31 replies to this topic

[razenWing]

For example, if you are an Ebon Jaguar, everyone knows your energy high mount is left torso.

The problem is, why can't it be right?

In the real world, flipping left and right does not throw off the balance at all. Basically, flipping left and right does not violate lore at all. Say a design call for a heavy left, so there's a counter balance on the right. None of that is being violated by flipping left and right. Engineering wise, flipping left and right makes no difference.

Ever seen a left hander's knife? Just because the blade edge is facing the other way doesn't mean the knife is unusable. In fact, in situations, left hander's knife might even be better than regular knife.

Now, what are the practical use of this? For one, due to the nature that most people are right handed, so left sided high mount on EBJ is actually not convenient as most people turn counterclockwise. In that situation, having a right handed high mount is actually more beneficial for hiding.

But that aside, there's a real competitive edge to be able to switch left or right. Most people in MRBC or World Championship are so good by now that more often than not, they know exactly which torso to exploit. Imagine a surprise play where a heavy loadout is not where they expected it to be?

Now, I know there are people that might worry people somehow installing dual high mounts from the same torso. (ex: energy high mount on both left and right of ebj) Well, that's just programming technicality. The easiest way I can see this done is to have a generalize tab where you can decide right away whether you want a right side or left side mech. Upon that selection, everything you have (omnipods, hardpoints) are flipped depends on what you choose. So there's not an issue of where you pair an overpowered left arm with overpowered right torso. Since if you switch left arm to right, the right torso automatically switch to left.

So, why is this not a thing yet?

I am Razen, I am against GH 2.0.

[AnTi90d]

I believe Razen is related to George Costanza.

razenWing, on 26 August 2016 - 01:44 PM, said:

I am Razen, I am against GH 2.0.

Everytime I hear about Energy Draw, AKA: Ghost Heat 2.0.. I go next door and kick my neighbor's dog.

(..but I totally give him a bacon treat, afterwards.. I like to keep him confused.)

[Crotch RockIt]

I am Crotch, and OP's idea is silly (and yes, it does violate lore.)

[Rofl]

Try putting the glass casing from the left blinker/headlight of your car on the right side and tell me how it works out for you...

The bulb? No problem. The casing? Problem.

There's your answer.

[WhineyThePoo]

If I take my left side door on my car and put it on the right side, will it still fit?

[razenWing]

Rofl, on 26 August 2016 - 02:26 PM, said:

Try putting the glass casing from the left blinker/headlight of your car on the right side and tell me how it works out for you...

The bulb? No problem. The casing? Problem.

There's your answer.

Not quite. You are assuming it's straight taking a left handed part to put it on right. I am talking about simply engineering for left hand/right hand.

In reality, yes, you can't jerryrig a device of left to make it right. But nothing says you can't build a right handed version to start with. The design principle is the same.

I mean, this just makes too much sense for actual gameplay. Should there be a penalty for switching? Sure, charge like half a mech or make a left/right handed version of the mech available for purchase. But space people 3051 surely have figured out to accommodate both left and right handed people, right?

(Eg cars made in Japan vs cars made in America... year 2016 example)

PS This is a video game after all. The gameplay aspect just makes too much sense.

Edited by razenWing, 26 August 2016 - 02:54 PM.

[Kirkland Langue]

I think the game would be better if you had mirror flexibility for hardpoints - I really do.

But I'd put it pretty far down the list of things that I actually want PGI to work on. Yes, I'd like it to be on the list - but there are a lot of things that are far more urgent.

[MauttyKoray]

razenWing, on 26 August 2016 - 02:39 PM, said:

Not quite. You are assuming it's straight taking a left handed part to put it on right. I am talking about simply engineering for left hand/right hand.

In reality, yes, you can't jerryrig a device of left to make it right. But nothing says you can't build a right handed version to start with. The design principle is the same.

I mean, this just makes too much sense for actual gameplay. Should there be a penalty for switching? Sure, charge like half a mech or make a left/right handed version of the mech available for purchase. But space people 3051 surely have figured out to accommodate both left and right handed people, right?

(Eg cars made in Japan vs cars made in America... year 2016 example)

PS This is a video game after all. The gameplay aspect just makes too much sense.

You just answered your own question. The parts of a mech aren't flippable. The only way even in battletech (the table top) that seems like it would be possible would be those handheld weapons some mechs carried being able to be picked up with either hand, that's about it.

[MadcatX]

Screw flipping left to right, I want my ballistic hardpoint to be where Battletech intended:



In the middle.

EDIT: Typo

Edited by MadcatX, 26 August 2016 - 04:12 PM.

[El Bandito]

This is not a good idea. Mechs are supposed to be distinct. That way people can remember their weak points and strong sides easier. For example an energy boat Hellbringer always have its weapons on the left side. People remember it as such and focus the left side as such. If suddenly Hellbie can switch its loadout to the right then common conception would fly out of the window. Definitely not good for the game.

[RAM]

Crotch RockIt, on 26 August 2016 - 02:04 PM, said:

(and yes, it does violate lore.)

No it does not. Certainly not common, but it does exist.


RAM
ELH

[MadcatX]

El Bandito, on 26 August 2016 - 04:26 PM, said:

This is not a good idea. Mechs are supposed to be distinct. That way people can remember their weak points and strong sides easier. For example an energy boat Hellbringer always have its weapons on the left side. People remember it as such and focus the left side as such. If suddenly Hellbie can switch its loadout to the right then common conception would fly out of the window. Definitely not good for the game.

I started playing my Hunchie 4G again for a couple months after having last played it in Beta (unsure if in closed or open).

In Beta, My RT was always the first thing gone, which as you can imagine is really annoying when your AC20 is there.

But today I can count on one hand the amount of times I've lost my RT before getting a hole threw the CT.

I agree in principle what your saying, it's just that I remember back in the beta days you had strats such as blowing the ears off those darn Splatapults, the RT off a hunchie, the arm off of a Centurion AH (or the Wang), etc.

Now everything is FF on CT all the time (unless it's an IS with a st already hurting and you know enough about the build to figure it's running XL). Or that's what my experience is anyways.

[Johnny Z]

Banana says this idea is bad.

[El Bandito]

MadcatX, on 26 August 2016 - 04:47 PM, said:

I started playing my Hunchie 4G again for a couple months after having last played it in Beta (unsure if in closed or open).

In Beta, My RT was always the first thing gone, which as you can imagine is really annoying when your AC20 is there.

But today I can count on one hand the amount of times I've lost my RT before getting a hole threw the CT.

I agree in principle what your saying, it's just that I remember back in the beta days you had strats such as blowing the ears off those darn Splatapults, the RT off a hunchie, the arm off of a Centurion AH (or the Wang), etc.

Now everything is FF on CT all the time (unless it's an IS with a st already hurting and you know enough about the build to figure it's running XL). Or that's what my experience is anyways.

The reason why people are shooting the HBK-4G in the CT nowadays is due to HBK's RT quirks. It has +18 armor and +12 structure, which put its RT total health at 78! Compared to that, the CT has 64 HP total, which stupid. Why the **** would you make a mech with obvious weak point, if the weak point is buffed to the point that it is not worth shooting anymore?

PGI, man...

[MadcatX]

El Bandito, on 26 August 2016 - 04:58 PM, said:

The reason why people are shooting the HBK-4G in the CT nowadays is due to HBK's RT quirks. It has +18 armor and +12 structure, which put its RT total health at 78! Compared to that, the CT has 64 HP total, which stupid. Why the **** would you make a mech with obvious weak point, if the weak point is buffed to the point that it is not worth shooting anymore?

PGI, man...

Oh! Well, that explains a lot actually. I'll admit my ignorance, even I didn't know that, so many mech with so many quirks, only ones I know are the ones on mechs O own or the ones that gets a lot of forum threads (sometimes for too many, usually for nerf).

Edited by MadcatX, 26 August 2016 - 05:14 PM.

[Lootee]

In TT mechs that had no lower arm actuators could flip their arms 180 degrees to face behind them. So ask PGI to implement that and then you can walk backwards at the enemy.

Doesn't help for torso weapons but you could make other ppl wonder WTF your mech is doing charging at them backwards with reversed arm weapons blazing.

Edited by Lootee, 26 August 2016 - 05:28 PM.

[Crotch RockIt]

RAM, on 26 August 2016 - 04:27 PM, said:

No it does not. Certainly not common, but it does exist.


RAM
ELH

OP wants to do this on every mech, though, thus violating lore.

[Lukoi Banacek]

OP loses credibility precisely because he talks about himself in third person like it's some kind of "thing" much like a crazy, homeless person who walks down the street arguing with phantoms.

Hard to take game design commentary from people who do that.

Also, this idea would violate lore and would mildly invalidate the purpose of omnimechs. I'm sort of "meh" on it, but that "meh" is downgraded by the third person references. YMMV.

[RAM]

Lukoi Banacek, on 26 August 2016 - 06:02 PM, said:

Also, this idea would violate lore...

RAM, on 26 August 2016 - 04:27 PM, said:

No it does not. Certainly not common, but it does exist.


RAM
ELH

Crotch RockIt, on 26 August 2016 - 05:59 PM, said:

OP wants to do this on every mech, though, thus violating lore.

Again, no it would not. Exceedingly rare, but definitely supported.


RAM
ELH

[razenWing]

Lukoi Banacek, on 26 August 2016 - 06:02 PM, said:

OP loses credibility precisely because he talks about himself in third person like it's some kind of "thing" much like a crazy, homeless person who walks down the street arguing with phantoms.

Hard to take game design commentary from people who do that.

Also, this idea would violate lore and would mildly invalidate the purpose of omnimechs. I'm sort of "meh" on it, but that "meh" is downgraded by the third person references. YMMV.

I don't know if you are high, but after re-reading myself, please point out the spots where I talk about myself in third person. Note the amount of "I know" and "my opinion" or such phrase to indicate by all modern English standard... first person?

PS you do know what "third person" means, right?

As for El Bandito, you just highlighted precisely why this is such a great idea. A video game doesn't have a lot of appeal if it's static. That's the whole point of multi player and/or random spawn enemy locations. I don't really see the point of knowing precisely where to shoot.

Is it not far more intelligent of a game design to force you to be patient and observe for the best point of attack rather than just spam alphas at perceived/memorized weak spots?

(PS is this what Lukoi is talking about? These types of rhetorical questioning that he takes as "third person?" that like 99% of op-ed articles use? Please read more, Lukoi, then we may discuss the merit of English grammar.)

Besides, in a battlefield, you would use whatever equipment that gives you the best advantage, right? I don't know if there are left handed guns (there might, as safeties are usually on the side and/or ammo release switch) but say in a siege situation that you know you will be going hard left or hard right, why wouldn't you use a gun of that gives you maximum advantage? Just my 2-cents though.

(Don't know if you ever played Tomb Raider or Resident Evil. The protagonists can switch between left handed/right handed perspective when behind cover to give maximum vantage/cover. This is pretty much all I am asking for.)