FinsT, on 24 October 2013 - 11:11 PM, said:
Seems i am the 1st to vote "no". Sigh... Here's why.
First, such a purchase - whatever is the price, - would be unfair for leaders of small units, because in effect they are paying much more money "per member who gets the paint" in compare to leaders of large units. And there is no way around this in practice, i guess.
Second, this will definitely spawn "fake" units - i.e. units which leaders buy some cool paint as their units' colors, and then offer people to join the "unit" with the only goal being to get the cool paint for free. These can grow real large, but most/all members of it would still be playing separately. Why exactly they would be allowed some nice paint for free, while any usual customer has to pay for any paint other than default colors?
Third, all 12 'mech looking the same - is of course nice, but then, we are not talking about any "army" unit; don't forget, that's "mercenaries". In real life, mercenaries who form some sort of a unit - sometimes look the same, but very often, do not; exactly because they lack means and motives to be "uniformed". Frequently used approach is to add some "mark", some "feature" to members of the unit, - say, particular head wear, or certain color to one of shoulders, etc.
Fourth, yes, the feature you propose might completely kill many players' need/desire to get any other paint. If they are _required_ by their unit's leadership to "wear" unit's colors - then hy bother about any other? And the only thing you propose in an attempt to address this issue, - is by itself questionable; i mean, why exactly less-than-12 group of people from the same unit - would not be using unit's color? They are still part of their unit. They still represent it. In my book, if units would indeed have their paint schemes, then _any_ group, even 2 people, - and even _single_ players, - should be allowed to wear their unit colors. To represent it, you know?
Bottom line? May be unit-specific paint scheme is an overkill. It ain't an army, after all. How about doing what is proposed by OP - but not with paint schemes and colors, but with some additional _detail_ to any possible paint scheme, - for example, a small areas of the mech being painted with unit's colors (or, having unit's emblem) which every member of the unit would be able to "wear" on his 'mech upper arms, outer sides of both legs (hips), and mech's front and back CT?
Cheers!
I want to address these concerns first because you do make some very good points. First off what I am suggesting is not a price depending on how many people are in your Corp, it's a one off cost that could maybe be spread around the unit similar to the money needed to create your Merc Corp in the first place. Let's say purely for example's sake that the unified scheme will cost 10000MC, yes that's a significant amount of money for 1 person, but spread that cost to 10 people in your Corp and it's significantly less. But that would be the only cost that wouldn't matter if you had a 10 man Corp or a 500 man Corp.
Your second point about 'fake' units is a genuine concern but remember that the individual players do not get access to the colours themselves to use on any mech they like. It's simply a design that is toggled on or off by the group leader in 12 man drops and only when all 12 players are members of the Corp. I don't think people would join for the sole reason of getting fancy colours on their mech's that they have no real control of.
Your third point about all 12 mech's wouldn't look the same in a Merc Corp. Well I would have thought that maybe the smaller, newer Corp's probably would not be able to do this but the larger in lore Corp's almost definitely would have unified colours cause they could afford to (just how this system re-creates).
Your fourth concern is very difficult to address because it really depends on the leaders of the Merc Corp forcing players to wear their colours which in itself could cause some animosity. That is why I suggested that it's only an option in the large 12 man competitive drops. If the individual Merc Corp does not wish to impose those rules on their Corp then they don't buy the colour scheme.
Lastly your idea for a unit emblem would also be very cool and even cooler when combined with a unified paint scheme but I believe that they will be adding in decals in the (near?) future and that should allow for user submitted decals for your own army unit.
The points you raise are by no means invalid and if I had thought of all of those scenarios when making the original post I would have tried to address them at that stage. But it takes someone to highlight the negative points before you realise that there are any negative points to argue so thanks for that.
FinsT, on 25 October 2013 - 07:24 AM, said:
Oh, well, i thouht 18 millions x 12 applies only upon _creation_ of the unit; i thought that even 1 guy, or perhaps 2 guys, could make the unit provided they have sufficient c-bills (~18M x12) to buy required 12 comissions. I thought that inviting more members into already existing unit - would be free.
That's what i felt would be the case after reading what we were told by PGI about how merc units would work...
And i know a few guys who play long enough to have couple hundreds millions c-bills they have no good idea what to do with. Few of such people could create such units, give default ranks "invite powers", - and the thing would snowball itself.
Of course it all is not set in stone yet, and might change.
From what I read you must have 10 members each paying 18 million c-bills to create your unit. Only then can you start to invite other players for free.
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