12 replies to this topic

[bilagaana]

The only references in the forum I can find to this topic are five years old and apparently discuss a bug which appeared after a patch.

In the MechLab, when playing around with builds I will routinely get the Slot Violation warning. Sometimes it will tell me the location but most often it will just note that there are one or more. I've never found an explanation of what a Slot Violation actually is (I can surmise but lack definite knowledge), how to locate it and/or how to correct it.

Any tips on what, exactly, gives rise to slot violations and how to locate and remedy them would be appreciated.

[admiralbenbow123]

A slot violation means that something (usually armor or structure) is taking up more slots than the mech has. I you want to get rid of the warning you just need to switch the armor type and/or structure type on your mech or take out whatever weapons/equipment you have that take up a lot of slots.

[Tesunie]

bilagaana, on 07 March 2019 - 09:28 AM, said:

The only references in the forum I can find to this topic are five years old and apparently discuss a bug which appeared after a patch.

In the MechLab, when playing around with builds I will routinely get the Slot Violation warning. Sometimes it will tell me the location but most often it will just note that there are one or more. I've never found an explanation of what a Slot Violation actually is (I can surmise but lack definite knowledge), how to locate it and/or how to correct it.

Any tips on what, exactly, gives rise to slot violations and how to locate and remedy them would be appreciated.

Most times, a slot violation is when you've somehow managed to exceed the number of crit slots you can have on your mech. The most likely cause of this is when you change armor from Standard to any form of ferro-fibrous, or standard structure to Endo. These changes takes up crit slots (but saves weight), and it can place our mech over it's allotted crit slot numbers.

Sometimes this can even happen when you quickly place too much gear (or a bug does so) in a single location, such as having the game try to place dual AC20s in a single location (doesn't happen very often, if at all anymore). There just isn't enough space in any location for that.

It might even come up if you change your engine from a Standard to a LFE or XL, which also saves weight but takes more crit slots. If your side torsos didn't have enough extra crits for the conversion to take place, it can throw the error code at you.

[bilagaana]

Thanks for the above responses. I figured that must be what's going on.

I take it that there is no way to isolate the error(s) except by experimentation, i.e: removing or changing components and equipment from various locations until the error flag goes away?

I don't have the MechLab open at the moment but I assume that when it uses the term "Dynamic" for (if I recall correctly...) armor slots that those are the fixed number of slots occupied in the entire mech by the specified armor type but they are automatically shifted around among available total Empty slots when a piece of equipment is placed? (That's a complicated sentence; sorry.) [If that's the case, it sounds like you'd have to be one of the spreadsheet warriors if you wanted to preemptively avoid generating a slot violation when playing around with various builds.]

[Tesunie]

bilagaana, on 07 March 2019 - 11:29 AM, said:

Thanks for the above responses. I figured that must be what's going on.

I take it that there is no way to isolate the error(s) except by experimentation, i.e: removing or changing components and equipment from various locations until the error flag goes away?

I don't have the MechLab open at the moment but I assume that when it uses the term "Dynamic" for (if I recall correctly...) armor slots that those are the fixed number of slots occupied in the entire mech by the specified armor type but they are automatically shifted around among available total Empty slots when a piece of equipment is placed? (That's a complicated sentence; sorry.) [If that's the case, it sounds like you'd have to be one of the spreadsheet warriors if you wanted to preemptively avoid generating a slot violation when playing around with various builds.]

Typically, just pay attention to that top section where the errors pop up. Then, say you upgrade to FF, if an error occurs after you've done something then you just revert that one thing or alter something else. Most of the time, the errors are fairly clear about what is causing it.

The worst error I've seen so far (but haven't been affected with myself) has been an unknown error code that can't be cleared until you've stripped the whole mech and rebuilt it from the ground up. I will comment, this error has been extremely rare, and it's typically an inventory error (You have 1 AC10 to place, you place it, no... you actually didn't have any left, but you do, but you don't... error). So far, it's only involved consumables (EI: Air strikes, UAVs, coolshots, etc) and an error occationally with the auto purchase somehow making it think it's got more of an item than you really do. (If you come across this error, realize you are just really special as it's extremely rare.)


As for Dynamic slots, you nailed it. That is exactly what they do. Just be mindful of the error icons and you shouldn't have too much issue making mechs. The mech lab is a lot easier now than it use to be in the past. (Be thankful... Some of the earlier version where awful to learn how to navigate though, but once you knew how to use it...)

[TheCaptainJZ]

Most importantly,
There is a number in the info pane on the bottom right that tells you how many slots are used vs how many are available. It will list it like 80/78 which means you have used too many critical slots (slots, criticals, crits--all represent the same thing in this context. Critical hits is different, but related. A critical hit means a shot has done damage to your equipment which are in the slots/crits/criticals. When armor is depleted in a section, a hit has a chance to do additional damage to 1, 2, or 3 critical slots based on dice rolls and some other things I won't elaborate on here).

When building a mech, it is perhaps best to place the engine and upgrades first which takes away available criticals. Another reason for doing this is because the upgrades may affect your inventory. If you switch to double heat sinks, all single heat sinks are removed and hidden in inventory and you'll have only doubles available to place. Same with Artemis SRMs or LRMs. You can adjust things as you go of course.

Edited by TheCaptainJZ, 07 March 2019 - 01:05 PM.

[SomeWeirdAssGuy]

Slot violations usually happen when you switch your armor from Standard to Ferro-Fibrous or your structure from Standard to Endo-Steel. If your slots are pretty much all filled, you end up having slots filled with weapons or equipment that should be filled with Armor Slots or Structure slots because either requires 7 slots.

[Tesunie]

SomeWeirdAssGuy, on 10 March 2019 - 06:50 AM, said:

Armor Slots or Structure slots because either requires 7 slots.

I do believe Clan upgrades require 7 slots per, and IS upgrades 14 per.

[SomeWeirdAssGuy]

Tesunie, on 10 March 2019 - 07:13 AM, said:

I do believe Clan upgrades require 7 slots per, and IS upgrades 14 per.

You are absolutely right, I have mostly clan mechs and completely overlooked this, Also, light ferro-fibrous is 7 slots as well.

[AureliusDean]

Sometimes a buff will appear in a patch and change how much armour you are carrying, making your loadout no longer viable.

*Edited for spelling because my keyboard has more garbage in it than Hell has pedophiles.*

Edited by AureliusDean, 10 March 2019 - 09:02 AM.

[Koniving]

Or in the case of certain mechs with huge torsos and tiny arms, the max armor for the arms/torsos is rearranged to better benefit the torsos that need it. (After that change, since the armor for the arms is higher than the new max, its invalid. But that's technically not a slot violation...just related to the armor stuff).

(And yet people cried about this, its like...are you serious? "Too squishy" becomes "why did they change it? That's so stupid no one asked for this!" Uh...yeah...someone did, it was the guys that said it was too squishy and are now complaining because it got addressed.)

[The Lost Boy]

Also remember stealth armor requires slots on every part of the mech except the head if i remember correctly.

[Aidan Crenshaw]

almost. CT and head are not required. Arms, Legs, STs