61 replies to this topic

[Bombast]

On Clans...

Quote

I always took the Clans as kind of an affirmation of one of Battletechs themes - That you just can't escape humanity. You can flee the Inner Sphere, and you can redefine your society, and you can change how you breed and beat down the opposition and kill off anyone who reminds you of what humanity 'used to be,' but in the end, you can't escape what you are - Human. All the tech and gene manipulation and language changes doesn't matter. At the end of the day, you're human, and you either have to deal with that, or get blindsided by it.

There's just no easy fix in Battletech - No ancient alien tech, no planet of hats to learn a lesson from, no magic realm that hold's the answers. Just humans doing human things and trying to deal with the fallout of that inescapable reality, and anyone who tries to rise above that is going to get their teeth kicked in.

[B0oN]

El Bandito, on 24 September 2017 - 08:06 AM, said:

As an active merc for both sides, IS side has my condolences.

It also has : tasty AC´s, low laser burntimes, very high survivability, weight advantage in fp, ...

[Bishop Steiner]

Juodas Varnas, on 24 September 2017 - 09:59 AM, said:

Wolverine is a sexy beast, dude! (Not as sexy as a Scorpion, but NOTHING is as sexy as a Scorpion)

Ain't our fault you have sh*t taste in mechs.

Scorpions are sexy.... Goliath's are sexy.... so only way to be moar sexy? Be a Goliath Scorpion.....

[Juodas Varnas]

Bishop Steiner, on 24 September 2017 - 11:06 AM, said:

Scorpions are sexy.... Goliath's are sexy.... so only way to be moar sexy? Be a Goliath Scorpion.....

[InvictusLee]

Bishop Steiner, on 24 September 2017 - 11:06 AM, said:

Scorpions are sexy.... Goliath's are sexy.... so only way to be moar sexy? Be a Goliath Scorpion.....

The only way to be sexier is to be a wolverine...

[Alan Davion]

Trissila, on 24 September 2017 - 10:18 AM, said:

But it turns out that that's just one facet of the Clans, and probably the cleanest one. The rest of their society is a horrifying, caste-based nightmare that would turn any free man's stomach. There's a lot of bad to go with that good. And in the end, it turns out that Clean Warfare is a myth -- it only works if everyone agrees to it, and the IS didn't agree to it. Not playing by artificially restrictive rules is what ultimately prevailed, and that's basically the point of the overarching story of Battletech. The Clans are an effective metaphor for how Absolute Order, although a nice and lofty ideal, comes at a heavy cost in terms of freedom, and in the end most people want to be free.

The IS didn't agree to it at first you mean.

It wasn't until the reformation of the Star League, Operation Bulldog and Task Force Serpent that the IS played by Clan rules, and quite literally clubbed an entire Clan to death with those rules.

Granted the IS still had their advantage in numbers over the Smoke Jaguars, they could afford a war of attrition, the Jaguar's couldn't, and by extension the IS proved as a whole that, if they wanted to, they could club to death all the Clans with the Clans own rules, and I think that for the first time the Clans were actually scared.

Surprisingly enough that fear lasted for something like 50 years, but last I heard from the Table Top side of things, the Clans were gearing up for one more go and Table Top Battletech would enter the next era, the era of the ilClan.

[Bishop Steiner]

November11th, on 24 September 2017 - 11:10 AM, said:

The only way to be sexier is to be a wolverine...

because to be a Wolverine is to be DEAD sexy........

[InvictusLee]

Bishop Steiner, on 24 September 2017 - 11:20 AM, said:

because to be a Wolverine is to be DEAD sexy........

DAMN RIGHT. LOL

[Spheroid]

Look the very obvious way to break merc stacking is to simply alter payouts so that beyond certain map points wins even if stomps simply do not pay.

Payout is a combination of three factors.

• Your percentage of faction specific equipment
  
• Your penetration into an opponent's territory
  
• Your faction's true active population

These three factors acting in concert will arrive at some equilibrium point on the starmap where you will either bring less than total meta or be facing a non-contracted player. The map will exhibit a trend for some form of stability, but the geographical shape of that stable form will be highly organic and irregular. In addition some loyalists or rich mercs will be able to swim against this current by burning money for territory, which is exactly what you want in a F2P game as it serves as a c-bill sink.



Clan representative mechs

Wolf
Adder
Artic Wolf*
Ice Ferret
Linebacker*
Timberwolf
Orion-IIC*
Gargoyle
Direwolf

Jade Falcon
Kitfox
Cougar
Hellbringer
Summoner
Night Gyr*

Ghost Bear
Viper
Mad Dog
Gladiator
Kodiak*

Smoke Jags
Mist Lynx
Artic Cheetah*
Shadow Cat
Stormcrow
Mad Dog
Ebon Jaguar*
Warhawk
Direwolf

Nova Cat
Jenner-IIC
Huntsman
Nova Cat
Supernova

Steel Viper
?

Diamond Shark
Piranha
Shadow Cat
Mad Cat Mk II*

I.S. Roster

Kurita
Spider
Panther
Jenner
Dragon
Mauler

Steiner
Commando
Firestarter
Wolfhound
Bushwacker
Griffin
Banshee
Zeus
Atlas

Davion
Javelin
Blackjack
Enforcer
Rifleman
Jagermech
Victor

Marik
Spider
Cicada
Centurion
Trebuchet
Hunchback
Awesome

Liao
Urbanmech
Raven
Vindicator
Cataphract
Catapult
Quickdraw

Rassalhague/Comguards
Panther
Griffin
Crab
Kintaro
Black Knight
Highlander
King Crab

Territory Control modifier (proposed)



A faction that does not pay well will lose players and offer respite for the loyalist that remain to oppose the previously seal clubbing mercs on that front. Any combat will then be from drawn from non-contracted Clan pugs or shift to an adjacent I.S. neighboring state. This respite is exactly what non-clubbers need to make the mode more attractive.

Bring back fronts, break and or randomize seven day contracts to desync merc units and remove end of phase ceasefire progress reset so that the same number of fights can happen over a longer period of time on more planets between variously skilled and equipped units. Also go a three bucket system that allows inter factional warfare. Since it is looking for either techbase to fight against, the increase in wait times will be minimal.

Edited by Spheroid, 26 September 2017 - 03:57 PM.

[MischiefSC]

who else remembers what it was like when it want just being an IS loyalist, but which is faction which mattered?

[SmokeyYote]

Bishop Steiner, on 24 September 2017 - 10:26 AM, said:

Dude.

You got it so wrong.

The Clans are a bunch of Furries who were lead by some insane but charasmatic moron who read the Cliffnotes for Nietzsche, Genghis Khan and such and convinced a bunch of people to play dress up as different animals while adhering to some pseudo-samurai wannabe code based off poorly translated anime.

But dang did they have good scientists. Probably because they WEREN'T the ones playing dress up and puffing out their chests to show how macho they are.


Strana Mechty Grand Conclave of 3048 Class Photo......

Yes Inner Sphere... these were the fruitloops kicking your butts for 2 solid years.

Hey, You leave the furries out of this ! We ain't no dirty Clanners

[MischiefSC]

SmokeyYote, on 24 September 2017 - 03:00 PM, said:

Hey, You leave the furries out of this ! We ain't no dirty Clanners

Not all furries are Clanners but all Clanners are furries.

[Y E O N N E]

Bishop Steiner, on 24 September 2017 - 07:39 AM, said:

If I played without being a lore enthusiast I would have stopped long ago. Seriously, to me the question is how people who DON'T embrace lore manage not to get totally bored and burned out.

My only guess is it's better for egos to be the big fish in the small pond than play real competitive scenes and be the little fish in the big pond? Just a wild guess though.

I didn't come for the lore and I didn't stay for it. I keep playing because the actual combat of the game is mechanically interesting to me. Nothing more, nothing less.

[Rakshasa]

Juodas Varnas, on 24 September 2017 - 11:07 AM, said:

MischiefSC, on 24 September 2017 - 12:43 PM, said:

who else remembers what it was like when it want just being an IS loyalist, but which is faction which mattered?

I do, and I'm still renouncing my four-year Liao loyalty to join the Diamond Sharks this week. I like the Shark approach to doing things in lore. Also shark memes as far as the eye can see.

[MechaBattler]

PGI doesn't even care to provide lore on the mechs that we play with. Even World of Tanks provides tank bios. Why would they care about people who want to be a loyalist for the sake of the lore?

[stealthraccoon]

I'm willing to accept the Mist Lynx as IS since it was discarded by its creators (and it's really just an updated Sling). Otherwise, I just don't care for the ergonomics of the mechs made by baby space clams. I mean, they don't even have Urbanmechs (yet)!!!

How can you improve on glorious mechs, such as:
Raven
Vindicator
Catapult
Cataphract
Urbanmech

See? Space clams ain't got nuthin on Capellan ingenuity.

Edited by stealthraccoon, 24 September 2017 - 04:17 PM.

[justcallme A S H]

Racerxintegra2k, on 24 September 2017 - 07:26 AM, said:

The battles are always up hill.

I have never experienced this when playing IS.

[Bishop Steiner]

MischiefSC, on 24 September 2017 - 12:43 PM, said:

who else remembers what it was like when it want just being an IS loyalist, but which is faction which mattered?

you mean back before you Clammers could pick things like Steel Vipers and Nova Cats?

SmokeyYote, on 24 September 2017 - 03:00 PM, said:

Hey, You leave the furries out of this ! We ain't no dirty Clanners

Well, sadly the Clanners wannabe Furries. Keep up the fight!

Yeonne Greene, on 24 September 2017 - 03:31 PM, said:

I didn't come for the lore and I didn't stay for it. I keep playing because the actual combat of the game is mechanically interesting to me. Nothing more, nothing less.

proof you're a Loony?

[Sunstruck]

There was a time when it actually ment something to be a loyalist, then PGI decided to nerf "buckets" and ruin faction warfare. Most of us are hoping that someday CW will return to being able to let the factions choose who they're fighting against.

[Athom83]

I think one thing that keeps me strong as a Marik loyalist is my Warhammer with HPPC arms and my Wolverine with a 4 MPL fist both decked out in Merik decals and cockpit items,

Edited by Athom83, 24 September 2017 - 04:49 PM.