28 replies to this topic

[Kinski Orlawisch]

No. The Point is: IS is using mixtech from captured Clanmechs. There are even Mechs constructef from scrap. Lets say. 10 Mechs are existing? The Clans have thousends of IS Mechs with Clantech Upgrades. They can produce them....So who should bee scared? Clan Thunderbolts with IS quircks and Clan tech? I have 19.7 Million Exp...think about the Monsters I would create..No you don t want them.

[Vellron2005]

So... We mostly agree on NOT mixing Clan and IS Tech...

Then I say, the unused mech XP should be used to let players make champion or hero mechs in the following ways:

1) When a mech becomes hero mech, the player can choose among dozens of unique camos that are not available otherwise (even for MC)
2) Pay 1 milion xp to make a mech grant 30% extra c-bills
3) Pay 1 milion xp to add 1 extra weapon slot of the chosen type, on 1 chosen mech component.
4) Pay 1 milion xp to add a 10% speed boost to a mech
5) Pay 1 milion xp to make a chosen mech have extra 10% heat apsorption (overheats 10% less)
6) Pay 1 milion xp to make a chosen mech have a previously absent technology (ECM, AMS, MASC)

That would still be very costly, and would produce some amazing hero-mechs.

I don't think many players have multi-milion xp mechs, and even if they do, even if they get all the upgrades, still wouldnt be to much.

Edited by Vellron2005, 27 May 2015 - 02:14 AM.

[Peter2k]

Basically I'd love the idea of using my mechxp to do something more than sit around

Love the customization aspect
And I might do the C-Bill boost several times on the same mech if allowed to



While you can see that cross tech is a problem of its own, the rest is great on its own


Also
Everyone saying pay to win or balance problems
Well it's only a matter of time for PGI to jump in the time (probably when they run out of community favorite mechs to sell at 3050) and IS gets better tech too, hell I'd take a light XL engine for instance, or er mediums
Also at at least 1 million xp, it's not that easy to do, even with premium time

[SgtMac]

So far Marc is the closest to a reason, but its still a far cry from an answer other then, No. The clans have thousands of mechs. So does the innersphere, The IS has a larger production base, for all combat equipment. They did turn the tables on the clans and completely wipe one out. And that was only with a few units each donated to the cause. They used clan tech, and mostly IS tech. What im seeing really is Clan players saying leave our stuff alone. The way a unit can swap faction (-MS-, BWC, 228 have been all over the place, just as examples) Standing Army sizes dont matter, one week the Clans are most assuredly dominant, the next, IS is on top becuase people swap around for the weekend events. If the game actually matched TT, The Combine would be half sized, the Jags, Wolves, and Bears would be gone. So we all agree PGI isnt following the Timeline(not enough mechs out) and that they are not at TT levels of balance. That all said, why not mix tech? What is so aweful about the Banshee mounting 4 clan large pulse lasers? My Direwolf mounts 6. I can out gun it. I also have a TC. Whats the issue with a Clan Wolf player who has an Orion, wanting to run it as Kerensky's Orion? Clan Mist lynx pilots now taking a locust out, while an IS Thud mounts clan MPLs? Quirks shouldnt work cross tech, but if it happened so what? The game would look like most pug drops, stuff is mixed up all over the place. Which surprisingly resembles the Lore of the IS in 3055. The only balance damage I see what mechs become preferred. I will admit my skills are not computer literate here, so I dont know what type of coding issues would be faced. As all your doing is dropping an already coded item into a slot. But if Game designers figured it out over 15 years ago and enabled it t work on over 60 different mechs, I know PGIs modern designers shouldnt have any issues either.

[50 50]

@SgtMac
Allowing clan tech on IS mechs and IS tech on clan mechs unearths a whole raft of problems and I suspect it's more complicated behind the scenes with the coding than just allowing the items to be mounted.
The biggest points and reasons for not allowing mixed tech is:

• Balance. (This is the big point really) For all the months/years of balance that has gone on with the tweaking of each weapon and the quirks on the mechs and Omni pods. Allowing mixed tech would render all that obsolete and would need to be redone.
  
• Maintaining a difference between IS and Clan. The IS mechs have a really customised feel to them and are getting some awesome quirks to improve and really identify particular variants on each chassis. That combined with the ability to change the upgrades like endo-steel, heat sinks and armour as well as engine size is what gives the IS mechs their uniqueness. This is balanced by their weapons being different with weight, space and performance. Where as the clans have 1/3rd the number of mechs but due to being able to change out the Omni-pods can mix and match hard points. Lacking the space and tonnage and options to customise to the same extent, the weapons make the balance with the difference in weight, space and performance.

For these reasons I believe we will never see mixed tech.

[SgtMac]

Now those are reasons. Thank you. I would argue the balance getting messed up. But will agree the coding may be the issue. Again, Thank you.

[Nightmare1]

I like this idea! It's reminiscent of the novels and how some pilots were able to drastically modify their personal Mechs.

Not sure about adding hardpoints though. What if you just changed the hardpoint? For example, from an energy to a ballistic? I seem to remember that occurring in the books once or twice.

[Uthael]

Adding stuff to a mech without a disadvantage in some other area would make many hate you on the battlefield, just like many hated the Clans before the quirks. Others just took the "if you can beat them, join them" route.

I play MWO very casually now (mostly because I'm in the wrong timezone to play sober with my unit). One thing I'd hate to see is a large power-spike between casual players and the very dedicated ones. If the two went to duel with similar Internet quality and skill, the outcome should come in favor of the dedicated one, but very narrowly.

You mentioned some 10% bonuses for 1M XP. That's a huge power spike. Now, How about you split the 10% into 4 upgrades of 2.5% (example); first one would cost 100k, second one 200k, the third 300k and the last 400k. Total would still be 10% for 1M, but it would feel more like tweaking your favorite mech and it wouldn't split the community as much.

As for the crosstech; I'm all up for it, but the unquirked IS chassis would become obsolete very fast. Clan mechs have great payload/speed ratio with no real drawbacks for it except for the limited choice of weapons (God forbid removing the ER-heat from Clan lasers or letting their autocannons fire single shells).

Adding ECM, a weapon hardpoint, another AMS or even a JJ would be top-tier and most expensive mech customization options. However, those should require removal of some hardpoints, slots or quirks to compensate (not a hard thing to decide for considering many builds don't even use some of their potential).

Edited by Uthael, 28 May 2015 - 06:46 PM.

[AbsUserName]

I'd like to remember all that cited P2W in MC use that the recent events have distributed plenty of MC: one had a ceiling of 2000 MC, the mercenary event; many others distributed 150-300. MC no longer necessarily equates real money, and that's a good thing.
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About the balance issues, I think that while many mechs could be made very powerful by this system, the very best mechs could profit little: timberwolf and direwolf could use some better (hahahah) IS lasers and AC.

Most of the performance gains would be in Vindicators, Awesomes, Quickdraws, etc. And those monkey business mechs, dragging knuckles. And after the IS mechs can mount the clan xl, the timberwolf suddenly is not so much better anymore.
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BT allows us design freedom (the edition I knew allowed, perhaps the very first editions didn't have these rules). So a player can go berserk and have whatever build he wants. On MWO, this method is partially implemented, and the guidelines in this thread are one more step toward this design freedom, especially in hardpoints placement and number.

The weapons are balanced so any build is also balanced (you know, lasers + hs = ac + ammo = lrm/srm + ammo + hs).

In my opinion, LRM should fly straight if not in indirect fire (direct Line of Sight) and SRM should have locks. ECM really hurt missiles. Lasers and ballistics already have plenty of love. The medium laser has been IS workhorse for centuries, after all, no problem if someone really likes boating them. But I digress.
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I did not suggest additional boni like +10% heat dissipation. New designs are newbie-friendly and canonically acceptable; boni galore power spiking is not newbie-friendly. I did suggest 30% c-bill and xp boni, but this is already in the game and does not give in-match advantages.

Edited by AbsUserName, 28 May 2015 - 10:45 PM.