I believe this can be done in a way that will make several sides of these arguments better functional.
#1.) We need more varied contract lengths. Week, Month,3 Month, 6 Month, and Permanent. Possibly more variance, but this seemed to give me a good starting point.
#2.) We create a bonus associated with each planet (For Example: Holding Planet X gives you a 5% cost reduction for buying Medium Lasers, Planet Y gives you a 2% reduction in the cost of Standard 270 Engines,and Planet Z gives a 1% reduction for the cost of Jenners.) This can even be tied to Canon in many instances for those who wish for Lore to be more involved because the lore tells us that many planets had production facilities for various mechs/weapons/ammo/etc.
These benefits are for PERMANENT members of a faction. 6 Month contractors receive 50% benefits compared to Perm members, 3 Month contracts get you 25% level benefits, and 1 month contract gets 10% benefits. Week-long contracts get none of the benefits.
#3.) We need for under-served factions to have increased incentives for People to join them on long term contracts (Signing Bonuses for long contracts, % increase in C-bill rewards, etc.) And there needs to be an area of the faction selection screen that Announces this prior to faction choice. Say House Kurita offers 500,000 C-bills per member of any unit signing a 3-month contract, or FRR Offers additional 15% salvage rights to members signing a 6-month contract.
You already attach % Bonuses to Hero mechs and do % price reductions for special sales so this should be fairly simple to implement.
Edited by Aethelred Kell, 03 June 2015 - 12:02 PM.