28 replies to this topic

[Yeach]

This may be moved to the proper forum but
How come when constructing the Mech in BattleTech do legs only have 6 critical space?
I can understand for the head for only having 6 critical space.

If critical space represents the size of the mech part and you reference compared to a human person; then legs should be the second largest part of the mech after the torso.
Also it should be noted that legs tend to have the second most armor (again second only to the torso).
It should have 12 critical spots like every other mech part (except for head).

Edited by Yeach, 16 April 2012 - 05:55 PM.

[EDMW CSN]

Because keeping a mech standing, running, zig zagging around is strenuous work. Hence the lack of criticals as those spaces were used up for the machinery to balance the mech.

[jack stryker]

Because the legs hold up the entire battlemech, and to do so need more space for actuators and myomer muscle? What are you planning on putting in the legs, a couple AC20s?

[5h1F7]

Im definetly no expert at this game, but im pretty sure half the time your legs aren't facing your enemy.

[JadeTimberwolf]

Your legs are always facing the enemy unless you are behind blocking terrain.

Basically [EDMW]CSN and jack stryker have it. The lack of crit slots is due to the amount of space that the mandatory componts take up it is just easier to have a single selection of crit slots of which 2 are open for use.

[Yeach]

JadeTimberwolf, on 16 April 2012 - 06:30 PM, said:

Your legs are always facing the enemy unless you are behind blocking terrain.

Basically [EDMW]CSN and jack stryker have it. The lack of crit slots is due to the amount of space that the mandatory componts take up it is just easier to have a single selection of crit slots of which 2 are open for use.

If they are taken by that space then they SHOULD be in the critical slot system along with leg/hip actuators and feet.

[EDMW CSN]

Yeach, on 16 April 2012 - 06:41 PM, said:

If they are taken by that space then they SHOULD be in the critical slot system along with leg/hip actuators and feet.

And why would that be necessary ?
I for one would not love to keep rolling dice to calculate leg criticals with that many actuators inside (arms only have 4).

[JadeTimberwolf]

not when those components are a part of the hip, upper leg/lower leg/foot actuators think of it this way, if they did the 12 crit slots on the leg like they did every location except the head your upper legs would be filled with 3 slots for hip and 3or2 for upper leg actuator and the lower legs would be 3or2 for either the lower leg or foot actuators and the other would have 3 if you leave 1 free crit in the upper half, if no free crits in the upper half then both lower leg and foot would be 2. Would you rather have that complexity or just have the simplicity that they did with 6 crits to the leg?

[Yeach]

[EDMW]CSN, on 16 April 2012 - 06:52 PM, said:

And why would that be necessary ?
I for one would not love to keep rolling dice to calculate leg criticals with that many actuators inside (arms only have 4).

You are already rolling that much for the torso and arms? What is the matter of one more dice roll?

[EDMW CSN]

Yeach, on 16 April 2012 - 06:56 PM, said:

You are already rolling that much for the torso and arms? What is the matter of one more dice roll?

Time. Any CBT games that managed to reach 12 rounds is starting to get too dragged out. I am not going to spend more time throwing dice all the time to figure out leg hits then critical hits to the hip, upper leg, lower leg and feet actuators.
Then the critical hit effects which all probably look the same to me, you gonna fall down anyway.

Just a personal opinion of mine.

And since this is more in line with CBT rather than MW (In MW when your leg gets into internal, you slow down and eventually kaboom), this would be much better taken to Catalyst and Herb instead.

Edited by [EDMW]CSN, 16 April 2012 - 07:06 PM.

[FireStorm2]

It would appear that the original game designers may have wanted to suggest that the legs have less space in them for equipment other than the legs, structure, etc. The only thing that seems odd about that to me is that, given a critical hit, there is effectively twice as great a chance of hitting something added to that location (assuming all other critical locations are filled) as there would be anywhere else other than the head. This doesn't appear logical to me as the item mounted on the leg does not somehow double in size simply by virtue of being mounted on the leg. It only makes sense for the head because the head is supposed to be physically significantly smaller and as a result has a significantly smaller chance to be hit to begin with, and a larger percentage of its volume would be taken up by a given piece of equipment.

I suppose this could be fluffed away by suggesting that the legs do not have enough room for weapons, heat sinks, etc to be mounted -internally-, though, which exposes them to twice the risk of critical damage.

Edited by Fire§torm, 16 April 2012 - 07:11 PM.

[Yeach]

[EDMW]CSN, on 16 April 2012 - 07:04 PM, said:

Time. Any CBT games that managed to reach 12 rounds is starting to get too dragged out. I am not going to spend more time throwing dice all the time to figure out leg hits then critical hits to the hip, upper leg, lower leg and feet actuators.

Just a personal opinion of mine.

And since this is more in line with CBT rather than MW (In MW when your leg gets into internal, you slow down and eventually kaboom), this would be much better taken to Catalyst and Herb instead.

I would figure you should be able to mount more heatsinks than just two per leg IMO.

[EDMW CSN]

Yeach, on 16 April 2012 - 07:06 PM, said:

I would figure you should be able to mount more heatsinks than just two per leg IMO.

So people can boat more Awesome, Warhammers, Rifleman and Marauders in maps with rivers ?
And no this is a bad idea, it could allow Clan Omnis squeeze up to 2 DHS into PER leg and pretty much negate a lot of heat from their Clantech weapons.

Edited by [EDMW]CSN, 16 April 2012 - 07:13 PM.

[Exploding Boy]

It is because the rest of the space actually contains Kearny-fuchida drives powered by magic kittens riding dwarf unicorns across a field of trampolines while Reign in Blood plays in the background. That's how mechs work dude. Duh.

Actually the extra space is full of balled up myomer fibers shoved into a ferro-jock strap to impress chicks.

[Gigaton]

Yeach, on 16 April 2012 - 06:56 PM, said:

You are already rolling that much for the torso and arms? What is the matter of one more dice roll?

With 3025 tech, you can actually get away with 1D6 for everything except central torso on most 'mechs.

[Kudzu]

Yeach, on 16 April 2012 - 06:41 PM, said:

If they are taken by that space then they SHOULD be in the critical slot system along with leg/hip actuators and feet.

Or you can just think of those actuators as being twice as bulky (and they would need to be considering all the stresses they are put through under normal conditions, much less combat maneuvers) but only written once to save space/ink. You get the exact same effect.

[syngyne]

Because swinging a pair of arms bristling with gun barrels is a lot cooler than lifting your leg up and firing a gun out of your heel (i.e. this is BattleTech, not Bayonetta).

Edit: I really do think it's a case of the game designers thinking "Who's going to put weapons in the legs? All anyone's ever going to put there is jump jets."

Edited by syngyne, 16 April 2012 - 07:44 PM.

[Yeach]

Well you could restrict legs from not being able to mount much weaponry by devoting more criticals to actuators like the center torso.
Or make the criticals only be able to take equipment.
Better yet make aiming difficult for weapons in the legs while moving.

[Thorolf Kylesson]

JadeTimberwolf, on 16 April 2012 - 06:30 PM, said:

Your legs are always facing the enemy unless you are behind blocking terrain.

Basically [EDMW]CSN and jack stryker have it. The lack of crit slots is due to the amount of space that the mandatory componts take up it is just easier to have a single selection of crit slots of which 2 are open for use.

Unless you are trying to flank you enemy or your walking parallel to them.

[UncleKulikov]

Because the legs are responsible for carrying the mech as well as moving it. There won't be room for much else. It would be like storing extra equipment on your car axles.