14 replies to this topic

[Kagen Breck]

hi i am looking at starting faction play and i was wondering which IS house had the smallest player base? is there any way to rank the different houses by player population?

I have been playing battle tech since it was a table top (but im new here) and i have enjoyed all the lore so i'm open to any house my only real preference would be with the underdog.

im not actually trying to get recruited that's why i posted here. i want to get the lay of the land and sort my self out game wise before i join a unit. any info on faction play would be appreciated also.

[Koniving]

I'm aware that Liao has a very low population. Looking at the faction play map to see the smallest faction spaces should help quantify how screwed some factions are.

[TooDumbToQuit]

I would not suggest going that way. I left a Clan because we could not get drops.

[S 0 L E N Y A]

Yep, its house Liao, and has been for a while.
Our largest team has recently more or less gone defunct and lost about 2/3rds of its members. Some going to Jade Falcon, others just not playing period.
Even prior to that Liao was still the smallest faction.

There are only a small handful of loyal Liao units that will play FP. Mine is one of em.

The good news is that now Jade Falcon is on our border getting matches are not a problem.

[Kagen Breck]

Koniving, on 06 September 2016 - 01:23 PM, said:

I'm aware that Liao has a very low population. Looking at the faction play map to see the smallest faction spaces should help quantify how screwed some factions are.

maybe im reading the faction map wrong but to me it looked like it would be the FRR that was short handed because there was not much of it left the other day =)

so if Jade Falcon was not pushing down Liao could not attack Davion or Marik?

thank you all for your time.

[Aleksandr Sergeyevich Kerensky]

Kagen Breck, on 06 September 2016 - 04:24 PM, said:

maybe im reading the faction map wrong but to me it looked like it would be the FRR that was short handed because there was not much of it left the other day =)

so if Jade Falcon was not pushing down Liao could not attack Davion or Marik?

thank you all for your time.

FRR has a pretty big attack lane, so many pilots flock to that region of space. There are a lot of pilots who go there just because its action packed.

They are definatelly not the under dogs.

As koniving and boogie has said... Liaos population is quite small, because of the map ever resets... Well, factionplay becomes extinct for liao and marik for like... An eternity.

Anyway, i know yo dont want to join a unit... And you want to join an underdog house... But that might leave you bored... I recommend at least trying out for a casual unit just to get the social aspect that mwo has to offer.

Unlike most online gaming communities, mwo has a pretty fun group of people! This is probably the best aspect mwo has to offer!

[Kagen Breck]

thanks for the info every one.
Aleksandr Sergeyevich Kerenskyi will join a group at some point. i just want to get the feel for the game first. Im ok with not going to Liao it was my least favorite choice. to bad though i wonder if they have a fix for House Liao in the future? Is Marik in the same boat? where can i join in that would help with out leaving me in a no drop unit?

Edited by Kagen Breck, 06 September 2016 - 08:00 PM.

[jss78]

I'm not sure of the numbers in Faction Play (I haven't played that in a while). Given that most people display faction tags, and quite few people play FP, I'm guessing most people actually choose the faction based on lore and feel.

But looking at unit tags you see in quick-play, yeah, I think Liao are the smallest one. Lorewise I guess they have little to appeal to the average western gamer, with the Chinese/Russian background and the tyrannical/paranoid feel. Leaves them as the underdog in MWO, just as in BT lore.

When I play with Liao in FP, I always felt that the average player in my team is somewhat more experienced than in the opfor (commonly Davion). So maybe not the first choice for many, but attracts a segment of the old-timers.

Rasalhague are supposed to be the little guys, as the only minor power included in MWO, but in-game they're anything but. They seem to attract a lot of players, maybe as something of a hipster choice as that sympathetic little guy. I also notice that most real-life Nordic players (a lot of us here) tend to side with Rasalhague for the cultural affinity.

[Besh]

Create a 1 Man Merc Unit . Take 1 week contracts for different houses, and see what happens in regards to FP .

[The Basilisk]

Its more of a question where you actually get to play at all and where your friends and enemys are manageable.
When you join a faction where you have a hard time to get a team at all and you additionally will face the majority of the decent players....well does not sound like fun, right ?

[The Basilisk]

jss78, on 06 September 2016 - 11:36 PM, said:

I'm not sure of the numbers in Faction Play (I haven't played that in a while). Given that most people display faction tags, and quite few people play FP, I'm guessing most people actually choose the faction based on lore and feel.

But looking at unit tags you see in quick-play, yeah, I think Liao are the smallest one. Lorewise I guess they have little to appeal to the average western gamer, with the Chinese/Russian background and the tyrannical/paranoid feel. Leaves them as the underdog in MWO, just as in BT lore.

When I play with Liao in FP, I always felt that the average player in my team is somewhat more experienced than in the opfor (commonly Davion). So maybe not the first choice for many, but attracts a segment of the old-timers.

Rasalhague are supposed to be the little guys, as the only minor power included in MWO, but in-game they're anything but. They seem to attract a lot of players, maybe as something of a hipster choice as that sympathetic little guy. I also notice that most real-life Nordic players (a lot of us here) tend to side with Rasalhague for the cultural affinity.

Its more like Liao does not play any significant role (safe insulting other houses that do and beeing detrimental to a unification against a common foe) in this timeline regarding the clan wars.
Some years later during and after Liaos presidentship of the 2nd Starleague they eff up the davion border, commit various variations of massmurder, warcrimes and other atrocitys towards the civillians of the Sphere.
Additionally Sun Zu, the Liao bossman, throws his fiancé, the Maric princess out of his realm and threatens to kill her if she isn't gone fast enough.

So...why would someone play ConCaps ?

[Koniving]

Kagen Breck, on 06 September 2016 - 04:24 PM, said:

maybe im reading the faction map wrong but to me it looked like it would be the FRR that was short handed because there was not much of it left the other day =)

so if Jade Falcon was not pushing down Liao could not attack Davion or Marik?

thank you all for your time.

It can be; I just know Liao is always short handed. However, Liao isn't front line to four clan factions.

FRR is, and so even with good man power, FRR does often shrink (though last time they got pretty big). Just so many opponents.

[Rogue Jedi]

as I understand it with Phase 3 PGI made it so that less populated factions offer higher rewards, so if you are after the lowest population faction look who offers highest rewards for mercs.

but be aware, having low population is not an advantage, it means it is likely to take longer to form matches

[Satan n stuff]

The Basilisk, on 07 September 2016 - 02:38 AM, said:

Its more like Liao does not play any significant role (safe insulting other houses that do and beeing detrimental to a unification against a common foe) in this timeline regarding the clan wars.
Some years later during and after Liaos presidentship of the 2nd Starleague they eff up the davion border, commit various variations of massmurder, warcrimes and other atrocitys towards the civillians of the Sphere.
Additionally Sun Zu, the Liao bossman, throws his fiancé, the Maric princess out of his realm and threatens to kill her if she isn't gone fast enough.

So...why would someone play ConCaps ?

Because this is battletech, all factions are led by amoral schemers at best and complete psychopaths at worst. If there isn't a war someone will find a reason to start one because this is a wargame. Any faction that doesn't fit that description is doomed to irrelevance.

[Ultra-Laser]

House Kurita is nearly always a player or two short for its 12-mans and usually has committed fights on at least two fronts. A happy medium between having opponents to drop against and players to drop with.