'Mechs, Anyone?

[-ZG-BUZZARD 0]

Mechs for the win... none of that gundamn bullshittery. Man that Maddog looks awesome... hopefully you guys can get it working

If it weren't for Gundam, there wouldn't exist any mecha hype, and no MechWarrior...

Though I do agree that it would not be possible to make Gundams in OFP/ArmA because they use melee fighting, which is something not possible in OFP/ArmA for vehicles.

But, the Wanzers from Front Mission, as well as the High-MACS from Gun Griffon, were very nicely made for OFP, and I DO hope for a comeback in ArmA. What I like most about them is that they don't try to use weapons OFP/ArmA can't really portray well - AFAIK OFP/ArmA can't portray continuous-fire lasers, unfortunately... So having mechs is ok, as long as they use conventional weaponry (well, laser blasts have been made nicely in OFP as demonstrated by the Tie-Fighter Addon, but haven't seen that feat repeated) ...

[Sentry 0]

Sentry: Yep this model is mine, i used pawel's model as a picture ref because there was so little good info on the vulture omnimech, pawel's work is great but my version of the vulture is a lot cleaner and has more detail [thank the Zbrush gods]

Most if not all models you get from those scifi model sites are complete crap when your trying to use them for generating normal maps so i needed to create a clean mesh.

Looks about he same i know, but i beefed my model up a bit. trust me i'm the last person that would ever steal work from other artists [because it happend to me a few times ]

was only wondering

Sentry

[Vulture2k1 0]

I want this ingame ( Well.. not exactly that one.. i dont like that mw4-models of mechs :X

Mechwarrior 3 and the Tabletop > *

Well.. first i want to see a elemental ingame if i could do anything besides of making missions i would do that first.. a infantry that is 3 meters tall with lots of armor.. I have seen some ofp women in arma.. isnt that the first step to elementals? :P

[Daniel 0]

Mechwarrior 2 and MW2 Mercenaries FTW!!!

Much richer and darker storylines in my opinion. Loved all the detail and the fact you didn't have an ingame avatar.

Seriously, a decent mech mod in ArmA would be sweet. Good luck!  

[Guest]

BUZZARD @ April 23 2007,12:44)]

Ya, think it was the Wanzer (cant remember exactly), original that personally I liked the best of all the mechs made for Ofp, very good looking, walked, ton of huge weapons - it was reported to be replaced by some other more kinda weird looking mechs, most without legs, and the few that had them were like giant spiders, the original was just awsome - but ya, it moved like a vehicle, constant forward motion during walking, still, the thing was amazing, especially with ffur explosion/object burn enhancements, basically a town would be a lit up burning and smoking heap of rubble in a short time with that baby

Anyhow Gl with this, look forward to seeing more stuff on this

Special Ed, there were more Wanzers made, by Ocrambass, that were two-legged mechs, you should get them. Plus, the spider-like Wanzers are also available as stand-alone models, as far as the other flying ones were made, so they're still pretty cool. All Wanzers have great walking animation. As does one of my favorite non-Wanzer mechs, the GDI Titan...

Sounds cool man, unfortunately the days of Ofp are over for me with Arma now , but Im with you, I was blown away by the seemingly huge amount of effort put into a few *particular* mechs I tried, they looked amazing, sounds were awsome, really there wasnt anything to complain about except for the limitations in Ofp causing walking mechs to move at only constant speeds.

[MAA3057 0]

BUZZARD @ April 23 2007,09:10)]

Mechs for the win... none of that gundamn bullshittery. Man that Maddog looks awesome... hopefully you guys can get it working

If it weren't for Gundam, there wouldn't exist any mecha hype, and no MechWarrior...

Though I do agree that it would not be possible to make Gundams in OFP/ArmA because they use melee fighting, which is something not possible in OFP/ArmA for vehicles.

But, the Wanzers from Front Mission, as well as the High-MACS from Gun Griffon, were very nicely made for OFP, and I DO hope for a comeback in ArmA. What I like most about them is that they don't try to use weapons OFP/ArmA can't really portray well - AFAIK OFP/ArmA can't portray continuous-fire lasers, unfortunately... So having mechs is ok, as long as they use conventional weaponry (well, laser blasts have been made nicely in OFP as demonstrated by the Tie-Fighter Addon, but haven't seen that feat repeated) ...

Wrong. If it weren't for American B-Movies we wouldn't have mechs...lol

[spm1138 0]

Hnnh?

Far be it from me to argue about science fiction but the models being discussed here are very much grounded in this or that Anime show.

Which American B movie were you thinking of?

[MAA3057 0]

Not mechs, per se, but robots like in Robot Monster

or Kronos.

[spm1138 0]

Well sure if you're broadening the definition to robots. If you include just robots generally I guess it goes back even further.

Also, War of the Worlds?

Seems like the sort of thing pulp magazines should have done, too.

Nontheless, I thought pilotable walking tank "mecha" (especially militarised depictions thereof) were pretty much a Japanese invention.

Battletech especially is all about the anime.

[-ZG-BUZZARD 0]

I don't know if Battletech is about anime story-wise, but american-style mechas are more weapon-based with militaristic large combat in mind, where as japanese style mechs just can't exist without having at least bit of martial arts (so far Front Mission and Gun Griffon are the only ones I know that don't have martial arts) - but then again I'm just starting to go beyond Gundam in terms of Anime - Super Robot Wars Original Generation and Fafner are also nice series, though to be honest I don't like the "esoteric" aspect many mecha anime series present...

[profe 0]

I'm no expert either, but there are plenty of anime/japanese mechs that don't go flying around with swords and lasers like your standard gundam. Even in the gundam universe you'll find a lot of mechs that emphasize on firepower. A good example is the 8thMS series where the mechs were a farcry from the traditional army vanquishing gundam. But yea the japanese can really go overboard.

Also front mission mechs actually do have aspects of martial arts, at least in the first front mission games you could create purely melee mechs with those batons and whatnot.

I tend to favor japanese designs because they tend to be a way more detailed than western style. I really like the designs in steel battalion, but those are HUGE and probably wouldn't fit well in arma.

[lkavadas 0]

Battletech especially is all about the anime.

BattleTech has origins anime via Robotech but BattleTech itself is not even remotely close to anime. If it were you'd see mechs with swords doing back flips in mid air while they all flew around with really annoying rising sun backdrops.

Plus they'd be the size of a sky scraper. BattleTech is conceptually similar but the specifics of it are all completely opposite of established anime.

BattleTech is not anime. Anime sucks.

[shinRaiden 0]

Battletech especially is all about the anime.

BattleTech has origins anime via Robotech but BattleTech itself is not even remotely close to anime. If it were you'd see mechs with swords doing back flips in mid air while they all flew around with really annoying rising sun backdrops.

Plus they'd be the size of a sky scraper. BattleTech is conceptually similar but the specifics of it are all completely opposite of established anime.

BattleTech is not anime. Anime sucks.

NGE is n00bers on freaky shrooms, since 1995.

BattleTech and Transformers were both introduced in 1984; BattleTech originally had IP legal conflicts with Macross and Lucasfilm.

Macross first aired in 1982. Dunno what all this "robotech" junk is.

Gundam predates all of those with first releases in 1979.

Lucasfilm's prior art "droids" later trademarked, was first seen in 1977.

All hail Emperor George.

[-ZG-BUZZARD 0]

I'm no expert either, but there are plenty of anime/japanese mechs that don't go flying around with swords and lasers like your standard gundam. Even in the gundam universe you'll find a lot of mechs that emphasize on firepower. A good example is the 8thMS series where the mechs were a farcry from the traditional army vanquishing gundam. But yea the japanese can really go overboard.

Also front mission mechs actually do have aspects of martial arts, at least in the first front mission games you could create purely melee mechs with those batons and whatnot.

I tend to favor japanese designs because they tend to be a way more detailed than western style. I really like the designs in steel battalion, but those are HUGE and probably wouldn't fit well in arma.

8th MS Team, 0083: Stardust Memory and especially MS IGLOO are nice examples how great-looking mechs star in a series where there is no need for any "special powers" - just a conflict told from pilots' points of view, etc. Especially relevant for this ArmA mod would be seeing MS IGLOO's The Hidden One Year War Episode 2: The Howl that Stained the Setting Sun (more info on it at www.mahq.net) .

As for mecha games, I haven't played any Front Mission games, but I've seen videos from Front Mission Online, which is the closest thing one could get to what we have in OFP already

Also AFAIK from what I've seen in videos Steel Battalion's Mechs aren't much bigger, if anything, than Ocrambass's Wanzer mechs for OFP, Rezin's High-MACS from Gun Griffon, or any heavy-class Battlemechs, for comparison (some may be wider, but none are taller than a Supernova I bet). And this is ArmA, not OFP, so it's not like you run out of space where to go...

[spm1138 0]

Battletech has unguided drunk missiles (yes, I know that was later expanded on. The original missile systems were mostly swarm firing macross-esque spam-tubes), jump-jets, mind-reading control systems and anthromorphic giant robots engaging in fisticuffs.

Lets not forget the McGuffins neccesary to make walking tanks viable

It couldn't be more anime if the robots all did battle wearing japanese schoolgirl uniforms

[hokum15 2]

Since there isn't (wont be?) a mechwarrior 5 etc i'd love to see either an "unofficial mod" or an offical addon for mechs!

Also may i add another mix too all this. I also love Heavy gear, which are much smaller than mechs and apart from the annoying roller skates maybe easier to base on large infantry?

Then again i have bought every mech like game that has comeo ut and completed it... Earth/Starsiege was cool too till it became a UT FPS ping pong fest.

[LordHorusNL 0]

Has it been confirmed that there wont be a MW5?

Anyway i've done some concept/gameplay brainstorming and was thinking about adding a sort of resource mode to the multiplayer where there is a commander for each side who would have to control the units under his command and the resources [like scrap or raw materials] and use these to build more mechs or upgrade the old ones.

So in this multiplayer mode a group would just start off with a command mech and a mobile field HQ/factory to build a mech or more additions for the fieldbase [like turrets or radar]

So when a force becomes strong enough with plenty of mechs/pilots it could start taking over city's that could be controlled by the AI or other rival groups/clans.

So really get the whole clan gameplay going and people could even create the own clans IRL and get custom painted mechs.

I got some more great idea's and was wondering what you guys would like to see in a BT mod [especially in multiplayer/co-op]

Offcourse i'm keeping the lore in mind and not breaking from it to much

[lkavadas 0]

Has it been confirmed that there wont be a MW5?

Yes, read about it here. The FASA devs' forum names are Von, tryptic, and Mitch.

There is also a reference to PAINGOD. He was the head of the entire BattleTech project over at FASA Studios.

There's also this post where Heinz "tryptic" Schuller confirms the cancellation of Mw5.

[ColonelSandersLite 0]

BUZZARD @ April 23 2007,09:10)]

Mechs for the win... none of that gundamn bullshittery. Man that Maddog looks awesome... hopefully you guys can get it working

If it weren't for Gundam, there wouldn't exist any mecha hype, and no MechWarrior...

Though I do agree that it would not be possible to make Gundams in OFP/ArmA because they use melee fighting, which is something not possible in OFP/ArmA for vehicles.

But, the Wanzers from Front Mission, as well as the High-MACS from Gun Griffon, were very nicely made for OFP, and I DO hope for a comeback in ArmA. What I like most about them is that they don't try to use weapons OFP/ArmA can't really portray well - AFAIK OFP/ArmA can't portray continuous-fire lasers, unfortunately... So having mechs is ok, as long as they use conventional weaponry (well, laser blasts have been made nicely in OFP as demonstrated by the Tie-Fighter Addon, but haven't seen that feat repeated) ...

Wrong. If it weren't for American B-Movies we wouldn't have mechs...lol

Not to pull out the geekery but wrong.

Mechwarrior originates from battletech. The mechwarrior name comes from the derived RPG version of battletech. I have no clue why, but for some reason the names on the computer games are reversed. The old dos/apple2/c64-128 battletech games where rpgs, but the mechwarrior games are mech driving sims...

Battletech (mechs) originated from a set of rules to make a paper and dice hex based wargame version of robotech/macross. If you care to, scrounge around and see if you can locate an old copy of the fasa 3025 manual (be carefull it's the original, not the rerelease) with the pheonix hawk, marauder, rifleman, stinger, wasp, LAMS, etc, then watch robotech. The robotech influences where later removed because of a major lawsuit between, I believe, Hana Barbara (published robotech in the US I think) and FASA (put out battletech originally). Some of them have been VERY redesigned and reintegrated in the newer material and as far as I know, the LAMs (Land Air Mechs) rules where never removed, but did get relegated to level 3 play.

Robotech is very heavilly based on the original gundam series. Some of the characters have the same names, some of the story arcs are *very* similair, etc.

Gundam (the japaneese version) was made in 1979 I believe, although released much later in the US. I'm sure it had influences, but they weren't bad 1980's american B rated giant robot movies.

Don't get me wrong, I love bad B sci fi movies and have seen more than my fair share of them. But credit where credit is due.

Also, there where some giant robots in older B movies, but out of all the ones I've seen:

A: The designs are *very* different and have little or no visible influence.

B: All of the ones I can think of off the top of my head dealt with one of a kind robots that where built for a specific purpose.

Robots in general go back much further than that stuff though. You'll find the concept of robots firmly rooted in victorian literature as well.

[max power 21]

BUZZARD @ April 24 2007,14:19)]I don't know if Battletech is about anime story-wise, but american-style mechas are more weapon-based with militaristic large combat in mind, where as japanese style mechs just can't exist without having at least bit of martial arts (so far Front Mission and Gun Griffon are the only ones I know that don't have martial arts) - but then again I'm just starting to go beyond Gundam in terms of Anime - Super Robot Wars Original Generation and Fafner are also nice series, though to be honest I don't like the "esoteric" aspect many mecha anime series present...

The mechs in Gasaraki were pretty straight forward. The same goes for the robot tank in Ghost in the Shell. There are a lot of examples of more simple and realistic style japanese mecha in anime.

[hokum15 2]

The gasaraki units where very heavy gear esque.

Also Dreampod 9 who do Heavy Gear also do Gear Krieg which is the WWII Mecha stuff..

Btw has everyone seen this??

http://www.e-motionaldesign.com/blog/nazi-robot-attack/

Nice WWII mecha...

[profe 0]

let's not start throwing the words realistic and mech together too much, because realistically, mechs are a very poor combat platform.

[mattxr 9]

Yeah that video totaly rocks

[lkavadas 0]

The gasaraki units where very heavy gear esque.

Also Dreampod 9 who do Heavy Gear also do Gear Krieg which is the WWII Mecha stuff..

Btw has everyone seen this??

http://www.e-motionaldesign.com/blog/nazi-robot-attack/

Nice WWII mecha...

I don't see video on that page. I see the header, the title, the short intro with the author's name and link Cee Gee, but then it just goes to straight to "215 Responses."

Am I missing something?

[-ZG-BUZZARD 0]

@ ColonelSandersLite: I recall that copying of Macross/Robotech mechs for Battletech, one can actually find a list of all copies HERE...

@ lkavadas: Check out this thread from the Off-Topic section