Koniving, on 21 August 2014 - 02:52 PM, said:
Assault 90 ton mechs can't even jump 6 meters with 4 jumpjets (the max) in MWO.
In tabletop each mech got a different class of jumpjet. The first one would allow 6 meters and each sequential one allowed 3 to 6 meters (depending on going straight up or up plus a landing). Each, of course, moved you forward by 30 meters (pretty hard to poptart if you're going forward).
wanderer, on 21 August 2014 - 05:56 PM, said:
Was referring to MWO for the assault mech. Can't get a Highlander off the ground too well.
If the latter..
Mechs from 20 through to 55 tons have 0.5 ton jumpjets. So that's a class there.
Mechs from 60 to 85 tons have 1 ton jumpjets. There's another class. PGI gave them additional class names but it's about the same, and on tabletop it's still 1 ton.
Mechs from 90 tons and up have 2 ton jumpjets, which are their own class.
Anyway.
They travel up to 1 hex aka 30 meters per jumpjet, and up 3 to 6 meters (0.5 to 1 level) per jumpjet. The reason I say 3 to 6, is once you start getting into more vertical jumps a 90 meter forward jump with 3 jumpjets doesn't allow one to climb 18 meters, but a 60 meter forward jump does. You can choose how far you go by increasing or decreasing your burn time. Turns and other navigation (such as changing direction) done while in the air of course will consume fuel even faster, reducing the possible distance you can go.
Never the less, to even be able to use the jumpjets you must go a minimum of 30 meters in a horizontal direction, and from there the jumpjets were adjustable to give more forward thrust or more upward thrust
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Honestly, having the player 'balance' the mech while flying would be very canon and would complicate aiming quite a bit, more than enough to deal with poptarting and truly make it into a high skill art. Imagine trying to shoot while walking a tight rope, when your shot could unsteady your mech in the air and roughen up your landing! Especially with 1x gravity instead of this 3.2x gravity nonsense now, so you'll get that feeling of tipping and the panic that ensues as your fall 'seems' slow when in fact it's quite fast.
That seeming slow fall would help these mechs feel like mechs rather than people in metal suits.