48 replies to this topic

[Alex Warden]

Sorbic, on 27 August 2014 - 07:49 AM, said:

9 I used to like the idea of AMS toggle but then came to realize that folks would just be selfish and screw over their team, and by extension, themselves. I'd rather have it stop shooting when an object blocks it's path and have the ammo per ton bumped up. It just runs out far to quickly now.

yep, you are right... and yes, PGI should get the AMS to stop shooting when you are in cover (HELLO! I´m in a freakin TUNNEL!!!!) anyway... that´s the biggest problem... but removing the team cover factor? no, they shouldn´t do that

[Wolfways]

Dimento Graven, on 27 August 2014 - 09:56 PM, said:

Disagree, I can't think of any aspect of the BattleTech Universe where the 'Mech Warriors had NO IDEA what planet they were going to end up on, and just left it up to chance that their 'mech was currently configured appropriately for where ever they were going to end up.

If you are going to use lore as an argument you need to do some research first.
Mechwarriors (or the tech crews) did not configure their mechs before battles. It took way too long and was expensive, and was never guaranteed to actually work. Customized mechs were rare. i.e. "Hero" mechs.
This is something that the clans had in their favour during the invasion. Omni-mechs allow quick swapping of pods allowing the Mechwarrior to choose a loadout before dropping on a planet.

According to lore, in the current time frame nearly all IS players should be using stock mechs (with maybe slight modifications) and only clan players should have the option of knowing which map they are playing on before choosing their weapons.

If you are using lore....

[Dimento Graven]

Wolfways, on 30 August 2014 - 12:25 AM, said:

If you are going to use lore as an argument you need to do some research first.
Mechwarriors (or the tech crews) did not configure their mechs before battles. It took way too long and was expensive, and was never guaranteed to actually work. Customized mechs were rare. i.e. "Hero" mechs.
This is something that the clans had in their favour during the invasion. Omni-mechs allow quick swapping of pods allowing the Mechwarrior to choose a loadout before dropping on a planet.

According to lore, in the current time frame nearly all IS players should be using stock mechs (with maybe slight modifications) and only clan players should have the option of knowing which map they are playing on before choosing their weapons.

If you are using lore....

Actually if we're using the greater preponderance of lore, 'common builds' were only 'common' among the house units, and house units COULD afford to change their builds, and did for major engagements, SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE THEY KNEW something about the terrain they'd be fighting.

Merc units, commonly not funded as well as house units, had 'mechs that were a mish mash of whatever replacements they had handy from battlefield salvage or could purchase from their employers, the open market, or the black market, and even then in all the stories, novels, and articles from BattleTechnology that I ever read, you had mercs and house units doing some customizations to provide themselves advantage on a battlefield, THEY KNEW THEY WERE GOING TO BE ON, AHEAD OF TIME.

If you are using the greater preponderance of lore...

Again there's not much, if any, lore where the warriors are blindfolded, shoved into a dropship and then just dropped on some random planet... Again, if we're using the greater preponderance of lore...

Edited by Dimento Graven, 30 August 2014 - 12:34 AM.

[Wolfways]

Dimento Graven, on 30 August 2014 - 12:33 AM, said:

Actually if we're using the greater preponderance of lore, 'common builds' were only 'common' among the house units, and house units COULD afford to change their builds, and did for major engagements, SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE THEY KNEW something about the terrain they'd be fighting.

Merc units, commonly not funded as well as house units, had 'mechs that were a mish mash of whatever replacements they had handy from battlefield salvage or could purchase from their employers, the open market, or the black market, and even then in all the stories, novels, and articles from BattleTechnology that I ever read, you had mercs and house units doing some customizations to provide themselves advantage on a battlefield, THEY KNEW THEY WERE GOING TO BE ON, AHEAD OF TIME.

If you are using the greater preponderance of lore...

Again there's not much, if any, lore where the warriors are blindfolded, shoved into a dropship and then just dropped on some random planet... Again, if we're using the greater preponderance of lore...

I can see making slight changes, but big changes (like fitting an AC20 in place of an MG) would mean completely replacing the computer system or the gyro's couldn't handle the change. I don't see that happening much.
Maybe it's just the way i see the BT universe, but if customization was so easy i don't see why there would be variants. As far as I'm aware techs who could make changes to mechs were rare (at least the good ones) and even they didn't understand how much of the mech worked.

I guess that since there is no time between matches it doesn't matter really, but i still wouldn't like for players to be able to just skip any map they disliked.

[mike29tw]

Carrioncrows, on 27 August 2014 - 02:09 AM, said:

8 - Heatsinks, Engine size and number of jumpjets listed when I hover my mouse over a mech in mechlab.

It is annoying as XXXX having to view the mech sheet just to find that info out every stinking time.

And ammo count too.

[Dimento Graven]

Wolfways, on 30 August 2014 - 12:51 AM, said:

I can see making slight changes, but big changes (like fitting an AC20 in place of an MG) would mean completely replacing the computer system or the gyro's couldn't handle the change. I don't see that happening much.
Maybe it's just the way i see the BT universe, but if customization was so easy i don't see why there would be variants. As far as I'm aware techs who could make changes to mechs were rare (at least the good ones) and even they didn't understand how much of the mech worked.

I guess that since there is no time between matches it doesn't matter really, but i still wouldn't like for players to be able to just skip any map they disliked.

In most everything I've read it's not actually that difficult.

One of my favorite stories from BattleTechnology was MechWarrior who figured out if you placed all the weapons in a 'mech in one location it made the targeting computers work much more efficiently which led to greater accuracy (and much to his surprise caused an issue with cooling which resulted in the 'mech more or less destroying itself during a fire fight).

I count BattleTechnology as "lore" because it was FASA approved (back when FASA owned the rights), and there's more than a few stories along that line.

As far as why there are variants, well, it's to the point of the discussion we're having here. Some variants exist because one house gets the plans to a chassis but doesn't have the same weapons systems the chassis was designed around, and then some variants exist because some 'MechWarrior had to replace a weapon system in the field, or had some other idea about what they wanted the 'mech to be capable of.

Plenty of blurbs about the variants in the TRO's along those lines...

[Gooner]

Carrioncrows, on 27 August 2014 - 02:09 AM, said:

1. Give me an option to skip bad maps.

I WOULD PAY MC TO NEVER PLAY TERRA THERMA AGAIN IN CASUAL PLAY

No way would I ever support this.

The concept of skipping maps, sure, I'm all for that. But paying for it? God no. Hasn't the game industry already found enough ways to screw the player out of money? I've played lots of games (Unreal Tournament, Left 4 Dead, Killing Floor, Team Fortress 2) where we got a server browser to pick what map we wanted to play.

Then again map packs and skins used to be free in those games too so it wouldn't exactly shock me to see this idea happen, whether its in MWO or COD or whatever.

[RedDragon]

Dimento Graven, on 30 August 2014 - 01:10 AM, said:

In most everything I've read it's not actually that difficult.

I'd actually like to know what you have read then. I have all the novels and many sourcebooks here, and If I had to guess, I'd say about less than 5% of the mechs encountered in fluff (novels etc.) and scenarios are modified. Even many "Hero" mechs in the source books are standard issue.
And I can't recall a single case in which mechs were explicitly modified to suit the conditions on a certain battlefield. Granted, I'd guess there are such cases, but mostly mechs are modified because the are damaged and no spare parts are available or they are modified to suit the personal style of a mechwarrior, but even then those are permanent, one-time modifications and are not changed before the mech is dropped on different planets.

[Hoax415]

1. Map Veto

2. At least use tonnage instead of 3/3/3/3 for match making

3. Change the MXP system. Allow player to pay 21.5k MXP to unlock elite on that mech. Stop forcing the buying of 2 extra variants scam. Make people want to buy MC stop trying to force them to.

4. Update trial mechs more often. i.e. The Atlas trial is really bad. Make more trials on par with the SHD and KTO.

5. Make Endo/DHS/FF a toggle. Once you have bought it on a mech you can turn it on or off without using cbills. Make the upgrades cost a lot more and create a cheap version at their current price that can't be toggled?

6. Only the private lobby creator needs premium time. No more 1 person on both teams must have it. Stop trying to hurt players so they'll give in and buy MC. It breeds resentment and is not good for the health of the game.


Six is enough. If we got 2-3 of these ever I would be astounded.