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MechLab scratchbuilding


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Poll: MechLab builds (822 member(s) have cast votes)

Scratchbuilding or getting 'Mechs with factory armaments?

  1. Complete pre-made armaments (Ability to customize afterwards) (583 votes [70.92%])

    Percentage of vote: 70.92%

  2. Complete scratchbuild (239 votes [29.08%])

    Percentage of vote: 29.08%

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#101 Karn Evil

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Posted 19 December 2011 - 12:09 PM

But then, of course, you've got the fact that Gun-Cubes tend to be prominent targets, as anyone foolhardy enough to bring a Gausszilla into a big fight in MW4 knows quite well. If these mechs actually get destroyed when they're destroyed, then, with the fact that everyone's going to want to take out the ridiculous contraption, the actual number of them in-play at any time will probably be pretty low.

#102 Kristov Kerensky

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Posted 19 December 2011 - 12:18 PM

Sorry Wolf, honestly, you took that wrong, my mistake. I actually WANT most of what you asked for, full on MMORPG in the BTU, hell I'll pay good money for that! But we aren't getting that, we're getting a game that's pretty close to what Planetside is, only with a much larger map to fight over :) Which is fine with, that'll keep me entertained in and of itself for a while, but with PGI also running storyline on top of that..which is their current plan..it'll keep me entertained for a good while. And while they are doing that, and I'm having fun and spending some money here and there, PGI can get the numbers up to get the funding to MAKE that MMORPG we both want :D I've voiced similiar requests in threads on that possible future of MWO, yeah, full on MMORPG in the BTU...oh man...I'd better get the wife hooked on it fast or get a divorce :)

#103 renegade mitchell

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Posted 19 December 2011 - 12:35 PM

View PostGhost73, on 17 December 2011 - 06:51 PM, said:

Making people wait to play is just bad for any action-based game. Actually, for any game in general. Repairing and refitting should NOT take any time at all. You're telling me that after refitting your new mech so that it plays the way you want, you are ok with waiting a couple hours? Going by your line of thinking, we should also wait weeks before starting a match because of all the time required for your mech to transit between planets. Forcing people to wait doesn't add anything to the game, gameplay or balance-wise. Also, when they said 1:1 timeline, they meant important events related to Battletech canon (as you can see in the ISN news feed), not how fast your mech is repaired.


This.

#104 renegade mitchell

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Posted 19 December 2011 - 12:38 PM

View PostSkwisgaar Skwigelf, on 17 December 2011 - 08:13 PM, said:

As far as customization vs repair. It should take lots of money and some time to customize a mech. In the Inner Sphere in 3050 and before (and even most mechs after) changing to a different weapon system was a big deal. If you want to completely change your mechs loadout then yes it should cost a lot of cbills and quite a bit of time to make the changes. Now, once you've done those changes, repair to that particular mech should not take any longer than a stock mech. As long as you've got the parts the hard work is done. If say it takes a day to customize a mech but only an hour to repair a stock mech, then if you have the customizations already done and have the spare parts it shouldn't take any longer to repair your customized mech. And while I know that the lore says that customization would take weeks or months I agree that for gameplay purposes that just isn't feasible. I do think a weapons loadout change should probably take a real-time day for weapons only or two for internal parts (endo steel, XL engine) but once that work is done the repairs shouldn't take any longer than repair for a stock variant, maybe a real-time hour or two depending or the severity of the damage.


Again, an hour is way to long to wait on repair and will drive people away from MWO.

#105 renegade mitchell

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Posted 19 December 2011 - 12:41 PM

For me, full customization. Like a few have said here, have color coded hardpoints for weapons to remove any doubt of boating.

#106 Nik Van Rhijn

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Posted 19 December 2011 - 12:45 PM

Hardpoint's a la MW4 merely made for different boats to unlimited customisation a la MW3.

#107 Dlardrageth

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Posted 19 December 2011 - 12:48 PM

Full customization = some other game, not BT/MW. Never was, never is. At least not a mouse click or five away. Even MW3 didn't allow "full".

Don't like it? Just go to that "other game". :)

Edited by Dlardrageth, 19 December 2011 - 12:48 PM.


#108 Kristov Kerensky

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Posted 19 December 2011 - 12:50 PM

Ya know..in an real MMORPG, I wouldn't mind waiting a few hours to get my Mech back from the Techs, because there'd be SOMETHING for me to do as a character in the game world while I"m waiting. Crafting, buying/selling stuff, just sitting around RPing with friends and random strangers, SOMETHING besides just...waiting..and waiting.. 1 hour of time per X c-bills, not sure of just how that ratio should work though, 100k or 1m or something else..don't know what they'll be charging for what services. Customizations that don't actually alter anything but weapon's placements..I can't see those taking more then 5 hours, 1 hour per arm, per toros side, Head is a gimme. Altering the actual structure of the Mech, like removing hands/lower arm actuators..that'd be 1 hour per actuator, tacked onto any weapon changes. Heatsinks would fall under that as well. Jump Jets..2 hours min to add or remove, complicated systems there tapping directly into the fusion reactor, same with cockpits and gyros and enviromental controls..none of em simple systems to play with. Engine changes..yeah..see..that would be 12 hours min I think. Now, mind you, these are NOT BTech time frames by any means, they are strictly for an MMORPG setting, let's face it, we're some impatient mother's sons the lot of us :) So, building a new Mech from the ground up would take 24 hours or more, depending on how you do it, customizing your existing ride totally(strip it all out), 24 hours, buying a Mech brand new to your specs from a factory, 48 hours, build time AND shipping time.

This is ONLY if we have a full on MMORPG to keep us entertained while we wait..but we won't have that when MWO ships, we'll just have combat and more combat and chatting while we wait to get into combat. So..instant repairs and customization please..or no longer then a half hour wait at most.

Many of us suffer from ADD in some form, you can't keep us from walking off after that chicken unless you give us SOMETHING to do..sitting and waiting ain't our strong skill.

Edited by Kristov Kerensky, 19 December 2011 - 12:52 PM.


#109 Nik Van Rhijn

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Posted 19 December 2011 - 12:57 PM

Thers nothing to stop you using one of your other mechs while you wait - why would we only have one mech?

#110 Kristov Kerensky

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Posted 19 December 2011 - 01:01 PM

View PostNik Van Rhijn, on 19 December 2011 - 12:57 PM, said:

Thers nothing to stop you using one of your other mechs while you wait - why would we only have one mech?


That's another scenerio to consider, which I admit crossed my mind. With another Mech to use, you could just jump back into the fight..until IT gets damaged and you need to wait on it getting repaired :) At some point, you won't have a Mech to use and would be stuck staring at the chat screen and that's it, when MWO releases. So..yeah..30 minutes at most for wait times on a customized/repaired Mech when MWO comes out, beyond that..won't keep the players around because there's just not enough to do.

#111 Alekto Serenis

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Posted 19 December 2011 - 01:32 PM

Have not yet read all, but i am all for full custom build machines (tho based on something)

The thing i always liked about bt was to create some own mech, full with backstory and role, and i would like to field some of these designs once again

Example, the Hellstorm, a viking "refit", mostly the same mech, same tonnage, but more lrms, to make full use of alternative ammo (love the swarm^^), the clan version has a couple h-meds, t3 gets composite and hardened [i hope they for once make this possible, balanced and awesome]

Or my Personalized Panther, t2, simple put, bigass engine and lots of jump jets, clan version basically got its weapon upgraded and few more plates, t3, my beloved composite/hardened and tsm (one engie hit and toast but fun^^)

Now what i would rather like to see would be that some components would need to be scavenged or otherwise earned (like taking a research facility for tsm etc)

Or that you would need to conquer a factory first to be able to create a custom build machine, for a cost (aka a fuckton cbills)

I always spited mw4 for its simple-minded mechlab and love me my mw3pm (we outlawed alphaboats on lans btw, no fun)

My thoughts on this

tl:dr
Let me customize fun machines, and make it at a cost so the alphastriker will need to get their skill first

#112 MaddMaxx

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Posted 19 December 2011 - 04:32 PM

I can't really see the Dev allowing any amount of wait time in a F2P Online game. It kind of defeats the whole purpose, which is fighting for a House/Merc Corp or Lone Wolf-ing it from the get go.

Some musings...

about extra Mechs, or extra bays, would have to be "how do you get that 2nd or 3rd Mech(s) before having to chance the destruction of your first Mech? Will each player be given 2 Mechs? 3 Mechs, or C-Bills to finance the first couple?

Edited by MaddMaxx, 19 December 2011 - 04:32 PM.


#113 Kristov Kerensky

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Posted 19 December 2011 - 04:36 PM

View PostMaddMaxx, on 19 December 2011 - 04:32 PM, said:

I can't really see the Dev allowing any amount of wait time in a F2P Online game. It kind of defeats the whole purpose, which is fighting for a House/Merc Corp or Lone Wolf-ing it from the get go.

Some musings...

about extra Mechs, or extra bays, would have to be "how do you get that 2nd or 3rd Mech(s) before having to chance the destruction of your first Mech? Will each player be given 2 Mechs? 3 Mechs, or C-Bills to finance the first couple?


Thinking on the starter Mech, it's a freebie that can be damaged, even blown to hell and back, but it's ALWAYS repairable, so no matter happens, you have at least 1 Mech to use. That's what I've seen others offer up as an idea and I like it, so long as that starter Mech is a Light of some flavor..have a list of the 30 and under Lights to pick from for your starter Mech?

#114 MaddMaxx

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Posted 19 December 2011 - 04:44 PM

View PostKristov Kerensky, on 19 December 2011 - 04:36 PM, said:


Thinking on the starter Mech, it's a freebie that can be damaged, even blown to hell and back, but it's ALWAYS repairable, so no matter happens, you have at least 1 Mech to use. That's what I've seen others offer up as an idea and I like it, so long as that starter Mech is a Light of some flavor..have a list of the 30 and under Lights to pick from for your starter Mech?


Fair enough and rewards for Battle always = > repair bills, that kinda deal. I "read" there may not be a starting Mech weight restriction perhaps? "Bigger may not be Better" was the phrase I believe.

#115 Kristov Kerensky

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Posted 19 December 2011 - 04:46 PM

Jenner..take it out into combat, win, repair bills are under 100k c-bills...
Atlas..take it out into combat, win, repair bills are over 500k c-bills..

Yeah, bigger is NOT always better..but ya know what..I just don't feel safe in anything under 100 tons :)

#116 John Frye

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Posted 19 December 2011 - 05:04 PM

View PostKarn Evil, on 19 December 2011 - 12:09 PM, said:

But then, of course, you've got the fact that Gun-Cubes tend to be prominent targets, as anyone foolhardy enough to bring a Gausszilla into a big fight in MW4 knows quite well. If these mechs actually get destroyed when they're destroyed, then, with the fact that everyone's going to want to take out the ridiculous contraption, the actual number of them in-play at any time will probably be pretty low.


Absolutely agree, which is why I have to vote for time and significant cost to build. If it takes a month, or even a week to build, and everyone is salivating about killing it when it hits the field, then the owner is either going to only pull it out for critical situations or it's going to be destroyed in a much faster period that it will take to build. Either way, it will limit the number seen on the field at any one time (i.e. there will be some sort of equilibrium condition controlled by build time / cost that can be modeled and controlled. This equilibrium would also require the permanent destruction rather than permanent ownership option., otherwise the equilibrium shifts completely to the side of everyone having "gausszilla").

Edited by John Frye, 19 December 2011 - 05:07 PM.


#117 Dylan Koenig

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Posted 19 December 2011 - 05:18 PM

As an avid mechwarrior fan through out the histroy of the pc, console and click games as well as the table top battletech games I have thought this over many a times.

I would have to say some cutomizing should be allowed to an extent...If I want a raven with jacked up engines that doesnt exceed frame spec with 6 machine guns all firing at the same time while Im doing 80kps I should be allowed to as this is actually in the Mw universe and while I can site the book atm It was used and it took out an atlas by knee capping it till it fell over...

See right now we have some very limited info of what we are getting and what we arent. Hell we dont know if this will be cockpit or 3rd person view let alone if it will have a standard mmo skill bar or a mw style group weapon bindings.....

Though if I saw a long bow with ppcs instead of lrms I would have an issue with this....

Mechs should have some sorta classing system...Assault, support, artillery, scout
Assault mechs focus on large damage through big guns and have the ability to stack armor..
Support mechs act as a cnc they give boost to systems of other mechs as well as repair battle...Most of there weapon systems are based on crowd control.
Artillery mechs would focus on long range missile and gause cannon and what not...Able to take advantage of scout systems..
Scout mechs use fast speed light weapons to snare and spot enemies as well as apply narc beacons to targets so artillery mechs can salvo.

Now the fact there will be no melee mechs which sucks as death from above was always a fun thing in the clix game as was ramming with any mech with brawing, go bansons raiders, I really dont know what else they could do with this game.

#118 Captain Stern

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Posted 19 December 2011 - 08:19 PM

This is a classic battle of MW fan vs BT fan...and the game we are waitting for is a PC game( a MW game), so I hope there will be a full mechlab. Mechlab was half the game,and a huge infulance on the online enjoyment. I understand why the "classic" people do not want a mechlab, they feel they will be outgunned by custom mechs...there right. In the turn based board game, you could use your long, medium and short range weapons all at the right time. In real time games...you could close with your opponent very quickly and ignore the range restriction, making a "classic" build a poor choice. I under buildsstand why they are not happy with a mechlab, but I will not play a mechgame without the abilty to "fix" the mechs I find. I am NEVER happy with classic builds, and a forced wait time will not fix that. It's a game, we play it for fun, I hope you will enjoy the game, even if I have a custom build.

#119 guardiandashi

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Posted 19 December 2011 - 10:51 PM

honestly from what I have seen it is NOT the classic battletech (aka) tabletop people who are saying NO customizations.

what I have seen is that most of the people who have played the board game want some level of customization in the game, as it is a big part of the "meta" game

many want some restrictions, mabie have it take some time, certain refits requiring access to in game resources that are NOT available everywhere etc.


the people who seem to be most down on the customization are the people who want gameplay similar to MA(AKA) Mech Assault

IE a game which is ALL simple simple gameplay not necessarally "dumbed down" but being forced to choose from what I am going to call a "limited" selection of options

IE examples of what some of these people seem to want....

1 no customization at all, so if it is a catapult, there are only 2 varients of catapults available, the one with 2 lrm 15's and 4 medium lasers, or the one that packs ppc's ... oh wait they do not want that because a catapult with ppc's would confuse their brain because catapults pack lrms..

2 what I am going to call pin point targeting every weapon fired hits EXACTLY on the 1 pixel the crosshairs are centered on with NO deviation allowed.

3 all the time god radar because having to figure out where the enemy is is too hard....

ok mabie I am exaggerating a little bit... but that is how some of these people are coming across to me.

frankly I want the game to be somewhat more complex than paper rock sizzors, I want customization so you can't be completely complacant, I want to have the "computer" to simulate having a "warbook" and have to "look up" a mech by siloette (sp) and even having to not automatically know what varient it is until it starts shooting, I do not want it to automatically "Know" what is mounted on your "custom" mech before you start shooting

I want there to be the possibility of "tactical" and strategic surprises

#120 StarfyrGuns

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Posted 19 December 2011 - 11:03 PM

[

View PostCaptain Stern, on 19 December 2011 - 08:19 PM, said:

This is a classic battle of MW fan vs BT fan...and the game we are waitting for is a PC game( a MW game), so I hope there will be a full mechlab. Mechlab was half the game,and a huge infulance on the online enjoyment. I understand why the "classic" people do not want a mechlab, they feel they will be outgunned by custom mechs...there right. In the turn based board game, you could use your long, medium and short range weapons all at the right time. In real time games...you could close with your opponent very quickly and ignore the range restriction, making a "classic" build a poor choice. I under buildsstand why they are not happy with a mechlab, but I will not play a mechgame without the abilty to "fix" the mechs I find. I am NEVER happy with classic builds, and a forced wait time will not fix that. It's a game, we play it for fun, I hope you will enjoy the game, even if I have a custom build.


I agree. Some on here are SO down on how MW4 was "terrible", leads me to doubt they ever played. Especially with some of their "examples" lol. Were there stupid builds? YES...but I can count on one hand how many there were. Thing of it is, the Purist want BTech hardcore. And unfortunatly, it wouldn`t translate well into a game thats supposed to be FUN. And I played the entire time MW4 was on the Zone with all the expansions and the dlc from MekTek. Playing the waiting game for a mech to be moded/repaired is, I must say not thought out well. If someone comes into the game, gets into a battle, and has to wait REAL-TIME for repairs, ect, they`ll get discouraged and uninstall. And I wouldn`t blame them.

ITS A GAME PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you want Canon, READ the books! lol Don`t ask this GAME to be so involved/complicated the fun dissapears and you have no player-base to fight against. THINK about it.........





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