138 replies to this topic

[CwStrife]

Signal27, on 08 February 2013 - 11:03 PM, said:

This is something that had to be said, so thank you for saying it. I love Battletech as much as the next guy from all the way back in the 80's, but let's not kid ourselves: It was written up by some sci-fi wargame fans who had a thing for anime mecha and big robots - not a team of military engineers making hypotheses on how warfare would be conducted in the far future. So however mech sizes got written up in the Technical Readouts all those years ago may not translate to what's actually good for a game like this - bigger mechs than what we have already translate into much easier targets. And, yes, the world(s) are going to seem like they were built specifically to accommodate mechs because that's exactly what happened when the devs were making the maps to keep things interesting with stuff to dart around, provide cover, and hide behind.

Yes, you are probably right about the office guy 30 years ago writing it, but the idea is for these things to BE HUGE!

Biggest problem with having a big mech is the stupid huge amount of damage LRM's do in this game compared to old ones.

The cities aren't realistic either... just doesn't make things feel "real".

[De La Fresniere]

I've never, ever seen any "giant robot" setting where sizes were consistent. Anytime visual media is included, sizes vary greatly from one moment to the next.

Even when there's official data available, sizes aren't generally respected... example: Great Mazinger is 25m tall, Grendizer is 30m tall, but in all "crossovers" they're the same height.

That said, this is a computer game. They can actually input data in a way that respects ratios, and then all sizes will be accurate forever.

It's possible, however, that they chose to disrespect sizes for the well-being of game balance. If Light mechs become too fragile, for example (because of netcode fixes, collisions getting back in, etc), they might decide to make them smaller so they're harder to hit. Same with buildings; if they want a specific place to provide full cover to an Atlas, they might exaggerate the size of a building in order to do that.

I'll admit it's a tricky subject.

[CwStrife]

When the count is 194 people saying NO THE SIZES ARE OFF, compared to 43 saying ITS FINE....

U have a almost a 5:1 ratio here...

You tell me, is it worth the devs changing it? I think so..

Mechwarrior 4 sizes were very proportional. The mechs felt huge like they should be.

[CwStrife]

Anyone also notice that in comparison to mountains, we seem to be incredibly small? I don't see how these hills are all like a mile high.

[Signal27]

Deal with it.

[CwStrife]

Signal27, on 16 February 2013 - 05:17 PM, said:

Deal with it.

Jeez aren't you just in a ripe mood?

[buttmonkey]

when i look down in my mech it doesnt feel like towering over anything, its a strange sensation

[Anony Mouse]

First its important to remember MWO is its own chapter in the franchise, so art direction is going to be unique, thus the centurion and catapult are wider, yeah the collision boxes could probably use some fine tuning but asthetically they're fine. That being said I definitely think the heavies and assaults comparatively speaking seem shorter than they ought to, not a lot but the relative size difference between a Raven and an Atlas should feel more signifcant. So really the mediums and lights ought to be a little shorter/smaller, anything beyond that is just a different art direction.

About the "Dropship" on River City. Generally speaking the Aerodyne, or "Winged" dropships are not 'mech transports. They carry simple Cargo, Vehicles (tanks, trucks etc), or Aerospace fighters (Space Planes). The Ovoid Dropships are Mech transports.

Regarding the "747" on Frozen City, thats a partially buried dropship, someone mentioned it was a
<a href="http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Gazelle"> Gazelle </a> , might be, personally I thought it was a
<a href="http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Leopard"> Leopard </a> which is a little smaller, and as mentioned above neither them are necassarily mech transports regardless of size.

Edited by Anony Mouse, 17 February 2013 - 04:47 AM.

[Signal27]

CwStrife, on 17 February 2013 - 03:50 AM, said:

Jeez aren't you just in a ripe mood?

No, it's just apparent that the only thing you apparently care about in this regard is your apparent fetish for being in a death machine that towers over anything and everything like Godzilla going on a rampage in a Japanese monster movie. That would be just fine with me, ordinarily. I would even be just fine with it if this were a single player game. But it's not, and for some reason the considerations that make for a good PvP multiplayer game (such as target profiles, cover, terrain, and using all of those to prevent getting your a$$ shot to hell) doesn't even enter into your mind no matter how many times it's already been mentioned in this thread you keep bumping - or else you're just ignoring it in favor of your fetish to be the physically biggest thing on an imaginary planet. Hey, sorry the game doesn't "feel" right to you but I'm pretty certain that many, many more players understand that the developers had to compromise what was written in the Technical Readouts in order to make mech sizes that were more competitive and balanced targets to shoot at in a game like this.

Want to know one of the reasons why a lot of people favor the Stalker over the Atlas? Well, aside from weapon hard points - IT HAS A SMALLER PROFILE (ergo it's a smaller and harder target to hit). This isn't the first time this concept has been brought up in this thread - can you finally read and understand where we are coming from?

Edited by Signal27, 17 February 2013 - 04:57 AM.

[Tennex]

the stalker and centurion is just silly.

centurion is same size as an awesome for gods sakes.

[DeadlyNerd]

Truth be told, assault mechs do seem a bit too short for their tonnage. Except for the fact that you know you're facing something that has more than 100 armor in the torso, atlas isn't that intimidating as a sight.

[KuruptU4Fun]

[J4ckInthebox]

I always felt there was something wrong with proportions in this game. It is like being in a human-sized mech walking through a 1:25 landscape model.

Edited by J4ckInthebox, 17 February 2013 - 07:44 AM.

[Ettibber]

Bloody Moon, on 03 February 2013 - 04:50 AM, said:

That "airplane" you are referring to is a small Dropship which was made to carry mechs from Jumpships to the planet surface so it is larger than a 747 even though it is small among the Dropships in general.

it's a gazelle drop ship isn't it?

[Sporklift]

I don't think anyone has mentioned this yet. In Frozen City there are I think two derelict mechs inside the tail section of the crashed dropship. I recall a Jenner and an Atlas. I think a couple posters have said it couldn't actually hold any mechs because its not big enough. I occasionally hide inside of it with room to move around.

[Mao of DC]

CwStrife, on 03 February 2013 - 03:09 AM, said:

Now a a standard commercial building will be 10 feet tall on average per floor, making the Atlas about 5 stories tall...

Frist thing frist, haveing built commercial buildings, I can the average size per story is 12 feet. You need room for the HVAC, plumbing,fire suppresion system, electrical systems, and so on. That bit being said I agree that the sizes are off but not quite what you make them out to be. An Atlas cannot fully hide behind a 2 story building it is close though so need to be tweeked. If they do that though there will be very places for an Atlas to find cover, and if a short mech face hugs them they will never beable to hit them. Remember the old addage be carefull what you ask for you might just get it.

Sporklift, on 17 February 2013 - 12:11 PM, said:

I don't think anyone has mentioned this yet. In Frozen City there are I think two derelict mechs inside the tail section of the crashed dropship. I recall a Jenner and an Atlas. I think a couple posters have said it couldn't actually hold any mechs because its not big enough. I occasionally hide inside of it with room to move around.

There are 3 mechs in there an Atlas, a Hunchback, and a Jenner. Also the guy who said that compaired that dropship with a 747 which and not even close to the same size.

[Corvus Antaka]

the sense of scale is completely off in this game. vs crysis 2, where you have an excellent sense of scale. imho this goes back to jumpjets, mech size & building size.

[lsp]

Don't care.

[Anony Mouse]

Mao of DC, on 17 February 2013 - 12:30 PM, said:

Remember the old addage be carefull what you ask for you might just get it.

Absolutely. Not only would you end up with light mechs going unseen while speedbagging you're Atlas' junk like a popeye cartoon, but you'd be head and shoulders above any cover. Also do you really want a sniper assault mech being able to fire OVER all the cover on a map?

The being said, the disparity between low weight and high weight units does feel off. But I think the problem is in the lights and mediums. They should seem frailer, if not altogether scaled down some. A light mech cockpit should feel like a coffin, and they should be able to hide much easier.

Edited by Anony Mouse, 19 February 2013 - 01:20 AM.

[Fitzbattleaxe]

The size differences between lights and assaults is too large. You can't go by height, you have to go by volume, and a Spider is way to small to weight 30% as much as an Atlas, unless it's built from something far more dense.