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Mukaikubo
Mar 14, 2006

"You treat her like a lady... and she'll always bring you home."
I would like to reiterate, in the face of what you're all going to see next update, that I really did beat Poptarts for one of the two trials we played.

The second I got beat pretty much exactly as bad as I beat him first time 'round.

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radintorov
Feb 18, 2011

Tempest_56 posted:

So yes, the Clans are really, really stupid.
Did the Wolf's Dragoon ever sent a report on the status of the Inner Sphere, in canon?
If so the Clans are even more stupid, and probably that's the real reason the WD "defected" to the IS. :mmmhmm:

Artificer
Apr 8, 2010

You're going to try ponies and you're. Going. To. LOVE. ME!!

Mukaikubo posted:

I would like to reiterate, in the face of what you're all going to see next update, that I really did beat Poptarts for one of the two trials we played.

The second I got beat pretty much exactly as bad as I beat him first time 'round.

I hope this means some good news for the goon pilots coming up... :ohdear:

Tempest_56
Mar 14, 2009

radintorov posted:

Did the Wolf's Dragoon ever sent a report on the status of the Inner Sphere, in canon?
If so the Clans are even more stupid, and probably that's the real reason the WD "defected" to the IS. :mmmhmm:

The Dragoons sent a lot of reports back. Like any bureaucracy, the Clans read out of it what they wanted to read out of it. And to be fair, some of the Clan leaders (like Ulric Kerensky) realized that the whole invasion plan was not so good an idea. But the majority just saw a weakened universe that needed their enlightened guidance - total White Man's Burden stuff. The idea of being resisted was something they just couldn't wrap their heads around. They had created the perfect society. How could anyone not think they were right and immediately surrender?

PoptartsNinja
May 9, 2008

He is still almost definitely not a spy


Soiled Meat

Artificer posted:

I hope this means some good news for the goon pilots coming up... :ohdear:

It's pretty much unrelated, as it didn't involve the Steel Vipers. It might set the Hell's Horses and Goliath Scorpions back a bit, though.



MJ12 posted:

(Oh man PTN you have to throw people into the 3050 'downgrades' at least once).

Which ones?

Defiance Industries
Jul 22, 2010

A five-star manufacturer


The Panther. It's mighty PPC will show them all the strength of the Pillar of Steel and it's speed will allow the defeated to escape and spread word of this terrible new weapon, sowing fear!

MJ12
Apr 8, 2009

PoptartsNinja posted:

Which ones?

The AS7-K Atlas (ER Large Lasers and single heat sinks and an XL?!), the -10K Panther (ERPPC + SHS = sad pandas), the Jaegermech JM6-DG (2 gauss rifles and the armor of a regular Jaegermech), and finally the laughably thin-skinned -7M Warhammer and the -2D2 Shadow Hawk (to be fair to the -2D2, it's a lot better than the -2D, but that's because the -2D is unbelievably terrible).

If we're going for mediocre/unusual but not actually terrible designs, the AWS-9M Awesome (it's not inherently a terrible design, just a total waste of SL tech), the -R63 Urbanmech (as far as upgrade kits go, the -R63 is a pretty solid design, it's just... you know, still an Urbanmech), and the CGR-3K Charger (at least you aren't piloting a -1A1).

I don't really remember any of the other hilariously bad or just plain odd designs in the 3039-3050 era besides those.

EDIT-Oh yeah, as for an additional "terrible" mech, the -5S Stalker. IS Large Pulse Lasers, Single Heat Sinks, and a XL Engine.

MJ12 fucked around with this message at 05:22 on Mar 28, 2011

PoptartsNinja
May 9, 2008

He is still almost definitely not a spy


Soiled Meat
Heh... well, 'Tech upgrades will be a bit different. Gauss Rifles will be a lot more common, since they're a godsend for the Inner Sphere.

VVVV I hate those things.

PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 05:37 on Mar 28, 2011

Defiance Industries
Jul 22, 2010

A five-star manufacturer


Plasma Rifles. Jump on it!

MJ12
Apr 8, 2009

PoptartsNinja posted:

Heh... well, 'Tech upgrades will be a bit different. Gauss Rifles will be a lot more common, since they're a godsend for the Inner Sphere.

The AS7-K has one of those newfangled Gauss Rifle doohickeys. AS7-K and a JM6-DG for next lance composition. Or four JM6-DGs if you want a really, really short match.

Tempest_56
Mar 14, 2009

MJ12 posted:

I don't really remember any of the other hilariously bad or just plain odd designs in the 3039-3050 era besides those.

Can we get an honorable mention for the VND-1AA? Where they stripped out half the armor to make it go 5/8/5? It's like the LCT-1M of mediums.

Mary Annette
Jun 24, 2005

MJ12 posted:

(Oh man PTN you have to throw people into the 3050 'downgrades' at least once).

(with apologies to Defiance Industries)

Kali Yama Weapons Industries Incorporated: A Foundation of Tradition

"I'm Mechwarrior Andre Norris. Fourteen years ago, while serving with Camacho's Caballeros, I lost my prized HBK-4G Hunchback to a freak ammunition explosion. I tell myself it was worth it to save those kids, but... I miss old Stubby. I truly do."

"Mechwarrior Norris, we at Kali Yama know you do. And we're here to help."



"Presenting the HBK-5M. Everything you love about the classic HBK-4G, but better."

"Better?"

"Much better."

"Better how?"

"This machine can not overheat."

"You're a goddamned liar."

"NO YOU SH- Ah, I mean, it's true. Improved heat sinks have doubled the -5M's cooling power at no increase in weight. Even a full alpha strike while moving at top speed will only reach 65 percent of this unit's heat venting capabilities. You could blow a hole in your engine, and jump 120 meters while firing all weapons, and still gain no residual heat."

"Wow, it can jump, too?"

"No, I was just making a point. The HBK-5M runs so cool, it's redundantly cool. But that's not all. With Kali Yama's patented Cellular Ammunition Storage Equipment, the-5M will never meet the same fate as poor Stubby."

"Fuckin' A!"

"Finally, the completely redesigned ammo bay has been proven to reduce the risk of such explosions by an incredible 50 percent."

"Is that lostech, too?"

"It's not lostech, Mechwarrior, just that good old Kali Yama know-how!"

landcollector
Feb 28, 2011
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ I like this so much...

Defiance Industries
Jul 22, 2010

A five-star manufacturer


I don't understand. Kali-Yama is in the FWL; why aren't they yelling "NO YOU SHUT UP!" I mean, usually when someone even starts to say it, everyone joins in out of reflex.

Defiance Industries fucked around with this message at 06:39 on Mar 28, 2011

Preechr
May 19, 2009

Proud member of the Pony-Brony Alliance for Obama as President

Tempest_56 posted:

You know, I'm not actually sure how this would be interpreted under zell. It's obviously an offensive action, but it's not actually attacking the mech...

Declare a Trial of Grievance against the building immediately before opening fire?

Angry_Ed
Mar 30, 2010




Grimey Drawer

Defiance Industries posted:

I don't understand. Kali-Yama is in the FWL; why aren't they yelling "NO YOU SHUT UP!" I mean, usually when someone even starts to say it, everyone joins in out of reflex.

Well it is right there, sorta

Mary Annette posted:

"You're a goddamned liar."

"NO YOU SH-"

Defiance Industries
Jul 22, 2010

A five-star manufacturer


Hence my confusion. It's like a meme. Even if you start to say it and then rethink it, some other rear end in a top hat completes your sentence.

DeepThrobble
Sep 18, 2006

Boogle posted:

What was the point of taking Terra anyway? Aside from being the symbolic seat of the Star League and the hub of the HPG network, is there any larger strategic aim here?

The Clan that performs the best and takes Terra becomes ilClan, which means that the ilKhan position will default to the Khan of the ilClan from then on. And I guess that the ilKhan will then have sweeping authority over Clan society as a whole like Kerensky originally did. Call in all of the Clans and divvy up the Inner Sphere for conquest, leave and gently caress off forever, disband a rival Clan(if they didn't die trying to stop you), order the Smoke Jaguars to live up to their namesake and inhale anything the Nova Cats give them, remove all of the dumb rules, whatever.

ShadowDragon8685
Jan 23, 2011

Hi, I'm Troy McClure! You might remember SD from such films as "Guys, I'm not sanguine about this Mech choice", "The Millstone of the Clans", and "Uppity Sperglord ilKhan"! Make sure to clear the date for his upcoming documentary, "How I ran a Star of Clan Mechs into the ground!"

DeepThrobble posted:

order the Smoke Jaguars to live up to their namesake and inhale anything the Nova Cats give them

The Clans, as a whole, might be better off if everyone did that.

Magni
Apr 29, 2009

Mary Annette posted:

"Finally, the completely redesigned ammo bay has been proven to reduce the risk of such explosions by an incredible 50 percent."

"Is that lostech, too?"

"It's not lostech, Mechwarrior, just that good old Kali Yama know-how!"

Yeah. They reduced the chance of ammo explosions by reducing the amount of ammo by half. So you have a Hunchback with 2 medium lasers, a small pulse laser and 5 shots of ammo for the AC/20. v:v:v

I love the 3050 variants. New Toy Syndrome at its finest. My personal favourite is the MAD-5A Marauder II. Unlike the actually workable Marauder variants, they just flat-out hosed up its bigger brother.

Magni fucked around with this message at 11:51 on Mar 28, 2011

Dolash
Oct 23, 2008

aNYWAY,
tHAT'S REALLY ALL THERE IS,
tO REPORT ON THE SUBJECT,
oF ME GETTING HURT,


Magni posted:

Yeah. They reduced the chance of ammo explosions by reducing the amount of ammo by half. So you have a Hunchback with 2 medium lasers, a small pulse laser and 5 shots of ammo for the AC/20. v:v:v

I love the 3050 variants. New Toy Syndrome at its finest. My personal favourite is the MAD-5A Marauder II. Unlike the actually workable Marauder variants, they just flat-out hosed up its bigger brother.

Five shots seems like a lot in this game, depending on the scenario. A four-on-four fight sounds like the standard with the basic setup, and in that case you should probably go down early or expect to fire every shot - unspent ammo is wasted, so it sounds like a pretty good trade.

Also no wonder the clan mechs were so abused and the game suffered from power-gaming and munchkinism, they created units that were intentionally overpowered and trusted people to effectively roleplay themselves to defeat. No one who enters a wargame to win via strategy (which is most wargamers) would let themselves lose for roleplaying their side accurately - especially since all of the lore is apparently full of stories of clans finding ways around the rules or ignoring them at the slightest provocation.

Maybe if the zell rules had been introduced as literal rules, like if you were playing clan you *couldn't* break them, it wouldn't be so glaring. Battle values sounds like a better solution though, and I'm a little surprised the game didn't start with them - how did you pick equal sides prior to them?

Also for some reason that IS lances tend to be 4 large and clan stars are 5 seems to give the impression that the clans would outnumber the IS in a stand-up table fight, even though in the setting there would be multiple IS lances for every clan star.

Dolash fucked around with this message at 12:06 on Mar 28, 2011

hankor
May 7, 2009

The feast is not the most important meal of the day.
Breakfast is!
I have no idea about Battletech (and I still know what REDACTED are) and I'm kind of confused about the myriad of trials the clans apparently do.

It seems to me that a trial is a bet that you can do x to y and you wager z, who wagers the most get's to try to do x.

But who get's z if y is not the person/group you challenge to a trial?
And what are the different trials (possession, rite of passage, beer-run etc.) ?

AJ_Impy
Jun 17, 2007

SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?
Yam Slacker

hankor posted:

I have no idea about Battletech (and I still know what REDACTED are) and I'm kind of confused about the myriad of trials the clans apparently do.

It seems to me that a trial is a bet that you can do x to y and you wager z, who wagers the most get's to try to do x.

But who get's z if y is not the person/group you challenge to a trial?
And what are the different trials (possession, rite of passage, beer-run etc.) ?

There are six, essentially.

Trial of possession: "Gimme that."

Trial of refusal: "No."

Trial of position: "I should have your job!"

Trial of grievance: "That's not fair!"

Trial of bloodright: "I claim my heritage!"

Trial of Annihilation: "I'll kill you!"

hankor
May 7, 2009

The feast is not the most important meal of the day.
Breakfast is!
So when I want your shiny trinket I say: "I'm bob of the mighty clan ray, I challenge you, billy the trinket-bearer to a trial of possession" ?

What do I wager and do you have to match it or is the trinket considered your part of the deal?

What happens if you counter my trial of possession with a trial of refusal? Do we fight to the death twice?

How would a third party fit into this? Do they launch a trial against me for the right of a trial against you?

I begin to see why you call the clans idiots.

Gladi
Oct 23, 2008

Dolash posted:

I'm a little surprised the game didn't start with them - how did you pick equal sides prior to them?

Tonnage. Yes it is as stupid as it sounds.

Mukaikubo
Mar 14, 2006

"You treat her like a lady... and she'll always bring you home."
This got a little long.

Newbie's Guide To Trials Of Possession, And Some That Is Applicable To All Clan Trials- or, 'why this Clan honor stuff isn't QUITE as moronic as it sounds' (but still kinda dumb)

hankor posted:

So when I want your shiny trinket I say: "I'm bob of the mighty clan ray, I challenge you, billy the trinket-bearer to a trial of possession" ?

Yep, in prettier language. However, keep in mind that Clan warriors don't often have individual possessions, or not many; the Trial of Possession is usually between Clans for stakes of anywhere from a single Mech to an entire world and everything inbetween.

quote:

What do I wager and do you have to match it or is the trinket considered your part of the deal?

First off: Challenged picks what they get if they win in a counter offer, and usually it's worth more than what they were challenged for. After that first counteroffer, either side can back down at most any time with (usually) no honor lost. So, say clan Sea Fox wants, hm, the designs for a new awesome Battlemech that beat them like a drum in a raid. So they issue the formal challenge, and in response Clan Burrock says "Fine, but if we win, we get the city and light mech factory next door." If Sea Fox agrees, those are the parameters of the deal; winner gets the city, mech factory, and mech designs as a fabulous set of prizes. So if the person issuing the challenge doesn't have much that the challenged wants, they're probably out of luck.

Second, each side has to come to an agreement on the forces they'll use, and this is where the bidding comes in. The goal is to win with as few forces as possible, because that looks the best to everyone else and minimizes wastage in dumbshit trials. So, in the example above, Sea Fox bids his Binary of heavy mechs (10 mechs total) in the trial. In response, Burrock- wanting to undercut- bids a star of heavy mechs and a star of <REDACTED> as support. Sea Fox then yells angrily and slashes his own bid in half, which Burrock matches but cuts himself down to a star of medium mechs... et cetera. Eventually, neither will be comfortable taking anything away- that is how the Clans figure you can most easily get to even odds, when both sides are at the bare minimum they're comfortable using and unwilling to lose anything else from their bid. As a side note, if it's between two warriors instead of two groups, the challenged gets to pick the type of fight (in mechs, fistfight, quoits, etc).

quote:

What happens if you counter my trial of possession with a trial of refusal? Do we fight to the death twice?

Point one: Trials of Possession aren't (usually) to the death. Most trials aren't. supposed to be, but if you're fighting in Mechs or the two fighters really, really loathe each other, sometimes poo poo happens.

Point two: No. Trials of refusal only can occur against votes taken in a council, and can only be asked for by one of the losers of the vote. And it's weighted by vote; if you lose by a 2 to 1 margin, you're going to have to beat 2 to 1 odds. That puts a 'floor' on the bidding; the winning side doesn't need to go under those odds to save face. The rest of the bidding procedure still applies, where both sides try to get to the minimum of what they're okay with. This is why the Refusal War between the Wolves and the Jade Falcons in canon was so unusual and brutal; the Wolves didn't care about winning and bid their entire army, almost, with the goal of loving the Jade Falcons ability to fight the Inner Sphere for a generation. Which they promptly did, at the cost of basically ceasing to exist as a coherent clan. But that was unusual because of the very high bids involved- clan doctrine is explicitly meant to prevent that happening.

quote:

How would a third party fit into this? Do they launch a trial against me for the right of a trial against you?

If two separate parties want the shiny trinket I have- say, Clan Star Adder wants the same design that Sea Fox does- there are a few options. First and easiest, if it's something that can be copied like plans in my suggestion, multiple trials. But that's a rare case. If it's not, like a city, an individual mech, or a world, that's when bidding would come in again. The defenders would bid the small forces they wanted to defend with, and the two would-be attackers begin bidding against each other to the honor of being the first to fight it. Lowest bid wins. After that first trial, probably the second attacking clan could ask for another trial, but honor would dictate the defending unit be able to replenish their losses. After all, destroying a damaged mech hasn't got near the luster of a pristinely repaired one!

quote:

I begin to see why you call the clans idiots.

Yes and no. What you absolutely have to keep in mind about the Clans:

Clan Honor is meant, almost solely and explicitly, to provide a means by which combat prowess decides most things but at the same time minimizes the amount of lives and equipment lost in war.

Whether or not you think this goal is stupid (the first part yes, the second emphatically not) it's hard to argue that it's not Working As Designed. Until the IS invasion, it went off without a hitch, and the Clans more or less got along fine and kept steadily growing, not losing much in their trials.

You may say "But wait, Muk, that's so open to exploitation if I-"

Yeah. Absolutely. Problem? Everyone in the Clans knows it, and nobody likes a rules lawyer. Gonna earn a reputation as abusing bidding to win? That's great. Hope you don't mind that your commander's going to bid your unit out first thing in any trial, denying you the right to win more honor. Or that nobody's going to sponsor you into a tournament to get a Bloodname. Or that nobody's going to like you, or back you up in a touchy situation. Et cetera. And no, you can't challenge your commander to a trial of position in the middle of a war zone- well, you can, but your commander is under zero obligation to accept your challenge, and is even discouraged from it; he will lose no honor by telling his yappy subordinate to sit the gently caress down and harden up. Commanders can also outlaw trials between individuals in a war zone, and often do. That way, warriors have to go to him and ask for the right to fight each other, and if the commander thinks the two are about to kill each other over a triviality he can say "No, get out of my office." And there's nothing the warriors can do about it, at least until their unit's no longer in a war zone. (Note: The entire inner sphere is a war zone).

Think of it this way. You always want to be the Clanner who can make the biggest boasts in the bar after the fight. "I'm so badass I killed an Inner Sphere mech that doubled my weight." "Yeah? I'm so badass I killed an Inner Sphere mech that doubled my weight with one hand behind my back." If you show up to that saying "Yeah? Well I'm so badass I made my rival fight me in a situation he couldn't win in, and then I beat him!" the rest of the Clanners in the bar are going to think you're an annoying shithead who can't win a fair fight, not that you're an awesome, canny stud.

Mukaikubo fucked around with this message at 13:23 on Mar 28, 2011

Cthulhu Dreams
Dec 11, 2010

If I pretend to be Cthulhu no one will know I'm a baseball robot.

Mukaikubo posted:


You may say "But wait, Muk, that's so open to exploitation if I-"

Yeah. Absolutely. Problem? Everyone in the Clans knows it, and nobody likes a rules lawyer.

There is a funny bit about this in the fluff RE: a trial of refusal. Its not just that they don't like exploiting the system, it's that they don't even consider it - just like you don't consider cannabilism as a fun thing to do, and would be shocked if I suggested it:

The Wiki posted:

When the ComStar vessel Outbound Light was captured before the invasion of the Inner Sphere, a member of the ComStar crew asked what prevented a council member from casting a vote on the side they disagreed with if they knew it would lose so that, when they demanded a Trial of Refusal, the council member could bid an extremely low force that would definitely win the bidding but could not possibly win the trial. The suggestion that a warrior might consider this course of action was met with shock and frozen silence. One Loremaster refused any further interviews, and another prohibited the ComStar officers from any contact with the warriors of his Clan. Such a breach of honor is clearly unthinkable.

Exploiting the system is regarded in the same sort of way you might regard someone who was discovered inappropriately touching minors. Which is exactly as moronic as it sounds

Tempest_56
Mar 14, 2009

Dolash posted:

Five shots seems like a lot in this game, depending on the scenario. A four-on-four fight sounds like the standard with the basic setup, and in that case you should probably go down early or expect to fire every shot - unspent ammo is wasted, so it sounds like a pretty good trade.

Ammo is touchy like that, though. 5 shots MAY be enough for an entire battle. If you're looking at a one on one duel scenario, it might be. The problem is that in the Hunchback's case, you're devoting 83% of your weapons and 30% of your entire mech to something that becomes useless on turn 6. In a good scenario, you're probably going to miss half the shots you take, too. It sometimes turns out okay, but it's a huge gamble to take for relatively minimal gain - you're sacrificing a mech's longevity as an offensive weapon to extend it's longevity as a damage soak.

quote:

Maybe if the zell rules had been introduced as literal rules, like if you were playing clan you *couldn't* break them, it wouldn't be so glaring. Battle values sounds like a better solution though, and I'm a little surprised the game didn't start with them - how did you pick equal sides prior to them?

As Gladi said - tonnage. And it was obvious very fast that this was a terrible way to balance things. Even within IS level 1 tech, two units of the same weight are in no way equal.

FASA's assumption of Clan honor being used was probably one of their biggest in-game mistakes. Even when they tried to encourage it, players just went around by declaring their Clan mechs were captured IS salvage, and IS pilots had no reason to adhere to zellbrigen. (As a side note, in original writings the Clans were actually VERY strict about their adherence to zellbrigen. You saw it getting violated and played with as the universe went on, partly as reference to how players treated it - ie as a hand-wave that they did their best to ignore.) They did learn, at least, and to be fair that mistake was twenty years ago now. But it was a bit of a dumb mistake.

1994 Toyota Celica
Sep 11, 2008

by Nyc_Tattoo
The Clan Honor stuff reminds me of how the Tokugawa Shogunate built up those labyrinthine systems of honor and obligation for the samurai class to keep the warriors contained when there was no one left to fight and extremely limited contact with the outside world. It's great for keeping a warrior class from ripping the civic peace to shreds, but it's a huge encumbrance whenever your society comes into contact with one that doesn't follow the same rules.

WarLocke
Jun 6, 2004

You are being watched. :allears:

Mukaikubo posted:

Proposed General Rule: Nobody interferes with a one on one duel unless the player in the duel explicitly asks. It's their call, not ours if they want us to come and help out.

Warlocke, Angry_Ed, if you want backup now'd be a good time to tell us so we can combine. If you think you can at least drag this fight out and spend time without pissing the clanners off, let's stick to that.

I'm gonna risk at least one more turn with this guy. Hopefully I can get in a good shot with my AC since pretty much any hit with that will knock the poo poo out of a Nova. If the tank wants to roll up a bit and provide support (since durr tanks don't count in honorable combat :downs:) I sure as hell won't complain though.

That guy has speed and firepower on me and I'm already at a disadvantage with my lovely armor. It's loving hilarious having a cellophane-armored assault go up against and medium with 12 goddamned ERMLas. I need to knock him out ASAP or he'll turn me into swiss cheese. I'm thinking I can walk to 1616 which will put me into short range of everything but my LRMs and open up, hoping that I do enough damage to take him out before he does the same to me.

If the tank wants to join in on B2 I'd be glad for the help.

Mary Annette posted:



You don't remember way back when (I think in the STO LP thread even) PTN said omnis in his game were going to be designed more efficiently? I'm scared as hell to find out how the Loki turned out. :suicide:

ActionZero posted:

Oh gently caress me I had no idea how overwhelmingly superior clan mechs are compared to inner sphere ones. I spent basically all the time where you guys who actually know about this stuff were talking about how hosed we were when we fight them and I was thinking "Oh it can't be that bad surely."

I am now more than a little concerned for what's going to happen when we get far enough down the roster that I get a go.

Posts like this make me smile as a bittersweet tear rolls down my cheek. :black101:

The Merry Marauder
Apr 4, 2009

"But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own."

WarLocke posted:

You don't remember way back when (I think in the STO LP thread even) PTN said omnis in his game were going to be designed more efficiently? I'm scared as hell to find out how the Loki turned out. :suicide:

I checked; if you add FerrEndo to the design, you can max the armor and get the exact same amount (28.5 tons) of pod space and heat sinks. Oh my.

Diogenes Cynicus
Aug 5, 2009

The Merry Marauder posted:

I checked; if you add FerrEndo to the design, you can max the armor and get the exact same amount (28.5 tons) of pod space and heat sinks. Oh my.

I was just about to post this. I did the same tweaking and reached the same conclusion: oh my.

Tempest_56
Mar 14, 2009

The Merry Marauder posted:

I checked; if you add FerrEndo to the design, you can max the armor and get the exact same amount (28.5 tons) of pod space and heat sinks. Oh my.

For those not familiar: The mech being described is 65 tons (as much as the Catapult), moves 5/8 (as fast as the Wolverine), has the maximum possible armor (more than any other mech we've seen so far aside from the Banshee) and can carry four LRM20s plus ammo (two and a half times the firepower of the Catapult) with space left over and run cool enough to never overheat while firing all four constantly.

WarLocke
Jun 6, 2004

You are being watched. :allears:

Tempest_56 posted:

For those not familiar: The mech being described is 65 tons (as much as the Catapult), moves 5/8 (as fast as the Wolverine), has the maximum possible armor (more than any other mech we've seen so far aside from the Banshee) and can carry four LRM20s plus ammo (two and a half times the firepower of the Catapult) with space left over and run cool enough to never overheat while firing all four constantly.

However the mech in question is hated (even in the under-armored 'canon' version) because most of its canon variants have a bunch of unfair electronic warfare poo poo layered on top of superior Clan firepower. Giving that mix actual armor is going to be painful.

Revenant Threshold
Jan 1, 2008

Mukaikubo posted:

Yes and no. What you absolutely have to keep in mind about the Clans:

Clan Honor is meant, almost solely and explicitly, to provide a means by which combat prowess decides most things but at the same time minimizes the amount of lives and equipment lost in war.
Worth pointing out also that a Trial of Possession in particular is very useful. In the IS, if you want a new 'mech design or some nice production facilities, you're going to have to drop some forces down there to take them, which will probably end up with destroying or seriously damaging precisely what you're trying to take. Even if it doesn't, there's the risk that whoever once controlled it could just scupper the entire thing rather than let it fall into your hands. With a Trial, you arrange for the battle to take place somewhere else that matches the specifics of what you're after; so if you want a nice 'mech factory, you go hold your Trial in an abandoned factory somewhere in similar conditions. You want a planet, you go hold it somewhere on there where there's nothing to harm, or on another planet entirely that's similar.

It's also supposed to stop wars and grudges between Clans and individual people - a Trial is over, that's the end of that matter. That part doesn't really work so well.

hankor
May 7, 2009

The feast is not the most important meal of the day.
Breakfast is!

Mukaikubo posted:

The honor code of a Klingon accounting office/ business class. .


Thanks, while the system stills seems rather outlandish at least now I get why and how they are actually doing it.

Dolash
Oct 23, 2008

aNYWAY,
tHAT'S REALLY ALL THERE IS,
tO REPORT ON THE SUBJECT,
oF ME GETTING HURT,


On the plus side anyone who isn't a warrior probably gets to get on with their day to day in relative peace and quiet.

And if you were a peasant nobody in the IS it might be nice to see all those stuck-up nobles freak out and die in droves to a people whose one outstanding skill is killing nobles in noble-style honour battles. No planetary bombardment, no campaign of genocide, not even much infrastructure or organization to import. Hell, there isn't even much of a place for infantry in these wars so that might lessen the value of conscription and help keep the nobodies out of it.

Tempest_56
Mar 14, 2009

Dolash posted:

On the plus side anyone who isn't a warrior probably gets to get on with their day to day in relative peace and quiet.

Ssssorta. See, when it's said that Clan society is based entirely around combat, we really mean entirely. The lower castes exist for the very literal sole purpose of supporting their Clan's military machine. Their economy is fairly communist: there is very little if anything that an individual owns. It's all owned by the Clan and distributed as deemed necessary for you to do your job. You are assigned your role in society more or less at birth. You are given precisely the education you need to do your job and little more. There is minimal chance for advancement or gain - the Laborer caste exists solely to harvest and process the raw materials and equipment for the Warrior caste to fight with. The Technician caste exists exclusively to repair and maintain the weapons of war that the Warrior caste uses. The Scientist caste exists to create new ways for the Warrior caste to kill each other.

Some Clans (like Diamond Shark or Wolf) are more liberal about this; some (like Smoke Jaguar) are even more strict. The Jags, for example, have shown their basic policy is that if you're a warrior? gently caress the rest. You can outright murder a laborer on a whim and your superiors will just shrug a little.

Mary Annette
Jun 24, 2005

Dolash posted:

Five shots seems like a lot in this game, depending on the scenario. A four-on-four fight sounds like the standard with the basic setup, and in that case you should probably go down early or expect to fire every shot - unspent ammo is wasted, so it sounds like a pretty good trade.

The last scenario is a pretty good example to use. Stubby went straight up the middle into a mess of PPCs and AC/10s, and still would gotten more than five shots off if it weren't for inferno-assisted heat issues.

In a one-on-one duel, the situation is worse, in my opinion. Anything faster/jumpier than you is never gonna give you less than 8s or 9s to hit, and anything you can keep up with can probably eat at least 3 shots, say: LA, miss, RT, CT, miss, *click*, *click* :eek:

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Felime
Jul 10, 2009

Revenant Threshold posted:

Worth pointing out also that a Trial of Possession in particular is very useful. In the IS, if you want a new 'mech design or some nice production facilities, you're going to have to drop some forces down there to take them, which will probably end up with destroying or seriously damaging precisely what you're trying to take. Even if it doesn't, there's the risk that whoever once controlled it could just scupper the entire thing rather than let it fall into your hands. With a Trial, you arrange for the battle to take place somewhere else that matches the specifics of what you're after; so if you want a nice 'mech factory, you go hold your Trial in an abandoned factory somewhere in similar conditions. You want a planet, you go hold it somewhere on there where there's nothing to harm, or on another planet entirely that's similar.

It's also supposed to stop wars and grudges between Clans and individual people - a Trial is over, that's the end of that matter. That part doesn't really work so well.

Yeaaaaaaah, Clan Honor Rules might have been really useful around the first couple succession wars. Eventually the IS worked out a less extreme version, basically: Don't shoot anything that we can't replace.

Ironically, if the IS had followed Clan rules from the get-go, when the clans invaded they would have just laughed and kicked their asses at the first contact because everyone would be in star-league+ tech and have ten times the industrial capacity.

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