5 replies to this topic

[Senor Cataclysmo]

A lot of people feel like it's immersion breaking to see teams in CW using mechs their faction doesn't favour, for example all Timber Wolf Clan teams & all Thunderbolt IS teams.

Each faction has specific mechs they favour in the lore and this is something many people would like to see reflected in the game, but how to encourage it?

I see three potential ways of deal with this. I use Jade Falcon faction mechs as an example in each of these suggestions

1. a C bill/XP bonus for using the correct mechs.

Spoiler

For example, if you were a Jade Falcon you would receive extra money for dropping in Summoners, Hellbringers and Kit Foxes.

The potential problem: this might see people changing faction just to get the bonus for using the top tier mechs, for example Clan Wolf suddenly having a huge influx of players because everyone wants to use Timber Wolves.

2. Quirks unlocked for using the correct mechs

Spoiler

For example if you are a Jade Falcon dropping in a Summoner, for the duration of the drop your mech has a set of quirks applied. This represents the skill of a pilot in a chassis they have been using for most of their life and are thus experienced in.

The potential problem: These quirks would have to be carefully balanced so they made it advantageous for a player in a given faction to use a given mech, without making that mech ridiculous, perhaps adding a further 10% on top of elited pilot skills for faction appropriate chassis. Of course, this could be mitigated somewhat by knowing which faction likes which mech, a knowledgeable IS team would know that in defending against Jade Falcons they would likely be seeing a lot of summoners and could thus prepare for what they were up against accordingly.

Of course, some people will argue that some mechs are so bad that no amount of quirkening will save them, which leads me to:

3. Omnipods unlocked for using the correct mechs.

Spoiler

If you are a Jade Falcon you have access to more extensive omnipod choices for Summoners, Hellbringers and Kit Foxes than other factions. Any faction can use Summoners, but only Jade Falcons can buy (for example) the side torso omnipod that gives them extra hardpoints, representing their extra knowledge and research on the chassis. It might even be an idea to unlock armour & structure for faction specific mechs instead of omnipods.

The potential problem: What happens to your fancy omnipods when you switch faction? perhaps a rental system, where you lease the omnipods while you have a Jade Falcon contract, and when your contract is up, they disappear from your inventory. Also, could require some non timeline pods.

I think the best way to encourage use of the correct mechs across all factions would be a combination of all of these ideas, balanced on a tier basis. That is to say (for example) all mechs would receive a C Bill bonus when used by the appropriate faction, but (say) the Timber Wolf would receive a much smaller bonus than the Mist Lynx.

I use Clan based examples here, because I'm more familiar with clan lore, but Im sure these could be adapted for use by IS factions (mech variants being unlocked instead of omnipods perhaps?)

It could even be tied into the loyalty system, for example, reaching a certain loyalty unlocks each of these bonuses successively so the more players rise in rank, the more they are incentivised to use that faction's mechs.

Any thoughts, improvements or input?

Edited by Senor Cataclysmo, 09 January 2015 - 05:18 AM.

[Banditman]

I like the idea, and I think it should go beyond clans. I'm not sure I love any of the suggestions. I don't like the idea of giving any sort of battlefield advantage.

To me, one of the obvious suggestions is increased LP for using faction preferred mechs. Perhaps even increased XP and / or CBills. Eventually, decreased drop costs if using a faction preferred mech.

[Senor Cataclysmo]

Oh it should definitely go beyond clans, I think every faction should be incentivised this way, I was just using clans as an example as Im most familiar with them lore wise.

[Kalimaster]

I say all of these ideas are good, but only if each faction in both IS and the Clans have some advantage.

[Firewuff]

Cbills and loyalty points. Not mech quirks or bonuses. Either that or just plain lock the mechs but offer more trial ones.

[Nightshade24]

OP I think you should also talk about things like repair (and rearm)

We all know (or should know...) that will be back in game for CW.

So lets say clan jade falcon example...Hellbringer will be easier to repair under clan jade falcon (and ghost bear... other viable/ applicable faction...) then any other clan use (or Inner sphere if captured planets / factories become a thing or salvage)


Also I like the idea about quirks, I just think that we need to wait till the normal quirks are fixed up... clan quirks atm are quoted to be finished and we all know that's quite a funny statement. (Warhawk = 6 seconds till over heat, Thunderbolt 9S (20 tons lighter) = 20 seconds till over heat...) but yea... fix current quirks and then add newer ones or improvement to CW...

Maybe make it something not normal for quirks? ie higher jumpjets, more armour to more areas? slightly less easy to be critted? maybe able to cool down on colder maps faster (ghost bear), etc.


Problem about point 3 is that some configs are more popular by other factions... I do not know anything off by heart for fave omni's besides for eg Clan Goliath Scorpions are like exclusively making the ER PPC heavy builds for the Warhawk and other precision builds while not using the missile builds to much.

But some variants are like the Kodiak... where the kodiak is popular by ghost bear but Snow Raven have there own exclusive kodiak variant which ghost bears don't. Wouldn't make sense if ghost bear was able to use the 3 while the snow ravens didn't? (I know this mech will not be in game nor snow raven heavy influence yet... but that's just another eg)

Or how the Clans have pretty much all the king crab 000B's and IS don't have much.

catapult K2 is also a kurita design while the others are not.


I can't say much about omni's but using mech variants as an example of what I am trying to say... I think exclusive omnipods may be a bit hard to do in this game... especially how in TT you could basicly make what ever mech you want with the pods...

Say you have a timberwolf prime but this guy is using it has a 6 SSRM 2 2 LRM 20 build... Omnihardpoints didn't really restrict hardpoints... in game this would make it very hard to balance a mech but the point is a booklet may say "this clan never used this config of the hellbringer" but in truth they use nearly the exact same thing on another config...