5 replies to this topic

[Mr Smiles]

One of my favorite aspects of previous MechWarrior games wasn't the 'Mech on 'Mech combat, it was the integration of other vehicles into the combat.

MechWarrior 3 had you managing the location of a mobile field base in the middle of combat, sometimes holding back attackers while it crept slowly out of the range of fire behind you.

MechWarrior 4 was great for stomping wave after wave of little hovercraft, or taking cover when a dangerous tank rolled over a hill.

I think this MechWarrior Online really should integrate ground combat into it. If there's a co-op mode, the enemies should consist mostly of ground vehicles with a light sprinkling of enemy 'Mechs; if there's some sort of objective-based versus mode (like Attack/Defend or something), the leader of each time should be able to click a button to go to a map, and use a simple interface to give orders to some AI vehicles on their team.

And by 'vehicles', I also think there should be infantry. Especially if we're going to be getting into a conflict with the Clans, with their Elementals and ****! Tiny little men on the battlefield, giving a huge advantage to those with machine guns and flamers, and those without are given the shaft and have to expend huge amounts of heat and/or ammo shooting one individual soldier at a time (a PPC might do tons of damage, but it isn't an area of effect weapon, it can only hit one infantry).

And for that matter, air strikes. Draw a line across the battlefield, and your air support will come zooming into the area to drop a bomb at sonic speeds, giving enemy 'Mechs a few second window to shoot the plane down.

I sincerely believe that if vehicles were properly integrated into the game, the quality of the game would be so many times greater than if it's just a straight-up Mech vs. Mech arena match game (which gets REALLY boring REALLY quick).

It also gives you a variety of mission types. Escort missions where you're directing a group of vehicles across the map while keeping enemies away from it. Combined arms assaults. Missions where the local populace has formed a militia with shotguns and rifles and you're forced to either shoot them on the street, or ignore them as bullets ping uselessly off your armor.

Anyway. I think a 'Mech game without vehicles/infantry would feel extremely empty--and I know it'd be hard with an online component to manage those AIs, but I think it'd be worth it. And, I think if you gave the leader of each team limited control over the formations and positions of the vehicles, it'd be fantastic...

...and for once in a MechWarrior game, we'd have a reason to equip machine guns and flamers! Infantry pewpew!

[SquareSphere]

just out of curiosity have you tried the Mechwarrior Living Legends mod for Crysis war? It's whole concept is around combined arms between battle armor, vehicles, air assets and mechs.

As far as MWO goes, i wouldn't expect to see any of this stuff till they can produce co op missions. These other non mech assets have been treated pretty poorly in other MW games as they were merely cannon fodder that could be taken out in a shot or two.

[The Incredible Microbe]

I totally agree with mr. smiles:

I'd like to see vehicle features, infantry features, maybe even stationary defence positions, City Combat (with an extreme advantage for the hidden infantry inferno units)... let the "Commander" set the infantry units before the game starts, let him call vehicle support, or even air strikes or, better, orbital bombardment ;-)

Please, not just stupid Mech-vs-Mech shootouts, BUT "protect the V.I.P.", hold the line for longenough, tactical retreat, defend the city, scouting... and so on... missions. With even the small Mechs (Locust)...

I have the bad feeling, that we'll see huge Battles with all the super heavy Mechs... but we'll lack the cool missions, the small skirmishes, the "not so important" battlefields...

[Morashtak]

Going to necro this as this ties in with the "LAM" posts.

First point to ponder; With the "announcement" of dropships one should be aware of the following lines on the Overlord page.

"The Overlord is one of the primary Mech transport DropShips in the Inner Sphere. Capable of carrying a full 'Mech battalion (typically 36 'Mechs organized into 3 Companies each having 3 Lances - ed.) and a Squadron of ASFs (typically 6 AVs organized into 3 Flights of 2 each - ed.), as well as most of the technical support for both, the nearly-10,000 ton vessel has proven its worth as a dedicated combat transport."

Also support, scout, armor and artillery are included in the manifest. Don't forget the tech support and command structure.

Overlord seems to be overkill for a Dropship but not unimaginable for future release.

Union class - A stalwart of company-sized 'Mech combat transports, the Union class is a venerable and capable member of the DropShip unit type. Capable of carrying two ASFs, in addition to the twelve 'Mechs,...

That's better. 12 Mechs with two ASFs. Step one is already announced. The air phase is doable and the ASFs can be brought along without needing and additional DropShip.

The Dropship can be used as artillery. No mention of infantry, tanks, etc but these could be ferried in on a modified Leopard.


Augmented Lances/Companies are a future possibility.

[Fiachdubh]

Also agree and make them affective. Always felt vehicles and aircraft horribly skanked in previous PC games both in dealing and taking damage. Except the aerospace craft in MW2 Mercs, they could take a beating.
Don't know how they fare in the TT game but would think a heavily armoured tank with 3 PPCs or ACs would be a force to be reckoned with wether you have legs or tracks.

Maybe someone can correct me but I would think a tank with out all that complicated walking gadgetry could load up on more armour and weapons than a mech of equal tonnage. I am not very familiar with the non-mech vehicles so could be wrong.

[Azantia]

As any seasoned mechwarrior or commander can tell you, there are several Battletech tank designs that are feared as much as any battlemech, some that come to mind are the Fury, Behemoth, Ontos, Demolisher, Schrek PPC carrier, Burke, DI Schmitt, DI Morgan, Glory Heavy Fire Support, Alacorn Heavy Tank (x3 AC/20 anyone?) Ajax, Puma, and of course, the Marksman Tank....

As you can see...the list goes on.

Personally I think adding vehicles would not only follow Canon, and open options for how respawns/death effects a battle (the cost of tanks is less than the cost of a battlemech...some of the time) but it would also add alot of depth and variety to combat.

Here is the problem....some tanks, although slow, were better brawlers and had more firepower than some battlemechs, even for their class (light, medium, heavy, assault) I really dont think thats such a bad thing in the table top, but you dont want your mechwarrior online becoming mecha-tanks online....balance would be paramount, if it was even attainable.

Aerospace Fighters to me should be limited to air-strikes and strafing runs called in by the commander, because in canon lore, aerospace fighters generally didnt stick around in pitched fights (due to air superiority ASF being a hard counter to them) and were used for lighting quick air-strikes on key targets such as command centers, artillery platforms, and occasionally a strafing run or 3 on a lance of battlemechs. I think this has to do with the fact that a battlemech is generally a moving target, and when you are travelling at mach 1 through 7 (not a big aero-space junkie, so aero-jocks you can correct me if I am wrong) you dont have time or physics on your side when you talk about re-positioning or tracking a moving target while on a fixed angle of attack. Now obviously the slower the mech, the more of a target it would present to an aero-jocky. But again, im not a big Aero-jocky, I just know Partisan Tanks and a Jagermech or two will keep me generally safe from pesky armored flies.

Lastly, you have Battlearmor / Infantry. Remember this is 3048/3049 timeframe. Most of the IS does not have battlearmor, and if they do, its in the experiemental phase, and I believe that is limited to Comstar and the Grey Death Legion? Infantry is not useful against battlemechs except in large numbers or urban environements (arguably so at that). Infantry is useful for clearing underground or hardened facilities and urban areas. In a real life setting, infantry are always necessary, no matter how many big warmachines you have, in Mechwarrior Online, they would be nothing but fodder, and considering matches will be around 12v12, you simply dont have enough infantrymen to make even a 0.001% difference in the fight.

Once Battlearmor becomes available to the IS, there could be a place for BA if they had charges they could place on the legs of enemy battlemechs (anti-mech attack) along with the stealth/camoflague that normally protects it from being seen so it can get close enough to do so. Since I dont really expect to see that, I would say the community might be better to focus on being extremely nice when they ask for a mix of battlemechs and tanks/armor