2 replies to this topic

[The Captain]

After playing a few games of Classic Battletech this weekend (I'm still learning), I started wondering what MWO would be like with all of the stats directly lifted from tabletop (with the added change of no-convergence on torso weaponry that only fires dead ahead). 2.0 DHS, no doubled armor, no heat threshold increase from HS, no bonus AC ammo, 1 damage LRM's and 2 damage SRM's (which ideally are crosshair guided and not dumb-fire), and tabletop-accurate ECM. Just make sure that the ratio of damage per 10s and damage to armor are equalized (eg: if something does 20 damage over 10 seconds in tabletop, make sure the ratio of damage to fire rate is intact if you want it to fire faster). Add in heat penalties as you get close to 100% heat (ammo cookoffs, shutdowns, accuracy and speed degradation). Heck, you could even restrict everyone to stock loadouts only... with the mechlab out of the way it would be a fun way to try out some "hardcore" matches where players don't have the ability to use only the min-maxed versions of each variant.

Would it be a bloodbath? Yes.

Would it be well balanced competitively? Not at all.

Would it be fun to play the game temporarily with completely different balance? I think so!

I think it would be enjoyable to play a sort of "balance mod" on a public test server temporarily. If MWO had modding (like, say Red Orchestra 2 or Natural Selection 2) I'm pretty sure someone would have cooked this up by now (and we would be laughing at how terribly it was balanced.) But, we don't, so all I can suggest is a sort of "special test weekend" where the MWO balance is made up (from Classic Battletech) and the points don't matter (stats aren't counted). After playing MWO for a while, I forgot how much of a bloodbath the tabletop version was, and I'd be curious to play a game of MWO along the same lines.

Who knows? Maybe the balance overall would be similar to the current game, or maybe it'd be radically different. Right now MWO is balanced (probably correctly) on slow tweaking and feel, so it would be interesting to see a completely new, purely mathematical balance now that we have dozens of mechs and variants in game.

Note: I'm not suggesting regular MWO balance get changed to tabletop, only that it would be a fun mod or mutator to play on a secondary server before we go back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Edited by The Captain, 01 July 2013 - 01:04 AM.

[AGTMADCAT]

I would very much like to see this, and to be able to play with it. Perhaps every month or two for a weekend? I'd love to see the AC/20 on a Hunchback be really properly terrifying, since it'd probably one-shot lights!

Agreed on stats not being counted, absolutely, and possibly also on stock loadouts - it'd prevent any cheese, and give the most "authentic" possible feel to the completely laughably ridiculous action.

-AGT

[Lyoto Machida]

I'm down for this...100%. Even if it was just a weekend a month or whatever.