16 replies to this topic

[Deadmeat313]

I know this is asking for a lynching, but I popped back over to World of Tanks recently for a few matches. This served to remind me of several features they have that I think PGI should be looking at.

• Pilot Characters
  
• Pilot Injury / Death
  
• Medals
  
• Destructible Terrain
  
• Environment-specific Camo
  
• Indicate Target

PILOT CHARACTERS
I think I've already posted about Pilot Characters before. Basically, each Mech should be assigned a pilot, complete with little headshot and some quirks/abilities. XP should be tracked per pilot per Mech, so they can improve fractionally from game to game.



PILOT INJURY / DEATH
In TT BattleTech it is possible to beat an opponent by incapacitating the pilot. In MWO we could have "Pilot Wounded" events that decrease the Mech's efficiency. Hits to the head or serious overheating could be the causes.

"Pilot Killed" would result from Mech Head destruction, or a cockpit critical hit. Maybe an accumulation of Pilot Wounds. You'd be off to Spectator Mode, but (as in WoT) your pilot should be available for play again in the next match.*



MEDALS
Given to Pilots for achievements on the BattleField. WoT does this very well IMO.



DESTRUCTIBLE TERRAIN
Will eventually be coming, I know. I'm just being impatient.



ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIC CAMO
The ability to save multiple camo sets for a Mech, and tick which environment it should be applied. That would be pretty cool.



INDICATE TARGET
In WoT it is so easy! Point at target and hit "T". It flags up that target to your team as the one you are shooting. Your allies can then choose to shoot him too if they want, as long as they have LOS etc. It doesn't provide any bonus, just makes it easier to focus fire.



* My ACTUAL PERSONAL preferred rules would be more hardcore than this, but I reckon we need to keep the game PUG friendly.


D313

Edited by Deadmeat313, 18 August 2013 - 07:29 AM.

[Chaon]

Having individual pilots is good idea. Each one would have battle awards and achievements that you can be proud of.

[Deadmeat313]

Chaon, on 18 August 2013 - 08:15 AM, said:

Having individual pilots is good idea. Each one would have battle awards and achievements that you can be proud of.

Agreed. And like WoT you could have them re-trained for different chassis & weight classes. You could really take that green pilot in the Light Mech on a tour through various Mechs in his/her career.

[Johnny Z]

Chaon, on 18 August 2013 - 08:15 AM, said:

Having individual pilots is good idea. Each one would have battle awards and achievements that you can be proud of.

This sounds like 3rd person for the pilot character.

[Deadmeat313]

Johnny Z, on 18 August 2013 - 08:31 AM, said:

This sounds like 3rd person for the pilot character.

In practical terms, yes. You would become that Mechwarrior for the duration of the fight. What this suggestion aims to do is separate the pilot from the Mech somewhat, so that each of your Mech pilots can develop individually.

The problem we find in MWO is that each player may have 20 or more Mechs in his hangar, but in canon that would be a ridiculous extravagance. More realistically, each Mech would be assigned a pilot who would spend much of his or her career in the one machine.

World of Tanks does this pretty well by insisting that you assign a crew to each tank. I get to drive any tank I want, but when I win a battle it is my crew in that tank who get the points and the medals. Crews can be re-trained, so as I get bigger and better vehicles I can keep the same Veteran crew.

[BookWyrm]

• Pilot Characters - Already done to some degree with the Pilot Lab and bonuses you receive from experience gains. I don't want a different pilot for every mech though, it's immersion breaking, I prefer to think of myself as the pilot.
  
• Pilot Injury / Death - Maybe if done properly
  
• Medals - Community warfare will likely add fluff like this at some point
  
• Destructible Terrain - Sounds fun!
  
• Environment-specific Camo - I think I remember this being one of the things on 'the list' that they would get around to when they had time
  
• Indicate Target - Sure, why not

Edited by BookWyrm, 18 August 2013 - 08:52 AM.

[James The Fox Dixon]

I like it since War Thunder uses something similar. Although War Thunder's is a lot more involved since the pilots have various skills etc...

[Deadmeat313]

James The Fox Dixon, on 18 August 2013 - 09:03 AM, said:

I like it since War Thunder uses something similar. Although War Thunder's is a lot more involved since the pilots have various skills etc...

This could be done in MWO - and with decent pilot art could be very immersive. You could spend time in the Hiring Halls looking over the applicants. Do you want the laconic frontiersman from Cerillos in the Free Worlds League, with his Assault Mech piloting skills? Or do you want the fiery redhead from Skye with her fast-medium Mech specialities?

Pilot choice could affect faction Loyalty Point and C-Bill rewards, as well as providing in-game modifiers to Mech piloting.

[Corvus Antaka]

Id be happy with 1 pilot character/avatar we could create like eve online would be badass

medals, heck ya.

achievements that pay bonus xp/cbills, yes please.

an engineering crew you could level up / train for cbills & hire for tiny bonuses would be cool too.

[General Taskeen]

Deadmeat313, on 18 August 2013 - 07:28 AM, said:

ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIC CAMO
The ability to save multiple camo sets for a Mech, and tick which environment it should be applied. That would be pretty cool.

Camo also actively reduces detection of your tank in WoT, especially if you are in a tree or brushline you are effectively 'hidden' until you fire your gun.

Obviously Battle Tech and Mech Warrior games had/have radar, but even in Battle Tech, Mechs or other vehicles that are under dense cover with camo are actually harder to detect by radar, which is a thing in the TT rules.

And Regarding saving a specific color/camo scheme, as you stated, would indeed be useful especially if there was an option to check which environment it should load on. Technically this should be possible to program, since if a player owns specific colors and camo themes already, it is just a matter of making it functionally possible of being able to save those camo patterns that one creates into a list within the UI.

[Appogee]

• Pilot characters? Nah, I'm the pilot and that's why I have a Pilot skill tree.
  
• Pilot Injury / Death - yes. Link it to ejecting.
  
• Medals - yes. We need a little more to aim for than ''buying the next Mech''.
  
• Destructible Terrain - yes.
  
• Environment-specific Camo - yes.
  
• Indicate Target - yes, though maybe only the lance leader?

[Deadmeat313]

Appogee, on 19 August 2013 - 01:09 PM, said:

• Pilot characters? Nah, I'm the pilot and that's why I have a Pilot skill tree.

This does seem to be a bit of a sticking point. I suspect you are not alone in wanting to have one trackable pilot per player.

I did play a lot of EVE, and the concept of having the one character who can effectively change "class" by jumping into a different ship works well in that game. I'm not sold on the MWO Pilot Skill tree though. It seems more like an upgrade pack: The ability to install a seismic or zoom module in your Mech - or call in a better airstrike?

MechWarrior always felt more of a "One man and his Mech*" sort of game to me. A pilot could really expect to pilot only a few Mechs during his whole career. The BT scenario packs were all about the characters and their signature Mechs. Natasha Kerensky in her Warhammer, "Gentleman Johnny" Clavell in his Rifleman, etc.

A crew/pilot slot per Mech would allow the player to build a character in each machine - with specialised talents for Medium Mech mobility, or "Resistance to Stagger" while in an Assault Mech, etc etc.

At the very least allow us to select a profile pic to replace the generic "Tie Fighter Pilot" we have now.


D313

(*Or "One woman and her Mech", as of course many MechWarriors are female.)

Edited by Deadmeat313, 19 August 2013 - 02:00 PM.

[Appogee]

Deadmeat313, on 19 August 2013 - 02:00 PM, said:

At the very least allow us to select a profile pic to replace the generic "Tie Fighter Pilot" we have now.

Amongst the many unfinished things we'll apparently still have at launch . The drill rigs still serving as bases in the middle of cities are particularly cringeworthy.

Edited by Appogee, 19 August 2013 - 02:16 PM.

[Garth Erlam]

[color=cyan]These are really cool ideas, I'll pass them on! The 'medals' thing is very cool - it's just something nice to show when you've done something specific. Thumbs up [/color]

[Johnny Z]

Appogee, on 19 August 2013 - 02:08 PM, said:

Amongst the many unfinished things we'll apparently still have at launch . The drill rigs still serving as bases in the middle of cities are particularly cringeworthy.

I pretend those rigs arent there, dont mention them lol. They really are nonsense though. Lost tech storage shed, coms tower, bathtub, anything would have made more sense in 3050

[Intruder]

Bit surprised at so many people thinking of themselves as 1 MechWarrior with dozens of 'Mechs at their disposal - this is so far from BattleTech canon where there are skilled individuals but the 'Mechs themselves are much more highly prized and very rare. Some worlds have literally no 'Mechs on them.

[Alex Warden]

BookWyrm, on 18 August 2013 - 08:50 AM, said:

• Pilot Characters - Already done to some degree with the Pilot Lab and bonuses you receive from experience gains. I don't want a different pilot for every mech though, it's immersion breaking, I prefer to think of myself as the pilot.
  

yep, i´d prefere much wider variety in the trees, but stay the pilot myself... nothing against injury or K.O. , in fact something i mentioned many times regarding heat management individual pilots work for MW:Tactics...for this one i personally think that´s too much,unless you can control a "pet" pilot to fight with you someday

Edited by Alex Warden, 20 August 2013 - 07:59 AM.