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These 'mechs are staples of the Battletech universe, with the Locust, the most common 'mechs in the Inner Sphere by a long shot. These two 'mechs are cheap, are still in production, were made in *huge* numbers, and have lots and lots of spare parts. It would be a shame not to include them in MWO (and by extension HBS' upcoming title) but these little guys are going to face some struggles. How do we make them viable, if we can?
A 20 ton humanoid light will really struggle to be effective in MWO. They well be small, smaller than a Commando, but will both lack hard points and tonnage to use them. They will at least be fast and jump capable. Should there be role warfare, the little guys do make effective scouts more mobile (though slower) than the Locust due to jump jets, for a tiny investment in tonnage, so they've got that going for them. Offensively, they're weak tea.
The bigger issue is this - it will take PGI about the same effort to concept, model, rig, and skin the Wasp (and Stinger) as it will a 75 ton heavy or 100 ton assault that will absolutely sell better at any cash price. Buyers are already hesitating on the 20$/40$+15$ price point that the Phenix Hawk package has been issued at. They *will* have a problem paying 20$ for three Wasps or Stingers, much less 15$ for a 20 ton hero. But PGI has to recoup their development cost somewhere. How can they manage this?
My first thought is this: Make the Wasp, Stinger, and Valkyrie share as much geometry as possible, so the costs for making all three is closer to making one chassis with two special geometry variants. This may hit a snag with the Valkyrie needing to be slightly larger in size. It may also underwhelm buyers because the Wasp and Stinger might only have, say, different heads (but perhaps the same cockpit to save costs) making them otherwise very similar. But it might allow PGI to develop (and sell) three light 'mech chassis for slightly more than the cost of one.
That would, in theory, allow them to sell all three as a single 'Collector pack' at something close to the current collector pack prices. A buyer could reasonably object to 20$ for three 20 ton 'mechs, what about 20$ for nine? (40$ for nine plus three (S) variants?)
Other options might be 3 Valkyries for 20$, (collectors 40$), with 3 Stingers a 15$ add on, 3 Wasps as a 15$ add-on, with (S) Collectors of each another 15$ each.
Perhaps they could even skip the heroes (for now) in order to keep the development costs down? (and issue heroes the 'old way' for the MC/ton cost?)
Note: If we had an R&R system, the Wasp/Stinger (and Locust) could be given major discounts, to make them the most efficient 'mechs to run on a pure cost basis (good for grinding C-Bills when you are poor). But of course, we don't, so that's moot, unless we get one someday for CW.
TLDR: It costs PGI as much to model the Wasp or Stinger as a bigger, more valuable 'mech. How can they recoup that cost and make the pack worth it?
Edited by Malleus011, 03 March 2016 - 08:52 AM.
