1821 replies to this topic

[Tesunie]

This is great news!

Unfortunately, as excited as I am for SMM, I can't really join till after 8:30 Eastern... (I might be able to sneak in a couple matches before work though... We'll have to see...)

[Davic Kerensky]

Signed up at MechForce, but was almost heartbroken when I saw the actual event times ...

EU ED : 01:00:00 pm - 04:30:00 pm

Still at work at this time, don't get home til 07:30 pm

[TygerLily]

snessuk, on 30 June 2014 - 11:46 AM, said:

Signed up at MechForce, but was almost heartbroken when I saw the actual event times ...

EU ED : 01:00:00 pm - 04:30:00 pm

Still at work at this time, don't get home til 07:30 pm

What timezone?

[General Taskeen]

snessuk, on 30 June 2014 - 11:46 AM, said:

Signed up at MechForce, but was almost heartbroken when I saw the actual event times ...

EU ED : 01:00:00 pm - 04:30:00 pm

Still at work at this time, don't get home til 07:30 pm

There is one later in the day on Monday. Are you in a U.S. time zone?

Edited by General Taskeen, 30 June 2014 - 06:25 PM.

[TygerLily]

Stock Mech Monday is on now! Two full dropships on the Strana Mechty Teamspeak!

Details: http://MechForceClassic.enjin.com

[IraqiWalker]

Sadly I will have to miss tonight. Spending quality time with my girlfriend.

[Tesunie]

I'm starting to notice a distinct trend happening... After a few matches, I start to notice the enemy team starts to gun at me and actively choose me over other targets... I'm just a lowly Hunchback 4J. Why all the hate?

[Harathan]

I'm hearing some grumbling from certain quarters about non-stock mechs being run and not much being done about it.

Well, it was nice while it lasted.

[Alaskan Nobody]

Tesunie, on 30 June 2014 - 07:27 PM, said:

I'm starting to notice a distinct trend happening... After a few matches, I start to notice the enemy team starts to gun at me and actively choose me over other targets... I'm just a lowly Hunchback 4J. Why all the hate?

When you make yourself a priority target that is what happens
(and being competent makes you a priority target.)

[Davic Kerensky]

General Taskeen, on 30 June 2014 - 06:25 PM, said:

There is one later in the day on Monday. Are you in a U.S. time zone?

No I am in England.

[Tesunie]

Harathan, on 30 June 2014 - 07:45 PM, said:

I'm hearing some grumbling from certain quarters about non-stock mechs being run and not much being done about it.

Well, it was nice while it lasted.

Someone tried to run an Urbanmech on a Raven. Personally, if he did it on a Spider I wouldn't have cared. It only moderately bothered me as it was. It could have been much worse.

The person learned from it. Was going to change his mech up. I feel all was still good. (And then the event ended.)

Lesson for next time, before you run a mech that isn't "stock and the way you bought it", ask before hand...

[Davic Kerensky]

Tesunie, sounds to me like a 'gamer' trying to spoil it for hardcore Mechwarrior/TT fans who want to play 'un-meta'd'.

This is the constant problem that turns me away from online games now, companies do not have the balls to stick with their convictions and give what they first offered. I read alot of the closed beta posts and found that was very close to what MW/BT was about, combating not only the enemy but your own mech from shutting down, collisions causing damage etc.THIS is what Mechwarrior is about 'Pilot skills' , but then the 'end gamers' get involved in forum conflicts like a group of sickophants and then companies back away from what they originally envisioned because they are worried finance from the masses will dry up and people will leave ... WELL HELLO ! hey PGI a tip for you, SOE listened to the 'endgamers' and look what happened there, the true lovers of SWG couldn't bare to see what 'endgamers' had forced into play and it died.

Can see one of two choices happening, either give people who want the 'Stock' option aswell as the PUG drops or keep on the supporting 'Meta-players' and watch the game run down as they get bored and move on to another game. Meta/End gamers are like a locust swarm [ not the Mech Locust which is cool in a 'you must be crazy to want to pilot one ], they descend on to something with potential and then starve it dry and move on to the next best thing to destroy.

Edited by snessuk, 30 June 2014 - 08:20 PM.

[Tesunie]

I don't know. I saw what he was "trying" to do, and what his "intentions" were. It's no different than when I asked if I could make a Hunchback into a Crab design, or a Raven into a Hollander. (I was told no to each of these proposals, which was fine.) He told me he chose a Raven because it would move at the same speed with a 105 std engine as a Urbanmech would have. (But then he added in a MG? Don't know of any Urbie that runs an AC10, sm laser and a MG...)

He should have asked before jumping in with such a mech first, as this wasn't a typical match rules game. We could have clearly told him no if he had asked before hand. (If he made it on a Spider, I would have very little issue personally, even if it did run a little faster. As long as everything else was exact (with maybe some FF/Endo to make it all work correctly, even though it would run a little faster than the Urbie), I could deal with it. However, I wasn't the only one in the match, so even if it didn't bother me much it should still have been asked to the group if it was okay. (My opinion doesn't count!)

[TygerLily]

Harathan, on 30 June 2014 - 07:45 PM, said:

I'm hearing some grumbling from certain quarters about non-stock mechs being run and not much being done about it.

Well, it was nice while it lasted.

Probably left-over from Wednesday's Stock Mech Eras where Mechs and variants are allowed which are not included in MWO (but you can make them from existing stuff). Just confusion about what event is happening, I'm guessing. No need for the doom and gloom! xD The only thing that needs to be done about it is for people to speak up! This stock stuff is what we make it...only exists when people come, only happens if people are fair.

For the record: Stock Mech Monday and Stock Saturdays are only using Mechs and variants included in MWO in the 'what you see is what you get' stock form. Era's has a rotating timeline from which Mechs are available at various tech levels.

Edited by TygerLily, 30 June 2014 - 11:41 PM.

[Rhaythe]

Harathan, on 30 June 2014 - 07:45 PM, said:

I'm hearing some grumbling from certain quarters about non-stock mechs being run and not much being done about it.
Well, it was nice while it lasted.

I called him out. He apologized. Issue is likely resolved. In all honesty, he probably got Stock Mech Monday and Stock Mech Eras slightly mixed up.

[Grisha]

Some thoughts on speeding up play?

First off I like helping to facilitate the matches. It makes me feel involved and helping the genre. So I certainly don't mean to upset anyone over any of this. But, we have to find a way to speed up drops. We lost more than a few players last night just over the slow drop times and I know there's more than a couple of EST zone players that have worked a full day and by 1130 pm or so we get kinda cranky. So if I came off a bit abrasive last night I apologize.

So here's a few thoughts....

1. Set a standardized drop weight, Somewhere around 55-70 tons per person. So the team one moderator sets it and then what ever the team sizes are that's the weight it is. (reason: trying to match tonnage on the fly can be frustrating and time consuming.

2. Set up a standardized map rotation. (reason: lessen the time between drops, everyone has the list and can plan what potential mechs they want to bring to what map earlier in the day).

3. Randomize the teams at the outset, but ensure at least one able in-battle leaders are on each team. While I like to help with the lobby and invites, I know I suck at actually leading a battle, I tend to get distracted by what I am doing and forget to actually call the battle. But we do have more than a couple of guys that excel at calling the battles. There really needs to be one on each team. and if there are more than one per team, they can alternate battles.

Also, I believe that splitting single unit team members up as much as possible is important. My unit has a lot of people that participate, we have players of all skill ranges and that at times can weight a battle in either direction. I also know that there is no way to completely avoid this. So I'm not sure how to balance the teams by skill. I do kind of like the alphabetical team picks but other than that I don't know.

I believe we can solve some of the chaos if we devote some brain cells to this and come up with a general consensus and actually implement them into the rule set. I know we want to keep it as simple as possible with as few rules as possible, but we have to speed up this process of drops or it will stagnate as people experience the delays.

Grisha

[SilentScreamer]

Tesunie, on 30 June 2014 - 09:28 PM, said:

He told me he chose a Raven because it would move at the same speed with a 105 std engine as a Urbanmech would have. (But then he added in a MG? Don't know of any Urbie that runs an AC10, sm laser and a MG...)

Cappellan Confederation modification of UR-R60. It does not have its own designation but is mentioned in technical readout 3050 as the precurser to their UR-R63. It is listed on Sarna.net as "machine gun variant".
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/UrbanMech

Grisha, on 01 July 2014 - 05:04 AM, said:

Some thoughts on speeding up play?

3. Randomize the teams at the outset, but ensure at least one able in-battle leaders are on each team.

I believe we can solve some of the chaos if we devote some brain cells to this and come up with a general consensus and actually implement them into the rule set. I know we want to keep it as simple as possible with as few rules as possible, but we have to speed up this process of drops or it will stagnate as people experience the delays.

I'm all for randomization Grisha. I've participated three times and while one or two pilots are willing to move to "the loosing team" it usually doesn't breakup the core of the team that is winning...typically two or three pilots that are use to coordinating together and probably picked their mechs for such a purpose. This mentality increases the challenge level of the matches which is not a bad thing, but if the other team doesn't have that kind of coordination it's unbalancing.

As for speed of the matches and time inbetween drops, this will probably hurt partipcation/popularity. I was in charge of one of the dropships two weeks ago...the term "herding cats" comes to mind. Just getting people to pick a mech and stick with it at least for one drop is a HUGE challenge. I'm not sure there is a fix to that problem, some pilots still want to switch mechs even after Launch!

That said, I had a great time last night with Thunderbolt and Wolverine. I appreciate everyone who participated and also the fact that someone else (Grisha) was running the dropship I was on last night!

Silent Screamer (aka GrayFenris)

Edited by SilentScreamer, 01 July 2014 - 05:39 AM.

[Grisha]

I'm with ya S.S. I had fun last night also. I think the mech switching would be eased by a hard (or at least an agreed) tonnage cap. As for team balance, I don't have a clue. It just tough when one team continues to get rolled hard all evening and you know it's due to skill levels, (mine included) I feel bad for everyone stuck on my team. I feel like I didn't I didn't do something right when my team is on the bad side of a zero win evening. ( I think I said that right?)

[TygerLily]

Grisha, on 01 July 2014 - 05:49 AM, said:

I'm with ya S.S. I had fun last night also. I think the mech switching would be eased by a hard (or at least an agreed) tonnage cap. As for team balance, I don't have a clue. It just tough when one team continues to get rolled hard all evening and you know it's due to skill levels, (mine included) I feel bad for everyone stuck on my team. I feel like I didn't I didn't do something right when my team is on the bad side of a zero win evening. ( I think I said that right?)

I posted this on the MF:C forum but I'll reply here too:

Predefined Weight Limits:

In the past here is what I've suggested: 60 tons per person.

Why 60?

So, using 3/3/3/3 as a base:

Smallest weights per class: x3 20-tonners / x3 40-tonners / x3 60-tonners / x3 80-tonners = 600 tons
Largest weights per class: x3 35-tonner / x3 55-tonners / x3 75-tonners / x3 100-tonners = 795 tons

(600 + 795) / 2 equals about 698. The average for lightest and heaviest drop weights.

698 / 12 = 59 tons per person.

Round it up to 60 per person and multiply that by the largest group.

IE, playing 5 v 6? Do 360 tons (6 x 60).

Doing 9 v 10? Do 600 tons (60 x 10)

Maps:
Setting the map to Random would be the simplest and fastest.

We've also had success playing where, defeated pick the next map. This is pretty fast as it cuts the number of people deciding in half...generally, only one or two speak up anyway.

Team Balancing:
Maybe one day they will make this an actual game mode...until then, we are operating outside of the matchmaker in our private lobbies - meaning no Elo matching. All we have is our own honest assessment of how good we are and to which side we belong.

In the past we've played where the first dead from the defeated switches, the highest damage from the victor switches. Company Commanders will have to be exempt so they can just maintain the room with their premium time. It's a simple switch to drag and drop in client and then the players swap Teamspeak rooms. Easy peasy!

Hope that helps!

Edited by TygerLily, 01 July 2014 - 06:20 AM.

[Grisha]

Your right Tyger, We've had this discussion before I guess. We just need to work on the implementation I suppose. Sorry for beating the horse carcass again.