85 replies to this topic

[DEN_Ninja]

So by reading the thread...Everyone wants Mech Commander Scenarios?

[Kraven Kor]

Tichorius Davion, on 21 December 2012 - 11:48 PM, said:

So by reading the thread...Everyone wants Mech Commander Scenarios?

While the Mech Commander games had their problems (repair bays...) they had some really great missions IIRC.

They would be better than what we currently have.

Imagine the following - and I know these have likely been said before, possibly by me, but:

Note: When I say "respawn" I am obviously speaking of the Dropship Mutator deal, not the "respawn" that I fear and dread

Defend the Convoy: Team 1 starts Point A and there are some NPC vehicles there. The map is a long, narrow affair with a winding road following a river, with a brigde at the halfway point. At various points, ridges and bluffs straddle the road creating two choke points beside the bridge. Team 2 starts at an edge of the map near said half-way point. Team 1 scores points for every NPC vehicle that survives, Team 2 points for each vehicle disabled / destroyed. The vehicles have some minor combat abilities (a few light tanks / LRM carriers or whatever.) Obviously, destroying all attackers / defenders is the ideal victory, still, and the defenders will have a tougher time of things so balancing the NPC defense capabilities might be tricky. But, again, clear attacker / defender goals, without "avoiding the fight" being much of an option. For dropship mutator, the NPC convoy is split up into waves, and dead players enter the game in one of their remaining, selected mechs whenever a new NPC wave spawns. So on mutator, the fight is essentially 4 waves of vehicles and mechs. Should take about 5 minutes for each wave to cross the map, with player actions perhaps making it take longer (blocking the vehicles somehow, etc.)

Evacuation: Team 1 starts in the middle of a map with about three viable routes with thick forest or rough terrain making those three routes ideal, if not obligatory, for the "defenders." Team 2 - the defenders - starts at the edge of the map, and has to reach the other edge of the map and successfully defend a "base" for 5 minutes. Timer does not begin until the first defender reaches this "base." Team 1 merely needs to kill all defenders, and cannot reset the timer once a defender has started it (though the timer stops counting down if all defenders are killed / removed from it and only ticks down if X defenders are present - a single defender cannot win.) The defenders can kill all attackers, or again run out the timer, but running out the timer will be difficult to do since you are stuck defending a very small area once the timer starts. Clear attack / defense objectives, and again most matches would still be "kill 'em all." No real way to "avoid" the fight since the attackers can't "counter-cap." Mutator would be even more fun - you'd have basically 4 waves and it would be kind of random due to the "losing" team getting more reinforcements than the "winning" team at the start of each wave.

Breakthrough: An urban map, for dropship mutator only. Team 1 is the attackers, they begin at the edge of the map, and must either move all of their forces into the city (through any of three or four choke points) or destroy all defenders. Defenders spawn in the city. There is a large wall (possibly with light, static defenses) with only four entries, and mechs at any one choke point should have a clear line of fire on any adjacent choke point - so mechs at Point A can hit enemy mechs at Point B, those at Point B can strike mechs a A, B, or C, etc. Whenever an attacking mech is in the city area, a countdown timer ticks down slowly; if no attacking mechs are in the city, the timer slowly ticks back the other way. If a mech is destroyed, at various points on that timer, dead players can launch back into the game in a fresh mech (from their 4 selected mechs) at their original spawn points and re-enter the fray. Defenders respawn as the attackers count down the timer, attackers respawn as the defenders timer dials back up - ie. the team that is "losing" gets more mechs until there are no more mechs to spawn (as players go through their four mechs.) Defender can only win if all attackers are killed; attackers can only win if all defenders are killed, or they manage to reduce the timer to zero.

I could write these up for days lol.

Edited by Kraven Kor, 22 December 2012 - 11:20 AM.

[Thomas Dziegielewski]

Mentioned already.


Attack / Defend - primary, secondary objectives

[GuardDogg]

One team has to capture the enemy base, while the other team has to defend.

[Psydotek]

I'd even go so far as to say that the defending team cannot at any time leave their objective unattended at any time (they must stay within a certain radius), either have have them fail instantly or a have a fast countdown timer. This forces them to only send out scouts to find the attacking force or to at least leave a single defender if they want to go on the offensive instead.

At the very least, both teams will know EXACTLY what to do and will have less things to worry about. Having a singular objective makes things much easier for new players but will still let advanced players have plenty of strategic options to play with.

[Irreverence]

I don't know why they have to make it so difficult. All the previous Mechwarriors have already done it. Why reinvent the wheel? We need mission objectives in a PvP setting. Base capping of any kind has never been a mission objective in Mechwarrior. If we're going to be fighting over worlds, it needs to actually feel like we're doing something or fighting for some reason instead of just needlessly blowing each other up. The game needs immersion through story as well not just combat.

Just copy the other Mechwarrior's campaigns but apply it to PvP the best you can.