THE MAKING OF THE OLD IS THE NEW NEW SECTION

 

 

So we discussed how the Old is the new new came to be and some of how the contest ran. But that really only scratches the surface of this project.  So before I announce the contest 'winners', indulge me in a little background.

 

So the ONN contest was opened up to BattleTech Fact Checkers, Catalyst Commandos and BattleCorps Subscriber. We got an absolutely awesome amount of response to this contest. There were so many entries, that I was starting to boggle at how I would process through them all.

 

Enter one of the BT unsung heroes. Someone recently asked me "What exactly does Worktroll do?" My honest response was "Worktroll is." John has been a fixture of the community for an absolute ice age and a half. Any doubt of that, you just have to take a look at his post count to get an idea.  He's done this, that and the other thing for the BT community. One of the many things he's done was the BattleCorps Unique 'Mech contest. It was the these contest rules that formed the inspiration for the ONN entry criteria.

 

ONN entry criteria? You mean I can't just slap all I can fit on the design? Or to flip this around "Why didn't you put ferro fibrous armor on that?" Long time BattleCorps subscribers will remember the Unique 'Mech contest. Entrants were given 8 'design points' with which to modify an existing chassis to a unique. Different things cost a varying number of points. Swapping a PPC for ERPPC might cost 1 pt, while a standard to XL engine might cost 4 points. We updated these rules for the ONN, giving people 8 points with which to make their modified designs.

 

Back to Worktroll. Being as he wrote the rules I used to start the ONN contest and he happens to be someone who has no issues slogging through a mountain of data (Former meteorologist turned IT type guy), I dropped a mountain of emails on him and said "Sort this all out!"

 

Worktroll took all the ONN entries and put them into a spreadsheet. He verified the entries for rules compliance, and basic legality (We had probably five designs that were entirely unbuildable as described). He then provided a rating of each design on a scale of 1-10, based on his decades of BattleTech experience.

 

Work done, he passed the spreadsheet on to me. I promptly hid the columns for who submitted the entries and poured through every entry. For all the designs I then assigned my own 1-10 value. I then had a sorted list with point value ratings and design point costs. Okay great, but then there were the special factors.

 

No Omnis- We decided to not cover Omnis in this. Refits are refits, not new Omni loads. Later on in development we did put in a mention about Config U models of OmniMechs, but we chose not to describe these in the TRO.

 

No Project Phoenix- I've mentioned this before, but essentially if the unit was getting a full write up in the TRO, we wouldn't use them form ONN. There were a couple of truly great designs that just couldn't be left on the cutting room floor and those were put into the variants section for that design.

 

Is there a mini?- In Catalyst's continuing close ties with IronWind Metals, we worked with them on what designs were their best selling units. Where an ONN entry matched up to this best sellers list, the entry got an added boost. If it's a good selling mini, then it is probably a well loved design.

 

Only one- It is truly amazing how many designs that saw repeated entries. We received multiple Pegasus entries and Cyclops got an amazing amount of LOT love. When this happened I had to weed out the best from the rest. This was sometimes very, very hard as the designs were all good.

 

Too many Heavies- Some weight classes got more attention than others. There were far more heavies than I could justify putting in. Balance of weight classes was something we worked very hard on. Different players prefer different weight classes and we wanted to give attention to them all.

 

With all the special case stuff jumbling around my mind I carefully constructed the list of keepers.  There were a lot of designs that ended up on the cutting room floor, just because someone elses was just a little better, or I already had too many heavies.

Then once all the accepted contest entrants were placed on the list, I was left with the holes. The King No Longer section didn't get nearly the entries that the Field to Factory section did. Also, because of the pretty strict purpose of these units, there were a lot of great designs that just didn't fit the flavor. This meant the product developer had to roll up his sleeves and start designing. Then there were the very well loved IWN designs that no one had submitted an entry for. Starslayers appear to be a really popular mini, so once again I hit the design books and came up with a variant for it.

 

With all the holes filled in, we finally had a completed ONN.  At this point I actually looked at the names of the people who's entries were picked. I was surprised to say the least. Had I seen the numerous repeats of names, I certainly would have been concerned. The last thing we want is cries of favoritism. But these designs were judged on stats alone. 

 

So with one last nod to Worktroll, who went back through the ONN and matched them to the contest entrants, I give you the ONN stars.

 

Longinus (Magnetic) - Inspired by BattleCorps subscriber "Talz "

 

Sloth (interdictor) - Inspired by MUL team member Dan "DarkISI " Isberner

 

Scimitar (C3) - The Incredible Hawk

 

Chapparal (Case) - MUL team member Dan "DarkISI " Isberner

 

Fulcrum III Heavy Hovertank - MUL team member Joshua "NCKestrel" Franklin

 

Brutus (HPPC) -  MUL team member Joshua "NCKestrel" Franklin

 

Zhukov Heavy Tank (LBX) - BT Freelancer, Chris "Chinless" Wheeler

 

Ontos Heavy Tank (MML) - BT Freelancer, Chris "Chinless" Wheeler

 

Demolisher II (MML) - BattleCorps subscriber "Talz " 

Fireball ALM-10D - MUL team member Dan "DarkISI " Isberner

 

Spider SDR-7Kr - BT Freelancer, Chris "Chinless" Wheeler

 

Urbanmech UM-R80 - Fact Checker Mark Yingling

 

Hermes II HER-5Sr - BattleCorps Subscriber "LastChanceCav"

 

Vulcan VT-5Sr- BattleCorps Subscriber and CamoSpec artist plkangus / Wackrabbit!

 

Snake SNK-2Br - Catalyst Demo Team Agent Alex "GreyWolfActual" Kaempen

 

Vindicator VND-3Lr - BattleCorps Subscriber "LastChanceCav"

 

Enfield END-6R - Catalyst Demo Team Agent Craig Gulledge (Agent 200)

 

Nightstar NGT-6T -  Catalyst Demo Team Agent Jason M Rhodes,  (Agent 402)

 

Dervish DV-6Mr - MUL team member Dan "DarkISI " Isberner

 

StarSlayer STY-3Dr - BattleCorps subscriber "Gravedigger"

 

Quickdraw QKD-5Mr - Inspired by BT Freelancer and BattleCorps subscriber, Craig "trboturtle" Reed

 

Catapault CPLT-C5A - Catalyst Demo Team Agent Alex "GreyWolfActual" Kaempen

 

Gallowglass GAL-2GLSA - BattleCorps "Wolfhound88"

 

No-Dachi NDA-2KC - Inspired by the Battle Corps Legion "Fan" regiment.

 

Bandersnatch BNDR-1Ar - MUL team member Dan "DarkISI " Isberner

 

Falconer FLC-9R -  BattleCorps Subscriber "LastChanceCav"

 

Hammerhands HMH-6# - MUL Team Member Chris "Alex Knight" Marti

 

Rakshasa MDG-1Ar - MUL Team Member William "Mad Capellan" Gauthier

 

Hatamoto-Chi HTM-28Tr - MUL team member Dan "DarkISI " Isberner

 

Warlord BLR-2Dr - Inspired by the Battle Corps Legion "Fan" regiment.

 

Longbow LGV-8V - Fact Checker Chris "Goose" Searls

 

Cyclops CP-11-B - MUL team member Joshua "NCKestrel" Franklin

 

Albatross ALB-3Ur - MUL Team Member William "Mad Capellan" Gauthier

 

Banshee BNC-3Mr - MUL team member Dan "DarkISI " Isberner

 

King Crab KGC-005r- Inspired by BattleCorps subscriber Joseph Mallan

 

Hunchback IIC 4 - Fact Checker Andreas "Gaiten" Rudolph

 

Highlander IIC 3 - BattleCorps subscriber Steinbjorn07

 

Savannah Master (Interdictor) - Catalyst Demo Team Agent Alex "GreyWolfActual" Kaempen

 

Pegasus Scout Hovercraft (sealed) - BT Freelancer and BattleCorps subscriber, Craig "trboturtle" Reed

 

Plainsman (sealed)- Catalyst Demo Agent and BattleCorps subscriber Max "Medron Pryde" Prohaska

 

Hetzer Wheeled Assault Gun (sealed) - MUL team member Joshua "NCKestrel" Franklin

 

Goblin (sealed) - Inspired by BT Freelancer Chris "Chinless" Wheeler

 

Drillson Heavy Hover Tank (sealed) -Inspired by BT Freelancer Chris "Chinless" Wheeler