6 replies to this topic

[Mr Breaker]

Is there such thing as playing dead in the battletech/mechwarrior universe?

What i mean by "playing dead" is if you can shut down your mech so it falls on the floor. So enemy passing by might think your already dead.

If so wil this feature see its way to MWO?

[RobarGK]

It's not quite the same but certain light mechs can be completely submerged in certain places (especially in river city). If you do that and then shut down most will assume you are dead and move on. You can then start up and hit them in the back. It's quite entertaining. The only real threat to this is if they have BAP, but so few carry that anyway.
I would love to see the option of a fall as you power down like you said in the OP. Lots of sneaky tactics could be put to use, and it would give people a bit more of a reason to use BAP.

[Skylarr]

Quote

DROPPING TO THE GROUND (’MECHS ONLY)

A player may choose to have his ’Mech drop to the ground during combat—usually at the end of movement to hide or to make attacks against the ’Mech more diffi cult. This action creates no additional heat, causes no falling damage and costs 1 MP, but the ’Mech can only change its facing in the hex until it stands once more. The ’Mech drops with the same facing it had while standing and is automatically facedown, as in an unintentional fall (see Falling, p. 68). The ’Mech is thereafter considered prone. To regain its feet, it must attempt to stand, as described below.
Total Warfare pg. 49

Unit Heights
Unit height applies to LOS in the following manner:
’Mechs: Standing ’Mechs rise 2 levels above the level of the underlying hex; prone ’Mechs rise 1 level above the underlying
hex.
Total Warfare pg.99

WATER HEXES
A Depth 1 Water hex provides partial cover for a standing ’Mech occupying that hex. Because the water surrounds the ’Mech, the partial cover applies even if the attacker is at a higher level than the target.

Depth 2 or deeper water completely blocks LOS to and from the ’Mech standing in that hex, while LOS is blocked to a prone
’Mech in Depth 1 or deeper water. This means that units above the water, such as hover or WiGE vehicles, never have LOS to a submerged unit, even if they occupy the same water hex.
Total Warfare pg.102

Partial Cover:
Depth 2+ Water: A unit underwater cannot fi re on or take fire from other units unless those units are also underwater, with the two exceptions listed below. (For ’Mechs, being underwater means standing in a Depth 2 or deeper water hex, or lying prone in a Depth 1 water hex.)

• Other units can attack a standing ’Mech in Depth 1 water; the target has partial cover, and an attack striking any location except a leg strikes the intervening terrain.
Total Warfare pg.109

Hidden Units
At the start of the scenario, the defender may hide his units on the map. The defending player must write down the number of each hex in which a unit is hidden and designate the unit’s facing, if it is prone and so on.
’Mechs and large support vehicles: ’Mechs and Large Support Vehicles cannot hide in clear or paved hexes.
total Warfare pg.259

Ambushes are great. But, if I walk onto a battlefield and see an intact Mech laying on the ground I will assume it is playing possum.

[M4NTiC0R3X]

It's possible if you wedge a smaller 'mech somewhere, if there's no BAP in LoS you're good.

One time, Caustic Valley, all 8 of us went up behind our base to the treeline just over the hill, powered down and waited for the enemy to trickle to our base. We waited for a couple minutes, let our base get about half way down.. power up and shabam, all 8 of 'em.

Similar tactics could be used in River City behind the boat or on the left ridge of Frozen City. Theres a couple good hiding places in Forest Colony but experienced pilots know where to check.

One clever trick is to power down on a dead but still standing 'mech, once again if you're small enough and no BAP. One time I did this inside the enemy base and they couldn't see me, but when they stepped off their base it lit right back up, lol. Since we were the last two standing and he couldn't detect me he had no choice but to timeout or head for our base, either way meant victory for us! And yes he did scream hacks all the way home

[Mr Breaker]

any idea if this dropping to the ground or prone will be in MWO?

[KalebFenoir]

Mr Breaker, on 01 February 2013 - 10:08 AM, said:

any idea if this dropping to the ground or prone will be in MWO?

Probably not because it'd be abused all to hell. It's just the same as hitting P and powering down, only you're not going to get punted from the match for doing it. They'd have to set a different button for that. I'd personally be seriously pissed if I'm watching my radar, and see an icon pop up in the spot that I know I saw a 'dead' standing mech earlier.

It'd be different if there were individual buttons for powering down specific parts of the mech's functions, to lower its energy signature and heat. Like, say, hitting a button, and disabling your active sensors, leaving only the passive radar screen on, tuning down your engine to the lowest power setting (can't walk, can't turn, can't move), and disabling your weapons so they don't generate a signature. I'd think that if they somehow managed to set up ore-lines under the battlefield, randomly placed each map, it'd help screw up radar signatures pretty well, and not always within the same places.

Hitting P is like hitting the killswitch; your engine literally just turns off and dies. To do the low-power hiding thing, it'd have to be able to be adjusted to something lower instead. I dunno how they'd do that.

[Narcissistic Martyr]

You can do it in TT but it really only works if you've got some pretty messed up mechs because any relatively undamaged mech lying on the ground with its engine off is an obvious trap.