Cockpit protection design thing
I’ve heard of others using this technique where you place your generator above the cockpit then run a diagonal extender down past it, then add some armour. I’ve been experimenting with it lately...
It certainly improves your survivability. I’ve had several trial runs with various designs and a couple missions. I find that my cockpit gets hit less because other parts take the brunt of the damage. Since you can survive provided your cockpit is intact, this makes a big difference. It doesn’t effect your view at all because you either look from behind your mech or through weapon cameras. So if you have a mech where survival is paramount, then it would be worth playing with this sort of setup.
There are drawbacks though. The first issue is that it obviously takes extra weight for both the armour and the extender. The more annoying problem to deal with though is the placement of all your other parts. This sort of setup is very awkward and trying to arrange your remaining components becomes a frustrating, time-consuming experience. I’ve stuffed around seemingly forever in the garage just to get minor issues sorted out, juggling power requirements, weight, weapon placement, etc.
Here are a couple examples. My apologies for the crap screenshots just taken with a camera at the TV.
Commander
I’ve changed my commander from one that was reasonably well armed but slow and easily killed, to something lightly armed but hard to kill and quick. It has only 3 Heavy Assault Rifles now for offense, but that’s my bread and butter weapon and should be enough to take out scouts or assist others from a distance when required. A commander shouldn’t be in the thick of it, but should definitely be surviving and decent mobility is a bonus.
As you can see below the generator sits above the cockpit (upside down and spun around) and the diagonal extender protrudes past it. Notice also that I had to add another extender at the back to allow placement of the NA Maker and a thermal imager. I tried many designs but just couldn’t do it without that extra component. I think this design still has room for a smoke launcher, but having experimented with that as well I’m not sure it will be a workable tactic against AI. Maybe against people it will work.
Sniper
Finally, here’s the redesigned version of my rather dull but functional Sniper come Soldier dude. In order to get this design I had to sacrifice one sniper rifle that I had on my previous version. It now has 3 x Light Sniper Rifles and 4 x Heavy Assault Rifles. There’s a night vision component on the back. A bit dull but it seems to work okay. Because this one is more about ranged firepower I’ve decided against armour on the sides. If I get hit there then the weapons should protect the cockpit a bit, though the weapons themselves may get destroyed. A sniper shouldn’t be getting that close though, and this protects me from the front against other snipers etc.
Um...the end.
