80 replies to this topic

[Hardcover]

Screw your heavy metal. Basil Poledouris did it best.

And yes, I am in favor of hot drops, having to have and maintain (Training drops? Simulations? Hmm...) a certification for said hot-drops.

Edited by Hardcover, 30 January 2012 - 06:23 AM.

[Alaric Wolf Kerensky]

Dropping in to BEGIN the battle? Ok, maybe that would be ok if it was made abuse-proof.

Dropping in as a RESPAWN? HELL NO. If you get killed, you are out of the fight, deal with it and learn from your mistakes.

[guardian wolf]

Okay I see what you guys are getting at, What I meant was that the so called Hot Drops, WERE NOT RESPAWNS, but a tool to the commander to bring in additional reinforcements. Another idea I could see with this is that in the campaign, say your in the area of a particular battle, and one side is getting steam rolled and is calling for any and all help, like a bandit raid, or house assault or something, and you want to help, you could contact the ground commander, and then ask for coordinates for a hot drop. Also you would be subject to fire from enemy mechs already on the ground, not to mention turrets (if available), which to be honest is why I would hope there would be two ways to go in, there is the "soft" landing, where your jumpjets are going at fractional power all the way to the ground, or coming in "hot" which is where you are in free fall until you hit x meters above the ground, and then hit your jumpjets at full power, but that requires timing, and if you shoot too early, well you made yourself the biggest target in the field, and if you hit too late, you take serious damage not only to your legs, but the rest of your mechs internal structure, severely reducing combat capability.

EDIT: Had multiple typos, all gone now.

Edited by guardian wolf, 30 January 2012 - 08:31 AM.

[guardian wolf]

Harrow, on 30 January 2012 - 12:47 AM, said:

I hear what you are saying. I agree that the number of 'troops' should be finite and a team would have to make the decision of how many mechs to hold back for a hot drop deployment and how many to field immediately and so on. But it could be a very interesting mechanic. and even though this game is very FPS in nature, it doesnt mean we have to conform to all these pre-conceived ideas of how a game should operate. I for one would be happy to see alot of innovation, especially the kind that this particular 'canon' has to offer.

And thank you Harrow for explaining this, As I was about to till I saw your post.

On furher note: I would be listening to the Halo 2 theme Mjolinir Mix

Edited by guardian wolf, 30 January 2012 - 08:37 AM.

[Aaron DeChavilier]

i would say that hotdropping be an initial deployment choice, usually used by the attacking force. Maybe you can drop a lance out of your force for some cost. We don't know how in-depth the devs are going with ancillary units, factors, defenses, tac options so who knows?

[guardian wolf]

Kinda disappointed, I've found maybe one person on this entire forum who speaks Mando'a, *sighs*

[AlanEsh]

guardian wolf, on 30 January 2012 - 01:20 PM, said:

son, i am disappoint

Wookies don't fit in mechs. The scenes of Chewie "piloting" the ATAT were actually using a hollowed out mockup.

Edited by Angelicon, 30 January 2012 - 01:41 PM.

[MilitantMonk]

Ripley: How many drops is this for you, Lieutenant?
Gorman: Thirty eight... simulated.
Vasquez: How many *combat* drops?
Gorman: Uh, two. Including this one.
Oh, man...

[SneeakyAsian]

I am totally up for it but Im debating weather fast drop high-impact drop pods (with the chance on landing on someone and no chance of getting shot) or slow decent with decent pods or jumpjets. I think it should be a thing of choice.

P.S. My Mando'a is very rusty, used to be a practical joke in middle school. But I still know how to write it still aka Im what they call a New Mandalorian

Edited by SneeakyAsian, 30 January 2012 - 03:21 PM.

[SneeakyAsian]

Angelicon, on 30 January 2012 - 01:40 PM, said:

Wookies don't fit in mechs. The scenes of Chewie "piloting" the ATAT were actually using a hollowed out mockup.

Mando'a is for mandalorians not for wookies.

[Steel Talon]

When drop to battle, do it in style

I like Space Marines´s drop pods, no way back, victory or death!

[Agent CraZy DiP]

What it comes down to is when and who gets to drop. Instead of having drop being part of the regular gameplay, it should be rare or exspensive. I'm thinking that Defenders can get hot drops only on key planets. Now, if you want the offensive team to have drops, maybe they can "purchase" backup that doesn't get there until some of the team dies?

On another note...
Hot drops could be purchasable respawns? Depends on how much money the house is willing to invest in the assault. How much the planet is worth to the house. This would be assuming ofcourse that their is a money pool for the house faction.

Edit: Side note...
How important is the completion of the mission for the Merc group? Buying 5 additional hot drops would exceed the profit from the contract. However, completing the contract would gain significant Loyalty Points for the house. So is it worth paying the 1.5 million C-Bills to secure a victory for a contract only worth 750k C-Bills?

Edited by Agent CraZy DiP, 31 January 2012 - 03:13 AM.

[Dlardrageth]

In that case I'd like be able to "buy" orbital defences like naval-sized gun emplacements that have a decent percentile chance of blowing up anything even trying to land on the planet I defend. If the attacker can just "throw money" at a battle, the same option should be there for the defender for balancing reasons, fair is fair. And I can envision the epic whining once out of a full-company assault only 2 Mechs make it onto the battlefield. But that's pretty much the same mechanism the attackers would get for the defending side.

And wouldn't we all just love being destroyed in orbit already and having to pay repair bills without having fought a single minute?

[MaddMaxx]

Or if both sides can Hot Drop, that assumes then that both have DropShips in Orbit. If so, then we could have Dropships on Dropship space Battles and stand around on the ground hoping against hope it isn't you that loses your ride back to home base. LOL!

[guardian wolf]

Ok guys, what counters were for hot drops were AA/AAA fire, and if you went in "hot" you had to time the jumpjets right, which when you have it mastered, was not so bad, but in the beginning, it was a b*tch

[Nik Van Rhijn]

Not sure that this would count as MVP, could see it being added later, especially if they started "chaining" instances together.

[Unruly Gentleman]

I think it should be implemented as a way to start the game and another tactical decision a commander can make during the play of the game. NOT as a respawn mechanic. Definitely not. I see it playing out like this:

Commander 1 has level 'X' in a certain infiltration skill and/or a certain level command module that allows him to Hot Drop in 'Y' tonnage of Mechs if he so chooses, he starts the game with Total - 'Y' tonnage of Mechs on the battle field and can then choose to either drop those Mechs he has sitting in orbit onto the battle field in an area around his own teams objectives/starting areas, (the distance is finite so he can't just drop Mechs willy nilly around the map and deep strike 10 Assault Mechs behind/on top of the opposing teams objective/start point) or within a certain distance of mechs sporting a certain module that allows a lock from the Dropship, the amount of time he has to drop the Mechs in orbit depends on his command skill / module. Once he has chosen where to drop one of his Mechs the pilot then has a chance, depending on a certain commander skill/ the quality of the terrain he is landing on/ the level of the module the commander had/ the level of the module of the mech who's zone the drop ship targeted/the quality of the dropship to take 'Z' damage upon landing. Once all those things have been accounted for the Mech is in play in it's new spot.

So a real example of this would be...

A commander with a level 11 infiltration skill and a lvl 3 Dropship beacon module can Hot Drop in 200 Tons of Mech per encounter and has 3 minutes of the game to do so before the 200 Tons of Mech are automatically jettisoned onto the battle field at random. Before the battle he chooses a Catapult and an Atlas to stay in the Dropship. As the game begins his already deployed force is assembled around their starting location below a high spot on the battle field, the commander sends his Jenner out who happens to have a level 4 Dropship beacon to scout ahead of the main force, as the Jenner moves forward his Dropship beacon zone reaches out far enough so the commander can Initiate an orbital drop of the Catapult onto the strategic high point. The Jenner pauses in place, the Dropship gets a lock on the target area, initiates the Hot drop timer and after a certain amount of time the Catapult pilot adds all the modifiers previously stated, taking in to account his Hot drop pilot skill and the soft soil on top of the high point, the modifiers come out positive and as the Catapult lands he takes no damage from his drop, takes up the high point and gives his team a strategic advantage.

Now, the Jenner moves forward more and finds an objective that is relevant to the interests of both teams, the commander wanting to seize this objective first decides to Hot drop in the Atlas sitting in orbit, as the Hot drop is initiated the Jenner takes critical damage from enemy fire and as destroyed, the Dropship loses its lock and tries to abort the Hot drop, but it's too late. The Atlas hurtles to the ground lacking a correct lock on target area, the ground is hard and rocky and the Atlas pilot lacks the Hot drop skill of the Catapult, the Hot drop timer was drawing near so the dropship crew was rushed (not a good thing) and the Commander is so far away he can't influence the outcome of the situation with his own modifiers, also the close proximity of an enemy Mech with a Jamming module has affected the situation (this means a lot of bad Juju coming the way of the earthbound Atlas). The Mech strikes the ground, takes MASSIVE leg damage and in the process is crippled and now has a lance of enemy Mechs bearing down on his location. However the crippled Atlas is now spotting targets for the Catapult in the perfect fire support position which is able to keep the enemy lance at bay until the cavalry arrive.

If that doesn't sound like an awesome game play mechanic I don't know what is.

It would add an extra dimension to tactics, would require team play / good communications / good leadership and a bit of luck.

It would offer great flexibility and the possibility of a game winning drop, the trade off would be the chance of damage / extra experience / extra modules / the purchase of a dropship.

Also death from above out of a Dropship would be an awesome trophy/achievement.

That is all.

Edit: Oh wow, I didn't realise how much I had written until I read over it after...

TL:DR Hotdrops would rawk.

Edited by Unruly Gentleman, 31 January 2012 - 10:22 AM.

[MaddMaxx]

I like it. Just a couple questions, nothing serious.

The Cat and Atlas could have been available for insertion with everyone else right?

If that is true why not send them in with the rest and protect against the FUBAR scenario?

And finally, who in their right mind put that Mech roster together giving an hot dropping Atlas to "a pilot that lacks the Hot drop skill of the Catapult"

Way to go Commander. You just pissed away 9.626 Million C-Bills. LOL!

[Aaron DeChavilier]

guardian wolf, on 31 January 2012 - 07:09 AM, said:

Ok guys, what counters were for hot drops were AA/AAA fire, and if you went in "hot" you had to time the jumpjets right, which when you have it mastered, was not so bad, but in the beginning, it was a b*tch

in terms of planetary defense in btech, most important planets employed Oribtal Defense Guns, sometimes mobile sometimes static. In most of the fiction, these things could annihilate Dropship assaults if not taken out. Mechs deployed from orbit or HALO (high-altitude/low orbit) would fall into that category as well especially if the orbital defense gun is ballistic due to the use of HE rounds. Conventional AA can also be used at more conventional altitudes, but that means the dropships could have already made it into atmo where they can now roam freely to do hot drops. A true hot drop requires a dropship to drop the mechs from, otherwise it's a HALO deployment.

I think if a player-group in-game has purchased Dropships, then hot dropping a lance or two should be an option for initial deployment, but if the defending group has money to spend, can purchase orbital defense guns or local AA to counter said drop ships. If the two cancel out, then the dropships 'abort' the drop and all attackers deploy normally plus attacker must pay for repairs on the dropship.

[Unruly Gentleman]

MaddMaxx, on 31 January 2012 - 10:25 AM, said:

I like it. Just a couple questions, nothing serious.

The Cat and Atlas could have been available for insertion with everyone else right? YUP, if the commander was lame.

If that is true why not send them in with the rest and protect against the FUBAR scenario? The commander was hoping to capitalise on any advantages he sees on the battle field, he is a risk taker and also because he is awesome and a totally rad dude. Kind of like 'Why did the Allies drop Paratroopers on D-Day when they could have piled more men onto boats to land on the beach?' because it is a good idea, and awesome.

And finally, who in their right mind put that Mech roster together giving an hot dropping Atlas to "a pilot that lacks the Hot drop skill of the Catapult" Say it wasn't the Commanders decision that the certain person was piloting the only mech suitable for that sort of Hot Drop, I was only using that as an example of how things could go wrong in a Hot drop scenario, not saying it's something that a commander would actually do. But he would if he was awesome.

Way to go Commander. You just pissed away 9.626 Million C-Bills. LOL!

XD

Also while I was in the shower I thought of a few things. The Commander would be liable for a certain amount of the repair cost on a Mech that was damaged during Hot drop and before the game starts the commander would have to nominate players for hotdrop and the players could decline if they weren't confident in their commander. This would just stop the eventual trolling that would occur, i.e Hot dropping a person you don't like into an ocean, off a cliff, into the enemy team, into a building etc etc.