26 replies to this topic

[lllWAVElll]

Okay guys, all of us are really looking forward to when the Clans finally arrive on the scene (I know I am). And when they do I think it should cause a big impact on the game and stir up a lot of Buzz in the MechWarrior Online Community.

Here is an idea of how it could happen:

For 1-8 weeks there could be an event “Operation Revival", which will come almost out of the blue for everyone, no advertisement or warning from the Devs, apart from some hints in some of the news feeds that something strange is going on in the Northern Periphery leading up to this event.

So what happens is that during this Event 20% of all Standard Public Matches will become Inner Sphere vs Clan fights. But no one will know if it is one until the match actually starts (Spawn timer has ticked down to zero).

Example: Standard Match 12 vs 12, Draconis Combine vs The Free Rasalhague Republic. The players are waiting for the Timer to tick down and they are making their plans on how they should proceed in the match and Trolling each other in the Chat.

But as soon as the match starts an Incoming Message on all frequencies begins:

“Attention Freebirths. I am Star Colonel Nicolai Malthus of the Jade Falcon Clan. Two Full Binaries stand ready to conquer your planet. What forces dare appose us?........ You dare to ignore my Batchall? Prepare to feel the wrath of the Falcons Claws.”

While this message is being received, the players will also see two dropships land on the other two sides of the map (East & West), and they will then be informed by the sexy computer voice that these dropships have unloaded 10 mechs each. This will cause a huge amount of surprise, horror & excitement.

There will be much player spam in the chat when this happens:

W T F!?!?!?

OMFG!!! O.O

Hoooooollllly Sh*t YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!

Clans are here Finally! Woot!

Who are clans? What’s going on?

^ Noooooob!


As soon as this happens the original opposing teams become friendly, turning the match into an EPIC 24 vs 20, IS vs CLAN Royal Rumble. Veterans/Team Leaders from both teams will have to quickly communicate with each other and their now combined teams that are on opposite sides of the map, on how best to confront this grave new threat.

These Clan Mechs will be AI (and Dev) controlled. This AI doesn’t need to be that great and this will simulate the Clan Warriors arrogance in the knowledge that they and their Mechs are superior in all ways compared to the IS barbarians, this means that there is not much need for tactics from their point of view. Although I feel that the AI should have some decent accuracy. 5 Mechs (a Star) from each of the East and West sides will go North and 5 Mechs from each side South to engage and destroy the IS players.

Defeating these Clans Mechs should be an extremely difficult task for those teams that don’t co-operate with each other. Which should lead to most of these engagements into becoming crushing defeats for the IS players.

But if the IS players are able to win the match, they should then be rewarded with some nice Clan Tech as Salvage, Loyalty Points and a large amount of C-Bills. Maybe something like the top three players will get the following Salvage rewards, for example:

1^st Clan Large Laser

2^nd Clan Medium Laser

3^rd Clan Small Laser

Once the Operation Revival event is over, Clans will become an optional choice for players to join if they wish to do so.

And the Devs can then use this basic AI they created for this Event for Practice PVE "Instant Action" Matches in the Main Menu.

Well that my 2 C-Bills. Feel free to Quiaff, Quineg or Batchall any of the above suggestion.


BTW: This is the amount of team work that should be required to take down the Clan Mechs.



EDIT: After giving it some more thought, I think I like the idea of 2 Binaries of Clan Mechs, which is 4 Stars which equals 20 Mechs, versus the 2 IS Companies, which is 6 Lances which equals 24 Mechs. Hopefully the Devs can give the Clan Mechs some decent AI that can perform acceptably against the players, and by acceptably I mean absolutely crush them at least 80% of the time.

I have now edited the above suggestion replacing the 2 Trinaries with 2 Binaries of Clan Mechs.

Edited by lllWAVElll, 28 June 2012 - 05:46 PM.

[ScientificMethod]

Clan mechs shouldn't unload in multiples of four. They use stars, not lances.

But yes, I am 100% for this with some modifications.

Edited by ScientificMethod, 27 June 2012 - 06:15 PM.

[Cidrich Syslet]

Aff, I like this idea, ScientificMethod is right though, the Clans base unit is a Star which has 5 mechs.

[Okami Ryu]

love the idea but i would let the top player select salvage from a small pool rather than automatically assigning them

otherwise aff all the way!

[WardenWolf]

Really like this, but as others have said it should be one trinary (15 mechs) or maybe two binaries (2 x 10 = 20 mechs). Or maybe, just maybe, a single binary... but drop them in 2 minutes into the battle, to throw folks off even more.

[WardenWolf]

Also, I would have them be player controlled. Have the devs secretly contact some of the best players in the game, offer them an NDA, and have about 500-1000 really good players standing by to start dropping in as clanners like this.

Then, as the event progresses, have folks who lose to clanners be given the option - if the clan players feel they fought well - to be taken as bondsman. Not sure on the logistics of all that, but could be a neat way to grow the clans somewhat before opening them for any player.,, or heck, maybe keep that the only way to let clanners in?

[lllWAVElll]

Cidrich Syslet, on 27 June 2012 - 06:19 PM, said:

Aff, I like this idea, ScientificMethod is right though, the Clans base unit is a Star which has 5 mechs.

Yeah.... I know,

I just wanted to have nice even numbers, but the Devs could make it 20 (4 stars) Clan Mechs vs 24 IS mechs. And maybe just throw in 4 extra Elementals in there to even things up.

[Slapshot]

That is a pretty cool idea, not sure if it will be used but it definitely has my vote.

[lllWAVElll]

WardenWolf, on 27 June 2012 - 06:24 PM, said:

Also, I would have them be player controlled. Have the devs secretly contact some of the best players in the game, offer them an NDA, and have about 500-1000 really good players standing by to start dropping in as clanners like this.

Then, as the event progresses, have folks who lose to clanners be given the option - if the clan players feel they fought well - to be taken as bondsman. Not sure on the logistics of all that, but could be a neat way to grow the clans somewhat before opening them for any player.,, or heck, maybe keep that the only way to let clanners in?

I really like these two options of yours.

Maybe those that purchased the Legendary Founder package could have the first honor of trying out the Clan Mechs, hint hint.

Edited by lllWAVElll, 27 June 2012 - 06:30 PM.

[Argon3]

I would guess that they are not set up for 24vs 24 but it could drop int a 12vs 10 clan for each side

[ScientificMethod]

The main thing I would want if this happened is for the clan mechs to follow clan tactics (while still being over powered as heck). It would really hit home how different the two groups are. (They could even reward gameplay differently for clan members). You would lose points for attacking multiple opponents at once, gain extra points for killing mechs larger than you and other things like that.

Edited by ScientificMethod, 27 June 2012 - 06:37 PM.

[RedHellion]

Dunno about the Elementals, given that they're focusing on 'mech combat I don't think there will be any support for battle armour. Sounds like it would be a really cool thing to do though.

Would be more typical of the initial clan invasion to drop in on the fighting after about 2 minutes with their batchall as WardenWolf suggested, maybe with a binary or trinary though so that the IS players don't feel absolutely overwhelmed (plus it would possibly save some room on the server if the two IS sides had already lost some 'mechs).

I also like ScientificMethod's ideas about the different reward system for Clan players - he has a point, it's a completely different honour system in combat.

Edited by RedHellion, 27 June 2012 - 06:41 PM.

[Tex Mechs Robot]

if nothing else i enjoyed the story. is there a sequel planned? does nicolai malthus limp away only to come back with newer, tougher mechs for the ultimate revenge? does the hurried, but necessary battlefield alliance stay strong or does it melt down into a civil war once the external threat is expunged? I MUST KNOW THE END!!!!

[lllWAVElll]

jdillon11235, on 27 June 2012 - 06:46 PM, said:

if nothing else i enjoyed the story. is there a sequel planned? does nicolai malthus limp away only to come back with newer, tougher mechs for the ultimate revenge? does the hurried, but necessary battlefield alliance stay strong or does it melt down into a civil war once the external threat is expunged? I MUST KNOW THE END!!!!

Here you go:

Malthuuuus!!!!!!

Edited by lllWAVElll, 27 June 2012 - 07:02 PM.

[Forren]

Two Trinaries in IS terms is 30 'Mechs, as a Trinary is 15 'Mechs. Not sure how you could go about it if you refuse a Batchall, accepting would mean they would limit their tonnage to match yours at least or at most be far under your own. If they did this, each individual Inner Sphere player would be challenged individually, though by this point maybe the Clans will have stopped wasting their honor on the Inner Sphere stravags.

[Krubarax]

Only if the scenario is un-beatable. literally
IS should not be able to secure a victory with equal numbers,
Not by a long shot.

[Jaroth Corbett]

The best way to introduce the Clans would be a trailer. I would suggest a border world where two sides have forces about to square off, or taunting each other trying to get the other side to shoot first.

At this point both sides get messages on their comms from their respective HQs about incoming DropShips. Both sides think this is no longer a regular taunting session & think the other sides House is ready to make a serious move over the border by bringing reinforcements.

Cue a broadcasted message on open frequency with a standard batchall. Both sides ask each other something like "Who did you bring to this party?" When both sides confess they never asked for reinforcements or got word any was on the way, they both realize something is not right. Both sides (by way of a verbal exchange) relay to their HQs these are not House (tweedledee) or House (tweedledum) forces, they are in fact unknown hostiles. Cue the typical insult of a IS spheroid in reply to said batchall.

Cue Clan forces wiping the field with the IS pilots.

Show survivors on each side making it back to their respective DropShips for exfil & bugging out.

Last scene should be an up close shot of a veteran & a rookie. Rookie ask veteran something like, "Who the hell were those guys Major/Sergeant/Lieutenant (whatever rank would work)?"

"I don't know, son, but I damn sure want to find out."

Zoom out to show the DropShip heading upward to the JumpShip. Zoom out more to see the planet with images of more DropShips descending.

I am no director but you get the idea.

Edited by Jaroth Winson, 28 June 2012 - 06:12 AM.

[Midian]

Great Idea, like the idea of the clanners dropping in after the initial fight has started. That would be Epic, make it even harder for the IS. The IS should be really out gunned for the initial clan matches I think, just as it would really happen.

[lllWAVElll]

After giving it some more thought, I think I like the idea of 2 Binaries of Clan Mechs, which is 4 Stars which equals 20 Mechs, versus the 2 IS Companies, which is 6 Lances which equals 24 Mechs. Hopefully the Devs can give the Clan Mechs some decent AI that can perform acceptably against the players, and by acceptably I mean absolutely crush them at least 80% of the time.

Edited by lllWAVElll, 28 June 2012 - 05:45 PM.

[William McNab]

The AI for the clans would be interesting. Each clan mech can only target one IS mech until attacked by more than one opponent ... They wouldn't be free for all fighters. This would make programming the AI easier. Weapon skills are better, speed is better, weapons do more damage, but they fight ... like Clanners!

Oh, and I wouldn't want to be the first IS guy to back shoot a Clanner. They wouldn't like that.