5 replies to this topic

[Hawk819]

Hey, Developers and Tiyos, would you guys even consider adding the Hoplite 55-ton Medium? Just asking.

[1453 R]

Tiy0s has said, in other threads, that new 'Mech chassis have to obey two basic criteria: they have to be valid for inclusion in both of Piranha's currently active games (MWO and MW5: Clans), and they have to be worthwhile inclusions.

Unfortunately, the Hoplite fails on both counts. As a niche Inner Sphere design it's not really valid for inclusion in MW5: Clans. And as a design as a whole, the Hoplite is astoundingly mediocre. Its TT niche of being heavily armored is moot in MWO since we can freely add armor to any 'Mech we like, its low engine size hurts it, and all variants save the Clan rebake have only two weapons - a big honkoff gun, and a missile launcher. Which BHG and which missile launcher varies, but every version of the design has the same basic configuration.

The 'Mech, unfortunately, adds nothing of substance to MWO and would almost certainly sell extremely poorly as it also doesn't have much in the way of name recognition or Nostalgia Value. In an ideal world Piranha could afford to develop every single 'Mech ever released and create a Battle Value-adjacent system for balancing them in MWO, but alas. The studio has pretty sharply restricted development resources at this stage in the game, and must allocate them carefully and with forethought.

Our next new chassis after the Bane releases is going to be a Clan light OmniMech, almost certainly either the Fire Falcon or the Hellion as those are the only two unreleased light OmniMechs that are remotely timeline-appropriate for MW5: Clans. The Fire Moth is also timeline-appropriate of course, but it has been establ;ished for many years now that MWO's CryEngine cannot handle the Fire Moth's speed without doing uncouth and intolerable things to hit registration, making the Fire Moth a negatory for MWO.

Personally, my money is on the Fire Falcon as a powerful Clan analog to the Commando, as well as being available seven years earlier in the timeline. The Fire Falcon comes in at 3052, while the Hellion only comes online at 3059. This places the Hellion seven years after the Battle of Tukayyid, which is rather a hard stop to the MW5: Clans campaign. The Hellion would undoubtedly prove stronger in MWO, but the timeline issues in MW5: Clans are likely a dealbreaker from what little information I have.

[BlueDevilspawn]

Pretty much the above.... ALSO, he's said that given the flagship property has you piloting Clan mechs, the foreseeable coming new chassis are Clan mechs

[Duke Falcon]

Reason: Clans DO use Hoplites. Because I hope MW5 Clans not restrict players only to omnimechs! There is a whole lot nice and potent clan battlemechs...

U knowz PGI: If yer do sumthin' just do it well, ja?

[1453 R]

The Clans do not make any notable use of the Hoplite. Wolf's Dragoons has a Clantech Hoplite they developed after the Battle of Luthien, but as we are playing the Smoked Slaguars in MW5: Clans and not the Dragoons, there would be no reason for frontline Clusters at the forefront of the Invasion to be using retrofitted Spheroid claptrap.

In a campaign setting such as MW5, OmniMechs' modular reconfiguration abilities and ease of repair makes them the ultimate aggressive weapons. An OmniMech can be deployed, fight, take damage, then be repaired and redeployed again in a fraction of the time of a comparable BattleMech. By the time a Schmuck Lameguar unit could salvage a Hoplite, repair it, rearm it, and get it running at anything like tolerable standards for the Invasion, the OmniMechs that put that Hoplite down will have been deployed on three more missions.

BattleMechs are traditionally relegated to garrison duty or solahma units in the Clans, and presuming the 'mech customization system is similar to MW5 and not MWO (remember, MWO BattleMech customization is the sort of thing that would take a factory-level redesign and refit effort from some of the most skilled individuals in the Inner Sphere as well as many tens of millions of C-bills in-universe), BattleMechs will not have the dramatic customization advantage in MW5: Clans that they enjoy in MWO.

Edited by 1453 R, 26 September 2024 - 11:31 AM.

[Hawk819]

Well, then the Fire Falcon it is.

Variants?

Simple. B, C, F, H and P.

Fire Falcon variant Piranha: 12 AP Gauss and 4 tons Ammo.

The C and F are as usual Machine Gun variants, only one has missiles and lasers. But given as to how everyone loves Light/AP Gauss. Wouldn't surprise me at all if the C and F were combined in some way.

Edited by Hawk819, 27 September 2024 - 09:44 AM.