Battletech - Also known as Trannytech

Corn Flakes said:
Want something really funny? As far as I know BT's original designers back in the 80s were all American, so the Successor States are all patterned after European and Asian cultures partially because they were exotic cultures for them. That means that the closest thing to culturally "American" you get in that setting would be the Terran Hegemony. You know, the faction that was already extinct at the start of the game. Or possibly those "generic, non-ethnic" cultures you see scattered around.

It also means that basically all black people across the Inner Sphere, unless specified otherwise, are descended from actual bone-fide Africans who joined the diaspora in many different waves going in many different directions. There are no actual niggers in space because the original structure of the setting didn't think about African-Americans. I think later on there was one planet with a heavy Louisiana feel to it, and a couple that are Caribbean-influenced, but yeah. I just think it's funny.
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Interestingly enough the lore also states that the USA in the BT universe was becoming more Canadian in terms of behaviour. Tbh that makes me shudder considering how Canada is these days. Also funny enough Terra in the BT universe is free of racism. This is mostly reserved for the IS now. For example New Capetown is a mirror image of the Apartheid South Africa though that changed to being Anti Clan instead of being white supremacy.

Also the BT universe has basically no American themed nation as those cultures settled the core planets of the Hegemony (like New Dallas) and during the Sucession Wars those planets were devastated to the point that several had to be abandondend. For this reason those cultures basically "died out". Though one could say that the Fronc Reaches are somehow an example of the early USA
 
Why do I have more fun when I'm playing MWO then I do Living Legends? I gave it a go today and the game is way super janky, only a few of the mechs are cannon builds and I hate how the weapons feel. Just a terrible experience.
 
Gezkill said:
Why do I have more fun when I'm playing MWO then I do Living Legends? I gave it a go today and the game is way super janky, only a few of the mechs are cannon builds and I hate how the weapons feel. Just a terrible experience.
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In fairness, Living Legends is a mod built on a jank-ass engine not meant to do what it does, and carried on by passion alone. MWO is, for all its faults, still developed by a whole team of paid professionals. It's by definition way more polished than LL.

Also, as much as I think MWO's maps can be a mess and their scale is often ridiculously off (to the point you feel like you're playing a normal shooter with tank controls), at least their maps have things in them. Living Legends maps often feature huge expanses of fuck-all because they also have to provide space for Aerospace fighters to zoom around in.
 
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At this point, you won't have fun with MWLL if you haven't been playing it since before MWO came out. The only people still playing are sweaty and a lot won't take the time to help newbies get better at the game.
Like @Corn Flakes said, it's technically impressive what they were able to get done just by modding Crysis but that engine was in no way meant for a mech type game.
 
MWLL has its good things, like the combined arms, and it is quite enjoyable, especially when you consider that it was available during a drought in Mech-games. But MWLL does have its drawbacks, it's very rough around the edges, there's jank everywhere and it would be nice to have an engine that's better suited to this type of game... I think there's a project in the making of a MWLL2, I'd appreciate that.
 
Dusted off MW5M again

I have seriously never seen such hysterically stupid AI. I've even got AI mods enabled. They're still utterly braindead. They will actually ignore orders. They can't pathfind for a damn. They're impressively bad shots with anything but guided missiles and lasers. An AI ally with the Centurion categorically refuses to shoot+twist to protect the AC in the right arm and gets it shot off in record time. An AI ally with a Kintaro refuses to fire LRMs and insists on running up to enemies to use Medium lasers and fists and no amount of weapon group reassignment makes them stop doing this. They completely ignore a turret shooting at them. One turns his back to a Warhammer after running out into the open after a fucking HARASSER and gets promptly annihilated by twin PPCs and an SRM6 salvo.
 
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TFT-A9 said:
Dusted off MW5M again

I have seriously never seen such hysterically stupid AI. I've even got AI mods enabled. They're still utterly braindead. They will actually ignore orders. They can't pathfind for a damn. They're impressively bad shots with anything but guided missiles and lasers. An AI ally with the Centurion categorically refuses to shoot+twist to protect the AC in the right arm and gets it shot off in record time. An AI ally with a Kintaro refuses to fire LRMs and insists on running up to enemies to use Medium lasers and fists and no amount of weapon group reassignment makes them stop doing this. They completely ignore a turret shooting at them. One turns his back to a Warhammer after running out into the open after a fucking HARASSER and gets promptly annihilated by twin PPCs and an SRM6 salvo.
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I found this guide to be very useful. Particularly the formation information (slots 2 and 3 will always try to stand to your sides and behind you, slot 4 will always try to be directly behind you), and how the AI prioritizes firing groups.
 
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Capsaicin Addict said:
The fact that someone had to write a guide to manage the AI doesn't bode well.
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It works, at least (the guide). AI really doesn't understand more complex concepts like poptarting, twisting/armshielding and JJ hop-turning (though that last one is a nonstarter with how JJs work in MW5M).
 
Capsaicin Addict said:
The fact that someone had to write a guide to manage the AI doesn't bode well.
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Oh, absolutely. The AI in MW5 is fucking awful. It wasn't that much better in MW4Mercs but you usually weren't going up against the same odds so it wasn't as noticeable.

TFT-A9 said:
It works, at least (the guide). AI really doesn't understand more complex concepts like poptarting, twisting/armshielding and JJ hop-turning (though that last one is a nonstarter with how JJs work in MW5M).
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At least the enemy AI doesn't know these things either. It would be an even worse pain in the ass if only your teammates were complete dumbasses. The enemy AI only wins by sheer force of numbers.
 
TFT-A9 said:
Dusted off MW5M again

I have seriously never seen such hysterically stupid AI. I've even got AI mods enabled. They're still utterly braindead. They will actually ignore orders. They can't pathfind for a damn. They're impressively bad shots with anything but guided missiles and lasers. An AI ally with the Centurion categorically refuses to shoot+twist to protect the AC in the right arm and gets it shot off in record time. An AI ally with a Kintaro refuses to fire LRMs and insists on running up to enemies to use Medium lasers and fists and no amount of weapon group reassignment makes them stop doing this. They completely ignore a turret shooting at them. One turns his back to a Warhammer after running out into the open after a fucking HARASSER and gets promptly annihilated by twin PPCs and an SRM6 salvo.
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Give your A.I lancemates PPCs, they pretty much use aimbot for aiming those and they will hit mechs/vtols midair
 
I guess I can get off my ass and finally share my painted Taurian mechs

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TFT-A9 said:
A Devastator.

Top fucking shelf.
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It's cheap points-wise for an assault (594-1392 points cheaper compared to the other three Devastators), and it can spin its AC/10s to shoot whoever is trying to scratch its back. I dig it.

Now if only it had LBX-10s for top-tier geese shooting
 
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Corn Flakes said:
Hang on a second, you mad lad. Is that a fucking UrbanMech AIV? AKA, the Nuclear Urbie?

Gear up, boys! The Concordat never signed the Ares Conventions anyway!
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You're goddamn right it is! Better line your mechs/vehicles/schools with lead shielding, because we're throwing the Fed Suns in the fucking microwave!
 
StevieLasVegas said:
It's cheap points-wise for an assault (594-1392 points cheaper compared to the other three Devastators), and it can spin its AC/10s to shoot whoever is trying to scratch its back. I dig it.

Now if only it had LBX-10s for top-tier geese shooting
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Yeah the DVS that the Taurians ended up with a bunch of isn't as pants-shittingly scary as the Star League spec monster (2 Gauss, 2 PPC and enough lasers to handle whatever gets past that) but it's also not going to eat shit if a ST pops. Sinking is kind of dubious but it can handle the AC10s and a LL without much issue I think.
 
TFT-A9 said:
Yeah the DVS that the Taurians ended up with a bunch of isn't as pants-shittingly scary as the Star League spec monster (2 Gauss, 2 PPC and enough lasers to handle whatever gets past that) but it's also not going to eat shit if a ST pops. Sinking is kind of dubious but it can handle the AC10s and a LL without much issue I think.
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If you fire both autocannons and large lasers, you'll generate 22 heat, which is manageable with its 15 heat sinks.

I made a variant in MML that removed the rear medium laser to allow double heat sinks. Ignoring any outside heat sources, it's heat neutral if it does an alpha strike unless it runs. A 51 point damage potential that will only generate +1 heat if it runs is rude and I don't regret it.
 
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