2 replies to this topic

[Lehmund]

May I preface this by saying I've never read any MW book, or played any MW game before MWO. So the elements below are tuned only to what I know and seen in MWO.

Just some simple to implement ideas for PGI and you guys to consider to make FW more significant for Factions and for invading in general:

• Faction-preferred mechs: Each Clan faction will soon have their "totem" mech. I'm pretty sure and assuming each IS faction already has their "preferred mechs" out and available. Let's give a little preference to use these mechs in Invasion matches to the Factions they belong to for flavor. i.e. Clan Ghost bear has the Kodiak. If you have a Kodiak in your drop deck Invasion, you get an extra 5 tons to play with. This would only encourage the use of the totem mech so would result in GB invasions having more Kodiaks, JF invasions having more Night Gyr etc...
  
• Planets gain a special random benefit to the Defenders or Attackers after the planet changes hands. These remain throughout ceasefires and whatnot. This can range from Turrets doing more damage, to generators having more HPs, to not allowing Airstrikes for either Defenders or Attackers etc...
  
• Land area expansion/deflation consequences: IS start (new reset) with 100% initial planets and Clan start with 100% initial planets (very few as always). When a planet is gained beyond initial planets, the increase in size gives a temporary boost to "Morale" which gives say 1 day extra C-Bill bonuses and LP bonuses on wins. These stack. Losses do the opposite as long as the territory size is more than it's original size at the start of the invasion reset, otherwise, you get the standard payout. Mercs also get boosts in C-bills but in a similar way as current, except it would be based on the gain or loss of territory in planets. If a faction is losing planets back to prior to reset, Mercs get bonuses (not based on population). The top faction on Clan side and on IS side that has the best + planets cannot contract mercs at all. (It is assumed, they can handle their territory for themselves).
  
• Special Planets: I noticed there are special planets in the InnerSphere. Make them create massive temp bonuses to the capturers or defenders of invasion. More of these could be added in map and the planet selection algo could direct paths towards these naturally.

Just a few flavor ideas that could be interesting.

[Bud Crue]

To lazy to offer you cites, but google search "MWO" and "immersion" or "a battletech game" and I am sure you can find numerous forum threads on this topic. But yes your ideas above, and many more like them, have been proposed by the community for years and PGI has yet to implement anything close; and imho they never will. The best part, is that PGI actually advertised these sorts of features as being part of the game when they first proposed a CW experience many years ago.

Rather than specific and cool ideas for making each planetary interaction feel significant, to make each faction feel unique; alas, it would seem that PGI considers the MC it currently gives a unit for taking and holding a planet to encompass the entire realm of immersive ideas that you and everyone else has ever proposed over the years.

For example: that "random benefit" for taking and holding a planet that you are longing for? It is 15 MC.
"Expansion/deflation consequences"? Well, take a planet and get your MC, lose a planet and the other guys get the MC. See? Immersion.

I think what we have now for "immersion" is the most/best that PGI can or is willing to do. After all, this game may be advertised as "A Battletech Game", but what PGI wants it to be is an "e-sport" and there is not a lot of need for an immersive inter-stellar environment in an e-sport driven arena shooter.

[ice trey]

Totally agree with you, 100 percent. What I really wanted was a single player game, but that's mainly because multiplayer games do little or nothing to offer immersion into the setting, and MWO is no exception. Frequently, the player base only further helps to sabotage this. Nothing but deathmatch or team deathmatch - forever.

I am sure I made a thread similar to your first paragraph. The mechs that are preferred by each faction are already well documented (As well as which ones would be harder to find) in the various Battletech sourcebooks printed over the past 32 years. One thing I also recommended was a "Boom and bust" mechanic for mechs. It's a combination of faction preferences, factory access, and the player base. Players have always been antsy about the planets not meaning anything at this time, but since most of the battlemech factories in the Battletech lore are well documented, placing them on the map works out. Any mechs that a faction holds a factory for would have positive modifiers, and those which they don't hold factories for would have negative modifiers. Lastly, basing things on player choice. If everyone in the inner sphere is clamouring to use Black Knights, or every clanner is looking to put Storm Crows or Arctic Cheetahs in their drop decks, then they should be harder to find in the market place with everyone else "Buying them up". On the flip side, the designs that are given the cold shoulder, like the Adder, Victor, and Vindicator, would be a tough sell, so sellers would need to reduce their prices in order to sell their goods.

I think these modifiers would be best for tonnage quirking, like you said, but other things they could have additional effects on could be C-bill earnings, XP earnings, and LP earnings. Altogether, it would help to make the game more dynamic, more lore focused, and have greater variation. Seeing the same few chassis all the time has been stale for ages. We've been crying for more chassis since closed beta, but inevitably, players refused to use anything but a select few builds since then. Sometimes, you need rules to enforce the atmosphere of a setting.

Edited by ice trey, 19 July 2016 - 06:04 AM.