103 replies to this topic

[Davers]

MischiefSC, on 13 May 2016 - 05:15 PM, said:

There is nothing that happens in a KCom or 228 or MS or any other drop that any other unit can't do. Nothing. No magic, no secret tricks. Minimal dark sorcery.

Pretty sure 228 sacrifices goats. Like, a lot of them.

[MischiefSC]

Davers, on 15 May 2016 - 06:29 AM, said:

Pretty sure 228 sacrifices goats. Like, a lot of them.

If by "goat" you mean "first through the gate" you're correct.

Sometimes you need to die gloriously for the team. Consider it an honor and embrace your place on the alter of Nike, goddess of victory. Sometimes she demands and offering burned by LPLs.

[XenoBE]

Nyserta is finally ours again.

<3 to all involved.

[Conan The Mechwarrior]

Appogee, on 12 May 2016 - 02:01 AM, said:

When one Merc unit is so big that it dwarfs the actual Houses and Clans, and determines the outcome of the Faction Play, it's time for PGI to completely rethink how Merc, Loyalist and Clan Units work.

I agree, Mercs need to have lesser gains by far to entice people to be in a faction. Being a Merc is supposed to be hard and next to non-profitable if you look at any of the lore.

[DarklightCA]

Gravekracker, on 15 May 2016 - 03:14 PM, said:

I agree, Mercs need to have lesser gains by far to entice people to be in a faction. Being a Merc is supposed to be hard and next to non-profitable if you look at any of the lore.

So instead of dealing with the one Merc unit that is the problem which could be more easily done by actually setting a reasonable unit cap. You want to nerf Merc rewards which has no barring on reducing unit sizes? That don't make a lot of sense to me and I would rather lore stay far away from this game. Lore and game balance don't usually go hand in hand.

There are loyalist units with a bigger population than MS has like SWOL. They aren't considered a problem because they consist of pretty much all new players who don't present much of a threat to organized teams. MS is different because they aren't one large unit, they are a collection of units all competing for planets under the same tag.

That many organized 12 man's all trying to conquer planets for the same unit makes competition not possible for reasonable size units that simply cannot output enough to compete with that even if they won every single one of their games. Just setting a reasonable unit cap like 200 would allow units to built a community of players and still allow other units to compete against them.

[Kin3ticX]

Gravekracker, on 15 May 2016 - 03:14 PM, said:

I agree, Mercs need to have lesser gains by far to entice people to be in a faction. Being a Merc is supposed to be hard and next to non-profitable if you look at any of the lore.

Lol, that must be why some Merc units from lore had 2-5 regiments + supporting warships

Lore nerd fail......

[Kin3ticX]

Appogee, on 12 May 2016 - 02:01 AM, said:

When one Merc unit is so big that it dwarfs the actual Houses and Clans, and determines the outcome of the Faction Play, it's time for PGI to completely rethink how Merc, Loyalist and Clan Units work.

Or, being a loyalist doesnt work all that great because CW, i mean FW, doesnt have enough space nerd politics for it to remotely matter. We didn't even get something as simple as unit-unit cbill transfers so we can hire each other.

That and not being able to swap tech bases easily is a bit of a deal breaker

There are also simply just too many factions to have enough decent sizable and active loyalists filling up all the fronts

Edited by Kin3ticX, 15 May 2016 - 05:02 PM.

[Carl Vickers]

If I had any advice for the Bears it would be to look at factions like the Space Vikings, Kurita and Wolf. Space Vikings the most as they have been doing it the longest and are reaping the rewards.

Now from my own POV and what I have seen recently from dropping against the Bears, stop with the LURMS. In almost every drop against the Bears I see 3-4 lurmers. Here's how it works. The lurmers stay up the very back of the group, happily trying to dispense their brand of justice, the guys on the front line get picked apart and then the other team rushes forward and takes the rest out.

Why did this happen, cause the 3-4 mechs at the back weren't at the front sharing their armor and getting their 50+ point alphas where they need to be.

BTW, I see this sort of thing happening in the 10-12 man bear drops so dont try to blame the pugs, they are not only at fault. There is a reason people say dont bring a knife to a gun fight, with lurms you essentially have lots of little knives which are very counterable, in the mean time someone has rounded the corner and hit you with a 50 point gun right in the face, I know who my money is on to win.

Edited by Carl Vickers, 15 May 2016 - 05:35 PM.

[Virlutris]

XenoBE, on 15 May 2016 - 01:35 PM, said:

Nyserta is finally ours again.

<3 to all involved.

Well done.

You folks had your act together during the EU window. Saw RGCB wrecking face in Invasion drops, and the scouts were clearly on their game.

Long Tomz 4 dayz.

gg wp <o

[mr bear]

Well..
For what it's worth, we did about 8+ drops on Nyserta over the weekend. We won I think 2-3 invasion missions as well as 1-2 counter attack missions. However roll around the next ceasefire, everything was back to 0.

I don't mind trying to get my guys to keep attacking, but would be nice for it to be a bit more co-ordinated so that pressure can be maintained to allow it to fall.

[Fox With A Shotgun]

fbj, on 12 May 2016 - 12:23 AM, said:

MercBear Will Rise Again and Make Ghost Bear Great.

Does this imply that Ghost Bear was never great?

[Commander A9]

Actually, I'm starting to think the major units are more loyal to the ideal of playing this game than the Clans or anyone truly lore-based at heart.

We may switch factions alot, but we're still playing is the whole point.

And really, IS collapsing when MercStar switches doesn't happen because IS territory is so massive. So a unit leaving their fold won't be totally detrimental because it's next to impossible to have all opposing factions gang up on just one of them to inflict the kind of losses that Clans seem to go through whenever a major team switches sides.

Edited by Commander A9, 15 May 2016 - 07:59 PM.

[Saint Scarlett Johan]

Gravekracker, on 15 May 2016 - 03:14 PM, said:

I agree, Mercs need to have lesser gains by far to entice people to be in a faction. Being a Merc is supposed to be hard and next to non-profitable if you look at any of the lore.

US Army 11B, E4 doorkicker of two years annual salary: $23,994

American PMC pay each month: between $15,000 and $22,500

OR

American PMCs make between $180,000 and $270,000 a year. That's 750% to 1125% more annual income.


It pays to be a mercenary.

[LordNothing]

i recently took a jag contract, and its been terrible. i was thinking about trying the bears, but lol. maybe kurita or frr, lol.

Edited by LordNothing, 16 May 2016 - 12:02 AM.

[XenoBE]

Carl Vickers, on 15 May 2016 - 05:31 PM, said:

Now from my own POV and what I have seen recently from dropping against the Bears, stop with the LURMS. In almost every drop against the Bears I see 3-4 lurmers.

It's been terrible.
lurms everywhere, trial 'mechs in every lance, people shooting the actual gate to open it, assaults backpaddling in narrow canyons during a push, ...
Largely because of the event, i guess. Everyone wants that free stuff. Myself included.

On the other hand, i've never (never, as in not in my less than a year of playing) seen faction chat so alive and i've never seen drops being so frequent. Granted, when Nyserta was captured yesterday i was a little drunk, but phase 3 plus the event looked quite alright from where i was sitting.

Carl Vickers, on 15 May 2016 - 05:31 PM, said:

BTW, I see this sort of thing happening in the 10-12 man bear drops so dont try to blame the pugs, they are not only at fault.

There's maybe a handful of good units in CGB. You know who they are. There's a couple more decent ones whom you probably don't know by name.
But there's also alot of other units who are little more than pugs with the same tag. They invited just about every free bear in the hopes of getting enough people for CW drops. They have a couple of pilots who solo ok but that's about it. they're the units you see with lurms.

And as someone said, the good ones can't carry a planetary victory if the "pug-units" keep lurming the progress away.

[Appogee]

Saint Scarlett Johan, on 15 May 2016 - 09:15 PM, said:

US Army 11B, E4 doorkicker of two years annual salary: $23,994

You should also factor in the meals, accommodation, after-service welfare etc all provided free of charge to official solders ... all of which needs to be self-funded by mercenary contractors.

[Saint Scarlett Johan]

Appogee, on 17 May 2016 - 02:35 AM, said:

You should also factor in the meals, accommodation, after-service welfare etc all provided free of charge to official solders ... all of which needs to be self-funded by mercenary contractors.

Actually, in their contracts, meals, accommodation, etc is also provided. The individual mercs themselves don't have to pay for it, but it's outlined in the contract. That's why PMCs don't make $500,000 to $1,000,000.

The only thing PMCs have to provide is their own equipment. Which most of us soldiers do that anyway because the issue stuff is only "adequate."

And I'm not sure about countries post-service welfare. But in America, those of us that can afford not to use the VA don't use the VA.

All in all, mercenaries are roughly a quarter the cost of using government troops while being better equipped and often better trained.

Edited by Saint Scarlett Johan, 17 May 2016 - 09:51 AM.

[crustydog]

My Grandfather invaded Normandy with the Allies. He was poorly paid for that effort. Yet, after he retired, he received 19 years of military pension benefits before he passed on, among numerous other government benefits related to his war service. It is difficult now to estimate the real dollar cost of these benefits, but the number is certainly very large.

I also have an Uncle who is still alive, another invader of Normandy, who currently resides in a home with 24/7 nursing care, at a cost of $5000 per month, all payed for by the government. His wife also receives veteran pension benefits. After the war he received some 20 acres of free land, and also later on 25+ years of retirement war pension. The value of all this certainly exceeds $1 million dollars - and is getting closer to $2 million the longer they live.

So, as far as Merc vrs Loyalist pay goes, the question is not is it expensive, for it is expensive either way. The question is do you want to front load the costs, or pay them on the back end.

[Wan Chu Minge]

.....anyway.

Clan Ghost Bear is no longer a laughing stock! It's just deserted.

Happy Times!

[iLLcapitan]

Saint Scarlett Johan, on 17 May 2016 - 09:50 AM, said:

All in all, mercenaries are roughly a quarter the cost of using government troops while being better equipped and often better trained.

Good point in a threat titled "Clan Ghost Bear..."
Some people have to share their military background on every occasion, holy cow.
BTW you forgot to mention that mercenaries also relief the US government of those pesky lawsuits, moral obligations and stuff.