2 replies to this topic

[Khanublikhan]

[Please find below a list of all the balancing considerations I could immediately think of at 11PM at night - and my own late night suggestions. Agree / Disagree / Discuss.]

Overall Argument:

Currently offence drastically outstrips defences - primarily due to skillful player input / pinpoint accuracy but other factors are at play. Conjecture: Not one single factor but several need their strings pulled / adjusted.

Considerations:

Offence:

- Player Accuracy / Skill Level (Is player skill higher than expected? Should player skill be curbed and/or strongly stratified?) Skill level is higher, not curbed, some forced, some opt-in and opt-out skill grouping of players.
- Reticle Size / Accuracy (A single reticles applies to all direct fire weapons. Do certain weapons require a different reticle shape?) Different reticle for LBX, Gauss and PPC's direct fire weapons.
- Reticle Drift / Resize due to current Mech Speed (Does there need to be variance dependent on mech's current lateral speed?) High speed lateral or vertical movement of firing mech should impart reticle drift.
- Rate of Fire (Do harder hitting weapons need to have a slower rate of fire?) Yes - see crowd control options?
- Effective Range / Maximum Ranges (Do ranges and falloff ranges need to be adjusted?) Possibly.
- Heat per shot (Do harder hitting weapons need to have a higher heat value?) Possibly.
- Damage per shot (Do the damage values need to be balanced against armour values to create a base mech lifespan?) Yes, to create a concept of a mech lifespan - a threshold for fun, for players.
- Heat Shutdown Threshold (Is the maximum heat limit too high?) Yes. Do heatsinks need to contribute the way they do?
- Heat Dissipation Rate (Consideration: Is the rate of decline of heat too slow / too high?) Not sure. It works. Sometimes.
- Heat Sink Criticality (Heat Sink degradation due to combat damage - should heat sinks be easier to destroy?) Heat sinks were easy to hit in TT? Should they be easy to destroy?
- Drop-Lance Restrictions (Should there be additional weight limits on lance participation? Tonnage? Battle Value? Mech Weight Classes?) Yes.
- Canon Offence Rules (Should canon values be stepped away from in the interest of balance or are they a strong hint to proper balance?) I'll neatly sidestep this one...
- Canon Timeline (Should the timeline be adhered to or adjusted in order to add/restrict offensive weapons?) And this...

Defence:

- Armour per Ton / Max Armour per Location (Should these values be altered?) Seems fine.
- Internal Structure Max values per Location (Should these values be altered?) Higher values?
- Critical Hit Points on Offensive Equipment (Should weapon systems be easier / harder to destroy?) Hits on weapons lower their damage output (-X%) prior to their outright destruction? Misalignment?
- Critical Hit Points on Defensive Equipment (Should engines / actuators / defence systems be easier / harder to destroy than weapon systems?) Defensive equipment should be harder to outright destroy than weapon systems. No misalignment (-X%) for defensive equipment?
- Mech Proportions (Should mech sizes / proportions / hit boxes be adjusted to counter precision damage on a mech by mech basis?) Yes - if opportunity allows.
- AMS Countermeasure (Does AMS effectiveness need to rise / fall in relation to applied LRM / SRM / SSRM values?) AMS needs a pilot skill tree and upgrades.
- ECM Countermeasure (Does ECM effectiveness need to change?) ECM needs a pilot skill tree and upgrades.
- Pilot skills (Should there be more defensive skills than offensive skills, to slow combat round times?) Yes, more defensive skills might be a solution.

Overarching Questions:

- Combat Round Ideal Time (How long should a round of mech combat ideally last?) Long enough to have fun. Not too long as to feel ineffective.
- Mech Withering Fire Survival Time (How long should a mech of a given class ideally survive when drastically outnumbered?) Maths suggests not very long. Player Skill and good fortune should make the world of difference.
- Mech Equal Weight Survival Time (How long should mech's of each weight class last, at close, medium or long range?) Long enough to have fun. The flavour of a duel to the death should colour how the combat plays out.
- Exemplary Piloting / Escape Window (How easy / hard should it be for mech's of a different weight class to engage / disengage with the enemy / prolong a mech's lifespan? Are new game mechanisms required? Smoke dispensers? JJ Smoke?) Easier to disengage - MASC & Smoke. Engage - MASC, Mines. Both - Artillery, Air Strikes,
- Weapon Type Rock-Paper-Scissors Countering (What weapons are a counter for each other through skilful application?) The developers need to have 'The Unspoken List'.
- What weapons are overperforming? Easy to identify through playtesting.
- What weapons are underperforming? Easy to identify through playtesting.
- Is there place for limited crowd-control functionality at a player's disposal? Smoke, -sight to opponents, Flamer, -recharge to opponents, +heat to opponents? Yes, limited shots per match?


...I'm off to bed...

[Keifomofutu]

I feel like a robot wrote this to another robot. Is this the first sign of the impending takeover?

[Khanublikhan]

No. Yes. Shut up, Jarvis.