- Oh man this was my biggest pet peeve with mechcommander as a kid, thanks for fixing it!
- I wonder if the board game materials have rules or guidance about where equipment goes? I dunno how close the computer games stick to the board game materials though.
- I have forever been confused by 'left' and 'right'. It takes me a few seconds of deliberate thinking to get it right.
So in one of my first piece of software that I wrote for real money I had two functions. One called create_scene_left(), the other called create_scene_rght().
I was very pleased with myself for sneaking in creating_a_scene, but the left and right versions did the opposite of what their names indicated. Users of the software had no problems, but I am sure it would confuse any maintainer.
It even took me an year to even realize that the names were wrong.
- This is cool, maybe "target left arm" implies that it's your left, when targetting them and you're facing each other. So, their right arm.
- If you need a compact byte -> bit lookup table on x86, consider using the memory form of the bit test (BT) instruction.
- I wonder if all those different heavy shenanigans are just to get the hollander's gauss/hunchback autoconnon in the right torso by default.
(original Mechcommander is still the best of the series, even if mission 5 broke my soul for awhile).
by golden-face
3 subcomments
- Great writeup! Vividly remember this being a thing especially in multiplayer. What was that janky match matching service, MSN something?
Also a really underrated game, the mechanics (line of sight over the horizon stuff) and isometric graphics were pretty cool for the time and it had a well developed story/campaign mode.
by Night_Thastus
0 subcomment
- Now let's see this working for Darkest Hours. ;)
(Assuming they didn't fix it themselves, it is a pretty big overhaul to MC1)
99% sure it should work fine for (Exodus and Turncoat), (X-Ray and DSC Raid), and (Xenocide and Bengal Lancers) since those are just custom campaigns.
Lovely stuff. Always a joy to see anything MechWarrior related end up here on HN.
- I never played this game! I didn't realize there was a RTS after Crescent Hawk's revenge. I'm looking at the MC2 source code now... it looks like there is a Linux port, meaning could probably get it working for Apple using Fable 5, AI haters, I will challenge you to a batchall.
by iamacyborg
2 subcomments
- Dear god I loved this game when it came out. It was hard.
- I wish they would release MC1 source the way they did with MC2.
- It just hit me, in 2026, that MeshCommander [1] (the Intel AMT remote management tool) is probably a homage naming after MechCommander.
Came here excited that MeshCommander is maintained again.
[1] https://github.com/Ylianst/MeshCommander
by notrealyme123
1 subcomments
- A bit off topic, but a very nice niche YouTubers "SardonicSays" posted a great Retrospective about MechCommander yesterday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CVvOWlfl1U
by protocolture
1 subcomments
- I really need to put some of these techniques to the test with Metal Fatigue.
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