Here is what I would like to suggest as a means of having the clan honor system implemented in game:
- Match Rewards (both XP and C-Bills if Clanners are eligible for that currency) for killing an opposing mech will only be awarded to the first Clan player to hit that mech, unless that mech fires upon the clan players teammates during that exchange (in which case only the clan players who were fired upon are eligible for Kill Assist rewards).
- For the sake of determining whether an opposing mech is currently engaged in a duel, the targeting reticle should indicate whether that mech is unupposed (green triangle), opposed (red triangle), or opposed but has fired upon the player in question (yellow triangle). A clan player may safely fire upon a Green triangle (and continue until that player dies), or a yellow triangle (at his option), but not a red triangle. Firing upon a red triangle target will result in a Zellbrigen XP or C-Bill penalty, similar to the 'Team Kill' penalty currently used in game. Killing a red triangle would be a more severe penalty than simply firing upon one.
- There will be no 'spotting assist' rewards for clan players, though clan mechs will still have the ability to relay target information to other mechs (so that your team can find the enemy and monitor status of opponents).
- Default mode for Clan ECM should be in counter-mode (allowing the Clan player to use his SSRMs on ECM opponents, if applicable). Otherwise it functions normally (and has the same modes available as the IS version)
The system above would make sure that Clan players who "fight dirty" would suffer poorer match rewards as a result. In fact, if I were to play a Clan mech, I would expect something similar to the above and wouldn't be surprised if a "Victory" match results in less rewards than a "Loss" match would have had, if I won that victory by dispensing with Zellbrigen entirely. I'm sure PGI could play with the exact XP and Cash rewards for the itemized accomplishments at the end of a match such that...
- Clan Victory, adhering to Zellbrigen: Match rewards tweaked to be similar to an Inner Sphere victory (though XP and Cash awarded in different quantities per itemized accomplishment in game)
- Clan Defeat, adhering to Zellbrign: Match rewards tweaked to be similar to an Inner Sphere loss (XP and Cash awarded in different quantities as above)
- Clan Victory, not adhering to Zellbrigen: Match rewards tweaked to be similar to an Inner Sphere loss
- Clan Defeat, not adhering to Zellbrigen: Match rewards even lower than an Inner Sphere loss (if not just 0)