2 replies to this topic

[Kaeb Odellas]

One thing I don't like about all the various toughness and agility quirks is it creates these big awkward lists that aren't particularly descriptive.

For instance, the structure and armor quirks tell you how much more structure and armor you get, but they don't say anything about how much structure or armor that component will have in the end. Sensor quirks have the same problem. What does +200% sensor range actually mean? What would the new sensor range be? The only way to know this is to look it up on the wiki and do the math yourself, which is bad design.

I propose that instead of having these awkward 20 line lists of quirks, we just roll these quirks into the basic stats of each mech and display those in the expanded mech stats pop-up instead. So instead of structure and armor being tied entirely to mass, with quirks added on at the end, each mech chassis would have a different base level of structure and armor stats tuned to whatever their hitboxes and roles demand. Quirks could be reserved for more unique differences between each variant and can be worded so we don't need massive quirk lists

So instead of an AS7-S or AS7-RS having 62 base CT structure with a +16 quirk, just list its CT structure as 78. We could call this the base level Atlas and say it has no quirks for structure.

The AS7-K would be listed as having 90 CT structure, and this boost and its other structure boosts could be listed in the quirks list as:

-Tough Guy (+15% structure to all components)

The AS7-D would be listed as having 110 CT structure, and to reflect these and other structure boosts, we could say it has a quirk called:

-Juggernaut (+40% structure in all components)

The AS7-D-DC, being more frail than the base level, would get a negative quirk called:

-Frail (20% structure in all components)


Sensor systems could see a similar change. Instead of putting up the rather unhelpful +200% Target Scan Time (short range), just list the actual time it takes to scan the target and put it in the expanded mech description.

It would also be extremely helpful to have a mech comparison tool that puts 2 mechs side by side and compare their stats to each other.

Edited by Kaeb Odellas, 11 September 2015 - 06:24 PM.

[Zeriniel]

I imagine they're not editing the base stats because they made the quirk system a much quicker and easier way to adjust values (hence the mix of positive and negative benefits).

But I do like your idea, and I agree - instead of showing a million different "quirks" how about just listing the mech's vital stats so you can compare straight against each other without having to worry about things like Target Acquisition +1 (plus one what? Penguin?) or 300% long range target time (300% of what?). So maybe Target Acquisition Time = 2.2s, Long Range Scan Time = 34s.

It doesn't have to change the underlying values, just how they're displayed (e.g. it actually makes mechs appear like they have different stats, rather than people freaking out about "buffs" or "nerfs".)

And in that sense, the mech data (from opening in mech lab, or rolling over in mech select) could use another redesign. Like the right side is the same for all mechs, and it shows the effects of the different values, the left side could be used for a list of the other mech statistic points (like sensor data), and clean up the right side.
Since almost every mech has a different set of base stats across the variants, there's no reason to show the quirks - just show how those quirks affect the specific parts of the mech's abilities.

Edited by Zeriniel, 11 September 2015 - 06:40 PM.

[Kaeb Odellas]

That's the idea. Right now they're kind of halfheartedly adhering to the Battletech structure and armor formula by tying everything to mass and then adding quirks where needed, but that's the wrong way to go about it. Each mech should have inherent differences in their structure and maximum armor that reflect their designs and roles. There's no reason why the relatively beefy arms of the Centurion should have the same base stats as the Hunchback's rather puny arms. Sure they differentiated them with quirks, but the underlying philosophy is wrong.