14 replies to this topic

[JusticarAB]

so i bought a boarhead atlas and i took out the engine and replaced it, but now i want to put the xl 400 in my other atlas (as7-k) but the option to put any engine over 360 is grayed out. does that mean the xl 400 wont fit in any other mech other than the borehead?

[process]

Jusitcar, on 14 July 2014 - 04:12 PM, said:

so i bought a boarhead atlas and i took out the engine and replaced it, but now i want to put the xl 400 in my other atlas (as7-k) but the option to put any engine over 360 is grayed out. does that mean the xl 400 wont fit in any other mech other than the borehead?

Most mechs can't handle a 400-size engine. Check Smurfy for the limits under the "Engines" column: http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/

[Alaskan Nobody]

To clarify some - Max engine size is based off of the chassis weight and the variant's base engine.

IE: Jenner and Firestarters weigh the same, but since Jenner start with a bigger engine (240 over the FS9's 210) they have a bigger engine cap (300 as opposed to 295)

Similar with the Raven family - the 2X and 4X come with a 175, and have an even lower cap (275) while the 3L comes with a 210 and shares the same cap as the Firestarters

Boar's Head comes with the 400 - which is also it's cap as it is the biggest engine there is.
The other Atlas come with a 300 - limiting their cap to 360 and below

I forget the formula for predicting it though

Edit: fixed the engine numbers thanks to Gasoline

Edited by Shar Wolf, 15 July 2014 - 10:35 AM.

[Koniving]

Jusitcar, on 14 July 2014 - 04:12 PM, said:

so i bought a boarhead atlas and i took out the engine and replaced it, but now i want to put the xl 400 in my other atlas (as7-k) but the option to put any engine over 360 is grayed out. does that mean the xl 400 wont fit in any other mech other than the borehead?

While tabletop Atlases can only handle a Hermes 100, Nissan 200, VLAR 300, and LTV 400 engines.

In MWO it has a lot of potential variety in between, allowing some obscene customization which fuels the meta and min/maxing to some intense extremes.

With some really...really weird math, PGI has chosen engine limits to allow based on the mech's stock engine and net-code limitations. Most Atlases have a stock engine of 300. The Boar's Head is based on a canon variant that had indeed used an LTV 400-rated extra light fusion engine. The name isn't canon, but everything else is.

[Tesunie]

If it helps any, I do know that Battlemasters can fit in a 400 rated engine...

Honestly, that 400 rated engine is going to be a hard one to work with. I found with my own XL400 engine I placed into my Battlemaster, I ended up not liking it there. It's a lot of weight to commit to an engine that is so large.

I wish you luck if you do try to use that engine in another mech. I didn't find it working for me, but you may end up having better results.

[Koniving]

Pretty Baby, Dragon Slayer, and Banshees can use XL 400 engines too. Truth be told, Banshees are fantastic mechs.

[Bartholomew bartholomew]

You are also going to want to put the XL into another assault. Battlemaster's are XL friendly. Victor can be if you do not brawl. Awesome, does not matter, usually you are going down regardless (there are exceptions and good pilots). Banshee dunno about, but probably XL friendly.

But your atlas's are NOT XL friendly. The first thing anybody does is shoot the gun out, Unless it is a DDC. Then you nail the other shoulder if possible. Either way you are gonna pop fast.

The only assault that pops faster with an XL is the stalker.

Edited by Bartholomew bartholomew, 14 July 2014 - 04:37 PM.

[1453 R]

A theoretical 50-ton 'Mech with Endo, Ferro, maxed armor and a 400XL engine would have ~4.5t left over for equipment, while still moving at 142kph tweaked. Mmmm...small lasers...

This is why Hunchbacks have engine limitations, I suppose. Also why we don't have XXL engines yet (XXL engines would let you fit a 400-rated engine, with four jets and four medium lasers if my math isn't too off-base, in a max-armored JENNER. AND YOU THOUGHT THE FLEA WOULD BREAK THE GAME ENGINE). And also why you don't see any stock designs over 45 tons going that fast, and even then you only see stock TT designs at that speed in the Clans for the most part.

.
..
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....I STILL WANT MY VIPER, PIRANHA O_O

Edited by 1453 R, 14 July 2014 - 04:45 PM.

[Gas Guzzler]

OP... You do not want to put an XL engine in any Atlas, please do not. I took it out and put it in my La Malinche.

STD 340-350 are probably the best engines to put in Atlases, imho.

[Koniving]

Oh, speaking of which...since it's engine related and such.. I've got just a random lore tidbit, but many of the Industrial grade mechs, which are mechs that range between 2 and 80-ish tons, don't use fusion reactors. Especially the industrial mechs (and Clan proto-mechs) between 2 and 15 tons; we have internal combustion engines and fuel cells.

A video about these 1980s BattleTech concepts that we're actively building now for real life cars. (It should fast forward to just after 52 minutes where the relevant topic comes up).

Here are a few Internal Combustion mechs.
Cattlemaster
Harvester Ant
Lumber Jack
Harvester

Some Fuel Cell mechs.
Copper; a police security mech.
Patron, a cargo loading mech.
Pompier; a fire fighting mech.

I was gonna add some protomechs, but for some reason while I could swear I read some with fuel cells, all I can find now are fusion engine protomechs.

Still. Imagine one of these on the field. (Contained within are a Protomech, a size comparison, and some of the reasoning behind the huge technological difference between Clan and Inner Sphere mechs that would allow a Star of 5 Clan mechs to take on 12 Inner Sphere Mechs and still outmatch the IS; or more specifically reasoning behind the huge technological decline that the IS went through.)

Spoiler

Roughly this tall.


The issue is we'd need 2 of them for every Locust on the field, though it's meant to operate in a group of 5 to match the destructive potential of one 50 ton Clan battlemech (funny enough just one of them is 10 tons). It's got an anti-personnel rapid fire Gauss Rifle. It also carries something called a Fusillade, which is a missile launcher that can use Advanced Tactical Missiles; these are some pretty awesome little launchers. But the Fusillade can only carry 1 extra reload in addition to what it has stored in the tubes themselves. Still quite impressive considering the tiny frame it is in and the incredibly near gundam-like control that Clan protomechs have when combined with the enhanced neural controls of the EI system, to the extent of remote control via thought.

Actually though I say near gundam-like, it's closer to this

but much faster on the ground speed (64.8 kph or 40 miles per hour.

Or this.

But controlled by thought and not buttons or levers.

Clans were significantly more advanced, even better than at what the Inner Sphere might have been in technology if not for the 200+ year technological decline caused by Operation Exodus, Operation Silver Shield, campaigns by the various houses to completely annihilate certain technologies and factories that produce particularly imposing machines.

(Among some mentioned include the NARC missile beacon; extinct for nearly 236 years and there is a listing mention that most Raven factories were destroyed before 3030, with all those that are left owned by the Davions despite it being a primarily Liao unit. Ravens were simply that valuable that an entire campaign was launched just to hold monopoly on them; the result? The "superior" Raven 2X intended to turn the Raven from a scout unit to a light combat unit. Liao's reaction was to create the 4X, rendering the Raven into a pure battle unit with some of the strongest armor ever put on a 35 ton battlemech...it's a shame that the armor traits of battlemechs mean nothing when PGI is using the 'create your own mech' universal armor rules).

Edited by Koniving, 14 July 2014 - 06:07 PM.

[1453 R]

Part of me wonders if the issue of a point of ProtoMechs and a Point of Elementals all requiring multiple units to work couldn't be solved by slaving the four other units of a Point to the player's own controls. It'd effectively turn the four additional units into orbits/funnels/bits/whatever-you-call-drone-weapons-in-your-universe, but it'd be an interesting concept. If your PoV Elemental/ProtoMech was destroyed, you'd just switch into the next one, until the entire Point's been dealt with.

It'd force Piranha to come up with some clever pseudo/partial A.I. code though, to help handle the Point's maneuvers and weapons fire. Frankly, I don't think they're up to the challenge. Too bad, really...could have been a cool way to get formations of smaller units into the game.

[Satan n stuff]

Shar Wolf, on 14 July 2014 - 04:16 PM, said:

To clarify some - Max engine size is based off of the chassis weight and the variant's base engine.

IE: Jenner and Firestarters weigh the same, but since Jenner start with a bigger engine (240 over the FS9's 210) they have a bigger engine cap (300 as opposed to 290)

Similar with the Raven family - the 2X and 4X come with a 175, and have an even lower cap (275) while the 3L comes with a 210 and shares the same cap as the Firestarters

Boar's Head comes with the 400 - which is also it's cap as it is the biggest engine there is.
The other Atlas come with a 300 - limiting their cap to 360 and below

I forget the formula for predicting it though

Assaults: 1.2*stock engine
Heavies: 1.2*stock engine
Mediums: 1.3*stock engine
Lights used to be capped at 1.4*stock engine but we have more exceptions nowadays than variants that follow the rule.
There is ( was ) also a hard cap based on tonnage but as far as I know it currently only affects the Jenner, it's 8.5*mech tonnage for light mechs, I believe it's lower for other weight classes but I'd have to dig up the relevant patchnotes to be sure.

[Gasoline]

Shar Wolf, on 14 July 2014 - 04:16 PM, said:

IE: Jenner and Firestarters weigh the same, but since Jenner start with a bigger engine (240 over the FS9's 210) they have a bigger engine cap (300 as opposed to 295)

FTFY

Excellent explanation tho. Firestarter and Raven-3L are limited to 295 to be precise. The Huginn could even sport a 300, but Heroes are a different cow anyway.

[Reza Malin]

The best mech for the Xl 400 is either a Battlemaster or a Banshee. Battlemaster for sheer speed, Banshee because for some reason, the side torsos rarely get taken out, they have good hitboxes for an assault.

[Mechteric]

sell sell sell!