23 replies to this topic

[Chaotic Cannon]

So I am an old game player, and played Mech Warrior 1 through 4 way back in the olden days of gaming.

I have interest in MWO but I am lost in regards to what side to join, or if I have to join a side.

I have read through the forums and there is a ton of threads, information and general banter on this and that. I was hoping someone could be nice enough to answer a question or two for a MWO newbie.

I am an Enlish speaking player, currently Euro time zone but from North America and will be moving back to NA in about 6 to 9 months.

I play both scount and heavy assult styles. I am an experienced gamer in other games, so not totally new to learning HUDs and such.

I am not sure if the factions are meant for groups of real world players (like certain languages or regions of the world) or factions a strictly limited to the in game faction warfare?

I am looking perhaps to sign up with a faction but really dont know how to approahc this. There is too much info in general out there and I dont have the time to dig through all the posts to find a clear answer.

Can someone help?

Thanks

[Adridos]

Old post of mine, but it's as helpful as ever.

The sides you choose from are: Davion, Steiner, Kurita, Liao, Marik and Free Rasalhague Republic + being a mercenary, or stay a "lone wolf". You will be able to join Clans later.

Davions:

You played as one of them in Mechwarrior 4.
They see themselves as the good guys.
They are based on USA, England.
They are the most popular house in fanbase.
They love autocannons.
They are dumb.

Steiner:

They are germanic.
Their strategy follows " bigger = better".
They use heaviest mechs for scouting.
They are allies with Davions.
Normal popularity.


Kurita:

They are based on Japan and Asia.
They are highly "honorable" and use Bushido.
They are pretty militaristic -> good inventions and mechs.
They hate Davions and FRR.
Normal popularity.


Liao:

We are based on Chinese culture mixed with english and russian society.
We are the smallest of the houses (since FRR is not a house).
Numbers of people being capellans is low.
We do not have many mechs now, but that is going to change in a while.
We are considered crazy.
We like mercenaries.


Marik:

Based on western culture as Davions.
Lots of mech production capability (but they make tanks till Clans invade).
Lots of infighting, since they are only democratic house.
They wear "manly purple" and paint their mechs that way.
Normal popularity.
They are allies with us (Liao).


Free Rasalhague Republic:

Based on vikings and scandinavians.
They parted from Kuritans, so they hate each other.
Lore wise, after the Clans invade, they will loose all, but 7 planets.
BUT their players believe they will "hold the line".
Earliest access to rare powerful Clan tech.
Mostly made out of waiting Clan players.


Clans:

Special warriors which inavded Inner Sphere.
They are divided between various clans.
They have the best mechs, but they are low on numbers.
They follow "Zellbrigen", which are rules on how to fight.
Insane popularity. (guess why)
They will become available a year after launch.
They will get beaten by telephone company and one of the clans will get destroyed by Inner Sphere.

[n0e]

Adridos, on 16 August 2012 - 02:44 AM, said:

Liao:
We are considered crazy.

What else do u need to join us ?

[Strum Wealh]

Chaotic Cannon, on 16 August 2012 - 02:34 AM, said:

So I am an old game player, and played Mech Warrior 1 through 4 way back in the olden days of gaming.

I have interest in MWO but I am lost in regards to what side to join, or if I have to join a side.

I have read through the forums and there is a ton of threads, information and general banter on this and that. I was hoping someone could be nice enough to answer a question or two for a MWO newbie.

I am an Enlish speaking player, currently Euro time zone but from North America and will be moving back to NA in about 6 to 9 months.

I play both scount and heavy assult styles. I am an experienced gamer in other games, so not totally new to learning HUDs and such.

I am not sure if the factions are meant for groups of real world players (like certain languages or regions of the world) or factions a strictly limited to the in game faction warfare?

I am looking perhaps to sign up with a faction but really dont know how to approahc this. There is too much info in general out there and I dont have the time to dig through all the posts to find a clear answer.

Can someone help?

Thanks

The factions aren't really tied to any particular time zones or language - anyone would be able to join any available faction one desires.

That being said, substantial numbers of people will tend to gravitate to the factions with which they identify or sympathize on cultural, linguistic, and/or ideological levels.

My take on a short generalization of each faction:

• Federated Suns/House Davion: essentially the British Empire, with some additional French overtones
  
• Lyran Commonwealth/House Steiner: essentially the Holy Roman Empire, with heavy German overtones
  
• Draconis Combine/House Kurita: essentially early Showa Era (roundabout WWI/WWII) Japan, with a smattering of other cultures (mainly Arabic) represented
  
• Capellan Confederation/House Liao: essentially Qing Dynasty Era China, with a smattering of other cultures (mainly Russian and Scottish) represented
  
• Free Worlds League/House Marik: essentially the Ottoman Empire, with some Indian and American overtones
  
• Free Rasalhague Republic: essentially the Swedish Empire, with some American overtones
  
• The Clans (to be made available eventually) collectively represent the "great conquering hordes" and "romanticized noble savages" of the past (e.g. the Mongols under Genghis Khan, the Macedonians under Alexander III, the Romans during the expansion of the Roman Empire, and so on), while each Clan individually represents a separate society - the Ghost Bears are generally thought to be Scandinavian (like the FRR, with whom they later merged) and modeled in the spirit of the (romanticized) Vikings, the Smoke Jaguars are thought to represent (stereotypes of) the warrior tribes of Africa's past (most notably the Zulu Kingdom), the Nova Cats are thought to have been modeled on (stereotypes of) Native American societies (with the Wanapum, Cheyenne, and/or Sioux likely serving as primary inspirations), and so on.

The Devs have stated, though, that while all 'Mechs and weapons would be available to all players regardless of affiliation (at least, for IS players in regard to IS equipment), prices of particular items may be affected by said affiliation.

Alternatively, one could go through the "Faction Talk" and "Merc Corp" sections of the forum and see if there are any player-groups that might seem interesting and are looking for English-speaking scout and/or assault pilots in the appropriate time zone(s)...

[Chaotic Cannon]

Thanks guys, some good information to sort through, although now I have 2 posts above from 2 different people listing different types of groups.... now I am just as confused as ever... lol

Ok, from what I can see,Adridos posted the factions that are available to choose from and roll with. But what Strum Wealh listed is the sub factions or clan of sort under the main faction?

Is that right. I forgot how diverse they try and make the MW universe.

I just want to ensure if I select a faction or group that I am not stuck and I can move to another if I dont like the style or whatever...

Edited by Chaotic Cannon, 16 August 2012 - 04:34 AM.

[Atlas3060]

I once made a thread dealing with the different styles of play based on fluff, board game, and design preferences of the factions.

http://mwomercs.com/..._5868#entry5868

I really should look into updating this, but it could be helpful still.

[Adridos]

Chaotic Cannon, on 16 August 2012 - 04:33 AM, said:

Ok, from what I can see,Adridos posted the factions that are available to choose from and roll with. But what Strum Wealh listed is the sub factions or clan of sort under the main faction?

No, he just wanted to "be cool" and named the factions by their official names.

For instance, his Federated Suns is my Davion. Reasoning behind it is that the nation is called Federated, but becuse it's so long, people (both in lore and gamers alike) simply refer to it as Daion and people playing as one of them are Davions, not Federated Sunners or some crap like that.

[Aym]

Chaotic Cannon, on 16 August 2012 - 04:33 AM, said:

Thanks guys, some good information to sort through, although now I have 2 posts above from 2 different people listing different types of groups.... now I am just as confused as ever... lol

Ok, from what I can see,Adridos posted the factions that are available to choose from and roll with. But what Strum Wealh listed is the sub factions or clan of sort under the main faction?

Is that right. I forgot how diverse they try and make the MW universe.

I just want to ensure if I select a faction or group that I am not stuck and I can move to another if I dont like the style or whatever...

Devs have said switching factions, merc corps, or even to Clans will be w/out penalty.
It's mostly for Community warfare, there MAY be some fluff related advantages like discounts on weapons common to the faction, but it should not be significant.

[Stormwolf]

Run with a merc unit if you are really not sure.

[Larzous]

Is there even an in-game benefit to picking one or is it mostly roleplay based? I used to play battletech/mechwarrior tabletop as merc pirate ish corps living in the world looking just to survive and make money.

[Kynlore]

Adridos, on 16 August 2012 - 02:44 AM, said:

Clans:

"They will get beaten by telephone company"

This made me laugh.

[Bagheera]

Adridos, on 16 August 2012 - 02:44 AM, said:

Free Rasalhague Republic:

Based on vikings and scandinavians.
They parted from Kuritans, so they hate each other.
Lore wise, after the Clans invade, they will loose all, but 7 planets.
BUT their players believe they will "hold the line".
Earliest access to rare powerful Clan tech.
Mostly made out of waiting Clan players.

Great overview of all the factions for the most part, save that I'm fairly sure the split is at most 50/50 on future Ghost Bears currently in the FRR. My gut feeling is that there are more planning to stay FRR than planning to switch. But that's just based on a few threads and no actual statistics.

Holding the line is up in the air. Until the Devs give us more info on how "canon" timeline events will be handled, it's impossible to know what will happen. It's hard for me to believe that they will force players to strictly adhere to events as they occurred in novels/lore etc.

Personally, hoping it's more like a "reboot" film than a "remake." For lack of a better analogy.

Also, we have the best beverages and music.

Welcome to MWO, OP.

[SuomiWarder]

There is little info on the metagame aspects, and those might not even be in place until around December according to one dev post I read.

Right now you have 3 main choices, Mercenary, Lone Wolf, or a House faction. Of course there are multiple house options just as there are mercenary options - though you can select to be a merc even without being in a unit.

Merc units should tend to be small to medium sized groups of like minded folk playing together with an actual command structure in place. The houses will, I presume, be made up of various subgroups attracted to the B Tech lore of that particular house. So far it seems that the houses will not be player controlled.

Use the forums to look for a group of people you think you'd like to hang with and go that way. If no group lookes interesting, then go lone wolf for now and consider changing later.

[JFlash49]

Steiner cause i like big guns

[Street Judge]

Very interesting topic for a new guy [me], gotta start somewhere. lol

[Exilyth]

'Nother method to choose faction is looking at which faction mainly uses your favorite mech.

Then again, going by community/lore is better.

[Chaotic Cannon]

Thanks for the responses people.

Very helpful overall and now I have a better place to start when deciding on what direction to take for the game itself.

Since I literally just picked up the interest in the game again I found that unless I already knew about the houses, factions, clan talk, mech classes and the rest a new person is just too lost to begin with as there is nothing but a flood of talk and information for the moderate to intermediate to knowledgeable person.

Hopefully more new people like me will find this usefull.

[Adridos]

Chaotic Cannon, on 16 August 2012 - 02:11 PM, said:

Since I literally just picked up the interest in the game again I found that unless I already knew about the houses, factions, clan talk, mech classes and the rest a new person is just too lost to begin with as there is nothing but a flood of talk and information for the moderate to intermediate to knowledgeable person.

That's what a good gaming community is for.

I also had no idea of House, mercs, nor Clans when I first signed up here and now I'm the one helping new guys out.

Edited by Adridos, 16 August 2012 - 02:18 PM.

[Strum Wealh]

Chaotic Cannon, on 16 August 2012 - 04:33 AM, said:

Thanks guys, some good information to sort through, although now I have 2 posts above from 2 different people listing different types of groups.... now I am just as confused as ever... lol

Ok, from what I can see,Adridos posted the factions that are available to choose from and roll with. But what Strum Wealh listed is the sub factions or clan of sort under the main faction?

Is that right. I forgot how diverse they try and make the MW universe.

I just want to ensure if I select a faction or group that I am not stuck and I can move to another if I dont like the style or whatever...

Adridos, on 16 August 2012 - 05:48 AM, said:

No, he just wanted to "be cool" and named the factions by their official names.

For instance, his Federated Suns is my Davion. Reasoning behind it is that the nation is called Federated, but becuse it's so long, people (both in lore and gamers alike) simply refer to it as Daion and people playing as one of them are Davions, not Federated Sunners or some crap like that.

'Tis hardly a matter of "being cool".

However, Adridos is correct in that "Federated Suns" (which, other than ComStar, is actually the shortest name of the major IS powers) doesn't really lend itself to an obvious demonym as well as the the other nations' names do.

• Citizens of the Lyran Commonwealth are commonly referred to as either "Lyrans" or "Steiners".
  
• Citizens of the Draconis Combine are commonly referred to as either "Draconians" or "Kuritas".
  
• Citizens of the Capellan Confederation are commonly referred to as either "Capellans" or "Liaos" (or, rarely, "Confederates").
  
• Citizens of the Free Worlds League are commonly referred to as "Leaguers", the demonym of their province within the FWL (e.g. Anduriens, Regulans, etc - the League is much more of "a House divided" than the others), or "Mariks".
  
• Citizens of the Free Rasalhague Republic are commonly referred to as "Rasalhagians" (or, rarely, "Republicans").

Personally, I would say either "FedSunners" or "Federates" would work (with the latter also playing into the common pejorative, "fedrats"), as would "Davions" and "Davies".
Though, not everyone in the FedSuns is necessarily "a Davion", much as not everyone in the UK is necessarily "a Windsor".

As for Chaotic's concern over being able to change faction and what effects doing so may have, perhaps having a read of Dev Blog 01 (addressing plans for the Community Warfare aspect of MWO) and the associated Dev Q&A 02 might help?
Here are some presumably relevant snippets from the Q&A:

Quote

Is it possible to change status as a player from one to another. For example, Lone Wolf > Faction Player and back etc? –sadamle
[PAUL] Yes players can switch player types but it will be at a cost. A lot of the rewards associated with one player type will be lost during the transition. We don’t want players flip flopping back and forth between play types, hence there will be an amount of sacrifice you must agree to in order to switch.

How is faction imbalance going to be dealt with? –Kaemon
[PAUL] There are a number of mechanics that solve this issue. It’s a matter a choosing which one fits best with the theme of MechWarrior. Certain incentives can be provided to join a specific House and there can be kickbacks in terms of lower operating costs if you are in a less populated House. We are still addressing this issue and will let you know in a future update as to our conclusion.

Do factions have access to unique mechs or weapons? -cobrafive
[BRYAN] No. Prices may vary, but everyone has equal access to items.

[Chaotic Cannon]

Thanks once more you two.

Currently I play Eve (internet spaceship mmo) and a part of a corporation that is player run, which is a part of a bigger alliance that controls a region of the in game universe. We fight to take over a region and then keep it and farm in game missions or actions to make in game cash to buy new stuff. Once in a while the alliance forms up and is a part of a bigger coalition of alliances that band together to take on other multiple alliances to defend or attack huge regions of space and battles can be hours long, or the wars be days, weeks or months long. So having a lot to learn about that game is one thing, but its a long term game and being a part of a certain corp or alliance has real consequences when moving through the game.

So this is why it is good to find out if being in a clan or a faction (similar to the concept of the Eve corps factions or/and alliances) would be something that will steer my decision.

One things I did not find in the readings yet, being a online mmo, does one have the ability to wonder around the game landscape without taking on missions or directives? I mean in other mmo's wow or eve you are able to freely move from one area to another, either get there easy or you get caught in a bad situation with enemy's that will take you out on your walk about.