212 replies to this topic

[Roh]

The Urbanmech is a staple of the battletech universe. It would be a sad sad thing if they left it out. It's not about how powerful it is. It's about the fact that it should just be there.

Thor77, on 12 February 2012 - 12:54 PM, said:

You've pretty much answered your own question right there. There's nothing secret to it that you're missing. I guess the only other thing to add is that it is actually noted in the battletech lore that the Urbie is regarded as worthless. "consigned to garrison duty" was the phrase I believe was used in the technical readout.

It was not useless. It's a mech. A very cheap mech. Being cheap doesn't stop it's AC10 from putting holes in things. And if you can get one.. the AC20... Thats a nice punch for a very low price.

[Kargush]

FrOdO, on 12 February 2012 - 10:44 AM, said:

The R2-D2 of mechs

And thus you discovered why I like it.

That, and the fact that it's an underdog against pretty much anything.

[Ghost]

flyingdebris, on 30 January 2012 - 07:37 PM, said:

For those that do not understand the reason people like the urbie, i will paraphrase an argument i have heard before and i direct you to exhibit A.


This is "the Klobb" there are many like it, but this one is yours and it like the rest are all horrible.


The only real reason to use it, is to prove to yourself and to an opponent that you can beat them to a pulp with both arms and legs tied behind your back, a blindfold on, and set on fire

a fighting game equivalent would be exhibit B


that is the charm of the urbanmech. its a deathwish, but if you can suceed in spite of it, your glory is assured and immortal

thats all i have to say on that

[Demi-Precentor Konev]

[Cur]

was looking thru a bunch of MW vid's on youtube the other night and my other half happend to glance over for a peek.

He saw a bit of Urbanmech.

Insert 10mins of going "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT" "its a trashcan?" "angry hobo of the mech world?" and all sorts of weird things.

Something to do with the fact you look at it and expect to see "Sprite" or "Coke" written up the side

[DRevD]

Its an easy way to troll the devs.

[Kenyon Burguess]

gotta respect the urbie.
not only is it a huge gun on a very short frame. it looks like many industrial structures, urban buildings, and when painted red and stands next to a barn its a silo.

[Cyric30]

The Urbie is the Battletech equivalent of a Hobo with a Shotgun you can laugh all you want till he puts a slug through somones head, then its Hilarious

[Graefin Zeppelin]

I guess everybody stoped fliping pages when spoting the picture of the Urban mech for the first time.
It also answered another important question, egg was first or is there a mech called chicken huh?

Edited by Graefin Zeppelin, 12 February 2012 - 02:56 PM.

[Thor77]

Roh, on 12 February 2012 - 01:11 PM, said:

The Urbanmech is a staple of the battletech universe. It would be a sad sad thing if they left it out. It's not about how powerful it is. It's about the fact that it should just be there.



It was not useless. It's a mech. A very cheap mech. Being cheap doesn't stop it's AC10 from putting holes in things. And if you can get one.. the AC20... Thats a nice punch for a very low price.

Never said it shouldn't be included. But the actual canon of the universe puts the Urbanmech at the bottom of the totem pole, and gameplay has tended to prove that assessment correct. A light mech without speed is DOA on most battlefields. So it gets a cult following as a loveable loser. If you can play one and do well with it, more power to ya. And by all means let's have it in the game, most of us would be sad if it were left out.

[Razed]

UrbanMechs are like crack, cheap to make, packs a punch, does no good for society, but some people can't get enough.

[NotNewHere]

People like them because its the ultimate urban stealth mech; you just stop moving, point your guns down and suddenly your not there. Also people like any medium you can fit a large ballistic weapon on.

[Makaveli]

Omigir, on 12 February 2012 - 10:47 AM, said:

There is no explanation or excuse. Urbanmechs are the My little Pony's reboot series of mechwarrior. No one can explain why they are so popular, and no one really cares.

Wow, nuked the damn thread right out of the box. Let me buy you a drink sir.

[Mechko]

BEHOLD the power of the Purbin Mechony!!!!

[Trireaper]

oh dear god
what have we done

[Trogusaur]

This will explain everything.

http://www.google.co...Q9QEwBg&dur=433

[The Cheese]

Omigir, on 12 February 2012 - 12:14 PM, said:

You mean its driven by a blond anorexic crack ***** who fails to show up to her court dates?



I think this makes my case about the urbanmech/Herbie the love bug...

Fully Loaded. Get it? Cause she's off her face most of the time?

Thanks mate, picked up my morning.

[Gauss]

I think I can answer some of this.

Light mechs are all considered to be Fast, Lightly Armed, and Lightly Armored.

The Urbanmech is Slow (32kph.. The Banshee moves faster). Lightly Armored, but heavily armed for it's weight class.

Now, Back when I was playing MPBT:Solaris, we were trying to find ways to keep ourselves occupied during drops. Everyone had their favorite mechs that were the most effective. To make things interesting, people started coming up with different game modes.

Race to Lights, for example. Everyone starts in an assault mech. If you were the last person standing, you got to move down to the next weight class (Heavy). If you managed to reach lights, you were declared awesome for the next 3 minutes, or however long it took to convince people to do it again.

Then some of us started the game of dropping in the worst possible mech you could find. Most took the Locust that if you sneezed on it, it lost both it's legs and all it's armor. Some took the Urbie, because it was too slow to be useful in a regular match.

For whatever reason, everyone decided to start Urbie fights. 8 man FFAs all fighting for the glory of popping out of no where to one shot their opponent. So much good times were had, that it started to really pick up a following. Include the fact that it looked like a trash can, or a stylized version of R2-D2 to a bunch of Geeks (Yes, I am a Geek, and proud of it), and you have our meme.

In summary, I guess you could say that one of the reason everyone has fond memories of the Urbie is because when it was used in the MPBT days, it was strictly for fun. It wasn't used for winning SSLs or Wars. Since it was used almost exclusively for fun, almost everyone has nothing but fond memories of it.

Those who didn't play MPBT probably spent time with people who did, learned how much fun they were, maybe even tried tabletop versions of Urbie FFAs, and developed their own fond memories.

And it has been on the Internet since.

[Skylarr]

Jumbik, on 12 February 2012 - 12:03 PM, said:

what was going through the head of the "designer" when this Mech came to life ... you see where I'm going? So is there something extremely well thought behind the idea OR was it like ... hmm what will I draw now, the eyes are rounding around the room and then when he looks below the desk ... hmm oh well fu.. this!

"The UrbanMech is designed for just what its name suggests, urban combat and defense. This is achieved by making the UrbanMech the slowest light BATTLEMECH in existence with a top speed of only 32.4 km/h and a jumping distance of only sixty meters. On an open battlefield, speeds that slow would be a death warrant for any light 'Mech, but in the streets and alleys of an urban labyrinth, even with its slow speed, the UrbanMech is free to fight and fade back into the city as it sees fit."

You need to remember that the game developers were think " In an actual BATTLETECH Universe what kind mechs would be presented to the militaries Defense Procurement and Acquisistion Divisions."

Now think about some used car type salesman pitching his companies idea for a cheap city fighting mech that can set up in any building that is at least 2 floors high and ambush incoming enemy mechs.

[Denvian]

Regardless of if you love it or hate it.... I will still be quite disappointed if it is one of the starting mechs because it means they took the time to put it in game instead of a useful mech. Don't get me wrong I want it to be in the game... Just don't see why you need to put a lemon of a mech in the game right away.