6 replies to this topic

[gilliam]

So I was poking around in TechManual looking at equipment dates, and noticed something: While the Inner Sphere has recovered most LosTech by 3049, different size of those weapons don't start coming out in IS versions till a couple years after the Treaty of Tukayyid (may 3052).

To expand:
Right now we have
LB-10 X (other versions com out in 3058)
UAC/5 (UAC/2 and 10 come in 3057 and UAC/20 comes out in 3060)
ERLL (small and medium come out in 3058)
All sizes of Pulse Laser
SSRM-2 (other sizes come out in 3058)

What do you guys think? Do you think players will be wanting clantech because it is better, or will it be more likely the fact that there are clan versions of things like the LB-20X and ERML (ie. variety/the ability to get the weapon you want in the size you want) will be more important to players?

It also kind of makes me wonder if we are going to be doing a time skip in a few years to just before the FedCom Civil war when stuff starts heating up and new toys start coming out again.

[Viper69]

Your guess is as good as anyone not a developer.

[Diakonos]

Rather than skipping time, I think it more likely that the devs will work out a schedule for various pieces of Clantech (and maybe Lostech) becoming available. They have a lot of freedom within canon on how to do this. We know that Clan salvage will filter through the various parts of the Inner Sphere at different rates, so your affiliation will probably play a role in determining what tech is available to you. For example, if your merc company gets friendly with ComStar, you might get an opportunity to buy some Lostech DHS.

Some of the current game balance issues may even point to Clantech: e.g., the abysmal performance of IS PPCs could hint at the introduction of the longer ranged and more efficient Clan ER PPC.

[gilliam]

Not to pick on you specifically, but it would suck to choose House Marik and have very little access to clantech since there were only a few battalions from that house involved in the invasion. We are mercenaries after all, I don't see why we couldn't get some DCMS surplus off the market. It would probably be more fair. Also a note: DHS were recovered in 3040 by the Fed Suns, are starting to become widespread, and have the same stats as the old Star League equipment, so getting friendly with ComStar won't get you much there. What you really want are th clan 2 crit freezers

I do realize it is likely we will have clantech filter into player's hands, though I don't have a guess at the mechanisms at the current moment (though, being that this is the clan invasion, I am hoping for something related to beating on clanners; maybe PvPvE)


I was more pointing out that the IS lacks variety in more advanced weaponry that the clans have. I, myself, don't like SSRM-2s as I believe they are too small, but larger rack sizes won't be produced by IS factories for a while. Ignoring the fact that Clan SSRM-s of any size are better than their IS variants, I want some clan SSRM-4s just because thats where I can get the rack size I need for my Jenner. I am wondering how true this will be for other players.


The suggestion of a time skip is unrelated to clan tech. it was actually related to IS tech. other sizes of weapons seem to start coming out in the Inner Sphere on the eve of the FedCom civil war, and new sizes of guass rifles and PPCs come about during that war, and that's when we start seeing IS Omnimechs. These other sizes were never recovered because they never existed in the Star league, so any IS versions are new developments possibly spurred by recovered clantech.

Edited by gilliam, 29 July 2012 - 08:04 PM.

[xxx WreckinBallRaj xxx]

Clan Tech would totally destroy the balance of Tech in this game if players get their hands on it. My suggestion to Piranha is to just keep Clan Tech out of player hands and use it for PvE content.(Hard Co Op missions vs invading Clan A.I. would be awesome) This would put Clans in the game to be seen/fought/part of the lore while also giving us good and interesting PvE opposition. Ya I know everyone wants a fancy Madcat, I like Vulture myself, but game balance would be totally destroyed if players can use that stuff. IS Tech would become worthless and veterans with the superior Tech will roll newbs that can't yet afford it. Then in the higher lvls it'll be purely Clan vs Clan because no one will use the obsolete IS Tech. The whole game would easily turn into a Clan vs Clan brawl despite the fact that it is suppose to be about conflicting Inner Sphere houses. Every player in every House would just have Clan Tech because it's better.

This is suppose to be about the Inner Sphere, and timeline wise we aren't even suppose to have access to Clan Tech. Clan Tech is damn near impossible for Inner Sphere pilots to acquire before 3052, and even then it's really rare. You can't remain loyal to that if you just openly sell the stuff to anyone that wants it.

[Dasomen]

they could do something like what mass effect did and award a single random peace of clan tech for the sucessfull completion of an event. say like christmass or some other time like holloween or national pride day, ok to be honest i'm just a dumb american and i'm not familiar with all kinds of holodays that arent crammed down our throats here in america.

although i for one, if they do do this, will be gunning for custom paint jobs more than clan tech. say they have a canada day event where if you complete the event, you can apply a canadian paint job to your mech like the canadian flag... i'm sorry but running around like that would be a blast. i can only emagine how many jenners would be running around like mounties. but still, if they do release the clan tech, to keep with rairity, they could have it only be obtainable during these certian events, that if you dont complete it or you miss out, you're SOL. this means that for every event, you may only get a single peace of clan tech, be it a clan mech, clan heat sync, or clan small laser or what have you. meaning you wont be seeing anyone "boating" clan tech for a few years.

[gilliam]

I think if they give us clan tech, if the section that equipment is in is destroyed (or the equipment itself is critted) there's a chance it will break and you have to pay a lot of C-Bills for a new one. That way, while it might be viable to have one or two clan ERMLs on your mechs, you won't be able to run a full on clan boat unless you can somehow avoid being killed in every single match you play.

Hopefully their matchmaking service can balance the different stats of the mechs on a team, so if one team has a player with clantech the other team will get something close in capabilities so the sides are even, but people using IS weaponry are still able to come. It should try and keep a mix, we want to avoid games that are all heavies and assualts and we want to avoid games that are all clantech; we should get matches that have a mix of all the mech classes with only some sporting experimental gear and clantech.

I admit I would like to be able to run a Kit Fox.


So am I to assume by the tangential replies that you guys do not think the ability to have certain weapons in different sizes (ie. have an LB-20X AC which IS doesn;t have or an SSRM-6 which is IS doesn;t have) would be a significant factor in acquiring clantech if it were added to the game?

Edited by gilliam, 29 July 2012 - 10:21 PM.