12 replies to this topic

[Belial]

Hey,

Just a quick, and possibly stupid question. Does a 'Mech's chassis design influence damage transfer in any way at all? That is, does a Jenner's arm damage transfer to its legs instead, or does destruction of a leg also rip off the arm on such 'Mechs? The idea occurred to me when I blew off a Blackhawk's leg in MW3 and the arm went spiralling off as well. I don't think it mattered in tabletop, but it's been years since I played so I want to be sure. I may make a house rule where chassis design does affect damage transfer.

[Pvt Dancer]

From the Mechlab post made by the Devs, I can say that damage transfer works just like in Table Top... Right Arm goes to Right Torso, Right leg goes to Right Torso. What you probably saw was the Side Torso slot getting destroyed to cause both the arm and the leg to blow off at the same time.

[Mechwarrior Buddah]

Where online can I find where it says why the transfer happens? Having an argument about TT and it being "magically transferred damage"

[Lyran Scout]

hmmmmm I guess it is a weird question that I unfortunately can not answer

[Sychodemus]

TT: The transfer is the same regardless of chassis.

Reason: Just a simple mechanic so that every hit applies its damage in full.

Justification(s) from the original developers - It represents that attacks are directed/corrected toward the center mass.

House Rule - One method that I've used over the years is one based on margin of success (MOS). If the MOS is 0 then no damage is transferred inward. A MOS of 1 will allow a single inward transfer and a MOS of 2+ may transfer twice. Ammunition Explosions work as normal.

[Sidney]

Belial, on 09 April 2012 - 08:40 PM, said:

Hey,

Just a quick, and possibly stupid question. Does a 'Mech's chassis design influence damage transfer in any way at all? That is, does a Jenner's arm damage transfer to its legs instead, or does destruction of a leg also rip off the arm on such 'Mechs? The idea occurred to me when I blew off a Blackhawk's leg in MW3 and the arm went spiralling off as well. I don't think it mattered in tabletop, but it's been years since I played so I want to be sure. I may make a house rule where chassis design does affect damage transfer.

No, transfer is always treated the same. The arm comes if the side torso is destroyed first, but the leg remains intact like every other 'mech.

On the plus side, the Nova can torso twist.

There are optional 'quirks' or their own home rules to make a design match the artwork- for example, removing a 'mech's ability to torso twist.

[Beazle]

In TT shooting a leg can make an arm fly off.

If you destroy the leg with enough damage left over, it will transfer to the side torso. If the side torso is destroyed by this damage, the arm will fall off. I have no idea how close to TT the damage transfer was in any of the video games.

Why does damage transfer this way (is it magical?)? For the same reason that many things that aren't perfect make their way into TT games. Anything more realistic would be too hopelessly complicated to be playable.

[SakuranoSenshi]

As hinted at above, it works this way to simulate the fact that if you manage to deal more damage to a location than there is actually left of that location, you must have also hit a neighbouring location and dealt damage there. It might help to think more of it being applying the damage that you also did to the neighbouring location in addition to the primary location (which was destroyed in this salvo) rather than being transferred, as such.

It's an elegant mechanic that avoids having to do complex (and silly) rules for precise damage and also simulate the fact that in tabletop games the damage is dealt over a period of time, so presumably the mechwarrior walked his shot(s) in as the leg/arm/side gave way, rather than shooting impotently at the air because that was where he started to shoot.

[JFlash49]

at first i thought the damage transferring was utterly stupid but when i think about the insides of the mech, it made some sense...but still weird. if a leg gets blown off the inner components would first get pulled while the leg is flying off, say the side is damaged, that isnt good for the arm.. hence "the damage transfers", and what state the arm is in can result in it just floating to the ground but hey thats my opinion, i dont know if that explains it but go figure..

[Sidney]

JFlash49, on 03 August 2012 - 08:21 PM, said:

at first i thought the damage transferring was utterly stupid but when i think about the insides of the mech, it made some sense...but still weird. if a leg gets blown off the inner components would first get pulled while the leg is flying off, say the side is damaged, that isnt good for the arm.. hence "the damage transfers", and what state the arm is in can result in it just floating to the ground but hey thats my opinion, i dont know if that explains it but go figure..

As Sak said, it represents you hit 'something'.

Consider you're playing one of the Mechwarrior games. You blow the arm off a Catapult- you aim, shoot, and hit it again- did you aim at the missing arm? Of course not, you aimed for the body. In TT, that's an example of damage transfer.

With the TT you roll dice to see if you hit or you miss. If you get a hit, you roll to see where you hit him- it's random. In the case where a Catapult is missing an arm, rolling that arm transfers to the side torso because, logically:

a ) You rolled a hit. You didn't miss. You dealt damage.
b ) If the arm is missing, the pilot didn't aim and shoot at a missing arm. He would have aimed and hit the next closest location- the side torso.

That's why all damage moves closer to the 'core' of a 'mech. If a 'mech is missing a side torso, any damage that hits the missing leg goes to the missing torso, which then goes to the centre torso. It moves inward.

What Sak said about it making sense that left over damage means you did more damage than you actually did to the arm so it has to go somewhere is the main arguement behind the rare occaision you get transfering critical hits too. It's the same premise- if you destroyed something and there's nothing left in the arm to destroy, then you must have destroyed something in the closest location- the side torso.

Edited by Sidney, 03 August 2012 - 08:40 PM.

[SakuranoSenshi]

Good point, I forgot about later shots that 'hit' a location which no longer exists.

[DJPhased]

From what I saw, if you damage the arm, it stay on the arm until you burn it off. An exception is if you blow out the left or right torso, you take off the respective limb too. Makes sense. Obviously if you smack the center, you will damage the center. Although weapons like the gauss pass through, causing havoc across the slug's path.

[Belial]

Oh wow guys,I had forgotten this topic even existed. Thread necro ftw!

Thanks for the input; actually I had finally gotten MegaMek since starting this thread and that confirmed it for me. My brother and I will probably start a campaign soon and find a way to make chassis design matter somewhat.