PGI really needs to step up on map creation and game mode creation. I’m pretty bored playing these same two game modes and only about 11 maps (almost a month and a half without Crimson Straits), and then I think 12 maps still for about two weeks. I’ve only been playing the game for about 2 months and the game is already pretty stale. I’m guessing CW will mark the new advancement of game play in general later on. At least before Christmas this should happen, right? Anyway, I’ve come up with some AI/non-AI structured ideas for a campaign possibility. I don’t really have a certain lore/storyline; if anyone wants to fill in for that role, go ahead. I realize how hard it is to create AI, just speculation. Anyway, to the concepts, I’ll update as it goes on. I hope this is the right post section and I hope you guys enjoy it.
Original 12 mission campaign speculation from maps:
Mechs available or designated: LCT-3M (stock but removed case for AMS), COM-TDK (replaced STD engine 175 with XL engine 220), SDR-5V (12 JJs, 2 med pulse lasers, extra leg armor), RVN-2X (stock), CN9-D (two stocks), AWS-PB (two hero stocks).
Weapons and equipment available: 10x Small Lasers, 10x Small Pulse Lasers, 6x Med Lasers, 6x Med Pulse Lasers, 2x Large Pulse Lasers, 2x ER PPCs, 2x LRM 15s w/ 4 tons of ammo, 2x SSRM 2s w/ 4 tons of ammo, 2x SRM 6s w/ 6 tons of ammo, 4x MGs w/ 2 tons of ammo, 4x AC2s w/ 6 tons of ammo, 2x AC5s w/ 4 tons of ammo, 2x Ultra AC 5s w/ 6 tons of ammo, 1x XL Engine 190, 1x XL Engine 275, 4x XL Engine 390, 15 Single Heat Sinks, 4 Endo Steel Upgrades, 4 Atermis Upgrades, 4 Ferro-Fibrous Upgrades, 4 matching camos for lights and 4 matching camos for fast assaults.
Players count and drop weight (friendly): 8 players, 370 tons.
Allies (AI friendly): None.
Enemies (AI enemy): 4x RVN-2X (stock on roof of the skyscrapers), 2x Centipede (1x Med Laser, 1x Flamer at Theta), 2x Harasser (2x SRM 6s at Theta), 1x Condor (1x AC5, 2x Med Laser, 1x MG at Theta), 1x JM6-FB (stock near the dictator’s house), 3x Behemoth (2 AC10s, 4 LRM 5s, 2 SRM 6s at Gamma), 2x HBK-4G (stock at Sigma), 2x VTR-9S (stock at Sigma), and 5x Night winds (2x LRM 10s, 1x Large Pulse Laser at Sigma).
Objectives: 1) Destroy oil rig Theta (20,000 C-bills and 100 XP)
2) Destroy naval base Gamma (40,000 C-bills and 100 XP)
3) Destroy air base Sigma (40,000 C-bills and 100 XP)
4) Extract at Theta (100 XP)
A) Capture the dictator’s house (100 XP)
Suggestions: Just take the eight mechs you only have and outfit to your desire, as you have lots of tools of the trade. You should take max engines and powerful weapons.
Overview: Emergency landing caused multiple drop-zones; Epsilon as the site for the 2 Centurions and two Awesomes, while the scout lance got smuggled in at Kappa. Theta is the oilrig and extraction, best to meet back there to group back up. Be careful of snipers on the roof of the tall skyscrapers. Destroy the oilrig and the hovercraft to secure the extraction point for later. You must head to the naval base at Gamma to destroy the sniping Ravens, the dictator’s Firebrand, and capture the dictator’s house. Be careful when engaging at the naval base Sigma, those Behemoths can be very deadly. Then head to Sigma for a tough engagement as well, the Hunchbacks and Victors might have a chance of killing the team, along with those Night winds if you can’t kill all of them fast enough. Destroying Sigma and extracting at Theta will make a successful mission with a good 100,000 C-bills and 500 XP, plus normal damage funds and salvage bonus.
Mechs available or designated: CTPL-A1 (two of this kind, 6x LRM 15 w/ 7 tons of ammo, 2 DHS, XL Engine 235, No armor.), JM6-DD (stock), CTF-4X (stock), STK-5M (one stocks), HGN-733C (one stocks).
Weapons and equipment available: 5x Med Lasers, 5x Med Pulse Lasers, 3x Large Lasers, 2x Large Pulse Lasers, 4x SRM 6s w/ 8 tons of ammo, 4x AC5s w/ 8 tons of ammo, 4x AC20s w/ 8 tons of ammo, 2x Tag, 2x Case, 2x Endo Steel Upgrades, 5x Double Heat Sink Upgrades, 30x Double Heat Sinks, 6 matching camos.
Players count and drop weight (friendly): 6 players, 440 tons.
Allies (AI friendly): 3 Repair Bays at base, 10 Calliope Turrets (1x ER Large Laser, 2x Med Pulse Lasers, 2x LRM 10), 1 Turret Control and Generator, and the oilrigs.
Enemies (AI enemy): Multiple groups of COM-3A with COM-TDK as leaders will engage. Multiple groups of BJ-1 with KTO-GB as leaders will engage. Multiple groups of DRG-1N with DRG-FANG and DRG-FLAME as leaders will engage. Lastly, a group of 2 VTR-9K stocks, 2 BLR-1D stocks, 3 STK-4N stocks, and 1 AS7-BH will engage.
Objectives: 1) Defend the oilrig at Gamma at all costs (150,000 C-bills and 1000 XP)
Suggestions: Take all the mechs. Keep the Catapults as is, DD and 4X to become more dakka builds, STK-5M to become more specialized in tanking and brawling, and make the HGN-733C more of a sniper as well to round out the team.
Overview: The Commandoes will be easy pickings as a warm-up. Repair and reload and then engage the Mediums with caution, as they can cause a bit of damage. You should not have a problem picking them off though. The Dragons require a bit more effort; shooting through their side torsos will suffice however. Finally, the last wave will give your mechs a run for their money, but they have their Calliope Turrets at base and Repair Bays. If you fully protect the oilrig, you earn that juicy 150,000 C-bill and 1000 XP reward, plus normal damage funds and salvage bonuses.
Mechs available or designated: AWS-8V (3x ER PPCs, 2x LRM 15s w/ 5 tons of ammo, BAP, 4x DHS, XL Engine 300), VTR-9K (1x AC10 w/ 3 tons of ammo, 3x Large Lasers, 2x DHS, 2x JJs, STD Engine 320), BLR-1D (2x AC2s w/ 3 tons of ammo, 1x LBX AC 10 w/ 2 tons of ammo, 4x Med Lasers, 1x ER Large Laser, 3x DHS, STD Engine 300), STK-3F (4x ASRM 6s w/ 5 tons of ammo, 4x Large Lasers, 4x DHS, Max Armor, STD Engine 265), HGN-733C (1x AMS w/ 1 ton of ammo, STD Engine 325, 1x JJ, 2x ER PPCs, 2x AC5s w/ 4 tons of ammo), AS7-D (2x LBX AC 10 w/ 5 tons of ammo, 3x Large Lasers, 8 Single Heat Sinks, STD Engine 300)
Weapons and equipment available: None except 6 matching camos.
Players count and drop weight (friendly): 6 players, 520 tons.
Allies (AI friendly): None, nobody wants to defend here with you. However, there are repair bases at each point and two at Theta. Each point has a single point defense turret (2x AC2, 2x SSRM 2s, 2x LRM 5s, 2x Med Lasers), while Theta contains a point defense turret at every flank.
Enemies (AI enemy): Attacks come at random directions and consist of random enemies. There will be an infinite attack number until the 20:00 min marker.
Objectives: 1) Defend the science lab at Theta (200,000 C-bills and 2000 XP)
A) Defend Gamma (25,000 C-bills and 250 XP)
Defend Sigma (25,000 C-bills and 250 XP)
C) Defend Epsilon (25,000 C-bills and 250 XP)
D) Defend Kappa (25,000 C-bills and 250 XP)
Suggestions: The only six mechs are specialized mechs for that tempreture. These are very powerful.
Overview: You should not split the team, but you should try to defend the additional points. Whenever you hear an attack incoming on point A, you should head there and you are given a set amount of time to engage. Otherwise, you can stay at Theta. The reward will be full 300,000 C-bills and 3000 XP, plus normal damage funds and salvage bonus.
These are just some ideas off MW4 Mercs that could become contracts later with two teams of mercenaries.
Halloran V:
Offshore) One team defends giant oilrig facility. Another team attacks it. Defenders spawn on one side of the map on land and with fuel tanks on shore and oilrigs off shore. Attackers spawn in the ocean.
Checkpoint) One team attacks multiple checkpoints by spawning near them in separate places by lance while another team guards them at those checkpoints near the attackers. Basically Alpha lance to Point 1, Beta lance to Point 2, and Charlie lance to Point 3. Rolling hills and a straight path through all the checkpoints across some mountains.
Escort) One team guards the convoy of vehicles and the other attacks the vehicles. Simple objective, the convoy team must reach to the extraction point. Once again mostly rolling hills.
Industrial Raid) One team spawns at one point of the map and must make it to the other point and destroy all enemies and capture the industrial plant, while the other team must survive and defend the industrial plant. This map has some snow and is decently covered.
Eaton:
Merc Alley) One team attacks a convoy, as the other team defends the convoy. There are also reinforcements if the defenders take enough casualties but survive long enough for them. There is a canyon similar to Canyon Network.
Government’s Mansion) One team splits all three lances to defend three mansions while the other team splits into three lances to attack those mansions. The mansions are split across three rivers in a delta.
Bandit’s Hideaway) One team defends a base at night and the other team attacks the base. The background is more rolling hills. There will be reinforcements of more people if defenders survive long enough.
Revolution) One team and another team basically meet up into a small desert area and fight near a canyon. The outside background is similar to Merc Alley with a canyon background.
Styk:
Reinforcement) This swamp map contains a small harbor with the many hills and a vast ocean. One team splits as one group starts on an island, with the other group on the harbor. The other team has a group attacking the one on the harbor, as reinforcements (technically both sides) come in and finish the situation.
Peace Talks) One team starts by defending a conference center with a convoy leaving, as the conference center gets bombed, the other team immediately invade the city. The city is in ruins and can’t take much damage before falling.
Assassination) One single player with high drop weight must face a few players in the other team defending certain units (a helicopter with 2 players, a limo with 2 players, and an AI mech with an additional player). The city is the same as in Peace Talks.
Evacuation) The same city is being fought over, and one team is defending a convoy, with the other team attacking the convoy. Once the convoy reaches the spaceport, the mission is complete.
New Exford:
Jungle Recon) One team starts near the ocean, while the other team starts in a port near land. Both teams meet together and the victor team must destroy the other team. The island is a jungle with some cover, while the ocean is wide and open.
Storm Patrol) This is on the same map as the above scenario, however there are more mountains as this mission takes place mainly on the island. One team is once again out to attempt to destroy, but the other team has a dropship and less weight. It’s at night.
Beach Fight) Two teams are at a beach, and there is a little valley in between with water. The teams pretty much brawl it out.
Backstab) Guess what, another night mission. This time, one team starts with a dropship and must gather all the way back to that dropship without the other team destroying the dropship. The dropship requires a total of 3 minutes to start up once all reaches it.
Hesperus II:
Escort) One team escorts a convoy to an extraction point, while the other team attempts to stop them. The attackers are more spread out than the escort team. The background is full of hills and has a direct canyon to guide exactly where the convoy goes.
Raid) The map is another hilly area, with a large river running through the center. There are small amounts of snow, but the rest of the area is desert, plus there are two bases. One team attacks the bases, the other team defends the bases.
Assault) One team is going to assault a large base, while the other team defends the base. The background is very hilly, and the area is advantageous to the defenders. There is also a dropship for the defenders, but less drop weight for balance.
Stealth) One team has seven players attacking to bring the team defending the base away from one other player, who scouts the base carefully. If that player succeeds in scouting, all the attackers must head to the extraction without dying.
Mech Works) One team defends as the other team attacks. The map is the same as Stealth, which means a small volcano in the corner, a large base creating Fafnirs, and many hills with barely any vegetation. The attackers do have dropships, while the defenders have a forward base.
Talon/Wernke:
Blackout) The map is on the moon, with a path to the hyperpulse generator. There is permanent ECM (uncounterable) until you destroy the generator. One team is attacking as the other team defends.
Moonlight) One team attacks the destroyed spaceport, attempting to save it. However, the other team already destroyed it, and there are reinforcements for them. This is more of a trap than anything, since the area is destroyed heavily and the moon is battered.
Night Ops) One player is against many, and he must scout a large base. However, after reaching the first building or forward base, there will be an assault on the area. This is on moon again, and the bases are very spread out, allowing multiple invasions at night.
Country Life) This is a mission not on the moon, instead there is a base with a defending team, and an attacking team. The map is hilly with lots of vegetation, an ideal place to live.
Mech Works) The map is the same as in Night Ops. The base is once again building Templars and there is an attacking team and a defending team. Pretty simply an assault on the production facilities.
Tharkad:
Overlord) One team starts with a large amount of AI units (or more players) while the other team has the terrain (hill with snow) and the overlord dropship. This map is completely covered with snow and is an uphill battle against the dropship.
Resupply) One team is refueling dropships using a convoy and defending them, so they are very split up. The other team is attacking the dropships and the convoy. The whole map is split by a canyon with snow and is hard to get across.
End Game) The teams are split between starting in a city and the palace. The team in the city is larger and has more players and drop weight. The palace team has turrets and terrain advantage. The map is covered with snow and the city and palace.
Carse:
Trial of Position) Really one person has a high drop weight vs a group of people 1v1 with lower (much lower) weight. The map is an arena with multiple hills and deserts.
New Avalon:
Space Port) One team starts in a spaceport and must escape to the extraction point as the enemies on the other team engage them as they go toward the extraction. The spaceport is near a large city with surrounding hills and grassland.
Hacker Run) Once again, this grassland filled area has a large base, which one team must attack. The other team is defending, but they get reinforcements if the enemy takes too many out to quickly.
New Canton:
Griffon Base) One team is defending a large base against another team. Simple as that, but the terrain favors the defending team. The map is a giant desert and the base has many walls to take cover with.
Edit: Did anyone actually read this? Should I post it somewhere else? Comments on this? ( =objective B )
Edit 2: Gonna post some fireteam ideas with two different teams of people later, maybe tomorrow. Thanks for the comments.
I have little problem with the AI.... (tend to play a lot of single player, even on MP games )
The sheer amount of info here is staggering though - gonna take a bit to let it all sink in before I can leave decent feedback.
I support the idea in general though - if only for the 1st two sentences in my post.
How well it would work out is iffy though - a PVE campaign in a PVP game is tricky if only because they will be changing the balance of the weapons regularly.... If only because that is a fairly decent way to change the meta.
So how well any of this would work is up in the air.
....I do have issues with the all-short range weaponry on the Atlas in the first mission though
Not a big fan of pure-brawler builds, esp on a mech that slow
Lux, my friend, past AI made by these people include racing games for the PSP, and bass fishing. I'm not holding out hope for good AI or AI-based fights.
PGI's plan for missions is actually player versus player with players defending and players attacking in the form of planetary assault. That's 6 months down the line and with PGI's track record with a deadline of 6 months we'll see it in 8 to 10.
Thanks for the comments guys, it took me a while to imput everything into the post. I feel that these should be more PvP than PvE as AI will take a lot of work to make and PGI would probably wouldn't support it anytime soon. I'm going to see if I could modify or add onto the post to recreate the scenarios as PvP.
Shar Wolf, on 02 November 2013 - 08:20 PM, said:
I have little problem with the AI.... (tend to play a lot of single player, even on MP games )
The sheer amount of info here is staggering though - gonna take a bit to let it all sink in before I can leave decent feedback.
I support the idea in general though - if only for the 1st two sentences in my post.
How well it would work out is iffy though - a PVE campaign in a PVP game is tricky if only because they will be changing the balance of the weapons regularly.... If only because that is a fairly decent way to change the meta.
So how well any of this would work is up in the air.
....I do have issues with the all-short range weaponry on the Atlas in the first mission though
Not a big fan of pure-brawler builds, esp on a mech that slow
Yeah, and a lot of the builds/mechs I placed will be really weird in general because they are made to concern that the player/group has small supplies. I think what I should've done is placed it in a better area and put in more info piece by piece so I could've gotten more thinking into the first few missions rather than have shoved everything at once. I guess read over a weekish whenever you have free time. Yeah, PvE is something I want but I think PGI would lean toward PvP. Oh, and that Atlas build is something I was thinking of as a noob trainer to start off the campaign, but then it turns out there are a ton of enemies on the map. It can just be a tank on damage on that mission itself. Thanks for the comments Shar Wolf!
Koniving, on 02 November 2013 - 08:38 PM, said:
Lux, my friend, past AI made by these people include racing games for the PSP, and bass fishing. I'm not holding out hope for good AI or AI-based fights.
PGI's plan for missions is actually player versus player with players defending and players attacking in the form of planetary assault. That's 6 months down the line and with PGI's track record with a deadline of 6 months we'll see it in 8 to 10.
Oh... didn't realize that lol . PGI might have quite a tough time making anything PvE then. I know of CW, but I hope it might increase into random situations or the like. Saw those vids a while ago Koniving, those are really good attempts at making something. Thanks for the comments Koniving!
Cool! Didn't see that clip. BTW, what do you mean on the post in my other topic, ghost heat on the builds I proposed? If it was the group with that mech, they should know chain fire or modify so less heat will be generated. If it was the enemy, let's say they were programmed only chain fire. I might go back and change variants and stuff later. I think that was what you were generally pointing to, right? I saw your posts there as well, helpful. Thanks Koniving.
The problem I see with this is if you don't allow people to modify the mechs, it will get old quick. Especially for those that hate running a certain type of mech (brawler, Light, etc).
On the other hand, if you allow people to use custom mechs, even restricting weight classes, eventually someone will post the optimum build to murder the AI and thus farming will ensue.
I expect that at some point they will come up with AI to fill in private matches, but with no or reduced rewards.
Cool, thanks for the comments guys. Ok, I see what you mean Koniving now, I sorta derped when I read it through the first time.
@Nick I'm trying to balance stuff out. Some missions will have lesser customization as there might not be a supply/salvage base. Some missions like the last one will have almost full customization. If and when PGI creates PvE I hope they can figure out the balance in them. My last mission was sorta attempted to have maximum enemies possible to not be a stomp on one side or another. We'll just have to hope.
For my part, I believe that a general layout of assets, resources and, therefore, objectives on a world, for protection by defenders and scan or assault by attackers, should be made through coordinate and group placement in the database for each world -don't tell me, I know that's a LOT-, and when an attacker comes in, the commander of that unit can make decisions on mission priorities and the like, strategic movement on planet, and when and where certain fights will take place. Objectives for scan, capture, destruction, theft, or extraction could be set up, and then team members go in and take care of these, each in turn, or based on assignments by the commander/leadership. This is where intelligence would come in, whether unit, satellite/SigInt, or paid HumInt to determine forces on a world, their placement, and anything else that might turn out to be relevant.
I think it would be a great thing to get AI programmed into the game -look, don't tell me how hard it is... during MechWarrior II: Mercenaries, some folks got into the AI coding, built a book about how it worked, and helped other people both develop new AI and improve existing ones. Within a single year, the entirety of gameplay changed, pretty much across the spectrum. I think I still have the coding for all of that, somewhere, but I never figured out how to mess with it- and then set them up as standalone's or henchmen in various battles, so there's no way to tell between live pilots and AI, except in the mistakes AI will inevitably make, no matter how well it's programmed. I know it's hard to do, but it would also be worth it.
Campaigns/Mission Sets for the game do not have to be set into a separate game at all, just make them the immediate effect of contracting completion -which we already know is going to be in this game- and let it go. I know it's not as easy as all of that, but it would sure be nice to have these... oh, and by the way, there doesn't have to be any voice-acting for these missions, as communication could still go to higher, who could intelligently converse back. This would be the ultimate expression of how mission play in the MechWarrior and MechCommander games should ALWAYS have been.
Thanks for the reply. I'll work on that kind of layout (more of a Dawn Of War layout if you've played that or similar to MW2 Mercs as Kay said.) I originally thought of speculating of what might come up as MWO PvE. Single player by itself and as a campaign, I have doubts of sadly. PGI probably wouldn't fund such an operation like that and still be able to pull it off well. But yeah, just my speculation, thanks for replying.
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=objective B )
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. PGI might have quite a tough time making anything PvE then. I know of CW, but I hope it might increase into random situations or the like. Saw those vids a while ago Koniving, those are really good attempts at making something. Thanks for the comments Koniving!
But yeah, just my speculation, thanks for replying.
