1 reply to this topic

[Roland]

First, I'd like to thank Bryan for posting some information regarding community warfare. I think many of us were happy to see some information about it.

It made me think of a certain aspect of unit play which may be neglected, but I feel could be easily implemented and added into the swing of things if considered at this point in design and development.

The role that I think may be missing currently, but which would add to the proposed vision of community warfare, is that of a House Merc.

That is, a Mercenary corp who has effectively signed an exclusivity contract with a particular faction/house.

Back in the old Mechwarrior 4 Planetary leagues, we had this notion. A mercenary unit could effectively sign a contract with a particular house (i.e. any of the major factions), and basically just become a sub-unit of that house. You'd work as a normal mercenary unit, but (for instance, from my own experience) you'd generally get a fixed pay from that house (a retainer fee) and you'd agree not to work for other houses.

I think that perhaps this would be a good addition to the roles that are already laid out by PGI. To explain in more detail:

A house merc would effectively be just like any other mercenary unit from the perspective of core guild mechanics. That is, they could have members, ranks, etc.

However, from the perspective of actual participation in Community Warfare, they would function as though ALL of their members were effectively faction members of the given house. They would earn faction honor/loyalty as though they were normal faction players. Likewise, they would only be able to fight for that house, rather than taking normal contracts like "free" mercenary units. Additionally, restrictions could be placed on the assets they could own, etc.


Basically, the idea is that it gives players who perhaps may want to actually participate as faction players, fighting for a particular house, play the game like that... but also have an actual unit that they can gather together with their friends. Perhaps eventually breaking away from that house and going freelance, if so desired.

Ultimately, I think this is a basically win-win for everyone involved:
1) It does not seem like this would actually cost much additional to implement. It'd effectively just apply the faction rules to players in a mercenary corp in terms of who they are fighting.
2) This allows players who may want to be in factions to also provide the influx of CBills (which effectively translate into money) to PGI, as they may choose to start a merc unit for the reasons laid out above.

There seems to be very little, if any, downside to this idea, but I'm happy to hear them if folks have them.

As stated, all of the planetary leagues back in mechwarrior 4 had such a notion, of mercenary corps who were contracted to a specific house. It worked well, and it seems like it would fill a potential gap in the existing roles as they are laid out.

[Hammerfinn]

Absolutely. I belong to a cohesive unit that would have to go merc as things appear to stand, but we really want to be house-exclusive. Some sort of "permanent affiliation" option would be quite welcome.