I have been thinking a great deal about Community Warfare recently with the most recent town-hall and all of Paul's updates (Thank you to both Russ and Paul for the great communication on the Community Warfare function and progress). I understand Russ's comments about how, "In the end, Mercs are working for someone." However, I think there's another way that the non-affiliated factions could function in CW that makes them completely different from everyone else, while providing a unique experience for everyone.
Lone Wolves:
This is, of course, the default faction that everyone starts out as when they first make an account. You're a Lone Wolf, just out to make c-bills and start building your garage. If you're a new player, you may have no clue about who you'd want to support, or what gameplay style you even like the most. The Community Warfare aspect for Lone Wolves should cater to this, in at least some fashion. Although it's been stated it'll be strongly discouraged from brand new people from hopping into Community Warfare, inevitably there will be people who want to do just that. Here is a concept for how this could work:
Spoiler
-This is NOT a faction for anyone with an established mech garage who knows what they like and what they want to do in Community Warfare.
-Dropship load-outs will always be trail mechs, and will always have one of each weight class. Lone Wolves might not be forced to comply with tonnage restrictions (would depend on feasibility within the UI).
-The Lone Wolf would have two Dropship load-outs: One IS, and One Clan. This allows the Lone Wolf to drop in any conflict shown on the map.
-Instead of receiving Loyalty Points, any LP earnings would receive a multiplier, and be applied to the player's account in c-bill amounts.
Alternate Option to lessen complications: Simply don't allow Lone Wolves to access Community Warfare until they are ready to make a decision on faction, even if that faction is Merc or Daggerstar/Loyalist.
Mercenaries and Daggerstars/Clan Loyalists:
Currently, the stage is set where you really cannot be either of these in Community Warfare. You WILL have your tag changed to be something else while you are under contract to work for a house/clan. That really doesn't need to be the case. While we can still have it set that you're taking a contract to be a Merc or Loyalist for a given time (just in case you decide to take a different path for a while, down the line), this gives us an option to really be an actual Merc, working for the best paychecks available, or a Loyalist from another Clan who is waiting for their home Clan to get involved . . . or providing support to their fellow Clans however they can. So, when you choose to be a Merc/Loyalist:
Spoiler
-Your Dropship must still conform to the limitations of whatever side you're on (IS mechs for Mercs, and Clan mechs for Loyalists), as well as tonnage restrictions.
-On the plus side, you can jump into battles anywhere within your "side's" space. However, you're still limited to "your side", so a Merc is still purely IS and a Loyalist/Daggerstar is still purely Clan.
-However, if the Merc/Loyalist jumps around interior conflicts of their side too much then they won't find themselves gaining any real LP ground anywhere (because the penalties with Davion for killing a one of them will be far greater than the gains with Steiner and/or Kurita, for example). This encourages them to find a faction to support for some time, or actually commit to a House/Clan contract, if they wish to gain favor with a specific House/Clan at a faster pace.
-This also encourages Mercs/Loyalists to fight on the front line of the main conflict at hand, the Clan Invasion. Where, canonically, Mercs were hired in DROVES to help stave off/slow down the Clanner assaults wherever possible, and everyone was happy with them for doing it. This provides extra meat for the front lines while still allowing faction-specific players to support both the Invasion, and their own internal (Davion/Kurita, for example) struggles.
-This gives the Merc their optimal LP earnings by fighting for their "side" against the other in the IS/Clan conflict. Despite this, they still won't be earning loyalty with any specific group even remotely as fast as people who are actually signing on with specific faction contracts. This could maybe come from gaining 1 point of favor with every faction per Clanner/IS kill (depending on how the system works), while someone working for a specific house/clan would gain 10 points specifically for their contract affiliation (numbers are merely placeholders).
-Using the numbers as examples, someone who takes their time to sign on with each house/Clan in contracts could theoretically earn maximum loyalty with every faction twice as fast as a pure Merc/Loyalist (10 per kill/victory for the House Contract vs. 1 for each of the 5 Houses/4 Clans -or 5 points total, so to speak-). They can also afford to take more negative hits to their loyalty earnings whenever they switch contracts. However, the Merc/Loyalist has the flexibility to fight wherever they want on their "side" of the map.
-Also, if one faction is starting to get crushed and offering bigger c-bill mission pay? You might see an influx of Mercs/Loyalists coming to their aid without having to wait for contracts to expire. It might not be enough to turn any tides . . . but it could slow things down until other people might start to shift for better LP House/Clan contracts.
1
