Remove weight as a whole#505

This post is about voting on whether or not weight should be removed entirely as the entire thing is a slippery slope of positives and negatives. Of course VD still has final say on if they are to remove the weight system, change its effects or do anything about it.

This dispute would resurface once any Multiplayer comes out in the later half of 2021 so we mind as well try get a community conclusion to show the devs as they too are split on it.

A alternative would be to just make the weight just a cosmetic number instead of one that affects combat.

Pros:

•More development time on other assets
•Weapon DPS is now increased as weight was only a negative
•Makes the game simplier in terms of stats making it new player friendly
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Cons:

•Armor and weapon size will have no combat affect besides hitboxes
•Armor with higher weight will have the same defense as lower weight
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Feel free to comment your thoughts and add onto it.

A possible concept for exclusively cosmetic weight could be as an entirely arbitrary number derived from our durability and/or armor stat.

This way you could create light-looking MASSes using slim armor, but in-story are made of super duper dense/heavy materials reflected by their tuning, and have that appear as a weight stat which does not influence anything else.

Just as well the reverse could be true, with a heavy armor part MASS that are actually super-light, maybe reflecting that a lot of that armor is hollow, or supported by anti-gravity features.

Passive armor and/or durability increases by progressing up the development tree increasing weight could reflect as you unlocking better manufacturing technology, so even if you keep the old engine/architect nodes that themselves give little weight, the increase could imply you’ve discovered new ways to make those old nodes more robust.

It’s all a handwave, but if weight number is to be cosmetic this is one possible route to reflect it.

First and foremost the Kickstarter lists this as the first key feature:

“Customize your own M.A.S.S. without the worry of using cool looking armors with low stats, all parts don’t have stats!”

Weight is a stat. And it does impact performance. For that reason it should be removed.

Secondly, weight only negatively affects weapons. Light weapons are measurably better than heavy weapons as weapon weight only serves to slow you down. Costing you stats with no returns. Even if weapons gave increased damage for increased weight the way armor gives more defense for increased weight it would not be ideal. Acceleration has a cap. So, if two MASSes are at 1000 acceleration, but one has heavier weapons. The one with the heavy weapons has superior DPS.

Solving the weapon weight problem is going to cost development time. Considering the balance based on the weight of each new part that is added in the future is going to cost development time. My third point is removing the weight concept is going to save time. This is going to make it easier on both the developers and new players.

The only real reason we have weight is because it makes real world sense. But, MASS Builder isn’t a sim game and should focus on delivering on the promise of maximum creative freedom.

Resurfaced given the arrival of accessories.

What about making weight just a cosmetic number BUT introducing some visual and sound differences depending on the weight itself?
Example: lighter mecha would need a less powerful engine, so when they walk around and boost jump they would be less noisy than other mecha.
Of course, gameplay-wise, this wouldn’t affect anything. It would just sound less powerful and more “silent”.
Viceversa, a heavy mecha would virtually need a more powerful engine and would make a lot of noise while walking (like a titan stomping the ground) so the boost jump would sound like an exploding reactor.
Same thing with weapons, the heavier it is the more powerful it should sound.
As I said in the comment about weapons, if I swing a titanic hammer I want to hear it obliterate the ground beneath me.
Viceversa, a lighter weapon would make some laser-like or buzzing sound and leave a brief afterimage in the air because they are so fast.