6 replies to this topic

[AlphaStruck]

Modular armor would be a C-Bill upgrade to IS mechs only that allows the player to trade offence for defense helping to increase the extremely short survival time of mechs right now.

1. Upgrade would cost 1.5mil to activate.

2. Activation would reduce JJ thrust and burn time by 60% and add a 5% penalty to acceleration and breaking. (Stops lights and poptarts from gettting a huge boost with this)

3. Player can choose to place extra armor on any hitbox at will after normal armor has been maxed.

4. Each point of modular armor would cost 2X the weight of normal armor.

5. Every 16 points of modular armor would use a single crit slot in hitbox where it is added. (Stops AS7 from placing all armor on RT to protect AC20. Max would be 32 extra at 2 tons)

6. Crit slot would be used at 1 point past regular armor and 1 point past every 16.(17 points of armor would use 2 crit slots, 33 would use 3, etc. This stops player from getting extra armor without crit slots being used)

Notes:
The armor point per Crit will most likey need increasing but this is a starting point. At most the weight may need to be increased to 2.5.

Modular armor would allow lesser light mechs to increase survival time without allowing faster JJ lights to abuse the upgrade due to loss of JJ efficiency and Crit slots needed for FF and Endo. Weight would be the big balancing force here.

Mediums would not have to be fast moving overgunned glass cannons to be balanced. By giving up weight (meaningful trade-off to their class) they could protect key hitboxes and stop being 1 hit kills. The crit slot loss will stop zombie or single shoulder builds from getting huge boosts. Zombie cent could not stack CT armor and super zombie without losing a CT energy slot. All cent could add big boosts to shield arms to block with if they wish to risk a XL engine.

Heavy's would have to trade firepower and speed to compensate for extra weight. The crit slot use would hamper AC20 builds from being abused. Ballistic mechs such as Jagers with giant ST could trade some ammo to survive more than 1 hit with a XL engine. Most IS heavys will feel the weight being a balancing force as IS tech is heavier and defense is almost always ignored as to overgun so they have some chance against clan tech.

Assaults would gain a new play style, A defensive mech. Until now assaults were all about the alpha. You make a better build by how much firepower you can add. By trading a good deal of weight a AS7 could survive clan barrages or LRMs for more than 20 seconds. Weight would force a loss of a weapon while crit slot loss would stop single weapon protection and risk loss of Endo. This will allow the currently almost useless mechs such as the AS7-K to make its lack of weapon hardpoint work for it but make a AS7-D-DC or S trade a weapon for any extra armor. Assaults running XL engines for extreme firepower would not be able to boost ST armor due to crit loss making them choose between Modular Armor or Endo.

This Is a better balancing tool simply because it allows the player to choose how a mech is upgraded, that is ALWAYS better. It would also be the first time any attempt has been made to address the TTK problem seriously damaging the game.

For the cannon lovers http://www.sarna.net...i/Modular_Armor . Im not sure its in lore but even if its not real... it will help IS tech A LOT.

[Karl Streiger]

As you mentioned Battletech has a rule for Modular Armor.
It simple reduces the top speed of your Mech - that makes it a two edged sword - in TT i would use Modular Armor only on Mechs that won't loose defensive movement values (for example i would add modular armor to a Banshee with a 380 engine, but not on a Atlas with 300 engine, but again on a Annihilator with 200 engine.

Modular armor - in TT weights 1ton and gives additional 10 points of protection - in zones where you place one modular armor slot.

Strictly spoken - i don't know - if the loose of 10,8kph is worth the additional protection of 10points at a specific location - not to mention that you need more tonnage.

So - regadring tweaking:

• modular always consumes a slot per location
  
• 10 points of modular armor reduces speed of a Mech like a reducing the engine rating by factor 5
  
• each damage to each zone affects modular armor first
  
• effective engine rating rises with destruction of 10 modular armor points

[AlphaStruck]

I understand the whole TT rules and lore thing. Its a good base that has been the starting point of most MW games. But the bottom line for me is that TT does not translate into a FPS sim like MWO well. I dont think the classic rules will leave enough customizable options for the player to tweak. While the fixed armor amount is to restrictive for me I do like the idea of engine rating loss. That could be thrown in per ton on a sliding scale affecting lights more than assaults rather than JJ loss. I know this is a lore vrs game argument but lets face it, a lot of the game isnt lore or cannon because it doesnt work. PGI isnt going to tell us to lose all out IS mechs because clan is the end game

[Nightmare1]

Is this like Reflective and Reactive armor from MW4? If so, I'm all for it!

[AlphaStruck]

Its not going to reduce damage taken by certain weapons. It will simply allow IS mechs to stop the 1 hit kill problem they have at a cost to firepower. This is a player controlled tradeoff to help with balancing rather than simply upping firepower and making every mech move like a light. Tanks will have a place in the game again.

Also if you dont agree with the numbers let me know what your thinking. Want to know if my numbers are low or high in your opinion.

[Telmasa]

I kinda like it, only I wouldn't restrict it to IS mechs only, and though it looks like you thought it out nicely on counter-balancing it properly, some of the values probably need closer looks if the idea comes to fruition.

[AlphaStruck]

Telmasa, on 09 November 2014 - 06:45 PM, said:

I kinda like it, only I wouldn't restrict it to IS mechs only, and though it looks like you thought it out nicely on counter-balancing it properly, some of the values probably need closer looks if the idea comes to fruition.

This is meant as a clan balance instead of amping IS mechs to clan lethality levels. If clans got this every clan mechs would have the side torsos maxed out to further abuse the clan XL engine. Even now clan mechs take much more damage using the side torso 50% damage reduction when broken and tiny quasibugged CT's. All this without sacrificing any offense. Heat has been upped and that has helped but not enough.

Its a far better idea to give players a chance to make their rides equal rather than PGI.
"I made my dire wolf with double the DPS of IS assaults" . "Yeah but I made my AS7 with better armor than your glass cannon"

This is mostly so PGI doesnt turn the game into a standard FPS shooter with no survivability and 1-2 shot kills. Clan could still boast massive firepower at range but IS could claim the title of tough to kill. Not to mention this would help train new players.

Do you think my numbers are to limiting or OPing?

(Insert all "CLANS ARE BALANCED" nonsense below and mark balanced so it can be ignored )