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[focuspark]

It has probably been posted somewhere, but I haven’t found it so I have no idea what the final game play for WMO is intended to be. I thought I’d outline my hopes for what it’ll look like. Note: I’m not very familiar with BattleTech history and cannon but by way of google, wikis, and fan sites I’m learning. Lastly, this is kind of a brain storm so bear with me.

First let me say kudos to the development team for making , IMO, a really fun FPS. The animations and art are steller and the combat, while not yet balanced, is really fun – and I don’t like FPS games generally.

Anyways, the topic at hand:

Players are, of course, mech warriors for hire. Players start the game aligned with a Successor House. Their first missions are given to them by the Successor House and the mech the use is supplied as well.

When a single player accepts a mission he’s basically being tossed into a PUG (pick up group) of other players all working as solo mech warriors for the same Successor House. Some mech warriors will be bringing their own mechs, other will be using house supplied mechs.
The player will be given one of two sets of orders: acquire some target or defend some target from acquisition. Attack missions generally offer better payment in c-bills because it’s harder to attack a fortified position.

Players should build reputation for and against Successor Houses over time as they fight for and against them. Reputation allows access to better, bigger, and more expensive loaner mechs. It should also allow access to purchasing mechs from the Successor Houses. Of course each Successor House should have its own selection of mechs to choose from. Example: Draconis Combine sells models of Jenner but not Atlas, Atlas models come from the Federated Suns. Cannon/lore types can get this right for me.

Players who bring their own mech to the combat and are victorious get a portion of the salvage. Salvage being actual parts and remaining mechs. Losers lose their mech unless the retreated to a safe zone and shutdown (at which point they were out permanently). Damaged mechs can be repaired but sections with no internal structure left are destroyed (including contained items) and must be replaced with salvaged sections from other mechs. Mech sections should not be exchangeable between mech types, though perhaps between same type variants. Mechs with destroyed center torso or engine are destroyed and can only be salvaged for parts.

Great example would be something like the following:

Salvage goes to the victor, your spoils are:
Severely damaged Jenner, 2 small lasers, 1 PPC, 1 Large Pulse Laser, Atlas parts (left arm, right leg, head), Cicada parts (left leg, right leg, right arm), advanced zoom module.

Now the primary method of acquiring new mechs is by defeating them in combat. Also, it is now important to “leg” a mech to preserve as much of the machine as possible as you could become the new owner.

There should be a thriving market where mechs, mech parts, and weapon salvage can be sold between players. The market should be house independent so that any player can sell to any player. All transactions should be done in C-Bills. Through the market the value of specific mechs and weapons will become quickly obvious.

This method offers a few benefits: PGI can introduce new mechs and weapons via the salvage method. Basically, players take a Successor House mech instead of their own and lose it. The salvager gets the rights to sell it if they want. It creates a viable economy without the need to farm or mine. Suicide and AFK farmers get nothing.

I do think that it’s very important to have 4, 8, 12, and 16 man team missions available. It is also important to allow teams to take these missions together, especially because they can lose their mech if they do.

Due to the risk of losing one’s mech, the payout to mech owners (win or lose) will need to be hirer than we see today in the beta. Successor House mech borrowers would see something akin to what we see now in beta.

NPC merchants should seed the market with items players are not selling to make sure the market never goes dry and prevent single players or groups of players from cornering the market on a good. Weapons and weapon ammo should always be for sale, but the NPC sellers need the ability to trend with market prices or they’ll add a false ceiling to prices.

Players who own MC should be able to sell it for CB on the market. Let the market decide the value.

MC should be the only currency capable of transferring MXP to GXP and a host of other things, but MC should never be used to directly buy any in game item which can also be purchased by CB.

The loss of you mech will seem draconian to many at first, but if you’ve ever played a game where combat has real stakes you’ll understand how much more excitement it adds. How much more it means to own a mech long term and the actual status is conveys. It also means that really good players (not me) will not only be winning, but rich due to all the salvage they collect. It will also foster mercenary group development because going solo means you don’t know who you’re fighting along size which increases your chance of losing your mech.

Over time, the devs should add strong NPC AI into the game which can be used to represent the invading Clans. Salvage would be the only way to obtain Clan mechs, weaponry, and repair sections. These would be worth a fortune on the market and though fighting the Clans would be very risky, many mercs would risk it for the vast sums of CB that could be made.