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[turdburglir]

I would like to request a change to *How* you control your lancemates.

I propose breaking the lance into two "fire teams".
Team 1 includes mechbays 1 and 2. Team 2 includes bays 3 and 4.

Add separate control buttons for each group and the whole lance (say f1/f2/f3) and move individual pilot commands to f5-f7 leaving the actual "orders" commands as is.

change the AI slightly in that bay 4 automatically follows bay 3 instead of bay 1.

give "team control" to bay 3 when in coop mode so your friend can have a "wingman" under his command (whichever mech/pilot is in bay 4)

this would be helpful in multiple ways:
- Allows for faster, more precise, and more diverse orders to be given to the lance.
- Allows for more interesting play in co-op with the possibility for pincer maneuvers and other more advanced tactics to be used on the battlefield.
- Allows for the creation of "role specific" divisions within the lance that are easily controlled in a granular sense. for example, having one team set up as fire support and the other as attack would allow you to designate targets or to command them to hold/open fire with *ONE* order instead of the current system of individual commands to *EACH* lancemate.

the reason I'm asking this is twofold.
One, I *REALLY* enjoy having Lyana in my lance as she is a fantastic fire support/dps pilot. The problem is, with her cluster hit and LRM specialist perks in addition of NAIS or other advanced perks she draws agro like an electromagnet. I can order her to hold fire, but the moment I give a lance attack command she goes hot again and draws ALL the agro. it would be nice to be able to quickly command a portion of your lance to do one thing while the other portion does another without having to tell each mechwarrior what to do. for example, having my attack mech(s), as a group, engage and draw agro/fire without affecting the hold fire orders I give to my fire support mech(s) would allow me to better manage who is drawing agro and to spread damage out across my lance effectively.
And two, I also enjoy playing co-op and it would be cool if the host could designate a wingman for a friend to have control over. it just adds flavor and enriches the play, especially when co-op players are experienced mechwarriors.

both of these things could be added as options that can be enabled/disabled in the menu and/or as unlockable rewards tied to an achievement. completion of the main storyline under standard circumstances on normal difficulty, for example.