19 replies to this topic

[XX Sulla XX]

Proposition to expand Mechwarrior with AeroTech.



I have been thinking about how PGI could keep the revenue flowing besides just selling new mech packs and colors etc. And the clear choice (IF they can get the license.) seems to be Battlespace/AeroTech. Here is why I think this would be a good choice for PGI.

1. Because of how it would tie into mechwarrior it would be something different than games like Star Citizen. You would be able to go from epic space battles to atmospheric battles to land battles. Being different than these other games I believe is very important.

2. Since it ties diretly into Mechwarrior you would be able to add it a little at a time and it still be a viable game.

3. Build in older fan base just wanting to give you more money for this kind of thing.

4. Many more new options for items to sale from AeroSpace founders packs to Aerospace Fighter packs to Land-Air Mechs.

5. Keeps player interest well past CW.

6. Makes a way to flesh out unit/CW in the future into something really amazing.

7. You already have part of the work done.

(And yes I know many other people besides me have suggested this. I just wanted to do it in a more clear way.)




" COLD DEATH

HOT DEATH

As a pilot, you get plenty of danger and excitement. You also get a choice between cold death or hot death. You can die in the icy void of space or in the flames of reentry. If you're good, you might live to fight another day. The Succession Wars are fought over land. But the battles don't start on the ground, they END there. The first action is in space, usually about 160,000 kilometers from the target planet, as fighter pilots come screaming in at 1,000 kilometers per second in their DropShips.

The defending fighters are in the air, too, weaving in and out, watching for shots at the DropShips or the attacking fighters. As the battle moves closer to the planet, all craft will have to deal with gravity as well as their opponents. You've either got to fight against it or find a way to use it.

If the DropShip pilots live through the intial battle, they can drop their 'Mechs from high altitude atmosphere. For two long minutes, the Dropships are sitting ducks, giving you a chance to shoot the 'Mechs on the way down. All surviving fighters dive into the atmosphere to strafe and bomb the battlefield.

MechWarriors take all the glory for conquering planets, but they should never forget who put them there and saved their tails with a strafing run or a bomb dropped at just the right moment."

[Nothing Whatsoever]

Tanks would also be cool to see, so I'd certainly like to eventually see more Aerotech then the current Air Strike flyby.

Edited by Praetor Knight, 04 October 2014 - 12:40 PM.

[XX Sulla XX]

I agree tanks could be another nice thing to add.

[Kavoh]

It's a cool idea, and when I first started I thought it was going to be a multiplayer mechwarrior game with AI infantry, tanks, and aerotech on a map 4x larger than what have now, but it became quickly apparent the limitations of the game and the requirements of it just being AI, let alone something players would control.

Also it took them something around a year just for UI 2.0 before they could even touch improving the game, so something as drastic as that would probably just need a complete rehaul/scrapping. So while cool, I don't think this game has the ability to include such things.

[Mercules]

Very few tanks would be viable for combat with the current system of equal numbers of players per side. Usually battles that involve mixed forces use BV to balance out the fight. For example you might have a lance of Medium and Heavy mechs facing a Company of tanks of roughly equal BV. Having often been the tank commander for our crew of friends I've seen that multiple tanks of equal BV can take out a mech, but rarely do you have any tanks that straight up challenge a mech 1 on 1 and win. They just don't match up right 12 v 12.

An Alicorn tank is an Assault class tank at 95 tons. It carries 3 AC 10s stock moves as slow as a direwolf and is slightly more fragile because of the nature of tanks. In fact it moves slower than many mechs over terrain they can travel easier. It's battle value is just over 1k. A Direwolf in return is valued between 2.5k and 3k. 2 Alicorns might demolish a Direwolf, but 1 on 1 the Direwolf will win most of those battles handily.

[Duncan Jr Fischer]

The trouble with Aerotech is that the flyers actually leave mechs no chance, they would be really superior.
And I just can't imagine how any flying is possible on any of the current maps, even Alpine is too tiny for an aerospace fighter.

I hope, one day we see at least mechs done in a proper manner with all their options)

Edited by Duncan Jr Fischer, 04 October 2014 - 01:00 PM.

[XX Sulla XX]

Quote

The trouble with Aerotech is that the flyers actually leave mechs no chance, they would be really superior.
And I just can't imagine how any flying is possible on any of the current maps, even Alpine is too tiny for an aerospace fighter.

I hope, one day we see at least mechs done in a proper manner with all their options)

The easy thing would be to focus on space combat and atmospheric high above the ground combat. So you would not have say fighters directly shooting mechs on the ground. It would be more a part of CW.

[AEgg]

Well, engine limits aside, tank/infantry/aerospace players could be controlling multiple units at once from an isometric RTS perspective while players control the mechs. But there isn't a game engine on the planet that can handle that yet. Closest I can think of is Batlefield 2s commander mode, except there was no AI.

[XX Sulla XX]

Or you could make it less complex. You have space battles that then play into how CW works.

[LauLiao]

Duncan Jr Fischer, on 04 October 2014 - 12:59 PM, said:

The trouble with Aerotech is that the flyers actually leave mechs no chance, they would be really superior.
And I just can't imagine how any flying is possible on any of the current maps, even Alpine is too tiny for an aerospace fighter.

I hope, one day we see at least mechs done in a proper manner with all their options)

Exactly this. A single pair of Aerospace fighters could take out an entire lance of Battlemechs in a single pass. And it would take them all of 3 seconds to go from one side of Alpine to the other.

[Mercules]

Aerospace fighters were so deadly to mechs we typically glossed over them and said they were tied up in a close fought space battle or we would be fighting in areas where air support was not possible.

[CycKath]

No, like vehicles I have no interest in the aerospace side and think its inclusion would take away from getting the 'Mech side right.

[XX Sulla XX]

Quote

Aerospace fighters were so deadly to mechs we typically glossed over them and said they were tied up in a close fought space battle or we would be fighting in areas where air support was not possible.

As mentioned you do not have to have the fighters in the same space as the mechs. You could for example have the fighters battle over who would have air superiority on a planet. Then the side that has it would have more airstrikes to use. The kind we know now. And space battle could help decide what planets can be contested etc.

[OznerpaG]

Mercules, on 04 October 2014 - 02:00 PM, said:

Aerospace fighters were so deadly to mechs we typically glossed over them and said they were tied up in a close fought space battle or we would be fighting in areas where air support was not possible.

XX Sulla XX, on 04 October 2014 - 02:48 PM, said:

As mentioned you do not have to have the fighters in the same space as the mechs. You could for example have the fighters battle over who would have air superiority on a planet. Then the side that has it would have more airstrikes to use. The kind we know now. And space battle could help decide what planets can be contested etc.

would be an interesting idea - jumpship enters contested system, dropships make their way to the planet with escorting aerospace fighters, defending aerospace fighters would try to kill the dropships while the dropship aerofighter escorts would try and protect them.

surviving dropships attack the planet - just to keep it simple though if even 1 dropship makes it it's still 12v12 mech combat on the planet and the planet token is awarded when the mech battle is concluded. otherwise if the defender kills all the attacking dropships before they land they get a planet token and no mech battle is fought

maybe destroyed dropships take away some ammo or pre-damage the mechs a little before the planet battle

i don't think that the aerospace fighters should be involved with the mech battle though - keep it simple

Edited by JagdFlanker, 04 October 2014 - 03:13 PM.

[XX Sulla XX]

Quote

would be an interesting idea - jumpship enters contested system, dropships make their way to the planet with escorting aerospace fighters, defending aerospace fighters would try to kill the dropships while the dropship aerofighter escorts would try and protect them.

surviving dropships attack the planet - just to keep it simple though if even 1 dropship makes it it's still 12v12 mech combat on the planet and the planet token is awarded when the mech battle is concluded. otherwise if the defender kills all the attacking dropships before they land they get a planet token and no mech battle is fought

maybe destroyed dropships take away some ammo or pre-damage the mechs a little before the planet battle

i don't think that the aerospace fighters should be involved with the mech battle though - keep it simple

Exactly there are ways to do it as a layer of CW.

[Davegt27]

cool Idea

[CMDR Sunset Shimmer]

go play mechwarrior Living Legends if you want combined arms.

MWLL had mech combat well in hand, but I discovered quickly, that in a combined arms environment, Mechs suck.

There was almost no point in taking a mech over taking a tank or aerospace asset.

I'd rather not see aerotech in the game, unless it was as a support module or the like, but no playable aerotech.

[MonkeyCheese]

Id prob pay money for a space battle mode. We already have the mechlab so I would assume that part would be the same.

Edited by MonkeyCheese, 04 October 2014 - 04:47 PM.

[Duncan Jr Fischer]

It's one of the most ridiculous features of Battletech - every faction is obsessed with 'Mechs, while aerospace fighters are so much superior in everything that they make 'Mechs look obsolete and redundant.

[CocoaJin]

XX Sulla XX, on 04 October 2014 - 12:30 PM, said:

Proposition to expand Mechwarrior with AeroTech.



I have been thinking about how PGI could keep the revenue flowing besides just selling new mech packs and colors etc. And the clear choice (IF they can get the license.) seems to be Battlespace/AeroTech. Here is why I think this would be a good choice for PGI.

1. Because of how it would tie into mechwarrior it would be something different than games like Star Citizen. You would be able to go from epic space battles to atmospheric battles to land battles. Being different than these other games I believe is very important.

2. Since it ties diretly into Mechwarrior you would be able to add it a little at a time and it still be a viable game.

3. Build in older fan base just wanting to give you more money for this kind of thing.

4. Many more new options for items to sale from AeroSpace founders packs to Aerospace Fighter packs to Land-Air Mechs.

5. Keeps player interest well past CW.

6. Makes a way to flesh out unit/CW in the future into something really amazing.

7. You already have part of the work done.

(And yes I know many other people besides me have suggested this. I just wanted to do it in a more clear way.)




" COLD DEATH

HOT DEATH

As a pilot, you get plenty of danger and excitement. You also get a choice between cold death or hot death. You can die in the icy void of space or in the flames of reentry. If you're good, you might live to fight another day. The Succession Wars are fought over land. But the battles don't start on the ground, they END there. The first action is in space, usually about 160,000 kilometers from the target planet, as fighter pilots come screaming in at 1,000 kilometers per second in their DropShips.

The defending fighters are in the air, too, weaving in and out, watching for shots at the DropShips or the attacking fighters. As the battle moves closer to the planet, all craft will have to deal with gravity as well as their opponents. You've either got to fight against it or find a way to use it.

If the DropShip pilots live through the intial battle, they can drop their 'Mechs from high altitude atmosphere. For two long minutes, the Dropships are sitting ducks, giving you a chance to shoot the 'Mechs on the way down. All surviving fighters dive into the atmosphere to strafe and bomb the battlefield.

MechWarriors take all the glory for conquering planets, but they should never forget who put them there and saved their tails with a strafing run or a bomb dropped at just the right moment."

I have no problem with Aerotech, as long as it doesn't include circle-jerking over our small maps harassing players running mechs.

Without an expansive and seamless planetary map, the use of a strategic level unit such as an Aerotech in a pure tactical environment such as an arena style map would be woefully disruptive and unbalanced.

There should be no Aerotech overhead mechs unless Aerotech fields are placed in fixed, strategic locations that require transit flights to the mech engagement areas. This would allow for other aero units to interdict and intercept opposing aero flights, for Aero CAP flights, to allow for the use of ground based anti-aero units/platforms. There would need to be strategic targets for aero bombarding of strategic targets so player mechs aren't the only target for Aero units.