MechWarrior Online Developer Blog #6
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MechWarrior Online incorporates a (Hardpoint) system which dictates, above all other customization, that weapons can only be swapped out with weapons of the same weapon type. For example, energy weapons cannot be swapped with ballistic weapons.Hopefully the game's microtransactions are limited to the visual appearance section only. I really don't want to see them peddling high-end weapons and other equipment at a cash store.
Each location on a BattleMech, such as the Right Arm or Center Torso, may include a number of hard points. The number of hard points in a given location is determined on a per variant basis, and is based on the weapons included in the variant's default loadout. For example, a 'Mech that, by default, comes with 2 Medium Lasers and an Autocannon/2 in its Left Torso may actually have 3 energy weapon hard points and 2 ballistic hard points in that location. So, if the player is able to satisfy the weight and critical slot requirements, they could equip an additional energy weapon and ballistic weapon into that Left Torso, or swap out the Medium Lasers for other energy weapons, etc.
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The way armour is being treated in MechWarrior Online is very similar to how it's done in the tabletop game. That is, for every one ton of standard armour, the chassis is given 16 points of armor. These 16 points can be assigned to the various sections of a BattleMech. If the player purchases 8 tons of armor for their BattleMech, they can assign 128 armour points throughout.
As per tabletop rules, each weight class of BattleMech has a maximum amount of armour it can sustain and this will be reflected in MechWarrior Online.
One last thing we will be carrying over from tabletop is the ability to distribute armour between the front and back torso of a BattleMech as well.
