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blackmongoose
Mar 31, 2011

DARK INFERNO ROOK!
If I recall correctly, Battletech armor is basically a magical material with multiple properties that are well outside the realm of physics, but most people accept it as a setting conceit because it's the only thing that makes giant robots workable. The magic armor is a significant contributor to the low density of Mechs, especially if you assume the internal structure is made of similarly low density magic stuff.

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blackmongoose
Mar 31, 2011

DARK INFERNO ROOK!
Hated the Spider, couldn't wait to get rid of it. Then, on the Argo mission I run it in to take a potshot at the Quickdraw for the hell of it. Head destroyed, salvage screen comes up with three Quickdraw pieces available to choose. Spider is now my new favorite mech.

blackmongoose
Mar 31, 2011

DARK INFERNO ROOK!

Xarbala posted:

In TT the Awesome's PPCs aren't nerfed by massive heat generation or a fiercely restrictive max sight range to encourage brawling.

Here, all long-range units need spotters, not just LRM boats. It's just that long-range direct fire snipers also need LOS on top of that.

Also the AI marches directly into your guns and missing isn't a thing that happens much so the supposed benefit of long range weapons generally isn't worth the tradeoffs. LRMs are the main exception due to their massive stability damage and indirect fire capability. PPCs (and Large Lasers which are even worse and should never be voluntarily put on a mech) suffer the most because their unique features modify accuracy and everyone is hitting 95% regularly by the time you get an Awesome

blackmongoose
Mar 31, 2011

DARK INFERNO ROOK!

Galaga Galaxian posted:

The Awesome-8Q is IMO one of the best 3025 Assaults because it can just keep firing its PPCs in a steady 3-3-2 pattern across three turns without overheating and is stuffed full of heatsinks so is extremely resistant to crippling critical hits (one or two heatsinks getting trashed isn't too bad). Plus its heavily armored unlike many stock designs.

The heavy armor plus no ammo to explode means it generally takes forever to kill and the heat sinks soaking crits means it usually will have at least two of its PPCs for 90% of its lifetime. Its general usefulness in tabletop is based entirely on sight lines - since minimum range actually has an effect in TT games, if can't see very far it doesn't do much, but if it can it's a monster.

blackmongoose
Mar 31, 2011

DARK INFERNO ROOK!

Gwaihir posted:


Most every part of this is good, although I think they'll have to refine it down the line as they introduce more advanced techs officially.

I disagree with this, I find that making the numbers unnecessarily larger means that it's harder to do calculations in your head and means you spend more time fiddling with the interface (especially on heat which is ridiculously obfuscated). The only things that were actually changed by the larger numbers were 1) the extra structure point in the head to prevent AC10 headcaps, which could have easily been a full TT structure point with little difference and 2) missile damage being fractionally lowered, which could have also been achieved with an accuracy penalty or some other balancing method. If the multiplication had been necessary for important balance changes I would accept that, but I think in the game as is the change was unnecessary and the negative effects outweigh the slight advantages.

blackmongoose
Mar 31, 2011

DARK INFERNO ROOK!

Cyrano4747 posted:

It’s not that it breaks cannon im just not sure I’m I to the look hopefully it grows on me

I don't care if it breaks canon, but I hope it breaks cannon because chopping off an opponent's AC20 would be amazing

blackmongoose
Mar 31, 2011

DARK INFERNO ROOK!

Organ Fiend posted:

They have enough mechs now that they should start introducing hardpoint size limits to further differentiate mechs.

Mechwarrior 4 had the best MechLab design for weapon hardpoints (other than making customization incredibly difficult, which is unfortunately probably not an option if you want the game to sell) and it even managed to give a reason for OmniMechs being better with the wildcard hardpoints. It could have used a few tweaks but the combination of size and type limitations worked well for giving options without allowing total role changes.

blackmongoose
Mar 31, 2011

DARK INFERNO ROOK!

Mr.Tophat posted:

Why should I use autocannons? Why bother with it? And what size should I actually use if any?

AC20s on a pilot with called shot mastery put big holes wherever you want them (including heads even if the opponent is in cover) - they are the only ones truly worth using. AC10s with +damage can also serve as headcappers if you don't have the space for a 20, but they're distinctly inferior. If you don't have the hardpoints for anything else a 5 isn't terrible, but missiles are always better and lasers usually are. 2s are worthless garbage and should never be used.

blackmongoose
Mar 31, 2011

DARK INFERNO ROOK!

Artificer posted:

All my compositions seen to fall into 2 categories: lrm boats with a gauss rifle possibly, srm wielding brawlers. And thats it.

That's because the changes to how missile hit works made them the best weapons, especially since 95% hit rates are common. Plus, the improved versions gain more than the improved versions of other weapons (SRM6s get +24 damage and LRM20s get +40) which is icing on the cake.

blackmongoose
Mar 31, 2011

DARK INFERNO ROOK!
Tabletop missiles are balanced around having only ~55% of a salvo actually do damage even on a hit. In the computer game, each missile has a [to hit]% chance to connect. With 50% to hit, you average 50% of your missile damage instead of 28%. With 95% to hit, which is the most common situation after mid game, damage goes from 52% to 95%. The balancing factor for this is that missiles do 20% less damage in the computer game. However, that isn't enough to compensate for the incredibly increased effectiveness at the super high hit rates that are common. When you add in that large missile launchers get the best damage increases from ++ and +++ versions, they are easily superior on a pure damage/ton basis.

blackmongoose
Mar 31, 2011

DARK INFERNO ROOK!

Taerkar posted:

It seems like every time my mechs take a head crit while that module is installed there it's the module that soaks up the hit.

Better than the cockpit, of course, but those 3 soak modules are rare, damnit!

The computer game doesn't include the stuff that the tabletop game assigns to crit slots by default in its critical hit tables, meaning you can't get cockpit/sensors/actuators/engine/gyro crits. Therefore anything in the head equipment slot is getting auto-crit on a head crit. That's also why CT ammo makes Mechs into deathtraps, because all those engine/gyro crit slots don't exist, so the ammo is extremely vulnerable.

blackmongoose
Mar 31, 2011

DARK INFERNO ROOK!

sean10mm posted:

What's the smallest mech to have a standard AC/20 variant in Battletech? I poked around sarna.net a bit and found nothing smaller than 50 tons.

The Hollander is a gauss rifle with legs instead of an AC20 with legs but I feel like it still fits the spirit of this request

blackmongoose
Mar 31, 2011

DARK INFERNO ROOK!

Lazyhound posted:

What’s the lore explanation for a truck carrying more SRMs than an assault mech?

Remember that SRM carriers weigh 60 tons, they just look tiny because the art design deliberately makes vehicles look less imposing. The lore actually does come close to reflecting the reality that tanks are way better weapons platforms than humanoid designs, the main ways they artificially make the mechs better is how hit locations work (vehicles only get 4 and killing one kills the vehicle) and vulnerability to motive system hits (which isn't in the PC game).

blackmongoose
Mar 31, 2011

DARK INFERNO ROOK!

Phrosphor posted:

The TBolt would be a much scarier opfor mech if all the stock loadouts didnt have CT ammo.

Lorewise its supposed to be a brick shithouse that you drop into the worst scenarios to establish a beachead.

The combination of taking out engine and gyro crits and giving everyone CASE made a lot of stock ammo placement decisions go from intelligent to idiotic

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blackmongoose
Mar 31, 2011

DARK INFERNO ROOK!

Crooow! posted:

The rules state that you can pick up a tree or a girder and use it as a club.

Or your own/someone else's arm that got blown off

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