Soku Yamashita, on 30 April 2016 - 07:38 AM, said:
When I came in contact with the BT universe in 1990 I pretty swiftly got my first TRO 3025 and of course I was immediatly hocked with the Hatchetman. It was part the design, part the background stories around it and of course the awesome art by Loose. I had myself a TShirt printed with it and I waited for weeks to get my TT miniature. It's nature as a melee weapon carrying Mech was of course an issue with about every rendition of a computer game and even in todays MWO it seems farther than ever. Or is it?
Your design (although I would make the left hand more massive) is plain awesome and very much in the design language of MWO whilst still being incredibly close to the Lore. Truly great!
Since I really really (really really) want the Hatchetman in MWO but being still aware of the issues with physical combat I was thinking about how the Hatchetman and others like him (Axeman, ...) within the timeframe (<3053) could be implemented without breaking the current mechanics too much. Here's what I thought about introducing melee weapons:
It would be a weapon that would require an elbow and an arm actuator (aaand there go 2 slots) and it would require a sigificant amount of tonnage and slots (lore for the Hatchetman would state 3 crits and 3t). PGI could probably even fixate the weapon like some Mechs have built-in MASC systems that can’t be removed. Additionally PGI could create 1 or 2 variants, where you could remove the hatchet or change sides. You know. It's them lefties ;-) (needs one to know one ...).
The weapon would have a certain range like any other weapon, but just a friggin small one like, let's say, 8-10m.
The impact model would be like that of any other pinpoint weapon and would simply follow the target indicator of an arm mounted weapon, e.g. an energy or a (non-LBX) ballistic weapon. I would reduce the crit hit probabilty massively, when the arm would be hitting a target on the opposite side
Since the melee weapon should not become a OP weapon, I would mildly nerf it’s usage by a certain time to pass from trigger to impact (like 1 – 1.5 sec) and by a significant reload time in the range of heavy class weapons (e.g. >LRM10, >AC10).
Heck, I would so pay big bucks to see that one come alive. And maybe it's brother: the Axman. A heavy brawler if there ever was one. That would be a picture for the gods: A Hatchetman and an Axman casualy posing next to each other like to up-to-no-good buddies ;-)
4
It's one of my favorites. I've been working on a 3D model awhile back but needs more detail and some adjustments before I post here.
