28 replies to this topic

[00dlez]

Fellow Mech Jocks

I'm a more recent entry to the MWO world but not the inner sphere - Ive been around. I'm stoked about community warfare and the game itself, but have some concerns that hopefully the Devs or someone better informed than I can answer.

The House with most players wins. Assuming some average skill amongst players, If Stiener is 3x larger than the DC, when competing for planets (as described in the blogs) it seems that Stiener would rack up more influence through sheer numbers rather than competitive superiority... Is this true?

If planet control actually converts into advantages (even just cbills to paint my mech an obnoxious pink and lime green) why should I bother joining a small house rather than just following the mob?

[Adridos]

Well, I hope it does not work the way you described, but even then, there are some reasons to be different.

For instance, you could join Daviots, but think of it. They are stupid and you could defeat an entire nation on your own and noone would care, but taking New Avalon as a Capellan/ Kuritan, or standing against Clan invasion as one of FRR vikings is entirely a different story.

[Gigaton]

It's a good question and I'm interested in knowing what kind of safeguards devs have to prevent factions from caving in. ComStar rides to the rescue in order to maintain balance of power?

[Ghostmammoth]

There is only one House, Stiner...

[cinco]

steiner and federated suns are both cool. the rest are bleh. that draconic combine flat looks like mortal combat symbol.

[Seabear]

The house/nation you join will depend on you and what you feel is the best way for a nation to function. The Davions are the faction if you are into the "King Arthur" mindset. Lyrans, if youyou are into the "heavest is the best" mindset and don't mind the Social generals that keep them form reaching their potential. Go Drac if you are into the Bushido/samuari philosophy and want to be in a warrior oriented society. The Rasselhague Republic is for you if you want to paly an underdog and this will get even more extreme in about a year. Capeleans are a nation that faces some real problems, but keep surviving as a regimented society with a focus on the warrier caste. The FWL is for those who are free thinkers , who have a distrust for authority or are very out spoken. The way each house functions in combat will be based a large part to the philosophy found in each.

Edited by Seabear, 17 March 2012 - 02:49 PM.

[FlareUKCS]

It is something to think about though, as some houses will be much more popular and thus more powerfull if it was determined by numbers and battles fought.

I would imagine though that each battle one house fights in needs an opponent, so while one house may have 100 warriors and another only 20 , you cant field 100 vs 20... so that house would have issues getting opponents to battle with while the house with less would be able to fight more battles as the wait for opponents would be a lot less.

... however its becomes complicated as there are more than 2 sides, and then there lone wolves and merc corps to add to the mix.
I would hate to have to work out a fair system that ensure mere numbers dont win out the war, I mean while its fun to be the underdogs in a fight you have a chance to win but to be so outnumbered there is literally nothing you can do to win is not fun at all.

[DDAYGI]

Seabear, on 17 March 2012 - 11:38 AM, said:

The house/nation you join will depend on you and what you feel is the best way for a nation to function. The Davions are the faction if you are into the "King Arthur" mindset. Lyrans, if youyou are into the "heavest is the best" mindset and don't mind the Social generals that keep them form reaching their potential. Go Drac if you are into the Bushido/samuari philosophy and want to be in a warrior oriented society. The Rasselhague Republic is for you if you want to paly an underdog and this will get even more extreme in about a year. Capeleans are a nation that faces some real problems, but keep surviving a regimented society with a focus on the warrier caste. The FWL is for thosewho are free thinkers , who have a distrust for authority or are very out spoken. The way each house funtions in combat will be based a large part to the philosophy found in each.

right on the money. I see this game building on these strengths.

[Adridos]

He's not asking who to join, folks.

Rather about the balance of the big vs. small house battles.

Edited by Adridos, 17 March 2012 - 12:28 PM.

[Nik Van Rhijn]

As the devs control which worlds are fought on and by who, they have total control over the size of the houses with regard to planets. It is immaterial how many players are on a side.

[Tadakuma]

cinco, on 17 March 2012 - 11:18 AM, said:

steiner and federated suns are both cool. the rest are bleh. that draconic combine flat looks like mortal combat symbol.

To be fare the DC symbol pre-dates Mortal Combat by the better part of a decade or more, you should be saying that the mortal combat symbol looks like the DC symbol.

In regards to balance, I suspect that there isn't an in game advantage to joining the largest faction, and given that match making is faction based there may actually be some advantages to being in a smaller faction when in comes to queing for matches.

[Morgana]

Seabear, on 17 March 2012 - 11:38 AM, said:

The house/nation you join will depend on you and what you feel is the best way for a nation to function. The Davions are the faction if you are into the "King Arthur" mindset. Lyrans, if youyou are into the "heavest is the best" mindset and don't mind the Social generals that keep them form reaching their potential. Go Drac if you are into the Bushido/samuari philosophy and want to be in a warrior oriented society. The Rasselhague Republic is for you if you want to paly an underdog and this will get even more extreme in about a year. Capeleans are a nation that faces some real problems, but keep surviving a regimented society with a focus on the warrier caste. The FWL is for thosewho are free thinkers , who have a distrust for authority or are very out spoken. The way each house funtions in combat will be based a large part to the philosophy found in each.

Thank you Seabear. Be it that I've never played TT, and am just starting to catch up on the lore, this was an excellent post to those of us who have no clue what the Houses stand for. (yes, I've read the House Factions section, but was still lost.) Thank goodness this game isn't being released until summer, so I can get a better grip through reading some of the books.

I still find myself very much undecided, do I join a House, or a Merc Unit. I entered this BT Universe upon the arrivals of the Clans. (MW3). Still, I need much more information before I totally immerse myself into any Unit. I've never been a fan of RPG's, (mostly due to time restraints in the past), but am totally open to the new style of play MWO has to offer. If only I could cram the 50+ books into my brain in a week's time! (not that it's necessay to have fun playing, but to have a better understanding). I'm currently only half way through the Saga of the Grey Death Legion, and have soooo much more of the timeline to cover.

What to do, what to do? Fear not 00dlez, you are not alone, and there will be many to follow in our footsteps. Familiarize yourself best as you can, read throughout the Faction threads here in the Forums, and I'm sure you, as well as I, will find our place in this wonderful Universe.

[Inappropriate697]

Federated Suns for the win! Down with Liao! Down with Kurita!

[plodder]

Nik Van Rhijn, on 17 March 2012 - 12:49 PM, said:

As the devs control which worlds are fought on and by who, they have total control over the size of the houses with regard to planets. It is immaterial how many players are on a side.

The Devs are in control, they have assumed control

YEAH BABY!!!!!


Their willingness for balance and intigrating, combined with the patience, is awesome!

I have chosen a merc unit I liked from the books, c-bills are secondary at this point. If they have contracts (who knows) the House that employs them probably shares all stats, and vice versa??

[Outlaw2]

Population numbers per faction won't really matter. In the end battles will be fought in 12v12 matches. Doesn't matter if FS has 30,000 players and CC only 5,000. Its still always 12 v12. If anything being in the overpopulated faction is a disadvantage, since you will be facing much longer que times. Ask the Empire players in SWTOR how they feel about this. However lone wolves will come to the rescue and fill in the numbers for a low population faction. Though they are really saving the overpopulated faction from longer queue times.

We are probably going to choose the lower populated faction once launch just for the lower queue times (or rather align our merc corp with that faction). Right now its looking like FWL, CC, and FRR. FS will probably have the longest wait. It all really depends on the number of lone wolves. If there are tons of them, faction imbalance might not even be an issue.

Edited by =Outlaw=, 17 March 2012 - 01:28 PM.

[Dras Black]

FlareUKCS, on 17 March 2012 - 11:48 AM, said:

I would imagine though that each battle one house fights in needs an opponent, so while one house may have 100 warriors and another only 20 , you cant field 100 vs 20... so that house would have issues getting opponents to battle with while the house with less would be able to fight more battles as the wait for opponents would be a lot less.

... however its becomes complicated as there are more than 2 sides, and then there lone wolves and merc corps to add to the mix.
I would hate to have to work out a fair system that ensure mere numbers dont win out the war, I mean while its fun to be the underdogs in a fight you have a chance to win but to be so outnumbered there is literally nothing you can do to win is not fun at all.

I have a feeling that us mercs will be the ones filling out the missing "80" in this equation. Willing to bet that theres going to be some kind of Allegiance/Hiring system for houses with low numbers to hire on lances of Merc companies for fun and Cbills. Or at least I hope, if not why am I in a merc company, I might as well be a lone wolf picking up and running away with as much salvage as I can.

Edited by Dras Black, 17 March 2012 - 01:42 PM.

[Morashtak]

This comes into play in MMO's with very large player bases who have only two factions to choose from; Imbalances tend to warp PvP action driving players toward the "winning" side. Server imbalances tend to become very pronounced until a tipping point is reached and one side or the other "flees" the server.

BUT... we have SIX! Yes, six factions to choose from. And that is just at launch (oops, seven if one counts Mercs but currently they hire out to Houses and hold no appreciable territory themselves). Then in a few months after launch the devs let loose the Dogs of War; the Clans arrive adding four more factions immediately with another three later.

So... Six plus a wildcard at launch. Then add four plus three. Eventually we have 13+1 factions to choose from. Each with their own political motivations and goals. And this doesn't even count some factions that could be added muuuuch laaaaater; Pirates and Outer Periphery.

Faction imbalance can be dealt with using the old carrot-and-stick approach; reward those that are advancing their faction's goals and "don't reward" those are that are not. If one faction's population is found to be too small to put together 12's (and later 10's for Clans) on a consistent basis simply entice players to that faction with an instant reward. If one population is too large... well, not much can be done except increase the inducement to join another.

This is going to be one helluva wild ride!

Edited by Morashtak, 17 March 2012 - 02:01 PM.

[Bluey]

Steiner forever

[Adridos]

Snakeshit, on 17 March 2012 - 01:17 PM, said:

Federated Suns for the win! Down with Liao! Down with Kurita!

And this is the reason I do not like them. More numerous than zerglings, but their intelligence is even lower, now they cannot even read.

[Alaskan Viking]

00dlez, on 17 March 2012 - 09:22 AM, said:

Fellow Mech Jocks

I'm a more recent entry to the MWO world but not the inner sphere - Ive been around. I'm stoked about community warfare and the game itself, but have some concerns that hopefully the Devs or someone better informed than I can answer.

The House with most players wins. Assuming some average skill amongst players, If Stiener is 3x larger than the DC, when competing for planets (as described in the blogs) it seems that Stiener would rack up more influence through sheer numbers rather than competitive superiority... Is this true?

If planet control actually converts into advantages (even just cbills to paint my mech an obnoxious pink and lime green) why should I bother joining a small house rather than just following the mob?

If you were able to play PvE games against bots, and those games counted towards the global conquest mode (or whatever they are caliing it) then yes, the larger houses would gain ground with shure numbers.

HOWEVER. The game will be played out in competitive 12 vs 12 PvP matches, so greater numbers are essentially meaningless because the larger group of players cannot all start matches unless there is a corresponding number of opposing players. What this means is that if there are more Steiner players, they would not gain more ground, they would just wait longer in queue.

Also, you should Join the FRR, it is the only playable faction which is not a totalitarian regime. Every other faction has some lame space king who rules over all of the people/slaves, even the "democratic" Free Worlds League is ruled by a dictator and controled by house Marik. In the FRR leaders are elected and the people are true citizens. Also, we are space vikings, which gives us 63% more awesomeness. (For Comparison, House Kurita's Space Samurai give them - 7% awesomeness.)

Free Rasalhague Republic, JOIN US and you can put horns on your neurohelmet and drink meade during battle. Also, pillage and women are considered part of salvage rights...

Edited by Alaskan Viking, 17 March 2012 - 02:33 PM.