New guy on the scene...

[(TLL)Nick]

Hellooooooooooo.

[cocoajin]

Minus the close combat abilities Id check out the hollander, light\medium pretty fast mech, light on armor but it mounts a gauss rifl to snipe at mechs, a real skirmisher\sniper design, I beleive it packs a couple medium lasers to fend off infantry and vehicles.

It is one of the mechs that looks to be in the beta too!

I like it...its a bit blocky for my taste(a rounded hull has a smaller cross-section and would promote more deflections of smaller rounds...essential for a lightly armored unit)...but it serves the basic role Im looking to participate/contribute in.  I'd still like a stalk or periscoping sensory pod for hull down observations and target acquistion.

[Diablo48]

Sweet...thx for the informative reply.  I like where this game is going already.   Still no answer of counter-measures for other targeting systems like laser or radar...so I assume no, but its out there now and available to be looked at in the future.

I look forward to stalking you guys in the future.

oh yeah...last thing.  Has there ever been a precedent for a melee type weapon in Mechwarrior?  I have in my head this light-weight, fast, agile(relativly) mech, that is less walking tank/assualt platform and more mech-commando(does that make sense?)...sort of scout/sniper/spec ops type.   

My dream mech is one that has one anti-mech weapon...essentially a long range gun with a lot of smack for a small mech...then light, high rate of fire weapons to fend of squishies and conventional units(tanks, planes, infantry).  But thats when I get a little crazy...I want something the equalivelent to a bayonet.  Something like a armor piercing rod, hydraulically or pneumatically actuated to pierce the hull of an oppossing mech in extreme close quarters and then releases a massive charge from a capacitor(see, im thinking...required cool-down time between uses).  It wouldnt necessarily destroy mech, maybe unless it was severly damaged already.  Instead, it stuns the mech for sometime, allowing me to flee...and probably get a shot off in the process.

Now when I say close quarters, Im talking about requiring contact...the rod would be like you engaging a spring loaded butcher knife from out of your sleeve.  I have in my head the visual of "arm"...yeah my left side will be the typical gun-arm...but my right would be much more human-like...maybe even a useable hand.  The fore-arm would be a bit oversized as it houses the "sheath" and actuation module for the rod.  When Im switch to the rod, the arm comes up off on the side of my view, arm set in "cocked" like position like Im getting ready to punch...and when I make contact with my opponent I fire it like any other weapon....but with this weapon, you see actuators fire off, pistons extend out from the firing, a loud "pfft", smoke/steam and horrendous thud...followed by a bluish, purplish and white crackle from discharging electricty.   Ohhhh! just the thought of it makes me giddity!

Perhaps it could be a very short range area weapon to be used against squishies and conventional ground units...once again, only stunning them...but perhaps a bit more lethal to infantry.

Anyway...Im day dreaming again!

Hm...how does this sound:

35 ton Clan 'Mech

Endo Steel chassis with 6 tons FF armor for 97.5% protection.

7/11/7 movement from a 245 XLE, JJ's: 2 LL, RL, 1 LT, RT, CT

LA: ERPPC, Flamer
RA: Hatchet
CT: Active Probe
H: Guardian ECM Suite

The Clan ERPPC gives you the same damage output as the Gauss Rifle without the ammunition dependence, while the Flamer kills more infantry per shot than any other weapon and has secondary functionality starting fires.  You also have enough heat sinks to fire everything while running for no heat build up, and the hatchet is alone in the right arm so you can blaze away with the other weapons and still swing with it in close combat.  You also have plenty of electronics to give you an edge when sight is limited, although if you want more speed you can swap the Active Probe for MASC to get up to 7/11[14]/7.

[TheANIMAL]

Oh hai  ,  dont ask about the release date.

[SeniorBiscuit]

Honestly I think a true 'commando' mech would either be battle armor or a protomech.

Ive always thought protomechs were a silly idea (they just didnt fit in the universe for me)

But battle armor with a TAG and det charges gives you as much long range firepower as there are LRMs on your team, and sneaky close up destruction!

Your a mighty small target too!

[Diablo48]

Oh, it looks like I forgot about TAG in my 'Mech design.  That is another system that can be substituted for the Active Probe, although moving it to the left arm might be a good idea to improve its firing arc.

[cocoajin]

im going to need to look up all these terms and acronyms...is there a glossary?

now since we have active senors, is there a pod that can be used to detect active signal emissions?   As a scout/sniper...being able to detect others passivly and also detect when you may have been detected...or at least when someone is activly looking/scanning in your general direction is a much desirable attributes.

[13th Fear]

im going to need to look up all these terms and acronyms...is there a glossary?

now since we have active senors, is there a pod that can be used to detect active signal emissions?   As a scout/sniper...being able to detect others passivly and also detect when you may have been detected...or at least when someone is activly looking/scanning in your general direction is a much desirable attributes.

Usually when you see a rack of LRM's launching your way is a good sign you've been detected...

[Gnarlycharly]

Oh hai  ,  dont ask about the release date.

[Diablo48]

im going to need to look up all these terms and acronyms...is there a glossary?

Well, there are a number of good sites like the BattleTech wiki here:

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

Although you should probably look into the thread with a list of web sites which I think is in the BattleTech Universe forum somewhere.  As for my design, I'll add the abbreviations I used in parentheses for clarity.

Endo Steel chassis with 6 tons FF(Ferro Fibrous) armor for 97.5% protection.

7(70kph walk)/11(11kph run)/7(210m) movement from a 245 XLE(Extra Light Engine), JJ's(Jump Jets, in this case locations for the 7 Jump Jets): 2 LL(2 in Left Leg), RL(and Right Leg), 1 LT(1 Left Torso), RT(and Right Torso), CT(and Center Torso)

LA: ERPPC, Flamer(there is an Extended Range Particle Projection Cannon and flame thrower in the Left Arm)
RA: Hatchet(There is a hatchet in the Right Arm for melee combat)
CT: Active Probe(There is a Beagle Active Probe in the Center Torso)
H: Guardian ECM Suite (There is an Electronc warfare Suite in the Head)

The Clan ERPPC gives you the same damage output as the Gauss Rifle without the ammunition dependence, while the Flamer kills more infantry per shot than any other weapon and has secondary functionality starting fires.  You also have enough heat sinks to fire everything while running for no heat build up, and the hatchet is alone in the right arm so you can blaze away with the other weapons and still swing with it in close combat.  You also have plenty of electronics to give you an edge when sight is limited, although if you want more speed you can swap the Active Probe for MASC to get up to 7/11[14(the MASC systems gives you extra speed at the risk of jamming your drive train, although I think this may have been changed to one engine crit which generates more heat in the later rules)]/7.

I hope this helps you understand what I am talking about with this design.

[cocoajin]

Hatchet? so they will allow melee weapons?

[Stahlseele]

no, that's a CBT-Stat-Out.
And a Hatchet on anything below Heavy is a dumb idea, as it is somehow harder to hit with that than it is to kick another mech . .
AND it does less Damage to punch . . ok, the hatchet actually does the same ammount of Damage a kick would deal . .
i would only ever mount such weapons on heavy and up fast mechs, preferably with TSM in there, so they get even heavier when hot.
yeah, i really hate the berzerker with TSM Myomer . . kicks/hits for 40 Damage, there's NOTHING that can take that kind of abuse without being nearly insta-killed . .
and the MASC Variant is dumb as bricks, only some short spurts of speed with halved close combat damage and still overheating like crazy . . and the MASC can, and does occassionally simply fail, even if you have to roll a 3 . . rolling a 2 happens more often than i would like <.< . .

[Diablo48]

no, that's a CBT-Stat-Out.
And a Hatchet on anything below Heavy is a dumb idea, as it is somehow harder to hit with that than it is to kick another mech . .
AND it does less Damage to punch . . ok, the hatchet actually does the same ammount of Damage a kick would deal . .
i would only ever mount such weapons on heavy and up fast mechs, preferably with TSM in there, so they get even heavier when hot.
yeah, i really hate the berzerker with TSM Myomer . . kicks/hits for 40 Damage, there's NOTHING that can take that kind of abuse without being nearly insta-killed . .
and the MASC Variant is dumb as bricks, only some short spurts of speed with halved close combat damage and still overheating like crazy . . and the MASC can, and does occassionally simply fail, even if you have to roll a 3 . . rolling a 2 happens more often than i would like <.< . .

Well, according to the wiki the hatchet gets a -1 to hit which should make it more accurate than a kick.  I agree that the Hatchet is probably a bad idea on a design this light, but he did request a melee weapon on a small fast 'Mech which is why I went with a 35 ton design to be at the top of the light weight class to make the Hatchet a little more useful.  I also agree that TSM would be a good idea, but this is a Clan design because I don't like the Inner Sphere, and TSM is an IS only technology so I had to leave it out.  You could probably do an IS version by dropping some electronics, although you would have to shut down some Heat Sinks to activate the TSM.

As for the MASC variant, just because you are carrying it don't mean you have to use it that often.  I would say to keep it in reserve and only use it when you really need a little extra speed to avoid being scrapped.  You can also substitute in TAG if you want to be able to call in heavy support fire which may be useful in some situations.

[Stahlseele]

Well, Megamek is more or less 100% true to CBT Rules, and hitting something with the hatchet was most of the times rewarded with a target number of 10, while kicking someone somehow never went above 7 in target number . .

[Diablo48]

That is rather odd.  I don't have the melee rules on hand, but I think it should be the same for either one in the same situation with the only difference coming from the different modifiers (assuming they are different).