25 replies to this topic

[Joe Decker]

Just a few Ideas I had about giving Factions, Community Warfare and Planets in Community Warfare some Character.

I have to add I am not very much into Battletech Lore, so if you think the Values I give as Examples are not fitting, then comment and add what you think would fit the Character of a Faction.
I also wanna add that Benefits from this System should only be used in the Community Warfare Mode and not in the other Gamemodes like Assault, Skirmish, Conquest.

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Factions :

Give Factions a Character, so that it becomes more interesting to pick a certain Faction. Example where this was done : EVE online. Gallente, Caldari, Amarr, Minmatar all have different special Abilities.

My Idea would be (only IS - about Clans someone else can give Input)

Davion

+ Hall of Fame for Pilots, most successful and most active Davion Pilots will have a Hall of Fame on the Forums where they are presented with Backstory, favourite Mech and other interesting Facts.
Best Pilots get special Prices every Month.
+/- Davion Pilot Skill Tree. (Pilot Skill Trees can balance Factions further)

otherwise Davion should be Standard - no Benefits but also no Disadvantages.

Steiner

+ More CBills Income - All Steiner Pilots gain 15% more CBills per Community Warfare Drop.
+ CW Dropdeck of Steiner is allowed to be 10 tons heavier.
+/- Steiner Pilot Skill Tree.

- 15% less XP per CW Drop


Kurita

+ Special Kurita Elite Pilot Skill (This Skill can be something like Outstanding Pilot (gives Evasion Chance) Outstanding Gunner (Overall higher Weapon Velocity) Cool (receives higher cooling Bonuses from Heatsinks/Double Heatsinks) and so on...
+/- Kurita Pilot Skill Tree.

- 10 % less CBills per CW Drop


Marik

+ Superior Tech - Marik Weapons got more Range, shorter Cooldown, their Sensors reach farther, more Shots per ton Ammunition etc. (in Short : they should get some Goodies)
+/- Marik Pilot Skill Tree.

- CW Dropdeck of Marik is 20 tons lower than normal


Liao

+ Battlecommander can buff his Teammates in a certain Area so that they can deal more Damage or receive an Evasion Bonus (Chance that incoming Damage gets negated for a certain Amount of Time)
+/- Liao Pilot Skill Tree.

- As long as Players are further away than 800 Meters from the Battlecommander they receive a Malus on Damage (-10 % Weapon Damage). The same Malus applys when the Battlecommander is dead (not active in the Battle)


Rasalhague

+ Cannot Die - If a Rasalhague Pilot looses his last Mech in a CW Drop he has a 40% Chance to get one of his Mechs from his Dropdeck back (he can pick one)
+/- Rasalhague Pilot Skill Tree.

- Rasalhague Mechs got 10% less Heat Capacity.



About Clans : They should have different Benefits and Disadvantages (Morale Codex), their Mechs are Part of their Advantage in my Opinion already.

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About giving Community Warfare some Character

It has been said already that Community Warfare needs some Economics, but one Thing that is also massively bugging me is that all Planets are the same.

So my Idea to give Systems/Planets in Community Warfare some Character would be :

1. Add Descriptions and a small Picture (Artwork) to all of them.

2. Make clear what Kind of Landscape is prominent on the Planet - that Way every Planet needs his own Set of Maps. A Desert Planet should not give you the Boreal Vault Map.

3. Pick a certain Number of Planets for each Faction which give their Pilots small Buffs (about 1% Buff on something per Planet - Buffs can affect totally different Things) - btw it is absolutely okey when the majority of Planets don't give any Buffs to the owning Faction.

4. Province Capitals should give their Defenders big Bonuses, Faction Capitals should give their Defenders MASSIVE Bonuses.

5. Each Faction should have 1 Chassis per Weightclass which is a typical Chassis for the Faction. If a Marik Pilot drives an Orion for Example (Or a Kuritan Pilot a Dragon) he should have a certain Set of additional Quirks when using it.

6. Systems/Planets with a Mech Manufacture are crucial. If a Faction conquers a Planet with such a Manufacture they earn the Benefits (and the previous Owner looses it).

7. Solaris should give its owning Faction a big CBill Income Bonus because of all the Tourists (This is just a special Example)

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What we also need : Official Diplomacy with War Declarations, Peace Treaties - especially what that all means in Game Terms ... and so on.

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So much about that. Thanks for reading

[Poisoner]

Good read.

[Tarogato]

Gameplay bonuses to playing factions should be balanced more carefully, but I really like the ideas.

[Vlad Ward]

Was right there with you until "Clan mechs OP, don't need character"

Also, we'd need a lot more CW maps before it'd be remotely viable to give planets different map weightings.

An Earthlike planet, which most of the worlds being fought over probably are, can very conceivably host Boreal, Rift, and Canyon, but any planet spawning Vitric or Taiga couldn't really host much else.

[Deathlike]

Any time I see "negative C-bill bonuses", I cringe.

Don't help the Paulconomist's agenda like that.

Right now, the IS is in a contract depression while Clans are enjoying a fat contract bonus.

[Davegt27]

great ideas

[Joe Decker]

Vlad Ward, on 28 August 2015 - 01:15 PM, said:

Was right there with you until "Clan mechs OP, don't need character"

Oh I did not say Clan Mechs are OP or Clans don't need Character - I said others should make Proposals for Clans as I was just writing about IS Factions. And yes, I think Clanmechs are a bit stronger than IS so however you balance the Clan Factions you should think of Clanmechs as an Advantage (how big is debatable) and how to use their Morale Codex as a Disadvantage.

Tarogato, on 28 August 2015 - 01:09 PM, said:

Gameplay bonuses to playing factions should be balanced more carefully, but I really like the ideas.

Yeah some Advantages/Disadvantages might seem to be too strong at first Glance - yet these are Things that could be fleshed out with Game Tests.

[Vlad Ward]

Moral Code?

A Morale Codex is like ... a library/book/index of people being hyped up/feeling good.

Tangible differences between factions would be nice, though. Even if they just changed the LP reward track so it's not all one big blob of identical grind.

Some of the factions don't even have proper descriptions in the contract select page yet. Just the generic "Join the great Clan Jade Falcon!"

Edited by Vlad Ward, 28 August 2015 - 03:43 PM.

[DoctorDetroit]

Lose the changes to c-bills and gameplay imbalances and you may have something there.

C-bill rewards should be a sliding scale that is inversely based off the number of "active" contracts issued by a faction. Other than this I don't think there should be a disparity in c-bill rewards.

[MischiefSC]

At this point I'd be f***ing overjoyed with a change in a loading screen. Any sort of improvement to CW that doesn't involve taking a **** on it from a great height would be amazing.

You can't leave something largely broken for a year. You end up with everyones give a **** being broken.

There are some great ideas here. We've had great ideas by the bucket load for the last year. They come down to:

1. Have faction membership mean something.

2. Having taking/losing worlds mean something.

3. Have winning/losing mean something.

That's it. Any of that. At this point 1 out of 3 would be a 100% improvement over what we have.

Oh, and

4. Change the gods damn ghost drop system. It hates us for our freedom and every time someone ends up in a pointless ghost drop, the terrorists win.

[Mazzyplz]

i like it, but it's best if you stick to giving rewards for controlling planets, if you defend certain planet you would get some advantages like a base with snow, while the enemy base is in lava.

otherwise, if you give marik superior tech for example, what is preventing cheeser from choosing marik?

make some planets have better positions for defenders, crates that refill your ammo if you stand close near base, etc...

for faction it would be best if everyone gets similar rewards, maybe faction mechs, faction cammo

[Hammer Hand]

I am like all of you in that I want CW to be awesome. I want it to be intense, and immersive. When it first started it was great! My heart beat faster in the dropship. Now I do very little CW. Joe's ideas are good. There have been lots of good ideas and we agree economics and politics added in would be awesome.

The lack of CW "richness" has had a negative effect on our unit. Less involvement and apathy are the result. The competitive players are the amp'd up ones. I am not that good, and not willing to devote the time to be come that good. Even if I spent the time I might not be that good. I can help a team though.

I enjoyed the drops against Davion when we fought for Marik. Great fun. I enjoyed the Tukayyid event.

I would very much like PGI to make some strides to create a richer environment for CW. Soon!

[Teh Hobo]

Love this idea, something I'd add to it would be bonuses for exclusive contracts. BT has all kinds of experimental tech I think that they would be great rewards for maxing out an exclusive contract. Max out Steiner? Here's a Bombast Laser and Compact Heat sinks. Davion? Silver Bullet Gauss, Hardened Armour. Liao?Hypervelocity Autocannon, Stealth armor. Marik? Armoured Components and X Pulse Lasers. Etc. Clans have experimental tech as well like streak LRMs(the horror!) hardened armour(ghost bears) ER Pulse, heavy lasers and the like.

Edited by Teh Hobo, 29 August 2015 - 07:01 AM.

[Vellron2005]

Faction specific bonuses should and COULD be done through the CW map itself..

If you assign certain bonuses to specific planets, bonuses like special prices or discounts on specific mechs (cose they have that mech's factory on them), cbill bonuses (for rare or specific resources), skill bonuses (for training grouds on-world), or faction points bonuses (for planets with major cities on them), than a faction would have a certain number of these special worlds, and those worlds could change hands, motivating people to fight for their faction..

If you are... say... a BEAR warrior.. it would be profitable for you to get off you ass and win that world that will make your consumeables or lasers 15% cheaper, wouldn't it?

Edited by Vellron2005, 01 September 2015 - 03:15 AM.

[Tyler Valentine]

MischiefSC, on 28 August 2015 - 04:25 PM, said:

At this point I'd be f***ing overjoyed with a change in a loading screen. Any sort of improvement to CW that doesn't involve taking a **** on it from a great height would be amazing.

You can't leave something largely broken for a year. You end up with everyones give a **** being broken.

There are some great ideas here. We've had great ideas by the bucket load for the last year. They come down to:

1. Have faction membership mean something.

2. Having taking/losing worlds mean something.

3. Have winning/losing mean something.

That's it. Any of that. At this point 1 out of 3 would be a 100% improvement over what we have.

Oh, and

4. Change the gods damn ghost drop system. It hates us for our freedom and every time someone ends up in a pointless ghost drop, the terrorists win.

Maybe if i just re-post this here it will double the chances of PGI actually reading it...

[CyclonerM]

It could be simpler with rewards: for example..

-House Marik: they are more about combined arms, so cheaper arty and air strikes for them and more rewards for assists/kills with them; If planetary bonuses and discounts are not feasable, at least factions could have some basic economic quirks, like House Marik players getting a discount on all 'Mechs produced in the Free Worlds League by 3051; Same for all other factions.

-House Kurita: they have their samurai code of honor, similar enough to the Clans, so they get a higher reward for solo kills and most damage dealt;

-House Steiner: their dropdeck can be 10 tons heavier and get 10% more c-bills, but get 15% less loyalty points and -20% exp to balance the good bonuses;

-House Davion.. Not sure about them; maybe bonuses for teamwork rewards;

-House Liao: bonuses for sneaking, teamwork and electronic warfare;

Clans:

They all get a bonus for solo kills and most damage dealt; this bonus is higher than Kurita, however assists and savior bonuses are lower; however, each Clan could have a slightly different sets of numbers, for example:

Wolf: least difference, reflecting their more open view of combat vs dishonorable IS units;
Falcon: highest difference;
Bear: average solo/most damage bonus, biggest teamwork/assists etc. bonuses among the Clans;
Jaguar: second high difference, maybe.

Sure, they are just small simple things, but they would still be better than nothing..

[Vellron2005]

I like your idea CyclonerM, together with my planetary map and planet-worth idea, it would make CW quite fun and dynamic..

Edited by Vellron2005, 02 September 2015 - 05:04 AM.

[Necromantion]

Too bad PGI is too dense with their short and long term planning implementation to get any of this to work on some level without breaking this game further.

[Deadmeat313]

I like these ideas a lot - and the Clans could indeed be given individual flavour.


My suggestions :

The Smoke Jaguar touman - in emulating their totem animal - are ambush predators at heart. They wait patiently until the optimal moment, then strike with savage ferocity. Their forces tend towards the heavier end of the spectrum - fielding significant numbers of Dire Wolf and Warhawk Assaults, supported by Mad Dogs and Stormcrows - so positioning is all important.
Where an Ambush is impractical, their heavy touman allows them to fall back on the good old Frontal Assault.


The Ghost Bears also favour Ambush tactics, emulating their totem animal. The huge beast is known to bury itself in the snow, and wait patiently for prey to blunder past. It then erupts from the ground, all teeth and claws. Ghost Bear warriors love the image and want to be like that. Alternatively, their touman prefers highly mobile Mechs that allow them to maneuver and strike very quickly in Rapid Assault battles to overwhelm targetted enemy sectors. They are not the plodding, methodical force some people seem to think they are. Typically, they field fast agile Viper* medium OmniMechs supported by Executioners.
(* We need Vipers in game, stat.)


Clan Wolf like to run with the pack, favouring Flank Attack and Rapid Assault tactics. To this end, their touman is geared towards Omnis that can do 100kmph or better. This leads them to field somewhat lighter weight forces than the other Clans.
There is a rumour that the Wolves are planning to phase out the Timber Wolf(!) and replace it with a newer design called the Linebacker. Apparently the TBR is too slow to keep up with the Ice Ferrets and Kit Foxes in a pack attack.
The versatile Timber Wolf is still popular in their Heavy/Assault stars, commonly paired with the Gargoyle. So even the Clan's heavy hitters are a mobile force, hard to pin down.


Jade Falcon field a mix of light fast stars, and slower (but well armed) assault units. The lighter units "swoop" at the enemy in Flank Attacks, designed to throw them off balance. Their Assault units then lunge and shatter the formations in setpiece Frontal Assault battles. Their touman tends to field the Summoner to support the otherwise light/medium "swoop" units - which stiffens the units nicely, but also slows them down. (They would be hard pressed to keep up with a Wolf pack.)
The Assault forces are built around a core of slow, powerful designs : Turkina**, Dire Wolf and Warhawk, supported by Hellbringers. Mobility is not an issue, these guys are all about the firepower.
(** Put Turkina in game asap, plx.)


It would greatly assist the faction flavour, if the game modes could somehow reflect the different battle styles. I can dream though, eh?

[Joe Decker]

Deadmeat313, on 04 September 2015 - 01:45 PM, said:

I like these ideas a lot - and the Clans could indeed be given individual flavour.


My suggestions :

The Smoke Jaguar touman - in emulating their totem animal - are ambush predators at heart. They wait patiently until the ...

Thanks - that was the Kind of Input about Clans I was looking for - yet I cannot say if those are fitting Ideas or not as I am not familiar with the Clans at all... however thx for sharing your Ideas !

Now if PGI would pick Ideas of their official Forum that would be cool !

Edited by Joe Decker, 06 September 2015 - 06:01 PM.