29 replies to this topic

[Alexander Steel]

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Personally I have always favored the Outreach system whereby units which have not declared wholly and solely as Loyalist are presented with contract options depending on which factions need troops(you want to be a merc... be a merc) though I can see how others would feel this is unfair(owning Clan mechs for example).

Keep in mind in the lore Steiner and Davion... Later Steiner-Davion tended to hire the best mercs. At this point in time House Kurita had no mercs (("Death to Mercs!")) and wouldn't start hiring them again until 3052. House Liao had some Mercs but as a power was pretty poor and their most famous Merc unit was really a House Unit in all ways. ((The Big Mac)). Marik had mercs, but with all the civil wars and the fact that even the Wolf Dragoons had Civilians purged during a Marik civil war made many mercs abit hesitant to join up with them. The FRR had a distaste for mercs in general and while they would hire them, the treated them badly. Even famous units like the Kell Hounds weren't spared this dislike.

All that said it's not the game that is stopping Davion and Steiner from fighting, it's the fact that the PLAYERS in general don't want to fight each other. Mostly because of Lore, but partly because it makes sense from a war point of view.

Honestly, any system that forces players to fight for houses they didn't want is a failure from the start and shouldn't even be considered. Mercs in Battletech got to pick who they fought for and many units had house favorites and didn't side jump much.

Add on: Any argument about a Battletech Game that tries to ignore Lore is also doomed to failure. Otherwise you might as just have Stompy Rock'em Sock'em Robots the game. A pretty sizable amount of people are here BECAUSE of the lore. The idea that we could change things from 3050 on is the appeal.

"You can change things, but you can't actually win, and if you start to we'll change the rules so you can't win." Is a sucky tag line.

Edited by Alexander Steel, 28 December 2014 - 09:28 AM.

[Sam Slade]

Alexander Steel, on 28 December 2014 - 09:16 AM, said:

Honestly, any system that forces players to fight for houses they didn't want is a failure from the start and shouldn't even be considered.  Mercs in Battletech got to pick who they fought for and many units had house favorites and didn't side jump much.

Firstly none of the player created units are anything close to the great and glorious units of lore... not even a little teeny bit close.

What we have is essentially a 'high magic' version of the BT universe... everyone has a Star League cache in their yard and a memory core in their pocket. ... by the tech levels we have in this iteration of BT the Kell Hounds should be cruising around in a Star Destroyer looking for a park at Jamie Wolfs Death Star Hotel


So why war? You have abundant resources and demagogues ... wars are more likely to be Nationalistic or Idealistic then resource based. So, maybe we're creating a Chomsky-esque clash of Space Game of Thrones Culture Warriors... point is 'going back to lore' to justify banding large portions of the player base into super pacts is a crutch not a cause; the player base needs the diversity to fill the map with battles.

As to 'Don't make us fight for the 'baddie''... if mercs don't want to take the contracts offered by the Bonding Commission then they can declare for a faction and gain steady work.. they want to be a real merc they take the work as it comes... politicians aren't keen on massive military blocs that will not bend the knee(*cough* Arc Royal Defense Cordon*cough*)

[Dracol]

Sam Slade, on 28 December 2014 - 12:07 AM, said:

DISCLAIMER: Leave all lore arguments out of this vis a vis story line... game-play is more important.
-snip for size consideration-

The leaders of units throughout this game are really enjoying the new Diplomacy game that has been added due to CW. Some of them have been awaiting years to do what is being done. They a currently really enjoying this aspect of the game-play.

As for the options being removed, its going to happen in any CW type game mode like this. But the beauty of it all, alliances are not hard wired into the game. One wrong word or one rogue attack could spark a giant IS battle. Clan Wolf and Clan Ghost Bear have been going back and forth for the last few days on the brink of war.

For a lot of people, this grand stage of CW is more than just the planet battles.

[ztac]

Well I guess everything boils down to player base numbers at the end of the day. You need the player base to allow the matchmaker to only select houses that were friendly to attack or defend each other. Or plain old mercs!

But it always comes down to the player base.

[Alexander Steel]

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Firstly none of the player created units are anything close to the great and glorious units of lore... not even a little teeny bit close.

You don't have to be a great unit to pick your employer. Besides who's going to have money? Houses that are doing well. Mercs work for money and right now the FS would be pretty flush with cash considering all their new holdings.

[Dirty Starfish]

Wasn't stavion supposed to be an alliance in lore anyway?

[Alexander Steel]

Serial Peacemaker, on 28 December 2014 - 01:02 PM, said:

Wasn't stavion supposed to be an alliance in lore anyway?

Yeah, it was the Federated Commonwealth.

[Davers]

It's a little late for 'planetary bonuses'. At least any meaningful ones.

[C E Dwyer]

Vassago Rain, on 28 December 2014 - 01:26 AM, said:

MWO is a PVP game, not game of thrones in space.

And yes, the blue fists and yellow swords command the most players.

might have more players but the way steiner planets are falling its being very lore based lol, seems to be a diiferent set calling for defenders very couple of days now..

[HARDKOR]

Let us be pirates FFS. Steiner is cramping my anarchy.