23 replies to this topic

[Cy Mitchell]

maxdest, on 21 February 2017 - 12:01 PM, said:

Burried under the skill changes is probably a more significant change:

Disassociating Mech Mobility Attributes from Engine Ratings

I have long been an advocate of this change, as a potential balancer and opening up slow but overarmed builds. However last time I discussed it a very good point was made. Without the extra boost in agility, larger engines become much less worthy in heavier mechs.

Even with clan XL you are paying a lot of tons for a modest +10kph on a heavy or Assault.

Many heavy and assault builds will therefore gravitate to 250 engine (for heat sinks) . Any homoginisation is a bad idea, and therefore I personally feel that 'leg agility' (Acceleration / Deceleration and Leg turn speed) should maintain some link to engine size.

I want to see someone cross the valley on Frozen City with an Assault Mech with a 250 engine.

[Prof RJ Gumby]

Rampage, on 28 February 2017 - 07:58 PM, said:

I want to see someone cross the valley on Frozen City with an Assault Mech with a 250 engine.

I want to see an assault with 250 engine managing to get into a decent firing position before the match is already decided.

I must say I'm kinda ambivalent about this whole decoupling thing. It's just so logical that the engine rating DOES affect all aspects of mobility, but gameplay wise this impact is just too big now. I would like the engine-agility link left, but limited somehow.

Edited by Prof RJ Gumby, 01 March 2017 - 08:01 AM.

[Dudicus Rex]

Prof RJ Gumby, on 01 March 2017 - 08:00 AM, said:

I want to see an assault with 250 engine managing to get into a decent firing position before the match is already decided.

I must say I'm kinda ambivalent about this whole decoupling thing. It's just so logical that the engine rating DOES affect all aspects of mobility, but gameplay wise this impact is just too big now. I would like the engine-agility link left, but limited somehow.

I once had the misfortune of playing a PUG match with an Altas on my team sporting a 200 engine. We kept calling for him to get into the fight, only to hear him say that his Atlas was slow. We didn't realize that meant 32.3kph! Our team was wiped out and got to spectate him lumbering onto the field of battle to face down the remaining 'Mechs...

I would like to keep the engine size coupled to mobility, as I have several builds with a larger engine for the added nimbleness to avoid damage and lineup the next shot. I have a MAD-5M with a 350XL (i know, no XL in Marauders) that I use as a very successful brawler. The added maneuverability means that when my Marauder goes down, it is usually totally shot to hell more often than just XL-checked. Plus, I paid for that added maneuverability with the increase in tonnage and slots for the engine and not just some "hard-choices" in the skill trees.

[Prof RJ Gumby]

Dudicus Rex, on 01 March 2017 - 02:45 PM, said:

I once had the misfortune of playing a PUG match with an Altas on my team sporting a 200 engine. We kept calling for him to get into the fight, only to hear him say that his Atlas was slow. We didn't realize that meant 32.3kph! Our team was wiped out and got to spectate him lumbering onto the field of battle to face down the remaining 'Mechs...

I would like to keep the engine size coupled to mobility, as I have several builds with a larger engine for the added nimbleness to avoid damage and lineup the next shot. I have a MAD-5M with a 350XL (i know, no XL in Marauders) that I use as a very successful brawler. The added maneuverability means that when my Marauder goes down, it is usually totally shot to hell more often than just XL-checked. Plus, I paid for that added maneuverability with the increase in tonnage and slots for the engine and not just some "hard-choices" in the skill trees.

You see, the very problem decoupling is trying to fix is exactly what you have shown on the example of your MAD. Even a - theoretically - totally not-xl friendly mech ends up benefiting from a large XL engine. Almost everything ends up better with a big xl engine. Except if it physiacally cannot mount a big Xl engine, then it just sucks and has to be quirked to high heaven to stay useful. Skill tree may or may not give us some hard choices (all depends what % of usefull nodes will we be able to unlock in total), but current engine design gives us no real choice as well.