[Patriot]

I was just playing MCO and i thought, hey, why do i need 3 or 4 hotkeys to target specific areas when the possibility of a menu default choice can be had?

Of course, i knew this wasn't in right now, but i would like to ask if it is possible to set the default targeting to Head, Torso, Arms, Legs, No preferred target?

Not sure how it'll work, but hey, that's why i ask

[PsychoLandlord]

This is something I would actually like to see too, just even more in-depth. As in be able to assign target directives to individual mechs against different enemy units. Sort of a "Atlas A blows off Atlas B's arm, then Timberwolf A's cockpit."

I imagine we're a long way from seeing any serious changes to game functionality like that though.

[Patriot]

Maybe that should be implemented per pilot instead of per mech?

[PsychoLandlord]

Maybe that should be implemented per pilot instead of per mech?

The method I'm thinking of would take place entirely in-mission and would function similarly to a "planning mode," in that you would see an enemy force, lay down a set of orders and watch them be carried out until the engagement is over. The closes approximation of this would be something like the way fights played out in games like Nexus.

This may very well be beyond the scope of the engine, even with the code improvements and changes MCO is going to bring about, I'm merely expanding on your idea.

[Patriot]

Ah, i see, good thing i've played Nexus or else i would not pick up on your idea right now xD

As i recall there is no such thing on most other games. Closest i can think of right now is Empire at War with the separate Turbolasers and Missile launchers and such. And Homeworld in some cases

[PsychoLandlord]

Homeworld 1 and Cata had something similar to it for strike group and formation orders, and thats actually a closer approximation of what I was going for than Nexus.

But back to the original point, a better system of assigning target priority on enemy Mechs would be awesome, assuming such a thing is workable.

[Starman01]

Maybe that should be implemented per pilot instead of per mech?

Same here. That sounds more logic, and afaik there is already something in the game like component targeting, and that is most likely connected to the pilots gunnery skill and the hitpoint of the mech area. On the other hand, how much fun is, when in a longer campaign all your pilots advance to long distance snipers and kill all enemy mechs with 1 shot and leave perfect salavage stuff behind. Hm.....

[Patriot]

True, but generally speaking said mechs are also shooting back at said distances

[PsychoLandlord]

Well, it would definitely  require some AI adjustments, to preclude such a thing from happening. Component targetting probably really shouldn't be all that reliable either, given how chaotic Mech Combat can be. But having a better system in place to utilize it couldnt hurt, and I see no reason why a Hollander shouldn't be capable of blowing the arm off a stationary Vulture from a ways off.

[Patriot]

Or, as Cash likes to say, "Blow the head of an Atlas clean off"

[Cipher]

Or, as Cash likes to say, "Blow the head of an Atlas clean off"

Only with the Clan Gauss Rifle

[PsychoLandlord]

Fine, Hollander IIC. 

[Patriot]

OK, so, i was playing MCO last night again and eh, i noticed something that could be a new feature(I'll just use this thread as a weird/brilliant idea thread :3)

Adding extra ammo bins, basically like armor and heat sinks, have ammo bins for each weapon that uses ammo in the game, but keeping it general. For instance, no need to make 3 types of Medium AC AmmoBin, Just one Medium AC AmmoBin for the whole party. However this requires the rebalancing of the ammo count for these weapons, as Ultra and Clan Ultra ACs have less ammo than the normal AC variant. You think this could be possible?

Reason i say this is because i was fighting a Hollander in a severely crippled Avatar(2 pulse lasers left, no more ammo in LRM and AC/PPC were shot) and he ran out of ammo -.-. So it became a matter of him pewing me with the silly flamer and me scorching him with 2 pulse lasers. Took 10 minutes for the Hollander to go down, on Regular.. Mainly due to my pilot just sucking so much, but eh..

[Timerlane]

I could be wrong, but I suspect lines 198-246 of compbas.csv may suggest something like this has either already been added, or is in the works.

OTOH, it might just be defining how much ammo each weapon has by default.

[Starman01]

The ammo is in compbas.csv since retail It really just defines how much ammo the weapon has, though you can only carry one pack of ammo per weapon in default. Technically, I like the idea of giving the player the opportunity to define how much ammo he wants to carry. However, it's too soon to think about that. It depends, on how the new logistic will turn out. For a feature like that, it will be necessary to somehow define limit border. Currently, weight and room is not really calculated atm. Maybe later

[pecenipicek]

Or, as Cash likes to say, "Blow the head of an Atlas clean off"

Only with the Clan Gauss Rifle

/me points at the Marauder II build he had on MW4: Mercs... Heavy Clan Gauss, 2 ER PPC's and as much cooling as you can inhumanely fit on with a slight chance of surviving 3 shots from AC/20's. If heavy lasers are involved, and someone closes in, run the **** away...

[Patriot]

Necro-time!

Seeing as this is the Ideas thread, i thought I'd post up an idea i had while in the shower a few weeks ago.


I read about Binary Lasers earlier that day and under the shower i was like, wait, it's not in MCO..
"Oh I'll remember that for after shower" i thought to myself right after that..
Bam, i get a phone call from someone and i lost it, until i recomposed myself the other night and decided I'd post the idea up here.


Basically, a Binary Laser is a Laser which has 2 Large Laser Cores fused together, using both cores to fire simultaneously and therefore generating more powerful shots. It does twice the heat it normally generates and only 150% of the damage.

This is an Inner Sphere design, and with Double Heat Sinks available in MCO now, i think it's viable as a weapon. Don't think it does the same damage a Heavy Large Laser does, and not sure on the heat generation either, but you may post stats on that if you wish, DISCUSS

[Raven IIC]

Well, if there was a Binary Laser canon in MCO, then the damage it could do would be 4.8 (1.5 * 3.2  [3.2 is the damage points for a Large Laser] = 4.8), which is three fifths of the damage done by the Heavy Large Laser. I think the Binary Laser should be able to do more damage the closer the target is, with 4.8 being the minimum amount of damage at long range and maybe about 8 damage at short range. Unfortunately, I don't think it's possible for weapons to have a minimum and maximum range in MCO, so I guess that the Binary Laser should just be left at 4.8.

[headdie]

perhaps having range scaled damage would be a nice feature in MCO if the guys working on it can fit it in

[Patriot]

Well, looked at Sarna's descriptions of both the Heavy and Binary Laser, damages are for tabletop, not MechCommander

Binary does 12 points of damage, 16 heat

Heavy Large Laser does 16 damage, 18 heat


Ranges are identical and Binary Lasers are cheaper, however the Binary weighs 9t and takes up 4 crits, whereas the Heavy weighs just 4t and takes up 3 crits.

Since there is no weight in MC2, but crits sort of are, i think Binary Lasers should take up as much space as a PPC, or, to make them more attractive vs. Heavy Large Lasers, the same space as them.

And there isn't a range scaled damage for it in TableTop, just a single damage counter, but the Binary laser doesn't suffer the +1 to-hit modifier the Heavy has.


http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Binary_Laser