91 replies to this topic

[Barantor]

Create a character and join a general house or a merc unit under a house, that house's mechs are what you can 'purchase new' but any mechs have the chance for salvage.

Go for Davion? You can get a Davion mech to 'buy' but you could also salvage a loathsome Capellan's mech if you defeat him in battle.

Some mechs are dang near IS universal so would be available for all factions and then specific variant models that are specific to houses for each 'universal' mech.

[DocBach]

Something that would be cool for salvage is if you salvaged an enemy 'Mech, you only salvage its chassis; you have to go around killing more of the same type of 'Mech to salvage a compatible reactor, the sensors, weapons systems, heat sinks, ect. before you could have it up and operational - of course through in game trading with other MechWarriors you might be able to snag the parts you need to get the 'Mech up and running if you've got the c-bills to have your tech or "Mech Magic" put it back together for you.

You'd have to kill a whole bunch of enemy faction 'Mechs before you had enough parts to rebuild and use a faction specific design.

Edited by DocBach, 18 November 2011 - 04:32 PM.

[Kell Aset]

Some mechs are common and of course available to all factions. Certain mechs should be available for purchase only for faction pilots to make factions and loyal players distinctive, sorry ppl but you can't always have everything yet there is always salvage.

I wouldn't want to see players from enemy factions trading mechs with each other, that is just so wrong. Tho ppl from factions in alliance should? have limited access to mechs from other factions in that alliance I think, maybe.

Any sort of black market that knows no borders, if there will be one maybe should be dev controlled? (their microtransactions)

Anyway I like what I read here:

DFDelta, on 18 November 2011 - 11:41 AM, said:

Some mechs should be open to all factions for the same prices. (Everyone and their grandma uses Warhammers)
Some mechs should be open for all, but cheaper for certain factions (everyone has Jenners, but they are more common for dracs)
Some mechs should be house specific (only Dracs build Panthers, ones in other militaries are very rare and always salvage)

Specific mechs should only become unlocked if you spend a lot of time (and I'm really talking about a long time here) with a certain house, or if you spent a even longer time with a enemy of this house, and on campaigns against this house.

If I see someone in a Zeus In 90% of all cases I should be like "yup, thats a Steiner veteran there", in the other 10% I'd be like "yeah, that Marik pilot deserved that mech by beating up hundreds of Steiner pilots"

Made me think about "trust" , longer you work for faction(more missions you do for them) more trust you get, better mechs you can get from that faction. Random new mercs that just started their work for certain faction(after working for other faction before?) or simply those who work for many different factions from time to time won't get good faction mechs just like that. Piloting top faction specyfic mechs should be a privilege,
Still no idea how much difference will there be between merc? loyal to house and merc from mercenary company that often will change "boss", will there be any difference at all I wonder.

Edited by Kell Aset, 18 November 2011 - 08:15 PM.

[The1WithTheGun]

• Should we be able to procure 'mechs from other factions, or should we be restricted?

Kinda. Obviously, many (even most?) mechs are "evenly distributed" around the Inner Sphere, and should have decent availability between the factions (though some variants might be faction specific). Some mechs, however, are very clearly more common in certain factions; Dragons are a "Draconis mech", the Zeus a "Lyran Mech", etc. That said, due to the rules of warfare and the opportunity for salvage, there is no such thing as a monopoly on a mech design and it is quite possible for a Free Worlds mechwarrior to pilot a "Davion" Enforcer. He might be a rarity, but it is possible. How they balance this in-game will be interesting.

• Should we be able to obtain 'mechs as salvage?

It would be in the "spirit" of the B-Tech universe, sure. Now - this could be interesting when the Clans finally arrive and how the devs will balance the inevitable occurance of clan salvage. Will it be near-impossible to repair? Prohibitively expensive? Or will it be normal (leaving a server soon devoid of I.S.-manufactured warmachines)? Will be interesting to see.

• If so, how easy should it be to do so?

Hopefully not easy. It should be expensive (well, depending on the damage) to refurbish an entire mech - something to work towards. Like I said above, it will be interesting to see what happens when Clantech comes on the scene. Personally I think Clantech should be near-impossible for IS forces to reverse-engineer - not without a lot of cash and time put in (which mirrors the fluff - Clantech is pretty damn rare until later on in the story, and then some of the Clans even start selling the stuff to the IS).

• Same question to weapons and equipment as well!

Individual parts? Depends entirely on how the devs handle damage to your mech and how often you have to replace parts. Stripping a Medium Laser from a defeated enemy to replace the one you lost in the battle should require a bit of cash and/or time but not a prohibitive amount.

Edited by The1WithTheGun, 18 November 2011 - 05:29 PM.

[Joachim Viltry]

DocBach, on 18 November 2011 - 11:31 AM, said:

Now how about that Clantech? People who were raised on MW4 are going to be ****** when they find out that the Mad Cat isn't the most common 'Mech in the Federated Commonwealth....

LOL, I guess the had better learn to love the Centurion and Enforcer since those are the 'dirt' common FedCom designs of choice. (seriously though, come 3050 they Get the Caesar, and by 3055 your looking at the Rakshasa, Penetrator, and Falconer).

Edited by Joachim Viltry, 18 November 2011 - 05:18 PM.

[Melissia]

Course, both of those are excellent front line 'mechs.

[EDMW CSN]

Joachim Viltry, on 18 November 2011 - 05:17 PM, said:

LOL, I guess the had better learn to love the Centurion and Enforcer since those are the 'dirt' common FedCom designs of choice. (seriously though, come 3050 they Get the Caesar, and by 3055 your looking at the Rakshasa, Penetrator, and Falconer).

The Penetrator is an excellent command mech. However the rest ain't so hot too me due to the XL engines (which hopefully I can strip off and use a standard). Because if Piranha is going very close to table top rules, the moment the side torso goes, that XL is going to cripple or outright destroy any machine using it.

[DFDelta]

Penetrator PTR-6T is my favorite mech overall, and my personal mech in my TT lance.
It just has everything you could wish for. Lots of armor, a normal engine, AMS, jump jets, and enough heat sinks to keep those 6 medium lasers firing without blowing yourself up.
And it even looks great.

[Armored Yokai]

Go here to find out which mechs go to which faction http://www.sarna.net...ory:BattleMechs

[simon1812]

sort of, some mech should be available depending of which faction you serve, some other should be acquired by trade or isorla.

[trycksh0t]

I really don't believe 'Mechs should be faction specific, because very few 'Mechs really were. Battlemechs are built by interstellar corporations, many of which have facilities in several Successor States. Unless there is an exclusivity contract between the ruling house and the production company, they can sell to everyone and their mother, which they do. Factor in that most of the designs we'll be seeing in 3049 are produced by multiple manufacturers; Locusts, Wasps, Stingers, Shadow Hawks, and Archers immediately spring to mind, and there's a very strong case against faction specific 'Mechs.

That being said, if you want a particular 'Mech that is produced outside of your house's control, there should be a 20% mark-up for the special order and import fees. EX: A Dragon costs a warrior of House Kurita or the Free Rasalhague Republic 10 million C-Bills, warriors from other houses are charged 12 million C-Bills.

[Fiachdubh]

It only makes sense that each House army would use its own mechs however given the decline in technology and mech production since the succesion wars any army or merc unit is going to salvage and use whatever it can. Salvage is too much a part of BT to not include.

- Some mechs are common among all or several factions

- House factions may also have some mechs only available to them to build or sell to their merc units

- Factions at war or neighbouring (which being BT = war) are going to have some of each others exclusive mechs through capture\salvage

- a faction might capture a planet that manufaures one of another factions exclusive mech type so can also build them

- espionage missions to steal a mech/weapons design specs?

Edited by Fiachdubh, 19 November 2011 - 03:53 PM.

[Alizabeth Aijou]

Quote

That being said, if you want a particular 'Mech that is produced outside of your house's control, there should be a 20% mark-up for the special order and import fees. EX: A Dragon costs a warrior of House Kurita or the Free Rasalhague Republic 10 million C-Bills, warriors from other houses are charged 12 million C-Bills.

Actually, the cost of FWL, CapCon and DC 'Mechs should be roughly the same between those three houses due to the Concord of Kapteyn.
Which, amongst other things, caused the FWL to buy 'Mechs from the DC, including the Dragon and Marauder. The DC in return buys the Hermes III and got Theodore Kurita's Orion refitted. The DC and CapCon share notes and such to find a fix for the Sholagar and Thrush ASF. Some trade between the FWL and CapCon, including laser pistols, electronics, targeting systems, the Galleon tank, PPCs, hovercraft. The DC also buys the specs to the Linesman battlemech from the CapCon, which later gets turned into the Daboku/Mauler. Later on, the DC also provided Listen-Kill Missiles to the FWL and CapCon.

[Havoc2]

I voted sort of and I have a topic Suggestions that kind of relates to this (although it's a grander vision that probably won't be seen).

As I understand, all MWs that will be playing MWO will be a member of a Merc Corp. These Merc Corps will be aligned to a Great House, at least initially.

I think that certain chassis should be easier/harder to obtain depending on faction alignment (as has been said before).
HOWEVER I also believe that we should also be able to purchase 'Mechs from a "Black Market" with BOTH in-game C-Bills or real money (to support the game). Some might see this as being P2W if they can just buy 'Mechs, but these will be no different from what you can earn or buy with in-game money. Plus it would support the game as I suspect a great many more people would spend money to buy their favorite chassis than a special hat for their avatar or some other fluff.

[Blackstorm]

Good thread Melissa.

Couple of interesting points have come up.
1-there has only been, to my knowledge, talk about forming a mercenary company which is loosely allied/contracted to a specific house.
So in my mind realistically you can
Immediately knock all first tier "front line" mechs off the list of starting equipment.
Why? What house in their right mind gives a brand new-basically unrated unit(MRBC etc) access to all the goods? Exactly, none.
2-I imagine it like there will be basic mechs available depending on which faction you are hired too, then as you become more trusted-rating increases etc you will gain access to
More toys.
Battletech is built on certain mechs from certain factions duking it out but early on I expect to see alot of the four we've seen so far, and MAYBE one or two extra accessible mechs per faction.
I think you should be locked out of a specific design if you don't want to contract to that house as then procuring one becomes another objective in the game for you personally which isn't just about combat.

[Tuebor Scott]

your first mech should be faction based . after that you should be able to buy what you want. but in order for it to work this game will need a good auction house and salvage and repair system.

[Darkmoose]

There should be limits on what available to purchase based on your employer, so if working for the FC the amount of DC mechs availible should be low, but not non existent. SO say we have 10 mechs for a given faction, 8 of 10 should be homegrown , 2 of 10 should be primary mechs. So I would have a list for each of the 5 houses, 1 for general IS for St Ives or just use the Caps list, 1 for merc with a little bit of everything, and 1 for periphery. I think Clan Mechs should be salvage only.
Example Fed Suns
Enforcer
Marauder
Atlas
Battlemaster
Shadow Hawk
Centurion
Jagermech
Rifleman
Hachetman
Dragon/Jenner
Locust/Vindicator

[Mordegald]

I voted Sort Of, and here's why; I have what is probably an irrational hope that this game will have a more robust economy than that of your average MMO. Not necessarily something on par with, say, EVE, but with enough of a salvage and logistics system in place that valuable goods can realistically be acquired and traded on something larger than the scale of a two-man haggle session.

In my ideal, maybe the economic juggernauts will end up being corps of specialist lances that go out and wreck the rarest enemy 'mech they can find, then fix it up and sell it across faction to the highest bidder. Maybe there'll be whole corps of cheeky VTOL pilots swooping onto battlefields and making off with valuable parts before the actual combatants get the all-clear to send in salvage crews. If there's some kind of engineering and manufacturing side to the whole business, even better.

Like I said, I'm not looking for MechWarrior: Wall Street here. I just think that it'd be nice to have something more engaging than, "sell used Griffin to NPC trader for 5,000,000 C-Bills; use to buy new Firestarter from other NPC trader."

[Dlardrageth]

Would be adding a bit of spice if your "starter Mech" you'd get for free were tied to which faction you choose. Okay. granted, making people have to think about it or probably make the wrong choice will probably lead to some major whining, but for the sake of immersion...

With regards to House-/Faction-only Mechs there still stands the question if the rebated purchase or even exclusive access should apply across the board to all Mechs or just specific variants. Let's look at an example to make it more clear here.

The venerated Warhammer in it'S stock variant comes as the Warhammer WHM-6R. Now there do exist variants for/from major houses with small changes. The WHM-6K/-6L/-6D could easily be obtainable only through the requisite House hosting those variants. That doesn't necessarily preclude anybody outside getting the very same variant. Just not with the same price tag, as in this case you'd have to have your Warhammer customly modified to match one of those variants. Which comes with an extra price tag (pesky Techs make a fortune these days!).

Adding some sort of "extra" that makes declaring allegiance to a certain faction a bit more meaningful beyond pure RP surely cannot hurt the game.

[Moppelkotze]

stahlseele, on 18 November 2011 - 01:22 PM, said:

Hmm, one way of doing this would be to onle be getting house VARIANTS of a Chassis from that House . .
Everybody and their Mother has the Warhammer, that's true, but there are still the 6D, 6S, 6M, 6L, 6K Variants . . .

Yes, but the MechLab will ruin this for me. Why even have those variants when every player will change them?
With a MechLab you nearly only need a chassis for every tonnage and all other things are chosen by the player.
I would like to have only variants and no real MechLab. Only very slight changes should be allowed.