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[Paul Inouye]

Community Warfare - Phase 2

Sept 10, 2014

Hey folks,

I'm here to give you the opening high level details of Community Warfare - Phase 2. This is where you will be able to partake in the overarching story/progression of MWO's Inner Sphere/Clan conflict.

What I've included below are cut and paste segments from the master design document for Community Warfare. The stuff not included is the technical details used to inform the engineers and artists what is required for each heading. The purpose of this is to give you an outline of what to expect for Community Warfare - Phase 2.

I know you will have a ton of questions regarding more detail for each category and here is what I am planning to do to address this.

Every 2 weeks, I will be updating the progress of these features and answering the most asked questions. I can guarantee you this, I will not be able to answer every single question, but I hope to cover the biggest questions at a minimum. This means that the first update and FAQ responses will be on Wed. Sept 24,2014. I will ask Niko and the rest of the CSR team to compile a list of questions and I'll answer everything I can.

You can post your questions here: Questions on Phase 2 - Part 1

Please keep your questions on topic and concise. I will not have the time to engage in debate but I will address your questions as openly as I can. Do not misconstrue this as not taking feedback, your questions alone indicate what you'd like to see or know more about, I just won't have the time to have a lot of back and forth dialog as I am working directly with the team as they build CW. I just want to be able to open the doors a little wider so you can see the progress of this major milestone of MWO's development unfold.

That being said, here's the first release of information:

OPT-IN TO COMMUNITY WARFARE

When a player clicks the Faction tab, they are opting into Community Warfare gameplay. This means they will be accepting the fact that teams will be split into IS vs Clan ‘Mechs and cannot mix the two technologies.

INTERACTIVE INNER-SPHERE MAP

The Inner-Sphere Map displays the status of the Inner Sphere in terms of borders and conflicts. It shows all planets that we have data for.

INTERACTIVITY

• Players can pan the map.
• Players can zoom in/out on the map.
• Players can click a planet.

PLANET DETAILS

When a planet is clicked, an information panel should show the planet’s detailed information:

• Planet Name
• Planet Faction Affiliation
• Occupying Unit (If applicable)
• Any lore from BT we can add (Population, temperature, lore facts)
• Indicate if the planet is contested or not (see below)

CONTESTED PLANETS

When a planet is contested, the warring factions are fighting over who will control the planet and reap the associated rewards. For each planet, there is an attacking Faction Unit and a defending Faction Unit.

• Contested planets are specially marked on the IS map and can be identified at all zoom levels.
• Contested planets are assignable by the design team.

ENGAGING IN PLANETARY CONQUEST

During peak player count times throughout the day, planetary control matches will be kicked off within the Faction tab. Players will see planets on the Inner Sphere map which are currently contested and be able to choose to be part of the fight.

A PLAYER’S FACTION SELECTION

The faction a player has aligned to will be a hard rule as to which ‘Mechs they can use and which planets they can attack/defend.

GROUPS IN COMMUNITY WARFARE

Groups in community warfare will be hard limited to players in the same unit. This is to re-enforce faction gameplay so you will not see groups of mixed Kurita and Davion for example.

INITIATING AN ATTACK

Initial plan is to have initiation of an attack can only be done by a 12-man unit group. The group leader will select a planet and click the attack button.

PRIORITIZATION OF GROUPS

Attacking groups are always placed in a single queue in a first-in first-out logistics order (FIFO). Defending groups are placed in queue and are given the opportunity to choose their group’s ‘Mech weight class build to meet the requirements of the defending team for the given match.

DEFENDING TEAM QUEUE

There are 2 types of defenders for a planet. Contract defenders are the Unit that won the right to defend a planet through the bidding system. Faction defenders are the rest of the players who can defend the planet but are not part of the contract defending unit.

CONTRACT DEFENDERS

• When an attack is first triggered, a notification is sent to all members of the unit that is part of the contract defenders.
• The contract defenders have [2] minutes to respond by creating a 12-man unit team and clicking the defend button.

FACTION DEFENDERS

• If the [2] minute limit expires, the remaining slots available on the team are made publically available.
• When this release to faction defenders happens, all faction players are notified via an in-game messaging system.
• The remaining slots are filled by faction defenders in priority order in which they clicked the defend button.
• Faction defenders when allowed to join a team are given [30] seconds to choose their ‘Mechs to fit the available slots.

DROP DECKS

A drop deck is a selection of 4 ‘Mechs in the player’s inventory. Each of the 4 ‘Mechs must be one of each weight class (one light, one medium, one heavy, one assault). All 4 ‘Mechs must belong to the same technology core (IS or Clan). The Drop Deck is a means for the player to quickly choose their favorite ‘Mech of a specific weight class when in the defender queue outlined above.

The Drop Deck will display the following:

• Currently chosen Light ‘Mech thumbnail
• Currently chosen Medium ‘Mech thumbnail
• Currently chosen Heavy ‘Mech thumbnail
• Current chosen Assault ‘Mech thumbnail
• A drop down in each 'Mech panel will allow the player to change a 'Mech for an owned, same weight class 'Mech.

PLANETARY CONQUEST GAME-MODE

This new game mode and map is planned to be part of the map/game mode cycle of matches for Community Warfare.

To make taking a planet feel epic, a new game mode would bring the feeling of longer matches and standoffs. Instead of playing a series of death match games to decide who conquers a planet, this new attack/defend game mode would let players feel like they’re truly fighting over something.

Invasion incorporates an attacking drop zone (where attackers spawn) and a defensive base (defenders spawn). The idea is that the attackers destroy the defenders base and defensive structures. At a severe choke point location on the map, a set of defensive barriers prevent the attackers (those who do not have jump jets) from proceeding beyond this point. If the attackers use high ground positions and take out the power plants holding the magnetic doors shut, the doors will lose power and a safety mechanic opens the doors allowing the attackers through.

INVASION MODE - MAP REQUIREMENTS

• Maps must have longer travel times to point of first contact. This is important because it also increases the time it takes for re-enforcements (respawns) to arrive back into battle.
• Maps must have multiple choke points that encase the defensive barriers. Too few choke points and the defenders will have too great of an advantage focus firing on the points of passage.
• Choke points must provide some means of destroying power generators on the defender’s side of the defensive barriers.
• Choke points should be protected by defensive turrets.
• Defensive barriers should be connected to a power plant.
• Destroying power plants open the connected barriers.
• Gates should open slowly allowing players to “slice the pie” and engage.
• Light ‘Mechs with jump jets should be able to barely make it over the barriers if they so choose.