So, Fuel.
I acknowledge that the name will likely need to change in order to fit in better with the Battletech universe. The general concept of the game is that each team has a base where they start out. At one or more points around the battlefield, there is a fuel depot. The goal of the game is to collect more fuel than the opposing team. The trick that makes this not Conquest is that the fuel depots remain neutral.
Fuel depots produce fuel at some rate, and can hold some amount of fuel.
A mech that gets within a certain radius of a fuel depot begins building up fuel, which is subtracted from the amount in the depot. The bigger the mech, the more fuel it can hold. Maybe by weight class, maybe by tonnage. Mechs can choose not to fill up completely, or they can wait until they are full. At whatever point they choose, in order to actually score the points, they must return the fuel to their base.
You delay your opponents by killing their fuel carriers - they do the same to you.
Game can end on a timer, say 10 or 15 minutes, at which point the team with the most fuel wins. A "goal" for total fuel can be set, and upon reaching that goal that team wins.
Dealing with mech kills could be interesting. This sort of game plays best with respawns. So, yes, it would make an excellent CW game mode. For the public queue, you could add depth by having the game end when all the mechs on one team are dead - but the team with the most fuel still wins. It would force people to think - do I kill this last mech? Are we ahead? Do I let him kill me?
I think it would be fun. It would be DIFFERENT than what we have now. A mode where light mechs could truly shine. Multiple neutral fuel depots means that deathballing just won't work. Scouting becomes essential. It would be a mode that mindless killing simply won't carry the day.
I'd enjoy it anyway, but then again, I enjoyed it in Tribes. I also liked CTF and Team Rabbit, but that's a different story for a different day.
Cheers.
Edited by Banditman, 18 April 2016 - 10:39 AM.