483 replies to this topic

[Aidan Ramsdell]

Oh! and flipping chicken mechs without arms!

[VPrime]

I remember those games well, and I enjoyed them immensely, but lets face it, they were as good as the tech at the time could make them. I have most of the original battletech sourcebooks, tech readouts rulebooks, and all but one of the novels. All the time mechs would pick up tree limbs, steel girders, and other mech's limbs to use as clubs. But it is true, a claw would do this just as well, I think we just like seeing hands. It helps us relate to the machines better.

WhirlpoolBrewer, on 27 January 2012 - 10:27 AM, said:

I've been playing the computer games since Mech Warrior 2, and I have always preferred mechs that don't remind me of gundams... like alomst every inner sphere mech does. I prefer the war simulation side of it all, not the arcade Mech Assault meets Gundamwing thing that most inner sphere mechs scream. Nobody can claim that they want Mech Warrior to be more sim than Mech Assault was and like mechs with hands. For pete sake the last mech to come out had a Mohawk. It looks like instead of shooting me, he is going to pull a guitar out and play heavy metal rock.

There are respectable Inner Sphere mechs out there that I'm praying they come out with. I'm happy to hear about the catapult, and I really hope they put the uziel in as well. There are acceptable mechs on the Inner Sphere side, but whenever a mech with hands comes out everyone just gets all excited about it, and my hope for a good mech warrior game drops a little more.

Don't get me wrong I still plan on playing it, specially when Clan mechs become available, but until then its just a little depressing. Heres to hoping for less 50 ton jokes and more 50 ton machines of war.

Nobody can claim that they want Mech Warrior to be more sim than Mech Assault was and like mechs with hands.

Lets not forget the Marauder, no hands. birdlike appearance, Gundam like design depending on who drew it. The Mad Cat is the evolution of that, not a new machine remember. Personally I am looking forward to a new Archer design. One of my favorites on the tabletop and in the novels, and I won't be heartbroken if it has claws instead of hands, just so long as it can pick up that Shadow Hawk's severed arm if you get too close.

[Outrider890]

That middle mech looks like a strider from MW3.http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Strider

Personally, I'm fine with hands on mechs, but I prefer less human mechs. I'm fine with most mechs as long as they aren't jumping 50m up in the air without jumpjets or sliding around all over the place.

[SMDMadCow]

maxoconnor, on 14 March 2012 - 11:24 AM, said:

I found more FD works out there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Check these bad boys out.
3 other random mechs, not sure what they are.

That's a Shugenja, a Strider, and a Kabuto (maybe?)

[Gigaton]

I like the classic Inner Sphere 'mech lineup the best personally. Mechwarror still tends to portray the things as quite a bit more lumbering than Gundams and whatnot, that's pretty important difference to me.

As for hands, those are cool for punching stuff.

I also want Stinger and Phoenix Hawk.

Edited by Gigaton, 14 March 2012 - 05:35 PM.

[HighlandWolf]

LakeDaemon, on 27 January 2012 - 10:54 AM, said:

We’ve heard this before from people who grew up on the no-hands MW video games and are biased against the rest BT which has hands. Whirl, the MW games were supposed to be the mechwarrior’s experience in the BT universe and not a separate game. They are one in the same. Hands were omitted from the videogames because MW was meant to focus on non-melee weapons combat and also the technology at the time was limited. MWO will probably have operational hands. The concept art shows hands (not just hand like nubs) and the devs have mentioned melee combat on select maps / worlds. In short, BT has hands. It doesn’t necessarily make them Gundam or Anime. Im sure the MWO mechs wont jump around like Gundam mecha or pick up big Robotech rifles with their hands.

This isn’t your father’s MechWarrior.

THANK YOU!!!

kind of tired of people coming up thinking they know mechwarrior which is based on battletech and go on about hands, lots of reasons why some mechs had hands..many of which revolved around caving in the cockpit of the enemy mech..or ripping its arm off or punching through armour to destroy its gyro..or picking something up and whacking the enemy with it. If you dont want a mech with hands then dont pick a mech with hands, but stop moaning about mechs with hands...read up on actual mechwarrior and battletech mechs a bit

[SMDMadCow]

maxoconnor, on 14 March 2012 - 11:55 AM, said:

One more!!!
Wyvern


OH BABY!!!!!!!!!!!
Vindicator

Max, you should start your own thread of all the FD concepts you've found.

Edited by SMDMadCow, 14 March 2012 - 08:24 PM.

[Damocles]

WHoa damn that Vindi looks niice

[Nasty McBadman]

SMDMadCow, on 14 March 2012 - 04:12 PM, said:

That's a Shugenja, a Strider, and a Kabuto (maybe?)

Sunder, Strider, Spector? All "S" mechs that end in "er"?.

No, you are totally right, that is a Shugenja.

Edited by Nasty McBadman, 15 March 2012 - 01:59 AM.

[cinco]

WhirlpoolBrewer, on 27 January 2012 - 10:27 AM, said:

I've been playing the computer games since Mech Warrior 2, and I have always preferred mechs that don't remind me of gundams... like alomst every inner sphere mech does. I prefer the war simulation side of it all, not the arcade Mech Assault meets Gundamwing thing that most inner sphere mechs scream. Nobody can claim that they want Mech Warrior to be more sim than Mech Assault was and like mechs with hands. For pete sake the last mech to come out had a Mohawk. It looks like instead of shooting me, he is going to pull a guitar out and play heavy metal rock.

There are respectable Inner Sphere mechs out there that I'm praying they come out with. I'm happy to hear about the catapult, and I really hope they put the uziel in as well. There are acceptable mechs on the Inner Sphere side, but whenever a mech with hands comes out everyone just gets all excited about it, and my hope for a good mech warrior game drops a little more.

Don't get me wrong I still plan on playing it, specially when Clan mechs become available, but until then its just a little depressing. Heres to hoping for less 50 ton jokes and more 50 ton machines of war.

the guitar line is hilarious. but to be fair, the redesigns are excellent considering the source material.

[Harlequin Wolf]

I always prefered the classic Inner Sphere designs like the Wolverine, Centurion, Hunchback and the Shadowhawk. They always had a heavier more solid look about them. Many of the later clan era mechs looked like they were made from tinfoil.

[Dranon]

Didn't battletech come out before Gundam? if so how do battletech mech's look like gundam, isn't it the other way around?

[Fragtastic]

I'd like to put in my 2cents with a story.

One of my friends was playing a game of BT tabletop with a 100 ton mech using TSM. He was heavily overheated and damaged and facing a fresh enemy assault. He happend to be standing on a hex where a 20 ton scout had gone down.

Some of you can probably guess where this is going...

Because his mech had hands he could, within the rules, use a club up to a certain weight. With TSM's activated that little 20 ton mech was well within that weight limit.

Skip to the end: enemy mech was minus one cockpit.

[Strum Wealh]

Dranon, on 15 March 2012 - 04:20 AM, said:

Didn't battletech come out before Gundam? if so how do battletech mech's look like gundam, isn't it the other way around?

The original Mobile Suit Gundam series first aired on April 07, 1979.
The original Super Dimension Fortress Macross series aired on October 03, 1982.

BattleTech (originally released as BattleDroids) was released in 1984.

Part of the issue is that the artwork representing original BattleMechs was licensed from the Japanese creators of Macross and several other series, but some legal issues with the US license-holders for some of those series (most notably Macross) resulted in the inability to use said artwork for BattleTech-related works in the US.
As a result, many of those original BattleMechs (including the Marauder, Warhammer, Longbow, Rifleman, Wasp, Phoenix Hawk, and so on) could be described verbally/in-text but could not be visually depicted, hence their being known as "the Unseen".

Ironically, the artwork for these original BattleMechs was changed for the Japanese version of BattleTech, with the visual designs in the Japanese version being crafted by Studio Nue - the same company that created Macross and the designs that eventually became the Unseen.

[Sinitron]

Some of those Japanese designs aren't half-bad, wacky proportions aside. It's funny how the Dragon and Hunchback, as examples, look nothing like FD's redesigns.

Edited by Sinitron, 15 March 2012 - 05:08 AM.

[Polymorphyne]

How many times do I have to point out all of the obvious reasons that hands are useful on mechs and belong in battletech? How many times?

[Harlequin Wolf]

Longsword, on 15 March 2012 - 05:11 AM, said:

How many times do I have to point out all of the obvious reasons that hands are useful on mechs and belong in battletech? How many times?

Once more for posterity?

Edited by Harlequin Wolf, 15 March 2012 - 05:16 AM.

[VF5SS]

Strum Wealh, on 15 March 2012 - 04:52 AM, said:

Part of the issue is that the artwork representing original BattleMechs was licensed from the Japanese creators of Macross and several other series,

This is a common misconception but there is no evidence that FASA or the company they were working with acquired any license from Tatsunoko Productions (international merchandising rights holders to Macross). All Robotech products and even http://twitpic.com/8uktr6 Transformers Jetfire were clearly marked as having involved Tatsunoko Productions. To my knowledge, no Battletech product has ever had any visible indication of being authorized by Tatsunoko Productions or Sunrise Studios in the case of the Dougram and Crusher Joe. Almost every licensed Japanese product will carry some indication of who is the rights holder. This is often done with a small sticker with the name of those in charge.

It is mostly likely that FASA merely acquired a supply of model kits from Nichimo (makers of small Macross kits) and Nitto (makers of small Dougram kits) as both the kits and their box art was used in the original Battledroids release. Neither Nichimo nor Nitto had any control over the Macross and Dougram with regards to granting licenses to merchandise the designs used. They could simply sell the model kits to distributors.

[Sinitron]

Hands are good for grabbing your enemy by the balls.

[Paladin1]

Garth Erlam, on 14 March 2012 - 01:39 PM, said:

Can t-rex's stand up after they fall? They have 'chicken legs' and no arms to speak of.

The fact that they're all dead seems to indicate that no, they can't get back up after they fall.