CK16, on 04 May 2018 - 04:19 AM, said:
And before people try to take a swipe with "you just want easy mode" I counter with they totally could make it work. Since there is no C-bills economy in the Clans military (meaning you can not just go buy mechs and supplies off a market...) I counter with that they would add an honor points system. The more you bid well, and win by following the rules of Zell (no focus firing ect) The more points you get and possibly more gifted supplies. Your upkeep would be determined by amount of these supplies used every month ect and if you run out well you know...This could add an interesting degree of challenge imo and could even be if you start running low on supplies because you fight dishonorably you would have to raid other Clans, i.e. jump to a planet held by another Clan and issue a trial of possession for their supplies...And they would match what ever you bid also so good luck thinking a possible easy win ect.
Your concept of honor points would be interesting. However, clan culture completely nullifies the open-ended gameplay that HBS Battletech is all about, so you'd be on an extremely fixed storyline. Yes, you make bids, but at the same time you're only going where you're told and making bids against enemy forces you're allowed to bid against. Those two points, alone, kill the open-ended prospects of the HBS gameplay loop.
Oh, and then people would have to settle for the fact that they lose at the end of their campaign, period, because of Battletech lore and canon. Even if the campaign didn't end with the player forcibly losing at Tukayyid, it would be a rather anti-climatic ending of, "We know you've been slaughtering all these IS freebirth scum in your path, bu your kin got their butts kicked on this backwater called Tukayyid, so your campaign is over, now." I know there are hardcore clanners out there, but it's worth mentioning that they were invented to be the bad guys, and pushed into the storyline to be a unifying villain for the Inner Sphere.
Swipe or not, such a campaign would be easy mode . . . because the Clans were bowling over unaware and/or inadequately equipped opponents all the way up until they started to push pretty deep into the Inner Sphere. Even then, the opposition was more like a delaying action for ComStar to launch their schemes for Tukayyid rather than actually stopping the Clans before then. ComStar realized the IS -as it was- would lose without some sneaky tactics and trickery; and all the battles up until then reflected it.
Now, all of that said, with the modding talent that's been going after the game since beta, it'd be interesting to see what kinds of modder-made clan campaigns could be created once said assets are released in an expansion.
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Me, personally? I'll just be happy to be a freebirth steel-balled Merc that faces down some clanners (because lets face it, all the Mercs in canon to face the Clanners -knowingly- had steel ball-bearings the size of Hunchback 4G's AC/20 rounds) and gets some sweet sweet salvage out of it.
On the other hand, Jordan fully admitted that the clans were the biggest mistake that they ever made for Battletech, particularly the tech. Therefore, if Jordan, Mitch, and Mike get to do a technological rewrite for HBS Battletech to fix all of the flaws of TT Clans I think it could be a wonderful change of pace and improvement for Battletech as a game, across the board. Hell, maybe if they fix things well enough we might see overarching changes bleed into MWO, MW5, and maybe Catalyst will finally get off their butts and make a new edition of the TT game. It wouldn't be hard to fix gameplay mechanics and stats without changing any canon builds or lore . . . it's been demonstrated numerous times.