4 replies to this topic

[Cronox II]

Was wondering if there are any consideration to have Death from above in the future. As you know, last ditch attempt to bring down an enemy with your jumping mech by trying to destroy your opponents head with your legs using jump jets or falling from a higher ground.

[Rattazustra]

Too easy.

[Mad Porthos]

Technically deaths from above do happen in this game, but it's extremely difficult to manage and in general, is chance/random rather than a measure of skill or tactic. As you may or may not know, the game's collision system has gone through many versions both regarding hit registration and movement by mechs, where a mech's "hit box" size and movement box are different things and vary by mech class, not only individual mechs. As a result, some mechs in this game for example might be heavy mechs, but be very tall with a movement box that will not let them pass between two tight buildings or a low arch, while another heavy mech might have a smaller movement box where the mech actually can slide between two obstructions, or pass underneath that same arch or bridge. It appears that this movement box is actually different than actual hitbox and I think it exists because when they tried to do movement based wholly on "hit boxes", mechs would have projections like shoulder pads, antennae or weapon pods that would snag on edges of buildings, rocks and the like - causing players to scream bloody murder at the "horrible collision" code and mechanics, which simply were an artifact/result of too great a detail in what was being looked at for collision. Now with "smoother" collision boxes, as it was explained to me, the mechs can easier slide between obstructions and mechs do not get as trapped when things like a shoulder pad snags on a "pocket" or gap in the side of a building, resulting in a mech not being able to run alongside a building, but instead be snagged in a way that they cannot escape by twisting, backing up or moving forward due to that geometry.

These movement or collision boxes then are like big squares or perhaps beachballs, around each mech, roughly corresponding to their shape. Determining if a left/right leg of a jumping mech actually hit the center torso, left torso, right torso or cockpit of the enemy mech you are trying to death from above is difficult because of this collision hit box and very often if any collision damage is done, it is done to a single component that may have nothing to do with what might visually be expected to happen. It's like if pool/billiard balls hit each other, the leading edge of a round shape is going to impact another round shape, determining vaguely perhaps that the left, right or center, front or back is hit - but it also may end up doing damage to an enemy mech's legs or oddly none at all if the relative velocity of the collision is very slow.

I have managed to land light and heavy mechs, even an assault... on other mechs in game, even mechs that were cored, with no armor in all three torsos. These mechs "paper doll" registered damage on their legs, even though I was firmly landed on them and they were still functioning. It was to be expected in a more realistic situation that if I had landed on and was remaining standing on them, that my mech's left and right legs must have impacted their left, right or center torsos, yet the damage they took was to their legs. While it can make sense, due to "overstress", since they are now carrying the weight of a whole nother mech crashed onto them, you would normally have expected the impact damage in those torsos, allowing a death from above. All I can really blame is geometry, perhaps some mechs with flat tops do not really allow good registration of impacts to any one torso so the damage goes to the legs, I do not know.

In the meantime, death from above is more or less a last ditch effort anyways, so it's still a viable attempt to stay alive and do some hurt when your weapons and options are limited. I have managed it in times when my own mechs center armor is gone and leg armor is intact, while my enemies have very little leg armor and structure left over. One particular case I recall landing on an easier to hit LEGGED enemy mech and that damage that often hits legs rather than torsos was just what was needed to finish him off.

P.S.: There has for a long time been a steady low murmur of players wishing for melee combat, as it is a significant part of the battle-tech experience and a factor in the balancing of mechs, due to many inner sphere mechs being quite useful at it - which when used right helped in the overall depth and potential of the fights between Inner Sphere and Clans. Without melee, one of the things that could allow more even battles (assuming range could be closed) is gone from the equation, necessitating other mechanics in the game (like quirks) to make mechs on each side roughly competitive. Death from Above might be more viable if they ever do find a way to implement melee combat overall. Unfortunately, there has been no comment for a long time from the developers regarding this and their only comments initially had been they would like to do this IF they could find a way for it to work that did not seem overly cumbersome or tacked on.

Edited by Mad Porthos, 15 December 2015 - 06:35 AM.

[Rushin Roulette]

Ive managed a death from above with an Awsome if that counts? Was in the old river city and I randomly fell heroically threw myself off a bridge onto an enemy I did not see was completely planning on jumping onto.

With the current hoverjets I think most mechs can not manage a death from above, more like a dropkick to the shins.

[Hawk_eye]

I managed a DFO once in my weaponless Marauder while trying to distract the enemy team (basically, I rammed him from the front and kept pushing, while simultaneously engaging the JJs) - brought a big grin on my face