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My first contact with the BattleTech Univers was via the MechWarrior 2 PC Game, I never played the board game. However, I have read a couple of the Novels and own some of the Technical Readouts (3025 and 3058, for instance).
I am hardly an expert on that matter despite having read a lot about it (especially about the equipment, on sarna.net).
So, take that into account when judging what I wrote below.
Basically i just want to get this bunch of ideas of my chest... I do not expect anything to happen, other then probably learning a couple of new insults.
Status Quo:
Inner Sphere and Clan technology is different, therefore the balance is way off in favor of the clans.
This was meant to be so by the original designs of the BattleTech Boardgame.
And it worked, because there each piece of equipment (and in the end each mech itself) hat a certain BattleValue, which was used to balance teams against each other.
This worked, because in a match of 1 Team vs. 1 Team each Team was "controlled" by one single player, which had a 100% control over each mech and HE decided, which mechs he would field.
In MWO, this obviously is not the case.
Hence we have a lot of problems in regards to balance, which the Matchmaker can only mitigate, if at all.
Difference between IS and Clans:
From what I can tell, the Clans focused on superior firepower and means to get them on target (hence the Targeting Computers the IS is missing atm), and of cause on honorable 1vs1 Combat, up to the point that the wont fire LRM's unless they had Line of Sight.
The IS are more of team players, and used a lot of tricks (the claners would consider dishonorable) to win fights, including a lot of Electronic Warfare Equipment.
Suggestions:
Take into account that Clans and IS were MEANT to be different.
This would mean changing a lot of the current gameplay mechanics.
Here is what I had in mind (please read to the end before you call me an idiot, thank you).
Change how targeting AND the Equipment works with their original function in mind.
Targeting, IS + Clan's:
- Can't have Target Lock unless Target is in sight.
- Will see red dots on radar as long as in sight or friendly has them in sight
Targeting, IS:
- will additionally also be able to receive target info (Letter, Name of enemy pilot, Mechtype, overall damage, but no specific Damage (Paperdoll)) when friendly unit spots them. (Maybe with twice the lock on time as we have today, see below for more info as to why.)
- (will have the ability to switch their Radar to "passive" (which reduces their own visibility on the enemy radar; a lot of suggestion had been made about this, so won't go into detail her; the point is: this should be only available to the IS))
UAV's:
- will provide red dots on radar
- will provide target Locks without detailed info (no Name of enemy pilot, no Mechtype, no overall damage, no specific Damage (Paperdoll))
All the above will be modified by Information Warfare Equipment:
Common Equipment for IS / Clans:
ECM:
ECM was meant to interrupt enemy equipment; in fact it cancels BAP, not the other way around (as seen in MWO). Let it have 3 modes:
1. Disrupt
- disrupts all enemy equipment in range (suggestion: 90 meters)
- target acquisition time up by 300% (or more)
- Mechs that are in range of an enemy ECM set to "Disrupt" will stop transmitting data, including their own position on radar.
The Blue triangle marking them as friendly will only be visible to other Friendlies that have line of sight AND are in Radar Range (regardless if they are also affected by enemy ECM).
2. Ghost Targets:
- creates Ghost Targets using existing friendly Players Mech's; Number of targets may vary
3. Off
- (yes, OFF, so when you are close to the enemy, but behind them, the won't notice you due to your ECM)
BAP / CAP:
- Sensor Range boost (50% ?)
- uncover hidden / shut down enemy units
- thats all.
- will be disrupted by enemy ECM set to disrupt, when in range
TAG:
- allows for indirect fire
- if the only means of targeting an enemy mech: provides Target Lock as long as TAG is on Target, but only provides Letter (like Target "C"), but no mech Type and no detailed info (no overall % of Damage, no Paperdoll).
- will be disrupted by enemy ECM set to disrupt, when in range (of the Mech using TAG)
- (Might be able to override enemy ECM Ghost targets, if real mech is hit by TAG ?)
- while you are at it: make TAG-Trigger a Toggle-Switch (not hold to fire)
NARC:
- allows for indirect fire
- provides Target Lock with Letter (like Target "C") and Mech Type, but no detailed info (no overall % of Damage, no Paperdoll).
- if the NARC-Beacon is in range of enemy ECM set to "Disrupt", targeting time for Friendlies go up 2x (i think this is a better solution then the original "ECM counters NARC 100%", but this is only how I see it)
Equipment unique to the Clans:
Targeting Computer:
- reduces Targeting time (in other words: keep them the way they work today)
- will be disrupted by enemy ECM set to disrupt, when in range
Equipment unique to the IS:
C3 Slave Unit:
- allows for GATHERING (and displaying) detailed Targeting Info (not only Target-Letter, Pilot's name, Mech Type, and overall Damage, but also Paperdoll when target is only targeted by a Friendly)
- will gather info from ALL friendly mechs
- Friendlies without C3 will not benefit, but will be considered a data-source (for PUG-Queue: this also means info from friendly Clan-mechs).
- if target is lost and later re-locked by the C3 carrying mech, it does not need to re-scan the mech from scratch, but will display the last known info about that enemy; scanning the enemy for new data will still take the normal amount of time
- will get more Info out of a friendly UAV ( Name of enemy pilot, Mechtype, overall damage, but no specific Damage (Paperdoll))
- will be disrupted by enemy ECM set to disrupt, when in range, BUT will still be able to send the position on radar as a flickering blue dot.
C3i:
- all of the above.
- if target is lost and later re-locked by the C3 carrying mech, it does not need to re-scan the mech from scratch, but will display the last known info about that enemy; scanning the enemy for new data will take only 50% the normal amount of time
- will get more Info out of a friendly UAV ( Name of enemy pilot, Mechtype, overall damage and specific Damage (Paperdoll))
- will be disrupted by enemy ECM set to disrupt, when in range, BUT will still be able to send the position on radar as a flickering blue dot AND a will share (flickering) Info of the current locked target (which can not be used to lock missile, tho), including (also flickering)red dot on radar
- will also be able to receive Seismic Sensor Data's from any friendly unit using this module (unless that mech is disrupted by enemy ECM).
C3 Master Computer:
- all of the above.
- has TAG build into it (no, you can't switch this TAG for another Laser, it's hardwired into the C3 Master)
- if target is lost and later re-locked by the C3 carrying mech, it does not need to re-scan the mech from scratch, but will display the last known info about that enemy; scanning the enemy for new data will take only 10% the normal amount of time
- will get more Info out of a friendly UAV ( Name of enemy pilot, Mechtype, but overall damage and specific Damage (Paperdoll)), as well as heading of the enemy mechs
- will be disrupted by enemy ECM set to disrupt, when in range, BUT will still be able to send the position on radar as a flickering blue dot AND a will share (flickering) Info of the current locked target (which can not be used to lock missiles, tho), including (also flickering)red dot on radar), AND flickering red dot's for 2 other enemy units, if in range (if there are more then 3 enemies in range, only the one targeted + the two closest targets are shown)
- will also be able to receive Seismic Sensor Data's from any friendly unit using this module (unless that mech is disrupted by enemy ECM).
How Information Warfare could change MWO:
First of all, LRM-Spam will be reduced because you either need a good spotter, or you would need to spot the targets you want to shoot LRM's at yourself.
So, it might be a good idea to reduce the flight-time for the missiles to compensante somewhat, if needed.
What else could happen ? This depends on the players. It has been said more then once that most players will aim for the CT, anyway, so Information Warfare does not change anything.
This is true.
However, if a well organized and aware Inner Sphere Team utilizes C3 (as suggested above), and ECM works as intended, and Scout Mech's could actually scout and provide their friends with useful data, this ~could~ bring balance.
The problem is, that most player do not play tactically, nor are most teams organized in any way.
I wonder if a good tutorial that incorporated Info Warfare could change that... .
QUIRKS:
Do not discard of all the current weapon and armor quirk; some mechs will still need them.
How Map Layout influences Info Warfare:
If you have an open Map, you do not NEED Scouts or Info Warfare, as you can simply see half of the battlefield already.
So unless the Map is "right", the suggestion I made will probably have NO influence about the outcome of a match.
The best example are the CW-Maps Boreal Vault and Sulfurous Rft.
Boreal has only two gates next to each other. For what do you need scouts or Info Warfare here ?
Sulfurous is a bit different. Here it is wise to keep one mech at each gate.
But it would be much better to have even more gates, each far apart, and different landing sites. So the defenders would have NO idea where the attackers are coming from, and scouting would be vital.
So, Info Warfare is not only about what each mech can or can't do, but also about what the players can or can't, and how the battlefield is designed.
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By the way, the suggestions I made above could have a secondary effect:
Clans and IS might start feeling as if they were really two different factions... as intended.
