Or, another variant (and you could actually hack this one into the game with a cleverly-designed map, I think): one team is locked to only Light and Medium machines, the other to only Heavy and Assault; no aero, no vtol. Starting cash like TOS. 15-20 minute timer. Ejection disabled.
Now the twist: the Heavy/Assault team cannot sell or repair their machines, only rearm. When killed, the game forces them into respawn points that are locked off from the rest of the map--observation booths, basically. They're free to watch the rest of the battle and talk to their teammates still on the floor, but can't fight directly. Light/Medium team is under no such restrictions--they can repair, rearm, and replace 'mechs as normal, and respawn normally.
The objective is simple: All the Heavy/Assault team has to do is survive. End of timer, if there's one of them still on the field, the team wins. If the Light/Med team manages to take them all out, they win the round immediately.
Think of it kind of like a Horde mode for the Heavy/Assault (defender) team, and Giant-slayer for the Light/Medium (attacker) team. Both teams need teamwork: the defenders to keep themselves from getting flanked and torn apart by small, fast things, and the attackers to generate enough firepower to take out the big guys. This was inspired by a particularly ferocious last stand on Thunder Rift a few nights ago; after the most one-sided game ever, IS held out for twenty minutes on zero tickets by putting up a solid wall of Assaults against incoming waves of clanners in generally lighter machines. Reminded me of the defense of Defiance Industries from the novels.
