20 replies to this topic

[Dihm]

So there are lots of discussions on combat, Free+ fears, what's your favorite mech, and all that fun stuff.

What about the overworld? We know that they want to progress the "campaign" at a 1 day to 1 day ratio. We know there are two types of combat (VS. and Conquest).

We know that we'll be grouped up as Merc units apparently ( ”Players will be able to band together in the format of a lance, which is four, and they’ll be able to band together as a mercenary corporation for hire. That’s not unlike a guild. We have a whole editor and mercenary HQ for players to explore that allows them to customize the look and feel of their corporation, their membership, the structure of how they enter battle, the lances, their names, ranks, and all kinds of things.” - Ekman from the PC Gamer interview). I guess this means we aren't actually joining the Houses themselves?

What will the overworld look like? Will we be capturing territory/worlds? Will there be a "grand campaign"? What is going to tie all the various Conquest battles together, what is the metagame? Knowing the Battletech community, if it isn't put in by the Developers, we'll eventually do something to cover this ourselves.

[Brixx]

With a larger playerbase... and I think this game will have one... there are a lot of opportunities. Maybe you have heard of "Inner Sphere Wars". Which was basically a campaign based starmap for Mechwarrior 4 Mercs. It could have worked... it just did not have enough players. I am in for that idea. Be it official or done by the community.

[Dihm]

Yep, I played some ISW. I'm just curious if the Devs are planning anything or if we'll have to do it again.

Edited by dihm, 02 November 2011 - 06:00 AM.

[Paladin1]

I'm going to guess here, but considering that the Devs have stated that we're on a 1:1 ratio, we're going to follow the canon timeline which means we're going to see some seriously major strategic battles but I don't think we're going to see a major deviation from the strategic flow of events. I think this is something that we're just going to have to wait to see about though.

[Threat Doc]

Okay, in the article, IIRC, it was stated that everyone will start in a House, and then we'll branch out into Merc Corps. I agree with everything that's been said, here, but then that leads me to another question I forgot about until just now:

Will there be employers and mercenary contracting? Logically, if there are Merc Corps in the game, contracting would be a must and, I would imagine, part of the system. I'm an expert in contracting, and my curiosity is now very much piqued to know this answer. A follow-up question would have to be, will normal contracting continue once the Clans invade, ie - Inner Sphere contracts, not just vs. Clans contracts? I ask because the history of my unit keeps us out of almost everything Clan related until about 3058.

[Kyll Long]

Well as one of those old nasty EGAers I would personally really like to see a House structure. The concept is doable the coding shouldn't be that hard and the ability to control even a portion of a House is something everyone would jump at. The concept from EGA was well done (although there was some stagnation that was due more to a low player base I think) Basically and Grond or one of the old Davion hands can elaborate more you can earn your way up to x rank with x responsibilities (limited unit movement) after that you have to be promoted by other players. I and many others here have seen it done and done well. When it is it's a thing of beauty (the opposite is true as well) It really makes the game more personal. I can't recall any instances of problems within Liao the Community was just that close.

Any other opinions?

Kyll Long

[Raj]

I would like to see a map of the sphere with notations on planets in conflict, a little history about same, and conditions of the fighting there. it would also be lovely to have different maps for each planet but I suspect this will not be. Making a balanced MP map is not a easy task so bringing more out quickly as the timeline progresses and fighting sparks up everywhere seems unlikely.

[Dihm]

I re-read the interviews and the FAQ (I was lazy here, figured there wouldn't be any info that wasn't in the PC Gamer interview)... I hadn't noticed that we would actually join Houses first and THEN Merc Units. It also sounds like we'll be fighting over "border" planets in Conquest mode:

Quote

Q. Will MechWarrior® Online™ have any online persistency?
A. Yes, this is where our plan for the Inner Sphere comes into play. All players in Merc Corps will be fighting for control over various border planets. The state of these planets is persistent.

I guess that's the borders between the Houses? Periphery worlds maybe? Not sure how we get our contracts, or if Merc units can leave the service of a House and go to another, or if it can have members from multiple Houses. Craving way more info than we have.

[Viking]

I'm hoping they do the overworld similarly to how MegaMek does it. Map of the Inner Sphere, showing which planets have ongoing conflicts.

[Threat Doc]

raj, on 02 November 2011 - 11:01 AM, said:

I would like to see a map of the sphere with notations on planets in conflict, a little history about same, and conditions of the fighting there. it would also be lovely to have different maps for each planet but I suspect this will not be. Making a balanced MP map is not a easy task so bringing more out quickly as the timeline progresses and fighting sparks up everywhere seems unlikely.

Who in the world WANTS a balanced MP map. The idea is to use your brain, your best strategy and tactics, to overcome your enemy, regardless of what the map looks like. My ideal would be to have an absolutely massive area to fight in, one that is expanded by the amount of units to play on the map, even if it's an established, non-random one. For example, you have two Lances going at it, you need about 4 square kilometers, two Companies, about 36 sq. km.

dihm, on 02 November 2011 - 11:11 AM, said:

I re-read the interviews and the FAQ (I was lazy here, figured there wouldn't be any info that wasn't in the PC Gamer interview)... I hadn't noticed that we would actually join Houses first and THEN Merc Units. It also sounds like we'll be fighting over "border" planets in Conquest mode:

I guess that's the borders between the Houses? Periphery worlds maybe? Not sure how we get our contracts, or if Merc units can leave the service of a House and go to another, or if it can have members from multiple Houses. Craving way more info than we have.

Yeah, set me up against the Snakes on the FedCom side, I think I hate Kurita almost as much as I do Liao. Merc units will be formed, I'm sure, from the service of a house, a Command individual earning their chops enough to start their own Merc Corp. As for getting contracts after that, I honestly hope it's a negotiated system very similar to that out of the Mercs Handbook, the original, not '55, as that year's not around just yet, hehe.

[Raj]

Quote

Who in the world WANTS a balanced MP map

You do. Believe me. A match map that is thrown together without thought leads to long lulls in the combat, advantage in seizing important ground to one side or the other, spawn camping and other horrors of multiplayer fps. How the devs balance it will depend on the game types they go with but lets take deathmatch as an example. Your team's assault mechs want to be in a position that lets them use their advantage of range and firepower, something that doesn't let their enemies move too much. What are they going to do? Make a move for the nearest gully or narrow valley and hole up there waiting the other team out. It's up to the devs to make sure that the map is designed so those mechs can still be flanked or driven out of that position some other way.

What you describe sounds more like a Planetside style of gameplay but I don't see that happening for MWO.

[Shepherd]

My assumption is that they call out border planets basically to say that no, players can't just launch an invasion of Tharkad whenever they please. The fighting in Battletech almost always occurs on the borders. You jump to a nearby system and take it over. The border shifts. You can then jump to another nearby system. You don't just take a series of jumps and take over a capital planet.

So.. borders are where the wars take place, and borders are where we'll play.

[Xhaleon]

raj, on 02 November 2011 - 02:10 PM, said:

You do. Believe me. A match map that is thrown together without thought leads to long lulls in the combat, advantage in seizing important ground to one side or the other, spawn camping and other horrors of multiplayer fps. How the devs balance it will depend on the game types they go with but lets take deathmatch as an example. Your team's assault mechs want to be in a position that lets them use their advantage of range and firepower, something that doesn't let their enemies move too much. What are they going to do? Make a move for the nearest gully or narrow valley and hole up there waiting the other team out. It's up to the devs to make sure that the map is designed so those mechs can still be flanked or driven out of that position some other way.

What you describe sounds more like a Planetside style of gameplay but I don't see that happening for MWO.

Alternatively; the game ends when the opposing side manages to make it all the way to the spawn zone of the other, at least in some territorial game modes.

[Threat Doc]

raj, on 02 November 2011 - 02:10 PM, said:

You do. Believe me. A match map that is thrown together without thought leads to long lulls in the combat, advantage in seizing important ground to one side or the other, spawn camping and other horrors of multiplayer fps.

Well, okay, I think I understand where you're coming from. However, what happens if they expand to include all of the environments of the universe and assign maps, by tile numbers rather than graphics, on the planet being fought over, and the opening salvo's of the fight begin on map tile borders? The fight is going to happen where the fight is going to happen, the map tiles already extant. I think that, also, would add a level of strategy to the game never before seen. That's what I was able to glean from the PC Gamer article, though I've been wrong before.

Quote

How the devs balance it will depend on the game types they go with but lets take deathmatch as an example. Your team's assault mechs want to be in a position that lets them use their advantage of range and firepower, something that doesn't let their enemies move too much. What are they going to do? Make a move for the nearest gully or narrow valley and hole up there waiting the other team out. It's up to the devs to make sure that the map is designed so those mechs can still be flanked or driven out of that position some other way.

I think you're making a supposition based on previous games of MechWarrior, and I understand that, because it's all we've had since the beginning. However, what if they decide to not have the old game types? What if there's more strategy, because of the highlighted intelligence aspect, and that requires vastly different game types?

Quote

What you describe sounds more like a Planetside style of gameplay but I don't see that happening for MWO.

I've never played Planetside, I'm afraid. My thoughts come solely from my BattleTech experiences.

[Dihm]

Shepherd, on 02 November 2011 - 02:21 PM, said:

My assumption is that they call out border planets basically to say that no, players can't just launch an invasion of Tharkad whenever they please. The fighting in Battletech almost always occurs on the borders. You jump to a nearby system and take it over. The border shifts. You can then jump to another nearby system. You don't just take a series of jumps and take over a capital planet.

So.. borders are where the wars take place, and borders are where we'll play.

I wonder how many people will complain that they can't fight against every faction since they don't border them. And, when the clans invade, how do Liao and FWL merc units get involved? Will be interesting to see how they figure all this out.

[metro]

Dihm, on 03 November 2011 - 04:54 AM, said:

I wonder how many people will complain that they can't fight against every faction since they don't border them. And, when the clans invade, how do Liao and FWL merc units get involved? Will be interesting to see how they figure all this out.

Hopefully Alliances will come into play and Capellans and Free World Troops will be allowed into and through Lyran and Kuritan space to fight those dastardly clans

[Dihm]

Give us supplies/mechs/salvage and you can come to our front lines

[Threat Doc]

metro, on 03 November 2011 - 05:31 AM, said:

Hopefully Alliances will come into play and Capellans and Free World Troops will be allowed into and through Lyran and Kuritan space to fight those dastardly clans

Who cares about the 'dastardly Clans', Metro, what about the intervening months from game release leading up to the invasion? Let me fight some snakes, or their droppings, the Liao, hehe. (Sorry, metro, couldn't resist, hehe)

Edited by kay wolf, 03 November 2011 - 11:11 AM.

[Rodney28021]

We'll just have to wait to play the game and see how it works

[Athena Hart]

Dihm, on 02 November 2011 - 05:55 AM, said:

So there are lots of discussions on combat, Free+ fears, what's your favorite mech, and all that fun stuff.

What about the overworld? We know that they want to progress the "campaign" at a 1 day to 1 day ratio. We know there are two types of combat (VS. and Conquest).

We know that we'll be grouped up as Merc units apparently ( ”Players will be able to band together in the format of a lance, which is four, and they’ll be able to band together as a mercenary corporation for hire. That’s not unlike a guild. We have a whole editor and mercenary HQ for players to explore that allows them to customize the look and feel of their corporation, their membership, the structure of how they enter battle, the lances, their names, ranks, and all kinds of things.” - Ekman from the PC Gamer interview). I guess this means we aren't actually joining the Houses themselves?

What will the overworld look like? Will we be capturing territory/worlds? Will there be a "grand campaign"? What is going to tie all the various Conquest battles together, what is the metagame? Knowing the Battletech community, if it isn't put in by the Developers, we'll eventually do something to cover this ourselves.

Well.. As to joining the actual Houses themselves.. Technically, yes we will be, as Most Merc units contract out to a specific house. For example, Camacho's Caballero's was contracted to the Draconis Combine, The Grey Death Legion supported Steiner, etc. They have stated that we will have to select a faction at launch which will likely determine which mechs are available.

At first it sounds like MWO will be strictly PvP, no campaign/story (which is a bummer) but they have also stated that they may add a campaign/story mode later, which I would like to see as it wouldn't feel like a MW game without a campaign/story mode. Because if so, instead of Mechwarrior Online (Referring to the Roleplaying Game), they should call it Battletech Online (The Tabletop which was PvP)

Edited by Athena Hart, 10 June 2012 - 08:52 AM.