57 replies to this topic

[Zolaz]

Do it the way according to Lore in the Battle Tech universe, you make it cost too much. Put Repair and Rearm in for Mercs and Freelancers and no R&R for Loyal Pilots and Units. Just have to determine how rough you want it to be for Mercs, right now they have it too easy. In the lore, most merc units folded because of the costs. In MWO, you make bank.

Also, add in some fees to move mechs around from planet to planet. Jumpships dont ferry people around for free. Allow Merc units to buy drop and jump ships to lower the cost of moving their people around. Again, House Loyal units dont have to pay for this as their Houses normally own dropships.

Just seems like there are some Lore solutions to our in game problems, that also increase the immersion of Battle Tech and not just gundam stompy robots.

[Sader325]

Make it so mercs can drop any mech they want, and take contracts based on the planet (no week long contracts).

And you got yourself a deal.

[Davegt27]

if you think logically Merc's or mercenaries would not have the money or resources to develop and field even one Mech
(I use the F15E strike eagle for example the cost to field that weapon system is enormous)

only a major house with its huge economic power could field a standing army of Mechs

also in the MWO universe Merc's should not be the most powerful force in the game they should be there to fill a gap in lesser houses

so a lack of foresight and vision of what FW should be is something PGI should work on

CW/FW needs work but PGI needs to say what there vision for the game mode is going to be

[QueenBlade]

I still believe there needs to be a give/take system to include advantages as well as disadvantages to being a loyalist/merc/freelancer.

In this case of give/take - Merc gets to use any mech they have in their mech lab. But they can only repair the mechs that are of the same faction as they are contracted. A non-faction based mech will be given a cooldown timer to reflect a mech being repaired. Player can use cbills / MC to quicken the timer. Also use Unit coffers to cover repairs.
In the case of Clan vs IS tech. Clan mechs can only be repaired by Clan factions, and IS mechs can only be repaired by IS factions.

[xX PUG Xx]

I actually like all of those ideas, however I would change QueenBlade's "cannot repair" to "takes longer" or "costs more" to reflect the difficulty and cost involved in acquiring the "foreign" technology.

This would give incentive to using a particular tech type while not completely removing the players choice, something that most players dislike intensely.

[Baulven]

Honestly want to balance loyalist vs merc? Increase loyalty for loyalists by 100% and increase cbills for mercs by 50%. Introduce more ranks and give people actually unique top tier stuff like camo, decals, etc. And watch people to at it.

[Daidachi]

Baulven, on 01 August 2016 - 04:42 PM, said:

Honestly want to balance loyalist vs merc? Increase loyalty for loyalists by 100% and increase cbills for mercs by 50%. Introduce more ranks and give people actually unique top tier stuff like camo, decals, etc. And watch people to at it.

Let loyalist ranks reset after hitting rank 20 and let them keep the title earned at 20. Means loyalists can keep earning without feeling they need to switch faction to gain further rewards.

[Hotthedd]

Davegt27, on 01 August 2016 - 01:53 PM, said:

if you think logically Merc's or mercenaries would not have the money or resources to develop and field even one Mech
(I use the F15E strike eagle for example the cost to field that weapon system is enormous)

Some of the 'mechs are 100s of years old. It would be more akin to owning and operating P-51 Mustangs today. Private citizens can and do own those.

Davegt27, on 01 August 2016 - 01:53 PM, said:

only a major house with its huge economic power could field a standing army of Mechs

An Army of 'mechs, true. But mercenaries and units can field a ragtag battalion's worth of 'mechs. But MW:O is already Pokemech, so that cat is out of the bag.

Davegt27, on 01 August 2016 - 01:53 PM, said:

also in the MWO universe Merc's should not be the most powerful force in the game they should be there to fill a gap in lesser houses

...and Major Houses, and ComStar, and large corporations....

Davegt27, on 01 August 2016 - 01:53 PM, said:

so a lack of foresight and vision of what FW should be is something PGI should work on

CW/FW needs work but PGI needs to say what there vision for the game mode is going to be

Agreed

[Unendingmenace]

All great ideas which I support. I do not however believe there is a need to "Break up large merc units". As we've already established "Large Merc units" are not the cause of issues that Faction play currently face.

xX PUG Xx, on 01 August 2016 - 03:55 PM, said:

I actually like all of those ideas, however I would change QueenBlade's "cannot repair" to "takes longer" or "costs more" to reflect the difficulty and cost involved in acquiring the "foreign" technology.

This would give incentive to using a particular tech type while not completely removing the players choice, something that most players dislike intensely.

This is a FANTASTIC idea!

[Zolaz]

The only way you can get PGI to support an idea of the playerbase, is if PGI feels like it isnt in our own best interest. Paul needs to feel like he is taking away our c-bills because the game just isnt hard enough. Russ needs to feel like his vision and ideas are being followed because he is our only hope.

[-Vompo-]

Really like some of those ideas. There really needs to be a clear difference between house units and mercs.

[Deadeye254]

I also think loyalist should be able to vote on the planet they want to attack and not just the Faction choosing an exact attack lane would go a long way to giving loyalist a bigger role in FW.

[L A V A]

I think I should be able to play ALL my mechs, both IS and Clan.

Why do folks want me to play just one faction?

[Hotthedd]

L A V A, on 02 August 2016 - 04:13 AM, said:

I think I should be able to play ALL my mechs, both IS and Clan.

Why do folks want me to play just one faction?

If PGI gave us 2 pilots per account (one Clan, one I.S.) that would solve that problem, and ensure that the population is equal on both sides.

[L A V A]

The problem, I think is that their vision (of recreating a galaxy with many different factions all fighting themselves) doesn't work.

If there were 3 million playing the game, possibly.

But given the player base, this vision of galactic war just doesn't work and never stood a chance.

I would say they need to focus on famous battles or scenarios in which everyone is given a choice on what side to play. There should be no penalties for changing loyalties. Bonuses should pile up for the side with the least players. Once folks have picked their side, if the sides are still too unequal, offer even more bonuses to swap. Once you have things fairly equal, let the battle begin.

Then you end up with hundreds of players all dropping on the same planet and you remove one of the biggest problems of FW... waiting in the queue.

Now add in some mechanic to include quick play maps as the primary game mode until one side or the other gets to the 50% conquered mark and they you use the choke point base maps to represent a losing sides retreat into fixed defenses.

Sometimes I think folks just try to overthink the problems with FW. Make it like a real war and then folks will play.

[Drunk Canuck]

Yeah, cause you know, it's not like there aren't loyalists that have 300+ members, they should have to pay too! Make everyone pay if they have more than 24 members! Complain about MercStar more, keep on trying to make us good units out to be the bad guys rather than owning up to the fact that you are plagued with more mediocre players than MS is, and that they exploited terrible game design by making numbers matter more than being competent at the game. Then again, even if numbers didn't matter, a lot of loyalists would still be incompetent and mercs would still have arguably the largest portion of good players in FP.

You think that with the 200 people in 228th, where our unit has hundreds upon millions of C-Bills in our coffers, that we can't pay for everything with the 50-60 odd players who actually do play Faction Play? Give me a break, the amount of grasping for straws by this community is absolutely astounding. Stop trying to make us into the villains and either drag your populations back into the queue and start winning, or stop complaining and don't play. One way or another, mercs don't care what you arrogant loyalists think, there are significant advantages for better rewards from loyalists than there are for mercs right now, but I guess you have to actually do better than mercs in order to win the planets, and be willing to defend them as well in order to get that MC. Once our contracts go, so do our planets.

Hotthedd, on 02 August 2016 - 04:17 AM, said:

If PGI gave us 2 pilots per account (one Clan, one I.S.) that would solve that problem, and ensure that the population is equal on both sides.

If you want to balance factions, you put a cap on active players per faction and tell everyone else to suck it up and go elsewhere. In other words, if your players aren't dropping in FP with any frequency, your unit members wouldn't count against the cap.

[RjBass3]

Davegt27, on 01 August 2016 - 01:53 PM, said:

if you think logically Merc's or mercenaries would not have the money or resources to develop and field even one Mech
(I use the F15E strike eagle for example the cost to field that weapon system is enormous)

only a major house with its huge economic power could field a standing army of Mechs

also in the MWO universe Merc's should not be the most powerful force in the game they should be there to fill a gap in lesser houses

so a lack of foresight and vision of what FW should be is something PGI should work on

CW/FW needs work but PGI needs to say what there vision for the game mode is going to be

Hmmmm http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Brigand

[PoorDecisions]

Quote

IF YOU WANT TO BREAK UP LARGE MERC UNITS

Who's talking about breaking up large merc units? Who's demanding it?

...the only people who want to break up large merc units are people who are not large merc units. I have yet to hear one single legitimate reason to break up large merc units. All of the reasons I've ever heard include jealousy or butthurt.

Edited by PoorDecisions, 02 August 2016 - 03:10 PM.

[RjBass3]

L A V A, on 02 August 2016 - 04:13 AM, said:

I think I should be able to play ALL my mechs, both IS and Clan. Why do folks want me to play just one faction?

Because in the early years of the Clan Invasion, the IS didn't have any Clan mechs. This game is based off of the Battletech Universe and while it sways from lore often, it tries to follow lore where it can.

[Davegt27]

Quote

A hodgepodge of junkyards, workshops and waste dumps clustered around the local approximation of a space port, its name selected in a lottery, Vengeance Incorporated is at the same time little more string of repair bays and yet an organized production concern capable of producing an new 'Mech design, the Brigand.^[1]
A standardized design rather than a FrankenMech, the Brigand is produced in enough quantities to be considered mass production. Apart from using locally produced armor, almost the entirety of the Brigand is constructed from contraband components either stolen or purchased on the Black Market by the pirates.^[1]
The original "CEO" and driving force behind the facility was "Lady Death" Trevalline, with most intelligence agencies assuming that the Word of Blake at least offered some support to the endeavor as part of their destabilizing efforts across the Inner Sphere. This line of thought has been questioned as the "factory" has continued production even during the Blakist's collapse towards the end of the Jihad and the demise of "Lady Death", with either Vengeance Incorporated merely using stockpiled supplies or an indication of some other as yet unknown source of support.^[1]
By mid-3081 intelligence agencies were receiving disturbing reports that Vengeance Incorporated was not only producing a new variant of the Brigand, but also that quantities of Hunter tanks equipped with MML systems and Vedette with Light Autocannon were also being manufactured,^[2] despite the Tortuga Dominions being embroiled in an internal power struggle following the death of "Lady Death" Trevalline and the downfall of her personal command, the Death's Consorts.^[3] An invasion of Tortuga Prime by the Filtvelt Coalition also found that Vengeance Incorporated was producing Pegasus, Drillson, and Condor hovertanks, as well as Bulldog, Manticore, and Demolisher tanks.^[4]

vengeance incorporated is the maker
but we would slowly devolve into an argument about one off Mechs and exceptions to the rule of thumb

I was trying to not right a book
for example Battle tech seems to emulate the nationalism of the 19th and 20th century
and under that umbrella the major houses have most of the economic power and territorial influence

going along with that concept Mercs are smaller units using assets taken that are commonly available

don't get me wrong my unit the Flying Sharks is taken from the 75th of the Merc unit called AVG aka Flying Tigers
that unit/wing was one of the best equipped Merc units in history (yeah P40)

anyway my goal is not to destroy big merc units since I want mercs to even have there own planet but I want to point out
that logically big merc units should not be the dominate factor in the game

to summarize PGI needs to spell out there vision and goal for FW/CW
single units are exploiting FW making it hard to balance the game mode and preventing long term life of FW