Don't show MASS units doing things the player cannot do#803

One of my biggest pet-peeves when it comes to mech games is when they have an NPC or the player do something that looks very fun in a cutscene or the background, and it is something that is impossible for the player to do in actual gameplay.

This is most egregious in the oil rig mission, where you work with a team of other MASS units that fly completely freely around the rig while you’re restricted by fuel. This also happens in cutscenes where you bring the MASS to a hover, which is impossible to do in gameplay. Next, the launching sequence to start any mission, which implies that your machine can travel across the world without needing to stop for fuel. Finally, the oversized cyclops boss at the end of the glacier mission: Why can’t WE be that big?

Instead of a large team of MASS units for the oil rig mission, why not just have combat VTOLs or helicopters? For cutscenes you can just use the default walk cycle as a placeholder until you polish the animations. Fixing the launch animation would be much more work, though. As would changing player scale. Maybe instead of the Cyclops being a MASS unit, have it be some non-MASS Mecha?

1.) “MASS units that fly completely freely around the rig while you’re restricted by fuel.”

I’ve fully speced into reduced “Fuel Burn Rate,” increased “Fuel Capacity,” and increased “Fuel Recharge” (and I can “fly” around almost nonstop)…

3.) “your machine can travel across the world without needing to stop for fuel.”

I got the impression from the game that: your Mech isn’t “flying” around the world… it is being “launched” into a decaying orbit (aim at a location on the planet: launch the Mech at the required speed and angle: Mech travels by the power of the launcher, and then past the apex of the trajectory it continues it’s decent to its target through the use of momentum and “gravity;” No Mech fuel needed).