Post by AncientxFreako on Mar 8, 2017 1:26:36 GMT
I thought this might be helpful to new players who didn't experience the no mercy days of 'Mech3 multiplayer from...wow, 17-18 years ago. Back then there were 8 different multiplayer game modes which were originally designated I guess because of league play:
c0, which was stock mechs only
c1, which was energy weapons only
c2, energy and ballistics
c3, ballistics and missiles
c4, energy and missiles
c5, ballistics only
c6, all weapons allowed
c7, missile weapons only
Back in the "olden" days, we didn't have anyone modding the game, so the most creativity we had was the "c" modes and the ability to make custom multiplayer maps. Because there were so many players, and also due to the fact that 'Mech3 was the only 'Mech game, multiplayer was extremely competitive. Players would exploit every glitch they could with their builds, their connections, and their skills.
Known "glitches" in relation to multiplayer and custom builds:
*torso weapons and ammo do not get destroyed when torso armor is gone.
*although you do lose arm weapons and equipment when you lose an arm, you do not lose ammo that is loaded in the arms.
*This is only a theory and has never been proven, but many old vets believe that clan case helps with heat management. Since clan case takes up no weight or space you can load as many of them as you want. This was only a theory and I don't necessarily subscribe to it, but supposedly if you load enough case on your mech it's possible you could increase your lag. So, it's possible this is a cheat. There's no proof, only speculation. Some vets believed that surrounding their ballistic weapons with case caused tighter groupings of the shots, and that shitloads of case in the legs helped prevent gyro. With my experience with the programming I don't believe these things could actually be true.
*BAP does work, but since multiplayer games have unlimited radar it's a moot point. It may decrease time for missile lock however, as it's supposed to do in Battletech canon. It's also supposed to negate the increased time of missile lock caused by ECM, although I have never tested/experienced this to be true in 'Mech 3 mainly because...well, unlimited radar (in multiplayer) made BAP a moot point. Also, there was never any reason for me to test BAP in single-player once I came to realize that the AI characters/enemies do not pay attention to "radar" as such, they only do what their programming tells them to do as far as their behavior. If you are within the range that they are "set" to be aware of or "have a behavior" within, they will see you no matter what.
*ECM does not work in 'Mech3 the way it's supposed to. It does not mask you from radar, not in multiplayer or singleplayer (because of the above reasons), however it does make missile lock take longer and more difficult, and it also makes your enemy's reticule screwy when they are using a targeting computer.
*Artemis Fire control system does work. It makes lock on faster by about 2 beeps, it makes missiles fly faster and more accurately and more agile and also hop over the terrain, and only works when loaded in the same space as the missile launchers it's meant for. However, sometimes the missiles don't fly over the terrain, like when a hill is close to where you made your shot, and they won't fly over cliffs.
The existence of lag and the necessity for "lag-shooting" creates exploitable skills, and things you can do to "trick out" your builds.
*Since "respawn" games are always a race to get kills, and because the lag envioronment decreases the chance of a head shot (unless you're standing still!!), distributing armor (not all of it) from the head to elsewhere on the mech is something you can mess around with, but don't over-do it, because Stoney takes personal pride in his head-shots
*Because of the fast pace of respawn games and the power of "boat" builds, and also because there is lag, there is almost no point in bothering with back armor in your build, freeing up tonnage to be used for other things such as ammo or speed. Also, since you don't lose ammo loaded in the arms there's no reason to have armor in the arms other than to use them as a shield when spreading damage defensively. This also means you can save space in your torsos for weapons and heatsinks. So it's your choice, depending on the game mode, you can sometimes choose to go without armor on the arms and opt for more speed or ammo. HOWEVER...with the weapons mod there are more weapons that have large amounts of splash damage, and having no back armor could get you killed if there are a lot of splash damage weapons flying around.
*Normally an empty 'mech will default to single heat sinks. However, if you load any 'mech with a double-heatsink, then take it out, the default will become 10 double-heatsinks. Therefore, when creating a build and you think you're not going to need to manage a lot of heat from your weapons you can save space by not having extra double heatsinks and still have 10. Do this whenever you make a build for an ice map and your mech will handle heat better. (or any map for that matter)
*On ice maps you can make high-heat builds. A laser only mech can carry 16 er/med lasers, but you should not group them in numbers higher than 7 per group....7 is manageable on an ice map, more than 7 gets dicey. And again, you only need the 10 double heatsinks.
*MASC works in 'Mech3, and causes a lot more heat when you use it, so it's good to know where the on/off button is if you use it
*C3 computer does not work in 'Mech3
*16 weapons is the limit for all 'mechs
*5 ams is the limit for all 'mechs (with the exception of a couple of my custom stock builds from the weapons mod, but they are in the arms and you can lose them)
*Pirate's Moon fixed many of the above described glitches. Torso weapons, equipment, and ammo can be destroyed. When you lose an arm, if you don't have CASE loaded in the torso then you will lose torso weapons/ammo/equipment...so CASE actually works in PM. C3 computer works. PM has a limited radar option in multiplayer. ECM, BAP, and all the equipment in PM works in multiplayer.
Heat management and some weapons characteristics are a little more difficult in Pirate's Moon as well.
Why don't we just play Pirate's Moon you might be wondering?....not as many multiplayer maps, not a lot of options in the way of different landscapes. Also, back in the olden days, although PM did have a pretty good run at first for a little while, it was laggier than 'Mech3 in multiplayer. Also, the majority of the players liked the 'Mech3 glitches...especially the torso glitches.
I plan to eventually do all my modding on Pirate's Moon...but there are still things I want to finish on 'Mech3
c0, which was stock mechs only
c1, which was energy weapons only
c2, energy and ballistics
c3, ballistics and missiles
c4, energy and missiles
c5, ballistics only
c6, all weapons allowed
c7, missile weapons only
Back in the "olden" days, we didn't have anyone modding the game, so the most creativity we had was the "c" modes and the ability to make custom multiplayer maps. Because there were so many players, and also due to the fact that 'Mech3 was the only 'Mech game, multiplayer was extremely competitive. Players would exploit every glitch they could with their builds, their connections, and their skills.
Known "glitches" in relation to multiplayer and custom builds:
*torso weapons and ammo do not get destroyed when torso armor is gone.
*although you do lose arm weapons and equipment when you lose an arm, you do not lose ammo that is loaded in the arms.
*This is only a theory and has never been proven, but many old vets believe that clan case helps with heat management. Since clan case takes up no weight or space you can load as many of them as you want. This was only a theory and I don't necessarily subscribe to it, but supposedly if you load enough case on your mech it's possible you could increase your lag. So, it's possible this is a cheat. There's no proof, only speculation. Some vets believed that surrounding their ballistic weapons with case caused tighter groupings of the shots, and that shitloads of case in the legs helped prevent gyro. With my experience with the programming I don't believe these things could actually be true.
*BAP does work, but since multiplayer games have unlimited radar it's a moot point. It may decrease time for missile lock however, as it's supposed to do in Battletech canon. It's also supposed to negate the increased time of missile lock caused by ECM, although I have never tested/experienced this to be true in 'Mech 3 mainly because...well, unlimited radar (in multiplayer) made BAP a moot point. Also, there was never any reason for me to test BAP in single-player once I came to realize that the AI characters/enemies do not pay attention to "radar" as such, they only do what their programming tells them to do as far as their behavior. If you are within the range that they are "set" to be aware of or "have a behavior" within, they will see you no matter what.
*ECM does not work in 'Mech3 the way it's supposed to. It does not mask you from radar, not in multiplayer or singleplayer (because of the above reasons), however it does make missile lock take longer and more difficult, and it also makes your enemy's reticule screwy when they are using a targeting computer.
*Artemis Fire control system does work. It makes lock on faster by about 2 beeps, it makes missiles fly faster and more accurately and more agile and also hop over the terrain, and only works when loaded in the same space as the missile launchers it's meant for. However, sometimes the missiles don't fly over the terrain, like when a hill is close to where you made your shot, and they won't fly over cliffs.
The existence of lag and the necessity for "lag-shooting" creates exploitable skills, and things you can do to "trick out" your builds.
*Since "respawn" games are always a race to get kills, and because the lag envioronment decreases the chance of a head shot (unless you're standing still!!), distributing armor (not all of it) from the head to elsewhere on the mech is something you can mess around with, but don't over-do it, because Stoney takes personal pride in his head-shots
*Because of the fast pace of respawn games and the power of "boat" builds, and also because there is lag, there is almost no point in bothering with back armor in your build, freeing up tonnage to be used for other things such as ammo or speed. Also, since you don't lose ammo loaded in the arms there's no reason to have armor in the arms other than to use them as a shield when spreading damage defensively. This also means you can save space in your torsos for weapons and heatsinks. So it's your choice, depending on the game mode, you can sometimes choose to go without armor on the arms and opt for more speed or ammo. HOWEVER...with the weapons mod there are more weapons that have large amounts of splash damage, and having no back armor could get you killed if there are a lot of splash damage weapons flying around.
*Normally an empty 'mech will default to single heat sinks. However, if you load any 'mech with a double-heatsink, then take it out, the default will become 10 double-heatsinks. Therefore, when creating a build and you think you're not going to need to manage a lot of heat from your weapons you can save space by not having extra double heatsinks and still have 10. Do this whenever you make a build for an ice map and your mech will handle heat better. (or any map for that matter)
*On ice maps you can make high-heat builds. A laser only mech can carry 16 er/med lasers, but you should not group them in numbers higher than 7 per group....7 is manageable on an ice map, more than 7 gets dicey. And again, you only need the 10 double heatsinks.
*MASC works in 'Mech3, and causes a lot more heat when you use it, so it's good to know where the on/off button is if you use it
*C3 computer does not work in 'Mech3
*16 weapons is the limit for all 'mechs
*5 ams is the limit for all 'mechs (with the exception of a couple of my custom stock builds from the weapons mod, but they are in the arms and you can lose them)
*Pirate's Moon fixed many of the above described glitches. Torso weapons, equipment, and ammo can be destroyed. When you lose an arm, if you don't have CASE loaded in the torso then you will lose torso weapons/ammo/equipment...so CASE actually works in PM. C3 computer works. PM has a limited radar option in multiplayer. ECM, BAP, and all the equipment in PM works in multiplayer.
Heat management and some weapons characteristics are a little more difficult in Pirate's Moon as well.
Why don't we just play Pirate's Moon you might be wondering?....not as many multiplayer maps, not a lot of options in the way of different landscapes. Also, back in the olden days, although PM did have a pretty good run at first for a little while, it was laggier than 'Mech3 in multiplayer. Also, the majority of the players liked the 'Mech3 glitches...especially the torso glitches.
I plan to eventually do all my modding on Pirate's Moon...but there are still things I want to finish on 'Mech3
just checking in