184 replies to this topic

[Screech]

oneproduct, on 26 September 2014 - 09:16 AM, said:

Right now if you have three light mechs who find a heavy/assault mech that's on his own out of position they eat him alive.

If the wolf pack can be as large as 12 mechs, they will devour that mech in seconds plus the two or three mechs who break off to try to save him.

The problem is that heavy/assault mechs have a harder time sticking together because they are slow but the second one of them gets out of position 12 light mechs can prey upon him because they have the speed to react to his mistake.

Sounds like a really good team is destroying a really bad one. I just can't see how having an all light team is considered an advantage now.

How many viable, effective and varied drop decks can you come up with using only a 200 ton limit vs. a 200 ton 1/1/1/1? Then compare that as a 12 man team? Seems like a lot of options and choices and surprises.

Yes, consumables would need to be addressed.

[Karamarka]

Khobai, on 25 September 2014 - 08:07 PM, said:

Russ said theyre going to do a quirk pass on all the clan mechs after they finished the IS mechs. So theres reason to believe the Warhawk will be getting a solid buff.

Probably an heat reduction on energy weapons.

[Maxx Blue]

I would be OK with a limit on the total number of mechs to go along with a tonnage limit. That would help a bit with 'spamming' lights at an enemy. I would also be OK with players bringing less than the maxium number of mechs in order to bring fewer, but larger, mechs. From my perspective, I am OK with a player deciding they want two atlases instead of four hunchbacks if that is what they prefer. I don't expect Tonnage limits would be perfect, but they do allow players to have more control over what they bring to a fight.

Either setup, 1/1/1/1 or tonnage-with-min/max-mech-limits, is going to be a bit brutal to new players, or players without a large selection of mechs in their garage. I have enough IS mechs that I can probably cobble together a valid drop ship without using trial mechs regardless of the faction or other limitations. I'm close to that on clans, but don't have any lights and only one type of assault. A new player with four (or even a few more) mech bays is almost guaranteed to be forced into using trial mechs, no matter which system we end up with. They simply are not going to have enough mastered mechs to build a good drop ship from only owned-mechs.

However, I feel that tonnage limits will allow new/low-mech-count players opportunities to use MORE of the mechs that they do own than 1/1/1/1 would. Everyone starts with 4 mech bays, and you need three variants with basics to be able to master a mech, so it seems likely most people end up with two or three variants of the same mech in their garage to start with. PGI probably has real numbers on this, but it seems logical that a big percentage of new players are going to have two or three of their first four mechs be variants of the same mech. We all know how important eliting mechs is, so I would rather use a system that allows new players to use the two or three variants of the same mech that they own and might actually have some efficiencies unlocked on. You could allow that with tonnage limits, but with 1/1/1/1 you are more likely to force them into using additional trial mechs because they can't use two variants of the same mech.

New players will still end up using trial mechs no matter what, but it seems like 1/1/1/1 is going to, overall, force them to use more trial mechs than tonnage limits will. That doesn't seem like a positive thing to me.

Edited by Maxx Blue, 26 September 2014 - 12:15 PM.

[Deathlike]

Regardless of 1/1/1/1 or tonnage limits, people will min-max the optimal dropdecks. So complaining about the min-max aspect is waste of time.

The best way IMO is if you are concerned about how tonnage limits would be abused, you can institute 1/1/1/1 OR something like the max of any weight class can be do... so if you had a 240 tonnage limit wanted 2 Daishis, you better be prepared to field 2 Locusts (although, that's not possible under CW due to being restricted to your unit's affiliation). If you wanted 2 Victors, you can still field 2 Cicadas. There are lots of options and variations, but there would be more options and diversity... but IT WILL require Assault pilots to learn to play Lights or lower end Mediums...

In the case of the 2 Timberwolves... you would be forced to run a Ryoken and a Adder (or likely Kitfox).

There won't be a perfect system... regardless... so the question you need to ask yourselves is... how badly do you want to punish people that specialize...? That's the ultimate question.

Note: In my early Daishi example, it's not possible to run 2 Daishi on those dropdecks due to the other options you have...

One other option: Revising the 2 mechs of any weight class max, you could have an additional requirement... so that you cannot have 2 of the same chassis (like, 2 Timberwolves would not be an option, but Timberwolf+Summoner is an option). With the new mech pack (Wave 2), you could be able to do Daishi+ManOWar and Koshi+Kitfox. That would force some sort of diversity instead of stacking the best mechs you possibly could.

Edited by Deathlike, 26 September 2014 - 02:05 PM.

[Harrison Kelly]

Ugh. I don't care for either the 1/1/1/1 solution or the idea that you HAVE to bring four 'Mechs with a tonnage limit. That's crap. I have a mastered Light 'Mech. I never, ever play it. I don't like the playstyle and never want to play that again.

Under 1/1/1/1, you don't actually get to always bring what you're comfortable with, unless you're a generalist. You're forced into being a jack-of-all-trades, which frankly, I don't want to do.

The same goes for the 4 'Mech restriction with a tonnage limit.

I like heavies and assaults, and can occasionally tolerate playing mediums. How is it fair that a 1337 light pilot can bring all four of his favorite 'Mechs under the 4 'Mechs and a tonnage limit system, but because I like a different class I have to bring small 'Mechs (that I dislike playing)?

I'm fine with a tonnage limit, otherwise we'll be back to ye olden days of 8 D-DC drops which was just (not) so much fun. But if you're going to have 240 tons, why not allow people to bring however many 'Mechs they want into the fray? So a dedicated light pilot can bring 2 Jenners, 2 Ravens, and 4 Spiders if I did my math right. That'll encourage the more reckless style of those maniacs and, for immersion value, you'll see a lot more lights on the field. Meanwhile, I could bring, say, a Highlander, a Catapult, and a Stalker if I wanted to. Same tonnage, different allocation.