8 replies to this topic

[Sinitron]

Haven't played in a while, this would be odd especially since I can't control where they end up but I'd rather make sure.

[XphR]

No, they are only placeholders limiting growth options.

[Sinitron]

So they basically don't do much of anything, and additional repair costs are incurred based on what pieces are being chunked off as opposed to what criticals are being trashed?

[Wrenchfarm]

Wow, it has been awhile since you played the game! There are no more repair costs, so upgrade away.

[xxx WreckinBallRaj xxx]

Ferro and Endo have no effect on combat at all. They just trade 14 slots for weight, with Endo being more efficient than Ferro. The developers said they plan to later make Ferro actually do something, defensive wise, instead of just being an inferior Endo Steel, but we've yet to see any of that.

[StalaggtIKE]

AFAIK when ever an unarmored section of your mech is hit, there is a chance that one of the critical slots will be hit. If it is a weapon it becomes damaged and nonfunctional. This also applies to other things such as internals/armor placeholders, C.A.S.E and ammo. So it's beneficial to pack as many things in there as possible to increase your chance of an unimportant critical hit. This work especially with with internal/armor placeholders, since you not punished once they're destroyed.

[Sinitron]

wait

there are no more repair costs?

**** SUCKA I'M DOWN FOR THIS WTF!

[Konril]

It sounds like a little bit of misinformation is running around out there. The prescribed cost of Endo Steel or Ferro Fibrous beyond simply the C-bill price tag is that it reduces the space available for weapons and other systems on the mech using it. Ferro Fibrous and Endo Steel criticals are actually treated the same as empty space in actual combat. In other words they are ignored completely.

Currently what is able to take critical damage is limited to weapons, heat sinks, ammunition, and the engine. So if your side torso has just part of an XL engine and a lot of Endo Steel criticals, a critical hit from an AC 20 or a gauss rifle has nothing else to hit besides the engine, and so the mech gets killed. Now if you instead filled that location with 3 double heat sinks, then the odds of a single critical hit to your side torso killing that mech goes down considerably and you might survive a little longer. Mind you, this won't protect you if the side torso takes enough damage to reduce it's HP to zero.

Back to the original question, if all your Endo-Steel criticals are in your arms and one gets blown off, you're still fine. An arm filled with nothing but Endo Steel or Ferro Fibrous is effectively the same as an empty arm. The only thing I know of besides the engine that can kill a mech if it is destroyed is the ammunition. For example, if a full LRM ammo slot is destroyed by a critical, it will explode for 270 points of damage, which is probably enough to blow right through to the center torso if it isn't stopped by a CASE. Also, only critical hits and excessive heat are able to trigger an explosion. If the whole arm loses all of it's structure before the ammunition does, then what's left simply falls off with the rest of the arm and the rest of the mech is still fine.

[Kmieciu]

Konril, on 08 January 2013 - 02:18 PM, said:

Currently what is able to take critical damage is limited to weapons, heat sinks, ammunition, and the engine. So if your side torso has just part of an XL engine and a lot of Endo Steel criticals, a critical hit from an AC 20 or a gauss rifle has nothing else to hit besides the engine, and so the mech gets killed.

It is you who`s spreading misinformation :-) A critical hit can destroy the engine, but right now it has no consequence. You will not "die", your speed and heat dissipation will not be reduced. Those things haven`t been implemented yet.
In order to "kill" a mech with XL engine you have to destroy all the inner structure points in one of the following locations: left torso, center torso, right torso, cockpit or in both legs.

So it does not matter if you have 3 double heat sinks in the side torso along with an XL engine or not. Your heatsinks may be critted and destroyed before you die, your engine might get critted and destroyed before you die. But you won`t die until you loose all the internal HP in the side torso.


Proof is as follows:

1) I have never experienced my mech destroyed with internal structure left while using XL engine
2) Back when you had to repair your mech components were repaired by 25% for free. If your engine was brought down to 0 HP, it would get repaired to 25% for free. Numerous times I had my engine @25% after a game, and I did not die because of it.

Edited by Kmieciu, 09 January 2013 - 03:58 AM.