Yeonne Greene, on 03 June 2016 - 07:28 PM, said:
I've actually been re-writing some of the BattleTech fluff on my own time. In it, I describe 'Mechs as being useful only because they can wield the same weapons as conventional vehicles on a platform with the same dexterity that a human would wield, which makes them force-multipliers when piloted with well-trained and well-practiced pilots.
I have one for this, too. Am on Android however on a lunch at work. Short-handed... Between the days of the first mechs and the height of the Star League, mechs were capable of virtually everything an average man in his forties could do (so no extreme bending/barrel rolls/airborne cartwheels). Gluing to cover, climbing buildings, handstands and walking on hands under controlled conditions, melee combat, mechanized boxing and some martial arts (some! Not all). As well as lifting vehicles and mechs 35-50 tons lighter than itself provided they weren't terribly bulky.
For basic references, mechs could do anything that can be done in the Armored Trooper Votoms anime (the 80s one) until 6 decades after Kerensky's Exodus. [6 decades is a rough guess]. (Short of the 'compressed air turns', though something similar supposedly can be done with jumpjets but not to that extreme as during the fights with the vat-born super soldiers called P(erfect).S(oldier).
From everything in the tech manual, mech warrior RPG handbooks one and two, 7 novels and a few other sources... their post- 3025 abilities are along the lines of what you can see in the following two animes:
08th MS Team (fundamental; the non-gundam mechs that it focuses on).
Patrol Labor (every single thing done here can be done; even the hand cannon has some light references in the Phoenix Hawk. All things done here are covered by Dark Ages, Tech Manual, and Maximum Tech rules; even the sniping tidbit have official rules covering it between match and City tech).
Careful climbing buildings though. Lots of ways that can go wrong. Had a kintaro fall through a building after climbing to chase a jetting Griffin.
Edit: Source for rough estimate as to when the abilities of mechs change; the introduction to
Mechwarrior RPG, First Edition under the title: "
A History of Human Space, 2001 - 3025." and subsection "
The Succession Wars."
Sample.
As the story continues, it goes on to describe how the first couple of Succession Wars had thrown out all of the Ares Conventions (to which they NEVER returned to; a new set of conventions came up eventually). Slaughtering men, women and children in the streets. No target was off limits. Jumpships, dropships, civilian centers, orphanages, anything and everything was a viable target including wildlife to create food shortages in attempts to starve out planets. Even nukes were used, some whole planets completely destroyed and uninhabitable.
It wasn't until about the Third Succession War that a reduction in destruction really took hold; "At first the decrease in destruction and bloodshed appeared as more of a function of each army's reduced resources than a philosophical change in tactics."
"...each of the houses realized it could ill afford further losses of vital resources. Gradually an informal set of rules were evolved, similar to the Ares Conventions."
Those rules dictate what is off limits; Jumpships are chief among these which is why Jumpships are not attacked before Dropships are deployed nor are Jumpships ever engaged.
By the end of it all, there were some factories that continued to produce things that no one left alive really knew 'how it worked or why'. Some of the old Star League Mechs with their old fashioned cockpits and unusual controls are among these. For example, the Thunderbolt has two joysticks in the cockpit; one for each hand and independently control a separate crosshair with a targeting system that can simultaineously target and engage two targets. What it fails to mention is if this includes the torso mounted lasers, as only the arm weapons and missiles have ever been mentioned in any application of this trait.
"When hand actuators are present on a ’Mech, most of their
actions require little input from the MechWarrior. As I’ll describe
later, ’Mechs generally have enough intelligence to recognize a
simple “grab command” as aimed by a control stick and crosshairs,
and can thus pick up improvised clubs or cargo without
detailed input from the MechWarrior. Punching is trivial: click the
punch mode switch, aim the crosshairs, and pull the punch trigger.
Ditto for using clubs and hatchets. For fine hand manipulations,
sensors built into the gloves of MechWarriors or separate
waldo gloves can allow a ’Mech to mimic the gestures of its
MechWarriors, at least when the glove sensors are activated."
"Of course, BattleMechs can do more than just turn left or right,
or move backwards and forwards. Talented MechWarriors have
gotten assault ’Mechs to skip sideways to avoid missiles, executed
handstands under carefully controlled conditions, and otherwise
tapped some of the often-unused potential of a BattleMech’s
limbs for complicated movements. For now, you’re just getting
the two-kroner overview.
More complicated movements involve more complicated
combinations of controls. The steering pedals don’t just push
back and forth. They can also tilt and twist. Throttle control levers
and fi re control can also provide steering and movement input.
And while neurohelmets primarily serve to correct balance, they
can help clarify the MechWarrior’s intent to the BattleMech."
If you go on to the Diagonostic Interpretation Computer, you will learn that when moving, Battlemechs automatically 'avoid dangerous' obstacles such as tree branches (yep, evidently branches are dangerous; considering the damage using one as a club does which is about as much as punching, yeah), street lamps and buildings. Mechs will even avoid making contact with things such as walls, even with a command such as shooting with arm weapons that would have the arms touch the walls -- unless the Diagonistic Interpretation Computer reading the Neurohelmet detects that the pilot intends for this to happen, in which this override's the mech's desire to avoid contact that may damage itself or other things, thrusting its arms through the walls to fire up until the pilot releases the trigger.
-- now this I find interesting, because of two reasons. Mechs are automatically inclined to try and evade all threats, including enemy fire with two specific restrictions. The first restriction is that evading cannot interfere with the pilot's intentions so if the pilot wants to go forward and evasion requires a conflict with this intention the mech will not attempt it [example, enemies are shooting in front of you, the obvious evasion is stop going forward but pilot wants to go forward]. The second restriction is that the pilot must be conscious. If the pilot is not conscious, intention cannot be read and therefore the DI Computer is at a catch 22.
That brings me to the other reason I find this interesting. Consider that Battletech has "To Hit" dice rolls for every situation involving weapon fire against a pilot of any status; conscious, unconcious, aware, unaware. Yet, specifically "Aim" and targeting specific components is only permitted if the target is Immobile (shut down, no locomotion as in no legs) OR Unconscious. Exclusively those two general conditions are permit 'aiming'. Why? This is because under ANY other condition, the mech has the chance to attempt an evasion, deflection (spread damage; throw arm in way or torso twist; which is why you can hit rear torsos despite being in front of the enemy in tabletop), etc. It is only permitted to choose where to aim if the mech is unable to evade or if the pilot is unconscious in which case the DI Computer has a catch 22 and thus cannot act; the dice roll at any other time accounts for all possible defensive measures the mech may attempt.
Of interesting note, during the Star League Era which Mechwarrior RPG refers to as "The Good Years," Tech Manual makes reference under the Cockpit section, that some old Star League era mechs still feature joystick-less controls where pilots can fire weapons by making a 'trigger' movement with his index finger and aim by simply eyeing something in his view with 'intent'.
Clan pilots using E. I. implants are capable of controlling their mechs by remote, without any tangible control interface, by being within a certain proximity. Clan pilots who have this level of control over their mechs, comparable though clearly surpassing old Star League Era interfaces and the old neural helms with their side effects... feel pain when their mechs are damaged and may actually die when their mech is destroyed.
Of further interesting notes:
First Battletech author William H Keith Jr. pictured the 55 ton Shadowhawk as being a similar size as an Armored Trooper.
Illustration by William H Keith Jr.
Comparison:
Right most is MWO's Shadowhawk.
Left most is a tank from Crysis, which MWO uses Crysis for the scale of its pilot to be a "1:1 scale."
Edited by Koniving, 04 June 2016 - 05:37 PM.
3
.
