8 replies to this topic

[Totem1]

Quick question for omni mechs... is there a lore reason why I can't/shouldn't be able to upgrade them to endo-steel or ferro? Just curious as my hellbringers have lots of space available is all?

[ShadowbaneX]

Totem1, on 18 March 2016 - 02:30 PM, said:

Quick question for omni mechs... is there a lore reason why I can't/shouldn't be able to upgrade them to endo-steel or ferro? Just curious as my hellbringers have lots of space available is all?

Why bother giving the Clanners more tonnage for guns that they're just going to not use for reasons?

[MechB Kotare]

The is no lore reason why most of clan equipement is locked.

There however is MWO reason.

I think they call it "balance" or something...

[Leone]

In Lore, Battlemechs come out of a factory and hafta be retailored by mech techs to individual specs. It's a full on job just to do a wepaon replacement. This takes plenty of time and manpower. Endosteel conversion? Ever wanted to strip down your car and replace it's chassis, just to build it back up, but better? Yeah, that's an Endosteel conversion. The Inner Sphere does it because they have to. They have old mechs and it's cheap tech wise, to refit old mechs. Manpower they have, new age tech, not so much.

Now Omnimechs are the pinnacle of modular construction. With New Fangled Clan tech, you can produce compatible parts and hot swap them with an hour's labour and a couple of half trained techs. Why would you ever want to go back to old inferior technology? Sure, you might save a bit of weight for that one configuration, but what happens if you've spent a month retooling your mech with fancy endosteel armour and a full energy battery and your star gets bid in on a desert drop?

Sure, you might have some decent fire control, might be able to run the red line, but you think your star commander wants to take that gamble? They just bid away their aerospace assets just for the honour of the drop. They'll be hard pressed as is.

No, they'll want customer mechs suited for the specific combat their expecting. Drop in specifically design to smash that House force defending the place. Your Star's gonna be busy swapping their Stock energy load outs for stock ballistics to stay competative, which you can't, cuz you broke your mech. You'll be tossed aside and some other mech pilot'll drop in your place, winning glory and, if lucky enough, a chance to compete for a bloodname. A chance that should be yours.

It's not worth it Clanner. Not worth it.

~Leone.

[Raso]

Hellbringer gets ECM. The Ebon Jaguar, a mech of the same tonnage, gets endo-steel. Most pilots will still use thr same 2 or 3 weapons on the two chassis regardless of extra tonnage. The difference is in mech geometry and which can or cannot bring ECM.....

Ok, a bit of an oversimplification but no too far off. Frankly knowing PGI it's unfair to assume they deliberately made one 65 ton clan mech to have ECM but no endo and another 65 ton to have no ECM and endo as a trade off. That's more foresight than they're capable of and such an anti-power creep mentality is directly opposed to the business model they appeared to abide by ay that time in the game's development.

[KaitRaven]

No lore reason, but the Hellbringer is a great mech even without Endo. Decent hitboxes, high torso mounts. ECM. A Hellbringer with Endo would probably be overpowered. There would be no reason to use the Ebon Jag.

Edited by KaitRaven, 24 March 2016 - 05:42 PM.

[John1352]

My understanding of the lore reason is that omnipods are only compatible when they use the same structure as the rest of the mech, as Leone said. You need to be consistent across the whole chassis in order to allow omnipod swapping.

The Hellbringer would be better at pretty much everything with endosteel, however it wasn't designed with it for some reason, similar to how it has minimal armor stock. You can try sticking on 30 heatsinks with some ERMLs if you want to use up all the slots.

[ImperialKnight]

all the lore you need
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/OmniMech

it makes sense really. Every module needs to be swappable, so you need standardisation like "ok everyone, ALL HBRs parts need ferro and normal structure". if not, some dude is going to may an A-arm with ferro and endo, and then some guy across the galaxy tries to use it, and it's like "dude, this thing takes up too much space to fit on my Prime CT"

[Tarl Cabot]

knightsljx, on 24 March 2016 - 08:59 PM, said:

all the lore you need
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/OmniMech

it makes sense really. Every module needs to be swappable, so you need standardisation like "ok everyone, ALL HBRs parts need ferro and normal structure". if not, some dude is going to may an A-arm with ferro and endo, and then some guy across the galaxy tries to use it, and it's like "dude, this thing takes up too much space to fit on my Prime CT"

This. Boardgame/other-wise, there is no reason, but lore there are reasons. Clanners did not own their mechs, their Clan/units did. They were able to swap out omnipods, generally based on mission specifics but basically they had no reason to make specific changes to their mechs. Now, for the IS many mechs were privately own and passed down. Owners tinkered with said mechs but not near as much as MWO and other games have allowed. Mechs could also be special ordered or rebuilt, if said individual had the cbills. Those in the military using unit mechs were, for the most part, piloting stock mechs, whether they be 3025 or upgraded 3050 mechs.

For PGI, restricting omnimech construction was their way to keep with the flavor of lore while keeping the power creep at an acceptable level. When they were about to be introduced to the game, Clan omnis also had their armor locked but then PGI unlocked the armor once the community became aware of it.

Edited by Tarl Cabot, 25 March 2016 - 06:38 AM.