2 replies to this topic

[Serious Table]

Got to thinking on this, since they said it was still on the drawing board, and here's the idea I came up with, drawing inspiration from Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries:

In order to help appease those who are hardcore into the lore without actually affecting the casual player-base, create a new reward section on the final match screen, and call it "Mech/Ammo Allowance". The fluff explanation is that this is the allowance that your employer/house gave to you to cover the costs of repair and rearm of the Mech you're dropping in. In order to keep the Cbill earnings where PGI wants them, I'd suggest "skimming" off the other scores in order to create this fund.

Let's put in some arbitrary numbers and say the allowance is 50,000 cbills flat.

Then, for repairing and rearming, make it a sliding scale on how much it costs to repair and rearm the Mech. The two deciding factors should be this:

• How much the Mech weighs (costs less to repair a lighter mech than a heavier mech), and
  
• How damaged the Mech is.

The second point should be important. If your mech dies with 70% health, it should cost less to repair than if your mech dies at 0% health. It helps add to the immersion. The same principle applies to rearming, but instead of "how damaged the mech is", it's how much ammo was left after the mission, compared to how much it started with.

So an example would be dropping in a Cataphract. I'm carrying an XL engine, so I get cored through the side torso and die. It would cost less for me to repair my mech that way than if I had lost a leg, both arms, and was cored through the center torso.

Also, it does make sense for a Mech with an XL to cost more to repair. However, I don't feel it should make an EXTREME difference, if you keep the numbers for Mech/Ammo Allowance fairly reasonable.

The reason why I feel that a flat fee is more beneficial than a sliding Mech/Ammo Allowance based on weight is that it would help to encourage pilots to play other Mechs aside from the biggest, heaviest mechs available. On that same note, it is also easier for heavier mechs to deal more damage due to their increased survivability and payload. So while they would cost more to repair, they would also earn more from damage caused, while a Medium would generally earn less, but would in turn earn more after repair and rearm, due to the Mech/Ammo Allowance.

I feel that taking these ideas into consideration provides certain key aspects:

• It provides immersion that man of the hardcore Mechwarrior/Battletech fans are looking for through both Repair/Rearm, and for being paid for their services
  
• It provides the aforementioned immersion WITHOUT PUNISHING THE CASUAL PLAYER
  
• It provides the aforementioned immersion WITHOUT INCREASING GRIND
  
• It encourages a more diverse battlefield by making it attractive to drop in lighter Mechs
  
• It rewards light players the most, whom often receive less cbills if they're doing Light Mech-oriented goals such as a spotting and scouting.
  
• Most importantly, it provides all of the above without drastically affecting the Mechwarrior Economy

Your comments are appreciated and welcome.

Edited by Serious Table, 18 October 2013 - 01:56 PM.

[RandomLurker]

Any system that involves CBill loss must be voluntary for the player. Some way of picking different salvage contracts for drops would be nice. The basic tier would be what we have now for example, and you unlock new ones that give you a chance to salvage components but force you to pay repairs.

[FinsT]

RandomLurker, on 18 October 2013 - 08:39 PM, said:

Any system that involves CBill loss must be voluntary for the player. ...

Very true!

And one note. I also was thinking about repair and rearming, however not at the end of the match - but _during_ the match, as described in this topic. And so, if repair/rearm during the game would have high enough c-bills cost (and other "costs" on top of it, as nesessary to prevent the feature from being OP - such as long enough duration of rearm/repair, or somewhat exposed location, etc) - then this sort of repair/rearm could indeed be the purely voluntary form of a c-bills sink.