10 replies to this topic

[Gaius Cavadus]

In the previous MechWarrior games the entire premise of ejecting and mech destruction was oddly constructed.

I never quite understood why the games even bothered to include the option at all when they typically setup some very specific mech destruction criteria.

I'd say Mw2 mostly got it right. As long as the cockpit and engine (CT) were intact the mech was still considered "operational" no matter the condition of anything else.

Mw3 was odd in the sense that a single destroyed leg made your entire mech explode. In Mw4 two destroyed legs ended it all.

Throughout all of the games, however, there's never been any point to ejection which I've always considered really strange in context of the novels and some of the MaxTech/RPG rules and constructs.

I guess the point of this barely coherent ramble is that, for once, in MWO can ejection be a real choice for the players? Can we finally allow the players themselves to choose the moment when they feel their mech is no longer capable of battle?

As mentioned before, if the cockpit is still intact and the engine is still humming a mech is still technically operational. If you disagree then you've had all of the time up until your mech was just a cockpit and an engine to eject and respawn or move onto the next match.

Will ejecting finally become "the norm" over just waiting for the final shot to core the last shred of armor on top of your reactor and blow the engine? And what happens post-ejection? Should characters who "die" in battle be punished or should prudent mechwarriors who bailed out enjoy a little extra compensation?

This has always been a great mechanic that I wanted to see realized in the multiplayer portion of MechWarrior games but it's simply never happened. I'd love to see an ejection mechanic become a big choice for a player to make in every battle.

What say you?

[Alistair Steiner]

MechWarrior: Living Legends does it well. Granted, you're unrealistically in a BattleArmor when you eject, but I've had some harrowing moments ejecting from my stricken 'Mech, only to have it annihilated below me and fall, with its core billowing ominously. Were it not for that lucky hill I landed behind, I would have been vaporized. Even then, my HUD was scrambled and my vitals in the red. But I was alive. Added to that, I could now either harass the enemy as a BattleArmor, or try and slip though my allied lines and get back to the 'MechBay, maybe asking for donations from my comrades to purchase another ride.

I don't see how MWO would be able to do all of that "realistically," but I agree that ejecting should be implemented in such a way that it is a tactical choice, to avoid what should be at least some "penalty" of death. I'd almost like to be reduced to a simple pilot out in the bush, having to hope your allies keep the enemy from stomping/vaporizing you as you hoof it back to base, or even have some BA rules where you could hop on an allied 'Mech to get a ride back. That being said, we'll have to see how the game mechanics are laid out before we really try to figure out how to add in this sort of thing.

tl;dr: Good idea. Hope they can implement it in some way.

[Iron Horse]

Good points! I'm glad you brought this up. The only game that I can point to having figured out a way to "balance" ejection is Steel Battalion (where failing to eject actually deletes your savegame file). I don't think it needs to be this severe, but some compensation for a well-timed eject would certainly be welcomed.

Maybe if you fight to the end you end up with more battle damage that has to be repaired (doesn't make sense, except for in a gameplay sense). This and another thread I just read about some of the underutilized functions from previous games also reminds me of what the devs said about offering two tiers of game experience: one for sim players, and one for arcade. Maybe a sim player would be able to override an automatic ejection sequence somehow? (I hope the devs are still planning to support this, as I think more people will play if there's a "jump-in" experience, which will also benefit the rest of us)

[Iron Horse]

@ Alistair: Wow, sounds like I missed out on some epic 'mech battles in LL!

I also seem to remember that pilots in MechCommander, (I know, just bear with me) were rated separately on 'mech kills and pilot kills. Maybe there's a way that this can factor into MWO too?

[Alistair Steiner]

Iron Horse, on 15 November 2011 - 11:53 PM, said:

@ Alistair: Wow, sounds like I missed out on some epic 'mech battles in LL!

I also seem to remember that pilots in MechCommander, (I know, just bear with me) were rated separately on 'mech kills and pilot kills. Maybe there's a way that this can factor into MWO too?

LL is still going on. Grab Steam, wait for a Crysis Warhead sale (usually putting the game at $5), and mount up. I've literally played two vanilla Crysis Wars game, both times getting sniped across the map, no matter what I was doing. Even getting sniped by a tank. MWLL is the best game mod I've ever seen, and a darn good multiplayer MechWarrior experience.

Can't really comment on MechCommander, as my friend owned it, and I may have borrowed it years back. But you may well be right, and I think that could be a potential idea. Perhaps even if you kill or spare an ejected pilot. A kill would net you notoriety points, perhaps, getting you hired by more shady in-game organizations, while sparing the opponent would gain you 'honor' which would have the opposite effect. Maybe even have some kind of XP/cash tradeoff. Nothing major, just something different. OR, just something on your Merc resume. "Killed x number of pilots after they ejected."

[ZnSeventeen]

I agree that they need eject. In all the books it is a major factor, and in battletech it is even important, if you go through multiple games with the same pilots. Perhaps it could simply be that if you die, you have a little lag time, where you can't immediately join, and if you die again soon after, again you have to wait. Or perhaps if you die, you lose all money and experience from that mission. In any case, I think ejecting should be implemented. (It was pretty necessary in mechcommander, but a mechcommander style benefit/reward system for ejection is not really an option.)

[Kudzu]

I like the idea of ejecting being important, but maybe have it so that if you eject the last enemy who damaged you gets credit for the kill so that it isn't used as a passive-aggressive ragequit.

How about choosing to eject from a crippled mech (X amount of damage taken or something to that effect) saves you a bit on your repair bill?

Edited by Kudzu, 16 November 2011 - 12:18 AM.

[CaveMan]

How about: if you eject and your side loses, you lose your 'Mech as salvage and get ransomed by the other side for a loss of say, 10,000 C-bills or so, but if you ride your 'Mech to the ground you "get injured" and have to pay "hospital expenses" (apparently those mercenary contracts don't come with major medical insurance) which basically cleans you out.

Just a thought.

[Captain Hat]

I hate to bring "The Other Game" up, but in WoT if one of your crew members is "injured" or "killed" in a battle then he receives reduced skill advancement points from that battle. Seems like the sort of gentle incentive that would work for me- not so harsh as to break the game for peope, but enough that it makes ejecting worth thinking about.

In WoT, of course, it's pretty arbitrary- you can't really stop it from happening- so while it technically makes sense, in terms of the mechanics of it it's just another way to annoy you. If there was more of a choice, however, as with ejection, it would be a much better mechanic I think.

Of course, a lot of it depends on how the battles are set up.

Edited by Captain Hat, 16 November 2011 - 02:07 AM.

[Suko]

My simple thoughts:

If a player ejects, they preserve all EXP earned from kills and/or objectives completed up to that point in the match.

If they don't eject and wait for their mech to stop functioning (explode?), then they only get 75% of the EXP earned in that match.

This gives the player enough of an incentive to stick in there until the bitter end in the hopes that by NOT ejecting, they might survive and/or win the match and earn ALL the EXP. However, (like in real life) this is risky, as you could simply fall in combat and lose a chunk of the EXP you would've kept, had you opted to eject instead.

[TheRulesLawyer]

Autoeject should be default. If you eject your mechwarrior keeps all XP earned in addition to round bonuses. If you choose to over-ride the eject and the pilot "dies" you get reduced XP, no end of round bonuses, and quite probably a higher repair bill.