Mechwarrior Online: Free To Play MMO announced.

Not sure on the MechAssault titles since I don't play them (I only have the first one for Xbox softmodding purposes), but if you really want to rile up the Battletech fanbase, just bring up MechWarrior: Dark Age.

Barcode 711: Interesting points on customization. I've noticed that mech sims in general have highly varying degrees of it. You know as well as I do that Steel Battalion is relatively bereft of VT customization, moreso than most titles, but it also gives an incentive for you and the rest of your team to choose your VTs carefully. (For those of you unfamiliar with Steel Battalion, each VT has 3 main weapon slots, 3 sub weapon slots, up to two extra fuel tanks, a standard weight limit, and a max weight limit that's usually one or two higher, but makes things much harder on the balancer and thus more likely to tip over during a sustained turn. In addition, only certain VTs can carry certain weapons, some of which are built-in and cannot be removed or replaced.)

Then there's Heavy Gear II and its strange threat value system. It's very flexible, without much in the way of Battletech-style criticals to speak of, and on top of your Gear and weapon selection, you can also add a number of perks to give your Gear resistances or other advantages such as ECM and ECCM for enhanced stealth. However, this will easily push your threat value over the limit, so if you want to keep all that nice equipment, you also have to add flaws to bring the threat value down.

I have no experience with Earthsiege or its successor Starsiege, but from what I've heard, HERCs have a number of weapon hardpoints with limited firing arcs. That's an interesting idea if you ask me, seeing as with MechWarrior 2, arms were basically useless other than having extra criticals to the point where some players would deliberately leave the arms unused and unarmored to save the weight for better things. MechWarrior 3 onward at least gave the left and right arms some extra coverage in their respective directions, making them potentially rewarding with the risk of getting blown off as usual.

edited 9th Nov '11 7:56:15 AM by NamelessFragger

Poptarting and ballistics? Did you play MW 3 online at all? Lemme describe it to you. MW 3 online consisted of 9 guys in Shadowcats armed with their 30 ERS Ls or 30 Flamers and max engines. They'd run up to you and either overheat you instantly or they'd core you with their massive laser array. That was it. MW 4's design system is a direct result of what happened with MW 3 and the abuses of MW 3's design system.

"Tyyr's a necessary evil. " Spirit

Flamers in MW3? I don't see that being terribly practical unless you're suicidal.

I'm not as certain on other games in the series, but in MW3, 'Mechs that overheat too much go off like a mini-nuke, unlike a typical death. Flamers are short-ranged. If you just run up and flame a 'Mech to death, you're going to be severely damaged, if not outright destroyed because of said explosion.

For that matter, MW3 in general had rapidly-rising heat levels, especially coming from MW2. Perhaps it was a way to make the then-new coolant feature useful. Where will this game stand in terms of heat management?

The problem is that of those factions only FC, DC and FWL are any significant. CC is busy with purges and the FRR is a glorified periphery power. Might as well thrown in the SIC while we're at it.

Of course, that all is just background. Gameplay-wise, well, all of them have armies, so the game can depict them fighting

Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken. Unrelated ME1 Fanfic

Cannonly Mechs that overheat simply shut down rather then explode in a colossal nuclear fireball. But everyone ignores this for some reasons.

edited 9th Nov '11 9:55:00 PM by joeyjojo

hashtagsarestupid

The shutdown is to prevent them from exploding into a nuclear fireball. The only deviation the games make there is letting it be overridden almost at will.

Besides allowing a mech to carry enough weapons to reach critical heat just from firing, that is.

^Dam you're right.

I think I remember there being an optional emergency reactor ejection system in game. But I could just be confabulating it with Star Trek.

hashtagsarestupid

Details.

Jonah Falcon

YEAAAUHUH.

Well now I need to get back into Battle Tech, I haven't touched it for years and barely remember anything.

edited 9th Dec '11 8:31:12 AM by BlixtySlycat

go ahead and do every stupid thing you can imagine

Try the official site for the franchise, they've got good summaries and free PD Fs that serve as a good refresher.

http://bg.battletech.com/

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.

Sign up for the beta.

Jonah Falcon

This thread is dead.

COME BACK TO LIFE.

I guess I'll use MekTek's release of MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries to satisfy my Mech craving until this game comes out. I tried to play MechWarrior: Living Legends as well, but my computer wasn't strong enough to handle it.

Wait a minute... if my computer can't handle Living Legends, then what does that mean for MechWarrior Online?

A fistful of me.

Jonah Falcon

I think I just jizzed.

A fistful of me.

Autobots, Rock Out! indeed.

Jonah Falcon

That's good to know.

hashtagsarestupid

Not nearly as impressive as the one for the canceled game...

Hopefully we'll get some gameplay soon.

Bite your tongue, I spot an Archer across the bay and what may be a Battlemaster in the next rack from the Atlas.

Nous restons ici.

^^From what I heard this is the canceled game, just reworked it to appeal to online gamers.

hashtagsarestupid

I doubt it'll play like the canceled one.

Still excited though, just saying.

[1]

A fistful of me.

Screenshots of the Catapult.

Jonah Falcon

Already saw them. Props to Barcode.

"Hipsters: the most dangerous gang in the US." - Pacific Mackerel

Jonah Falcon

Closed beta announced.