Orion IIC
Orion IIC
Daishi - Prometheus variant when Clans invade, Centurion - Yen Lo Wang variant when it's IS only. I love me some lore mechs.
Stock?
HSN-7D Hellspawn and CPLT-C5A Catapult.
God, I love the C5A. 2 LRM15s with Artemis-IV, 4 ER Medium Lasers, Endo Steel chassis, Double heat sinks, and 12.5 tons of armor. Golden.
http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/11...ot-pay-to-win/
Piranha: MechWarrior's F2P model not pay-to-win
Concerned about the free-to-play nature of the newly announced MechWarrior Online title? You shouldn't be, according to the latest Piranha Games dev blog. The big wall o' text comes courtesy of one Bryan Ekman, who says that the new battle mech game will definitely not be pay-to-win.
"One of our core pillars is role warfare and [it] is designed to, well –- level the playing field –- another concept from our original design. We're doing away with the arms race and making battle mechs of all shapes and sizes have a purpose and role on the battlefield," Ekman says.
Why should players spend any money, then? That's not as clear, though the blog does touch on the usual F2P bullet points of convenience and acquisition speed. Get out your PR decoder rings and head to the official MechWarrior Online website for more info.
shit, IC & I missed the post by Cantih
Spoiler: show
It happens, I'll try to make when I do it more noticeable, but still going to spoiler long articles.
New news, schedule for the month
http://mwomercs.com/news/2011/11/16-...r-reboot-month
tl:dr
On Wednesdays
This week - Dev Blog
Next week - Dev Interview
Week after - Community Update Q&A
Final week - Surprise announcement
Spoiler: show
that actually makes me a little bit more excited to play this. so many awesome possibilities with a reboot, and would be great for someone like me who hasn't messed about with battletech or mechwarrior in almost ten years, or read any of the novels for longer than that!
Well, it's not a story reboot. They're still using the canon storyline, just going in 3050 instead of the current 3085/3139 or in between.
Hopefully, if MWO does really well, they can manage to put out the 3015 single-player game they were originally planning on.
I just can't wait to enter the Arena battles. MW4: Mercs did such a great job with the Arena season that I'm drooling at the chance of doing it again. I loved the AI battles and the fact that you could join up in temporary alliances. So much fun.
Ok, I guess the dev blog was last week, so today is the interview
New News - Artist interview
http://mwomercs.com/news/2011/11/17-...-alex-iglesias
Spoiler: show
The cool thing is, this guy has been doing BT art for the tabletop game for the past few years, so Piranha contracting with him is a "really good sign".
Also, if it's the same guy I think it is, he pops up on /tg/ on 4chan at times and drops stuff like this, and the atlas/furries thing
Spoiler: show
Bumping for, not news, but the thread to ask questions for the community Q&A article next week, went live this morning.
http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/134...the-questions/
Topic is "Rebooting MechWarrior" and it's recommended to read the FAQ and Dev Blog 0 before asking anything.
New News - Q&A 1 out
http://mwomercs.com/news/2011/11/27-developer-qa-1
Too big to quote the whole thing, I'll just pick a few.
Will you have PvE elements on MechWarrior Online? [PAUL] I may or may not pass out depending on Bryan’s answer to this.
[BRYAN] Not at launch. We're looking at ways to incorporate PVE post launch and withing the framwork of the MWO concept.
What difficulties have you had transferring the mechanics from the tabletop game to a PC game, and what mechanics have you had to change or modify? Since this is a reboot, will history change in-game or do you mean reboot in the same way as a movie franchise is rebooted?
[MATT N] Hey you said REBOOT! You win a prize! Someone knows how to get their questions answered! Good job!
[PAUL] Challenging question and I’ll try my best to answer. There’s been a common misconception amongst the community that I’d like to clear up. While MechWarrior® Online™ does refer to BattleTech® for historical and canon reference, it does not mean that it’s a direct port of the table top rules to a videogame. The table top rules are laid out to make sense for a turn based strategy game. Some of those rules just don’t apply when dealing with a real time game environment. Core rules such as munitions accuracy, heat management and movement speed will have to be tuned for real time gameplay and will differ in varying degrees from the table top rules. How far they differ will come out of gameplay testing and tuning and at this point I cannot comment further on how that progress is going. It is an exciting time in the studio right now and I don’t want to release information too soon and have it change on you, the community, later. I am quite vulnerable to pitchforks and torches.
[DAVID] While there hasn’t been anything that I would call a great difficulty, the thing that we always have to keep in mind is that we want to capture all of the flavour of the tabletop game but need to be aware of when a direct translation of a tabletop system won’t work for a real time computer game. Though I would say that the biggest impasse we’ve come across is melee combat; that’s a system we don’t want to tackle until we know we can do it right.
From the DevBlog on the reboot, what do you mean by: “Solve some of the long standing gameplay issues from previous MechWarrior® games?”
[PAUL] For me it’s the open expanses of flat terrain that evolved into circle strafing madness. While it will still be part of the game, our new environments will allow us to curtail that type of gameplay while opening up new avenues of exploration and Information Warfare bringing every class of ‘Mech to the front lines of combat. Yes you will be able to form a team of all assault class ‘Mechs, but you’re going to end up as fodder to a co-ordinated team of mixed class ‘Mechs and an orchestrating commander.
What do you consider the fundamental core of the BattleTech® Universe that you feel can't be touched during a reboot? What do you feel needs to be changed the most?
[PAUL] I don’t think we want to change anything behind the lore of the BattleTech® Universe. The story lines and rich history of the Great Houses and families that drive them along with the politics and controversy are just something we think is at the heart of every MechWarrior® fan. You can even see this right now in the MechWarrior® Online™ forums where the various House discussions show how the community can identify themselves with one of the factions involved in the universe. Another thing we wouldn’t want to change is the elite status of the MechWarrior® themselves. To say a MechWarrior® is just a pilot/driver of a ‘Mech is like saying that a ‘Mech engineer is just a tinkerer. As for what would need to be changed the most, I think some of the technology and industrial designs need to be updated to meet today’s understanding of future technologies.
Beyond being online and persistent; how will MWO bring the MW concept forward, or will it be more of the same simply updated? Second will the game be more sim-like than previous titles that show barren cockpits and play like driving tanks in FPS games?
[PAUL] We used to throw around a tag line here at Piranha. “This is not your father’s MechWarrior®”. There are so many aspects of gameplay that are being added to MechWarrior® Online™ that the game will feel different in a very good way. Our ability to feedback information to a player has evolved drastically since the last MechWarrior® title. This includes updated HUD displays, cockpit displays and if you have the toys, force feedback and more! Our cockpit is not barren. We are implementing new technologies to allow you to look at various instrument panels and get tactical information by doing so. Combat between ‘Mechs shouldn’t be just spotting an enemy and shooting. Logistics and battlefield awareness should play a role as well considering you’re piloting a massive powerhouse into combat.
EDIT:
Also, announced today
http://mwomercs.com/news/2011/11/28-...warrior-online
MWO will use CryEngine3
An update worth bumping
http://mwomercs.com/news/2011/12/44-...munity-warfare
Note the last bit, Q&A is open again, go ask stuff if you need to.Dev Blog 1 - Community Warfare
http://img.mwomercs.com/header_bar_610.png by Piranha Games Dec 7, 2011 4:00 PM PST Dev Blog 1 - Community Warfare
It’s been a month since the launch of MechWarrior® Online™’s website and we’ve generated a lot of buzz and content. As promised last week, we’ve prepared a developer blog about Community Warfare.
Since Community Warfare is a large topic, we decided to focus this blog on one specific topic, the Inner Sphere and Faction Warfare.
Contributors for this blog include Paul Inouye and Bryan Ekman.
Inner Sphere
It all starts with the concept of the Inner Sphere and a living timeline. Each day that passes here on Earth, also passes in the virtual MechWarrior® Online™ Inner Sphere.
Wednesday December 7th, 2011 is Wednesday December 7th, 3048.
This means every time you log into MechWarrior® Online™something new has happened. News Updates via the ISN feed, news reporter features, and battle feeds, keep players up-to-date on current events. Feeds can be viewed through a dynamic universe map or RSS style feed, in game or online at the MechWarrior® Online™website (coming soon).
For those unfamiliar with what the Inner Sphere looks like, here’s a map:
http://img.mwomercs.com/media/thumbs...ere%203048.png
Faction Warfare
The Inner Sphere is broken up into several factions, each with their own regions and sub-regions. Each faction is warring with at least one other faction at all times in a universal territory battle. Players can be active or passive participants in this battle by following one of three paths:
- Pledging Allegiance to a Faction
- Joining a Mercenary Corporation
- Remaining Neutral
At its core, the territory battle is a fight for resources – planets. Planets are divided into three types. Each type requires a more active level of participation by the player and as a result earns a greater reward.
- Core Worlds – Are managed by the dev team. These are worlds that necessary for future planning and part of major historical events.
- Faction Worlds – Are fought over by Faction players. These planets buffer core and border worlds, and do not play a significant role in major historical events. Rewards for controlling these planets are directly linked to global bonuses and abilities associated with a player’s Faction.
- Border Worlds – Are fought over via a contract bidding system by player run Mercenary Corporations. These planets change hands on a regular basis, and have no impact on historical events. Rewards for controlling a boarder world are significant and go directly to the occupying Merc Corp.
It’s important to state now, that worlds can change from Border to Faction to Core, or any combination thereof, at any time by the development team. This will be necessary to facilitate dramatic changes in faction territory control as we progress through some tumultuous times within the BattleTech® universe.
Faction Worlds
The battle for control over faction planets is a simple war of attrition. The faction with the most influence over a particular planet occupies it. By virtue of simply competing in online matches, faction players contribute influence points to target planets.
Border Worlds
Mercenary Corporations can bid and fight for occupation rights of border worlds throughout the Inner Sphere. Merc Corps must bid on a planet’s occupation rights via a system of contracts generated by the game.
A match or series of matches are set up between the defending Merc Corp and the challenger. The victor is determined from the results of each match, and takes control of the planet. They are rewarded with an immediate contract payout, and will continue to earn rewards while they occupy the planet.
Loyalty Points and Ranks
Loyalty Points are used to determine how devoted you have been to a particular faction. The more loyal you are, the greater the reward. LPs are earned by engaging in activities that further the goals of a particular faction.
For Example: Killing an enemy faction player would earn 1 LP.
Loyalty Points decay over time if a player is not active. Participating in negative actions can also decrease LPs.
Faction Players
As a Faction Player, loyalty points are earned by playing and winning matches. As the player accumulates loyalty points, they will gain a military faction rank at pre-determined loyalty point totals. If a player loses LPs by decay or negative actions, they will be demoted.
Gaining ranks earns special privileges and items, including membership to special units, unit skins, and bonuses to C-Bills and XP. These are all non-permanent and subject to the player maintaining a certain rank level. At the highest possible levels, players can begin to influence their faction by controlling which planets are targeted in territory conquest.
Mercenary Corp Players
As a Mercenary Corporation, all members’ earned loyalty points go to the Merc Corp. The Merc Corp must have a minimum amount of loyalty points with a faction before they are able to engage in planetary combat on behalf of that faction. Loyalty points also determine the type and level of contract a Merc Corp is permitted to bid on. These loyalty point restrictions mean that a Merc Corp’s membership, must remain active in order to maintain the required level of LPs.
Ranks are created within a Merc Corp by the Merc Corp leader. The naming of the ranks is entirely up to the Merc Corp leader who can assign Merc Corp level permissions to each rank.
Lone Wolf Players
As a lone wolf, the player can earn loyalty points through participation in random matches, however these LPs have no positive or negative implications. A lone wolf player does not have any ranks.
Disclaimer
We’re committed to releasing information about BETA ready concepts only, however some ideas and concepts are still subject to change after testing.
The Community Q&A 2 is now open for questions! Ask away.
WHEN IS IT COMING OUT?
SOON™
That map is fkn huge. And there is a 30 light year limit on jumps? D;
It's the reason why feudalism prevails in the Battletech setting, you can only manage so much space at once.
Gimmie! Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie!
Eh, two months is long enough. Updates!
More Teased Mechs
Catapult - http://mwomercs.com/news/2011/12/70-...ech-5-catapult
http://img.mwomercs.com/media/thumbs...%20Concept.jpg
Centurion - http://mwomercs.com/news/2012/01/97-...ch-6-centurion
http://img.mwomercs.com/media/thumbs...%20Concept.jpg
Dev Blogs
http://mwomercs.com/news/2012/01/75-...mation-warfare
http://mwomercs.com/news/2012/02/107...3-role-warfare
http://mwomercs.com/news/2012/02/112...e-warfare-cont
3 & 4 detail you the player's progression system.
MWO Q&A
http://mwomercs.com/news/2011/12/68-developer-qa-2
http://mwomercs.com/news/2012/01/95-...mation-warfare
Interview
http://mwomercs.com/news/2011/12/47-...-randall-bills
This guy is the one overseeing Catalyst Game Labs (the successors of FASA > Fan Pro > CGL) output. There is another guy directly below him, overseeing just BattleTech.
http://mwomercs.com/news/2012/01/87-...ey-bryan-ekman
These are the online game making guys.
http://mwomercs.com/news/2012/02/115...tzi-kevin-meek
More online game making guys, closer to the trenches this time.
I have never played anything like this when it pertains to an MMO.
Gotta say, I want to try it out.