63 replies to this topic

[Major Tom]

I have high hopes for visual representation in the game. The fact that the devs opted for a hardpoint system and expanded it beyond what has been seen in Mechwarrior. For example:
The Hunchback 4G has two laser/energy hardpoints on each arm, so devs know to include artwork for two lasers (which could be as minute as a second lense on the forearm bracket, or (hopefully) a second forarm bracket to clearly indicate the presense of both hardpoints being used).

The only concern I have is the graphical representation of various autocannon sizes (as mentioned replacing an AC20 with a MG should radically alter the appearance of a hunchback), and missiles. The missile thing has me really concern since the Atlas has set the precident that the number of missile tubes has no relation to the ammount of missiles that fire. That inconspicious 4 missile port on the Commano's arm could be an SRM4 or maybe it is an LRM20 or MRM40 that sprays missiles like a fire hose.

[Bryan Ekman]

Major Tom, on 08 May 2012 - 09:18 AM, said:

I have high hopes for visual representation in the game. The fact that the devs opted for a hardpoint system and expanded it beyond what has been seen in Mechwarrior. For example:
The Hunchback 4G has two laser/energy hardpoints on each arm, so devs know to include artwork for two lasers (which could be as minute as a second lense on the forearm bracket, or (hopefully) a second forarm bracket to clearly indicate the presense of both hardpoints being used).

The only concern I have is the graphical representation of various autocannon sizes (as mentioned replacing an AC20 with a MG should radically alter the appearance of a hunchback), and missiles. The missile thing has me really concern since the Atlas has set the precident that the number of missile tubes has no relation to the ammount of missiles that fire. That inconspicious 4 missile port on the Commano's arm could be an SRM4 or maybe it is an LRM20 or MRM40 that sprays missiles like a fire hose.

Missiles and lasers work the same way. We put caps on the tubes. ACS/MG are annoying.

[Samuel Maxwell]

woodstock, on 08 May 2012 - 03:44 AM, said:

I would be willing to have less mechs on release if it meant they were done to this high standard (i.e. - showing all mounted weapons)

How's this for high standards: Go back to playing MechWarrior 4, or play another game.

The terrain is enough for me to claim that the quality of this game is pretty high. If you want full-blown realism, there's always reality. I'm not saying that we can't criticize, but some of these comments are over-the-top.

[Dnarvel]

Some things to think of guys.
1.) Game is still Pre-Beta, as the devs have stated not everything has been fully optimized or implemented yet. (Several threads about this alread)

2.) On the Hunchback, the AC20 that was replaced by an AC5 and MG are inside the big HOUSING on the shoulder. Therefore, if there are different guns inside the same housing they won't look different. Think about a 300lb person inside a box with a hole and replacing him with a 2 150lb people inside the same box... do you see a difference on the outside?

3.) I can understand if there isn't a fully developed weapon image for each different weapon, and honestly that is just an aesthetic to me, I would prefer a smooth gameplay and PvP than "oh.. I have a Lagre Laser how come the lens isn't "insert colour here"".

[Kasiagora]

So. Anyone else interested in that Gauss Rifle in the mechlab? I'm assuming it was in red because of it weighing 1 more ton than the AC/20 that he removed. I'm fully expecting to see a common variant being a long range sniper with that Gauss Rifle in there. Maybe strip off a little armor due to using long range and not allowing yourself to get into a close-in slugfest like the mech was originally designed for, and an upgraded engine to make sure they don't catch you. Like a heavier Hollander.

P.S. That guy made the most pointless looking custom mech I've ever seen.

Edited by Kasiagora, 08 May 2012 - 10:01 AM.

[mekredd]

I have witnessed many forumusers (using this from now on ) disparaging Paul's Forumuserkiller. These people don't seem to realise the (obvious, to my eyes) intended purpose of this refit, and are simply dismissing it out of hand because "NO, BIGGER GUN BETTER RARARAH."

AC/5s are great at killing light mechs at range. Always have been. In fact, the Forumuserkiller seems optimally designed for such a task; you soften them up as they move in, then if they try to flank you or your team your additional laser weapons rake over their battered armor looking for crits.

[UncleKulikov]

It's a work in progress. The devs have stated that appearance will change, though if the weapon is in a housing (like the hunchback AC20) then the housing won't change.

[Woodstock]

stormeris, on 08 May 2012 - 06:45 AM, said:

I personally hope for only slightly different weapons, nothing radical:
Maybe small laser would have slightly narrower barrel and a smaller lense, than mediums, and medium lasers smaller than large ones.
Maybe LRM 10 would differenciate from LRM 15, or 20 whatever, by the amount of holes for rockets or something
AC2/5/10/20 would be different maybe only barrel size or something,
Only gauss rifles and PPCs would drastically change the look or something

I have even lower expectations. In my head I grouped weapons as follows:

So all the large lasers and ppc's look almost identical... and so do the med and small lasers. (Add 2 med lasers + 1 small = all the same)

Missiles are easy ... same pods for SRM's and LRM's just change the number of holes.

Proj have 3 sizes ... Gauss+AC/20 - AC/10/5/2 - mg

Thats not a huge amount of variation.

Thanks for the reply Mr DEVman

I forgive you for never answering any of my Q&A questions

[Morashtak]

Less eye candy, more brain food. Thank you.

[trycksh0t]

Bryan Ekman, on 08 May 2012 - 09:15 AM, said:

Here's your official answer. At launch, there will be limited visual changes to the Mechs for many of the stated reasons in this thread. We do have a visual solution in place for the hardpoints, but it's going to be a race to the finish, and it may slip into open beta. Like MWLL we each variant has a custom look.

Fantastic. I, for one, say take your time. Really, in a firefight, I doubt that I'm going to be worried about trying to count how many lasers are showing up on the enemy, or trying to figure out if that's an LRM15 or an LRM20, I'll probably be focused on how quickly I can put an AC round through his cockpit glass.

[William Petersen]

Didn't they say they were going to do this? I thought they did. Chalk it up to Alpha being alpha. Even if it doesn't change, does it *really* matter that much? I think not.

Edited by William Petersen, 08 May 2012 - 06:54 PM.

[Mike Silva]

What I want to know is....

How is it possible to get 320 points of armor on a Hunchback and how is it possible to get 700 points of armor on *anything*?

[EDMW CSN]

Looks aren't everything, i just hope they get a real good netcode up and running. I don't want to lag shoot ala MW3 style

[Yeach]

I'm am so so very disappointed.
Based on the screen-shots you can clearly see that torso and arm are separate which means you will not be able to split that AC20 between the torso and arm. Nah its not that big of a deal for me

Mike Silva, on 08 May 2012 - 06:55 PM, said:

What I want to know is....

How is it possible to get 320 points of armor on a Hunchback and how is it possible to get 700 points of armor on *anything*?

How about default Hunchback armor 160 pts (10tons) x 2?
Maybe recycle time is reduced by half of TT stats to maintain that armor/damage/ammo/heat balance

Edited by Yeach, 08 May 2012 - 07:03 PM.

[Mike Silva]

Yeach, on 08 May 2012 - 07:03 PM, said:

How about default Hunchback armor 160 pts (10tons) x 2?
Maybe recycle time is reduced by half of TT stats to maintain that armor/damage/ammo/heat balance

Yeah, I thought that might be the case. I'm sure they're balancing it appropriately, it just stood out to me as something that wasn't normal per tabletop rules.

[Woodstock]

Bryan Ekman, on 08 May 2012 - 09:15 AM, said:

Here's your official answer. At launch, there will be limited visual changes to the Mechs for many of the stated reasons in this thread. We do have a visual solution in place for the hardpoints, but it's going to be a race to the finish, and it may slip into open beta. Like MWLL we each variant has a custom look.

Hey

As the DEV's have answered ... and in a more than satisfactory way ... This thread will just go on and on in a weird sort of franken thread manner.

Forum mods ...can you lock it?

[CaveMan]

Mike Silva, on 08 May 2012 - 06:55 PM, said:

What I want to know is....

How is it possible to get 320 points of armor on a Hunchback and how is it possible to get 700 points of armor on *anything*?

This bothered me as well. Clearly they've doubled the amount of armor points for some reason. But screenshots indicate that missiles and autocannon have the canonical amounts of ammunition available.

So have ammo-based weapons just been horribly nerfed? Has weapon damage been increased with proportion to the armor? If so, why?

[JP Josh]

every one first day out will recignice me because ill be the drunk typing like i am rite now and ill be piloting my smell my feet small lazering machiengun loaded cammando that annoys the **** out of you dances at you ticks you amd evry one off makes you turn around and at that point we both dy because iv just got killed by seven to twelve mechs shooting at me and my friends have fired eveyrthing they got at your back

[Death Lanner]

wait harold and kumar goto terra that means they are gonna have some space weed lol sweet in future space weed smokes you lol xD

[Eximar]

CaveMan, on 08 May 2012 - 09:29 PM, said:

This bothered me as well. Clearly they've doubled the amount of armor points for some reason. But screenshots indicate that missiles and autocannon have the canonical amounts of ammunition available.

So have ammo-based weapons just been horribly nerfed? Has weapon damage been increased with proportion to the armor? If so, why?

Possibly because testing showed Time To Kill was too low. TTK will have a serious effect on the number of people that play and keep playing. Keeping in mind that this isn't a 1v1 or 4v4 game, if you get primed by multiple opponents, you will be dead, quickly.

So, perhaps double armor to slow that down. It will be interesting to see.