When I look at my MechLab, it bothers me that I, a single MechWarrior, have 20-odd Mechs all to myself. In canon BattleTech this would be an amazing amount of equipment for just one chap. Really, each MechWarrior would be assigned one Mech, and it would be their sole ride until it either got shot out from under them or they managed to get an upgrade.
My suggestion is that we take a leaf out of World of Tanks's book. Actually, several leaves.
Pilots as a resource that can be hired and fired. They are named characters that improve over time as they pilot a Mech they are assigned. When you buy a new Mech, you should also hire a pilot to crew it. Mechs cannot be launched without a pilot - though a suitably trained pilot could be transferred over from another Mech.
You, the player, now have a small stable of pilots that you get to build up in talents and fame by racking up kills and winning loads of matches. How deep and complicated we make this progression system is really up to us. For example:
1) The pilot should receive medals for doing something epic.
2) The skill/progression tree could be a branching lattice of neat little tricks, that often come with a negative aspect to some other facet of Mech piloting. Players could specialise their pilots to be excellent at a particular style or weight class, but that would make them less useful in other situations. Pilots would gain xp in different Mechs separately.
3) Certain aspects of a pilot could be randomised at start, so hiring is a bit of a gamble. There should be a list for each player to choose from in the Hiring Hall. You get to decide whether it is worth the risk to hire that Skye Separatist or Ronin War Veteran.
4) They could have headshots that make them look cool - replacing the weird default TIE Fighter pilot we have now.
5) They might pick up traits from winning or losing battles. Getting cored by that Stalker might have killed the Mech, but the pilot lives on. She might have a few more scars though.
6) Maybe they CAN die? There could be a chance that the pilot of a destroyed Mech is killed for good. If so, perhaps we need to be able to EJECT to save our precious skin (and also avoid possible negative traits, as above)?
What this would do is effectively make you the leader of a mech unit, with a small corps of pilots to command. In battle, however, you are the pilot. They are you.
What do you think? Just please don't call them "Toons".
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Multiple Mech Pilots Per Account
Started by Deadmeat313, Jul 25 2013 11:27 AM
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