23 replies to this topic

[Alessan]

I was thinking about this earlier and think I found a solution to two problems, or problems as I see them.

Once you are destroyed and you no longer have any mechs to deploy (As in the case of a Dropship game), let us deploy in ground vehicles. Tanks don't have enough firepower to make a huge difference, but they let us keep playing. Sure we might be as vulnerable as a hamster in a punching bag full of broken glass, but we get to keep playing, and we might even contribute. Note that if there are game modes with Capturing of objectives, only mechs can capture, so I can't sneak my little hovercraft around back and steal an objective, but maybe I can sit on a hill in my LRM carrier and add just a little supporting fire, or in the very least, I'm not sitting there doing nothing and waiting for the game to end (Which could well take a while). Also, vehicles don't count as living team members for the purpose of an elimination game, so I can't hide in a corner and draw things out when all of our mechs are dead. The vehicle used could vary depending on what mech you chose (Scout mechs get light hovercraft, a Catapult gets an LRM track, an assault mech gets a heavy tank), or they could be chosen independently from mechs.

In addition to keeping the fun going, vehicles add another class of targets. There will be people who, if they know they will only ever face mechs, will design their own mech with nothing but big punch guns. AC20's, LRM20's, PPC's, nothing smaller than a Large Laser. If there are smaller, lower value threats, though, you probably don't want to burn AC20 ammo on it, you don't want to spend the 20 missiles, you have to really consider the heat gain of hitting it with a PPC. Smaller targets add value to smaller weapons.

In conclusion, allowing us to pilot small ground combat vehicles, like tanks or missile tracks, or even hovercraft, allows the fun to continue after death, even if we aren't going to make any huge contributions to the battle. Also the diversification of targets one can expect to face adds value to what would otherwise be underused weapon configurations, and demands some added decision making when customizing a mech variant.

[00dlez]

Alessan, on 27 March 2012 - 03:27 PM, said:

I was thinking about this earlier and think I found a solution to two problems, or problems as I see them.

Once you are destroyed and you no longer have any mechs to deploy (As in the case of a Dropship game), let us deploy in ground vehicles. Tanks don't have enough firepower to make a huge difference, but they let us keep playing. Sure we might be as vulnerable as a hamster in a punching bag full of broken glass, but we get to keep playing, and we might even contribute. Note that if there are game modes with Capturing of objectives, only mechs can capture, so I can't sneak my little hovercraft around back and steal an objective, but maybe I can sit on a hill in my LRM carrier and add just a little supporting fire, or in the very least, I'm not sitting there doing nothing and waiting for the game to end (Which could well take a while). Also, vehicles don't count as living team members for the purpose of an elimination game, so I can't hide in a corner and draw things out when all of our mechs are dead. The vehicle used could vary depending on what mech you chose (Scout mechs get light hovercraft, a Catapult gets an LRM track, an assault mech gets a heavy tank), or they could be chosen independently from mechs.

In addition to keeping the fun going, vehicles add another class of targets. There will be people who, if they know they will only ever face mechs, will design their own mech with nothing but big punch guns. AC20's, LRM20's, PPC's, nothing smaller than a Large Laser. If there are smaller, lower value threats, though, you probably don't want to burn AC20 ammo on it, you don't want to spend the 20 missiles, you have to really consider the heat gain of hitting it with a PPC. Smaller targets add value to smaller weapons.

In conclusion, allowing us to pilot small ground combat vehicles, like tanks or missile tracks, or even hovercraft, allows the fun to continue after death, even if we aren't going to make any huge contributions to the battle. Also the diversification of targets one can expect to face adds value to what would otherwise be underused weapon configurations, and demands some added decision making when customizing a mech variant.

They have to include these units in the game first, which is unlikely at the moment. Moreover, if they are sticking to more of a table top balancing mechanic than all of the MW computer games, then even vehicles can make a big difference in a battle.

Post mortem Schrek Carrier? Yes please.

[synergy453]

I thought about this earlier too and would find it fun if you can walk around as the mechpilot in FPS-view after you got ejected.
You can do some spotting for your team, but remember: You're small! And it would take forever to walk to the hill over there to have a good view on the battlefield. But there's still a chance to contribute to your team.

[Nik Van Rhijn]

synergy453, on 28 March 2012 - 04:02 AM, said:

I thought about this earlier too and would find it fun if you can walk around as the mechpilot in FPS-view after you got ejected.
You can do some spotting for your team, but remember: You're small! And it would take forever to walk to the hill over there to have a good view on the battlefield. But there's still a chance to contribute to your team.

This has come up in various other threads - ghost spotters are a big advantage and most would regard it as a no no. Hope that it is like WoT and you can just climb in a nother mech for another game if you would have a long time to wait for your friends to finish.