Designing tips required

[Shadow Paladin]

Greetings

I am fairly new to this game and I was wondering if anybody would be kind enough to pass on any advice, hints or tips on Titan construction such as using Millenia armour over the Heat regulator, etc.

[Peter Why]

I've been working on a designer's guide to the Factory. I've rather let the work lapse while the Forum has been down. Will get back to it now. Send private message if you'd like to see what I have so far.

[Thorgrim]

The manual already has some tips on the use of armor. Millenia should be used in locations with a heat reg component, yes. Titanium is good if slots are scarse, and it also has a good heat dissipation mod. Dullaroy is used for heavy protection, and the head (since it can only have one slot of armor, and D provides max armor). Vicenium is very light, so it is used when you need to save on weight and have plenty of slots available. No armor (100% heat mod) or unbalanced armor aren't usually good ideas.
As to weapons, try to put them primarily in the arms and head, so they can fire even while you're prone. Don't put ammo dependent weapons in the head, CT (other gyro locations are LOT and CBT, not usual places for weapons) or the engine location, it's generally a bad call because an ammo explosion might ruin your day. Weapons in the legs will have a to hit mod when you're moving. CBT mounted weapons will only fire to the rear firing arc.
Systems, there are some guidelines. Flares in the head or side torsos so they can be deployed even when prone. Life support in the head, for protection. Battle computer in the CBT, for protection. Engine in the CT, or LOT or CBT if small. Scanner in the head, shield in the LOT if possible. DCS goes well in the CBT if possible, to avoid being damaged (can't repair it in battle).

Choosing the engine is important, and it depends on how much power the titan will need. An engine 1 will provide power for the basic stuff, scanner (1PU) and heat reg (1PU) and max power for movement (run/dodge, 3PUs). If you want an ECM you'll need another PU, if you want to be able to swivel while running you'll need another (generally not effective weight-wise). Energy weapons may need additional PUs for recharging, according to their power requirements. This is all explained in the guide, PM/email me if you want me to send it to you.

Weapon selection is also very important. Some weapons go well with each other. Some are good for specific roles. Skills of the jock for the titan, in case of customs, is also a very important factor.

Checking the pinboard in the factory after building the titan can also give you some light on the weaknesses of the design. Take the ratings with a grain of salt though, especially if you have energy weapons with overlapping ranges. Battle testing is the best indicator.

[Shadow Paladin]

Thank you PW and Thor for the help.

Just a couple of more questions though

(1) What is unbalanced armour exactly as I have read the manual and it does not mention if it means having extra mm's or Ap's in the entire titans different areas, a section like top or bottom or just between two similar locations like the left and right torso?

(2) Is it possible to work out how the BMT would affect a titans speed and ability to naturally dodge incoming fire or hits or is the BMT standard for the chasis whatever the weight and engine of the titan?

[Sleeping_Dragon]

ORIGINAL: Shadow Paladin

(1) What is unbalanced armour exactly

Drastically different APs in various areas where there's no reason, can be between top and borrom, left and right, or any 2 or more locations. It would be like having the arms armored up to 50APs but the torsos at 13APs.. granted that's an extreme example. VERY generaly speaking APs tend to be highest in the CT and decrease a few APs as you move toward the extremities because the central locations are more likely to be hit and they also contain critical equipment.. like engines

(2) Is it possible to work out how the BMT would affect a titans speed and ability to naturally dodge incoming fire or hits or is the BMT standard for the chasis whatever the weight and engine of the titan?

You can but I don't know the formulas offhand. However! for all practical purposes the BMT is set by chassis type. Engine size don't effect it in anyway, although titans that are supstancially underwieght (10%(?) off maximum ) do get a BMT bonus.. it's just not worth the wieght tradeoff to use.

[Thorgrim]

One example of unbalanced armor is the Hunchback. To carry that AC20, it must be like that. That's the weakness of the design, the one you have to explore [:D]

The BMT is the time it takes for the titan to cross 333m (1 hex) of plains by walking. A little math, and you can determine speed [;)]
Speed, and not BMT, affects chance to be hit. Some weapons have a speed/8 penalty (GMHs, MGs, regular lasers), all others have speed/5. Notice that BMT is a fixed value for a given chassis, whereas speed depends on your move mode.
BMT decreases by 1 for every 10 tons below max weight for the weight class.

[Shadow Paladin]

Hmm this raises another couple of questions

(1) Example

An enemy titan is letting lose with a pulse laser and a SRM8 rack at one of my titans. Both are located on a level plain. Mine is running at the other titan whilst the other titan is walking towards mine. Now would the to hit penalty be a mix of both speed penalties or just mine or just his?

(2) Do weapons and systems in a location add to inbalance or is that merely armour only? Does having empty slots also affect your titans balance?


Yes thats 3 questions and yes I know I ask a lot of questions but I have a funny feeling that if you had a manual that answered all these questions the book would cost more than the game [;)]

[Thorgrim]

1) You're facing a penalty for his speed (speed/5), and another for your move mode (walk). He is facing a penalty for your speed (speed/5), and another for his move mode (run) [:)] Move penalty for walk is lower than for run of course.

2) What do you mean inbalance? Armor inbalance doesn't affect the performance of the titan, it merely makes it more vulnerable to damage to those locations. Especially to called shots, in locations with low armor. If the location is taken out, that's a bad thing [;)]
Empty slots do not affect anything in any way - well, there's a small exception, they allow a re-roll for EMP hits.


Actually, most of this is in the Guide, and guess what, it's FREE [:D]
Unfortunately, with the loss of posts, the link is gone, and zips cannot be attached anymore to the forum, so if you want it just LMK.

[Shadow Paladin]

So I could dump all my systems on one side of my titan then armour it to max (well in theory) and not bother with the other side and I would not get any sort of penalties for having all the weigh on one side other than being able to lose certain bodyparts a lot easier?

LMK? [&:]

Oh and thank you for your help [:D]

[Thorgrim]

Yep. As long as you have free slots to put all the equipment there. You're not only limited by weight, but by available space too.

Let Me Know [;)]

NP (No Problem) [:D]

[Shadow Paladin]

Yes I know that one [:'(] (wonders why the sticking out tongue emote is the one usually used for crying[&:])

If the Guide is the manual then I already have it and it really does not explain much at all. If its something else could you please email it to me please

Thanks [:)]

[Thorgrim]

Check your PM, just sent it.

[Sleeping_Dragon]

ORIGINAL: Shadow Paladin
So I could dump all my systems on one side of my titan then armour it to max (well in theory) and not bother with the other side and I would not get any sort of penalties for having all the weigh on one side other than being able to lose certain bodyparts a lot easier?

That kind of 'balancing' is called handling and it's only effected by chassis type, jock skill, terrian modifiers, certian events in missions/campaigns, and critical damage to actuators. oh, and damaged jocks which lowers thier piloting skill%.

[Thorgrim]

Those are piloting skill checks, and they have nothing to do with the way equipment is allocated in a frame. The handling modifier is specific to a given chassis, yes, depending on its physical configuration (just a balancing factor).
Damaged jocks don't have their skills reduced, they have a skill check penalty to all their rolls. [;)]

[aquietfrog]

I think you will want to spread out your systems, however, because once the part that contains them is disabled, you'll lose all your systems. In the worst case scenario for example, you're facing 2 Imps and they're all in range with their tesla bolts and all of them hit your titan's CT, which houses all your systems (except the engine which is in the CBT). You can say bye bye to your Titan. Oh, it can still work if the Gyro's not in the CT, but if your Battle Computer and Scanner were also in the CT, you'd be lucky to manage to get a lock on something.

Edit:

I checked at the factory and found that the maximum AP a CT can hold is 106, including Internal AP, that's for Chassis 4 of the Assault Class using Dullaroy. 4 teslas to the CT of that will leave you with 6 AP...

[Thorgrim]

There's always a gyro section in the CT. Gyro has 3 sections, fixed locations (CT, CBT, LOT).

[aquietfrog]

Gyro in the CT... I was guessing there were cases where it wasn't there because I remember a few times where a titan with a disabled CT and green everywhere else could still move about...

[Thorgrim]

The gyro is not a "movable" part [;)]
In the release version, you could still do some things with a destroyed gyro, but mostly at 2% [:)]
Patch 1.1.0 disallowed any move when gyro is destroyed. Except swivel of course.

[william19k]

Ok I have a question for you veterans,

On the Armor listing table showing what armors I have on my titan there is a column of information I am not understanding, Here is an example:


Armor:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Loc/Internal/Armor/Status/Points/mm

[Head] (11) Dullaroy HMAX 018 [027mm]
[RT ] (19) Vicenium (W) 029 [049mm]
[CT ] (19) Dullaroy (S) 027 [039mm]
[CBT ] (13) Dullaroy (W) 017 [025mm]
[LT ] (19) Vicenium (W) 029 [049mm]
[RA ] (19) Vicenium (S) 027 [045mm]
[LA ] (19) Vicenium (W) 027 [046mm]
[LowT] (13) Vicenium (W) 028 [048mm]
[RL ] (17) Vicenium (W) 028 [048mm]
[LL ] (17) Vicenium (W) 028 [048mm]

My Question is What do the (W) and (S) stand for ? I figured that when it says Max in that column the armor is as full as it can be.

Can someone explain the S and W or piont me to what page in the manual to look? I tried to find it last night in the manual but it was very late and I was very sleepy.

Thanks.

William19k

[Thorgrim]

W means the weight limit for the titan has been reached, so you can't add more armor (W = due to weight limits). S is the same but for slots in the location (no free slots).
I don't think it's in the manual, but it's in the factory's F1 help system. Whatever is not in one of them should be in the other.

edit: hmm, it's not in the Factory's help system either.