Jump to content

Question about upgrade tab in mechlab.


6 replies to this topic

#1 Duke William

    Member

  • PipPip
  • 47 posts
  • LocationIS

Posted 02 November 2012 - 02:27 PM

Ok, I grasp most of the concepts of this game pretty well. But, I'm having trouble getting my head around the various upgrades for your mech. If there is a guide for this, I'd be grateful for being pointed towards it. Otherwise, could anyone explain how it works? Will I lose slots? Tonnage? Or hard points when I put in one of the upgrades?

#2 nungunz

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Urban Commando
  • 612 posts

Posted 02 November 2012 - 08:05 PM

Most of the upgrades trade out critical slots for weight savings.

Endo-Steel gives you 5% of your mech's total weigh (IE, a Jenner will get 1.75 tons and an Atlas 5 tons of extra space). However it takes up 14 critical slots. This upgrade is FAR superior to ferro-fibrous.

Ferro-Fibrous makes your armor weigh 12% less. So a fully armored Atlas (600 points of armor) will save 2.25 tons. This also costs 14 critical slots. Considering that this is very expensive (both in initial cost and repair costs) and saves you less weight, Endo-Steel is always the better option.

Double Heat Sinks swap all of your regular heat sinks (including the ones in the engine) for double heat sinks (DHS). DHS dissipate heat twice as fast as standard heat sinks and weigh the same, however they take up 3 critical slots each.

DHS is currently bugged in that the engine ones still dissipate .1 heat per second, however the next patch will fix this problem and bring them up to .2 heat per second.

#3 Stingz

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 1,159 posts
  • Location*SIGNAL LOST*

Posted 02 November 2012 - 08:41 PM

View Postnungunz, on 02 November 2012 - 08:05 PM, said:

...the next patch will fix this problem and bring them up to .2 heat per second.


If the community gets what they want, it will be x2 effectiveness.
PGI is planning on 140% effectiveness for DHS, for now.

Edited by Stingz, 02 November 2012 - 08:42 PM.


#4 nungunz

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Urban Commando
  • 612 posts

Posted 02 November 2012 - 08:46 PM

View PostStingz, on 02 November 2012 - 08:41 PM, said:


If the community gets what they want, it will be x2 effectiveness.
PGI is planning on 140% effectiveness for DHS, for now.


Yeah, I just saw this.....not happy about it at all.

#5 Duke William

    Member

  • PipPip
  • 47 posts
  • LocationIS

Posted 03 November 2012 - 10:41 AM

Hmm ok. So basically I will not be able to carry as many weapons in certain areas of my mech. As in for an atlas the ballistic slot might have less rom if I switch to endo-steel.

#6 Kharonte

    Member

  • PipPip
  • The Altruist
  • The Altruist
  • 38 posts

Posted 08 November 2012 - 11:51 AM

Maybe I can have some help about the same staff.

I have a real problem with upgrades and slots...

1) How do I know the number of free slots I have?
2) What are you talking about when you reffer to critical slots?
3) I can change weapons, but don't know what are the rules...

Pleases, any vet who could help me. :P

#7 NthDegree256

    Member

  • Pip
  • Veteran Founder
  • Veteran Founder
  • 10 posts

Posted 08 November 2012 - 12:18 PM

"Critical slots" are the empty or filled slots you drag items into in the mech bay. So, for example, a Medium Laser takes up 1 slot, and a Large Laser takes up 2 slots.

I don't know if the number of free slots is listed anywhere in the mech bay, but you can count up how many empty ones you have by looking all of your components and adding up all of the Empty slots. If it's more than 14, you're in the clear. The endo-steel or ferro-fibrous slots will automatically take up whatever free slots they can find lying around, and (assuming you have free space elsewhere on your mech), you can drag components on top of them and they'll automatically reposition to somewhere else.

From my own experience so far, if you stick either Endo-Steel or Ferro-Fibrous onto your mech, there will usually be enough empty slots lying around to have no problems, but if you do both, you might find yourself short on room.

As for changing weapons, you need to have:
1. Enough free tonnage
2. Enough critical slots
3. A free hardpoint of the right type (this is listed above the slots, e.g. "1/2 MISSILE" means you have one missile launcher equipped in that area of the mech, and can equip one more.) Note: The mech lab will only list weapons that your selected section has hardpoints for.
4. Enough room for ammo, too, if it's an ammo-using weapon.

-

And regarding DHS, the devs have been repeatedly very clear on this point - when they tried 2x effiency internally, it was trivial to make heat-neutral laserboats and nothing else was worth building. If you're one of those people that thinks the devs tend to overlook balance issues before issuing a public patch, just stop for a moment and consider how bad the balance with 2x must have been that it didn't even see the light of day. :P

Edited by NthDegree256, 08 November 2012 - 01:09 PM.






1 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users