81 replies to this topic

[Malleus011]

I'd like to see IS unlimited customization moved to a Solaris mode, and either stock versions or field refits moved into CW & the main que. Clan customization should be similarly limited - armies just can't afford to field full forces of custom 'mechs. They are uniform for logistical reasons.

A lot of balance problems get solved once you throttle back on the customization, or at least add some limits and downsides to rebuilding your 'mech into a completely different 'mech.

[FupDup]

Malleus011, on 19 March 2015 - 05:54 PM, said:

I'd like to see IS unlimited customization moved to a Solaris mode, and either stock versions or field refits moved into CW & the main que. Clan customization should be similarly limited - armies just can't afford to field full forces of custom 'mechs. They are uniform for logistical reasons.

A lot of balance problems get solved once you throttle back on the customization, or at least add some limits and downsides to rebuilding your 'mech into a completely different 'mech.

Suddenly, Stormcrow Prime. Stormcrow Primes everywhere.

[KraftySOT]

Yeah thats pretty much exactly what I use, though I think ive got pretty harsh maint checks, cost modifiers and the like.

A green infantry soldier making 12,000 cbills a year just kills me. Kills me. I know its a conversion rate into local currency, and the worth of our real world money is meaningless...but...my god heres the most dangerous job in the inner sphere, and youre doing it for less than a dishwasher at Applebees.

And that guys from the periphery just trying to feed his kids in the Magistrate.

So I crank that up by 10x, which gives a much more challenging economy to work with. If you sit idle your unit will die. Gotta take contracts or loans, etc.

As long as I can get Clan names, I think I can figure out how to RP a clan campaign with Megamek. Though it might not work well with bots. The Clans seem like a personal thing, like youd want a character you follow like a more classic rpg, and go through his trials, determine his rank, unit, position, mech, and send him off to gain honor and whatnot. Whereas the Inner Sphere is really about the nuts and bolts, the sweat and tears of command. Getting that part, building a doctrine, training recruits, doing finances, computing travel time to cost ratios.

Trying to do that for Clans seems, yeah beyond the current scope of megamek by quite a bit given that lore about their society.

There really doesnt seem to be anyone other than "in the military" or "civilian". Theres no inbetweeners like Mercs and Pirates. Being a ne'er do well in Clan space will get yah dead id imagine.

And my "Era roll" is like +6, since I always start in 3000 for some reason.

Then get frustrated and quit by 3054.

Edited by KraftySOT, 19 March 2015 - 07:05 PM.

[Lightfoot]

Malleus011, on 19 March 2015 - 05:54 PM, said:

I'd like to see IS unlimited customization moved to a Solaris mode, and either stock versions or field refits moved into CW & the main que. Clan customization should be similarly limited - armies just can't afford to field full forces of custom 'mechs. They are uniform for logistical reasons.

A lot of balance problems get solved once you throttle back on the customization, or at least add some limits and downsides to rebuilding your 'mech into a completely different 'mech.

Mad Cat Prime. Stock mechs are usually horrible, a very few are almost perfect so it does the opposite of balance.

[Harrison Kelly]

Malleus011, on 19 March 2015 - 05:54 PM, said:

I'd like to see IS unlimited customization moved to a Solaris mode, and either stock versions or field refits moved into CW & the main que. Clan customization should be similarly limited - armies just can't afford to field full forces of custom 'mechs. They are uniform for logistical reasons.

A lot of balance problems get solved once you throttle back on the customization, or at least add some limits and downsides to rebuilding your 'mech into a completely different 'mech.

Yep, a lot of balance problems would be solved. Like ever seeing all but a very very few types of Inner Sphere 'Mech again. Don't like JagerBombs? Congrats, you'll never ever ever see one played again. Or ANY JagerMech for that matter. Good job! Same goes for Ravens . . . and Firestarters . . . and Thunderbolts . . . and basically everything Inner Sphere and most Clan 'Mechs ever. Hunchbacks would probably still be usable.

Seriously, do people seriously think that forcing stock 'Mechs is ACTUALLY going to lead to a more fun, balanced game, or do they just bark up that tree because ZOMG LORE?

Edited by Harrison Kelly, 20 March 2015 - 07:56 AM.

[KraftySOT]

Harrison Kelly, on 20 March 2015 - 07:55 AM, said:

Yep, a lot of balance problems would be solved. Like ever seeing all but a very very few types of Inner Sphere 'Mech again. Don't like JagerBombs? Congrats, you'll never ever ever see one played again. Or ANY JagerMech for that matter. Good job! Same goes for Ravens . . . and Firestarters . . . and Thunderbolts . . . and basically everything Inner Sphere and most Clan 'Mechs ever. Hunchbacks would probably still be usable.

Seriously, do people seriously think that forcing stock 'Mechs is ACTUALLY going to lead to a more fun, balanced game, or do they just bark up that tree because ZOMG LORE?

Yes. Because theres 2,400 stock mechs, which include everything from 12 MG boats, to 12 Med laser boats, to 8 LRM5 boats, to 6 Large laser boats, to 2 AC20 boats, to 2 Gauss boats...

Every great loadout we have now, already exists. The bad loadouts, you quirk them, offer advantages to using them. You got your 3025 Orion? No worries heres extra cbills, your AC10 quirked to all hell, some extra XP, costs less tonnage in CW.

Back with R&R, there was a drawback to taking the super awesome uber death machine and advantages to taking something that wasnt as good.

And Firestarters will still be good, since the actual Firestarter loadouts are a bunch of medium lasers, and mgs or flamers. When have medium lasers ever been bad?

Same with Ravens.

Youre still one of the only mechs with Native ECM and native Narc.

It might be the ONLY mech to come wth Narc stock that we have.

[Harrison Kelly]

KraftySOT, on 20 March 2015 - 08:01 AM, said:

Yes. Because theres 2,400 stock mechs, which include everything from 12 MG boats, to 12 Med laser boats, to 8 LRM5 boats, to 6 Large laser boats, to 2 AC20 boats, to 2 Gauss boats...

Every great loadout we have now, already exists. The bad loadouts, you quirk them, offer advantages to using them. You got your 3025 Orion? No worries heres extra cbills, your AC10 quirked to all hell, some extra XP, costs less tonnage in CW.

Back with R&R, there was a drawback to taking the super awesome uber death machine and advantages to taking something that wasnt as good.

And Firestarters will still be good, since the actual Firestarter loadouts are a bunch of medium lasers, and mgs or flamers. When have medium lasers ever been bad?

Same with Ravens.

Youre still one of the only mechs with Native ECM and native Narc.

It might be the ONLY mech to come wth Narc stock that we have.

Firestarters? You mean those 'Mechs that either carry MGs and Flamers (lol) or heavy Medium Laser builds with Single Heat Sinks? (LOL)

Ravens? You mean those things that stock have the highest engine rating as a 210? A stock Stormcrow runs as fast as a Raven. That's simply a death sentence for any light 'Mech to run that slow.

There's not 2,400 'Mechs in this game and never will be, so if your argument is that using stock 'Mechs solves a lot of balance problems, then you first need (as an obvious prerequisite) 2,400 'Mechs. Which will never happen. So how you can say that you will solve problems by using stock 'Mechs because it works in a game with 2,400 'Mechs when this game won't ever have 2,400 'Mechs? It's such a piece of circular reasoning.

More importantly, PGI's current method of balancing aims to allow ALL 'Mechs to be viable (somewhat) at least. I know it's not perfect (Commando, Catapult, Highlander), but they're working on it. And they're doing a pretty good job of it. Unlike your proposed method, where because there's 2,400 'Mechs, it's okay that 1800 of them are trash, this allows every single chassis to be useful.

And in a meta where lasers (no rearm cost) are predominant, do you REALLY want R&R back? Really? Let's just punish all the F2P players more for the sake of lore immersion.

Essentially, your argument boils down to ZOMG LORE. Am I right? As a proponent of gameplay >> lore (and thankfully PGI is too), I just have to shake my head at that.

Edited by Harrison Kelly, 20 March 2015 - 08:12 AM.

[Lily from animove]

1453 R, on 19 March 2015 - 12:52 PM, said:

MOAR NECROMANCY.

Anyways.

On the subject of Omni vs. Battle 'Mech tech: as I recall, the gyro and other balance systems on an OmniMech are capable of dynamically adjusting as pods are swapped in order to maintain fluid and natural balance - which is why armor can't be modified, as the gyro is 'expecting' armor to be in certain places in order for its dynamic adjustment systems to work. Frankly this is hogwash - if a gyro wasn't capable of dynamically adjusting itself, as this strongly implies non-Omni gyros aren't, then any time a C-ERPPC shot took a ton of armor off your Centurion's arm, or any time your Cicada lost one of its shield-flap arms, your entire 'Mech would fall over on the spot. Dynamic balance adjustments are the reason MechWarriors wear neurohelmets.

This explanaitionreally makes not much sense. If a simple gyro can not handle these changes, WOW, pretty useless gyro for combat. may work on industrial mechs that don't carry loads and just wield or cut mterial. Guess a small lore gap here XD.

@Pht MW3 "suffered" from this?

MW 3 was glorious, yes not so TT strict but great, because there were no rela pointless emchs, you could have fun in any of them.

[Kristov Kerensky]

Lily from animove, on 20 March 2015 - 08:19 AM, said:

This explanaitionreally makes not much sense. If a simple gyro can not handle these changes, WOW, pretty useless gyro for combat. may work on industrial mechs that don't carry loads and just wield or cut mterial. Guess a small lore gap here XD.

@Pht MW3 "suffered" from this?

MW 3 was glorious, yes not so TT strict but great, because there were no rela pointless emchs, you could have fun in any of them.

Actually, gyros in BTech aren't real capable, hence the entire point of the neurohelmet, HUMAN balance is the only way to keep the Mech upright and on balance, the neurohelmet taps into the human nervous system to get the balance. It's why a certain well known Merc leader was unable to pilot Mechs after an inner ear injury. Also in BTech, any time you take 20 points of damage or more in a single turn, you have to roll to stay upright, that sudden loss of armor/weight throws the gyro out of kilter. Remember the knockdowns in MW3 from getting hit really hard? Straight out of TT rules, not something they made up for the video game. OmniMechs have to deal with this issue as well, it's why pods are set to specific tonnages per location in BTech, balance issues really ARE that important, and it's why OmniMechs have their hardwired systems.

[Koniving]

Harrison Kelly, on 20 March 2015 - 08:09 AM, said:

More importantly, PGI's current method of balancing aims to allow ALL 'Mechs to be viable (somewhat) at least. I know it's not perfect (Commando, Catapult, Highlander), but they're working on it. And they're doing a pretty good job of it. Unlike your proposed method, where because there's 2,400 'Mechs, it's okay that 1800 of them are trash, this allows every single chassis to be useful.

And in a meta where lasers (no rearm cost) are predominant, do you REALLY want R&R back? Really? Let's just punish all the F2P players more for the sake of lore immersion.

Essentially, your argument boils down to ZOMG LORE. Am I right? As a proponent of gameplay >> lore (and thankfully PGI is too), I just have to shake my head at that.

Currently PGI's method is to try to make all mechs viable, their original point of view is "some mechs are just better than others."

However what they're doing now is the formula for power creep, and it's already insane.

Many of PGI's decisions, I must point out, are in fact reasons Why we have the problems we have now with balance.

For this, I'll refer you to these. You give me any overpowered build, any problem mech, etc... and I can point you to almost any point in this argument and say "There's why."

Spoiler

Koniving, on 19 March 2015 - 05:09 PM, said:

It was still great and like that after XL engines and DHS, during the R&R days.

What changed was immediately after 80% free ammo and 40% free repairs.
Then it went nuts, and got worse after R&R was taken out. Nothing kept you from min/maxing.

So when Endo Steel, Max DHS, etc. came out, the problems of rising thresholds crept out of the woodwork. "ZOMg I can fire 4 PPCs without shutting down?"

It was a worthless joke...

But then.. Remove another CB gem, removal of instant destruction at 101% heat, and removal of damage to equipment for heat above 80%. Basically the Jan 2013 overheat overhaul.

"ZOMG I can fire 6 PPCs at once!?!?"

Still a joke, but when it hit with perfect convergence, it was devastating.

This system came into existence.
That is 30 PPCs fired in 18 seconds before self-destructing (when PPCs fired on 3 second intervals). That's with 10 DHS. Before that change, if you had 22 DHS you'd get 6 PPCs fired and 2 ML (68 heat) at the same time and while stationary and you'd explode instantly.

Now? First 30 seconds here.

Generate 70+ heat + additional ghost heat on the same 22 DHS, shuts off for a second.


Then PGI removed delayed convergence, meaning you didn't have to aim anymore or calibrate the range. Just point and click.

"Holy ****, that's the 200-zillionth 6 PPC Stalker I've seen! There's a HUGE problem! PGI NERF!"

Suddenly it wasn't a joke anymore.

Neither was anything else. Then ghost heat came.

We know how well that worked out. Pre-quirked Awesomes.



Today?



Yep...
So yeah, removal of R&R, removal of game mechanics (as follows)

• delayed convergence,
  
• damage to equipment for being above 80% heat,
  
• possibility of destroying your weapons while being too hot,
  
• instantly dying at 101% heat [shutdowns used to occur before 100% heat for a reason! and override prevented the auto shutdown when pressed at any point during its process -- but did not prevent a shutdown or interrupt it at 100% heat],
  
• removal of actuator damage and effects,
  
• Never completing engine damage functionality (Clan mechs wouldn't be so OP if you could crit their engines).
  
• removal of knockdown mechanics
  
• trees blocking thermal vision, stealth under thermal by being shutdown, etc),

and finally dumbing down of graphics, effects, and animations... had really hurt the game.





Compare this Hunchback cockpit movement

to this Hunchback movement (skip 2 minutes, bad editing on my part put a Cicada tidbit there).


Something just isn't right, eh?

Laser vomit problems? Covered in there.
ACs too strong? Covered there.
Mechs alpha too much? Yep, there.
Something over nerfed? Covered too.
Not enough realism? Covered.
Not balanced enough? Covered.
SHS not viable? Covered! It's in there.
Clan mechs too OP? Funny enough that's covered in there. Their XL engines wouldn't be an issue if the mechanic list there wasn't removed/left unfinished.
Unintentionally, even the reason we can't have MASC as described is covered! Skill tree, convergence, high threshold = must have lots of speed = must have high engine caps = serious issues with MASC and what it does = problems.
Lots of stuff.

Is it perfect? No.
But lets face it, want to know why SHS isn't viable? Because 20 SHS would cool a mech with maximum heat in 15 seconds. Ten DHS would cool that same amount of heat in 15 seconds.
In MWO: It would take a brand new mech 25 seconds. Add elites? Yes it's cooling 15% faster (2.3/sec), but now it's got 20% more threshold, and it's taking 27 seconds. Takes MORE time! More! Moar! Why more for faster!?

Threshold. PGI. "Balance."

What's hilarious is 10 DHS for a 250 engine with elites also takes takes 27 seconds at a rate of 2.3/sec.

But 10 DHS for a 175 engine? That's only 2.093/sec, and instead of 60 threshold it's 57.84. It takes 27.78 seconds to cool and you get less alpha strike power. Imagine being something with a smaller engine? What if that's all you could get into your mech like the Locust when it first came out? In fact it couldn't even get a 175 engine in it when it first came out.

Ever wonder why lights aren't very useful, when in the source material there are brawling lights and 80 ton scout mechs? Welp. That list + the heat system = why. And how come it works out that way?

PGI.

Does that mean that TT is perfect? Pfft, no. But it's a lot more balanced. Its main issue -- and you'll laugh at this -- is the extreme amount of pinpoint, front loaded damage you get compared to the lore. TT with its RNG, suffers from extreme pinpoint, FLD. Hilarious, when you consider how much worse it is in MWO. Had we the lore versions? "Clan ACs" in MWO would be 'god mode awesome' compared to what we'd really have, and even with 1x armor you'd be amazed at how tanky you'd be in a Locust with 1 ton of armor... despite being taller than most 50 ton mechs.

Hunchbacks wouldn't be so worried about their hunch side, either. It'd be that left side they'd be sweating over, that drum loaded with ammunition and a crit system based on where you hit WoT / War Thunder style instead of MWO's RNG HP system. It's that left rear that you'd be horrified about people hitting rather than your hunch.

Edited by Koniving, 20 March 2015 - 10:38 AM.

[Koniving]

Malleus011, on 19 March 2015 - 05:54 PM, said:

I'd like to see IS unlimited customization moved to a Solaris mode, and either stock versions or field refits moved into CW & the main que. Clan customization should be similarly limited - armies just can't afford to field full forces of custom 'mechs. They are uniform for logistical reasons.

A lot of balance problems get solved once you throttle back on the customization, or at least add some limits and downsides to rebuilding your 'mech into a completely different 'mech.

It'd be nice, but it'd also be plagued with problems. MWO isn't made properly. The AC/5 is literally a Rotary AC/5 with PP-FLD (much like TT in that sense, but blatantly anti-lore), and the AC/2 makes the Rotary AC/2 look like a kid's squirt gun. The heat, the skill tree, firing rates, heat system, missing features, etc. really make this notion completely impossible in MWO. Even if we got 12 IS mechs to 5 Clan mechs, it'd never work. This game's been screwed far too much from the source to make it work out.

[Koniving]

KraftySOT, on 19 March 2015 - 07:05 PM, said:

Yeah thats pretty much exactly what I use, though I think ive got pretty harsh maint checks, cost modifiers and the like.

A green infantry soldier making 12,000 cbills a year just kills me. Kills me. I know its a conversion rate into local currency, and the worth of our real world money is meaningless...but...my god heres the most dangerous job in the inner sphere, and youre doing it for less than a dishwasher at Applebees.

12,000 c-bills / year is...
US Dollar value in 2010: 96,000 USD / year.
Source.

Comparison to US soldiers:
"As of 2010, a Congressional Budget Office report estimated that the average active duty soldier receives an average $99,000 per year in compensation that includes pay and benefits, with 60 percent of the total being non-cash compensation."
Source. In the 80s, they did their research on this stuff. That's why I prefer the 1980s stuff over the 1990s stuff in regards to BT. When it comes to 2000+ BT stuff, it ventures into complete nonsense.

Liao's exchange rates with the C-bill are the worst, since Liao is pretty poor in that regard. This has a lot to do with losses in factory wealth and other factors during the 3025 era as well as the Capellan tactic of using poorly trained fodder, as well as immediately replacing any dead pilot in a functioning Battlemech with a living one almost as quickly as the mech goes down. (Though for some reason this method of front line defense combat conflicts heavily with their methods for attacking, which uses elite units to achieve objectives and espionage, subterfuge, ploys and other devious tactics.)

Quote

So I crank that up by 10x, which gives a much more challenging economy to work with. If you sit idle your unit will die. Gotta take contracts or loans, etc.

I do actually run my maintenance checks two times a week. Though I don't - yet - run hardmode harsher checks. More frequent checks are plenty enough, though I do like having problems happen much earlier, allowing me to dedicate the time to get those things sooner rather than catastrophically failing later on when there's no time left.

In general I need more stable gameplay for super harsh checks and I still gotta learn how this new ATB system works.

Edited by Koniving, 20 March 2015 - 01:04 PM.

[KraftySOT]

Harrison Kelly, on 20 March 2015 - 08:09 AM, said:

Firestarters? You mean those 'Mechs that either carry MGs and Flamers (lol) or heavy Medium Laser builds with Single Heat Sinks? (LOL)

Ravens? You mean those things that stock have the highest engine rating as a 210? A stock Stormcrow runs as fast as a Raven. That's simply a death sentence for any light 'Mech to run that slow.

There's not 2,400 'Mechs in this game and never will be, so if your argument is that using stock 'Mechs solves a lot of balance problems, then you first need (as an obvious prerequisite) 2,400 'Mechs. Which will never happen. So how you can say that you will solve problems by using stock 'Mechs because it works in a game with 2,400 'Mechs when this game won't ever have 2,400 'Mechs? It's such a piece of circular reasoning.

More importantly, PGI's current method of balancing aims to allow ALL 'Mechs to be viable (somewhat) at least. I know it's not perfect (Commando, Catapult, Highlander), but they're working on it. And they're doing a pretty good job of it. Unlike your proposed method, where because there's 2,400 'Mechs, it's okay that 1800 of them are trash, this allows every single chassis to be useful.

And in a meta where lasers (no rearm cost) are predominant, do you REALLY want R&R back? Really? Let's just punish all the F2P players more for the sake of lore immersion.

Essentially, your argument boils down to ZOMG LORE. Am I right? As a proponent of gameplay >> lore (and thankfully PGI is too), I just have to shake my head at that.

Youre missing a key component here. The BV system. We sort of had a check on the meta, with R&R, but that went out of the window. There has to be a reason not to take the most biggest baddest most awesome gundam ever.

My point about the number of mechs is that without customization, you still have everything you could ever want. If were lacking one of the 'boats' you can add that chassis. You dont need all 2,400 since there are far less combinations of the dynamic of weight speed and firepower, than 2,400. You just need your Bombadier, your Stalker, your Firestarter, your Jager, your Atlas, etc. Theres a plethora of existing chassis that meet the need of every kind of player. You dont need vindicators, or trebuchets that are terrible, and are STILL terrible after customization.

Even people customizing their mechs turn their mechs into pre existing mechs. People turn their Cicadas into Hollanders, people turn their Stalkers into Supernovas, people turn their Banshees into Imps...

Theres plenty of ways to keep everyone and their brother from taking nothing but the best most awesome mechs.

And if your argument is that PGI is providing us good gameplay...youre ********.

Maybe, more lore based actually battletech based battletech games, might not do well. But this isnt doing well either, right now.

So you got hope, which might be a pile of feces, or just a pile of feces.

You might as well hope for MOAR LORE, since "gameplay" is clearly not PGIs strong point...either.

Koniving, on 20 March 2015 - 12:56 PM, said:

12,000 c-bills / year is...
US Dollar value in 2010: 96,000 USD / year.
Source.

Comparison to US soldiers:
"As of 2010, a Congressional Budget Office report estimated that the average active duty soldier receives an average $99,000 per year in compensation that includes pay and benefits, with 60 percent of the total being non-cash compensation."
Source. In the 80s, they did their research on this stuff. That's why I prefer the 1980s stuff over the 1990s stuff in regards to BT. When it comes to 2000+ BT stuff, it ventures into complete nonsense.

Liao's exchange rates with the C-bill are the worst, since Liao is pretty poor in that regard. This has a lot to do with losses in factory wealth and other factors during the 3025 era as well as the Capellan tactic of using poorly trained fodder, as well as immediately replacing any dead pilot in a functioning Battlemech with a living one almost as quickly as the mech goes down. (Though for some reason this method of front line defense combat conflicts heavily with their methods for attacking, which uses elite units to achieve objectives and espionage, subterfuge, ploys and other devious tactics.)

I do actually run my maintenance checks two times a week. Though I don't - yet - run hardmode harsher checks. More frequent checks are plenty enough, though I do like having problems happen much earlier, allowing me to dedicate the time to get those things sooner rather than catastrophically failing later on when there's no time left.

In general I need more stable gameplay for super harsh checks and I still gotta learn how this new ATB system works.

Those ********! Thats spot on! How do they do that?!

I run the harsh mode checks with quality decline quarterly. Its a bummer when you start out and bought all your mechs on Jan 1st. They ALL break down on the same damned day.

After a few years youve bought so many things that maint comes around every few days for SOMETHING, but youre never assed out with no functional equipment in the middle of a campaign.

[LordKnightFandragon]

Omni mechs are faster to repair and rearm in the field, maybe not really more customizable. If you pay a TT Grandcampaign where logistics and all that matter, then that is where you would see the Omnimech having the advantage. Where as your standard mech needs to be rewired, and repair time is several days as opposed to an Omni's several hours.

[KraftySOT]

Everything was better in the 80s btw.

Though I like alot of the non power creep related things theyve done since. Otherwise the ATB stuff wouldnt even have a basis for existing. It would just be someones random ideas of what it might be like. Theres alot of rules I like post 80s BTech, and some I absolutely loathe.

Most equipment they added beyond that first set of 3025 stuff is horrible to me. 3049 its basically just 3025 but with 'meta designs' and thats where it starts to go downhill. Then clams happen. Now theres so many lasers theyd run out of colors on the spectrum in a video game to differentiate them.

[Koniving]

KraftySOT, on 20 March 2015 - 01:16 PM, said:

Those ********! Thats spot on! How do they do that?!

I run the harsh mode checks with quality decline quarterly. Its a bummer when you start out and bought all your mechs on Jan 1st. They ALL break down on the same damned day.

After a few years youve bought so many things that maint comes around every few days for SOMETHING, but youre never assed out with no functional equipment in the middle of a campaign.

Amazing isn't it?

Also I make it a point to space out when I acquire things. Buy, advanced day, repeat, etc. Kinda makes things feel like they are actually scheduled. "Okay it's Monday, check the Jenner." "It's Tuesday, how's the Nin Kei doing?" "It's Wednesday, god damn it you did WHAT with the crane and the Phract?" "Centurion's AC/10 is jammed again? Must be Thursday."

[KraftySOT]

Koniving, on 20 March 2015 - 01:20 PM, said:

Amazing isn't it?

Also I make it a point to space out when I acquire things. Buy, advanced day, repeat, etc. Kinda makes things feel like they are actually scheduled. "Okay it's Monday, check the Jenner." "It's Tuesday, how's the Nin Kei doing?" "It's Wednesday, god damn it you did WHAT with the crane and the Phract?" "Centurion's AC/10 is jammed again? Must be Thursday."

Haha yeah same here. Never buy in volume. Completely counter intuitive but thats how you gotta play it, or risk going nuts.

[LordKnightFandragon]

KraftySOT, on 20 March 2015 - 01:18 PM, said:

Everything was better in the 80s btw.

Though I like alot of the non power creep related things theyve done since. Otherwise the ATB stuff wouldnt even have a basis for existing. It would just be someones random ideas of what it might be like. Theres alot of rules I like post 80s BTech, and some I absolutely loathe.

Most equipment they added beyond that first set of 3025 stuff is horrible to me. 3049 its basically just 3025 but with 'meta designs' and thats where it starts to go downhill. Then clams happen. Now theres so many lasers theyd run out of colors on the spectrum in a video game to differentiate them.

How many lasers exactly?

Normal IS Lasers, SML
ISERs SML
ISPL SML
C lasers, SML
CPL SML
Heavy Lasers...SML?
Blasers
Tag lasers

Yeah, I see it now....


And in a round about way, as much as I love clan tech for its efficient use of space, I honestly woulda loved this game to start in 3015 like that one video and go year by year, making right now like 3021 or something, running only IS vs IS and keeping clans out of it entirely. I never did experience IS tech, so I always hated it when compared to CLan tech. I imagine the game was much simpler without Clans...Always wanted to drive my Zeus, void of Clan mechs blowing it to bits and an Awesome and a Catapult. PLenty of IS Mechs I want to drive, but never dare to take IS tech vs Clan tech....ever. Even in MW4 I swapped out of IS tech quickly.

Edited by LordKnightFandragon, 20 March 2015 - 01:24 PM.

[Kristov Kerensky]

LordKnightFandragon, on 20 March 2015 - 01:17 PM, said:

Omni mechs are faster to repair and rearm in the field, maybe not really more customizable. If you pay a TT Grandcampaign where logistics and all that matter, then that is where you would see the Omnimech having the advantage. Where as your standard mech needs to be rewired, and repair time is several days as opposed to an Omni's several hours.

Actually, in TT, OmniMechs are the only customized Mechs you really see in a campaign, Mercs can't really afford customized Mechs, that's expensive stuff and the time costs in a campaign aren't doable. OmniMechs can swap out weapons within a matter of hours, so you can really do some nice customization there and do it in the field, unlike non-Omni's, where swapping out a weapon isn't something you do quickly OR in the field unless you have absolutely HAVE to, and odds are, you are going to break something in the process.

I created customs in BTech, but they all took LOTS of cbills and we did them outside of the campaign where time frame wasn't important, so not having a Mech for X months due to shipping, work being done, testing, fine tuning, getting it shipped back to me...and the costs.. I created a custom Mech from the Internals out, ran a few billion cbills total cost to get the first working production model completed, 5 years of game time. That was after we had defeated the Clans and my character was rather well off, having made Hauptmann General during that campaign, and that cost was actually underwritten by the factory that did the work, they got the rights to produce and sell the new Mech and I got paid a royalty for every one sold. That thing sold amazingly well, helped that it was 'personally designed by Hauptmann General William Kidd, the man who launched the first nukes into Strana Mechty and lead the Star League's forces in the destruction of the Clans' My joke character, Bill E Kidd, who replaced my first character who died in my first drop without ever seeing the Mech that removed my cockpit with a single gauss shot at extreme range. 50 year career, started as a Merc, 'recruited' into Steiner when our Merc unit was decimated while working for Steiner, our backup, a Steiner military unit, was 'late' getting to the combat zone. A combat zone we were told was NOT hot and only contained 2x the forces Steiner had told us were operating in the area. Typical Steiner action, sent us in without telling us what was going on. We took out the bad guys, but my guy was the only one who survived, my Mech was shot to hell, and Steiner made clear that if I wanted to actually BE the sole survivor, I seriously needed to consider joining their military or else. Turned out pretty well for Bill in the end

[KraftySOT]

LordKnightFandragon, on 20 March 2015 - 01:22 PM, said:

How many lasers exactly?

Normal IS Lasers, SML
ISERs SML
ISPL SML
C lasers, SML
CPL SML
Heavy Lasers...SML?
Blasers
Tag lasers

Yeah, I see it now....


And in a round about way, as much as I love clan tech for its efficient use of space, I honestly woulda loved this game to start in 3015 like that one video and go year by year, making right now like 3021 or something, running only IS vs IS and keeping clans out of it entirely. I never did experience IS tech, so I always hated it when compared to CLan tech. I imagine the game was much simpler without Clans...Always wanted to drive my Zeus, void of Clan mechs blowing it to bits and an Awesome and a Catapult. PLenty of IS Mechs I want to drive, but never dare to take IS tech vs Clan tech....ever. Even in MW4 I swapped out of IS tech quickly.

X lasers, X pulse lasers, Heavy, Binary, Blaser, its out of control lol

Micro lasers, theres gotta be more.

And yeah I dont know why these games that are obviously going to add more packs and content down the road, dont start further back and then keep those eras as options.

Tons of us would play CB equipment only, back in the days of no grouping weapons and SHS.

Edited by KraftySOT, 20 March 2015 - 01:40 PM.