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 paulson games wrote:
I think it's a critical in the Megamek rules mod (ignore armor effect). The point of the video is that you can have the worst and fugliest mech possible and still blow stuff up with the right combination of luck.

The urbanmech is probably the worst of all the 80's designs and it also has absolutely horrible stats (slowest mech in the game armed with only one small laser which in reality does nothing), but it has that intangible something to it that makes battletech awesome despite the derpiness.


MWO's contribution to the running joke that is the glory of Urbanmech. I love the cockpit's speed gauge reading "slow and slower"

Spoiler:

Damn You, that was hilarious!

"You should have opened with that"

 paulson games wrote:
I think it's a critical in the Megamek rules mod (ignore armor effect). The point of the video is that you can have the worst and fugliest mech possible and still blow stuff up with the right combination of luck.

The urbanmech is probably the worst of all the 80's designs and it also has absolutely horrible stats (slowest mech in the game armed with only one small laser which in reality does nothing), but it has that intangible something to it that makes battletech awesome despite the derpiness.

Ah, thanks for the clarification.

Thats just Awesome

 Mr Morden wrote:
Thats just Awesome

No, it’s not.

Awesomes are the 80 ton guys with 3xPPCs (and a small laser).

Completely different mechs.



(Video is funny)

 Ghaz wrote:


Except for the longer torso they look very similar.

If that's the artwork a potential reimagined MAD-3R is going to be based on, I'm sorely disappointed. The rendering in the artwork I posted above is 1000% better. All IMO of course but my excitement over this project was based on the Black Widow company artwork, not this recycled MAD-4X look.

No. As mentioned that is the artwork for the MAD-4X Marauder from XTRO: Succession Wars.

 Anpu42 wrote:
The Archer, though it is more close to it's belly/waist.

It's at the top, same as the original Macross Spartan. from Sarna

Actually for the Archer its almost universally agreed that the cockpit is at the front of the 'mech (the black bar above the cylindrical object in the image below)



There are however some 'mechs where the location of the cockpit is in doubt (e.g, the Assassin). Regardless, they're all considered to be in the 'head' wherever the art places that head on the body.

 Ghaz wrote:
Actually for the Archer its almost universally agreed that the cockpit is at the front of the 'mech (the black bar above the cylindrical object in the image below)
There are however some 'mechs where the location of the cockpit is in doubt (e.g, the Assassin). Regardless, they're all considered to be in the 'head' wherever the art places that head on the body.

Hahaha, oh man, I just went to see if any other art also made the massively stupid decision to put the cockpit there and I found this



That's just awful. What the hell? Haaaahahaaaaa

"Hey guys, I know we are using these _amazing_ Shoji Kawamori designs, so let's ignore all of the brilliant technical design work that went into producing them and place the cockpit, uh, wherever, and also, when you guys draw this, please PLEASE exaggerate the proportions so badly that it looks like it was built using legos by a child who once saw a Macross Spartan model kit in a dusty comic store and is trying to remember what it looks like but obviously runs out of legos when he gets to the arms.... PERFECT!"

Man, I love me some Battletech, in spite of how badly the IP wants to do itself in.

 judgedoug wrote:
"Hey guys, I know we are using these _amazing_ Shoji Kawamori designs, so let's ignore all of the brilliant technical design work that went into producing them and place the cockpit, uh, wherever, and also, when you guys draw this, please PLEASE exaggerate the proportions so badly that it looks like it was built using legos by a child who once saw a Macross Spartan model kit in a dusty comic store and is trying to remember what it looks like but obviously runs out of legos when he gets to the arms.... PERFECT!"

Surely you mean Kazutaka Miyatake, there

 Albertorius wrote:
Surely you mean Kazutaka Miyatake, there

Whoa whoa, I thought Miyatake did the Macross and other capital ship designs and Kawamori was responsible for the mecha.

 judgedoug wrote:

 Albertorius wrote:
Surely you mean Kazutaka Miyatake, there

Whoa whoa, I thought Miyatake did the Macross and other capital ship designs and Kawamori was responsible for the mecha.

He also did the destroids for the original series, as well as the Lancer/Ghost, at the very least, even though he's best known for the SDF-1.

 Ghaz wrote:

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:

 Ghaz wrote:
Sensors may make it unnecessary to rely on visuals, but if your sensors get knocked out you're going to be playing blind man's bluff.

Yes, but if you lost both sensor critical slots that means your 'Mech's head has taken 2 critical hits and likely in a world of pain anyway. Unless you are the aforementioned Victor Steiner-Davion who can take Gauss Rifle slugs to the head and keep on fighting!

What does any of that have to do with a torso cockpit, i.e. a cockpit which is not in the 'mech's head but is in the center torso behind all of the center torso armor?

Looks like I misconstrued your statement. I thought you went back to talking about losing sensors in the head. Still, torso mounted cockpits have nothing to do with my criticism of some of the artwork depicting `Mechs with excessively large cockpit canopies.

My point has been that the fluff makes the need for large, transparent canopies unnecessary. Yes, torso mounted cockpits exist as an optional design rule, but you don't need torso mounted cockpits to represent fully armored "closed" head-mounted cockpits. In fact plenty of `Mechs have minimal cockpit profiles which don't need to giant canopies to convey "cockpit".

Torso mounted cockpits were introduced to allow players to design `Mechs without the fatal head shot flaw common in the game. Torso mounted cockpits were not introduced to mesh the artwork with the game rules. So what do torso mounted cockpits have to do with artists drawing stupidly unnecessary canopies?

 Albertorius wrote:

 judgedoug wrote:

 Albertorius wrote:
Surely you mean Kazutaka Miyatake, there

Whoa whoa, I thought Miyatake did the Macross and other capital ship designs and Kawamori was responsible for the mecha.

He also did the destroids for the original series, as well as the Lancer/Ghost, at the very least, even though he's best known for the SDF-1.

Gosh! Well three cheers to Miyatake for the destroids! Even more of a genius than I had originally given him credit for.

 Ghaz wrote:
No. As mentioned that is the artwork for the MAD-4X Marauder from XTRO: Succession Wars.

Okay, I'm confused now, Ghaz. Are you saying that the new MAD-3R design will be similar to the picture you posted or not? I like the MAD-4X well enough, I am just hoping the new MAD-3R looks more like one in the Black Widow Company artwork that was posted earlier in this thread and not the 4X.

As noted the MAD-3R and the MAD-4X are different models of the same 'mech, just like the Leman Russ Demolisher and the Leman Russ Vanquisher are different models of the same Astra Militarum tank. They will look similar, but they're not the same 'mech so we have no indication how many differences there will be between the -4X and what may be the -3R seen here.

To clear everything up, the cool art that has been posted shows the new designs that will be made in miniature. The new cool art shows the new retcon designs.

Basically, ignore any other pictures of the Marauder in this thread other than the one in the new cool art. They're all from other supplements or whatever and are unrelated in content to the new retcon designs.

PS the retcon mechs are done by Sentinel373 / Alex Immerzeel right?

I disagree. The -4X is not being retconned nor the Phoenix designs, just those using the Glaug Commander Type artwork.

 Ghaz wrote:
As noted the MAD-3R and the MAD-4X are different models of the same 'mech, just like the Leman Russ Demolisher and the Leman Russ Vanquisher are different models of the same Astra Militarum tank. They will look similar, but they're not the same 'mech so we have no indication how many differences there will be between the -4X and what may be the -3R seen here.

Okay, I guess I misunderstood your posts. Even ignoring the II and IIC models, though, there are currently four different MAD-# miniatures in production by IWN, and none of them look all that much like each other except in the most general way.

 judgedoug wrote:
To clear everything up, the cool art that has been posted shows the new designs that will be made in miniature. The new cool art shows the new retcon designs.

That's what I wanted to hear! Thanks, Judgedog!!!

 judgedoug wrote:
PS the retcon mechs are done by Sentinel373 / Alex Immerzeel right?

AFAIK, they've been done by Anthony Scroggins, aka Shimmering-Sword:

http://shimmering-sword.deviantart.com/gallery/

 Ghaz wrote:
Actually for the Archer its almost universally agreed that the cockpit is at the front of the 'mech (the black bar above the cylindrical object in the image below) [..]

I think one of the earlier specific mentions of that was in the original 3025 TRO, as the Mechwarrior 1 book used the image already linked to.

 judgedoug wrote:
[..] Man, I love me some Battletech, in spite of how badly the IP wants to do itself in.

Yeah, it definitely does not help any setting when the best option is to ignore most all of the fluff, rules, or whatnot because something was done so poorly in the first place, let alone for subsequent 'revisions'.

A lot of the original material isn't all that bad though, I think it mostly just suffers from a too excessive inclusion of Easter Egg items that was likewise carried too far in the later material.

The artwork for Tharkad's throne room is wonderful. Cold and austere, just like a Steiner.

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:


The artwork for Tharkad's throne room is wonderful. Cold and austere, just like a Steiner.

Its a great pic - although the lovely Melissa was never that

Ah, no wonder the new designs looked so good. They had someone with an actual sense for aesthetics do them. I love Shimmering Sword's art style. Now, have him redesign everything else. Oh, and bring in Flyingdebris' protomech redesigns, too.

 Barzam wrote:
Ah, no wonder the new designs looked so good. They had someone with an actual sense for aesthetics do them. I love Shimmering Sword's art style. Now, have him redesign everything else. Oh, and bring in Flyingdebris' protomech redesigns, too.

Best thing about it is that I think they feel very much like Battletech, which many artists' mech designs don't, even among the published ones.

Stop this heavy mech nonsense! Where are the light (Steiner battle armor) designs.

M.

 Ghaz wrote:
I disagree. The -4X is not being retconned nor the Phoenix designs, just those using the Glaug Commander Type artwork.

I didn't say they were. I told the other users who are getting confused about all the random ugly pics of Marauders in this thread to ignore them.

The new fancy pic contains the new retcon mech designs that replace, retcon, the Macross/Dougram/etc designs.

The not-as-good Phoenix and XTRO designs will remain as they are.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Albertorius wrote:

 judgedoug wrote:
PS the retcon mechs are done by Sentinel373 / Alex Immerzeel right?

AFAIK, they've been done by Anthony Scroggins, aka Shimmering-Sword:

You 100% sure? I could have sword the thread on the Catalyst Battletech forums talked about Immerzeel doing the art.

 judgedoug wrote:

 Albertorius wrote:

 judgedoug wrote:
PS the retcon mechs are done by Sentinel373 / Alex Immerzeel right?

AFAIK, they've been done by Anthony Scroggins, aka Shimmering-Sword:

You 100% sure? I could have sword the thread on the Catalyst Battletech forums talked about Immerzeel doing the art.

Not 100%, no, but the Warhammer and Griffin in Shimmering Sword's images are very clearly the same designs as the ones from the Dragoons' pic, and I've had the second one as my laptop's wallpaper for about half a year already, quite a bit before the announcement.

 Miguelsan wrote:
Stop this heavy mech nonsense! Where are the light (Steiner battle armor) designs.

M.

Crushed under the feet of the heavies. Where they belong!

Anthony/Shimmering Sword did the concept work and finished art for the news mechs. Alex/Immerzeel did the 3d warhammer model based off of Anthony's drawings. Anthony was also overseeing the 3d as he's acting as the project manager on the revised unseens. (which then goes to cgl for final approval)


(I chat with Anthony quite frequently so that's straight from him)