4 replies to this topic

[Marikhen]

I don't normally like to post about this sort of thing because I'm well aware that there are tons of variables involved with something as "simple" as "game balance." In this case I need to say something.

The two part, 33 difficulty raid/raid mission, "Supplies in Demand," needs to be looked at for rebalancing. I've tried the mission four times now. The first time I started it I quit when my mechs were losing components before the first objective was even razed. The second time went a similar route.

The third time I actually completed the first component of the mission, and I ended it with a 2.2m repair bill. I then took the "don't dawdle" advice for the second part when my mechs were yet again getting hammered early on and ended up failing the mission when my mech had both its legs shot out from under it.

The fourth time I played smarter and completed the first part of the mission with an 800k repair bill, and one of my mechs was completely cored out with some relatively nice gear destroyed. That mech went from 50-60% health to dead in one "lost a component." I haven't even bothered starting the second part of that mission a second time yet.

Now I get it, missions aren't guaranteed to be cakewalks and games do need some degree of challenge. On top of that this game is intended to simulate a profession where Murphy's Law is almost guaranteed and "s*** happens" is a mandatory prayer.

My issue with this scenario is that while the mission is challenging the fact that I'm limited to 230 tons makes it a bit unreasonable. Both missions are absolute meat-grinders thanks to the enemy AI's swarm mentality and the "reinforcements magically spawn out of thin air and in areas you've already cleared" mechanics that are triggered when each of the five objectives is razed. When you combine that with a weight limit that supports lance configurations along the lines of two heavies and two mediums it's not a good mix.

Frankly I'm of the opinion that when you limit what resources a player can bring to bear on a given task you are absolutely required to ensure that that task can be reasonably accomplished with the resources they can use. To use a more maligned term, if you're going to arbitrarily limit drop tonnage then mission difficulty needs to be "fair."

Lose/lose scenarios where you either fail the mission or it's a net loss when you win is something that happens in real life, but it's generally not something that makes for fun games and is something that should be left to the realm of player screwups. It shouldn't be baked into missions from the ground up unless there's a story/plot-based reason for it, and even then I think that they're usually an utter crock that shows a serious failing on the part of the developer.

Also, could we please get key binding options for walking outside of the mech or have them linked to the same bindings as mech controls? Going from my normal controls to that horrible WASD junk is jarring, especially any time I'm forced to listen to Gyanna or whatever her name is and spend a second or two moving my hand and remembering how to move my character instead of my mech.

[Suko]

Marikhen, on 01 January 2020 - 08:12 PM, said:

My issue with this scenario is that while the mission is challenging the fact that I'm limited to 230 tons makes it a bit unreasonable. Both missions are absolute meat-grinders thanks to the enemy AI's swarm mentality and the "reinforcements magically spawn out of thin air and in areas you've already cleared" mechanics that are triggered when each of the five objectives is razed. When you combine that with a weight limit that supports lance configurations along the lines of two heavies and two mediums it's not a good mix.

This is one of my pet peeves too. Mission limit tonnage around my rank (6 - 9) is usually around 220 to 300 tons. Meanwhile, on any given mission I could face (literally) 15 enemy mechs. Even if all of those are lights and mediums, that's still a ridiculous ratio in favor of the enemy. That's not even including any of the support vehicles.

Marikhen, on 01 January 2020 - 08:12 PM, said:

Frankly I'm of the opinion that when you limit what resources a player can bring to bear on a given task you are absolutely required to ensure that that task can be reasonably accomplished with the resources they can use. To use a more maligned term, if you're going to arbitrarily limit drop tonnage then mission difficulty needs to be "fair."

What makes it worse is that the opposition gets infinite spawns. So not only are we limited and then pitted against a stupidly lop-sided force, it never gets better and playing "smart" doesn't matter jack all, because it's hard to play defensively when the enemy is spawning limitless helicopters and tanks all while dropping more Jenners right behind you with their dropships.

Edited by Suko, 01 January 2020 - 08:23 PM.

[MW Waldorf Statler]

Balancing is heavy fr Humans , and now all thinking a generic AI and Algorithmas can handle this ? Each Mission is like a Drop of 3 dices , you can have 3x 6 or 3x1 or many between it.

The AI have a Pool , and when the spawns limited, the Missions to easy, or the AI drops to the other extrem.

Edited by MW Waldorf Statler, 01 January 2020 - 10:37 PM.

[Vellron2005]

I don't remember what mission it was, but I had a demolition mission where I had just managed to demolish the target literally 2 seconds before my last-man-standing stick of a mech was brought down.

The mission was a success, 5 million repair bill for all 4 mechs, 2 pilots in the hospital, 1 dead, bunch of good gear lost, and a happy Commander Mason.

Kept on playing without loading since this was my 4th attempt at the mission, and the only one ending in success and not a failure.

And then I learned. Literally everything in the game, be it mechs, pilots or gear, are...expendable.

After you realize this simple fact, you stop fretting over losses, and just move on. It's not Ironman mode, but it's life.

[cszolee79]

Some missions are crazy difficult, yeah.
81 difficulty with 400t drop weight is a walk in the park, 98 difficulty with 400t drop weight is omg I should have stayed in bed.
Better mechs, higher tier weapons and pilots are a lot of help, but sometimes you do lose components or whatever.