14 replies to this topic

[Prezimonto]

What if we took our current maps game modes and added side objectives in out of the way spots on the maps. This provides a want and need for light and medium mechs, it encourages teams to not death ball for the whole map. If gives side objectives, so even if you lose the match, you may get a tangible result that benefits you on the next match. It provides a sense of economy and setting in the game that is totally lacking at the moment. It gives a way to balance some of the upgrades.

Each objective is a supply depot of some kind (ammo, missiles, engine parts, armor) or repair bay. You play each match like normal and any kind of supply depot your team can't capture for some limited time frame reduces your resources on the next match in this game mode.

So if you can't control an ammo depot for say: 3 minutes next match, even if you win, your ammo supply is reduced by ~14% / ton (6 instead of 7 AC20 rounds per ton).

If you don't capture a supply depot for regular armor (or separate for FF armor) your mech will start the match with some missing armor in areas you took damage.

If you don't capture an engine parts supply depot, if you get cored, perhaps your engine is a bit slower, or has a few less internal HP.

Alternatively, perhaps armor and engine parts for "standard versions" don't need resupply based, or don't need them as often as the upgrade versions.

I suggest that at ~14% loss of ammo per ton, that these results stack up to 2 or 3 times and then assume that your normal supply covers the rest.

Even more interesting, but harder to implement would be needing to actually grab crates of supplies and bring them back to your drop ship to earn them.

For a twist, only make Upgrades have the penalty or chance at the penalty between matches. Stock mechs always get repairs... or usually, or have higher chance for full repairs, ect...

Thoughts?

Edited by Prezimonto, 17 September 2014 - 12:50 PM.

[Stingray Productions]

just like in mission briefings, there are primary objectives, and there are secondary objectives. Primary object Assault Mode: destroy other team or capture base. Secondary objectives, like capture weapon facility, would be awesome!!!!!

[SmithMPBT]

Not to be cynical, but we're months and months out from a basic deathmatch. Your ideas are great and I would love to see them implemented. I just don't see it happening.

[Prezimonto]

SmithMPBT, on 01 November 2013 - 09:49 AM, said:

Not to be cynical, but we're months and months out from a basic deathmatch. Your ideas are great and I would love to see them implemented. I just don't see it happening.

Oh I agree. I had the idea in the middle of a totally different thread and thought it merited it's own. I figure if it's on the forums, perhaps someone, sometime, will read it and take something from it.

[Prezimonto]

PUNT!

[Sandpit]

me personally I want cw before anything else.

[CrashieJ]

Prezimonto, on 01 November 2013 - 07:15 AM, said:

Thoughts?

can PGI profit off of this idea?

no?

then i won't get implemented.

[Prezimonto]

Sure they can.

Sell consumables that go in module slots for gold that overcome the supply issues and set you back to normal. It's not OP because it just resets you to normal levels, but gives a slight advantage in the mode.... at a real world cost. I don't LIKE this mind you, but they could make cash on it.

[Gorgo7]

Very nice.

Now expect an all out attack to destroy the enemy force so that they cannot retrieve said articles.

Back to Death Ball as you assault their base.

No easy solutions, but i admire your thoughtfulness.

Cheers!

[Prezimonto]

Gorgo7, on 04 July 2014 - 08:33 AM, said:

Very nice.

Now expect an all out attack to destroy the enemy force so that they cannot retrieve said articles.

Back to Death Ball as you assault their base.

No easy solutions, but i admire your thoughtfulness.

Cheers!

Well, both sides have a reason to control side points in this example. Death ball will still result in both teams taking damage, and players will want the repair the side points give. Feedback mechanism built in.

[CDLord HHGD]

Perhaps a time limit to the side objectives? For instance, each match would have two side objectives, a rearm and a repair. So, gaining no objective means a 15% less penalty in both ammo and armor (lets give the internals). Also, to achieve this, the two objectives are only available, simultaneously, for the first 5 minutes of the match (with a capture time of about half that like a Conquest base). Once captured, they do not de-capture. So if one side wants to deathball, they can only realistically achieve one goal. If a group wants both, then they have to risk splitting their forces. And the gained objective is only applicable to the next match where the struggle for the objectives will begin anew.

[Prezimonto]

cdlord, on 17 September 2014 - 01:29 PM, said:

Perhaps a time limit to the side objectives? For instance, each match would have two side objectives, a rearm and a repair. So, gaining no objective means a 15% less penalty in both ammo and armor (lets give the internals). Also, to achieve this, the two objectives are only available, simultaneously, for the first 5 minutes of the match (with a capture time of about half that like a Conquest base). Once captured, they do not de-capture. So if one side wants to deathball, they can only realistically achieve one goal. If a group wants both, then they have to risk splitting their forces. And the gained objective is only applicable to the next match where the struggle for the objectives will begin anew.

That has merit. Another way to handle it could be an increasing time to capture... up to something like 3 minutes so the last few minutes of the match wouldn't be worth taking them anyway.

Another idea might be the option to destroy supply depots... so if one team has capture it (instead of always holding it) the other team can attempt to deny the resources to all... which might be worth some XP/cbills at the end of the match series.

[UrsusMorologus]

I like the idea

[Sandpit]

Prezimonto, on 01 November 2013 - 07:15 AM, said:

For a twist, only make Upgrades have the penalty or chance at the penalty between matches. Stock mechs always get repairs... or usually, or have higher chance for full repairs, ect...

Thoughts?

I wanted to weigh in on this one

I think this has a lot of potential. You mentioned in another thread that mechs could be "locked" for xx games. Meaning they couldn't be adjusted or modified for those games (not locked as in that mech is locked in game and can't be used for other games). So you drop into a CW match (this is purely for CW in regards to my thoughts here) and that mech is "locked" for (just as an example) 4 matches, meaning it can't be modified.

This would simulate "being in the field" with limited supply lines. This could also play into which planets a faction attacks. If you dive further into enemy territory, the mech could be locked longer to simulate the difficulty in getting supplies to the front lines. If you're defending your own planet, your mech is only locked for maybe 2 games (example), to help simulate the speed of resupply but still taking into account that modifying a mech isn't a "spur of the moment" type deal, it's a huge undertaking.

To prevent players from dropping in and out of the CW queue to bypass the "lock" period, the mechs are locked regardless when they enter the CW queue. If you drop out of CW queue and into the pub queue to bypass the mech being "locked" the modifications don't affect your CW "hangar".

If that's not feasible then you could lock a mech as soon as the player enters the CW queue if it has been modified recently (maybe a timer for an hour or so?). That prevents exploiting the system and bypassing the lock.

Equipment stockpiles could be used to bypass or speed up the lock time as well. A lot of players have stockpiles of weapons and such. This could be a good sink for those as well.

Example:

I own 15 LLs, I decide I want to modify one of my mechs and drop in a new LL. If I choose to, I can use one of my personal LLs to speed up that lock time or bypass it entirely (could be adjusted as needed), but the caveat is that LL is then "consumed". SO I would then have 14 LLs in my personal stockpile. This gives players a reason to spend money on equipment as well as mechs and stops players from having to buy an entire mech just to turn around and sell it just so they can keep the gear.

This would require equipment to be purchased separately from mechs though. So you could not only purchase mechs, but if you run a lot of boats and want to stockpile a certain weapon, you can just purchase those weapons directly (if you need fluff to account for this it could easily be done by saying these are purchased from the black market).

Personally, I'd go one step further with this and include it into a full-blown R&R mechanic. Got 50 LLs sitting around in your hangar? Great, if that component is what got destroyed, you don't have to pay the repair fee since you already have the component in your inventory.

It adds in an entirely new sink for cbills as well as giving players something to buy besides mechs.

So to clarify a bit, right now, you can only buy weapons when you're actively modifying a mech. This system would allow players to just buy equipment the same as they currently buy mechs.

TL;DR
Lock mechs in CW for xx amount of games once they've been modified
Use players' personal stockpiles to speed up or bypass that lock time
Allow equipment to be purchased separately from mechs
Simulates supply lines for CW
(This is a suggestion strictly for CW)

[Prezimonto]

Sandpit, on 17 September 2014 - 05:42 PM, said:

I wanted to weigh in on this one

I think this has a lot of potential. You mentioned in another thread that mechs could be "locked" for xx games. Meaning they couldn't be adjusted or modified for those games (not locked as in that mech is locked in game and can't be used for other games). So you drop into a CW match (this is purely for CW in regards to my thoughts here) and that mech is "locked" for (just as an example) 4 matches, meaning it can't be modified.

This would simulate "being in the field" with limited supply lines. This could also play into which planets a faction attacks. If you dive further into enemy territory, the mech could be locked longer to simulate the difficulty in getting supplies to the front lines. If you're defending your own planet, your mech is only locked for maybe 2 games (example), to help simulate the speed of resupply but still taking into account that modifying a mech isn't a "spur of the moment" type deal, it's a huge undertaking.

To prevent players from dropping in and out of the CW queue to bypass the "lock" period, the mechs are locked regardless when they enter the CW queue. If you drop out of CW queue and into the pub queue to bypass the mech being "locked" the modifications don't affect your CW "hangar".

If that's not feasible then you could lock a mech as soon as the player enters the CW queue if it has been modified recently (maybe a timer for an hour or so?). That prevents exploiting the system and bypassing the lock.

Equipment stockpiles could be used to bypass or speed up the lock time as well. A lot of players have stockpiles of weapons and such. This could be a good sink for those as well.

Example:

I own 15 LLs, I decide I want to modify one of my mechs and drop in a new LL. If I choose to, I can use one of my personal LLs to speed up that lock time or bypass it entirely (could be adjusted as needed), but the caveat is that LL is then "consumed". SO I would then have 14 LLs in my personal stockpile. This gives players a reason to spend money on equipment as well as mechs and stops players from having to buy an entire mech just to turn around and sell it just so they can keep the gear.

This would require equipment to be purchased separately from mechs though. So you could not only purchase mechs, but if you run a lot of boats and want to stockpile a certain weapon, you can just purchase those weapons directly (if you need fluff to account for this it could easily be done by saying these are purchased from the black market).

Personally, I'd go one step further with this and include it into a full-blown R&R mechanic. Got 50 LLs sitting around in your hangar? Great, if that component is what got destroyed, you don't have to pay the repair fee since you already have the component in your inventory.

It adds in an entirely new sink for cbills as well as giving players something to buy besides mechs.

So to clarify a bit, right now, you can only buy weapons when you're actively modifying a mech. This system would allow players to just buy equipment the same as they currently buy mechs.

TL;DR
Lock mechs in CW for xx amount of games once they've been modified
Use players' personal stockpiles to speed up or bypass that lock time
Allow equipment to be purchased separately from mechs
Simulates supply lines for CW
(This is a suggestion strictly for CW)

I like it, with some reservations. First, I think it's almost different enough to merit it's own idea thread. Second, I doesn't actually help balance upgrades vs. stock. Third, cbill sink outside of the game still disproportionately affects new players. Fourth, would there be in-game methods of ameliorating the affects of the lock or penalties accrued?

The main difference between the ideas is mine includes in-game ways out, and the "penalty" is both the lock and a steadily degrading mech. You're is more centered on the lock-time itself but outside of game play affects.

So: How about both? Some mix of the ideas to incorporate some out-of-game solutions for a player as well as in-game solutions?