8 replies to this topic

[Gabriel Bekker]

I have recently noticed that all or nearly all battlemechs share identical speeds. 54.0 kph, 64.8 kph, 86.4 kph, 97.2 kph, etc. These four "speed classes" account for somewhere between 80% and 90% of all battlemechs.

Now, I was introduced to Battletech via MW4, (though I do own 40+ books) but I have yet to figure out how so many different mechs share identical speeds. I understand that many mechs have the same or similar engines, but even a difference in tonnage, body shape, or leg length alone should be enough to put a little bit more variety in there.

Is this discrepancy something left over from the tabletop rules that was just never updated? Someone please enlighten me.

[Adridos]

Well, it's mostly because we got 3 lights, 1 medium "wanna be" light, 2 mediums "wanna be" heavy, 2 faster heavies and 2 assaults.

Others differ a bit more. Cicada is 129km/h (not 100% accurate) and Urbanmech is 32km/h. Both are lights.

[Yeach]

Gabriel Bekker, on 13 May 2012 - 09:50 AM, said:

I have recently noticed that all or nearly all battlemechs share identical speeds. 54.0 kph, 64.8 kph, 86.4 kph, 97.2 kph, etc. These four "speed classes" account for somewhere between 80% and 90% of all battlemechs.

Now, I was introduced to Battletech via MW4, (though I do own 40+ books) but I have yet to figure out how so many different mechs share identical speeds. I understand that many mechs have the same or similar engines, but even a difference in tonnage, body shape, or leg length alone should be enough to put a little bit more variety in there.

Is this discrepancy something left over from the tabletop rules that was just never updated? Someone please enlighten me.

Yes this is stupid legacy from the tabletop rules.
Its from these things called hexes which represented 30m in size.
A mech can only move so many hexes per turn. This was called its MP or movement point.
Each MP is 10.8 kph.
A Hunchback can run at 6 MP which is equivalent of 64.8 kph.
A Commando can run at 9 MP which is equivalent of 97.2 kph.
The MP is governed by engine size.

And yes they should be updated.
http://mwomercs.com/...__fromsearch__1

[RedDragon]

This stems from the tabletop game where you had to determine how many hexes (30m each) a mech could walk in a round (10 seconds). So if a mech could walk 6 hexes in a round, he had a speed of about 64km/h.
Most mechs move (walking/running) 3/5, 4/6 or 5/8 hexes, so those are the most common "classes" of speeds.

[Gabriel Bekker]

I thought it would be something along those lines, nothing else really made sense. I feel that this is something the Devs should update for MWO. I would love to have a Centurion or Catapult that went 75 KPH instead of 64.

[eZZip]

I believe that they have said that you can change engine sizes, so you should be able to do that. I expect the default configurations to use the TT speeds, though.

[Yeach]

Gabriel Bekker, on 13 May 2012 - 10:22 AM, said:

I thought it would be something along those lines, nothing else really made sense. I feel that this is something the Devs should update for MWO. I would love to have a Centurion or Catapult that went 75 KPH instead of 64.

If they allowed the Centurion to drop 2 tons (say 1 LRM10 ammo, 1 medium laser) and allow you to UPGRADE to a LEENEX 230 Engine (which is 2 tons heavier than the standard Nissan 200 engine)

Then your Centurion should be able to get to 75 kph.

Backup calculation 230/50 = 4.6 Walk MP = 6.9 Run MP = 74.5 kph.

[Zakatak]

I'm all for reinventing a boardgame in 3D, but I find the jump from 64.8 to 86.4 a little ridiculous. I would prefer a system like MW3, where you can increase the engine size by increments of 5, with XL and standard versions of each.

[Tuhalu]

Zakatak, on 13 May 2012 - 10:43 AM, said:

I'm all for reinventing a boardgame in 3D, but I find the jump from 64.8 to 86.4 a little ridiculous. I would prefer a system like MW3, where you can increase the engine size by increments of 5, with XL and standard versions of each.

The boardgame has rules for engine rating in 5 point increments up to 400 rating. It's just that in a computer game you can leave it to the computer to handle differences of less than 3 meters per second (1 hex per 10 seconds).

The hard part is then deciding how to handle "rounds up" running speed from the board game. If you don't, a lot of stock mechs lose 5.4 kph on their top speed. If you do, then it messes with the smooth progression of speeds for custom variants and people will gravitate towards those values that give them the greatest amount of freebie speed for their tonnage...