23 replies to this topic

[Strum Wealh]

Pht, on 05 April 2012 - 09:41 AM, said:

3 speed, actually.


Basically, the pilot is pushing thier mech beyond it's rated performance speed, and is having to be very careful to do it.

It widens the performance envelope up.

three base modes: walking, running, sprinting
six modifier conditions: none (without MASC, TSM, or Supercharger), w/ MASC, w/ Supercharger, w/ TSM, w/ MASC + Supercharger, w/ TSM + Supercharger
3*6 = 18

Does that not result in 18 possible combinations of movement mode and movement modifier condition?

Edited by Strum Wealh, 05 April 2012 - 12:08 PM.

[Bren]

As Pht posted. I would like to see the TacOps sprinting rules in one of these days. It would be a great addition provided the numerous drawbacks were modeled as well.

As it stands right now, at full (running) speed the 'Mechs still have that ridgid, frankenstein pose we've all seen since Mechwarrior 2.
Of course this is because a running 'Mech must still be able to instantly use its weapons.

If sprinting was possible, the 'Mechs could adopt a more human (for the man-walkers anyway) gait—arms pumping, shoulders swinging, etc.— because firing weapons wouldn't be an issue. The pilot would be too engrossed in keeping his machine moving safely.

[Pht]

Strum Wealh, on 05 April 2012 - 12:07 PM, said:

three base modes: walking, running, sprinting
six modifier conditions: none (without MASC, TSM, or Supercharger), w/ MASC, w/ Supercharger, w/ TSM, w/ MASC + Supercharger, w/ TSM + Supercharger
3*6 = 18

Does that not result in 18 possible combinations of movement mode and movement modifier condition?

Well, Indeed it does seem you are right!

[Felicitatem Parco]

Oi vey...
*facepalm*


Mechs have a throttle that will set the desired averaged movement speed of the Mech. You can max out the throttle, in which case the Mech's hardware is "walking" as fast as it can. This Walk might evolve into an actual Run if the Mech is designed to Run (definition of "run" is where you experience times when neither of your feet are on the ground at some point during your step cycle; "walking" is when you always have at least 1 foot on the gorund at any given time).

You can augment the standard Mech ambulation mechanisms with hardware modifications such as Myomer Accelerator Signal Circuitry (MASC) or Triple Strength Myomer (TSM). These systems make the limbs move faster by either improving the actuators in the joints or the synthetic myomer musculature in the Mech - these systems are mutually incompatible, though, and so can't be used simultaneously.

An other way you can make a Mech go faster is by cranking up the electrical output of the engine. With Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) you can make them run faster with SUperchargers which increase the rate of combustion, but you can also increase the output of a fusion engine by simply "running hot" and pushing it beyond the typical operating parameters through the use of a Supercharger unit (Don't ask me why they used the same name, but they did... maybe 'cause it sounds cool to say "Oh... well, my Mech is Supercharged"). Because the engine output is independent from the amnulatory hardware you can, indeed, use a Supercharger at the same time as you are using either MASC or TSM.

So there you have it. You can run your engine normally to achieve a typical top speed, or run it with TSM (or MASC) to get a higher top speed, or you can run with a Supercharger to get a higher top speed, or you can run with both a Supercharger and TSM (or MASC) to achieve the absolute toppest speed possible... briefly... until you explode.