Various Things You Probably Don't Know About MechAssault
Created by Shadow Panther
#'s 1 - 25 posted in January of 2003.
#'s 26 - 32 posted in February and March of 2003
If you would like to see the raw data behind the majority of this information, then you can view my detailed spreadsheets here:
http://shadowpanther.net
1. An Atlas has more armor than its variant, the Prometheus.
2. The Ragnarok and Ymir each have less armor than the Atlas or Prometheus, although they weigh the same.
3. The Owens and Hackman both have more armor than the slower Cougar and Puma.
4. Listed speeds for most Mechs are inaccurate, otherwise a 40 mph
Cougar would get from one location to another twice as fast as a 20 mph
Atlas. In reality, not even an Owens or Hackman is twice as fast as an
Atlas. If the *accepted* base speed for an Atlas is 20 mph, then an
Owens is only 36 mph in relation to that.
5. The Bowman and Catapult Mechs are just as slow as an Atlas - - 20 mph.
6. The Vulture is slower than its variant, the Mad Dog.
7. An Elemental is by far the slowest Mech in the game, clocking in at
13 mph (relative to an Atlas' 20 mph) or 15 mph with use of its Jump
Jets.
8. Jump Jets are not equal on all Mechs. A Bowman's Jump Jets last for
8 seconds while a Thor's Jump Jets only last for 5. However, the Thor's
Jump Jets have a shorter recharge time of 3 seconds compared to 4
seconds for the Bowman. Also, certain Mechs can fly faster and farther
than other Mechs, even if they have the same amount of "hangtime."
Mechs that can fly the farthest include the Kit Fox and Uller. Mechs
with the shortest flying distaces include the Summoner and Elemental.
All Jump Jets (except for those on an Elemental) have the same height
maximum and move the Mech at a slower speed than when running.
9. Mechs each give out different amounts of green armor salvage. Heavier Mechs leave more armor than lighter Mechs.
10. Level 2 Pulse lasers do more damage (per laser) than level 3 Pulse
lasers, even though level 3 Pulse Lasers fire at a much faster rate and
do more damage over time.
11. Machine Guns bullets do 1.5-2.5 times more damage than individual
Pulse Lasers, but have a much shorter range and slower rate of fire.
However, they still do more damage per second on average than Pulse
Lasers, with about half the heat.
12. Javelin missiles do more than twice the amount of damage per
missile than Crossbow missiles but have a rate of fire that is slower
by about half.
13. Warhammer missiles do about 4-4.5 times more damage than Javelin Missiles, and can actually be fired slightly faster.
14. Lava Guns have splash damage and have knockdown ability as well.
15. Level 3 Dual Warhammers (Prometheus, Bowman) do as much damage as a
3 round blast of the the Lava Gun, with the same splash radius. Level 3
Dual Warhammers can actually do more damage over time, with less heat,
than Lava Gun blasts!
16. A MadCat's Dual PPCs only dish out about 2/3 as much damage as a set of Dual Hammers at the same level.
17. The Gauss rifle shot has a slight amount of homing capability which
is hardly noticeable due to its fast projectile speed. Not only that,
but at levels 2 and 3 it has "Knockdown" ability which allows it to
knock other Mechs down around 5% - 20% of the time. The Autocannon, on
the other hand, has no homing capability but can knock Mechs down as
much as 10% - 50% of the time at levels 2 and 3. However, the heaviest
"Assault Class" Mechs (Atlas, Prometheus, Ragnarok and Ymir) do not
appear to be affected by Knockdown Ability.
18. Warhammer Missiles and Lava Guns aren't the only weapons with
Splash Damage. Both Crossbow and Javelin Missiles have a minor splash
damage ability, which deals around half normal damage and has very
small radius of about 1/2 to 1/4 of a Mech's width.
19. Holding down the charge on a PPC or holding down the timer on a
Warhammer missile slows down your heat dissipation or cooldown rate so
that it takes twice as long to cool down.
20. There are currently only three Mechs in the game that do not have
homing weapons: Summoner, Bowman and Kit Fox. The Raven and Corvus will
soon join this "elite" group, but neither of those Mechs will have the
benefit of Warhammers. These Mechs seem to have been designed
specifically for "pros."
21. A falling Mech deals damage equal to its weight X 10 to the Mech on
which it falls. Therefore, a falling Thor deals 70 X 10 damage or 700
damage. A falling Atlas (which was difficult to setup, I might add)
deals 1,000 points of damage. Even Elementals deal falling damage of 50
points per fall (I know, not very impressive.) This damage only occurs
when there is a strike to the "head" of the Mech, whether it is a
direct hit or even a glancing blow. Knowing that Mechs can deal falling
damage means that Jump Jets have offensive as well as defensive
applications.
22. A Core Breach (the explosion after your Mech dies) has a radius
that is approximately 2 Mechs wide and always deals 3,000 points of
damage regardless of the size of the Mech that is exploding (Elementals
not included.) If you know your Mech has less than 3,000 points of
armor left then stay away!
23. Falling buildings can also be used as deadly weapons. Unlike a Core
Breach, which has a single, set amount of damage, building rubble deals
damage over time. The longer you stand in the cloud of falling rubble,
the more damage you take. Also, the taller the building, the more
damage it causes, because taller buildings take longer to fall. Mechs
appear to take more damage if they are standing on top of a building
rather than next to it. Although it is difficult to calculate the
amount of damage a falling building deals, I have been able to
determine how much armor each building has. Here are armor values for
common buildings in River City - Small: 500, Medium: 1,000, Large:
2,000, Bridge: 1,500. Knowing how many shots it takes to destroy the
bridge someone is standing on can be quite handy. Just divide 1,500 by
the amount of damage your weapon does to get this number.
24. Although only certain weapons have homing ability (PPC, Gauss
Rifle, Crossbow and Javelin Missiles), all weapons have "tracking"
ability. Homing would be defined as your weapon's ability to home in on
the target (through infrared or other means) as it flies through the
air. Tracking, on the other hand, would be your targeting reticle's
ability to lock onto a target before firing and then aim the weapon so
that the projectile(s) will intercept the path of the target. This
means that even "dumbfire" Warhammers have the ability to fire at an
angle to cross the path of the target *as long as it remains on the
exact same course and speed.* If the target changes course or speed,
the non-homing projectile will continue in a straight line, most likely
missing the target.
25. "You can push other mechs up hills they otherwise can't go up. I
successfully pushed an owens all the wap up the steep cliff at blue's
spawning point in the icepack level using a bowman and jumpjets. A
simplier example would be to push a madcat up the hill at red or blue's
spawning point in the colloseum. They normally have to go around by the
bridge to go up the hill. If the hill is really tall the mech that's
pushing is gonna need jump jets to push them all the way up." - posted
by LedZepplinGuest
26. The Raven and Corvus are the only Mech variants that do not share
the same Jump Jet ability (or lack thereof.) With all other pairs,
either both variants have Jump Jets or both don't. Also, the Raven has
a different weapon selection than what was originally planned.
Instead of 2 Lasers, the Raven only has one Laser along with a single
Crossbow Missile. Since the Raven now has a homing weapon, this means
that the Corvus is the only Mech that does not benefit from either a
homing weapon or a splash weapon like the Warhammer Missile (see #20
above). - posted 2/21/03
27. On multiplayer maps, lava does not deal damage, it only increases
your Mech's heat. Also, the "heat vent pillars" that you see on
Coliseum and h*ll's Kitchen generate heat if you stand near them, but
not if you stand on them! - posted 2/21/03
28. Missing entry.
29. Missing entry.
30. The map you are playing on has no bearing whatsoever on Mech
Cooldown Times. A Ymir takes 20 seconds to cool down whether he is
standing in Colosseum, River City or Frosty. As long as he isn't
standing in Lava, Water or next to a Heat Vent, he will always cool
down in 20 seconds on any map, when not firing his weapons. - posted
3/7/03
31. Water (regardless of the map) decreases your Mech's Cooldown Time
by about 30%. A Ymir standing in River City's river will cool down in
14 seconds. A Ymir standing in Icepack's "ice water" will also cool
down in 14 seconds. - posted 3/7/03
32. This will be my final contribution to this thread. I have to credit Mok for helping to discover this.
Powerups spawn on every map in a predetermined order and at a set time.
As an example, River City has 4 powerup locations, which I have named
"Hill", "Inner City", "Outer City" and "Launch Pad". The Hill powerup
order is Red/Yellow/Blue. Inner City is Blue/Red/Yellow. Outer City is
Blue/Yellow/Red. Launch Pad is Yellow/Red/Blue.
In River City, the first set of powerups will appear 30 seconds after
the game begins. Those powerups will disappear one minute later if they
are not picked up. After they are picked up, or disappear, you have to
wait 30 more seconds for the next powerup in the sequence. Knowing
this, you can plan ahead and map out your movements to take advantage
of certain powerups showing up at specific times.
Every map has different timing with respect to powerups. Colloseum and
He||'s Kitchen powerups don't appear until 45 seconds into the game.
Some maps, like Junkyard, have powerups that spawn at different times.
The powerup at the center of the Junkyard's plateau spawns 25 seconds
into the game but the other two up there don't spawn until 5-10 seconds
later.
Knowing the sequences and timing of powerups can give you a distinct
advantage in 1 vs 1 battles, like those in the MechAssault
Championships... - posted 3/26/03
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