cannot be changed.

Now... Will the non-changeable engine rule remain for omni tech ?
I haven't heard this mention so, far... If yes... Seems like IS mechs will have advantage of speed and agility...
A severe nerf for the the Clan light mechs..... Let's wait see for the first clan mech...

Get ready to troll any Gold clan light mechs you see... lol.. J...

[Gigastrike]

Clans have better tech across the board, but they can't decide which engine they bring, or what upgrades they have.

As far as weapons go, they do more damage and take up less space, but there's a trend where they do their damage over a longer period of time. Even the Clans' ballistic weapons are supposed to fire in bursts now. So even though they're statistically better, a lot of people are already counting them out due to not fitting into the current meta.

[ShadoVulcan]

From what I understood from the interview with Paul (Link), the clan UACs will be the only ones with burst fire. How their rate of fire will be is still up there along with possible jamming chances, but it wouldn't surprise me if the Clan versions have a lower chance compared to the IS counter parts.

One thing to note is that the clans don't have standard ACs, but they do have LB-Xs. The Developers are going to, if they get the coding right, allow clan LB-X to switch between standard AC rounds and cluster rounds with a push of a button. So the clan mechs with LB-X ACs might be more versatile, you can use the standard rounds till the enemy has no more armor then switch to cluster rounds and really screw someone over.

A way to balance between switching rounds would be something similar to a cool down mechanic like the jamming in the UACs, so it would take a couple of seconds to switch. After all, there is still a round in the barrel so you would need to remove it to use the other round.

*Edit: fixed grammar errors

Edited by ShadoVulcan, 28 April 2014 - 02:15 PM.

[Alaskan Nobody]

ShadoVulcan, on 28 April 2014 - 02:07 PM, said:

A way to balance between switching rounds would be something similar to a cool down mechanic like the jamming in the UACs, so it would take a couple of seconds to switch. After all, there is still a round in the barrel so you would need to remove it to use the other round.

Alternatively, you load (X) rounds of ammo type (Y) (in other words a clip) and have to work through that type before you can load another (or by tons or whatever)

[ShadoVulcan]

Shar Wolf, on 28 April 2014 - 02:16 PM, said:

Alternatively, you load (X) rounds of ammo type (Y) (in other words a clip) and have to work through that type before you can load another (or by tons or whatever)

Problem with that, you have to reload every time you go through a clip much like other first person shooters today. It would add another mechanic we don't really need and hamper the clan mechs even further.

I can, however, see a mech loading more than 1 type of ammo. Ex: 2 tons of standard rounds and 1 ton of LB-X ammo.

Or, the ammo tonnage is a mix of standard and LB-X rounds. Ex: 1 ton of 10 caliber holds 10 standard and 5 LB-X.

[Alaskan Nobody]

ShadoVulcan, on 28 April 2014 - 02:44 PM, said:

Problem with that...

Several problems with it, I know - point being there are several ways they could implement them, and we won't know till it actually shows.
(I really rather doubt either of the methods I suggested would be the ones implemented though)

[Gigastrike]

ShadoVulcan, on 28 April 2014 - 02:07 PM, said:

From what I understood from the interview with Paul (Link), the clan UACs will be the only ones with burst fire.

I think we can all agree that that part was very confusing. I have no idea which ACs will fire in bursts, but what I'd like to see is UACs and slug-firing mode on LBXs firing in bursts, while an LBX's cluster shot fires at once to make it more viable over the slug option.

[focuspark]

ShinVector, on 27 April 2014 - 11:43 PM, said:

Now... Will the non-changeable engine rule remain for omni tech ?
I haven't heard this mention so, far... If yes... Seems like IS mechs will have advantage of speed and agility...
A severe nerf for the the Clan light mechs..... Let's wait see for the first clan mech...

Yes. This was outlined in one of the Command Chair posts a while back. Omnimechs will not be allowed to swap their armor types, structure types, heat sink types, engine, or anything else in the CT (and HD?). Omnimechs will be able to swap limbs with other variants of the same mech thus creating the exact hard point layout they want. Thus a Timberwolf-A can trade its left arm with a Timberwolf-D and its right-torso with a Timberwolf-B; if you so wanted (and owned the A, B and D).