170 replies to this topic

[CG Anastasius Focht]

And can i take a moment to tip my hat to Alex here
They sure got more than their monies worth when they hired him.

His talent and skill, matched with his obvious passion for Battletech has cemented both himself and this game in Battletech/Mechwarrior history

[RedEagle86]

It would be fun, I bought it, but I don't know if: a) I'll be healthy enough to play; My internet will be working at sufficient speeds; or c) if I'll have the C-Bills to modify it to my taste (last look was about 500k...)

[Keeshu]

Dev Vlog #8 has some footage of the Mad Dog being used.
At the start we can see a Mad Dog Prime (with Clan Invasion colors) being used to kill a couple c-bill version Mad Dogs. 2 LRM 20, 2 Large Pulse, 2 Medium pulse.

At 11:20 We get to see the Mad Dog Alt Config A (seems to be the C-bill version too) in action against a Nova (with a Smoking Jenner running by that shot a couple Medium lasers. The Nova never used weapons [Blame overheating issues! ha!]). 6 SRM 6, ER PPC, 1 LB-X AC 5.

At the end (11:16) we get to see how much armor is in each section:
Head: 18
Arms: 32 (out of 40) each
Side Torso: 32 each
Side Torso Rear: 14 each
Center Torso: 46
Center Torso Rear: 14
Legs: 46 each (of 56)
Which means the Mad Dog is 2.12 tons away from the max armor.


I knew the arms were shorter, but dang you really get to see how short they are in the video. No matter, just even more reason for me to not trust the arms.
The concept art legs didn't seem this huge. Regaurdless, the Mad Dog legs are rather large in game. Perhaps for more gameplay balance reasons, or to make players follow the rule that they should stick to staying on hills like the Mad Dog's description, or both. This also discourages the 6 SRM 6 builds a little bit, and promotes people just peeking over hills with the high cockpit+missiles to unleash LRMs on people some more.


I'm in a bit of shock at seeing the legs at the moment. So what are your thoughts on the legs?

[CyclonerM]

Actually, the legs look fine. I would rather want to see them with the classic style..

However, luckily it feels 15 tons lighter than the Timberwolf

[Seeker Kirov]

The legs on the PRIME(I) look goofy. The legs on the other variant looked fine. I will probably shelve my Invasion version unless there is a paint scheme that makes those cankles look reasonable.

[Will9761]

In honor of the Mad Dog coming out today, I thought I'd put this video here:


Let this song be the theme of the Mad Dog.

[Odanan]

Keeshu, on 20 September 2014 - 04:49 PM, said:

Dev Vlog #8 has some footage of the Mad Dog being used.
At the start we can see a Mad Dog Prime (with Clan Invasion colors) being used to kill a couple c-bill version Mad Dogs. 2 LRM 20, 2 Large Pulse, 2 Medium pulse.

At 11:20 We get to see the Mad Dog Alt Config A (seems to be the C-bill version too) in action against a Nova (with a Smoking Jenner running by that shot a couple Medium lasers. The Nova never used weapons [Blame overheating issues! ha!]). 6 SRM 6, ER PPC, 1 LB-X AC 5.

At the end (11:16) we get to see how much armor is in each section:
Head: 18
Arms: 32 (out of 40) each
Side Torso: 32 each
Side Torso Rear: 14 each
Center Torso: 46
Center Torso Rear: 14
Legs: 46 each (of 56)
Which means the Mad Dog is 2.12 tons away from the max armor.


I knew the arms were shorter, but dang you really get to see how short they are in the video. No matter, just even more reason for me to not trust the arms.
The concept art legs didn't seem this huge. Regaurdless, the Mad Dog legs are rather large in game. Perhaps for more gameplay balance reasons, or to make players follow the rule that they should stick to staying on hills like the Mad Dog's description, or both. This also discourages the 6 SRM 6 builds a little bit, and promotes people just peeking over hills with the high cockpit+missiles to unleash LRMs on people some more.

I'm in a bit of shock at seeing the legs at the moment. So what are your thoughts on the legs?

I would prefer if those legs weren't that fat (specially the upper part), but the Mad Dog shared the same legs as the Timber Wolf in TT.

Hint: when fighting a Mad Dog, aim for the legs.

[Daneiel]

Odanan, on 23 September 2014 - 05:16 AM, said:

I would prefer if those legs weren't that fat (specially the upper part), but the Mad Dog shared the same legs as the Timber Wolf in TT.

Hint: when fighting a Mad Dog, aim for the legs.

But are you sure that they share them with Catapult ????


P.S. I saw today several of them in the game - sadly the Mad Dog looks so much to MW4 Mad Dog then the MW2 , MW3 and MCs ones .The visual it don't give you the feeling like a stalking bird like the old ones , the movement was a bit clumsy like , and not looking swift and sharp as should be ( don't understand me wrong - its not moving slow - i mean its create the feeling for such movement ).

Edited by Daneiel, 23 September 2014 - 04:51 PM.

[Odanan]

Daneiel, on 23 September 2014 - 04:45 PM, said:

But are you sure that they share them with Catapult ????


P.S. I saw today several of them in the game - sadly the Mad Dog looks so much to MW4 Mad Dog then the MW2 , MW3 and MCs ones .The visual it don't give you the feeling like a stalking bird like the old ones , the movement was a bit clumsy like , and not looking swift and sharp as should be ( don't understand me wrong - its not moving slow - i mean its create the feeling for such movement ).

They don't share with the Catapult. Lore-wise, the legs should look similar, but not the same.

The Timber Wolf should have, though, exactly the same legs as the Mad Dog. Clans made their omnimechs sharing several components. For instance: Summoner and Hellbringer share the legs and the right arm (Hellbringer has the same arms as the Timber Wolf). Warhawk and Dire Wolf have the same legs and arms. And so on...

[Daneiel]

Odanan, on 23 September 2014 - 05:11 PM, said:

They don't share with the Catapult. Lore-wise, the legs should look similar, but not the same.

The Timber Wolf should have, though, exactly the same legs as the Mad Dog. Clans made their omnimechs sharing several components. For instance: Summoner and Hellbringer share the legs and the right arm (Hellbringer has the same arms as the Timber Wolf). Warhawk and Dire Wolf have the same legs and arms. And so on...

Allow me to not agree with you - i refer the blood of Kerensky saga - Phelan Kell targeting computer can not identify the Vlad's TW and switching to closest known mechs - Marauder and Catapult - Marauder body and arms but it has missile pods like Catapult . I don't remember to be mentioned any other part of the mech except the missile pods to be like the Catapult . One more thing he was surprised when his LL only scratched the mech - that means that the clan mechs looks lighter and fragile compared to IS mechs ( i can be wrong in my interpretation - English is not my first language and i read them only on English ) - it was mentioned something in that way - they look like alien design to the IS pilots , so sharing same legs for TW and MD with Catapult its seeing not proper for me .

[Daneiel]

No you didn't understand me i never told that timber Wolf and Mad Dog don't share their legs - i said they don't share them with the Catapult .

P.S. I know very well which clan mech share what parts with others - for more then 20 years playing BT games i learned a bit for them .

[CyclonerM]

My interpretation is quite simple: the targeting computer tried to find a match for the 'Mech it was targeting; sharing similarities with both Catapult and Marauder, the unknown 'Mech flipped back and fort between Mad and Cat as the computer struggled to match it with one of them. The overall shape is similar, but not the leg itself.



However, more than a few think that the Timber Wolf should have the Cat's legs, but as you all say this is incorrect.



P.S. As you can see, the main differences are legs shape (sadly) and shorter barrels. EDIT: and shorter torso, too.





This below is a great 3D model of the classic Mad Dog (similar to the MW2 Mad Dog)

Edited by CyclonerM, 24 September 2014 - 04:15 AM.

[Odanan]

Daneiel, on 23 September 2014 - 05:39 PM, said:

No you didn't understand me i never told that timber Wolf and Mad Dog don't share their legs - i said they don't share them with the Catapult .

P.S. I know very well which clan mech share what parts with others - for more then 20 years playing BT games i learned a bit for them .

I didn't tell the Mad Cat has the same legs of the Catapult, only that these legs look similar, which would help confusing Phelan's targeting computer even more.

See:

[Daneiel]

As you see the legs of the IS mechs looks bulkier , while the TW/MD legs looks fragile , thin , elegant .That is my point - there was bad decision from PGI to reuse the catapult legs for the most iconic clan heavy mechs .

[Odanan]

Daneiel, on 24 September 2014 - 06:38 AM, said:

As you see the legs of the IS mechs looks bulkier , while the TW/MD legs looks fragile , thin , elegant .That is my point - there was bad decision from PGI to reuse the catapult legs for the most iconic clan heavy mechs .

I wouldn't say they reused the Catapults legs, but they indeed (and unfortunately) made the T-Wolf/Mad Dog's legs bulky.

For comparison:

[Lily from animove]

if the mad dog is using mad kitteh's legs Why can I not armor them to the same degree? *imagine raptor meme here*

[Odanan]

Lily from animove, on 24 September 2014 - 09:51 AM, said:

if the mad dog is using mad kitteh's legs Why can I not armor them to the same degree? *imagine raptor meme here*

It would make sense. The problem is: max armor in Battletech is defined only by the tonnage of the chassis.

[Odanan]

So, it looks like the Mad Dog is actually a good mech. Interesting...

[Demi-Precentor Konev]

It's a little one-dimensional in it's builds, but yeah its no joke. A true glass cannon.

[Keeshu]

Build wise I was never concerned for the Mad Dog. I was just concerned about the hit boxes before it got into the game. Now that we got Stalker hit boxes we should have nothing to worry about the Mad Dog. Unless they decide to change the hit boxes of the Mad Dog to the oldschool dragon style so it's a CT damage magnet, or do some crazily massive quirk nerfs.



I'll probably always use the 6 missile hardpoints, as that is the main thing that sets the Mad Dog apart from other mechs (aside from visuals). It can't do energy/ballistic builds as well as other mechs, so I'll probably never do any of those types of builds on a regular basis (besides, I lurv missiles more than any other type of weapon).
I don't remember there being many clan mechs with more than 5 Missile hard points, and even then I don't think Mad Dog will ever get replaced for it's niche.