Mechwarrior Online

[Falconeer]

 Looks like with the next patch, November 19th, there is going to be a revision of hitboxes on most 'mechs, especially the messed up (one way or another) ones.

Looks like they want a little more "legging" and a little less "coring".

UPDATE (Nov 4):

First on deck:
- Awesome
- Atlas
- Orion
- ..... and the SPIDER!  :o


Just keeping my promise to you that I'd keep you up to date. The first wave of tuning will appear in the mid-Nov patch.

One of the more notable things we're doing is splitting the pelvis into more appropriate sections. Imagine that we've given these Mechs thongs to wear. The thong still applies to CT (front or back), but the majority of the pelvic area will now go to the left and right leg.


Clarification:
Remember.. this is hit box tuning. As in when a Mech registers damage, it goes to the appropriate component on the Mech. This has nothing to do with hit detection which is part of HSR and is being investigated on a different development train.
 

[Ironwood]

Good.  Up until now, the legs are mobile ammo storage areas.

When the Clans hit, they'll become mobile Double Heat Sink Storage Areas.

[Falconeer]

So, the Jester, Hero Catapult, is in this update. It looks cool ONCE YOU CHANGE THE COLOURS.

Anyway, here's the default paint scheme:



Hardpoints:

Left Arm: 1 Energy
Left Torso: 1 Energy, 1 AMS
Center Torso: 2 Energy
Right Torso: 1 Energy, 1 AMS
Right Arm: 1 Energy

[Sir T]

So, it is an energy boat. Can we say 6 medium laaazors!  

Yeah I'll be buying it. I just got the Champion Catapult an in my third game I got 555 Damage without Artemis. (and I forgot to screen shot it) I figured if I was going to get a new mech, and I wanted a Catapult, I might as well get a C1 that's already mostly tricked out and with a small bonus. Turns out I'm good at LRM chucking. Who knew? The 4 Streaks are actually good for close in fighting as well. I haven't altered a thing yet.

Oh and

What times do you play t.  I'm on past 9pm us est time.  Can find me on the comatar ts.

I usually play between 6 and 9 UK time. If you want to arrange some playtime I can get up around 2ish and we can do a few drops together. You will have to tell me when you want to drop together and what Comstar TS is though :D

[Falconeer]

The video that goes with it.

[Falconeer]

DirectX 11 Public Test tomorrow.

Welcome to the Public Test!

Please note that the Public Test Server will ONLY be available during the scheduled times.
You will not be able to connect during off hours.

Nov 07th 2013
Focus: DirectX11 Public Testing*
Morning Test: 10am-12pm PST
Afternoon Test: 4pm - 6pm PST
*A DX11-compatible GPU will be needed to perform the test.

Known Issues:

1. For your first match: Caching of shaders results in chuggy gameplay for the first game.
Please ignore your first game in your observations of frame rate.

2. In-game: DX11 Performance is known to be around 5-15fps lower than DX9 on average for this build, and is still pending future performance work. This is on par with out-of-the-box CryEngine3 performance.

3. In the Options Menu: Selecting DX11 and TXAA then switching to DX9 can result in a black screen.

[Sir T]

For that feeling of "Gee, I remember the graphics being better" I found a video of all the Mechcommander games side by side. Yes even mechcommander 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7w88yQVlVY

[Falconeer]

Two things worth mentioning:

- Cockpits in MechWarrior 3 (1999) looked better than MWO's (2013).
- Trees in MechWarrior 4 (2001) looked better than MWO's (2013).

[Ironwood]

MechWarrior 3 was always my favourite, but even with my rose tints, I don't remember it looking and playing that good.  Was there a new version released or was it tarted up for the video or what ?

[Sir T]

Well it was played on a modern computer so I imagine there is an emulator or something out there. I don't honestly know though

[Ironwood]

That video shows quite clearly why I liked 3 over 4.

4 was just shite.

[Shannow]

How's the new patch?  Any less coring?  I hate being away on patch weeks ;P

[Falconeer]

Patch is another big amount of nothing. The "less coring" will probably happen over time with the hitbox revisions which will start on November 19th but will take many patches since they are doing them on a 3-4 'mechs each patch.

On a DX11 note, I can't pick a resolution and I am stuck in 1024x768 and lots of other people are experiencing the same issue  

EDIT: Ok, I finally fixed it and I am running it in my 1920x1080 which is my usual resolution. And I swear I can't see any difference. I know they said DX11 wasn't going to be a big a major visual update, but I wish someone could point out to me at least one minor update cause I can't see it for the life of me. Ah well, eventually this is gonna be the the foundation for some new features, like decals. In fact, if there is anything that looks improved, it's the paintjb of the Sarah Jenner (but I might be imagining things).

[eldaec]

Smaller hitboxes are going to be counteracted by a playerbase that will get progressively better at coring.

Use more XL engines, use less armour outside the CT and stop worrying about it.

[Sir T]

Sounds to me like some kind of semi-distributed damage mechanism would just be good for the game. The Tabletop was designed around that.

Anyway, I wrote out a guide for MWO for another forum I'm on. I also stole borrowed Falc's guide for the next post I made to give them a complete picture. Thought I might as well post it here for new players. Its under the spoiler tag.

[Falconeer]

This is really cool Sir T. Well done.

[Shannow]

Recipe for success in MWO:

Find 3 semi-competent Atlas pilots, group in 4 man.
Take high alpha mech that isn't an Atlas (Shannow's weapon of choice: Dual Gauss Ilya)
Sit 50 metres behind Atlai.


We did 10 drops like this last night, won 9, I was first or second in damage in 8 of them. People tend to function poorly when they see 3 Atlai then start getting dbl Gaussed.

I make no apologies. :D

[eldaec]

Or drop with 4 atlas ddc and put a gauss and a couple of ppcs on each Atlas. And still have room for 3 srm6 should you need to shotgun anything close.

[5150]

Or drop with 4 atlas ddc and put a gauss and a couple of ppcs on each Atlas. And still have room for 3 srm6 should you need to shotgun anything close.

I was part of a 3x DC Atlas drop last week. Battle was going badly at first (most of our force tried to flank but they also flanked) until they hit us - then it all went south for them...... recommended!

[Sir T]

Had a fun game couple of nights back on the "Fuck spiders" theme. Running my Catapult and I saw that our base was getting capped so I ran back to kick the capper out. As ever alone, because everyone believes that actually doing stuff like dealing with capture points is dishonorable. Anyway, rounded the corner and saw nothing, but as I closed to 200 meters I saw a red Triangle over a Spider sitting there not moving. I think he had powered down and was capping while counting on being undetectable. Unfortunately for him I had a Beagle probe.    First thing he knew about that was when all 4 streaks hit him followed half a second later by all 30 LRMs, and then the Streaks walloped him again as he was powering up. I was giggling like a little girl.  

[Shannow]

There is an immense level of satisfaction to be derived from killing bugs isn't there?

Reminds me of the smart arse locust pilot who was running circles around me last night, before I snap shotted him with the dbl gauss..:D +1 deflection shooting.

[Shannow]

I did 1088 dam in a match last night (god bless the PUGs).

Go figure that I have 70 rounds of gauss for 2 GR's. I ran out. That's a total of 1050 damage. I do also have 3 MLs which didn't get used much till the end.

Would love to get match by match statistics of weapon accuracy, cause I certainly didn't miss many in that one.

[Falconeer]

Remember you get the damage of the ammo you forced to explode in enemy 'mechs. But I am also pretty sure PGI's stats system and telemetry tools are fucked.

[Shannow]

But I am also pretty sure PGI's stats system and telemetry tools are fucked.

Well that would be true to form, wouldn't it?

[Falconeer]

Vote for a potential "new" Marauder.

Anyway, according to one of Bryan's tweet, the problem with Marauder, Warhammer, etc, is that Harmony Gold has to approve of any new design (or basically promise they won't sue over it), but they conveniently have been vetoing them all, no matter how different they are from the originals.

[Sir T]

At this stage I'd just come out with a "Mireauder" and a "Wirehammer" and say FU to Harmony Gold.

[Ironwood]

I don't get it.  All those mauraders look just like the original anyway.

Surely they're not gonna get away with that?

[Falconeer]

I think that's the problem: there is NO WAY to make a Marauder that doesn't look like a Marauder. If you can, then it's not a Marauder and so there is no point anymore.

[Falconeer]

In other news:

Ceres Metals has been given a public contract for the development on an Autonomous Turret System for base protection purposes. The turrets will activate and shoot at hostiles within range. We will start with a Dual Machine-gun and Twin small laser prototypes. In certain cases the turrets will also house and advanced AMS. Once development is complete, we will release the system in Training Grounds for pilots to practice with before rolling them out on the front lines.


Estimated release : Late Dec 3050 - Early Jan 3051

The end of CapWarrior Online?

[Merusk]

 

If all you want is a brawl, take the goddamn bases out.  It's not hard.

Adding something that can kill a lone mech is stupid.  It will mean those 2v1 matches where you're hunting down the last guy and instead decide to cap will end in time outs. That last guy will just snipe the others till it's 1v1 and now you have to chase him.

If it can't kill a lone mech, why bother.

[Falconeer]

Maybe it can't kill a lone 'mech but it damages them enough that they will be easier to take out when defenders come back. If the turret is standing, it'll keep shooting you in the same spot so eventually you can choose where to have your armour damaged while you are there capping.

[satael]

How would those turrets work for conquest mode? (if they actually did any damage you'd be stupid to go for capping especially in a light mech when it comes to pug games)

[Falconeer]

Updated with more info.

Ceres Metals has been given a public contract for the development on an Autonomous Turret System for base protection purposes. The turrets will activate and shoot at hostiles within range. We will start with a Dual Machine-gun and Twin small laser prototypes. In certain cases the turrets will also house and advanced AMS. Once development is complete, we will release the system in Training Grounds for pilots to practice with before rolling them out on the front lines.

Autonomous Turret System Spec/Features
Range : 100 - 200m
Targeting : Targeting Data sharing between turret for intelligent focus fire
-AMS on certain models
-Ground based and Tower mounted versions
-Front Facing shield on some models

Estimated release : Late Dec 3050 - Early Jan 3051

[eldaec]

So the capping mech just has to shoot the base a bit first.

[Falconeer]

More for the future...

A Rework to Artemis

While working through the rules of Mech Lab, we revisited the implementation of Artemis and how it was handled in terms of your inventory.

Currently, when you upgrade a Mech to Artemis, we would automatically convert your missile launchers to Artemis enabled launchers. You would then be able to remove those Artemis launchers and use them as regular launchers on other Mechs. This was never the intention and upon further reflection, it would make more sense to have Artemis and non-Artemis launchers be their own unique items.

That being said, what we are planning to do is the following:
The cost of upgrading Artemis is being significantly reduced. (750,000 CB to 250,000 CB)
Artemis and non-Artemis launchers are now unique items and cannot be mixed and matched.
Artemis missile ammunition is already its own item type and will not change.
Any Artemis equipped Mech in your current inventory will have its launchers automatically converted to the new Artemis Missile Launcher item type.
Removing Artemis from a current Artemis enabled BattleMech will require a repurchase of standard missile launchers if you so wish to use them.
The cost of the two missile launcher system types (Artemis/Standard) will not change (Artemis version being 100,000 CB more).
TL;DR – Artemis upgrades will be cheaper. Removing Artemis will require you to repurchase the non-Artemis launchers if you still want to use those weapon systems.

e.g. Your BattleMech has an Artemis-SRM4 launcher. If you want to rebuild your BattleMech to have non-Artemis weaponry, you will have to buy a standard SRM4 launcher if you don’t have one in your inventory.

SPECIAL NOTE: The current UI2.0 build being made for Public Test contains this new Artemis functionality if you’d like to see how it works.