Amechwarrior, on 15 August 2012 - 07:58 PM, said:
Lesson #2 Part #1 - Separate the bigger corps from the smaller corps
The raiding/privateer idea posted in the last few pages sounds like it can be perfect for smaller or casual merc companies. Maybe limit raid matches to groups of 4-8. Let privateer work be beginner level merc contracts. You can potentially earn higher salvage, but get less/none of the loyalty points due to the nature of work. You would not pick a planet, but raid a Provence or border zone. Your opponents can be either smaller house groups/pubs of 4-8 or opposing small merc companies on Anti-Piracy Patrol. You would fight loose groups of house defenders to lower whatever resources that zone has and take a little for yourselves. You could even do this without creating new gametypes (but we all would love to do a real smash and grab missions... pipe dreams) by just taking the results from the current deathmatch setup. You win and have less then 60% losses then you successfully raid the stocks. Win, but with more then 60% loss and you have enough manpower to smash the place, but not take the extras. Lose, and the defenders get to keep whatever it is. If enough raids in an area fail, the extra salvage actually boosts that provinces resources. This would give the smaller house groups a reason to stop raids, as it would boost their own economy, not just stop leakage.
The whole point of these is to be able to get your small, amateur group up and running and dropping into combat instantly, any day of the week. You don't have the time or resources for planets, dropships and the daily grind. Your winnings are what you can salvage off the field and raw cash. If your group feels like it wants bigger and better things then you can start to take Anti-Piracy Contracts.
Once you have your group established, the next step is Anti-Piracy. Contracts would provide much more loyalty points and cash from your employer but only average salvage rates. You work legitimately, your team is now fighting against organized raider teams instead of pub faction members. The team has gown better and knows all the ins and outs of raiding and uses those skills against your opponents. You start to do well and after a while you find the organization growing. Most nights of the week you can start fielding full 12 man teams. The time has come, the company is now ready for its first planetary control contract.
Those contracts are dealt with in PCants posts and the dev blogs. But this privateer line works to keep casual groups playing any day of the week, make them a part of the larger inter-planetary meta game and keeps them fighting other groups of similar size and skill levels. The incentives are focused, but not exclusively, on personal cash and salvage. The larger units will want to focus on the higher level contracts that give loyalty points and territory they need to run a larger organization.
Another fine idea, I don't think I like the idea of stages however some method of allowing casual gamers or new groups to get into the game and have fun is a must. I do think that in some fashion or another their actions should have an impact albeit small on the big picture so to speak. Was also a problem in my other gaming experiences until a person finished the grind to the top level they really couldn't have or had no place to contribute in a meaningful way, grinding was PvE missions. I still get sick when I think about PvE because of how it was handled. There simply wasn't anything there, and it killed alot of peoples fun. They would ask and get the reply there's really nothing u can do, get the lvl 50 then we'll talk. Many didn't get that far the just gave up. Any ideas that prevent that and keep it fun are aces in my book.
One thought, it is in the lore frequently that mercs. were used as "deniable" assets for raids, infiltrations, and various other missions where diplomacitic situations dictated no one know your attacking them. They were also used for many other things garrison contracts, reconisance, and reinforcements when other units couldn't be mobilized in time. Perhaps that last one would be a method of balancing out some of the perceived problems with the 24 or 48hr battle for planet idea making uncontested wins more difficult. Also contract should include latest intelligence to give the guys an idea what their up against so they don't get in over their heads. The recon missions would also add to the information warfare pillar and give players a meaningful way to get into the game with their light fast mechs. Also give defenders more reasons to keep lighter forces on planet to counter. Know thy enemy and thyself and in 1000 battles you shall never be in peril -Sun Tzu-. They don't and get killed by a superior force they asked for it.
On garrison duty as pertaining to mercs. and planet ownership
This was also a common contract, it was also common practice to allow the unit access to the resources of the planet as it was benificial to both sides to do so. This would allow the unit to have some portion but not all of the planetary bonus(s) in a realistic way. In some portion or none if desired as offered by contract. If those allowed bonus(s) are tied into the "income" so to speak of the contracting house it would prevent them from simply always allowing 100% as they would need that bonus for their own uses as well and be less inclined to just give it away. Solving some of the basic mechanics of how bonus(s) would pertain to mercs. Ownership as defined I agree with less. It was very very rare for a merc unit to "own" a planet and usually was only done after very long dedicated service, or truly herculeian effort. ex. Wolves Dragoons was decimated from 5 regiments of mechs. down to a 1 provisional regiment in the service of house davion tying up practically the entire Draconis Combines military on that front allowing Davion to in turn conquer about half the Capellan Confederation during the 4th. Succession War. That's from over 500 mechs down to less than 100 for those unfamiliar. Therefore outright ownership should be allowed but require similar effort types of efforts or loyality and therefore be rare.
Last thought is that it usually took several days even after reaching a jump point in system to get planetside. That works giving the defender some warning and ability to prepare. Also mentioned was a method of thru data obtained while the DS's were inbound to determine a general idea of weight and guestimation of composition of force by taking the ships mass empty and comparing it to it's current mass. Allowing the defender some amount of "homefield" advantage so to speak. If badly out weighed or outnumbered they could plan more of a gurrellia style of campaign try to hold out wait for help. That would also make retreat not so much of a dirty word, or hit and run ambush style fighting a possibility. It also makes certain assets on the ground of military importance and some more so than others. ComStar stations, spaceports, factories, cities that provide supplies of different types are a few examples of these and they change value to some degree or another depending on the strategy you choose to use. One could also use diversionary tactics, and otherwise vary strategys on the offense to acheive a more favorable outcome in various ways.
Some of these maybe difficult or even impractical to implement however hope they will be considered.
VERY GOOD thread overall. Many great ideas, or observations, between the dev's and the player base I'm seeing I haven't been this excited about the prospects of an event since I came back home after my first deployment with the Navy.
Edited by Jack Lowe, 16 August 2012 - 12:14 PM.
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