Dassh, on 18 September 2015 - 06:07 PM, said:
Well. First of all the differences are not more than pauldron, arm shape and the cockpit. But these are the things what make a Marauder out of some another Mech. Without these it won't resemble more to a Marauder than a Timber Wolf or an Ebon Jaguar.
The shape what Alex chose is actually a slimmer King Crab with some features what you can find on Locust. But don't misunderstand me, it is a good basis of a design and I do appreciate it. Tennex just smuggled back some of the unique attributes of the Marauder what wouldn't make any legal trouble. In this form - I mean version D - it would be the best redesigned Marauder I ever seen. Seriously.
No offense but it seems to me you haven't heard about a Marauder (or maybe BT/MW at all) before getting into MWO so you don't know how much a classic this Mech is and many of us how much waited for it or what this fuss is all about.
Cockpit:
I hope you know you are talking nonsense. It has nothing to do with field of view at all. The difference is kind of when you press the appropiate key and look around you won't see sky upward and won't see some tiny, green-tinted windows on the sides. That's all, otherwise it is the same.
We got Mechs like this, like Shadowhawk or Stalker. I've got some Mechs from both chassis and I like them and never ever had problem with the view.
I think one reason why you think it would be too small because you have no idea about the size of the Mech. It is a 75 tonner, so a heavy Mech and even from the heavier kind (5 tons from being an assault practically..). From MWO Mechs imagine something like the Thunderbolt, even thougher (actually in tabletop a Marauder can eat Thunderbolts for breakfast...). So in this sense, the cockpit of version A - not caring about the shape - is very much oversized anyways. It looks more like some medium Mech.
Actually, Thunderbolt is a good example for the problem: Thunderbolt's offset cockpit is an important feature, a Thunderbolt isn't a Thunderbolt without it, even if piloting from a centered cockpit is much more comfortable. That is the case with the Marauder's enclosed cockpit too, it isn't a Marauder without it.
I think this is where the difference is between the two branches: Some of us have many memories about this Mech and we were waiting for it hopelessly to see it in this game and - if it's running under the title "IS Classic" - we would like to see a Marauder, even if the arms are low and most energy hardpoints are on them and so on. And there are the guys who don't even know what we are talking about and they just want some fancy new Mech and only look how could it be min/maxed more.
That's why I said that if this is the case just name it some other way and let us wait some 2-3 more years for a Marauder.
I hope you got my point.
Marauder is my 16th favourite mech since 2001 and was my 12th since 1998. It is also my 4th most favourite heavy mech in BT as well as my 2nd favourite IS heavy after the Catapult, Before the Warhammer. and much more before the Argus.
I've played MW2, MC1, 2, MW4, MW: O, a few games of MW:T. I haven't played a proper game of Table top because no one around me does but I played by myself lots of times (forever alone).
I know what the Marauder looks like originally, the reseen version, the newer reseen, and the macross 'original' version.
I also know enough of the case with it. Such as the fact it was in public domain and that the harmony gold had no legal rights to it. the only thing they copy righted was the animations of it in the anime which BT didn't use (because guess what? Table top doesn't need any digital animations... and when it came to the games such as MW2 they were original animations that didn't compare)
I am aware what the original looks. and no we got no mechs like the Marauder with "That" cockpit. Look at the mech again, where would the pilot sit? If you want him to be close to the front he would be lying on his belly like how they did in the Ar 234 bomber in WWII to fit and see clearly through the samll opening. Even Harmony gold got it right. the location of where the "old" marauder cockpit is is where a camera / sensor is on the HG one. The old marauder could be slightly possible as it was much more 'taller' in the area thus the pilot could reliably fit in a seat. On other news the video games saw the problem much more better and had a better field of view and larger window and more area (also including to the sides) for eg.
[edit snip, this image was broken. looks fine on editing but goes to **** when it's on forum. sorry]
Example image I just made here:
As you can see, normal sitting will not do much at all in terms of visibility for the main pilot. It's very small and has a lot of problems. If you want that cockpit shape to work you need it to be a little bit bigger and to make the marauder to be a lot more 'fat' to accomidate the pilot.
That or you got an awkward "belly" possition which is very bad, it will mean you can look up and if you accelerate you may black out and if you decelerate you may red out. This is rarely used in aircraft or ships and doesn't translate well. as well as completely new animations for pilot needed...
sure- there are some light mechs which are very cramped.
Humans are approximately to scale in this image however I have no idea what the scale of the marauder would be, for all I know it would be as big as a 90 tonner mech and will be able to do what you want. but I still doubt it overall.
Going to the cockpit- the cockpit wasn't the major feature of the Marauder. It was the arms and the AC 5. And in case you didn't know there is a difference between location of the cockpit and the design of it. for your thunderbolt idea it is faulty. Because it isn't just the offset of the cockpit but the cockpit itself which is drastically different:
Look at how much lower it is and how much area it covers- it's like the griffons cockpit and has a lot more view out of it as well as area... and now MW: O
See the problem? Now also lets go look at the summoner...
Much more closer to the MW: O thunderbolt then the MW: O thunderbolt is to the BT Thunderbolt art.
Edited by Nightshade24, 18 September 2015 - 10:03 PM.