13 replies to this topic

[rolly]

Hey PGI,

Is there any way that you can make the Arm Actuators mean something now that we have a proposed game mode that can take advantage of them?

(I see no reason why a Locust would be able to haul say a 1 ton battery in 3 seconds with utterly no means to do so.)

Benefits:
- Adds to immersion of the game
- Possible tie in to your Skill Tree - Faster actuators
- Gives mechs that choose to or have hands by default a reason for having them.
- Give more of a decisive role to light and medium mechs with arms and arm actuators
- Encourage teamwork by encouraging communication/roles within the team
- Increases dynamic game play
- Increases the importance of meeting objectives instead of just doing damage/killing

At very least, give mechs WITH actuators faster pickup time of the battery and those without them a %50 time penalty to pickup. There needs to be a trade off between mechs that do and do not have actuators and this is a perfect time to do so.

[Trev Firestorm]

You say arm but I think you mean hand as arm actuators already have a use...

[shopsmart]

Me and a few others suggested making hand acts influence battery grabs in the main thread.

[rolly]

Trev Firestorm, on 25 March 2017 - 11:34 AM, said:

You say arm but I think you mean hand as arm actuators already have a use...

Right now arm actuators are pretty superfluous. Aside from a greater range of motion their real purpose,
Really its mincing words since Arm/hand/Lower/Upper are all connected. Most of the time these are dumped for greater weapon crit space. I'm not even asking them to fully use them for punching or standing up. Just make them practical for this mode.

shopsmart, on 25 March 2017 - 11:43 AM, said:

Me and a few others suggested making hand acts influence battery grabs in the main thread.

Thanks. I appreciate the heads up. If its all the same to you, I'd rather this be the focal point of its own thread. Making the Arm/Hand/Upper/Lower Actuators mean something in this mode would only add to the game mechanics.

[Trev Firestorm]

rolly, on 25 March 2017 - 11:47 AM, said:

Right now arm actuators are pretty superfluous. Aside from a greater range of motion their real purpose,
Really its mincing words since Arm/hand/Lower/Upper are all connected. Most of the time these are dumped for greater weapon crit space. I'm not even asking them to fully use them for punching or standing up. Just make them practical for this mode.



Thanks. I appreciate the heads up. If its all the same to you, I'd rather this be the focal point of its own thread. Making the Arm/Hand/Upper/Lower Actuators mean something in this mode would only add to the game mechanics.

Ummm... no? only omnis can remove the lower actuator and alot of us don't sit in arm lock all the time. And you cant dump the upper arm at all.

[Freebrewer Bmore]

rolly, on 25 March 2017 - 11:33 AM, said:

(I see no reason why a Locust would be able to haul say a 1 ton battery in 3 seconds with utterly no means to do so.)

Well, I suppose the pilot could get out and hook up a trailer hitch...

But yeah, I wholly support giving hands some lore-endorsed in-game utility in the absence of melee. In fact, I'd like to see hand/arm actuators accelerate resource collection in Conquest mode too.

For Incursion, howbout the following collection times?:
10sec for mechs with no lower arms
8sec for mechs with 1 lower arm and no hands
6sec for mechs with 2 lower arms and no hands
4sec for 1 lower arm + 1 hand
3sec for 2 lower arms + 1 hand
2sec for 2 hands

[Trev Firestorm]

Freebrewer Bmore, on 25 March 2017 - 12:03 PM, said:

Well, I suppose the pilot could get out and hook up a trailer hitch...

But yeah, I wholly support giving hands some lore-endorsed in-game utility in the absence of melee. In fact, I'd like to see hand/arm actuators accelerate resource collection in Conquest mode too.

For Incursion, howbout the following collection times?:
10sec for mechs with no lower arms
8sec for mechs with 1 lower arm and no hands
6sec for mechs with 2 lower arms and no hands
4sec for 1 lower arm + 1 hand
3sec for 2 lower arms + 1 hand
2sec for 2 hands

It'll need some other adjustments as well, the current setup is pretty simple to snipe/nuke capping mechs.

[Nesutizale]

I did say it makes things just to complicated. Mechs like the Locust who don't have hands but make exelent retreivers would be handycaped.

So lets keep it simple.

[rolly]

Trev Firestorm, on 25 March 2017 - 11:57 AM, said:

Ummm... no? only omnis can remove the lower actuator and alot of us don't sit in arm lock all the time. And you cant dump the upper arm at all.

So what's your contribution to this thread? Because all I'm reading here is that you're arguing semantics and not contributing to the thread in a constructive way.

[rolly]

Nesutizale, on 25 March 2017 - 12:09 PM, said:

I did say it makes things just to complicated. Mechs like the Locust who don't have hands but make exelent retreivers would be handycaped.

So lets keep it simple.

No way, this game is cup drooling simplified enough as it is. Its a bloody locust and is designed as a scout/recon/harasser. That's the whole point. Locusts should NOT be able to or be heavily penalized. They already go over 120 kph, are the smallest mech target and at times carry ECM. What more do you want?

[Tarogato]

Ummm, you meant hand actuators, not arm actuators. Arm actuators actually already function properly.

[rolly]

Tarogato, on 25 March 2017 - 03:03 PM, said:

Ummm, you meant hand actuators, not arm actuators. Arm actuators actually already function properly.

No they're not. If they were they'd be fully utilized the ENTIRE limb, actuators and all. Which they are not.

[Tarogato]

rolly, on 25 March 2017 - 08:44 PM, said:

No they're not. If they were they'd be fully utilized the ENTIRE limb, actuators and all. Which they are not.

I think you're confused on some terminology. Go take a clan mech like the Nova, and make sore you have "Lower Arm Actuators" on it. Take it into testing grounds. You see how you can wave your arms all around, left and right? Now go back to the mechlab, remove "Lower Arm Actuators" and check testing grounds again. Now you can't move your arms left to right. This is because of those arm actuators.

It's the "Hand Actuators" that do nothing in this game, since there is nothing to pick up or punch. Basically they just add an actual hand model to the mech, which adds to the hitbox and can soak a crit.

[Top Leliel]

I like this idea a lot, especially for Hand actuators. The hand actuators should logically be able to help with this kind of thing.

They could also be used for faster intel pickup in Scout matches and faster watchtower claiming in Escort matches!

Plus it gives clan omnis an actual reason to take hand actuators, and an actual advantage to IS mechs that have less gun options because the hand actuators are locked.