99 replies to this topic

[Reggimus]

I generally run a K2 - swapped the PPC's for ERLL and droped MG's for AMS and add Endo. Even after lossing an ear my repair bills are never much over 75,000K, so if I manage to get a spotting bonus, a little damage, or even an assist, while still lossing the match, im making money. (Thats with removing the prem bonus).

Just started running a C1 cat - endo and coupple of extra HS ... even after going through all ammo and lossing an ear im still brekaing even due to spotting assists and doing a little damage.(Thats with removing the prem bonus).

Sure, Its not the fastest way to progress, but im not going backwards. If I wasn't trying to play with the rest of the team though, it might be another story.

So, it looks like tactics and team work are the way forward. (I know.. team work in a team game .. who'd a thunk it), that or just roll energy load-outs on lights and mediums.

Edited by Reggimus, 27 October 2012 - 12:34 PM.

[Voridan Atreides]

quasihuman, on 27 October 2012 - 12:09 PM, said:

If you win, you get salvage which reduces your repair costs, so win more. You can increase your win ratio greatly if you join a gaming clan.

Kinda hard to win a lot of times when you have bad teamates.....

[tyrone dunkirk]

I haven't noticed any real jump in repair costs. I heard a LOT of crying about it on the CB forums, so I went and turned off the auto repair to take a look at my costs. I had the XL engine equipped Cicada (sold it, that mother has no survivability ) and I still keep my Jenner, but have another Cicada with 2 ML and 2 SL ( upped the armor, added two more heatsinks and that extra SL ).
After 10 rounds ( 5 in each mech, wins and losses in both ), I never once went negative from my earnings ( both wins and losses ). Even with the underamored Cicada with the XL that I eventually sold, I never lost money during a match. The repair bill only jumps into the hundred thousands when you overload your mech with fancy LosTech upgrades.

[Vermaxx]

Then buy a dinky light or medium, load it with small or medium weapons lasers, no XL engine, low ammo (if any), and just run to farm cred.

If you are not using premium+founder mech, you make more using trial mechs.

Edited by Vermaxx, 27 October 2012 - 12:36 PM.

[Shane W]

I learned when the repair costs came out that the XLs became worthless if you loose your mech but the most recent one tought me to not put to many toys on one mech because the repair bill on my cicada with(Ferro/Endo) started to cost more than my no frills Atlas.

If you want to make money run in a Commando with not fancy stuff and you make 150K+ even if you get blown to little peices. not to mention the fast little guy is fun to pilot, but you will not get many kills.

Do not worry to much they still should make some adjustments on repair/reward part of the game just keep submitting tickets with details on match/win/lost/costs in an intelligent manner and they will listen.

[ConFu]

Since the last patch I often repaired my 'mech for about or even more CB than I earned the match before.
This 'maybe' OK so far.
But often I end up with the game engine crashing somehow when loading a map, I do not even get into that particular match (and have to quit, instead of staring at a black screen for 15 minutes).
My 'mech is useless until the match is finished, I have to repair it costly and have no income for that match, not even for a loss and doing nothing.
Really frustrating. Before the patch I had lots of fun tinkering around in the lab and testing my configuration. But now I can not afford that anymore.

I appreciate that it is not possible anymore to run around in an completely overhauled 'mech after playing for 2 days or nights.
But you should be able to get your 'mech ready again after losing a match and you should still have the opportunities to experiment a little.
Even if you wasted some ammo and took some damage.

And/but the frequent crashes of the game really eat up my CBs.
Until that is fixed, I will stick to the trial mechs and only test out my new config once in a while, hoping the game will not crash.
Since it all will be resettet for open beta.

Edited by ConFu, 27 October 2012 - 01:19 PM.

[Sid Vishus]

for bieing one not had a chance to play yet reading all this is puting me off looks like a nasty los system desined to empty ya pokets dont like the way internet gameing has gon i been playing mechwarior for dam near 20 years seems its about profit from players thes days not making an awsom game you want to play again and again ile be interested to see the cost of this enviroment compared to other games verses game play fun take note devs i hav seen games die because of greed

[Red Dox]

So played a bit and spend a huge ammount of MC for test purposes. At least I get that money back on monday ^^ As mentioned earlier in the topic, I can´t understand why I pay my *** off with my Jenner and my wingman got his repaircosts covered by the devil. I replicated the mechs and now let the pictures talk for themselves.

CICADA: 320 XL, Endosteel, double heatsinks, 2 medium laser, UAC/5 (2t ammo)


Jenner F: 300 XL, 6 small laser, AMS (1t ammo)


Jenner D: 300 XL, 4 small laser, 2x SSRM2 (2t ammo)


Yen-Lo-Wang: 275 XL, endo steel, AC20 (4t ammo), 2 medium laser


The ammunition cost on my Jenner D is off the charts and responsible for his high price. But the Jenner F with mostly lasers is with 80k near behind him. The Cicada comes away chepaer. Ammunition price is pretty low, wonde rif I wasted not enough shots. But the mech weights 5 t more AND has a bigger XL engine + endosteel and DHS. And still its 10k less then my Jenner F.
And WTF is going on with Low Wang? That thing should cost an arm and a leg measured on how they stomped me in that match. AC20 Ammo cheap as **** and I know I have fired at least half my shots before I exploded. XL and Endosteel on a 50t mech but 50k overall??
I am still pretty sure something strange is going on with the repair costs if I get ripped with the Jenner F in comparsion.

Funny sidenote:
First match with low Wang they cored me pretty good. After the match I had reapair costs from 1k. Yeah, you read right --> 1k.
Second match I got barley scratched by a bypassing Jenner and shot maybe twice at him. Stand alone in the enemy base and missed all the fun winning the game. Repair costs --> 44k o_0

------Red Dox

Edited by Red Dox, 27 October 2012 - 02:35 PM.

[Phelan Ward-Kell]

Roll with a team (Who are at least decent) and this shouldn't be an issue.


On my own, I average 200k winnings (before repairs, etc)
Rolling with a team in my normal mechs, I average 250k
If I roll with Yen Lo Wang I average 300k per match.

The thing you guys seem to be missing, is that this game is based on a universe in which the "lone wolf" types couldn't be callous with their mech. They had to pick and choose their battles, and play smart.

If you don't want to join with a crew, that's your choice, but it's like when someone doesn't vote for their countries leader: You're sacrificing the right to complain when things don't go your way.

[Kartr]

Not sure how you all are getting such huge repair costs or why you're complaining about a piddly 80k repair bill. On a win you make 100k plus what ever damage, spotting, killing and capping you do. You're not going to make hundreds of thousands every match, but then you really shouldn't. From what I can tell repair costs aren't that bad, you just don't make a ton of money to fast, which is the way it should be.

Repair costs are fairly low, 30-40k average is cheap, once the game goes live everyone is going to get to pick their first 'Mech free (ask the devs a couple of months ago), the game is free to play so free players are always going to have to grind longer to get the cash they want, its how the model works. If your monetary gains are to per match for your taste, get a premium account or hero 'Mech that's why they're here.

Just ran my Hunchback with Endo-Steel, DHS, and an XL200. I did 129pts of damage, and made 78.3k before premium and founders bonus. Cored out with all those goodies my repair costs were 33,000, so I still made 45k credits on the loss. No armor repair, because I have almost 2,000 pts of armor in my MechLab from 'Mechs I sold.

Edited by Kartr, 27 October 2012 - 05:15 PM.

[Tussock]

I would be guessing that many mechwarriors in the ranks of the great houses would be in standard issue equipment and either couldn't afford a custom load-out or weren't allowed it by the 'boss'

Having the trial mechs in their factory config and making them profitable to run is a great way of populating the MWO world with mechs from the tech readouts.

More stock mechs on the field and having a harsh economy makes the game 'mechwarrior in the 31st century' and not a 'batteltech free-for-all'.

Hopefully the expense of 'the good stuff' will make the mechs on the battlefield more diverse and not drive players away in a rage of impatience and frustration

Edited by Tussock, 27 October 2012 - 05:27 PM.

[DrTeath]

First of all, I agree with some of the people suggesting that it would be nice if you earn 2x or 3x more for damage done to the enemy.

Second, since I joined the beta a month ago, I've done nothing but earn money. Even in a worst case scenario. Admittedly sometimes this was due to my premium bonus or the bonus on the founder 'mechs.
I don't think I have ever lost money on a drop, so I thought I would track my income situation over an evening. Anyone interested can find the spreadsheet link below.
Notes

• Every one of those deaths is a full CT coreing.
  
• Both of those 'mechs are new variants to me, I haven't piloted either of them before today.
  
• Both 'mechs are mediums.

https://docs.google....OHVoMXFkS0diYWs


From the above we can deduce two things.

• I would have made a profit even without a premium bonus
  
• I really suck at this game.

While I agree that it is a bit annoying to only make 27K (assuming no premium bonus) I don't really see a problem with this.

As the game stands right now, it's far more economical to run light and medium 'mechs. If it was cheap and easy to run heavy and assault 'mechs then the game would be full of , Steiner scout lances. Nothing but atlas and awesome drops.

Making gigantic high-tech ammo hungry 'mechs expensive and difficult to pilot means that they will become less common this is part of the game balance. While I would like to see a slightly higher income for non-premium players, I personally think that they have the balance about right.

People seem to forget that game development COST MONEY.
Just because the game is free to play, doesn't meant that it didn't cost real money to develop. The developers have to pay bills and wages, this isn't a labour of love, it's a job for them remember. Games like this make money because people aren't patient enough to just enjoy the game to get the stuff they want gradually.

TL,DR

• Don't put 3,000,000 cb of tech on one 'mech then expect its repair price not to shoot up.
  
• Income vs Repair is a little low but is about right.
  
• Pilot light or medium 'mechs.
  
• I suck at this game

[Vyviel]

Just dont repair things like engines etc...

[Freeride Forever]

I put this in another thread but I figured I'd copy it to this one for y'alls to chew on since I just saw the topic as I was passin' through.

Much of this problem with getting ****** in the fart hole for being the guys in the **** would be solved by implementing my idea for crediting damage done & using that to multiply credit for damage received by some factor (e.g., if 153 damage done (DD) & 200 damage taken (DT), then XP = DD + DT(DD/100) = 153 + 200*1.53 = 459 XP) then they could multiply by 100 for 45,900 C-Bills. They could adjust it for win or loss or whatevs. Just an example. The math/economics would be up to PGI. It encourages participation, it may make matches longer & more interesting & help to stop chumps from suiciding or leaving the team to save their paint. I started a post on it in Beta Feedback with more detail & also mentioned it again in the ridiculous announcement to go OB. Currently, you get XP/C-bills for dumb **** like pushing a button for spotting a target even though your sophisticated target acquisition system (RADAR) should do it automatically & does if no target is assigned, you get rewarded for being the lucky **** who got the killshot, you get extra rewards for winning the match by standing in a stupid ******* square! Meanwhile you get **** on for actually playing the game, being a "MechWARRIOR" & actually fighting, dealing damage & taking it. The current system is a ******** mess & it needs to be fixed to reflect what the game is supposed to be. With my idea you'd need to deal a lot of damage & take a lot to get the highest benefit from it, if you run out & die you get nothing, if you desert the team you get nothing, if you do a pile of damage but take none then you'd only get credit for what damage you did. Less credit for less damage taken is offset by the fact that less damage taken means less repair costs. The more damage you do, the higher the value of the damage you took. It better rewards the willingness to get in & fight & do what MechWarriors are supposed to be doing. If they wanna keep giving rewards for all that stupid **** then whatevs, but I think damage done & damage received need to be the biggest factors in scoring & rewarding at least until there are actually meaningful things to do like grabbing & moving high-priority items, disabling defenses, preventing evac's or ship launches etc.

Word up?

Edited by Freeride Forever, 27 October 2012 - 09:13 PM.

[Sirous]

Repair costs are going to be reworked, they came out and said that the repair is on average 2 to 4 times higher than it should be. As for the rearm, costs will not be adjusted, you want to run a missile boat, you will have to pay for it.

Also you don't have to pay to rearm, every match every time, you get a certain percentage for free. While not ideal it will help. Also running XL Engines will if they get cored cost more than anything else on average.

[The Helepolis]

Granted, the economy has something "nice" going for it. But this just isn't working, its either up the income or reduce the repairs. Because how its going now, a loss can really ruin your day. When honestly, you really don't have control over the entire battle. With a single player game its you and the AI, AI will follow commands and orders. "Attack this" or "Form up on me" people on the other hand can decide to go wander off and get surrounded and quickly murdered. I understand that this lost tech just now being rediscovered on the nearing times to the clan invasion should be expensive to buy, but I do believe they should be nowhere near this costly to repair. Not to mention, with only one game mode and a lack uniformity without pre-game groups the chance to be out-maneuvered is quite high. Personally, I try to get at least one friend with me, but even that wont be enough. I've taken up being Commander dozens of times, but orders wont work. So to compensate for the individuals that think they can Rambo up the battlefield like this is a generic FPS and not a Mech sim, we need a increase in salvage income or something to let us survive this. I hope there's a hotfix for this coming monday. Even more so, I hope they're ready for Open Beta on monday. If we had this issue with people who have been in closed beta, imagine the storm gates opening for open beta...

[Riptor]

TigridMorte, on 27 October 2012 - 07:06 AM, said:

Not saying the costs are perfect, but they are better than before.
trial mechs have no repair costs.
XL are expensive and costly to repair.
Choices should have consequences.
If your choices are making it hard for you to make cbills then change you choices.
You have options.

To bad its not the lostech or inner structure that costs the most but armor and ammo.

Get your facts right next time before you spout out nonsense again.

Whats crippling atlasses now and any other heavy to assault mechs are armor repairs and ammo refills. Item repair are allways below those two.

[Shaddock]

Some people made the point well, if you are having economical difficulties then PUG on your cheaper mechs, save the better mechs for playing with friends when your chances go up of a win, or at least an orderly loss.

[Sid Vishus]

ffs this game has never cost anything untill now and its been out for decades you devs had beter get the cost right to be honest ad rather buy the game than get finanshaly fleast bit by bit by sum poxy los system how to +uck up an awsom game profit and game are so ugh nasty web gaming all about profit now shame that considering nothings changed with this game in 2 decades i see nothing new so what you charging for just greeed

[The Basilisk]

I'm driving a Catapult with 300XL engine, endosteel and DHS. My avarange repair costs are around 60000 C
Sometimes as low as 25k sometimes over 150k.
To use the new / found tech items cost-efficient, you have to use them successfull. If you're getting mauled to often it won't pay of at all.
Since XL engines grant you the biggest advantage they are very costly. In combination with DHS you better should be on the winning side with factor 1.50 or it won't pay of !
And YES this is intended.
You don't put a rookie in an Atlas.
You start of with granddaddies old rusty hunch.
And if you've learned the tricks and joined a merc corps its time to get in something bigger or more modern.
Simple story. Fancy tech needs a fancy pilot or its worthless.
A Mech is only as good as its pilot.
Anyone can get good enough by training, teamwork and patience.
As stated in the Tutorial this isn't your averange itchy twitchy casual arcade shooter. Theres a lot to learn. If your 'Mech is too expensive to maintain, its a sign the mech is simply more than you can handle at the moment.
Be patient, join a group, don't talk, listen and watch, learn. Stay cool.
GL HF
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