23 replies to this topic

[GeezerHawk15]

I'm talking from the perspective of someone who has never played a mech game before. Do these types of games usually have steep learning curves? Any older versions I could DL for free somewhere to maybe get into the swing of things? I have always been interested in mech games, I just never really played one.

[Gun Bear]

Picking it up would be pretty hard since as I understand it there won't be a disc

To be serious, look for Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries, its free and available to download over Mech tech

[Mike Silva]

They're calling it a "simulator" but I don't think the learning curve is going to be all that steep. If you want to see a game with a steep learning curve look up "DCS: A-10 Warthog" and find the startup videos. It takes ten minutes of flipping switches in the cockpit just to get the engines running and ready to take off.

[Scanlon]

I bet it will be easy to play, but difficult to master certain advanced techniques.

[Orzorn]

I think the game will not have a steep learning curve, but the way to look at it might be that it doesn't take a lot of effort to pick up (beyond getting used to heat and moving like a vehicle and not a person), but its skill ceiling is very high (learning the ins and outs of every mech, weapon, loadout, map, mechlab config, and situation).

You can play it like a point and shoot game (with some heat mechanics tossed in), but if you really want to be a good then you'll need to learn the rest of the mechanics.

[Motionless]

After a ten year break from mechwarrior games, and hopefully some successful newbie recruiting, even if the learning curve is a little steeper than some FPS games, there should be plenty of people of every skill level around to play against.

[pursang]

There are a few games that can get you started while you wait for MW:O to be released. MekTek's free release of MW4 (including their custom MekPaks which have new 'Mechs and weapons, etc.):

http://www.mektek.net/

There's also a total conversion mod for Crysis Wars called MW:LL which follows the BT tabletop game more closely. Also has combined arms gameplay:

http://www.mwlldownload.com/

As for older games like MW2/3 etc. I'm sure if you look hard enough in the bargain bin at your local video game store of your choice you can find copies on the cheap (although they may not work on your computer because of their age.)

[Orzorn]

pursang, on 07 May 2012 - 07:10 PM, said:

(although they may not work on your computer because of their age.)

On this note, if anyone needs help with attempting to run these games, just PM me and I can help out. I have quite a bit of experience with them (at least the DOS versions, which I recommend that you get if you wish to play them. They're by far the easiest to run thanks to Dosbox).

[Kanatta Jing]

I wouldn't have been able to figure out Mechwarrior 2 without the keyboard reference sheet.

And I don't think the controls will be all that different this time.

Edited by Kanatta Jing, 07 May 2012 - 07:55 PM.

[Rejarial Galatan]

In all honesty, this game MAY have a sharp and very steep learning curve for the new players. I mean those who never read a novel of battletech or never played ANY of the GOOD mechwarrior games, namely MW2 and its expansions and perhaps those funny 3rd person RTS variants. They may not have the systems in place that will lessen the curve, and make this less harsh for raw new players. BUT, I can only guess to what is and isnt going to happen. There is a small hope from some of us that there is a training area, which should ease things.

[Sleepy Head]

We MW vets will play that game likes it home. New comers are in for a bit of struggle...

The 'mechlab will be confusing just as it was for my FPS loving friends when they played a little bit of MW4:Mercs. The piloting in that game was absolute crap. You had thirty buttons that did the same thing, each a mile appart from the next.

The controls in this coming game look easy. It's WASD which is what most FPS lovers are more than used too. The 'mechlab might be extremely confusing however. All the empty space hardpoints, storing ammo in an arm for the weapon that's in the other arm. With patience that easily be overcome.

[Monky]

I think the hardest part to grasp is going to be just how much you can do with the mechlab without running a gimped build...

to a newbie I would imagine flamethrowers would sound real great to just pile on a mech, but you'd end up without any real firepower and just overheating yourself so fast...

[Rejarial Galatan]

The hardest thing for me to pick up every time I picked up a new MW game was the mechs actual size, and where my limbs or weapons were in realtion to everything else around me. But then again, I play First Person perspective, and this game is just that, FP, so, I expect to hit stuff as I learn my spacial sizes again. lol

[Hakija]

I have a feeling the difficulty will be like a lot of online PvP games. Namely, getting the crap beat out of you with a stick for about 4 - 5 hours, then slowly starting to win a few every once in while, to finally getting to where most of your wins aren't just sheer luck.

Bottom line: just stick with it long enough to learn from the people smearing you across the internet and you're golden. (BTW: I'm not trying to brag there, I'm usually the smearee in that picture)

[EDIT] Today I learned that the forum censors the word j.e.r.k, but not the word crap. Interesting

Edited by Hakiyah, 07 May 2012 - 08:56 PM.

[The Cheese]

I think it's going to depend on how the key bindings are laid out. There are a lot of things a mech can do, and remembering which key does what can be tricky. Unless you're using a stick. If that's the case, you're golden.

As far as gameplay goes, you'll get used to the mass of your avatar pretty quickly, and I'm expecting that there will be "recommended" mech builds that pop up for each role (think: optimal class talent builds in any old fantasy mmo), so picking a build that won't gimp you shouldn't be a huge issue.

It's easy to pick up the basics though, so I don't think it'll be a huge deal for newbies. I believe that the oft-requested training mode would certainly open the game up for more players who would otherwise be intimidated by the idea of the trial by fire.

[Exillian]

I don't think it will be that hard.Played Mercs earlier with some tweaks I was using WASD and mouse to shoot things.Mechlab wasn't that hard. MWO seems to be alot easier to understand things.

[Adridos]

Mechwarrior 2/3 used the same control scheme, so if you download their demos, put on hardest difficulty and imagine you'e piloting an Urbie instead of Mad Cat, you'll see how hard it is.

[ArcaneIce]

Kanatta Jing, on 07 May 2012 - 07:54 PM, said:

I wouldn't have been able to figure out Mechwarrior 2 without the keyboard reference sheet.

And I don't think the controls will be all that different this time.

This reminds me, hopefully I can find my MW 2 somewhere in the basement, wish me good luck cause I know I'll need it.

[Adridos]

Kanatta Jing, on 07 May 2012 - 07:54 PM, said:

I wouldn't have been able to figure out Mechwarrior 2 without the keyboard reference sheet.

And I don't think the controls will be all that different this time.

Well, Mech Warfare Dev Blog introduced us to the controls.

[Hyperius]

I'm new to MechWarrior as well. After trying the free release of MW4 I'd say that, if you have the patience for it, the basics of the game are not too difficult to grasp. It seems like it would take a while to master it though.