QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Taken from Mechstorm fourms
Disclaimer:
This was writen at the request of our users, its not actually an official statement of any kind about netmech. Its just a list of stuff that netmech either supports right now and can support in the future. Either planned already or currently the topic of hot debate regarding the possibilities we see here. Some parts may be slightly inaccurate or may change before Netmech is officially released.
About Netmech.
Lots of people are asking what Netmech is, so lets try and answer that question by dealing with what people will be thinking first.
Q) What is it about ?
A) All features are balanced as per the Classic Battletech Rules. Without exception.
Q) Can I help test it ?
A) Yes just PM Mack or Giskard here and ask to join the test team. Feedback is expected if you join the test team.
Q) Is Netmech a mech pack ?
A) Yes and more.
Q) Does it contain new mechs ?
A) It contains most mechs from other paks but not all.
Q) Do I need yet another Mercs install to run Netmech ?
A) Netmech can share the same folder as other mech mods but HC currenly is not supported. Most mekpaks are though. Netmech will install want it needs for you automatically, detecting anything you may already have installed in the process. Basic requirements are at least clean PR1 install of mercs. After that the entire installation process is best described as a next next next install. Totally painless for the end user. Also the launcher enables netmech when its run and offers you updates to various netmech files and other mech tools and maps at launch time.
Q) The Launcher, so its also an updater, is that right ?
A) Yes but it keeps other things up to date too, any maps offered via the launcher will track the versions you have installed and list new versions of netmech, maps or tools when they become available. Such as the Mw4 Monitor and other things so you can stay up to date with those as well. It also offers uninstall features from some items that support it so you can use it to manage your maps and other things you have installed providing they where installed via the updater in the first place.
Q) Somebody mentioned addons for netmech, what's that about ?
A) Because of the way Netmech overrides other packs and still makes use of the other paks content, addons can override netmech content in the same way. So by adding a mw4 file after netmech we can change netmechs content without overwriting netmech it self. You can then enable or disable the addons just like you would enable or disable netmech. All very easy to do. Its possible to make addons that focus solely on Solaris for example with ballancing and mech choices that suit solaris game play. Not only that but new sounds and graphics designed to enhance supported arena maps so they look and feel like Solaris is also possible. Its just as possible to make Coops this way so any coop designed to use the addon will look and feel much better if used with the addon than it would if it was used without the addon. In the much the same way the HDP updates your maps without you needing up update them your self, these addons can work the same way. Use your imagination, anything including mech racing could be given the addon treatment. You might even want go faster red stripes for skins and mechs with no weapons but better engines for a racing mod, its all possible.
Now for the stuff people probably do not tell you. The stuff that's being added to Netmech that no other Mech pack has. Unfortunately we are figuring stuff out all the time so we cannot make a complete list of features yet.
Netmech actually adds new features, for starters you have 4 timelines that filter weapons and mechs according to those available in those timelines. Making it very easy to replay the Tuky campaign with your friends, fight the battles on Coventry all over again or just have a clan vs IS night one Saturday using mechs from a specific time in CBT history.
Weapon balancing and how they work, is not just a simple number change. Where it was possible to do so the weapons have been made to act like they should in CBT. Usually via heat. The entire combat system is slowed down by the use of these balancing factors and that alone has moved Netmech away from the arcadey Mercs game and more towards the arcadey Sim game. Yes Mercs is an arcade game, the difference is it has a mech lab. Its not a proper simulation so lets not pretend it is. Check out one of the falcon games for a proper sim and you will see the world of difference.
Heat takes in to account the usual heat sink and weapons, but it also takes in to account the engine fitted to a mech. Since you cannot change the engine, you can no longer change the speed of the mechs. This makes every mech vastly different because the way of making a Daishi feel as fast as a heavy mech has been removed. Now land pigs are as slow as they where supposed to be and speed remains and advantage of smaller mechs.
Heat also effects other's ability to detect you and has been factored in to the radar code in the forum of thermal senses. This is the name given to the new code used for radar. Since it does take in to account heat, your mech really does have thermal sensors now. But you cannot turn them on or off, they are passive sensors. Always on but not detectable as other active systems would be. When a heat bloom is detected it is automatically applied to the standard radar code and thus increases the range a hot mech is detected at. ECM and BAP modify the same radar code in a similar way. So hot mechs may appear on radar at maximum distance briefly each time they fire and vanish again when they cool down. Not only that but some mechs have cooler engines and rarely over heat, others are prone to over heating and demand a careful loadout be chosen. This makes the cooler mechs very stealthy and you will often find the mechs that carry ECM are the same mechs with cooler engines. So Netmechs scouting game takes a massive boost from this.
Weapons and heat sinks also balance out the game. Its no longer a case of fitting as many weapons to a mech as possible and accepting the heat because in Classic Battletech the heat they generate is far higher than it is in Mercs. So heat management is much more of an issue in Netmech than it previously was in Mercs. It means gun heavy mechs are not only detected easier but fire less often because they are shut down most of the time. Heat sinks give players who take less weapons a much bigger advantage in combat than previously seen in Mercs. So today those players that consider these issues often do well where as those who previously did well by simply out gunning those other players on the same server do badly. The old rules concerning who usually wins have been completely nuked and results are much fairer to all players and focus on your skills in the choosing the right mech for each map, your skills in the mech lab, your knowledge of each time line and your fighting abilities. This means even a raven can and already has won games against assault mechs on test nights. But assault mechs have won matches you would expect them to win too. Your own knowledge is the key here not the number of PPCs you can squeeze on to mech anymore.
Also its now worth taking medium/small lasers as an alternative brawler weapon, they can be taken in mass, and group fired without overheating your mech in a single salvo like other weapons can do on some mechs. Causing a lot of damage in the process. You can core most mechs with 3 alpha strikes from these things. They recycle fast too and the third shot may shut you down but that's the risk you take when using lasers in large groups. Of course they are short range so actually getting in to position is also a factor that is helped by the maps layout. Whether you use these or not will depend on the map it self.
Voice taunts are another new feature, you can type in 3 letter codes in to the chat window and have the insult played in the players own language at the other side. Great fun when used properly and a very popular addition to Netmech.
More and more features are being added all the time but these are the ones I know about right now. As the beta progresses this document will become more and more outdated but the key points mentioned here should remainly roughly the same and give you an idea of what Netmech actually is.
56k user support.
Netmech stores its downloaded patches at the following location.
Mechwarrior Mercenaries\NM4-Updater\FilesCache
Any update found at that location is installed from that location before netmech trys to download it. So if you have a friend downloading the large patches for you. Just copy the new downloads to your own filecache and run the netmech launcher.
Giskard
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