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Purpose- to pitch a series of gameplay mechanics that would improve quality of life in the faction play que, with emphasis given towards realisistic expectations, an ability to function at any population level, and the depth that was originally pitched during the OG fw pitch to the community. (a theme is to highlight the units, and let solos use fw as a recruitment ground, were they have chances of running into units more often then not, and testing if they like them)
MAIN MECHANICS
2 front conflict- the dumbing down of fw into 1 que really hurt the overall population. It removced all notions of a meta strategy, and turned fw into qp without a matchmaker. To fix, simply switch the single que into an attack and a defend que. This returns the sense that it is a war with multip[le fronts, and it improves depth. For population starved timezones, a simple mechanic that would alert a group qued for an attack that there is a group qued for a defense, and the option to do an “emergency redeploy” to their defend que, or vice versa, would allow timezones with very few people online at once to still get matches if need be.
Staging grounds- a planet that is selected weekly via voting, this planet would offer multipliers for how much it would cost to move to a planet on the front. The further said front is from the staging area, the more deployments would cost.
Dropships-people would que on a “staging world” (which can either not exist, or be referenced through different background art, it would be in name only for purposes of adding depth, and to describe the place were people find dropships) were they would be presented with a list and descriptions of all groups forming for fw, these groups would be refered to as dropships, and these dropships could be as little as a title for the groups operating in fw. Once you have a full dropship, you choose which front you would like to “deploy” too. This deployment should cost a minute amount of cbills, which can be taken from unit coffers if the person is cleared to access them. This gives a function to unit coffers beyond unit taxes. Allowing units to purchase a dropship for reduced deployment fees is an additional avenue of depth that can be taken if wanted, otherwise, the deployment fee would be considered the “rent” on a dropship that the first person within the dropship pays, or the cost can be spread to everyone for a puggy fw dropship. Returning to staging areas should be free, however deploying to the other front should cost money, to discourage hopping fronts just because you got hammered once, but not be so punishing that it isnt an attractive idea if you are facing multiple defeats. A third option can be implemented that allows solos to redeploy to fill a dropship that is deployed and down a man or 2 after a drop, for free, however they cant pick and choose their ds. Free requeing immediatly after a drop should be implemented, so that groups that choose not to change fronts dont have to pay each time they drop. This makes requeing look more atractive, and incentivizes it, improving wait times all around.
FLUFF MECHANICS
Faction voting- faction voting, as is, is a failure (btw, since when was war planning a democracy?). Not many people do it, and the number of clueless people doing it is hindersome to any real effort the community might put in. Therefore, a series of changes should occur
Units that have taken more planets while loyal to a faction should have their votes count as more, proportional to how many planets they have taken. (hhod-kcom example)
1 unit-1 vote. Solo players should not be able to vote (a theme is to highlight the units, and let solos use fw as a recruitment ground)
As sametech events will require different factions to ally with each other due to population issues, it would be nice if the units, or maybe the highest ranked unit in a faction, could vote on which faction they would like to ally with for the next event. This makes deals between nations doable, and allows for the forum drama that is the drive for fw
Dropdeck variation/faction uniqueness- A while ago, there was interest in giving each faction a bit of flavor. The original pitch consisted of different skills in the skill tree for fw only, however, it seems that fell through. Instead, i propose a variation on different dropdeck tonnages, and a unique take on mixed tech. Factions that historically unified with their opposite tech cousins (lookin at you frr) could recieve lower deck tonnages overall, in exchange for being able to field a number of mechs from the oppossing techbase. An idea even of what those differences should be, is below
-Frr and ghostbear- 50/50 with a tonnage of 240
-steiner/kurita, and novacat/wolf- 3 mechs from their own techbase, 1 from the opposing tech bases, and overall tonnage of 250
-Marik/liao/davion and jadefalcon/smokejaguar/diamondshark- all 4 mechs from their own techbase, with a tonnage at 265
Ingame faction page- a faction page were people can find the leaders of units for their faction, people can discuss and share strategies, maybe upload pictures and gameplay videos, propoganda can be posted, just basically a faction page with as many options as possible for players to create and share and discuss. Ideally it would be a sandbox that the faction can use to kind of mold itself, and were interfaction/interunit rivalries and space-nerd-politics can play out and be in a way that their faction has easy access to it, and people can really just run with it and see what happens.
Edited by naterist, 07 March 2018 - 06:58 PM.
