14 replies to this topic

[razenWing]

My idea stem from the simple fact that looking at the Nightstar cockpit, there is no way anyone is sitting inside that window. Cause, if that window is the actual size of a person sitting down, that mech is about as big as a brontosaurus, or twice the height of an Atlas.

But that's the thing though, this is future 3061. Why does a pilot need an actual glass to look out the window? What if... like a Gundam, a pilot actually sat somewhere else in the machine and the whole "head" area are merely sensor arrays to provide an augmented reality environment?

This is not new tech, and I am sure most US tanks already have this. But in the world of Mechwarrior, this would be a first.

So how this would work...

When sitting inside the Nightstar, the augmented reality cockpit will enhance visual. Meaning, stronger contrast, and lighter particle effects. You will always get a clear daylight picture no matter the environment, might it be night or fog.

DRAWBACK, because of the augmented nature, when simulating fog or night, you will get shadow to darkness beyond what the X-ray night-vision can detect. Thus, almost looking at a storm front of clouds in the background beyond 600 meters (or whatever the optical range is). You still retain the option to turn on night-vision to get the original effect and remove the fog, but it will not be enhanced by the rendered cockpit.

This will be a neat concept as it gives another layer of diversity between mechs. Piloting a Nightstar will feel drastically different than any other mechs now. (Also, for the love all things mighty, no more metal crossbars!) As an added bonus, since the "cockpit" no longer host the actual pilot pod, move 1 crit space to CT from head (life support), though reducing available CT space to just 1 slot, but does open up head space to 2 slots. Also, losing your head just means that you will permanently get that 3rd POV drone hovering over your mech with 1/3 of the screen in permanent static (like, a broken monitor). BUT, you no longer die from headshot.

(Obviously, you don't want to lose your head, as the 1/3 screen area is not static, but jumps around the screen with weird messages like "rebooting" everywhere. Basically, a much more annoying handicap than you think. You also get increase targeting time and horrendously bad lock-on time.

So what about it? MWO first augmented reality mech? Share, comment, and subscribe.

(o right, this is the forum...)

Edited by razenWing, 07 June 2017 - 03:09 AM.

[50 50]

Doubt it.
If you can fit a person into the Ice Ferret cockpit and they fit entirely within that glass section and it's half the tonnage.......

But I can see where you are going with the idea.

[Ted Wayz]

I love the TT, but basing a futuristic game on 1980's engineering...

Thirty years later an update to the canon may be in order.

[Hit the Deck]

Isn't that how it actually works in the lore?

That the pilot isn't actually looking through the ferro-glass while piloting the 'Mech but at the compacted 360 degree FOV.

Edited by Hit the Deck, 07 June 2017 - 03:14 AM.

[razenWing]

Hit the Deck, on 07 June 2017 - 03:13 AM, said:

Isn't that how it actually works in the lore?

That the pilot isn't actually looking through the ferro-glass while piloting the 'Mech but at the compacted 360 degree FOV.

See, I would think that too, but... we have those metal cross beams (in the case of a spider or locust... 4), so... go figures, right? But what I am proposing, is the removal of all that instrument panel on the lower half, and it's awesome because you don't see your hand or leg.. but at your mech's hand and legs. Just imagine a literal first person POV mech. (that would be my concept at least)

Edited by razenWing, 07 June 2017 - 03:18 AM.

[Vellron2005]

Ted Wayz, on 07 June 2017 - 03:11 AM, said:

I love the TT, but basing a futuristic game on 1980's engineering...

Thirty years later an update to the canon may be in order.

I'm sorta a lore buff, but sadly,I have to agree with this..

Also, if you think the Nightstar's cockpit is awkward, you will just blow your top when you see the Annihilator's.. The pilot better be flat on his belly..

Although, nobody ever said the cockpit glass has to be as big as the pilot.. Why could it not be just a helmet-sized slit?

Edited by Vellron2005, 07 June 2017 - 03:36 AM.

[razenWing]

Vellron2005, on 07 June 2017 - 03:34 AM, said:

I'm sorta a lore buff, but sadly,I have to agree with this..

Also, if you think the Nightstar's cockpit is awkward, you will just blow your top when you see the Annihilator's.. The pilot better be flat on his belly..

Although, nobody ever said the cockpit glass has to be as big as the pilot.. Why could it not be just a helmet-sized slit?

Because you literally look out your cockpit every game and see that it's the same size as your window...??

Hey believe me, I always though you would pilot a Locust like a Motorcycle (that and the Jenner lines too) and standing up while piloting a Cheetah/Commando. But, PGI didn't go with those aesthetic. I mean, what's done is done, but Nightstar could be a new beginning to something new.

Development wise, I think it's SO much cheaper and time saving than to try to draw the cockpit than to have... nothing except to add a few photoshop-esque filters. Fans will love it. Development time will decrease. It's a win/win!

Edited by razenWing, 07 June 2017 - 03:40 AM.

[ShoX]

They took years to update the pilot model. I'm sure if you ask them go "We would love to do that!" but they're still a small-ish enough studio to have very little room for fluffy engineering like this.

[Aggravated Assault Mech]

Hit the Deck, on 07 June 2017 - 03:13 AM, said:

Isn't that how it actually works in the lore?

That the pilot isn't actually looking through the ferro-glass while piloting the 'Mech but at the compacted 360 degree FOV.

I seem to remember a Battletech novel describing that as being a feature on the Quickdraw specifically.

In any case, there's lots of room in the Nightstar, though I expect it to have a cockpit like the Atlas or Kodiak, where if you increase the FOV you get the sensation that you're looking out the end of a tube. That or they just mess with the cockpit scale like on the Mist Lynx where you'd have to be about 5-6 time smaller than the pilot in any other mech.

A better candidate for this would have been the Crab or Stalker where none of the canon art really gives a sense of where the cockpit is at all.

[l33tworks]

Vellron2005, on 07 June 2017 - 03:34 AM, said:

Also, if you think the Nightstar's cockpit is awkward, you will just blow your top when you see the Annihilator's.. The pilot better be flat on his belly..

Although, nobody ever said the cockpit glass has to be as big as the pilot.. Why could it not be just a helmet-sized slit?

Why? Plenty of room to sit in all the mechs you mentioned.

I like to believe mechs are this size



...And not 10 feet tall as the "specifications" say. Thats just stupid, and I never went along with it 25 years ago when I first came across it nor did I go along with the 100Ton thing. Thats just silly and an Atlas sized mech the size we all all used to in MWO (Look at the cars on the road for scale) would weigh at least 5000 tons

[Dogstar]

l33tworks, on 07 June 2017 - 04:39 AM, said:

...And not 10 feet tall as the "specifications" say.

It's ten _meters_

[Willard Phule]

Lore has described it both ways. Some of the earlier novels basically stated that the cockpit used a viewscreen (compresses 360 degrees into a 270 degree arc), but later novels described them as being a transparent composite. So, it could work either way.

[RestosIII]

Ted Wayz, on 07 June 2017 - 03:11 AM, said:

I love the TT, but basing a futuristic game on 1980's engineering...

Thirty years later an update to the canon may be in order.

TBH I'd be HEAVILY disappointed if they ever updated the canon to change up the tech base. I like the "old" sci-fi feel of the Battletech universe. It's the same thing as the tech in Alien. Changing that would just make Battletech closer to being an even more generic setting.

[Escef]

l33tworks, on 07 June 2017 - 04:39 AM, said:

...And not 10 feet tall as the "specifications" say. Thats just stupid, and I never went along with it 25 years ago when I first came across it nor did I go along with the 100Ton thing.

The canon sources I've seen put the height of mechs anywhere from 7 to 17 meters, not feet. A meter is around 3 feet, so you are looking at the 20 to 50 foot tall range.

[DaZur]

Problem = Anatomically unrealistic cockpit dimensions.

Answer =


In the BT universe... there's always an answer.

Edited by DaZur, 07 June 2017 - 09:17 AM.