This is looking cooler and cooler. I really hope this system will or can be modded to extend to other areas of the game. Space Ships, vehicles, weapons, and other stuff that's no doubt been mentioned already. If the system is tweak/change/mod-able then open up a whooole new level to the game. Hell, you could also do a 'create your own monster' type deal with this, by creating limbs, bodies, heads and such. Ooo, just think, biological mechs or a Megadramon looking pet. I can even imagine how this could extend to better random-generated monsters or bosses, or the ability to make your own boss monster for a dungeon or story-line. The possibilities are nigh endless!
I am waiting to start another game for this update, I hope it is not enough * O * A question, what happens if you are in an asteroid collecting minerals, and you fall into the void? Do you fall to any planet? Or do you just die and lose the objects?
While I think the mechs looks...well, derpy, for lack of a better term, this update looks like it'll create a base for a lot of other stuff to spring from. Namely, space battles, and perhaps a lot of other generated stuffs.
Heck, if the mech system a: uses a controller and b: allows for idle animations, it should be easy to make rideable monsters. Just mess around with the energy system, retexture the controller to use the capture ball sprite, retexture the parts to use the randomly generated monster parts, maybe change the position of the player character, and voila.
I can see some people making awesome WH40K Dreadnought pieces for these. Not me, because I suck at art, but some people.
Forget lowrider legs, those things need to be at least a couple blocks taller. It looks like a short round hobbit, or something. (XS Mechs mod) Something like the blue mech's legs on the left would be perfect.
So..... 250 total energy and 1.4 per second, that means you get 178 seconds, which is just shy of 3 minutes. Eh. That sounds like a rather steep limitation. You get to fly around in space... but only for 3 minutes then poof. Does the energy regenerate when you hop out of the thing? Do you lose even more energy when you get hit? etc. I'd hate to deploy the mech (looks like you gotta deploy it from your ship), go out, get hit a couple times and end up running out of energy like 60 seconds after I deployed it because I got hit a couple times.
so with mechs basking in the limelight here, the obvious question makes itself apparent: How will a player's character remain relevant when not piloting a mech? Or is the game evolving into Rascal®Bound™?
All of the pics they show of mechs, involve deploying a mech from your ship and flying it around in space. I've not yet seen a pic of a Chucklefish mech on a planet, so the obvious answer would be, your player character is relevant inside of space stations and on planets, while mechs rule asteroids and open space. Which makes sense, to be honest. That, and... the 3 minute time limit. Even if some other mechs were 10-15 minutes, I can tell you I spend far more than 10-15 minutes at a time on a planet.
They just need some combination of a fuel system that can be refilled, but not conveniently. Sort of like how Xenogears handled it. For that matter some equipment might give you more operational time(fuel capacity) at the expense of other attributes.
I am hoping that this new found modulararity will spill over into ships and weapons. For ships, I would like to see players still start with their starter ship but choose what chambers they want to upgrade into. For weapons, I would like to see players being able to choose their style, color, and abilities of their guns. None of these are very important but would be super neato.
I noticed a lack of vanity spots in a mech, and while that makes sense for weapons I can foresee liking a body's stats while loathing the look of it. A Vanity spot or two wouldn't go amiss.
Let the Mech Wars Begin XS Mechs vs The Mechs from the upcoming 1.3 update, who would win? 'hype intensifies ' P.S. If somebody already said this, let me know.
I considered having XS Mechs being the base form, instead of the starter fudgies. To the point of owning Ronin Rho's legs + Ronin Rho Jetpacks + Miniaturized Theta Rail Cannons on both sides.
XS wins. Luckily with this new function for Mechs it should transition fairly easily to the XS mech mod too