7 replies to this topic

[Arcolus]

Hello, My name is Will, and this is my first post on the site.

I have a few ideas that I believe could enhance the strategy, tactics, and gameplay of MWO to improve the overall game. They are as Follows:

1. Energy: simply put, there arn't generators / some kind of power source on the mechs. I think this could help aleviate some of the boating mech's are doing by limiting / ensuring people not only have to balance heat, but the energy levels of their mechs as well.

I'm not sure anyone here has played any of the Armored Core series, but I think adding something like a generator could add more tactical depth to building your mech, and how you manage your weapons.

- Also with the inclusion of adding an energy generation system that you have to manage, you could then add shields that could be turned on / off to help with protection, magnetic missile protection: a rotating electro magnetic field that trigers the missile/rpg/balistics to explode just 10-15 meters from the mech, Even a system to turn on / off that drains energy to lower heat.

You could also include new leg styles for differen't mech types that give a jump boost depending on weight class.

2. Armor variants:
-Simply put, right now playing an atlas, compared to a lower lvl mech there isn't much differen't to me in how much damamge I can take when someone boats. I'm not for taking away the ability to boat, but come up with way's to help mitigate some forms of damage.

For example: give people the ability to change out specific types of panels of armor for armor that protects against energy weapons, or balistic damage, or heat damage. essentially I'm suggesting the devs rework the armor system to be much more complex, so that it adds so much more tactical strategy to peoples builds.

3. Weapon types:

- I suggest that there be more types of weapons with differen't types of ammunition for balistics that deal differen't types of damage.
For example, a 30MM machine gun that has incindiary rounds, or you could customize it so that it fires 10 armor piercing rounds or DU rounds followed by 1 incindiary. Give the cannon a .5 ms fire rate and it still stay's balanced. You could catch mech's internals on fire, over heat them, force people to have to carry / have some type of defensive mechagnisms on their mechs thus adding to the strategy .
For missiles you could do the same kind of thing, adding improved explosive radius, or faster moving rocket engines, improved heat generation at impact, electro-explosive to temporarily shut down any electronic capabilites mechs have if hit directly, even frost / cold effects to slow mechs, or make their armor vulnerable to heat if hit directly with a specific lazer type or balistic type.

4. more electronic gagets on mechs:
- deployable radars, gun turrets, electronic scramblers, decoys, nanobot booby traps that stun/ shut down the mech that tripped it for 5 seconds.
- Indicators to show weak spots on mechs, improved radar, improved jamming resists, improved heat control, improved energy production, improved missile jammping abilities, and the list goes on and on.

5. Having destructable enviroments. When a lazer hits something, and it's as powerful as these are.... It should do some damamge. same with balistics.

6. Energy Production via generators, checmical generators, fuel, ect. This could add a tank on mechs were the fuel is kept and could be vulnerable after getting rid of some armor on the back side, that way light mechs still could be viable and could still kill larger mechs if they can peel the armor off and cause the fuel to explode. Now the differen't fuels could have differen't triggers that make them ignite, for example, you may need an incidiary 30 mm round to the fuel tank after armor is removed. Or you could pierce the tank and cause the fuel to drain and then the mech only can produce energy until fuel is gone. Or you could need a specific lazer energy / radio beam weapon to ignite the fuel. The idea here is to give more strategy and depth to the mech game.

I hope you take some of these ideas into consideration, and I thank you for your time for reading this post. If you have any questions I would be glad to help out, I have a sound recording studio, and am a sound engineer so I wouldn't mind helping out with anything really. I hope some of these things get put into the game eventually. Thanks!

-Will

[Runenstahl]

I don't think these ideas are bad. Most of 'em are however VERY untrue to the battletech lore and would turn the game into something very different then what it is intended to be. That probably wouldn't be a bad game... just not a Battletech game anymore.

The only thing I really can agree on is "destructible environments" (and inflammable ones too).

As for exploding fuel: in the TT mechreactors did explode into tiny (by comparison) nuclear explosions. The devs removed these, because it took the fun out of brawling which I think was most likely a good idea.

[Adridos]

Runenstahl, on 09 February 2013 - 12:59 PM, said:

As for exploding fuel: in the TT mechreactors did explode into tiny (by comparison) nuclear explosions.

Actually, it's only in the books and not in the official rules.

It was later added to additional rules should people want to spice the game up a little.

[roflplanes]

Quote

there arn't generators / some kind of power source on the mechs

Yes there are. They are all powered by nuclear fusion reactors, which (theoretically, of course, since we only use fission today and not fusion yet) can provide more power than a 'Mech could EVER need. Hence the "going critical" engine meltdowns on previous games.

Points 2 and 3 are awesome ideas, and actually already exist in the Battletech universe. The devs have stated that we may or may not see them in the future, but that they have at least been considered!

Point 4 you're starting to talk about CoD-type elements there that don't exist (at least not in the forms you're thinking of) in the BT universe and would adversely affect the simulation-style gameplay we now experience.

Point 5 is another awesome one, and is being worked (trees, at least) currently by the devs. You've got to understand that developing something like a destructible, interactive environment takes far more time and effort than would be possible for the short amount of time this game has been in existence. It's still very young for a piece of software of its magnitude, have patience and watch the features roll in!

Point 6, as I said above, Battlemechs don't run on fuel, they are powered by nuclear fusion reactors and when you die, you are experiencing that "lucky shot" where all your armor is gone and your reactor has been hit. In a way, your desired mechanic already exists. What you're looking for is a way to down a large 'Mech without plowing through all of his armor. The answer? Shoot him in the back or shoot him in the head. If you're good enough you'll be a monster.

And just for the record, it's always a good practice to copy/paste your posts into MS Word or a similar program to check spelling and grammar before posting (especially something this long and tedious) and expecting people to read through it and seriously consider it. Not bashing, I promise, just trying to help!

[Arcolus]

bump

[Alois Hammer]

Arcolus, on 09 February 2013 - 12:00 PM, said:

Hello, My name is Will, and this is my first post on the site.

I have a few ideas that I believe could enhance the strategy, tactics, and gameplay of MWO to improve the overall game. They are as Follows:

1. Energy: simply put, there arn't generators / some kind of power source on the mechs.

Stopped reading right there. If you don't get that a nuclear fusion reactor (aka "Mech Engine") is a power source, then I know all I need to about your logic and ideas.

[roflplanes]

Alois Hammer, on 10 February 2013 - 10:29 AM, said:

Stopped reading right there. If you don't get that a nuclear fusion reactor (aka "Mech Engine") is a power source, then I know all I need to about your logic and ideas.

Being a Battletech n00b and being incapable of good, logical ideas are two entirely separate animals, to be fair.

[Omar Ravenhurst]

roflplanes, on 10 February 2013 - 11:39 AM, said:

Being a Battletech n00b and being incapable of good, logical ideas are two entirely separate animals, to be fair.

Yeah, he could have put that a little nicer, and just explained the reason that's a problem. The sentiment, however, is very important. This is a Mechwarrior game, and that binds it to an amazing about of lore and the rules of BT. Most of what the OP suggests is somewhere in BT, so those are fine, but we should always be careful to keep this game firmly planted in the BT universe. It's why most of us are here to play this game. The specific item the poster takes issue with is a very important one. The giant, hot fusion reactors are fundamental to any Battletech game. To suggest otherwise is about as close to heresy as you can get around here.