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Not every planet is the same
Tukayyid has shown that it is technically possible to have a different number of slots on a Planet. Setting a different number of slots may be used to indicate plant size / military or economic importance, etc. Planets with fewer slots would be easier to conquer whereas planets with a higher number are harder to conquer.
More factions
A large number if factions is still missing in the game, e.g. periphery powers, St. Ives, certain more invading clans, etc. Adding them could add some more flavour into the game.
More “game modes”
CW currently only has the invasion game mode. However it may be interesting to have more than one mode. E.G. a planet might have to be attacked in small scale recon attacks (e.g. the current “Conquest” mode) before a full scale “invasion” may be started. Or having made some surgical strikes before the Invasion starts may reward certain benefits, e.g. some more minutes of time in invasion game mode or vice versa if the defder has successfully thwarted recon attacks the time frame for invasion shrinks.
Company coffer
The company coffer is still useless. Some spending ideas are listed below.
House versus Merc units
There is still no differentiation between House and Merc or Clan Units.
Jump ships, Drop ships, Aerospace Fighters, Economics, Repair & Rearm
CW largely misses certain strategic elements. Some thoughts on these elements are summarized below.
Jump ships
Jump ships are needed for interstellar transport. A flexible jump ship fleet is an asset that allows for strategic interstellar mobility. I see several levels of jump ship availability: 1. made available (by house transport command), 2. rented (from jump ship operators / merchants); 3. owned. The different levels may see improving benefits, i.e. faster interstellar transport (more attacks, long distance strikes, ability to bring in reinforcements) with the ultimate tool being a very fast “pony express” jump ship system or the use of pirate points (surprise, strategic reserve of “hidden troops” (behind the far side of a moon) in a planetary attack).
Drop ships
Drop ships offer strategic mobility on a planetary scale. Drop ships can give the benefit of determining the battle zone (choice of map) depending on the mission type. They allow for a strategic surprise in connection with a jump ship using a pirate point. And they allow bringing reinforcements to the troops on the ground.
Aerospace fighters
Aerospace fighters might be able to establish space superiority together with drop ships. If space superiority is achieved a regular drop may be a potential benefit. In a regular drop a landing zone is secured and drop ships can actually land that carry certain auxiliary troops (tanks, infantry, support units, etc.). Otherwise if space superiority is not achieved only a combat drop can be made. In a combat drop only mechs could be used. As a consequence in a regular drop repair and rearm would be possible whereas in a combat drop repair & rearm would not be possible (as support troops could not be landed).
In addition aerospace fighters may be able to establish air superiority over a certain battlefield. A potential benefit of air superiority may be the ability to do strafing runs or to deny repair and rearm possibilities to the enemy (by harassing supply routes).
Drop ships and Aerospace Fighters may be available on a C-Bill basis but especially jump ships (with the very limited production facilities left in the inner sphere) should also require a certain prestige in order to be allowed to purchase such a ship. A benefit of a House or Clan unit may be that “purchasing” a Jump ship will be easier for them than for a Merc Unit.
The current setup of the game is mech focused. Thus establishing concepts of space superiority and air superiority over a certain battlefield may be a game approach different from MWO at the moment as it could only be statistical and or tactical with limited efforts put into their development. Building an aerospace fighter game that works seamlessly with MWO on the ground will probably be a long term effort.
Mercenaries may be able to purchase supplies from their employer. However Mercenaries doing so should have some vulnerability to the “company store syndrome”, i.e. that employer overcharge for supplies and try to run the mercenary unit into a debt. Upgrades to this could be independent house sourcing, or independent cross-house sourcing (which would however need some jump ship / merchant drop ship availability). With each step supply costs should be lower and the mercenary unit will get further away from a possible “company store syndrome”.
Shares in weapon producing companies
Mercenary units could own shares in certain weapon and or equipment producing companies earning them revenue and lower prices for goods produced by these companies. Shares could also give a benefit in reduced repair & rearm costs. Shares of mech producing companies may depend on the popularity of certain mech models in the game.
How to implement “Surprise”
Allow the party that achieves strategic surprise to move certain seconds earlier in an engagement and position them better, or to allow them to choose a spawn point. Or a “surprise” may allow one team to change the timer into their favour.
How to implement “Strategic reserve”
Allow the party that is able to place a “strategic reserve” to add a number of mechs at the spawn point after battle has commenced in addition to the four mechs already available in CW mode or the one mech in general mode.
How to implement “Repair and Rearm”
An amateur general thinks tactics, a professional general thinks logistics. A lot of military success depends on the ability to properly supply own forces and to deny supplies to enemy forces. This can be added by allowing certain attacks to deny supplies to the enemy besides invasion mode. A success of such an attack could result in the effect that the losing team, may start with 2/3 of their ammunition only or may not be able to call on artillery strikes.
Benefits of special units
Special auxiliary units may be potential benefits that can be obtained (for example by buying them from the company coffer). In a regular drop where these units can be brought to battle they could have the following effects.
Coolant trucks: Better heat dissipation
Repair facility: Allow repairs to varying degrees of damage (a small facility may only repair armor, whereas the high end repair facility may also be used to repair fusion engine hits). Logical consequences are different repair times for light and sever damage. Again this may be interesting in a sustained campaign, when the ability of a party to bring fresh troops into follow up battles may be decisive.
Ammunition truck: Ability to rearm
MASH: Ability to care for injured pilots.
As a consequence a new status “injured” would be needed for mechs / pilots that suffered a cockpit hit.
Mobile HQ:
Could have many possible advantages, e.g. the ability to relocate forces between different combat zones, advanced information warfare capabilities, etc.
Advanced economics
Instead of paying mercenary units on a C-Bill basis they could be paid on a House Bill basis (K-Bills, L-Bills, etc.) The value of the house currencies could depend on economic strength which itself would depend on some military successes (e.g. successfully defending valuable planets / production facilities). Thereby the economic success of a mercenary unit would also be indirectly tied to overall House success and not only its individual performance. This will include another element than just House prestige to the game.
The ownership of certain production facilities could have an impact on unit / equipment prices, e.g. a “Zeus” could be cheaper on the Lyran Commonwealth part of the Federated Commonwealth. The ownership of certain important planets / production facilities could also have an influence on repair and rearm costs. Maintaining a “Zeus” in Liao space is probably more expensive.
Benefits of multiple mechs
Players with several personal mechs should have a certain benefit in a sustained community warfare campaign. They could be allowed to take part in multiple campaigns at the same time. They could be allowed to bring in fresh troops, if one of their other mechs is still in repair & rearm or its pilot is injured.
Sustained campaigns
Currently the game consists of single battles of mechs against each other with only some game modes which makes a perfectly fun and short game. However I could really find even more interest in a sustained campaign (e.g. for control of a planet). It would be interesting to have a system of deploying forces on a command scale to different battle areas. This could lead to uneven start positions in matches, making it necessary to withdraw, regroup, attack again. The campaign mode should take time and require rearming and maintenance. This will put some pressure on the pilots who spend all their ammunition in one battle (if cut off from rearmament…). A concept of attrition will probably also increase the value of cheaper units, when the commander has the possibility to deploy some of these cheaper forces in a sensible manner.
Combined arms
Combined arms enrich the game – if properly designed.
Artillery
Artillery strikes are a nasty surprise on the battlefield. There are essentially two possibilities to implement artillery. Off the board (you cannot reach them, and have no possibility to counterattack on an artillery position) or on the on the board (real units that can be searched and destroyed. When considering the range of artillery a on the board solution would require larger maps.
The current system of a module (off the board artillery) works, a system of on board artillery may offer more tactical choices.
Another possibility is that certain attacks before invasion mode may deny artillery to the enemy, e.g. a fast strike against the enemy artillery base.
Aerospace
Similarly aerospace strikes currently are designed as (off the board strikes). There is no mechanism to determine who has or has no command of the airspace over a contested battlefield.
Tanks
Tanks are a cheap alternative to mechs with generally lower capabilities. They could have a more pronounced role in sustained campaigns where cost and material come into play. One other role are ambushes e.g. in cities where tanks can potentially hide in building. This would make city fighting much more intense and no save turf for mechs. However technically this would require tanks being able to move into and out of buildings (my personal favorite are several tanks in a parking garage…) and of course buildings would need to be destructible.
A potential ingame solution could be a callable tank (as consumable) which moves with the calling mech AI controlled but it is not the smartest solution.
Infantry / Elementals
Infantry can be even deadlier for mechs than tanks if properly deployed in city maps. However it is probably not conceivable to have single player mode on infantry. I would rather suggest that one player may command a whole platoon (similar to Operation Flashpoint – which I very much liked). As a cheap unit, which can be very decisive in the right battle environment, infantry may also have a role in sustained campaigns. However infantry will probably not work with random maps. I cannot imagine a sane commander deploying infantry in caustic valley. Personally I would love to have infantry in the game. What will be the clan invasion without the very special clan infantry (elementals)?
A potential ingame solution could be a callable infantry or elemental star (as consumable) which moves with the calling mech AI controlled but it is not the smartest solution.
Mines and Mine Sweeping
In “Attack / Defense” game modes the ability to deploy mines could be interesting. However if mines are integrated into the game (which should be relatively simple), the potential countermeasure (mine sweeping tanks) should be available too (which might be more difficult).
Edited by Quincy McAllister, 01 May 2015 - 01:40 AM.
, remembers me to the old BT days with the Mercenaries Manual 
