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So, I don't often browse these forums and maybe it's already been suggested plenty or is in the works, but my experience in CW so far has made me think it's time to introduce (or reintroduce) consequence back into MechWarrior... well, in CW at least.
Currently there feels to be only one great method for attackers to win and that's to do the rush the objective, ignore the enemy in many cases, ignore all but the crucial targets and then just hit the point with as many waves as it takes. This is well and good and I don't wish to discourage the use of this method to win as I don't have any good alternatives to balance attacking and defense to make other strategies as effective without making zerging even easier to accomplish for the organized attackers.
With the use of this tactic or just any other method groups and teams have had to win invasions, it clearly leads to the result of the attackers conquering the planet and gaining territory. This is good. Factions gain ground and lose ground and now there's actually something to fight over. I'm sure we will see the more obvious effects of losing and gaining worlds be more fleshed out over time so this a good start.
For defenders, there really isn't any reason to be a defender outside of just looking for a good fight. In CW, this seems to be a bit of a campaign imbalance. Not only can attackers gain ground without having to fight defenders at all, but defenders basically have no more or less potential to more or less earnings than attackers. Defending a world does nothing but prevent the movement of a borderline. Conquering a world can serve the same purpose, with the obvious part being you're trading a worlds instead of fighting over the same one.
This to me means, I should be an attacker. I gain worlds attacking, not defending. I can't defend a world without attackers, but I can attack one without defenders. So why defend?
Okay, I know you're going to say because it's harder to attack without an organized group. CW is about Units and Mercs. This part of the game is all about getting organized. The first part of this post I mentioned the obvious effective method of attack that organized groups can use that is very hard to defend. This means if I play my part, be a part of a Unit, organize an offensive invasion, I should easily conquer territory.
Now, I asked myself why then does the obvious answer to how to approach CW is to attack? The answer is because I have nothing to lose attacking. If I have to use all 4 of my mechs to zerg a base to take it, then I have lost nothing and gained a victory on a planet. If I lost 0 mechs my outcome is the same. There is no reason to not zerg on offense.
If some consequence is put into CW (which I'm hoping is planned?) similar to how repair and rearm was supposed to be way back when, then there is both a reason to defend and attack. I'm not saying a system of repair and rearm has to come back and it definitely doesn't need to for public queues, but there should be consequence of Units expending absurd numbers of mechs to take a base. Winning by killing only 6 mechs and losing 12, or 24 or more should have some impact.
With some form of consequence for losing absurd numbers of mechs in, then there's a reason to sometimes wear down the enemy and protect yourself... even when attacking. Sometimes knowing you're not going to get the victory, but inflicting large losses on the opposing Unit might benefit you in the next 2 or 3 matches (if there was a nice mechanic to do this that I don't know how to do). This would give incentive to defend, because there's less chance you'll die since you have a whole base to help you and would likely benefit smaller Units, individual mercs. Attacking would still have all it's original benefit, plus more strategy. Take the loss but punish the defending Unit to weaken their fighting potential later, or expend your disposable assets for the quick and easy conquest which is how the current system basically works to me.
TL'DR Would consequences for losing mechs and zerging waves simply to destroy a couple generators and one orbital cannon change the current favored way to win as attackers to being the way to win only out of desperation or a strategy of using disposable assets?
Edited by Zapier, 14 December 2014 - 03:13 AM.
