71 replies to this topic

[Metus regem]

Willard Phule, on 25 May 2017 - 12:16 PM, said:

Don't agree on fixed engine anything, if you can replace them...you can upgrade.

What I do agree on is hardpoint size. That, right there, would change a lot of the nonsense we see here.

The main reason I'm okay with fixed engines is to due with examples like the Raven, where one of the few differences between the variants is engine size.

Also thinking about it realisticly, the engine that is in a mech would be hard as hell to take out, would be designed for one brand and size and type of engine. Take a long hard look at mechs like the Raven and Bushwacker, their tosos are crammed full of armour plates, skeletal structure, weapon mounts, feeds for weapon systems, power cables, cockpit, computer systems, gyroscope and an engine. I wouldn't be surprised if every millimeter is accounted for in side of them. To use a real world example, you cannot take out the engine of your car and just drop in a larger engine from a different manufacture, with out having some major issues.

[sycocys]

Metus regem, on 25 May 2017 - 12:23 PM, said:

To use a real world example, you cannot take out the engine of your car and just drop in a larger engine from a different manufacture, with out having some major issues.

I'm guessing you didn't see when those Hot Rod Magazine guys dropped a 5.0 Ford 351 in a Datsun - then attached a turbo charger system from a 7.3 Powerstroke Diesel just to make it more ridiculous. XD

[sycocys]

Also I think it would be interesting if hardpoint size was part of the skill nodes and capped at 5 medium/ 3 large (under ghost heat) - as well as cost maybe 2 and 5 points each. Same with nightvision and heat vision, they should be on the tree and not just a given.

That would add some node cost management and balance offseting.

[Kin3ticX]

the OPs idea is unworkable

I would be more interested in something else.

If you are a House Kurita loyalist and you are driving a Dragon or perhaps a Panther, then you should get some kind of bonus.

If you are Driving a Dragon with a Kurita Camo, you should get a small bonus of some kind.

Things like that.

The stock builds are often terrible but you can always give nods to lore in other ways.

[G4LV4TR0N]

Best thing to do about stock builds is to make some player driven stock mech league similar to MRBC. It could use it own MWO adjusted Battle Values for mechs to balance stock builds because with MWO balance some are clearly more powerful than others.

Edited by G4LV4TR0N, 25 May 2017 - 03:43 PM.

[Alex Morgaine]

T1 and T2 are different animals though, and Piranha varients are even more different then early invasion units. Stock+ for mostly3025 era battlemechs might be viable (keep x tonnage or equipment unchanged) but for max lv2/omnis its a lill harder. id say just keep it with the 8/8 bonus for omnis and for advanced tech it's have to have a smaller window for adjustment then 3025 era equipped mechs.

sycocys, on 25 May 2017 - 03:09 PM, said:

I'm guessing you didn't see when those Hot Rod Magazine guys dropped a 5.0 Ford 351 in a Datsun - then attached a turbo charger system from a 7.3 Powerstroke Diesel just to make it more ridiculous. XD

How big was the crater :3

[Willard Phule]

Metus regem, on 25 May 2017 - 12:23 PM, said:

The main reason I'm okay with fixed engines is to due with examples like the Raven, where one of the few differences between the variants is engine size.

Also thinking about it realisticly, the engine that is in a mech would be hard as hell to take out, would be designed for one brand and size and type of engine. Take a long hard look at mechs like the Raven and Bushwacker, their tosos are crammed full of armour plates, skeletal structure, weapon mounts, feeds for weapon systems, power cables, cockpit, computer systems, gyroscope and an engine. I wouldn't be surprised if every millimeter is accounted for in side of them. To use a real world example, you cannot take out the engine of your car and just drop in a larger engine from a different manufacture, with out having some major issues.

I used to have some of the "schematics" that showed how stuff worked in some of the original IS models like the Atlas and Stalker. Never really saw one for an Omni. But the ammo feeds alone make some of the stuff we do here completely ridiculous.

But as for swapping engines...Think about whatever car you're driving. Whoever designed it, designed it with a certain size in mind. If someone figured out how to increase the displacement (and thus the power) and keep the same size, it's a more powerful engine. The concept is sound and since we're talking fiction, I think it applies. Hell, after the Invasion, a lot of older models were retooled to use newly developed tech. Lots of XLs replacing Standards...and that's taking a lot more engine space. So, it can be done. It's just expensive and pretty time consuming, which means the IS can't do that kind of extensive repair in the field.

Omnis, if you read any of the game sourcebooks or some of the novels, are supposed to be the next evolution in Battlemechs. Everything modular. Plug and play based on pod space available. Plenty of examples when engines were replaced in the field with Omnis. One would think you'd be able to "downgrade" the engine and open up more "pod space." Which is pretty much the remainder after you put together the structure, armor and engine. More or less. Mechanically speaking, when writing one up, that is.

Edited by Willard Phule, 26 May 2017 - 05:28 PM.

[sycocys]

Alex Morgaine, on 25 May 2017 - 04:19 PM, said:

How big was the crater :3

Unbelievably, they actually had no issues with the drivetrain, even hooking it up to a stock Datsun rear end.

The car itself was a rusty pile of junk, but the swap was a weird and interesting project.... speaking of this - I want to swap clan xl's into my IS mechs. If Hot Rod can dump a 351 into a Datsun, I should be able to put a Cxl300 into my Commando.

Edited by sycocys, 26 May 2017 - 05:51 PM.

[James The Fox Dixon]

Willard Phule, on 26 May 2017 - 05:28 PM, said:

I used to have some of the "schematics" that showed how stuff worked in some of the original IS models like the Atlas and Stalker. Never really saw one for an Omni. But the ammo feeds alone make some of the stuff we do here completely ridiculous.

But as for swapping engines...Think about whatever car you're driving. Whoever designed it, designed it with a certain size in mind. If someone figured out how to increase the displacement (and thus the power) and keep the same size, it's a more powerful engine. The concept is sound and since we're talking fiction, I think it applies. Hell, after the Invasion, a lot of older models were retooled to use newly developed tech. Lots of XLs replacing Standards...and that's taking a lot more engine space. So, it can be done. It's just expensive and pretty time consuming, which means the IS can't do that kind of extensive repair in the field.

Omnis, if you read any of the game sourcebooks or some of the novels, are supposed to be the next evolution in Battlemechs. Everything modular. Plug and play based on pod space available. Plenty of examples when engines were replaced in the field with Omnis. One would think you'd be able to "downgrade" the engine and open up more "pod space." Which is pretty much the remainder after you put together the structure, armor and engine. More or less. Mechanically speaking, when writing one up, that is.

They did release schematics for the Loki, Timber Wolf, and two other clan mechs when TRO 3050 was originally released.

[WrathOfDeadguy]

sycocys, on 26 May 2017 - 05:51 PM, said:

Unbelievably, they actually had no issues with the drivetrain, even hooking it up to a stock Datsun rear end.

The car itself was a rusty pile of junk, but the swap was a weird and interesting project.... speaking of this - I want to swap clan xl's into my IS mechs. If Hot Rod can dump a 351 into a Datsun, I should be able to put a Cxl300 into my Commando.

The mention of dropping obscenely overpowered engines into cars that were never designed for them reminded me of this...



Yes, that's a jet engine in a VW bug. And yes, it's road legal. First saw it in a magazine ~10 years ago.

[sycocys]

WrathOfDeadguy, on 26 May 2017 - 06:20 PM, said:

Yes, that's a jet engine in a VW bug. And yes, it's road legal. First saw it in a magazine ~10 years ago.

A 6' flame out of the back is road legal in the US?

Three of the best car engine drop-ins I ever saw in person (sorry no pics, they were WI crazy ppl and I've never been big on cell phones) --

A Geo Metro with a Supercharged LS1.
A Fiero with a Hemi...
A S10 with an inline 6 turbo diesel pulled from a wrecked Prentice tree loader- really liked this one since it was a wacky dude from the town I grew up in, using a salvaged engine from a machine they also made in our town.

[RestosIII]

Don't know how I missed this thread, but as someone who plays lore builds a bit too often, I highly endorse any way to make them more profitable.

Jingseng, on 22 May 2017 - 06:55 PM, said:

I'd imagine the incentive to running a lore build is the quiet, self satisfied, smugness that you are running a lore build and none of the other people are playing 'real BT'.

That's a guess though, I don't do lore builds-only =p

If I claimed that wasn't part of the reason I do it, I'd be lying. But it's less that, more the fact that it triggers some nostalgia for the lore of the universe in me that my own builds just don't pull off.