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[Guide] Online Mech Builder and Newbie Guide


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#1 Elirion Dawn

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Posted 31 October 2012 - 02:59 AM

Hi!

the following document contains informations vital to EVERY MechWarrior. They cover the basics of Mech Construction, Heat Buildup and the diffrences between MWO and TT Rules.

I found this online TableTop Mech Builder some while ago and it's really nice and helpful because the construction rules for mechs are the same as in MWO

This external Editor can really help saving loads of money, when you realize that you just changed to Ferrofibrous Armor and cant use it because you miss one or two slots...

If you want to design your own setup, go to Remlab.
you have to set up the some initial stuff to create mech layouts that are possible in MWO:
  • set Edition to 3rd
  • set Era to 3050
  • select your Mech weight
  • look at your mech in the MWO Mech Bay and check if the Mech is missing Hand or arm Actuators. Set the corresponding values in the Editor
  • select Mech Speed (MWO allows here to fit reactors which would give fractional MP, each MP in TT Rules is equivalent to ~10.7 kph in my opinion the only real flaw of this tool.)
  • be aware that this Editor does not take into account that MWO uses a Hardpoint System not used in the TT Rules, therefore you must keep in mind where your mech has the hardpoints and maximum possible crit slots (you just cant fit an LRM 20 to a dragon, cos it's Missile slots are in the Center Torso where only 2 slots ar available)
  • when you get to setting up your weapon layout, you will notice a lot of stats that are just plain missing in MWO - Weapon Ranges, Heat Buildup and so on, this can be nicely viewed here
Special notes:


Be aware that not every stuff available in this era is already ingame (Artemis IV FCS, MASC, Triple Strenght Myomers, all Clan Stuff...) and other stuff is not yet working (Guardian ECM, Beagle Active Probe, Double Heatsinks)
Engine weight in MWO is diffrent to standard BT TT rules because it has the cockpit and gyro weight already added but on engines smaller than 250 the weight of the Heatsinks not integrated in the engine is subtracted. in the end, there should be no diffrence when you factor in this numbers!

Armor Values in MWO are doubled compared to TT Rules

Weapon Ranges: A single Hex in TT Rules is 30m, so a weapon with 20 range in TT has a effective range of 600m in MWO (you can shot further in MWO, but your damage will suffer from this and you need to aim with some weapons cos of ballistic projectile travel (autocannons!)

Heat Buildup:

Battletech TT Rules assume that each weapon is fired once every 10 seconds for calculating Heat Buildup, MWO allows to fire weapons considerably faster, so having more heatsinks than you would need in Tabletop allows you more Volleys in short time to be fired. You will notice this when you put in an AC/2 which causes 1 point of Heat per Shot but has a cycle time between shots below one second, this thing really blasts your heatscale through the roof if you're not careful!

Moving causes Heat buildup, if you move up to 2/3 of your max speed this should be around 1pt heat per 10 seconds, at higher speeds it's 2 pt. heat/sec. but this is just according to TT rules and might be a bit diffrent in MWO... for basic calculations its still ok to use the TT Values.

Your Heat Scale in your Mechs Cockpit is 30 + number of Heatsinks (or twice the number of Double Heatsinks, when the become fixed) so, if you fire a weapon with 10 points heat Buildup and 10 heatsinks in your mech your heat scale instantly gets up by 25% and then dissipates with a speed depending on the number of heatsinks and on the environmental effects.

Environmental Effects:
  • Water allows you to cool down quicker if you have Heatsinks in your legs (not Possible with DHS!)
  • Hot or Cold Environment lets your heat dissipate slower or faster
Example: If you are standing in the Crater Area of Caustic Valley and have only 10 HS on your mech your heat will dissipate only VERY SLOW because it just plain lowers your dissipation rate by an amount equivalent of 5-6 Heatsinks. When you are moving at top speed then you only have the rough equivalent of 2-3 heatsinks left to lower your heat buildup!

For detailed Infos on Mech Hardpoint Layout and MWO Weapon stats - rof/dps/ammo per ton and so forth look here and thanks to Ohm for the nice compilation.


Have Fun building and running your personalized Mech!

Edited by Elirion Dawn, 31 October 2012 - 05:45 AM.


#2 Tuku

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Posted 31 October 2012 - 05:22 AM

This game is based heavily on the TT game but I dont think that its exact at all! How dose this help me ?

#3 Elirion Dawn

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Posted 31 October 2012 - 05:37 AM

if you cant see how it helps designing your mechs then i'm sorry for you... perhaps you should just try out some stuff like: fit 1 PPC, 10 heatsinks, remain standing on a heat neutral map and see how your heat goes up when you fire one shot... as mentioned above it should be around 25% then

the mech builder gives aid in fitting custom setups with DHS/ES/FF without the need to buy/sell the stuff everytime in the (not very userfriendly) mechlab when you want to change anything cos your setup didn't work out as expected

also you get statistics for your weapons and can compare them at least regarding range and heat buildup per shot. that MWO has other Rate of Fire than the tabletop is another thing, but i already mentioned this in the guide above... perhaps you should have read the Heat Section above, which also gives some examples about environment and heat dissipation a not TT proficient player could need to know.





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