9 replies to this topic

[Tylerchu]

=Escort=
One pilot will be dropped in a (random?) champion mech. His team has to escort him through a certain amount of waypoints in a certain amount of time. The entire path is visible (on the battlegrid and minimap) to the escort team, but the assassins only know the VIP's next waypoint. Waypoint locations will be chosen based on a random pool. For example, PGI says waypoint 1 can be here, here, or here. Waypoint 2 can be there, there, or there. And waypoint 3 can be here or here. The system randomly chooses which of the waypoints to use. Waypoint count can change depending on map size. I imagine this gamemode to take ~5 minutes to complete because it's more of a rushing&defend game dynamic.

Reward is determined by damage sustained by the VIP, by time taken to complete the mission, and obviously the standard ones. The "assassins" will be paid by the same scale; how much damage is done to the VIP, how long they can delay, and a bigger payout if they succeed with the assassination.
I imagine this gamemode will be played with 11 escorts, 1 VIP, and 8 assassins. The VIP should be immediately distinguishable WITH LINE OF SIGHT, meaning you can't have a scout spot for lurmageddon.

The VIP will be chosen on the drop screen. Players will click something that nominates themselves to be VIP and there can either be a player vote or the system will randomly choose a pilot among those who want to be VIP. If no pilot chooses to be, the system randomly chooses a VIP. If the VIP disconnects for more than thirty seconds in game, the escort team gets a base of 25K c-bills+whatever they would have gotten and the assassins get 50K+whatever they earned.

=CTF=
This can be one or two flag CTF, push or pull. All four options might be interesting to have. The flag-bearer will have a distinguishing icon only visible to those in LoS. If respawning is allowed (with limited lives), I don't think passing the flag to a teammate should be allowed. If no respawning is allowed, the flag-bearer should be able to pass the flag to a teammate within 100m with a hotkey similar to the way arty and airstrikes are placed; target the recipient and pass them the flag. If the flag-bearer dies, the flag is dropped and remains there for ten seconds and then teleports back to its spawn point.

1F-push: There is a center flag (where theta would be on conquest) and the teams have to bring the flag to the enemy's base.
1F-pull: Bring the center flag to your base. This mode seems the most boring because you send a commando with max engine and boom you win.
2F-push: Bring your flag to the enemy base.
2F-pull: Take the enemy's flag to your base.

=Zombie/Terminator/Juggernaut=
I'd like to see a gamemode where there's one near-invincible mech but I can't see this flying as well in the context of MW:O; this feels more like a twitch-shoot FPS thing like COD and Battlefield.

=Traitor=
One pilot on each team is randomly designated as traitor and one is randomly designated as commander or VIP or whatever. The identity [name] of the commander is known to both teams and nobody knows who the traitors are except themselves obviously. The winning team is the one whose commander survives. The traitor's job is to kill their commander. There will be no FF penalty for hitting any of their "teammates" but doing so will be taking the chance that they're identified as the traitor. There is no FF penalty on anyone for hitting the traitor. The traitor earns on the same scale as the other team.

This mode could be combined with Escort but that involves programming an entirely new gamemode (not that it matters if they decide to put half of my ideas in might as well go the whole hog).

Edited by Tylerchu, 07 November 2015 - 12:28 AM.

[VanguardMk1]

Any mech that is distinguishable from other enemies will be focused and taken down very quickly. Unless that VIP gets a Juggernaut quirk that makes it a lot tankier I think the escorting will fail the majority of the times.

[Tylerchu]

VanguardMk1, on 07 November 2015 - 01:16 AM, said:

Any mech that is distinguishable from other enemies will be focused and taken down very quickly. Unless that VIP gets a Juggernaut quirk that makes it a lot tankier I think the escorting will fail the majority of the times.

I agree. We can work with the bitsie pieces and details but for the most part do you think these are halfway decent ideas?

Edited by Tylerchu, 07 November 2015 - 12:46 PM.

[Robinhood78]

VanguardMk1, on 07 November 2015 - 01:16 AM, said:

Any mech that is distinguishable from other enemies will be focused and taken down very quickly. Unless that VIP gets a Juggernaut quirk that makes it a lot tankier I think the escorting will fail the majority of the times.

Absolutely. What if there were several "dummy" mechs like in the convoy of a dignitary? That might help and then there would be a chance. These missions in the various MW titles were always terrible on defend. The only way to win was to take fast mechs and take out the attackers before they got in range of the convoy.

[Tylerchu]

Or what if there were multiple groups taking various waypoints and the assassins had to figure out which group had the VIP? This idea would work better on the new maps because they're bigger and have more cover (unlike Alpine).

[Lannister Kreed]

Tylerchu, on 09 November 2015 - 11:44 PM, said:

Or what if there were multiple groups taking various waypoints and the assassins had to figure out which group had the VIP? This idea would work better on the new maps because they're bigger and have more cover (unlike Alpine).

Both teams number 12.
Double the escort team/VIP's armor, split them into Lances. Each Lance has a waypoint path numbering (let's say) 10 points.

The assassins will be grouped as lances also, but don't have to stay together, nor are they forced to split up. Each Lance gets a random waypoint along one of the VIP lanes. There is no guarantee that they are different VIP lanes. So its possible all three Assassin Lances are hunting the same lane.

This guarantees that they are on the trail of one part of the other team.

Maybe the VIP gets ECM?

[Tylerchu]

Lannister Kreed, on 10 November 2015 - 01:42 AM, said:

Both teams number 12.
Double the escort team/VIP's armor, split them into Lances. Each Lance has a waypoint path numbering (let's say) 10 points.

The assassins will be grouped as lances also, but don't have to stay together, nor are they forced to split up. Each Lance gets a random waypoint along one of the VIP lanes. There is no guarantee that they are different VIP lanes. So its possible all three Assassin Lances are hunting the same lane.

This guarantees that they are on the trail of one part of the other team.

Maybe the VIP gets ECM?

An ECM champion mech perhaps? I'm pretty insistent on the VIP having a preset loadout because he's really not supposed to be a frontline fighter, nor is he supposed to be a rusher, or striker, or fulfill any bit of role warfare except maybe a bit of fire support. Plop the pilot in something he's a bit uncomfortable with so that it better highlights the fact that he's not supposed to fight, just defend himself.

What you're saying in your first part is that each escort lance gets a different path? And each assassin lance gets assigned a path (not necessarily different ones), so they may have overlapping points? Which means that if in the unfortunate case all three lances are guarding one path, the VIP lance could have been a path completely opposite of them?
-
Also, I think this guy's idea would work well. Take the Conquest cap points and reassign them to be waypoints. That way, this forces most of the map to be covered and he's done a good job working them out.
http://mwomercs.com/...spawn-variants/

[Lannister Kreed]

Tylerchu, on 10 November 2015 - 11:01 AM, said:

An ECM champion mech perhaps? I'm pretty insistent on the VIP having a preset loadout because he's really not supposed to be a frontline fighter, nor is he supposed to be a rusher, or striker, or fulfill any bit of role warfare except maybe a bit of fire support. Plop the pilot in something he's a bit uncomfortable with so that it better highlights the fact that he's not supposed to fight, just defend himself.

What you're saying in your first part is that each escort lance gets a different path? And each assassin lance gets assigned a path (not necessarily different ones), so they may have overlapping points? Which means that if in the unfortunate case all three lances are guarding one path, the VIP lance could have been a path completely opposite of them?
-
Also, I think this guy's idea would work well. Take the Conquest cap points and reassign them to be waypoints. That way, this forces most of the map to be covered and he's done a good job working them out.
http://mwomercs.com/...spawn-variants/

That is exactly what I meant. I was hoping I could paint the picture well enough.

The idea is that the assassins have incomplete information and know they do. They'll have to ether divide and conquer with wha they've got, or mass in total and swing through all the paths, racing to beat the VIP escort with its double armor to its goal. Teamwork will be, as always, essential.

And sooner or later, the assassins will have to range out and go hunting. They'll have a stealth advantage because they have no set path, but the defensive advantage is all escort.

Your ideas mesh well with that. The maps will need more than just 3 paths way pointed in though. Or regular players will just learn them and patrol accordingly.

[Tylerchu]

Lannister Kreed, on 10 November 2015 - 09:16 PM, said:

And sooner or later, the assassins will have to range out and go hunting. They'll have a stealth advantage because they have no set path, but the defensive advantage is all escort.

And the escort doesn't necessarily have to take the shortest route. They just have to hit waypoints in order. So they could crawl halfway around the map while the assassins are pulling watch on an obvious valley to pass through.

[Lannister Kreed]

Tylerchu, on 11 November 2015 - 12:47 AM, said:

And the escort doesn't necessarily have to take the shortest route. They just have to hit waypoints in order. So they could crawl halfway around the map while the assassins are pulling watch on an obvious valley to pass through.

Very true. Near as my newb self can figure, this is a valid mode to consider. And it is representative of setting as well.

If the Devs are feeling particularly masochistic, they could tie this mode to special events in the Community Warfare, where the VIP mech is carrying a nonexistent personal pod that, for story, contains a dignitary of the houses (or a researcher of the clans or [insert plausible plot piece]).

The first drop mech on deck is your escort mech. The next three are reinforcements or a rescue squad to pick up the pod from the destroyed VIP mech. If the escort team doesn't get the VIP pod to the final rendezvous in time, they lose the capstone of the conflict. Lose a planet (or perhaps a SOTA advantage.)

The possibilities are endless but the idea is easier than the implementation. I come to Mechwarrior by tabetop RPGs so I love story loss ilities but the more variables, the harder it is to keep balanced and viable.

Still, I like even the barest of this incarnation of play.