40 replies to this topic

[Agent of Change]

[Exoth3rmic]

Prosperity Park, on 29 March 2013 - 04:11 PM, said:

Zero damage matches only happen when you make them happen; they don't happen TO you, they happen DUE TO you.

The best way to prevent zero damage matches is to force a combat engagement, instead of rushing straight across the map without scouting for enemies. Base rushing causes zero damage matches, and it can only happen if all 16 players agree to do it.

This is, with the greatest of respect, fairly obvious.

Speaking only of assault mode:

While you mention tactical nous and the ability to "scout" what the enemy is doing or defending your base in order to prevent this I firmly believe that the capping mechanic actually limits game play option rather than increasing them.

The cap mechanic itself has some good features, it helps limit stalemates and griefing and gives a team a certain cohesion which they can ignore at their peril.

I see why people say it adds a "tactical" element and empowers scouting, however I say all the above actually limits gameplay by artificially drawing a battle line on the map and deciding your tactics for you.

Most maps end up with fights occuring in certain sections with the opposing sides virtually always in the same positions, simply because of the threat of capping; your movement is limited. Over half of Alpine is generally ignored in assault for this reason and in every other map you can practically play out a game of assault in your mind knowing exactly where the enemy will be, in part simply because the majority of your team will always be too slow, both in reaction time and top speed, to return to base.

If there was no cap mechanic, or it was a more capture the flag/item mode, and lances were able to move past these battle lines with no threat of instantly losing to capping it makes scouting more important to avoid flanks, surrounds and mech composition can become more important. Some maps the fights wouldn't change much, but that's the limitation on the paths available on the map. Take the fights in conquest as an example - there's usually a good fight down at theta on frozen city to open the offing, in assault that area is virtually never used as an opening gambit to engage the enemy. Conquest allows you to choose your own battle line, assault simply punishes you for moving off the natural blocking positions.

With the "defend your base" and "scout" arguments the maps are asymetric and there are definite advantages to certain bases. Take frozen city again, where the northern base is up high, you have to drive in to it before you can see mechs, whereas the southern base can be seen from most places once you are over the ship in the middle, fair enough it has some buildings to hide behind but this is just one example on one map. In Tourmaline, a huge map, you'd never see half of it and what a waste that would be.

If it was "meta" to hide in your base, nothing would ever happen or you'd be reliant on the fate of your scouts (if you have any viable scouting mechs). Imagine how much fun it would be with just the scouts heading out to the enemy base and your game being decided on the fate of those handful of pilots before you even fired a shot - lose your scouts be forced to hide in base and wait, your scouts win and the reverse for the other team.

I find the cap mechanic for all the above reasons to be limiting my game play in assault, not enhancing it and I feel dissapointed everytime it happens, regardless of what team i'm on.

As a final point, I really do not understand why, when the cap goes through, that the 'game' ends and my mech becomes paralysed. By all means, well done, you capped the base here's 300xp and a chicken nugget, reward them for their positioning by all means if that's truly what you believe is deserved, but do let me turn round and fight them. It is a combat game after all. Isn't there another title for more "tactic" based gameplay that I don't bother playing?

Edited by Exoth3rmic, 30 March 2013 - 12:55 AM.

[Agent of Change]

Posting

after long

post

never

not

post

[Exoth3rmic]

Wanted to draw a line through this - spear it if you will, then whip it about and finish it off before leaving it to lie, unanswered, unviewed and uncared for.

Of course. Who has time to read these days. Especially with 87 pages (and counting) of people in another hot topic thread venting about how they simply won't care what the mecahnic for capping is while they're busy not playing the game.

Ey?

[Roadbeer]

Threads never die

in K Town

We, the deizens

Shall keep her

polished and shiny.

Your contempt for threads

and posting

is distasteful to us

We love all threads

equally, as to the MODS

who give us these seeds

to plant in our garden

and they will grow

to bear the fruit

of many posts.

[Agent of Change]

AMEN!

[Ryvucz]

Word

[Agent of Change]

that's

my word

you can't use

that word

it's

offensive!

[Ryvucz]

droW

Wait a minute, so Dungeons and Dragons was lazy when they made Dark Elf!

[Roadbeer]

Gooood, goooood

Let the inner nerd

flow.

[Agent of Change]

My inner

nerd

can get

beat up

harder

than your

inner

nerd

[Roadbeer]

My inner nerd

just rolled a 20

[Texas Merc]

haven't read any of this

[Ryvucz]

XD

[BigT451]

Here Here!

[Ryvucz]

I want to by a bell for a bird, so cats will know when they are about to be dive bombed.

[BigT451]

It should be a law that all birds shall wear bells...just think how festive that would be...

[Ryvucz]

Movie 'bout hackin', movie 'bout gamin', the biggest nerd move to ever need explainin'.

[Psikez]

just like 6 more threads

[Agent of Change]

I like

birds

birds with bells

would be beautiful.