10 replies to this topic

[arcana75]

Hi, having difficulty finding answers cuz so much has changed and many of the stickies and FAQs here and out there refer to outdated info. So appreciate the replies!

1) In Faction Play, now that I'm in a unit and the unit has a contract (IS), how does one select a planet to engage in? Or it's automatic you hit Fight and just pick Invasion or Scout and it functions like Quick Play but without tier-based matchmaking?

2) Skills, so it's just the skill tree now right? There's no basic/master skills to unlock, or buying 3 variants? Also in the skilltree, if I disable a node I need to spend another 400xp to re-enable it right? Is it possible to reclaim all SP points spent on 1 mech (say I decided to abandon this mech) and reapply them on a new mech? I know u can convert XP to GXP using MC.

3) Is there a way to field a mech in the testing grounds without buying the new loadouts? I know about smurfy but it'd be nice to know how the mech really performs in the field.

4) The UI, is there a way for the mechlab to use the entirety of the screen instead of just 3/4 of my 2560x1440 screen? In my current situation the UI is fullscreen but the mechlab UI components don't use the whole screen so the right side shows a mech and the mech details popup on the lower right obscures the right leg and arm.

5) What's NBT? I keep seeing people mention this.

6) What happens at the end of a contract? It's just for the bonus?

7) The unit with the most contributions to a planet invasion gets the MC rewards for the planet? So that's xx MC per week?

8) In Faction Play it's always IS vs Clan? IS vs IS or Clan vs Clan never happens?

9) I see in the dev notes there's a yearly loyalty reward. Who qualifies for the 2017 one? I see a link in my profile for a 2016 version but obviously I can't qualify for that and I can't find a listing for a 2017 version. Based on the 2016 version it's talking about activities done in Oct 2015, so the 2017 version is for achievements in 2016? So activities done in Oct 2017 will be tabulated and doled out in 2018?

10) I have the Tournament Support Pack. Are there other similar "global" boosters other than a special mech or premium time?

[Trissila]

1) You hit Fight Now, pick Invasion or Scouting, and away you go. It's QP with no matchmaking.

2) Correct. Mastery is a thing of the past, as are Modules. It's all skill tree now, and it's on a per-chassis basis with no need to own multiple variants. Respecs are not free. Any previously-unlocked nodes remain unlocked but you must spend 400 XP/GXP to acquire them again (as opposed to the original 800 XP/GXP and 45K C-Bill cost). You cannot reclaim resources spent on acquiring SP for a chassis in any way; once you spend them, they're gone.

3) To the best of my knowledge there is not.

4) Nope. MWO's UI is notoriously bad.

5) Not 100% certain, but I believe they're referring to NetBattleTech leagues.

6) Nothing happens. The contract expires and your unit leader (or other applicable ranks) sign on with a new contract. They can also set the current contract to auto-renew. Contracts just determine which side (Clan or IS) you'll be fighting for in FW for the next week, and your bonus payout per-mission.

7) Correct, assuming your unit has enough contribution to earn that payout.

8) At one time, in earlier iterations of FW, there was inter-house and inter-clan fighting. But as FW's population has drastically declined, it is now just the broader IS-vs-Clan game.

9) Not sure.

10) Not 100% certain but I don't believe so.

[arcana75]

Thanks Trissila!

[SnagaDance]

9) Loyalty rewards are usually based on 2 types of rewards: either Mechs or other stuff like the Anniversary Cake cockpit item

For the second category you need to have played enough within a certain period of the year, usually the months leading up to the pay-out of the Loyalty rewards.

Now the mechs is where it gets interesting. These are usually unreleased variants (becoming available for C-bills at least a year later) with unique camo and with a 30% C-bill boost and a complementary mechbay.

The most basic mech reward (up to now always a medium Inner sphere mech) requires you to have spend money on the game. Buying the smallest amount of MC is enough, I don't know if buying the Tournament Supporter pack qualifies though.

For all the other mechs you need to have bought mech packs, often those of this years releases and if you want it all you need to have bought enough of them at their highest price level (that means with the reinforcement mechs and hero), often for the IS and clans seperately.

I usually only get the smallest mech prize, except for the very first Loyalty give away they did, that netted me all mechs except the Clan one IIRC.

10) I wouldn't call a Hero/Champion mech a 'global' booster like Premium Time or the Supporter Pack bonus is, but if you count those it should be worth mentioning the existance of certain cockpit items that can enhance C-bill, XP and I believe Faction rewards. AFAIK these have only be released together with certain mech packs, maybe somebody else would be able to name them all.

[arcana75]

SnagaDance, on 06 September 2017 - 04:17 AM, said:

10) I wouldn't call a Hero/Champion mech a 'global' booster like Premium Time or the Supporter Pack bonus is, but if you count those it should be worth mentioning the existance of certain cockpit items that can enhance C-bill, XP and I believe Faction rewards. AFAIK these have only be released together with certain mech packs, maybe somebody else would be able to name them all.

That's interesting. Do you know of any such cockpit items and the mech pack that goes with it, maybe the ones you own?

[Koniving]

arcana75, on 06 September 2017 - 05:59 AM, said:

That's interesting. Do you know of any such cockpit items and the mech pack that goes with it, maybe the ones you own?

Civil War pack and the second Civil War pack with the subtitle.

They state having such items, but it requires full commitment to collector's edition of both IS models or both Clan models. As such these are not really worth it if all you want are the two items that provide a 5% boost. Nice thing is they work in all matches, not just faction warfare.

Medallions in the cockpit items have provided a loyalty boost to specific Inner Sphere factions, which basically helps you rank up faster. Unknown if they are available in the store (worth checking), these came with a pack that you cannot buy at this time (the Phoenix pack, which had Thunderbolt, Shadow Hawk, Locust and I don't remember which assault; think it was Battlemaster.)

[Lorcryst NySell]

arcana75, on 05 September 2017 - 10:42 PM, said:

9) I see in the dev notes there's a yearly loyalty reward. Who qualifies for the 2017 one? I see a link in my profile for a 2016 version but obviously I can't qualify for that and I can't find a listing for a 2017 version. Based on the 2016 version it's talking about activities done in Oct 2015, so the 2017 version is for achievements in 2016? So activities done in Oct 2017 will be tabulated and doled out in 2018?

10) I have the Tournament Support Pack. Are there other similar "global" boosters other than a special mech or premium time?

9) The complete list of what will be needed to reach each Tier of Loyalty Rewards for the current year hasn't been published yet, so we don't know at the moment. It's not for one month only though, usually it takes into account what you have bought during the "current year" (October to October, I think), and how much you have played during that year.

10) The Tournament Supporter Pack is quite new, only the second ever version of it, and last year it lasted until the Tournament itself. Very very nice to have, one of the best investments to be done in the game currently.

But apart from that, Premium Time and the Holographic Standing and Hanging items giving a +5% to / found in the most expensive Civil War preorder packs, I haven't found a single global bonus yet.

Of course I started after some special packs like the Founders and Phoenix Project ones were available, I didn't even know they were Cockpit Items that provided boosts to Loyalty points (thanks for the info Koniving !), so there may very well be some interesting things in the game ... that are not available to the population at large anymore.

Edited by Lorcryst NySell, 06 September 2017 - 09:52 AM.

[arcana75]

Thanks guys. It's too early for me to commit to a US$70 full package, especially for a small thing buried under a pile of mechs. Plus I was genuinely surprised to learn that cockpit items aren't globally applied to my mechs.

[MechaBattler]

You'll be happier if you keep your purchases to small things. Don't want to get a chip on your shoulder for spending $200 on the game. So many countless threads people saying "I spent $200 on this game!" then get upset over whatever thing they're on about.

I would just spend a little money to take the edge off. Like getting a hero mech to grind c-bills. Premium time to speed it up. Or instead of premium time you can spend $5 more to get just a basic pack. Which comes with 30 days premium time. I think you can upgrade it too. So you can space out getting the ultimate pack if you were so inclined.

Edited by MechaBattler, 07 September 2017 - 10:31 AM.

[Xaat Xuun]

expect the the loyalty rewards to be posted within the next week to the end of the month

[SnagaDance]

MechaBattler, on 07 September 2017 - 10:29 AM, said:

I would just spend a little money to take the edge off. Like getting a hero mech to grind c-bills.

Right. Just spend what you are comfortable with. Buying a little bit of MC can go a long way for instance by waiting for colors to go on sale for 50% off (colors are unlocked globally for all your mechs) or 50% off mechbays (sales are unpredictable though afaik there hasn't been a Black Friday sale without mechbays being 50%).

And like I said, buying some MC will qualify you for a Loyalty mech with a lovely Hero-like 30% C-bill bonus (as others said, the requirements of this year still need to be posted but I can't imagine them having changed this requirement and reward). So that's basically a free Hero mech. (here's to hoping it's a nice one like the Loyalty Centurion or Cicada and not a stinker like the Wolverine one).

I've been playing this game since release and the only serious spending I did was for the first Resistance Pack due to my love for the Grasshopper mech. I planned to go for the $60 package with that one but the incentive of getting myself 2 Loyalty Assault mechs plus all the extra colors and stuff (the Resistance packs are great for colors and patterns) made me spend another $20 back then. Besides that I've spend like $15 on MC each year.

Everything else I've got I earned through playing the game and Event rewards (with MC rewards going to help buying Hero mechs, mechbays and colors on sale). Which right atm means having about 100 mechs, a load of colors and cockpit items.

Oh, and fun, I'm still having fun, very important, must not forget about having fun, it's a game after all.