583 replies to this topic

[Dihm]

To carry the theme, this is directed at the Clans.

"Guess again, freakshow. I'm coming back to town, and the last thing that's gonna go through your mind before you die... is my size-13 boot!"

[Diablo48]

Dihm, on 08 December 2011 - 09:50 AM, said:

To carry the theme, this is directed at the Clans.

"Guess again, freakshow. I'm coming back to town, and the last thing that's gonna go through your mind before you die... is my size-13 boot!"

You do know that without a doubt the best thing to happen to the FRR in its entire history is Clan Ghost Bear, right?

[Dihm]

I was just looking for Duke Nukem quotes that wouldn't get destroyed by the language filter.

[rollermint]

Dihm, on 08 December 2011 - 06:37 AM, said:

They aren't the same thing, but Rank determines who is in charge. That is a problem when it is based on Loyalty Points (which so far they've only said are gained through kills).

They already said that their LP system won't be the same as the horrible WoW Honor system (where 15 players alternately play the same character to maintain the top rank).

For all you know, their "LP" rank system is simply the old "neutral -> friendly -> revered -honoured" faction grinding system in every other MMOs out there and has no effect on other players of the same faction. With the higher faction ranks allowing you to get better perks and join faction units.

In fact, Im quite convinced that this is what they meant with maybe slight variations.

[Dihm]

Let's hope, but using the term "Rank" has a very definite context in a military situation. The assumption I'm making is that "Rank" refers to Private, Corporal, Sergeant, Lt, etc etc.

Just like how they don't want us to use "Clans" to describe groups of players.

Edited by Dihm, 08 December 2011 - 12:01 PM.

[Cherewas Ondairn]

Hi'yall!

I'm a longtime TTBT and MW player, done a lot of computer gaming as well, never done the online multiplayers though... Been in the "Inner Sphere" since 1988...took a trip that never ended... just joking. Haven't read anything (novelwise) after the Warrior trilogy. Catching up now... Anyways, when this all gets cracking I'm gonna go with FRR (*******!!!), So hello to you all and I hope to have tons of fun playing this game next year!!!

[Skwisgaar Skwigelf]

This is my first online multiplayer too, at least as far as working with a team. So welcome aboard, looking forward to it.

[flessar]

Get ready to smoke some dragon, break some fists, and skin some puppies. Our future looks chock full of targets, and we cant possibly miss. Why you ask? They surround us of course, fools that they are. Now we know each shot counts weather it hits our target or not.

[Grimm Wulf]

First off... I am REALLY sorry about just how big this post finaly ended up becoming... I really tried to make it smaller... I promis...

Dihm, on 08 December 2011 - 09:26 AM, said:

I know that people with the highest LP/Rank won't lead the entire Faction. But they do have an effect on everyone below them. I don't like this. For setting up organization within a unit, it creates an arbitrary hurdle that needs to be overcome. If you want to set up a unit within the FRR faction, you have no way to set player ranks so that others know who are the Lance Leaders, who commands a company, who are the grunts, etc etc. You have to go to some meta-gaming method that the Merc units don't.

True, but I only think it would be a real hurdle if the choice of planets a person have to go to is extreamly limited based on which one this potential person with high rank choices.

And I do expect a simmilar kind of "guild system" in place for regular Faction players, that the Merc will have. The difference to me more seems to be where and what kinds of battles each type will be able to undertake. Only a Merc Unit will be able to fight for those Boarder Planets after all. And numbers wise the Boarder Planets will most likely be few compared to the regular Faction ones

Dihm, on 08 December 2011 - 09:26 AM, said:

I never suggested this be prevented, or that the "old, established" groups from past games should be given command over anyone who doesn't want to be commanded by them. We already know that players won't be the House Leaders, but they do appear to be unit commanders since they can direct planetary attacks. They become unit commanders through the LP/Rank system, not based on merit or ability to command.

I actually have no idea as to why I actually said what I said with the Steiner example... even I thought to my self after I had posted the message: "Why did I write that paragraph to begin with? What was my point". It feels unusualy out of place on that particular message I wrote. Maybe I had writem something befor, that I ended up deleting, which would have made that paragraph make sence... I don't know.

Dihm, on 08 December 2011 - 09:26 AM, said:

I hadn't viewed it this way... seems pretty weird that that is how it would be set up to me since I would expect the opposite, with Faction players being more hardcore into Conquest than Mercs.

Hmm... you know... I am starting to wonder about the difference between Faction and Boarder Planet... what the devs actually mean by this.

Because befor I read this particular part of your post this is how I was thinking about it:

Boarder Planets: would be the planets that are basicly located right around the line between two Houses, basicly the frontline if you will. And since the only people who can access these would be Merc Units, this sort of seem like the more Hardcore type of guild. Since people need to be very diciplined, and need to keep their LP's with a certain faction up constantly for the Merc Unit to be able to even take contracts for a planet from a certain House. The change that these players would see would be the "ownership" of a planet change hands between different Merc Units. Their Merc Unit would also directly get the full reward for having ownership of that planet. Does not seem like that ownership would actually effect the regular Faction players though.

Faction Planets: would be basicly all other planets under a House' rule. Where the masses would be able to go about their buissness, not having to bother them selves with what other players really do. Go at it alone under the banner of a certain House if they wish... or join a House specific player run guild/unit or what ever. The only thing the Faction/House players will see in the sence of change is "How much of the galaxy do we controll? Do we have enough points on Planet X to be in controll over it?" If no, you go to that planet and join the fight trying to score enough points for your house to gain controll over it. If yes, then check other planets untill you find one that is not under your factions controll. They would also of course get the benefit of those faction bonuses mentioned by the amount of planets the faction owns. It does seem like this global bonus would effect Merc Units connected to that particular house as well though.

Core Planets: these I am sort of uncertain about. To one extent I see them as the capital planets scattered through each House' space, and other more important planets. But at the same time they mention that it's planets that have significant importance for the story and what not. Like Tukayyid for example... that's not really a planet that is significant at all in the eyes of anyone basicly... probably nothing more then a single paragraph in any geography book of that time, if even that... until the "Battle of Tukayyid" happend. Then suddenly this little planet's importance and reputation litteraly exploded. So this did lead me to think that Core planets will be the planets where anything of actuall importance to the story that this game will follow will happend. Planets which the players would not be allowed to effect unless it's part of the story. All other planets, will probably not matter in the long run really, not as much as the Core ones will. I guess the Core planets might be simmilar to the main story in a video game. And all other planets as just sidequests that have no, or very little, impact on the main story.


When I read your last paragraph though, I started to wonder about it. Which borders are the devs axtually talking about when they say "Border Planets". The natural assumption to me would be what I described above. The actual border between two nations. But if that was the case, then why would Faction planets even be contested to begin with, unless they where borderplanets? Since the borders would be the place where the fighting actually took place. And as such would be the place where everybody, Faction players, Merc's, neutrals, would be.

Do they mean the outer border of each Faction, the one that is not connected to other Factions that is, that goes along the line of the Periphery? But if that is the case, then why would they even be contested between Merc's from different houses to begin with?

Or is it some kind of semi-imaginary line somewhere inside each factions borders, somewhere along the lines where their actual border to the other factions are. Where every planets between the two border planet lines would be the contested planets. What I mean is something like the below "image" I created.


Actual Steiner - Kurita border line
..............................|............................
Steiner..................V.....Kurita.............
Merc Border..........|......Merc Border
............\.................|............../.............
_______\_______|______/__________ Coreward Periphery border
...............\..............|............/...............
................\.............|.........../................
Steiner Territory....|....Kurita Territory
...................\..........|........./..................
....................\.........|......../...................
.....................\........|......./....................
......................\.......|....../.....................
.......................\......|...../......................
____________\__|__/______________ Rimward House borders
(Marik, Liao and Davion are below this line)


I hope this simplistic image makes sence when you look at it. I tried to make all the downward lines be as straight as possibe, and on my preview they where. Also sorry about all the extra ... dots, I needed to put them there, otherwise the merc and border lines would have all ended up all the way to the left on the message since space did not work (and to also look sort of symetrical where the dots where not needed). Also, sorry about not including the FRR in this image, let's say it's pre FRR era (made it easier to create).

What this image represents is that all planets between the Merc borders would be contested planets between Steiner and Kurita (the Faction planets). And the Merc lines would then be where the border planets the merc's can take would be located.

But, if this is the case... if the Steiner Merc where on the Steiner Merc border, and Kurita Merc are on the Kurita Merc border... then who would the Mercs actually be fighting? Because why would a Steiner Merc Unit travel all the way over to fight on the Kurita Merc border? For one they would have to travel through large parts of contested areas, where numerous enemies from the opposing factions would be. And even if they did manage to take the planet, then they would most likely be compleatly surrounded by the enemy as well.


There is something that does not feel compleatly right about either options... we are missing some pretyt vital information here I feel. Either way... I personaly would prefer my original version, where the Border Planets are the planets along the border lines between houses. That makes mroe sence.

Edited by Grimm Wulf, 08 December 2011 - 10:22 PM.

[Dihm]

Great post, you've gotten me to read the blog in a different light.

Other people seem to have your reading of it as well. Hmmmmmm. Now I'm not sure what the heck the system will be!

[metro]

If the logisitics work the way I think they will.....LCAF would not be allowed passage through FRR airspace, they would have to fight their way through.

Merc units from Steiner maybe allowed to jump FRR airspace to hit Kuritan planets.....but this info has yet to be clarified.

we shall see

[KillBox]

Reporting in to Pledge my Allegiance.

Played Battletech for the first time in 1989 (I was 6 at the time) and since then, I've been walking the Sphere ever since.
Strap me to a fast Heavy or a solid Medium and I'll get the job done.

My Life for the Republic.

[Grimm Wulf]

Dihm, on 09 December 2011 - 03:58 AM, said:

Great post, you've gotten me to read the blog in a different light.

Other people seem to have your reading of it as well. Hmmmmmm. Now I'm not sure what the heck the system will be!

I used to be very certain. But now, even though I still think it might work the way I suggested, I am not compleatly sure my self.

Metro, on 09 December 2011 - 04:40 AM, said:

If the logisitics work the way I think they will.....LCAF would not be allowed passage through FRR airspace, they would have to fight their way through.

Merc units from Steiner maybe allowed to jump FRR airspace to hit Kuritan planets.....but this info has yet to be clarified.

we shall see

If you are refering to my "image" that I created in my previous posts. Then I did not actually include the FRR in that image (was simpler to do it that way). But yeah, your probably right that FRR would not allow armies to travel through their space. But would probably let Merc Units to do so.

Although, I have a feeling that FRR will not be as neutral in MWO as they actually where in the canon. I have a feeling that if FRR is available to play in the game, we will probably be fighting with the other houses, mainly Kurita and Steiner though.

KillBox, on 09 December 2011 - 02:16 PM, said:

Reporting in to Pledge my Allegiance.

Played Battletech for the first time in 1989 (I was 6 at the time) and since then, I've been walking the Sphere ever since.
Strap me to a fast Heavy or a solid Medium and I'll get the job done.

My Life for the Republic.

Welcome to the forums. Hope you enjoy your stay here.

[KillBox]

Grimm Wulf, on 10 December 2011 - 02:45 AM, said:

Welcome to the forums. Hope you enjoy your stay here.

Thanks - I've had a look around, and I've noticed that, in true FRR tradition, we seem to be properly outnumbered and horribly out-gunned.

Wouldn't want it any other way, of course...

[Dihm]

I dunno, we actually have way more people already declared for the FRR than I expected, based on the polls and activity.

[KillBox]

Strange... perhaps the recent release of Skyrim had some influence? (the Viking connection and all that)

After 60 hours of that, I dreamt of fjords I'd never seen...

And I have a wierd craving for honey-mead...

[Dihm]

I think we're just fanatical, so we are more vocal on message boards, while the majority who don't post will join the big (in size) factions at launch.

[Skwisgaar Skwigelf]

I like the underdog. If I win it's even bigger braggin rights, if I lose it's not unexpected.

[Grimm Wulf]

For me it's not a matter of neither underdog or top dog, most or least popular, good or bad (in any way that can be used), or what ever.

To sound a bit... I don't know... dismissive? The things I tend to like or dislike has got nothing to do at all with what other people think about it. I could basicly care less what other people think about subject X Y or Z, when it comes to how I feel about the subject matter at hand.

Also, the comlexities of why I like something, varies wildly. It can be anything from extreamly complex and intricat layers of subtexture and qualities that creates a spidersweb of reasons, to extreamly simple and single minded reasons. Same goes for the quality of the product really, I like anything from very high grade quality and intellectual things, to very low grade and simple stuff.

So when it comes to the FRR, the main reason as to why I have liked them since I first found out about them (reading the 3rd ed MechWarrior RPG rulebook, that I bought back in either late 90's or early 00's), and attach my self to them here on this site, is pretty simple. Because they are Scandinavian. And that is relevent to me in the sence that I am Scandinavian, Swedish to be precise.

The Mechs they pilot, their politics, their nature as a people, their struggles to become their own nation again, the numbers of people who will be aiming to play as them, etc... nothing of that really matteres to me as to why I like them. They are Scandinavian, and that's good enough for me. All that other stuff is just an added bonus that put's a bit more meat on their bones.

Befor I knew the FRR even existed I was not really compleatly attached to any faction in particular (I did place Steiner just a smidgen ahead of the others though), but more so I was attached to the game universe in general. I will how ever say that I did not really know much about any faction for a numbers of years really, I only had a sort of general sence about which nations each one was based on. And it was not really until I bought that RPG book that I started to get more insight into the factions (first time I bought anything at all related to Battletech/MechWarrior). Having found the Sarna wiki some several years ago clearly helped a lot as well.

A strange thing is that even though I have realized that a majority of my favorite Mechs are Clan Mechs (or IS Mechs based on Clan Mech/Tech (like the Bushwacker)), I don't actually really feel like I would choice to be a Claner over an IS. I am more naturally drawn to being an IS then a Claner (although since I found the Sarna wiki, I have started to warm up to Ghost Bears due to their eventual connection with FRR). Of note is that I got into this IP long after the clan had been introduced, so to me the Clan invasion is a fully integrated part of why I like this IP. So me being drawn to hte IS is not based on "The Clan story ruined the game!" or something like that... I have not been in this IP for "that" long.

[Dihm]

I got hooked after being assigned to the Rasalhague Military District's 22nd Regulars in MPBT:Solaris. I went in and read all about the RMD and realized what jerks the Combine were to a people I quite liked. The tragic situation of them finally getting their freedom after centuries of oppression, only to be engulfed by the attacking clans appealed to me.

Oh, question Mr. Swede, how do you say Dragonslayers? I think Google Translate is lying to me.