By Nathan Grayson on August 21st, 2012 at 10:00 am.
The concept of a giant robot so giant that it makes all the other giant robots seem like adorable little rhinos appeals to me, I think, on a very fundamental, perhaps even instinctual level. As someone who is neither giant nor (to my knowledge) a robot, I somewhat fancy the idea of striking spine-tingling, fight-or-flight-invoking fear into someone with my mere presence. And MechWarrior Online‘s Hunchback, thankfully, looks to offer me a chance to take the reins on that particular fantasy. According to Piranha, this ‘bot tips the scales (by which I of course mean all of them at once) at 50 tons – 20 percent of which is armor, and the rest of which is probably guns. See it perform incredible feats of moving at all after the break.
But what, pray tell, does one do with an impossibly large mechanized warrior? Bake a pie? Rescue kittens from trees you’re about to step on? Start a small but reliably profitable business venture? Nope to all three, shockingly. Apparently, you wage war with a MechWarrior. Who’d have thought?
“The Hunchback 4G is a close-range brawler, with thick armour and excellent weaponry. Capable of dealing as much damage as it can take, the Hucnhback is hard to put down, and hard to defend against. Extremely capable in any urban environment, look for this ‘Mech at the vanguard of attacks; the AC/20 alone is cause for pause, but adding two medium lasers and a small laser just add to the close-in killing power.”
So then, simple and to-the-point – nearly as practical as the concept of a giant robot isn’t. In a game with so much inherent complexity, though, it’s nice to hear that at least one mech won’t require its own series of textbooks – well, for coming to grips with the basics, anyway. Is anyone in the beta, though? Have you taken this mech for a spin? I’m still leaning toward the Jenner, but I consider myself profoundly open-minded when it comes to colossal metal death machines.
21/08/2012 at 10:07 Eclipse says:
doesn’t seem that big compared to the others…
I wonder if maps are completely static? all those trees, you cannot smash\cut them with your laser I suppose? Not even destroyable buildings right? :\
21/08/2012 at 11:41 PatrickSwayze says:
Early days yet and that is something that is due to change.
21/08/2012 at 10:10 Hypernetic says:
Hunchback is a lightweight compared to an Atlus or any other assault or heavy mech.
21/08/2012 at 10:46 Therion_I says:
Hunchback is a Medium. The classes in Battletech are:
Light
Medium
Heavy
Assault
Some would argue about their being 100+ ton mechs but they aren’t cannon.
21/08/2012 at 11:52 Groove says:
Yeah, 50 tonnes doesn’t really tip any scales since mechs go from about 25 tonnes minimum to 100 tonnes. 50 is pretty wee really.
21/08/2012 at 13:46 Hypernetic says:
Yes yes, I know it’s a medium. Compared to an Atlas that weighs twice as much? It’s a lightweight. Not a light CLASS. Two completely different things. Lightweight is a boxing term that is often used facetiously to describe something that is “weak”. Light class is a class of mech in the mechwarrior universe.
Anyway, on to the actual game. Hunchbacks are fairly easy to counter because most of their hard points are on the torso and not the arms. This means a light mech like a Jenner can make quick work of one with the old tried and true “circle of death” tactic.
Heat is also an issue. Hunchbacks are either carrying a lot of small lasers and other light weapons or are over heating a lot. Hunchback is a cool mech I suppose, and you can build it up to do massive burst damage and then shutdown, but it’s not a heavy weight. Which was my original point. An Atlas or a Dire Wolf, those are heavy weights. Good luck if you run into one of those in a hunchback.
21/08/2012 at 15:49 grenadeh says:
Actually they are. As much as I share your view that most things Tech 3 and beyond, namely WizKids, are completely terrible, 100+ ton mechs have been canon for a long time. They were introduced long before WizKids and long before even the Civil War era.
21/08/2012 at 12:36 Mordsung says:
The idea is that the Hunchback is a medium mech with the armor of a heavy mech.
They’re fat, heavy little medium mechs with that shoulder hard point that can be used to devastating effect.
A dragon, which is heavy, actually has less armor than the HB and the dragon moves faster.
21/08/2012 at 13:48 Hypernetic says:
Hunchbacks also have a giant cockpit begging for an AC20 to smash through it =D
21/08/2012 at 10:10 unangbangkay says:
“a giant robot so giant that it makes all the other giant robots seem like adorable little rhinos”
The Evas say “Hi”.
And let’s not even get into the truly ridiculous models like Gunbuster and Getter Emperor.
21/08/2012 at 10:19 Spengbab says:
If youre going to add anime robots you might as well finish it with Gurren Lagann (Final form is something the size of an entire universe, throwing galaxies around as weapons), its just too ridiculous.
Anyway, it doesnt look all that large really, I think the Atlas is bigger (as in height). Perhaps they mean as in tonnage?
21/08/2012 at 10:44 Greggh says:
Aw man, I was going to say that exactly.
21/08/2012 at 16:34 grenadeh says:
The hunchback is one of the smaller mechs in BT. It’s actually only about 5 meters shorter than the atlas, if even that but because they never specify the height of certain mechs its hard to tell. Assault mechs are “generally” much taller and larger than light and medium and heavies, but they rarely ever mention a specific height for anything. All you get if you’re lucky is a height comparison chart that is fairly arbitrary.
21/08/2012 at 10:53 mondomau says:
Pffft. Keep your posy japanese mechs. This is how we roll.
21/08/2012 at 12:27 Therion_I says:
http://www.motifake.com/image/demotivational-poster/0901/megamaid-demotivational-poster-1232849342.jpg
21/08/2012 at 13:15 Spengbab says:
Stop, don’t post that stuff, you don’t want to associate Warhammer stuff with anything else! Before you know it, Games Workshop will be sueing anything with mechs in it.
21/08/2012 at 13:27 MadMatty says:
Mondomau, i think you mean this:
http://www.google.dk/imgres?start=293&hl=da&sa=X&biw=1589&bih=905&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=0vU7aQMmWzmwgM:&imgrefurl=http://bagrationsarmies.blogspot.com/2012/04/legio-gallicia-shall-walk-on-this-table.html&docid=H0GgTYT3h629VM&imgurl=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gfq8DBkuEqg/T4Crl_hxWzI/AAAAAAAACJk/YGBqos2SZuo/s1600/DSCF1579.JPG&w=1600&h=1200&ei=S34zUMqKNo_1sga6yYDICg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=1180&vpy=167&dur=5870&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=163&ty=143&sig=115970018453598304120&page=9&tbnh=160&tbnw=209&ndsp=35&ved=1t:429,r:19,s:293,i:65
Cause, y´know, the Warlord is only a medium sized Titan :P
21/08/2012 at 10:11 Lydia says:
Giant robots are so amazing.
Like war.
21/08/2012 at 10:15 timmyvos says:
The Atlas is 100 tons, right? This ‘Mech’s nothing compared to that.
21/08/2012 at 10:17 Arclight says:
“Is anyone in the beta, though? Have you taken this mech for a spin?”
Is this really discussable though? NDA and all that.
21/08/2012 at 12:18 DeVadder says:
I heard people may not discuss wether they are in some sort of beta of giant battle robots. And probably neither in wich giant battle robot they sit either.
21/08/2012 at 13:39 Arclight says:
Pity that. Wish more of these beta testers would remember it though.
Such poorly informed opinions I’m reading below… good lord.
21/08/2012 at 10:31 caddyB says:
Simple question for people who might know more than I do, if you know what I mean *wink wink*
Should I get the 60$ founder’s package?
Because I really do love the Catapult.
21/08/2012 at 11:06 Cinek says:
No, the game currently is a joke – seems like it’s an early development version. NOT a “closed beta”.
- There isn’t even a single game mode fully completed, 90% of battles are Atlases vs Atlases, gameplay doesn’t have any “role” warfare, as a hunchback pilot you’ll be forced down to a role of meat for everyone around.
- Any pre-mades rule the battlefield, there’s no balancing of any sorts (best games: Atlases vs Hunchbacks – 1 minute 30 seconds of Hunchies being turn into pile of trash),
- You don’t have any matchmaking system – just one button “launch” that randomly puts you into a game.
- Mechlab is a joke – there are no descriptions for anything so you need to do changes in blind.
- Maps are tiny – game has 15 minutes counter but most of battles resolve in 5-8 minutes. Light Mech can run from one edge of map to another in roughly 40 seconds.
- There’s tons of issues with maps, Mech animations (most of them kinda “slide” on the ground instead of walking – and walking up the hill looks horribly), weapons (PPC is totally useless piece of crap)
- There are no options what so ever, and from these options that exist – large chunk doesn’t work at all or works incorrectly (eg. keybindings).
- None of the objects in game can be destroyed. You walk through “ghost” trees, shoot the invictible buildings, etc.
- Graphics suck – they look decent on trailers, but in actual game there isn’t even a single square of terrain that’s sharp – everything uses some small textures upsized and blurred. Other then this every single map is covered by some stupid fog and blur effect that makes it nearly impossible to see Mechs 1000 meters away from you.
- Current XP system is a joke – there are 3 tiers of unlocks for each Mech variant – to get from one tier to another you need to unlock EVERYTHING on 3 DIFFERENT variants – that makes weeks long grind that doesn’t learn you anything nor gives you any variety in game (simply because many Mechs got variants like… that: replacing 1 AC5 with 1 AC2 + more ammo).
So – if you wonder about buying Founder’s pack: Don’t. It’s a waste of money, money which you’d probably spent better on games that are actually at least half completed.
21/08/2012 at 12:19 PatrickSwayze says:
No, the game currently is a joke – seems like it’s an early development version. NOT a “closed beta”.
—I don’t think you understand what a beta is, especially a closed version.
- There isn’t even a single game mode fully completed, 90% of battles are Atlases vs Atlases, gameplay doesn’t have any “role” warfare, as a hunchback pilot you’ll be forced down to a role of meat for everyone around.
— Understand your role. Hunt Lights , Skirmish with other Mediums, Support Heavies and Assaults in laying damage down. Core some bastard Atlases with that beefy AC-20 or skim their arms off. And of course everybody pics the biggest mech available first.
- Any pre-mades rule the battlefield, there’s no balancing of any sorts (best games: Atlases vs Hunchbacks – 1 minute 30 seconds of Hunchies being turn into pile of trash),
— I’ve seen a single surviving Jenner cut destroy two Catapults and an Atlas at the end of a game. Sounds like you’re just running in and getting shot up. Hang back with your team.
- You don’t have any matchmaking system – just one button “launch” that randomly puts you into a game.
— It’s still Beta
- Mechlab is a joke – there are no descriptions for anything so you need to do changes in blind.
— Weapon is a weapon, armour is armour, sensors are sensors. What’s so difficult?
- Maps are tiny – game has 15 minutes counter but most of battles resolve in 5-8 minutes. Light Mech can run from one edge of map to another in roughly 40 seconds.
— Light mechs are fast. It’d take a hell of a lot longer in an Atlas
- There’s tons of issues with maps, Mech animations (most of them kinda “slide” on the ground instead of walking – and walking up the hill looks horribly), weapons (PPC is totally useless piece of crap)
— ITS STILL BETA. Try a different weapon if you don’t like a particular one. Customization is a large part of the game. Animation is better on some mechs than others. Show me a game which doesn’t have slippery feet some of the time.
- There are no options what so ever, and from these options that exist – large chunk doesn’t work at all or works incorrectly (eg. keybindings).
— A little searching on the Beta forum will show you how to alter the detail settings. Proper Options aren’t in yet because the game isnt optimized and the detail settings need to be fair since it’s a competitive mp game.
- None of the objects in game can be destroyed. You walk through “ghost” trees, shoot the invictible buildings, etc.
— BETA BETA BETA and the devs had said that due to change
- Graphics suck – they look decent on trailers, but in actual game there isn’t even a single square of terrain that’s sharp – everything uses some small textures upsized and blurred. Other then this every single map is covered by some stupid fog and blur effect that makes it nearly impossible to see Mechs 1000 meters away from you.
— The mechs look glorious. The lighting is fabulous. Weapon effects are excellent; my fav is the way the glacier catches laser light. You can alter the sharpness of the textures via AA if you check out the forums and you may be able to disable some of the blur but not the grain.
- Current XP system is a joke – there are 3 tiers of unlocks for each Mech variant – to get from one tier to another you need to unlock EVERYTHING on 3 DIFFERENT variants – that makes weeks long grind that doesn’t learn you anything nor gives you any variety in game (simply because many Mechs got variants like… that: replacing 1 AC5 with 1 AC2 + more ammo).
— Trial mechs do earn xp slowly as oppose to a bought one. It’s not that grindy if you win games. Boosters are available for people who pay because they like the game.
I honestly don’t know what you expected of a game that’s been in development for a short (less than a year) space of time.
BETA’s are not demos.
They are there for systems and balance to be tested in a real world environment where a dedicated community can provide feedback to improve the experience.
This isn’t Call of Dude Bro Honour Field with an infinite budget behind it where the ‘BETA’ is a glorified demo released to strategically affect other game’s sales.
21/08/2012 at 12:28 DarkFenix says:
Personally I accept that the game is in beta and that it’s going to be buggy. But at the same time I find it more than a little galling that the preorder bonuses I paid for are ticking down now on this unfinished version, rather than being given to me with a complete game.
It’s my fault for letting my enthusiasm for Mechwarrior get in the way of my common sense, but it’s a swindle they’re pushing regardless.
21/08/2012 at 12:36 PoulWrist says:
They’re not. That’s just how it read, but if you read it again, and clearly, it says that your preorder bonus will be in effect while the beta is running, but keep resetting whenever they reset, and then reset again when the game actually launches.
21/08/2012 at 12:44 St4ud3 says:
Just gonna quote the official announcement that was visibly placed: “Please Note: * The premium account grants you 50% more XP and C-Bills. Even though you will get those benefits while the duration of Closed Beta, the REAL clock will only begin at Open Beta where there will be a final reset of all accounts so everyone starts at the same level.”
Same also for the real-money currency. Also I don’t agree at all with any of your criticism really. The game looks and feel great and is extremely fun, especially if you are playing with some friends. And Hunchbacks are also not getting raped by a single Atlas. 9 Small Lasers + an XL375 Engine and you can outstrafe that Atlas all day while shooting at his weakspot.
It’s definitely worth the 30$
21/08/2012 at 12:38 Cinek says:
No, the game currently is a joke – seems like it’s an early development version. NOT a “closed beta”.
—I don’t think you understand what a beta is, especially a closed version.
Beta: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_release_life_cycle
Beta is the software development phase following alpha. It generally begins when the software is feature complete.
MWO is not feature complete, not even close. Hence: hardly a beta.
— Understand your role. Hunt Lights , Skirmish with other Mediums, Support Heavies and Assaults in laying damage down.
Dude, I’ve been playing Mechwarrior games for years, took part in few leagues, even won some titles. Don’t lecture me.
There’s NO roles warfare in MWO as of current game state.
— I’ve seen a single surviving Jenner cut destroy two Catapults and an Atlas at the end of a game. Sounds like you’re just running in and getting shot up. Hang back with your team.
Again: Don’t lecture me dude. Problem is in Matchmaking system – if you lost in a pre-made team due to a single Jenner then I can’t imagine how lame you are.
— It’s still Beta
It’s still early development version of the game.
Weapon is a weapon, armour is armour, sensors are sensors. What’s so difficult?
What’s the damage of PPC? Does PPC make more damage then large laser or less? It builds up more or less heat? How much?
That’s what we need to know. Not if weapon is a weapon. lol. ignorant.
Light mechs are fast. It’d take a hell of a lot longer in an Atlas
And even longer if you’d put worst engine in it. Still doesn’t change the fact that MAPS ARE TINY!
- There’s tons of issues with maps, Mech animations (most of them kinda “slide” on the ground instead of walking – and walking up the hill looks horribly), weapons (PPC is totally useless piece of crap)
— ITS STILL BETA. Try a different weapon if you don’t like a particular one. Customization is a large part of the game. Animation is better on some mechs than others. Show me a game which doesn’t have slippery feet some of the time.
This game has slipper feet ALL the time. It’s not a matter of one or two mechs having an issue.
- There are no options what so ever, and from these options that exist – large chunk doesn’t work at all or works incorrectly (eg. keybindings).
— A little searching on the Beta forum will show you how to alter the detail settings.
Brilliant! Let’s force everyone in every game to edit .ini files since now on! lol
- None of the objects in game can be destroyed. You walk through “ghost” trees, shoot the invictible buildings, etc.
— BETA BETA BETA and the devs had said that due to change
It will, it might, in future…. I hear this babbling for 2 months. NOTHING improved so far. You read patch notes from last 2 patches? They fixed in total around 5 bugs. Yes: FIVE. Their development is a joke.
— The mechs look glorious. The lighting is fabulous. Weapon effects are excellent;
Some people enjoy even having a game in 3D. Others though actually want a quality. Or at least: sharp textures.
- Current XP system is a joke – there are 3 tiers of unlocks for each Mech variant – to get from one tier to another you need to unlock EVERYTHING on 3 DIFFERENT variants – that makes weeks long grind that doesn’t learn you anything nor gives you any variety in game (simply because many Mechs got variants like… that: replacing 1 AC5 with 1 AC2 + more ammo).
— Trial mechs do earn xp slowly as oppose to a bought one. It’s not that grindy if you win games. Boosters are available for people who pay because they like the game.
NOONE reasonable uses trial Mechs. And I got all of the boosters – still it’s a 2+ weeks grind to reach acceptable combat performance (unless you have no life and just keep on playing day after day)
I honestly don’t know what you expected of a game that’s been in development for a short (less than a year) space of time.
BETA’s are not demos.
I don’t give a **** how long this game was developed. If they ask MONEY for access to beta then I expect something that actually works and offers interesting stuff. Hence the advice: Unless you are a Mechwarrior fanboy – don’t waste your money on MWO.
21/08/2012 at 12:51 Unaco says:
A Wikipedia link? You really don’t know what a Beta is…
21/08/2012 at 12:59 St4ud3 says:
“I don’t give a **** how long this game was developed. If they ask MONEY for access to beta then I expect something that actually works and offers interesting stuff. Hence the advice: Unless you are a Mechwarrior fanboy – don’t waste your money on MWO.”
Then maybe don’t buy a game that’s in Beta?! They made it quite clear what to expect from the Beta and you obviously didn’t make an informed decision on wether you should buy the game or not. Every single one of your complaints is a consequence of you spending money on a game that you knew was unfinished, but expected to be a polished release.
I haven’t even played any of the other Mechwarrior games and actually knew nothing about the series before this game. I bought it because some friends liked it and it was definitely a good decision.
Also it’s not like the information you seek for weapons isn’t out there. A 10 second google search yields you a handy chart of every weapons and it’s stats. http://i.imgur.com/Bu15Y.png
21/08/2012 at 13:06 Cinek says:
Yep, a wikipedia link cause if someone isn’t aware what beta is then obviously needs that pointed out in encyclopedia.
St4ud3 – the image you link to is very outdated.
And I’m not posting it because I’m personally disappointed, but rather to warn everyone wondering about investing any money in this game for getting an early beta access. If you’re not a Mechwarrior fanboy – it’s not worth paying for. There are many better games out there worth these 30$ by far more then access to MWO is (not even telling about 120$).
21/08/2012 at 13:07 Dominic White says:
Really, that last comment bears repeating. They didn’t put a gun to your head and force you to pay money for access to an incomplete game. If you went and put down a stack of cash on something that is clearly advertised as being incomplete, then you really don’t get to complain when it’s exactly that.
When the game eventually launches it’ll be fully F2P, so most people here won’t be paying a penny.
21/08/2012 at 13:25 andytt66 says:
What’s the damage of PPC? Does PPC make more damage then large laser or less? It builds up more or less heat? How much?
That’s what we need to know. Not if weapon is a weapon. lol. ignorant.
Uh. Here you go then :
http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/14346-weapon-values/
Stickied post in the General MWO Beta forum. Not exactly hard to find.
(Apologies to everyone who isn’t in the MWO Beta, who won’t have access to that)
21/08/2012 at 13:43 Cinek says:
andytt66 – You found that in game? Nope? I thought so. Info on forum doesn’t change the current state of a game. Such things should be in Mechlab, not on forums. Every previous MW games got info about weapons in Mechlab. No idea why it’s not the case here. There’s even hardly any place for detailed descriptions like that in current UI.
21/08/2012 at 14:11 Dominic White says:
Yes, this is a beta. There’s a place in the UI for the full weapon stat blocks – how astute of you to notice. You’ll also notice that THIS IS A BETA, and therefore the weapon stats are constantly being changed for balancing, and so they’ve not filled in the stat blocks yet.
How clever of you.
21/08/2012 at 15:03 Cinek says:
Yea, yea, keep on that BS excuse for yourself. I don’t know if you have access to a game already, but obviously you don’t if you’re saying that there are placeholders for all these these stats – there are none. It’s beta, but AS I SAID 3 TIMES ALREADY it’s not worth money they demand for early access to it. Closed beta is good for Mechwarrior fanboys – noone else. Certainly not for a people expecting good gameplay in Mechwarrior universe. Perhaps it will be in half a year, or more, but it’s not even close. And, dude, GOOGLE a bit and perhaps you’ll find that I’m not the only one to find closed version of the MWO is less the appropriate state.
21/08/2012 at 15:56 cornflakes says:
@Unaco As a software developer, I feel it’s important to stress that a software product which is not feature complete should never be called a Beta, since it is an Alpha. Undeserved hate for Wikipedia (which has been researched and found to be more accurate and complete than the Encyclopedia Brittanica, by the way) does not make you correct. In this case, it makes you ignorant. I’m sorry to call you out on this, since I don’t usually bother, but your comment borders on the absurd.
21/08/2012 at 13:41 derbefrier says:
glad i held off now, i’ll look into it again in a few months and see where its at but your not the first person to say its in pretty rough shape
21/08/2012 at 18:47 wodin says:
@Cinek, thanks for the warning.
21/08/2012 at 18:45 sidhellfire says:
@Cinek, At first I was worried you’re braking NDA, but then read that crap you wrote and calmed down.
21/08/2012 at 11:35 andytt66 says:
I’d say “yes to $60 level, no to $120″. Just be aware that you’re going to have to do a bit of digging on the beta forums for important information.
EDIT: Remembered about the NDA. But I disagree with a lot of the above.
21/08/2012 at 11:46 PatrickSwayze says:
If you love the Catapult, you will be very happy indeed. And ignore the cry baby ^
21/08/2012 at 12:39 genosse says:
My personal opinon aside (I mostly agree with Cinek) – don’t you just earn some special version of the Catapult by preordering and can play the regular variants even with a standard account?
In that case you don’t need to spend a lot of money to get an impression of the game and play your favourite mech. I am glad that I only bought the smallest package for instant access – your mileage may vary of course.
21/08/2012 at 13:15 andytt66 says:
Yes, there is nothing to stop you playing any of the non-founder Catapult variants, even if you never pay a single $. And to make it clear (because christ knows this game seems to be attracting people who are almost wilfully obtuse), the founder version of the Catapult is NOT IN ANY WAY ANY BETTER OR DIFFERENT OR MORE POWERFUL THAN THE NON-FOUNDER VERSION. It is simply a reskin, that will give you a bonus to cash earned whilst playing it.
So don’t pay 60 bucks expecting an advantage.
22/08/2012 at 14:34 kaffis says:
If you really do love the Catapult, get the $60 Founder’s package. A 25% bonus to in-game C-Bills earned while piloting your Founder’s mech is nothing to sneeze at. If you think you’ll be driving a CPLT-C1 around a lot anyways, that’s a lot of extra C-Bills.
For that matter, if you’re on the fence about whether or not going all the way to the $60 tier is worth it for the Founder’s mech, you can pick up the $30 tier, give it a spin, and decide whether to upgrade. It should be noted, however, that the Founder’s packages will no longer be available for purchase/upgrade after the 6th of September, a date that was just announced yesterday.
21/08/2012 at 10:33 jobejoe says:
The instinctive desire for increasingly large robots is possibly the only thing which truly separates us from the gorilla, which is generally satisfied with robots of any size – the fools! mwhahaha!!
21/08/2012 at 10:44 Therion_I says:
No European servers. They haven’t even confirmed that there will be European servers in the future. They say they’d ‘like’ servers in Europe but it doesn’t seem a priority to them at all. Don’t let them tell you it’s a ‘slow’ FPS so the ping doesn’t matter either, load of poppycock.
On a side note, paying $120 for a F2P game seems rather silly doesn’t it? You still have to pay monthly for premium as well if you’re really keen.
21/08/2012 at 11:43 PatrickSwayze says:
They’ve already said european servers are a def.
Just a case of when not if.
21/08/2012 at 12:21 Therion_I says:
No, they haven’t. They said they could not 100% guarentee that there would be. Go back and read their carefully written announcement from a few months back. Even if it was a ‘when’ (which I’m 100% it’s not) you could still be looking at an absurd timeline given that they haven’t even announced an EU partner.
If you are EU I’d serriously think twice about giving over cash on an ‘IF’.
21/08/2012 at 14:16 PatrickSwayze says:
Already playing. Ping is fine.
21/08/2012 at 20:45 Therion_I says:
And what is said ping?
21/08/2012 at 20:56 sidhellfire says:
A latency to the host.
21/08/2012 at 23:17 Therion_I says:
You muppet :P
21/08/2012 at 12:38 PoulWrist says:
Isn’t 120$ pretty par for the course for F2P games if you want to compete? :p also, the 120$ and 30$ option are a trick options that are meant to make the 60$ one look great.
And so far I’ve not noticed any lag issues with it, dunno what your experience is of course, but in mine, no problems from europe.
21/08/2012 at 13:09 Cinek says:
Yep, I also don’t have any problems. But many people do.
21/08/2012 at 10:50 c-Row says:
If you watch the video without sound, at 1:14 he looks just like he’s enjoying life to its fullest, roaming the hills whilst whistling a happy tune. Ah, makes you wish you were a 50 ton mech, too.
21/08/2012 at 11:26 zaygr says:
The Hunchback is terrifying on tabletop, as it’s a medium mech that by default carries one of the larger guns in the game (There’s only a few that deal more damage, and they’re usually ballistic, too). Usually missions will have a total weight limit for the mechs so a Hunchback would be a great and relatively light heavy weapon platform. I hope they implement maximum team tonnage into MWO matchmaking too.
21/08/2012 at 12:23 Therion_I says:
They’ve doubled armour over the TT rules which I think makes the Hunchback a lot less of a threat.
21/08/2012 at 13:02 Cinek says:
it used to be x2 but right now it’s more of x1.8 or x1.75. They lowered it in one of patches.
21/08/2012 at 13:44 Arclight says:
No, they didn’t. Please stop posting this uninformed, NDA-breaking tripe.
And yes, I realise that’s an NDA-breaking comment on my part. But for the love of…
21/08/2012 at 13:13 Hunchback says:
It makes me really sad that this particular mech is reserved for “founders”. *sigh*
21/08/2012 at 13:16 andytt66 says:
It’s not. It’s really not. The mech is available for everyone.
The only thing that founders will get is the natty paint job. Everyone else can still play the hunchback mech.
So rejoice!
21/08/2012 at 13:43 Hunchback says:
OMG! That means i will be able to play with myself! … wait, that sounded kinda weird, didn’t it?
21/08/2012 at 13:51 Hypernetic says:
Founders Mechs are more than just a skin, they are a different variant so they also have slightly different hard points.
21/08/2012 at 14:36 andytt66 says:
Hmm. That is quite an assertion, because that suggests that Founders get something of an advantage over non-Founders.
Might I suggest that you are operating under old information? Because as of this week, this just isn’t the case. A founders Atlas-D, for example, is identical in hardpoint distribution to a standard Atlas-D.
21/08/2012 at 14:28 Felixader says:
I really wished i wouldn’t have been in the tank unit during my time in the german army.
Then i wouldn’t have to figth with my self between “I like big robots” and “pff this guy can be seen from miles away and any well covered tank platoon (or battallion, what is it in english?) can lay the fire on him without beeing in too much of a danger” X-P
21/08/2012 at 14:35 Hunchback says:
Roll in the JagdPanthers ! :D
21/08/2012 at 15:24 RakeShark says:
Ah, fun with Tank-ID. You Germans still use serrated skits on the treads for the front liners?
Also, how do you spot French armor? Everyone’s bailing the fuck out.
21/08/2012 at 15:31 grenadeh says:
Double armor makes the HB a bigger threat .Also stop violating the NDA we all signed. And stop calling mechs robots, they aren’t robots. Hunchback though has always been pretty staunch, especially Hunchback IIC.
Also @ zaygr, nothing does more damage than the AC;/20, not any ballistic weapons. A longtom or snub nose longtom might do more damage but they are artillery and are supposed to. AC/20 does 20 dmg in TTG, regardless of UAC or regular. Level 3 tech doesn’t really apply when you throw in rotary ACs and junk that might do more dmg.
21/08/2012 at 20:47 Therion_I says:
I’m breaking no NDA, I’m not in the beta, I can talk about this stuff and you cant :P I’m particulally liking the video’s of gameplay posted on youtube too :)
21/08/2012 at 15:35 grenadeh says:
Also I wouldn’t really listen to Pirahna. The hunchback will be trash if they ever reduce armor values to canon. Even Atlas’s are squishy as hell with double armor – you won’t see mediums last very long if they ever reduce the armor values, no matter how good their pilots.
To answer you, we have NDA’s. I can’t tell you that I can’t tell you whether or not I’m in the beta. You guess.
21/08/2012 at 18:49 Phasma Felis says:
I see that autocannons are back to being single-action. Folks don’t seem to get what “auto” means.
21/08/2012 at 20:51 Therion_I says:
Haven’t played the TT in many many years but I believe an AC/20 either hits for 20 points of damage or it misses, which is why it is more like a cannon in games based on TT.
22/08/2012 at 04:53 amishmonster says:
I’ve only played Mechwarrior/MechCommander so I’m curious – have AC weapons in BattleTech ever been proper rapid-fire weapons? I assumed they were auto cannons in that they spew out a bunch of smaller slugs really fast, hence it looks like they’re just shooting a single projectile.
21/08/2012 at 19:35 kuuuu says:
http://redir.is/aSm