74 replies to this topic

[Antares102]

Hull down anybody?
Would be the new poking and replacement for pop-tarting.

Edited by Antares102, 08 May 2017 - 08:45 AM.

[Pariah Devalis]

Simple:

Quads would strafe with A and D, instead of turning in place. The mouse, instead of torso twist, would turn the mech as a whole. The mobility worked extremely well in games like HAWKEN (despite its other myriad flaws), which are far faster paced games than MWO will ever be. Bipeds can torso twist, but quads can move more like an FPS shooter. But slower, and with a limited up/down inclination to the weapons.

I wouldn't go so far as to allow 3 legs to be destroyed without mech death, but I would probably leave it at 2. That is to say, 1 leg lost is 30% speed lost, the second leg lost is 60% speed lost, and the third leg lost "kills" the mech entirely. It allows it to be more durable than bipeds from a legging standpoint, without being overly hard to explain away how one leg is somehow pushing the entire body and three dead weight sticks for legs across the battlefield.

Benefits of the quad include a small size to weight ratio and high mounts. The sizing is clear due to the volumetric system MWO is using. Legs take up a lot of volume, and quads tend to be roughly cube shaped overall. This leads to a lot of volume in a small amount of space. You might see 50 ton quads as big as 40 ton bipeds. Imagine a light quad like an Snow Fox or Tarantula? They'd probably be the size of a 15 ton biped!

As for mounts, there is practically nowhere else to stick guns on a quad except on the top of the torso or, if the legs are suspended below the torso like on the Goliath, on the sides of the torso. In all cases, "if you can see it, you can shoot it" applies to quad mechs virtually universally. The one exception would be a chin mounted gun, which would be ever so slightly below cockpit height.

Edited by Pariah Devalis, 08 May 2017 - 09:24 AM.

[Felicitatem Parco]

I know that quads are infamous for strafing, but requiring that would even further distance this concept from becoming a reality in this game...

... Regardless of how realistic it is to start with.

I can see them get massive turn speed and Accel/decel bonuses, negligable hill climb penalties, and the obligatory high mounts. I like the idea of requiring the destruction of a thirg leg to generate a kill.


One particular sticking point would be how the body would have to cant forward/backward to go up or down steep hills. I don't know if MWO is coded to the point where Mech's can lean forward or backward enough to simulate a spider walking up or down hill.

[Ch_R0me]

I would gladly drive the quad mech.

[Kiyoshi Amaya]

ManganMan, on 08 May 2017 - 09:27 AM, said:

I would gladly drive the quad mech.

Except that one's a drone...

[Koniving]

I read: "I summon Juodas!" and went to the second page to find that I got a like from Juodas.

<.< That's some wicked voodoo right there!

Kiyoshi Amaya, on 08 May 2017 - 09:29 AM, said:

Except that one's a drone...

What's its name?

[Juodas Varnas]

Shiroi Tsuki, on 08 May 2017 - 08:40 AM, said:

I summon Juodas



And now we play the waiting game

[Pariah Devalis]

Prosperity Park, on 08 May 2017 - 09:26 AM, said:

I know that quads are infamous for strafing, but requiring that would even further distance this concept from becoming a reality in this game...

... Regardless of how realistic it is to start with.

I can see them get massive turn speed and Accel/decel bonuses, negligable hill climb penalties, and the obligatory high mounts. I like the idea of requiring the destruction of a thirg leg to generate a kill.


One particular sticking point would be how the body would have to cant forward/backward to go up or down steep hills. I don't know if MWO is coded to the point where Mech's can lean forward or backward enough to simulate a spider walking up or down hill.

To your first point, remember that MWO is built on the bones of cryengine. Which was, in turn, built to support a first person shooter. If anything, it probably simplifies the model construction. PGI would no longer need to segment the mechs into a "lower body" and "upper body," with limbs tacked on, for the sake of a torso twist, but could keep one fixed core with the same number of limbs attached. They'd be reverting to a more core, simplified set of keybinds for it (torso twist is something injected into cryengine, essentially), with the caveat that they'd need to limit the vertical traversal maximum angle.

As for the last point, all mechs are basically cubes. Or spheres? Whatever, they're a designated block of space as far as the engine is concerned. Even bipeds. IK isn't necessary except for beautification purposes, but one could easily "cheap out" and have the mech's feet partially clip into the ground when climbing hills, and simply tilt the plane the mech is oriented on backwards or to the sides when navigating hills.

Juodas Varnas, on 08 May 2017 - 09:32 AM, said:

It took you 17 minutes to like my first post. I am disappointed.

[Juodas Varnas]

Pariah Devalis, on 08 May 2017 - 09:35 AM, said:

It took you 17 minutes to like my first post. I am disappointed.

I've been having difficulties catching up with the forums on weekdays due to having a job.

[Kiyoshi Amaya]

Koniving, on 08 May 2017 - 09:31 AM, said:

What's its name?

Revenant

Quote

The Revenant drone was a Word of Blake war machine manufactured from a dedicated plant located near the Devils Peak facility that served as Precentor Martial Cameron St. Jamais' headquarters on Terra. The Revenant was a quadrupedal BattleMech drone; one of three different designs to be brought into service by the Word of Blake during the later years of the Jihad, more Revenants saw service than either of the other robotic designs

[Andi Nagasia]

give every Quad,
1) 360 Torso Twist(to better suit them as a Platform),
2) all Weapons Torso Mounted(as to give better Accuracy),
3) dont decrease Speed until 3rd Leg Lost(only 1 leg left)
4) great Hill Climb to traverse terrain(as above like 60*-70*),
5) keep lower Weapon Counts but with High Cooldown Buffs(-50%ish)
with this i can see them being very and Viable,

also take into consideration because of how Quads are,
having 4 legs, they will have low profiles & be small(per volume)

[Ch_R0me]

Kiyoshi Amaya, on 08 May 2017 - 09:29 AM, said:

Except that one's a drone...

Then I would teleoperate it

[Pariah Devalis]

Hey, if PGI thinks quads are a joke, what about this idea?

https://twitter.com/...638386704166912

April 1, 2018 event: All mechs in public, non-CW queue, are replaced with a quad mech. One chassis, one variant for all, and no customization, but a quad mech.

Ehh? Ehh?

[Juodas Varnas]

Pariah Devalis, on 08 May 2017 - 09:52 AM, said:

Hey, if PGI thinks quads are a joke, what about this idea?

https://twitter.com/...638386704166912

April 1, 2018 event: All mechs in public, non-CW queue, are replaced with a quad mech. One chassis, one variant for all, and no customization, but a quad mech.

Ehh? Ehh?

Shiiieeet, if it was up to me, thatd be every day of every month

[Pariah Devalis]

Juodas Varnas, on 08 May 2017 - 09:54 AM, said:

Shiiieeet, if it was up to me, thatd be every day of every month

Stock mode: Online.

Quad Mechs: Online.

Fun: Nominal.

[Felicitatem Parco]

Ooohh! Decreased lag damage from high falls (half damage, as impact is spread to twice the limbs)

[Vanguard319]

I wouldn't mind seeing quads myself. The problem is their main advantages are slightly heavier max armor and stability. While the additional armor could be implemented, most of the stability advantages are pointless due to the game lacking knockdowns or accuracy penalties of any kind.

[Felicitatem Parco]

Vanguard319, on 08 May 2017 - 11:56 AM, said:

I wouldn't mind seeing quads myself. The problem is their main advantages are slightly heavier max armor and stability. While the additional armor could be implemented, most of the stability advantages are pointless due to the game lacking knockdowns or accuracy penalties of any kind.

Accuracy penalties you say?

QUADS GET NO JJ RETICULE SHAKE!!!

Okay, that aside I think we could make then more worth it with in-game functions:

Minimal hill climb penalty.
Vastly increased turn rate and Accel/deceleration.
Reduced fall damage
Can lose 2 front legs and still live until a 3rd leg is lost
Potentially slender frontal torso profile
High weapon mounts
Aaaand... Give tosro weapons high inclination, just high enough to shoot UAVs.

Edited by Prosperity Park, 08 May 2017 - 01:05 PM.

[Kiyoshi Amaya]

Prosperity Park, on 08 May 2017 - 01:04 PM, said:

Aaaand... Give torso weapons high inclination, just high enough to shoot UAVs.

You could use leg adjustment for this. Could also be used to look down better than most bipeds too. Just sayin'.

[Felicitatem Parco]

Kiyoshi Amaya, on 08 May 2017 - 01:14 PM, said:

You could use leg adjustment for this. Could also be used to look down better than most bipeds too. Just sayin'.

That was my thought.