Mechwarrior Online

[Speedy Cerviche]

hopefully it's better...

That game was fun but kind of shallow.

[Lantyssa]

It was still all kinds of awesome.

[Calandryll]

In game footage from GDC video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXJ9Jrbr9cE

[Engels]

like

[Calandryll]

Also, footage of Mechwarrior Tactics, turn-based F2P game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i48oVFNgDl8&feature=related

Yay, hexes!  In some ways I'm more interested in this than the first person game.

[Lantyssa]

Also, footage of Mechwarrior Tactics, turn-based F2P game.

About damn time!  You're my favorite dev whom I haven't seen in ages for the week.

[Ironwood]

In game footage from GDC video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXJ9Jrbr9cE

Wet AND Erect.

Also, the turn based one is interesting too.

I love Mechs.  The Simplicity of the Joy of Mechs.

[Jherad]

In game footage from GDC video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXJ9Jrbr9cE

Oh boy. They can have ALL MY MONIES if/when this gets released.

I used to play the old MW games with a big heavy Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 - does anyone have any opinion on a similar heavy feedback joystick that'll work on Windows 7 x64 and won't break the bank?

[Fordel]

No one makes force feedback stuff anymore, just random rumble stuff.

[Ingmar]

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Flight-System-Feedback-Joystick/dp/B002G1YPP2 gets good reviews it seems. (But will break the bank...)

[HaemishM]

Absolutely sproingy for both these games, especially the turn-based one.

[Evildrider]

...and I jizzed in my pants.  Mechwarrior Tactics looks like the Battletech game I've been waiting for forever.

[Mrbloodworth]

Part that bothers me, is this just going to be all arena fights? Can you get out of your Mech? Is this just the Exteel of Mechwarrior?

[Zetleft]

Tactics looks like all kinds of awesome.  Can't wait to play both games and be a hermit for awhile.

[apocrypha]

Part that bothers me, is this just going to be all arena fights? Can you get out of your Mech? Is this just the Exteel of Mechwarrior?

There was a quote somewhere that said you can't get out of your mech.

I suspect it's going to be a bit like World of Tanks, although I'm hoping for some single-player or campaign play or something.

[Dark_MadMax]

Part that bothers me, is this just going to be all arena fights? Can you get out of your Mech? Is this just the Exteel of Mechwarrior?

There was a quote somewhere that said you can't get out of your mech.

I suspect it's going to be a bit like World of Tanks, although I'm hoping for some single-player or campaign play or something.

World of Tanks with mechs?- what could be more awesome?

[Lantyssa]

World of Tanks vs. 'Mechs?

[climbjtree]

"Yes please," says the guy who always played a tanker in BTMUX.

[Ghambit]

Too bad we cant fight over hexes for our House.  
It's gonna be a totally scrim-based game it seems, which is fine by me really.

edit: Oh wait!  (MBW, do not worry)

Will MechWarrior® Online™ have any online persistency?

A. Yes, this is where our plan for the Inner Sphere comes into play. All players in Merc Corps will be fighting for control over various border planets. The state of these planets is persistent.

Players will be able to form their own customized Mercenary Corporations (Merc Corps for short). These operate in the same way that the term clan refers to in other first person shooters. A better way of thinking about Merc Corps is as a "guild". Within the guild you can create Lances("parties") and join matches in that manner.

Between this and MW:Tactics many nights will be lost.

[Bungee]

Just to throw it out there again:
WHY hasn't anybody come up with the very concept of WoT but instead of Tanks put in MECHWARRIORS?! It's just a match made in Heaven. It would be awesome. WHY NOT?

Count me in!

[Ghambit]

Mechlab design is up.

[Hoax]

Mechlab design is up.

Going on record as saying that this will make the game less fun to play not more. I would much rather they give only the official designs and variants rather than letting people customize. Allowing people to build their own does nothing positive for gameplay or the variety of units you will see on the battlefield.

[Kitsune]

You shut your whore mouth.  My Reaper assault mech design shall reign on the battlefield, just like when I was 14!  And all IS tech, none of this OP clan crap.

[Fordel]

I'm leaning towards Hoax on this one, from Mechwarrior 2 and onwards, total customization resulted in everyone maxing armor, then speed, then shoving as many of a single weapon system onto their mech as possible. Usually Laser Boats or Missile Boats. The kind of Laser and Missile varied between games, but there was always one type that was just broken. All the leagues and ladders had to make customization rules to prevent every match from devolving into who could MedPulse Laser Alpha the other side first before overheating and shutting down.


The best customization from a gameplay perspective was from the first Microsoft Mechwarrior game, think that was Mech4? You could still swap weapons, but mechs had restricted hardpoints, like this arm could only take autocanons, and this shoulder could only take missiles, with size restrictions as well. The fully custom table top mech design just doesn't translate to a real time actiony game.

[Falconeer]

Add me to the list of those against total customization. In my long running Battletech campaigns in the 80s I never ever allowed for total customization. Minmaxing is not the point of the game. The point of game is to use the given models, eventually upgrade them when you can, and make the best out of their strengths without forgetting their weaknesses.

Can you imagine a World of Tanks with player made tanks? No thanks.

[Ghambit]

Part of the issue with this is the persistent timeline.  It's set fairly early in the 'verse so they had to make a system that'd easily add in late model variants for everything, including clan gear, as time went on.  And as we all know, as the timeline went on it really didn't matter if you customized or not because there would be a canon mech with the same design already out there.

Early mech design was fairly basic anyways yes?  And they can still restrict slots if they want to.

[Kitsune]

Code:

Type: 	Reaper
Technology Base: 	Inner Sphere / 3075
Ruleset: 	Standard (5th edition)
Tonnage: 	85
Cost: 	11,578,718 C-bills
Battle Value: 	1,857
Equipment 		Mass
Internal Structure: 	Endo Steel 	4.5
Engine: 	340 	27.0
Type: 	Fusion 	
Walking MP: 	4(5) 	
Running MP: 	6(8)	
Jumping MP: 	4 	
Heat Sinks: 	15 [30] 	5.0
Gyro: 	Standard 	5.0
Cockpit: 		3.0
Armor Factor: 	263 	16.5
	
               Internal Structure 	Armor Value
Head                 	3       	9
Center Torso      	27       	40
Center Torso (rear)       		14
L/R Torso           	18/18        	27/27
L/R Torso (rear)          		9/9
L/R Arms            	14/14        	28/28
L/R Legs             	18/18        	36/36

Weapons and Ammo 	Location 	Crits 	Tons
Medium Laser      	LT             	1 	1.0
Medium Laser      	LT             	1 	1.0
Medium Laser      	LT             	1 	1.0
Medium Laser      	RT             	1 	1.0
Medium Laser      	RT             	1 	1.0
Medium Laser      	RT             	1 	1.0
Medium Laser      	CT             	1 	1.0
Medium Laser      	CT             	1 	1.0
ER PPC               	RA             	3 	7.0
Hatchet             	LA             	6 	6.0

With triple-strength myomer you wind up with an assault mech that moves like a medium and hatchets for 34 damage.   

[Ghambit]

Code:

Type: 	Reaper
Technology Base: 	Inner Sphere / 3075
Ruleset: 	Standard (5th edition)
Tonnage: 	85
Cost: 	11,578,718 C-bills
Battle Value: 	1,857
Equipment 		Mass
Internal Structure: 	Endo Steel 	4.5
Engine: 	340 	27.0
Type: 	Fusion 	
Walking MP: 	4(5) 	
Running MP: 	6(8)	
Jumping MP: 	4 	
Heat Sinks: 	15 [30] 	5.0
Gyro: 	Standard 	5.0
Cockpit: 		3.0
Armor Factor: 	263 	16.5
	
               Internal Structure 	Armor Value
Head                 	3       	9
Center Torso      	27       	40
Center Torso (rear)       		14
L/R Torso           	18/18        	27/27
L/R Torso (rear)          		9/9
L/R Arms            	14/14        	28/28
L/R Legs             	18/18        	36/36

Weapons and Ammo 	Location 	Crits 	Tons
Medium Laser      	LT             	1 	1.0
Medium Laser      	LT             	1 	1.0
Medium Laser      	LT             	1 	1.0
Medium Laser      	RT             	1 	1.0
Medium Laser      	RT             	1 	1.0
Medium Laser      	RT             	1 	1.0
Medium Laser      	CT             	1 	1.0
Medium Laser      	CT             	1 	1.0
ER PPC               	RA             	3 	7.0
Hatchet             	LA             	6 	6.0

With triple-strength myomer you wind up with an assault mech that moves like a medium and hatchets for 34 damage.   

I would drive this.
6-ton hatchet-wielding death from above.

[Fordel]

Max armor, Max speed, shove as many single weapons as you can on the thing. 

[Kitsune]

Oh ye of little faith, there is a reason for everything in my masterpiece, and not just piling in twenty machine guns for lol alpha strike.  The ERPPC is in there to engage at range while approaching the victim, and to push the heat up enough to activate the myomer boost that kicks in at 9 on the heat scale.  But at 10 or higher heat you start getting worse penalties, so ideally you want to get to 9 and keep it precisely there, which is why I'm using lots of smaller weapons rather than a few large lasers; it's easier to fine tune your heat with guns that generate 3 heat per shot rather than guns that generate 10.  Everything is ammoless because the design calls for running at medium heat and you don't want to risk the ammo exploding.  The speed and armor are maxed because most of the damage hinges on being at close range, ideally hatchet range but at least medium laser range, so the mech has to be able to quickly close in and be able to survive long enough to get close.  Same for jump jets, need to be able to bypass tricky terrain quickly.  Additionally, an 85-ton mech charging from 8 hexes away is a fun tactical option to be able to have.

[Fordel]

So you need 8 Med lasers to fine tune your heat?

[Kitsune]

I initially tried a combination of small, medium, and larges, the problem is the lack of internal space in the mech.  After the hatchet, myomer, endo-steel internals, heat sinks, and PPC, the mech has exactly 8 free tons and 8 slots.  Medium lasers are one ton and one slot.  Large lasers ate weight and left empty space.  Lights ate the space and left free weight.

[Lightstalker]

I'm dissappointed it wasn't a quad with the lasers in a turret.

Screw DFA, I'm going to mule kick your ass.

[Lantyssa]

A strict 3025, maybe adding 2750, tech game is a lot more fun than adding all the 3050+ expansions.  There are serious trade-offs for the weapons up to that point.  Customization can still break it, but they're overall much more balanced.

Clan-era and later only works if you've got a GM to balance things out.  I do love custom 'mechs, but a game of all perfectly optimized 'mechs becomes about as exciting as a Monty Hall D&D game.

[Kageru]

Didn't everyone make something like that mech? about the time you realise that heat is the limiting factor and the large weapons were just monstrously inefficient in both space and heat. Likewise the cheese that a melee weapon was awesome from a heat / weight ratio.

But that's at least partly bad game design, it doesn't mean you through out a large part of the game (mech design and gearing) entirely.