44 replies to this topic

[MechaBattler]

Why not use magnetic/mechanical locks with the guns? Welding seems like a huge waste given how much easier it would be to swap between weapons.

[Karl Streiger]

MechaBattler, on 09 April 2019 - 12:58 PM, said:

Why not use magnetic/mechanical locks with the guns? Welding seems like a huge waste given how much easier it would be to swap between weapons.

Well, this would be Omni Tech, isn't it? Welding is indeed awkward (you add additional mass for nothing as well) - maybe this "explanation" was used to differentiate between BattleMech or OmniMech.

Edited by Karl Streiger, 10 April 2019 - 01:14 AM.

[Koniving]

Basically anything that could be quickly released should be quickly swapped and BT needed a distinction between normal and omnitech. Furthermore anything with a hand has an unfair advantage. First solution to that advantage anyone would have is slap a hand in a Marauder and go full gundam with a beam ca--laser gun rifle thing with large laser and underslung mpl.

Basically it wouldn't feel like BT anymore within the stock rule set as special exceptions without a check and balance. It's a cheap reason to cut off the particular avenue of rule exceptions. May have noticed my Asuka design worked around and even capitalized on the concept of the advantage...and made it fit and limited in BT by having the weapons be old relics from when that was common...on a mech that never really got off the ground beyond a little cult following from a local region of planets.

One nice thing about the mount location type (shorthand "mount type") system that I am using we could easily permit and control those exceptions to prevent superior to omnipod style modification while keeping it real yet fair for the special case of hand held weapon systems. There wouldn't be a whole market dedicated to a niche ability to swap weapons when you cinsider different machine and sizes and shapes and connections in the Palm to power them etc etc etc and so there's some options on the market.. But not a full array every weapon you ever heard of.

Edited by Koniving, 10 April 2019 - 02:01 PM.

[Karl Streiger]

Koniving, on 04 April 2019 - 09:15 AM, said:

Its come to my attention while researching the Crusher SH Cannon....that the Quickcell Company is the very definition of the "PGI" under the reliability joke... except Quickcell isn't a joke; its far worse.

Just some more food for your brain.
We hardly know a lot about planetary governments and militia.
The Quickcell Company might sell cheap affordable solutions for most militias - for example the Condor (II) comes completely disassembled and need several manhours of working.
Same for the Hetzer, what if quick cell don't provide a whole tank but just a "refit-kit" - so you get your cannon, some armor plates, some shell holders an autoloader and some electronics, but the chassis, engine batterie and controll equipment is yours to add.

This means, your average combat vehicle on the most planet might hardly better than a "support vehicle with a support machine gun a light rifle and BAR 6 armor. And a mobile crane refitted as a Hetzer with sturdy BAR 10 armor might slaughter most combat vehicles of an "enemy planetary nation regime"

[Koniving]

Karl Streiger, on 12 April 2019 - 12:55 AM, said:

Just some more food for your brain.
We hardly know a lot about planetary governments and militia.
The Quickcell Company might sell cheap affordable solutions for most militias - for example the Condor (II) comes completely disassembled and need several manhours of working.
Same for the Hetzer, what if quick cell don't provide a whole tank but just a "refit-kit" - so you get your cannon, some armor plates, some shell holders an autoloader and some electronics, but the chassis, engine batterie and controll equipment is yours to add.

This means, your average combat vehicle on the most planet might hardly better than a "support vehicle with a support machine gun a light rifle and BAR 6 armor. And a mobile crane refitted as a Hetzer with sturdy BAR 10 armor might slaughter most combat vehicles of an "enemy planetary nation regime"

While you have a point,and if it wasn't expressly stated that would make perfect sense.
However, in TRO 3026 under Hetzer, they pretty expressly say they use cheap labor to take a truck and a single slab of shaped armor, cut some holes into it, slap in some doors, and throw in a weapon. And expressly go into details such as

"Production may be cheap and fast, but it can result in a very slipshot product. Many (assigned Hetzer vehicle) crewmembers have complained that their newly issued vehicles do not have all the equipment installed. In many cases gunsights and ammo racks have been thrown into the crew compartment. If the crew is lucky enough to find a bag of bolts also included, they can install these things components themselves. More often than not however, the crews are unable to install this critical equipment and so quite often a number of brand new vehicles are immediately listed as non-operable. Because of this problem many crew members refuse to exchange an older vehicles for new ones, for at least they know that their current machine works."

So, from the sound of it they don't appear to sound like they do refit kits. They sell you the (semi-often in)complete product. It also specifically says that Quikscell "takes a basic truck chassis and engine and does the work, which is simple allowing them to employ unskilled labor." Which is what leads to the quality issues. I also imagine it lets them sell the "cheap" vehicle for considerably more than its really worth.

Hetzer's also apparently made out of a single armor plate with some doors slapped on. That said, considering how cheap and simple the Hetzer is, someone with the ability could possibly do that. But for that they might as well use something with tracks and a turret.

(Also apparently its battery is cheap and under capacity for its weapon and basic equipment, requiring the vehicle to be started to recharge the battery frequently whenever the lights dim potentially giving away their position.)
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Of interesting note, in Objective Raids the year isn't mentioned but destruction of their primary facility on Ares, at some point forces them to raise the quality of their products.
Since Objective Raids also includes the Clans, I assume that it happens closer to the Clan invasion, so possibly at some point the quality of Hetzers (if they appear in MW5; and if they don't, its a simple truck to make) could raise enough to notice which in turn could lead to raising the difficulty associated with them in the late game.
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But on to the reason I jumped back over here. I know it's been a bit since I've updated this side of things with my focus on energy weapons and starting into the dabbling of missiles.

The weapons here need a bit of an informational rework now that I've come close to locking down a standardized weight distribution system (I had one, but the values were a bit floaty as I needed to go through a number of existing weapons and get their stats in order to have a system to flesh out the rest.)

I also figured out how to design the graphic for indicating the weight distribution in a simple display. It's somewhat of a sectionalized pie chart with levels, not dissimilar to MWO's own display. Each layer or level into one direction a weapon goes for one stat, the more it must consume from another direction or stat.

I hope to have it by the end of the week, but more realistically it will probably be two weeks.

I've made some in-game 3D models for my first weapons: Magna Hellstar, based on the Hoplite 2B from Battlepack Fourth Succession War which is the only model in which it is shown in its most exposed non-generic state and drawn in 1998 (so higher quality than many of the TRO images). Its a bit short compared the Schrek PPC Carrier, but otherwise of similar shape and with more detail. I saw a rather elaborate model out there on a reddit or battletech forum by a Strieger (I suspect that's you, Karl), but the amount of detail makes it pretty much unusuable in a game and it was without the outer shell. But if you ever made a shell for it, I might throw it in as another model as a lower poly version (the full details, while awesome, wouldn't be realistic to work in anything short of Star Citizen and even Star Citizen doesn't go into that level of detail).

Heir to the Dragon isn't specific about Magna Hellstar details. Operation Excalibur describes a ball of energy (consistent with some MW games but inconsistent with most BT fluff and art, but not all). Given operation excalibur, I've gone with a similar firing mechanic model to the Parti-Kill Heavy Cannon, which (without getting into the full details) basically fills a bottle and launches it as opposed to the traditional particle beam.

But the real reason I'm popping this one back up before a real update is because BT lore has disappointed me.

Chapter 55 of Warrior En Garde describes the Imperator B as an 80mm 10 shell automatic burst (for the Urbanmech).
At 90mm with my system that'd make 10 damage, at 80mm that makes 8.33 damage.
That's not a big deal, potential typo (too many 80mm weapons anyway) or just underpowered, okay sure...

But what disappoints me is this:
"Imperator Automatic Weaponry"...
Their very detailed infantry weapons never feature burst fire, some don't even feature semi-auto.

Mydron, however, features burst fire more often than automatic fire.
The two companies are otherwise producing very similar weapons. Why couldn't they stay consistent?! Ugh...

Anyway, burst fire is legally defined as fully automatic. But it still bugs me.