12 replies to this topic

[Gauvan]

[Important Note: Unfortunately, keeping this article up to date with the constant changes to CW exceeds the amount of time I have to spend on it. As such the information below is out of date and CW will continue to diverge from what is written below. Some of the introductory material is pretty broad and should be of continuing use, and if nothing else this provides a look at CW as it existed in Jan '15]

Community Warfare (CW) is a new and sophisticated game mode added to MWO in December of 2014. It operates parallel to the existing solo and group queue game modes. This article explains the core concepts and mechanics of CW, but does not cover things like UI (e.g., which buttons to click on) as I expect these details to be subject to rapid change.

Community Warfare attempts to represent large scale strategic conflict between two ‘teams,’ or forces (the Clans and the Inner Sphere (IS)) each of which is composed of mutually hostile sub-factions.

On the Clan side, these groups are Clan Ghost Bear, Clan Jade Falcon, Clan Smoke Jaguar, and Clan Wolf. On the IS side these groups are known by both the name of the nation and by the ruling family of those nations. They are the Capellan Confederation (House Liao), Draconis Combine (House Kurita), Federated Suns (House Davion), Free Rasalhague Republic (no ruling house), Free Worlds League (House Marik), and the Lyran Commonwealth (House Steiner).

If you are new to the BattleTech™ universe, you may wish to read a brief historical overview in my Understanding MWO Lore article to better understand the background of these groups.

Getting Started

In CW you must ally yourself with one of the ten political groups. As a player you represent a warrior for hire that is contracted to fight on behalf of one of these groups to defend its territory and attack and capture territory controlled by its foes. You ally with a group by accepting a contract with the group of your choosing. Contracts are available for various lengths of time (including permanent--be careful), with greater rewards given to longer contracts.

Before choosing a contract, you must first decide whether you will fight for the Inner Sphere or the Clans. This decision is important as you may only use mechs belonging one side while you play CW. While the distinction between Clan and IS mechs is not highlighted in the current UI, all current Clan mechs are omnimechs that use the swappable omnipod mechanic. If a mech is not an omnimech, then it is an Inner Sphere mech.

Once you choose a contract, you will be limited to using that group’s technology base (Clan/IS) while participating in CW for the duration of your contract. This decision has no effect on gameplay outside CW--you can mix and match Clan and IS mechs in solo and group queue.

You can break a contract but doing so comes with a penalty, discussed in the rewards section below.

The Dropship

Community Warfare introduces a new match mechanic which allows the player to bring multiple mechs into a match, allowing the player a limited number of respawns. This represents the player’s access to a Dropship: a space-to-ground landing craft for delivering mechs to the battlefield.

The selection of what mechs are assigned to your Dropship must be made before entering a CW match. Currently, a player’s Dropship selections (called a ‘drop deck’ by some, referring to a customized deck of cards as used in some tabletop games) must obey the following rules:

• The mechs must be of the same type as the affiliation of the current contract (all IS or all Clan).
  
• You must include four mechs.
  
• The total weight of the mechs must be at least 160 tons but no more than 240 tons. (This tonnage refers to the stock weight of the mech, e.g., a HBK-4G with the AC/20 removed is still considered a 50 ton mech.)

One mech must be selected as the starting mech the player will begin the match piloting. This can be changed in the pre-game lobby.



During a CW match, when the player’s current mech is destroyed they will have the option to select one of their remaining mechs in which to return to the fight. Every thirty seconds there is an opportunity to re-enter the match. Players who are destroyed may use the remainder of this thirty second window to select their next mech--at the end of this window a Dropship will enter the match and deposit the new mech at the lance’s start location. If a player does not not select a mech during the current 30 second window, they will have to wait for the next window to re-enter the match. Players who fail to make a selection a second time will be dropped in a mech selected by the game.

Once all four of a player’s mechs are destroyed they are out of the match.

The Strategic Map and Choosing a Match Queue

Community Warfare operates on two levels. There is the match level, where one team of mechs attempts to defeat the other team, and a strategic level where the factions vie for territory at the expense of the other factions.

In MWO, factions can be thought of as NPC (non-player character) groups as are found in some other online games. Put simply, players do not choose when and where a faction will attack or defend--the game makes that selection. Player participation becomes relevant after the game selects a contested system--players can then fight matches on that contested system to determine if the system is captured by the attacker or successfully defended.

While on a large scale the conflict is an invasion of the Inner Sphere by the Clans, in the BattleTech lore the IS and Clans often fight among themselves as much as each other. Thus players can attack and defend against players from both sides of the larger conflict.

From the perspective of each player, there are three types of contested systems: systems you can attack, systems you can defend, and systems where you cannot fight. The faction a player is currently contracted with determines which of the contested systems fall into which category for that player, based on the following rules:

• All attacking forces must be from players contracted with the attacking faction.
  
• If a system has been selected for attack by a faction other than the player’s currently contracted faction, that player cannot participate in the attack.
  
• Any IS system attacked by a Clan force can be defended by a mixed group of players contracted to any IS faction. The reverse is also true--a Clan system attacked by an IS force may be defended by any Clan-contracted player.
  
• If the system is contested between two Clan factions, only Clan contracted players for the attacking and defending side can participate. The same is true of IS vs. IS conflicts.

Some examples:

• System X in the Draconis Combine has been selected for attack by Clan Ghost Bear. Only Ghost Bear contracted players may join in the attack. Other Clan players cannot participate on either side. Inner Sphere players from any IS faction may join the defense.
  
• System Y In the Draconis Combine has been selected for attack by the FRR. Only FRR players may join in the attack. Only Draconis Combine players can join the defense.
  
• A player is contracted with the Capellan Confederation. System Z is contested between Clans Jade Falcon and Wolf. The Capellan player can see that the system is contested, but cannot participate on either side.

Choosing a Match and Capturing a System





As mentioned above, the game decides which systems will be contested, and thus which systems players can fight over. Information on which systems are contested, and by whom, is available to players on the strategic map.

Spoiler

To capture a system, attacking teams must hold more than 50% of the "zones" on a planet when the (currently daily) cease-fire period occurs. The current number of victories scored by attacking forces appears on the strategic map and on the drop preparation screen.

Above is a picture of the conquest status information for a system as shown on the match preparation screen. The red zones are held by the attackers and the blue by the defenders. When you queue for a match, you will see an icon indicating the zone that will be fought over in the upcoming match, either a red sword for the attacker or a blue shield for the defender. (Neat trick: Currently the order of the zones on the indicator above represent specific invasion maps. If the icon appears in an odd space, counting from the ends, you will drop on Boreal. If even you will drop on Sulfurous.)

Players may choose to queue for a match in any contested system for which they are eligible (see the restrictions for Invasion and Border Conflicts, above). They are then put in a queue and wait for enough other players to join to form a valid 12 vs. 12 match.

NB: CW does not use the same Elo-based matchmaking algorithm as the solo and group queues. Player and group Elo rank is ignored for CW and teams are matched based on a first-filled, first matched basis.

How CW Matches Work

There is currently a single game mode for CW, called Invasion. The ultimate goal for the attacker in this game mode is to destroy a structure defended by the opposing team (currently generator powering a ground-to-space cannon). To accomplish this, attackers must break through one or more gates defended by turrets (and the opposing players), destroy three mini-generators to open access to the cannon generator, and finally destroy the main generator on the cannon.

Spoiler

There are currently two maps available for CW; neither is currently available in the testing grounds. I've provided a small preview of the two maps so you can get an idea of how the Invasion maps are laid out. All the gates and objectives are clearly marked on the in-game battlegrid and I'd suggest giving that a quick study on your first CW drop.



Boreal Vault is a cold map. There are two gates around the midpoint of the map. The green dot in the lower left is the approximate location of the cannon and the white X's indicate the smaller O-Gen locations. Your team needs to destroy all three O-Gens to open access to the main, Omega, generator on the cannon (before the O-Gens are destroyed the main generator is invulnerable).



Sulfurous Rift is a hot map. There are three gates close to the defenders' LZ. As above, the green dot is the cannon location and the X's are the three O-Gens.

Gates are powered by generators that must be destroyed to open the gate. It is possible for JJ equipped mechs to jump over the gates, but other mechs must open the gate to proceed. Once open, a gate cannot be closed. Only the attacking team may damage the generators.

Spoiler

This screen shot is taken on Boreal looking at the Beta gate from the defender's side. On the left you see the gate, currently closed. On the top right you can see the generator powering the gate--when this generator is destroyed by the attackers the gate will open. (Please ignore the match status information at the top of the screen--this is an old screenshot.)



This image illustrates two things. First, notice the match status indicator on the top of the screen. For Invasion, the information given is (top to bottom, left to right):

• Number of mechs destroyed by your team
  
• Match time remaining
  
• Mechs destroyed by opposing team
  
• The status of "O-Gen's" one, two, and three.
  
• The status of each gate. If the gates are closed, this will say "Power Grid Alpha/Beta/Gamma" and show the current damage to the gate's generator. If the gate is open the text changes to "Gate Alpha/Beta/Gamma Open".

The second thing to notice in the last screenshot is the small generator in the center of the image. This is one of the three "O-Gen's" that must be destroyed to open access to the main generator on the cannon, called Omega. Until the three O-Gen's are taken out, the Omega generator is invulnerable.

Attackers and defenders have designated landing zones (LZs) where Dropships fly in reinforcements (see the Dropship section above). Dropships are armed and very dangerous and thus players should be extremely cautious about approaching a hostile LZ (i.e, spawn camping is discouraged).

The goal of the defenders is to prevent the attackers from reaching and destroying the Omega generator before the match timer ends (currently 30 minutes).

Spoiler

This is a view of the back of the ground-to-space cannon that the defenders are protecting. Shooting the cannon itself has no effect, you must shoot the Omega generator seen here at the center of the picture. Also, before the three O-Gen's are destroyed the Omega generator is covered by a door and is invulnerable.

Groups and Units

So far I presented information from the perspective of an individual solo player. However, CW is designed around the social aspects of MWO: groups and units.

Briefly, a group is a temporary premade team of up to 12 players. A unit is the MWO equivalent of a guild in an MMO.

In CW, Groups and factions are tied to each other in a way unlike the group queue--in CW all members of a group must be in the same faction. This is unlike the group queue where groups can be made of members of different factions. The groups in CW are called Unit Groups (vs. Public Groups for the group queue). While the majority of Unit Groups will be composed of players from a single unit, it is possible for the group leader to invite non-unit, but same-faction, players from their friends list to join a Unit Group. [ref]

The leader of the unit makes the decisions about contracts for the unit--all members of the unit operate under the restrictions and benefits of the contract the leader chooses.

The leader of a group selects the contested system match queue for their group. If the group has less than the required 12 members then the group will be matched with other eligible groups and solo players to form the required 12 member team.

Rewards (and Costs)

Participating in CW matches provides rewards in the form of C-Bills, XP, and Loyalty Points (a new reward type specific to CW).

[More information to come...]

It is possible to break your current contract, subject to penalties and restrictions. When a contract is broken, the player (or unit) is assessed a C-Bill penalty equal to the number of days left on the contract, minus 48 hours, times 50,000 C-Bills. The broken contract does not immediately expire--there is a 48 hour waiting period where the contract is still in effect. After this period a new contract may be selected.

Miscellaneous Notes and Observations

It's not my intention to make these articles how-tos or tutorials, but because CW is so complicated and undocumented I'm going to add some answers to things that stumped me at first.

• Q: How do you change your drop deck?
  
  A: Select any contested system from the strategic map and above your current Dropship selection there is a button to edit the drop deck.

---

This is one of a series of articles on concepts in MWO. If you found this article helpful, you may wish to read the other articles listed in this post.

Edited by Gauvan, 21 July 2015 - 10:51 AM.

[Dorion]

Thank you so much for this guide! Have not followed CW posts at all so this was really a good primer for me on the subject! Appreciate your hard work!

Edited by Dorion, 13 December 2014 - 05:23 AM.

[Gauvan]

Update: I've added some screen captures to help illustrate some of the concepts described in the article.

Dorion, on 13 December 2014 - 05:22 AM, said:

Thank you so much for this guide!

Thank you. I'm glad you found it helpful.

Edited by Gauvan, 13 December 2014 - 07:51 AM.

[Average Pilot]

I really appreciate the overview. In practical terms though, as I've moved through the client screens, am I correct in thinking that there has to be players available for both attack and defense, or you can't play the game? In other words, there is no analagous "public game" in this mode, correct? My concern is how does an individual player operate in this in terms of successfully getting into a match? Does one have to just wait forever until 23 other people show up? My apologies if I'm oversimplifying or misunderstanding something.

[Gauvan]

Average Pilot, on 13 December 2014 - 08:40 AM, said:

My concern is how does an individual player operate in this in terms of successfully getting into a match?

Solo players and groups less than 12 are matched with each other to create a full team. Right now there is a bug where the list of folks waiting to join a match is blank until it is full--basically it looks like you are alone until you are ready to start the match. It makes it hard to determine if the queue is busy enough to launch a game or not.

I don't know if there are sure-fire ways to find matches. What has worked for me is sticking to IS vs. Clan matches where the planet is partially captured (on the assumption that people are currently fighting over it). I would also not wait longer than five minutes or so before trying another planet. Generally, once you find a planet where you get into a match you know players are available there and I feel comfortable waiting longer for a match to start.

This is a hypothesis on my part but I believe a full attack group can drop against an empty defender team if no one shows up to defend. I don't know if the opposite is possible. Generally the game will try to match 12 vs. 12.

I think playing CW, especially as a defender, is very solo friendly.

Edited by Gauvan, 13 December 2014 - 12:33 PM.

[Alaskan Nobody]

Gauvan, on 13 December 2014 - 12:29 PM, said:

I think playing CW, especially as a defender, is very solo friendly.

A few thoughts to add...

People have been coordinating drops on TS (Attacker against defenders even)

Your hypothesis seems pretty spot on to me (as I cannot think of another reason why we would get those "empty" drops)
Though there have been reports of similar things happening on defense
Perhaps attackers starting the attack (putting out the call to defend) and then quitting right before the que fills with defenders?
(Giving you 12 defenders with no attackers)
The timing on that would be atrocious though -as the system tries for 2 full groups before launching to my knowledge - so I kinda doubt it would be the reason.


But yeah - unless you are facing a Zerg Rush - defending is much easier than attacking (would be hard to make it harder!)

[Gauvan]

Updated the "The Strategic Map and Choosing a Match Queue" section to more correctly describe the system in place. (the Command Chair post on the topic seems to be out of date).

Shar Wolf, on 13 December 2014 - 08:45 PM, said:

Perhaps attackers starting the attack (putting out the call to defend) and then quitting right before the que fills with defenders?
(Giving you 12 defenders with no attackers)
The timing on that would be atrocious though -as the system tries for 2 full groups before launching to my knowledge - so I kinda doubt it would be the reason.

Based on Russ' post I think partially filled groups aren't getting passed from the pre-queue to the real queue. I suspect that you could have a 12 vs. 11 situation in the pre-queue for a planet and the 12 man gets passed on to an empty match after the cutoff period (5 min I think) and the 11 man just sits in the pre-queue until two things happen: they get a twelveth player and a full 12 man opposing team is put together on the opposing side. It explains the potential for very long wait times.

It's a little scary, but with the rush solo players in CW this opening weekend the queue system has the best opportunity to make fast matches, as solos are easy to fill teams with (and everyone is still waiting too long). It's going to be a real nightmare once the initial rush dies down unless they significantly rethink the system.

[GMRZ Mister E]

Thank you for posting this.

[Gauvan]

Finally got around to updating this information to reflect the December 18 patch to CW. Apologies all around, but feel free to blame the Steam winter sale.

[Sarlic]

Fancy guide. Looks good.

[Fudowara Hakeido]

What about the cost of breaking a permanent contract?

[Celthon]

Don't know enough about the game in general, or CW specifically, to make any comments about content here as I just began playing the MechWarrior game yesterday but want to say thank you very much for the work/effort made in creating this guide...I found it very informative.

[Gauvan]

Sarlic, on 18 January 2015 - 12:46 AM, said:

Fancy guide. Looks good.

Thank you.

Fudowara Hakeido, on 22 January 2015 - 03:43 AM, said:

What about the cost of breaking a permanent contract?

I have not found a definitive answer (e.g., a PGI post), but based on posts by trusted forum folks I believe cancelling a permanent contract has the same penalty as the maximum penalty for a one-month contract. That is, 30 days * 50,000 C-Bills = 1.5M C-Bills.

Bsrlin, on 24 January 2015 - 01:20 PM, said:

Don't know enough about the game in general, or CW specifically, to make any comments about content here as I just began playing the MechWarrior game yesterday but want to say thank you very much for the work/effort made in creating this guide...I found it very informative.

Thank you for reading!

Edited by Gauvan, 28 January 2015 - 06:49 AM.