Ok, so, had some time to think about this; and now I have a little more time to post. My previous comments still stand with minor edits for grammatical purposes. However, here are a few other ideas I've had.
1. Heat Damage: I'm a pyro and I love my flamers . . . you should have known this one was coming, since I was coming back to post more. Provide a minor bonus, basically 5 c-bills per point of heat damage inflicted with weapons such as Flamers (and later . . . possibly . . . inferno missiles, Plasma Cannons/Rifles, etc.). Also, it lets people see exactly how much heat they were actually inflicting during a match. This will obviously also be better implemented once the Flamer reengineering is completed (Come on, Paul, it's been February since we've heard anything about them). This reinforces the belief that their heat damage is actually helping the team.
2. Sucker-punch Damage: 20% bonus c-bills (basically 1 extra c-bill per point of damage) against targets that are shut down. This has a two-fold effect. First, it teaches people to target those who make the mistake of getting themselves shut-down and helpless (sound tactical policy). Secondly, it teaches people a bit more heat discipline, because they know that getting shut down makes them a big glaring target.
3. Sucker-punch Kill: A nominal c-bill bonus (not unlike a savior kill) for killing a mech (or assisting in the kill) while it was in an overheat shutdown state. This helps reinforce the same lessons of #2. Make bonuses teaching points as much as rewarding sound tactics.
4. Base Defensive and Offensive Kills: While we already have them, they only ever happen if you happen to kill an opponent while standing WITHIN the little base square. Sadly, the current implementation ensures that these bonuses are almost never seen. The radius for this (in order to make it more appealing) should be within the "Brawling" bonus's range of the base (which I believe is something like ~300m).
This makes combat in and around bases (assault) and capture points (conquest) far more tantalizing. It also encourages smarter and more defensive play by having things like fire support (like LRM boats) hovering in closer proximity to bases; while at the same time encouraging more aggressive play by lights and mediums that can quickly move into proximity of enemy bases and capture points. All-in-all people will fight more tactically if this is a sizable bonus worth fighting for.
5. Held Lock Bonus: Yes, I'm proposing it . . . because too many people don't use their magic "R" key -or whatever their target lock is- to actually lock onto what they're shooting at. Put in a minor bonus (500 c-bills a tick or so) for every 5 seconds that you're holding lock onto the target you're actively shooting at (hit within last 3 seconds . . . which covers most weapon cooldowns), after you have target info. For people who pick targets and focus fire on them this will be an easily earned payout. For other people it will teach target discipline. This may be the most programming intensive bonus to implement of the list, but I think it would be worth it.
6. Head-shot kill bonus: Mentioned already in this thread, but it's an extremely valid and worthwhile reward. These don't happen often, and when they do, they should receive a respectable reward for it. Personally I'd say make it the same bonus as a solo kill, since it happens so rarely.
7. Marksman Bonus: Make this an end of match reward that gives 100 c-bills per % accuracy a player has during a match to be calculated within the nearest hundredth %, just like the player stats, and rewarding partial credit for a partial percent. This provides a maximum bonus of 10k c-bills if a player has 100% accuracy, and provides 0 c-bills if the person never fires a shot (thereby having 0% accuracy). This teaches better aiming discipline and less spray-and-pray tactics aka "laser vomit" and "fire all the dakka".
8. Weapon Destruction: Destroying a component is one thing. However, the difference between ripping off the shield arm of a Yen-Lo-Wang and crippling (either through destruction or via internal damage crits) the ballistic arm of the same mech are two very different stories. Provide a flat 1k c-bill bonus per each weapon destroyed on a mech (again, whether through taking the component or getting internal crits . . . either works). This encourages players to actively learn and pick out the parts of mechs that carry the heaviest payload on the cassis. It also promotes build diversity, because cookie cutter builds will be quickly identified and disarmed. It also gives the machine gun carrying mechs a monetary reason to be happy that they shred internals.
9. Disabling Blow: Provide a modest payout (equal to a kill assist) for destroying the last functional weapon on a mech. Granted, this cannot be earned off of too many builds (and impossible to earn from zombie capable mechs), so it's a modest bonus for those instances where you strip a mech of all functional weapons. At that point, the mech is virtually already dead, and no longer provides a substantial combat threat. You "killed" it, but you didn't . . . so it's a very situational and mild stacking bonus.
10. Lineman/Tanking Assist: Provide a respectable payout (stacking with a kill assist) to any situation where you were taking the punishment from an enemy mech when someone else got the kill. This encourages brawlers to get in there, brawl, and be the front line of a match. Even if someone else gets the killing blow, you get credit for being the one taking the punishment. This also helps compensate big brawlers who don't get the "most damage dealt" or "brawling kill", but still were up front and in the action.
Edited by Sereglach, 25 August 2015 - 12:41 PM.
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