7 replies to this topic

[Stone Wall]

I know MW3 and 4 had Omni-slots, but why didn't MWO include them? I've read people say that Quickplay wasn't supposed to be the main game play mode, but there was another called Faction Warfare or something?

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[cazidin]

Only Omnimechs have omnipods if that's what you mean. MW4 used a different system from table top.

[Stone Wall]

I'm not talking about BT or lore but game design.

[Brizna]

He refers to hard points that can be used for any type of weapon. So in an omni slot oyu can place a ballistic, energy or missile weapon.

[RavenKnight86]

Because if Clan Omni's were true Omni's there would be no need for 3 of each Mech to master (I mean there is already little enough difference between Clan Omni variants anyways). Plus I almost hate to admit it, but if Clan OmniMechs were true to the lore, then there would be no point in IS Mechs. Imagine a Timberwolf dropping it's engine from that XL375 and get more tonnage. Clan Omni's I believe for the most part are where they should be. If anything is wrong with Clan Omni's it was the size on some.

[FupDup]

MW3 didn't have Omni slots, because hardpoints didn't even exist in that game.

[Tordin]

MWO timeline are roughly set in the 3049/50-> Around the Clan invasion.
MW4 are set in the 3060 -> around the FedCom civil war.

In MW4 mercs, the lancemates you get often shout out things about the clan invsion, same for the missions. Castle mention it alot and Duncan Fisher (voice actor George Ledoux) in Solaris matches.

In MW4, the Inner Sphere are alredy "invaded" and both sides share alot of tech and manufacturers/ mechworks compete against eachother acress the board, Is and Clan tech, weapons and mechs are all over the place.

For example the Vulture Mk II were crafted for clan Ghost Bear/ Dominion in IS territory. Clan tech but with IS manufacturing and production techniques.

In short. Clans had alredy 2nd line battlemechs and omnimechs. Before the IS had only battlemechs but after the invasion, they started to manufacture IS omnimehcs. That explains why you can have omnipods on IS mechs in MW4 and not in MWO, yet...

Edited by Tordin, 17 July 2016 - 11:15 AM.

[CMDR Sunset Shimmer]

Stone Wall, on 17 July 2016 - 10:50 AM, said:

I'm not talking about BT or lore but game design.

They are one and the same for MWO.

MWO uses Battletech's tabletop rules as the baseline, with some changes.

In Battletech, the build rules functioned much like mech customization in Mechwarrior 3. You had Tonnage and Crit Space to work with, but that was all that mattered, it didn't matter WHAT mech you took, you could put anything, anywhere, as long as you had the critical slots open to do so. [with the exception of the engine which HAD to go in the CT.]

MWO takes that idea, and takes the idea of Hardpoints from Mechwarrior 4, and blends the two.

In MW4, to address some balance issues, they used "Sized Hardpoints" which ment that only x sized equipment could fit in y hole... which was based on essentially crit size... but you couldn't always put a PPC where a Medium Laser went. [unless that medium laser was already mounted in a large slot for some reason]

Now, to your question about "Omni" slots. In Mechwarrior 3, all mechs were considered "Omni" mechs, it's actually in the manual. And arguably, by classic Battletech Tabletop rules, so are all battlemechs [this is without any of the rules that helps curb that stuff] Essentially, you can place anything, anywhere, so long as you have the space.

However, from both a lore, and game design perspective, that... turns the mechs into just gun-bags... and in a real time game, size and shape of the mech ends up mattering at that point, more than what you can bring on a mech [since with old school omni rules, you can bring ANYTHING.]

To help curb this, the Hardpoint system is used [and MWO's isn't restrictive enough.] MW4's sized Hardpoint system allowed for a bit of flexability with it's "omni slot" sized hardpoints that allowed a bit more freedom in certern mechs.

MWO however, has decided to try to keep to a semblance of lore, and treats Omni-Mechs [essentially most of the clan stuff] as a modular system, where you can swap out entire limbs or torso's to fit what you want. As a trade off, you loose quirk bonuses and xp gain bonuses.