[Idea] Mech Pilot Trees
#1
Posted 20 November 2012 - 02:49 AM
I want to talk about the pilot trees for the various mech chassis. The main issue is a lack of differentiation between the pilot tree for an Atlas compared to that of a Jenner. In order for there to be true "Role warfare" I believe that the pilot trees for a given chassis should reflect what the mech is meant to do.
Jenners are useful scouts and harassers so the basic pilot tree should give bonuses to targeting range, target info gathering, and speed.
Assault mechs like the Atlas would have things like heat dissipation, rate of fire, and pretty much all the bonuses that are currently available as they are basically pretty much geared for straight up brawling.
Want to make support mechs like the Catapult and Trebuchet viable? How about giving them abilities like 15% faster lock-on, or reducing missile spread by X., or really anything to differentiate them from the other mechs in the line-up.
Role Warfare has been a major platform of this game since it was first introduced, but there is very little role specialization involved in the pilot trees themselves. Even if you just change up the Elite level skills to better reflect a mechs role it could do wonders for making each and every chassis important to the team play experience.
As it stands right now, yes, playing any weight class is perfectly viable, but they all feel the same because the bonuses they receive through experience are the same. Does anybody else feel this way? Or am I alone on this one?
Dmitri
#2
Posted 20 November 2012 - 02:53 AM
#3
Posted 20 November 2012 - 05:32 AM
Give the centurion an improved chance to get the shield arm between the pilot and an enemy kind of thing. That's actually the only example I have right now,. It's early here.
#4
Posted 20 November 2012 - 06:21 AM
Basic Skills should be weight class specific skills (light, medium, heavy, assault, etc...)
Elite Skills should be mech specific skills (atlas, awesome, catapult, etc...)
Master Skills should be variant specific skills (atlas-d, atlas-d-dc, atlas-k, etc..
#5
Posted 20 November 2012 - 06:45 AM
Khobai, on 20 November 2012 - 06:21 AM, said:
Basic Skills should be weight class specific skills (light, medium, heavy, assault, etc...)
Elite Skills should be mech specific skills (atlas, awesome, catapult, etc...)
Master Skills should be variant specific skills (atlas-d, atlas-d-dc, atlas-k, etc..
This is probably the best way to go, though thinking of that many different efficiencies could be problematic. Maybe if the Basic efficiencies stayed as they are now, while Elites became weight class specific and Master was for a specific mech.
We don't need to make the dev's brains explode trying to come up with hundreds of unique efficiencies.
#6
Posted 20 November 2012 - 06:50 AM
#7
Posted 20 November 2012 - 07:48 AM
Therefore, the mechs are already segregated in to roles by their hardpoints, speed, and weight class. This doesn't mean that you can't pinch hit in a different role if that is how you like to play, but you might not be using the best tool for the job.
#8
Posted 20 November 2012 - 07:57 AM
It also takes the balance of the game farther away from being skill based balance - or at the very least something that will be far harder to maintain the skill based balance than having a general skill tree.
#9
Posted 20 November 2012 - 08:13 AM
#10
Posted 20 November 2012 - 08:37 AM
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Each mech SHOULD have a limited role. For example, only light mechs should be good at scouting. Only Medium mechs should be good at skirmishing and harassing. Heavy mechs should be good at combat/strike/support. Assault mechs should be good at tanking, holding the line, and assaulting defensive positions.
What we need is a skill tree that promotes combined arms. What we dont need is a skill tree with a bunch of generic skills where any class of mech can fill any role... for example, a Cicada should not be as good of a scout as a Jenner... but the Cicada should be better at harassing than a Jenner.
Additionally each mech in a weight class should have its own specialized role. So for example, the Cicada might be more of harasser while the hunchback would be more of a skirmisher. And the Centurion would be somewhere in between. The point is that every mech should have its own unique playstyle....
Edited by Khobai, 20 November 2012 - 08:58 AM.
#11
Posted 20 November 2012 - 09:52 AM
#12
Posted 20 November 2012 - 09:57 AM
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The harasser/skirmisher role is flexible.
#13
Posted 20 November 2012 - 09:59 AM
#14
Posted 20 November 2012 - 10:02 AM
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- • Radar Range Increase – Increases radar range by 2% up to 5 times
- • Ghost Signature – Increases length of time before a signal fades by 2% up to 3 times
- • Vision Mode 1 - Zoom Vision – Allows the pilot to zoom 7x
- • HUD Detail 1 – Enemy Damage Level – LOD detail in terms of damage
- • HUD Detail 2 – Enemy Component State – Overall component criticality
- • Null Signature System – Allows the pilot to appear shut down for 5 seconds
- • Multi-Targeting – Allows the pilot to target multiple enemies up to 4 at a time.
- • IDF Accuracy – Narrows the AOE of IDF fire.
- • Critical Shot Indicator – Shares with nearby friendly BattleMechs the critical components of an enemy BattleMech
- • Charging – A special attack that allows the pilot to drive their BattleMech into an enemy BattleMech without sustaining too much damage
- • Vision Mode 2 – Night Vision – Allows the player to see in dark areas/night
- • Vision Mode 3 – Thermal – Allows the pilot to see heat signatures through solid objects
- • Vision Mode 4 – Magnetometer – Allows the pilot to see metal through solid objects
- • DFA Damage Reduction – Reduces the amount of damage caused by performing a Death From Above attack
- • Power Up/Power Down Speed Increase – The power up and power down sequences are sped up by 20%
- • AMS Range Increase – Increases the effective range of AMS by 2% up to 5 times
- • Cognizance – Automatically lets the pilot know of any nearby friendly BattleMech taking fire
- • Critical Shot Receiver – Allows the pilot to receive the critical shot information from nearby scout Mechs
- • Order View – Allows the pilot to right click and request friendly BattleMechs to attack or defend areas/objectives on the BattleGrid
- • Command View – Provides a layer of information over the BattleGrid including objectives and any intelligence information passed back by scout Mechs on the front line
- • Call Air Strike – Calls in an air strike that does AOE damage in a straight line
- • Call Artillery – Calls in a land based artillery bombardment on to a target area
- • Call Naval Bombardment – Calls in Naval artillery bombardment that has a larger and more powerful result than regular artillery
- • Call UAV – Calls a UAV that passes overhead of the battlefield and relays ALL enemy positions to the command pilot
- • Call Predator Drone – Drops a heavy explosive device on a targeted area
- • Call Satellite Sweep – Full detail information is passed to the command pilot including enemy location/direction/speed
- • Danger Close – A short range radar detection system that lets the command pilot know of any nearby enemy BattleMechs
#16
Posted 20 November 2012 - 08:05 PM
#17
Posted 20 November 2012 - 08:20 PM
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Youre the only one saying medium mechs shouldnt fill a specific role. While Ive been saying the role of mediums should be skirmishing and harassment. That gives them a very clearly defined and flexible role in the game.
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The pilot skill tree has absolutely nothing to do with what were discussing though. Under the pilot skill tree a commando, jenner, and cicada all have access to the same exact pilot skills. What we've been talking about is something totally different: giving each mech its own unique skills. The goal being to give people a reason to actually use mechs like the commando despite the jenner being undeniably better.
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This concept doesnt work in practice. Games like WoW have moved away from trees because players always chose the better set of skills while the weaker set of skills never got use.
Edited by Khobai, 20 November 2012 - 08:32 PM.
#18
Posted 20 November 2012 - 08:52 PM
ToBe998, on 20 November 2012 - 02:53 AM, said:
Actually, the current Basic Mech Tree is very good for a light mech.
But the larger the mech, the more it is interested in brawling and/or sustained fire. Leaving the tree as-is for light mechs, but changing it for the heavies makes good sense.
#19
Posted 21 November 2012 - 03:45 AM
That way, you can choose some buffs in the areas you want for your role, instead of just getting all. It might add a little extra variation on the battlefield instead of all Mechs having the exact same capabilities outside the lab.
The buffs would need some altering or tweaking from their current settings, but your Mech would actually be slightly customised to better fit your chosen role/personal play style.
#20
Posted 21 November 2012 - 07:58 AM
Stickjock, on 20 November 2012 - 10:02 AM, said:
First Congrats to Stickjock on becoming a new MOD here. Now I really have to watch my p's and q's.
Second, I also posted something like this a while back in the BETA threads a while back. But I would like to see more skills added, like basic piloting skills for all people to have which are based from the actual MECHWARRIOR RPG game. Like certain advantages that you have to choose before you start which define your mechwarrior. You could have:
- academy or university training, giving you a tactical advantage say when community warfare comes out into the game, like tactical bonuses.
- or be wealthy which gives you and inherit bonus when starting out.
- ambidextrious which allows you an increase to your gunnery and piloting skills.
- have a tech knowledge background in which helps you decrease the amount of cost for repairs.
- scrounger ability which allows you to pay less for parts or equipment via connections with the black or grey markets.
Edited by Tice Daurus, 21 November 2012 - 08:00 AM.
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