Some suggestions

[MroczMR]

Hi. I'm Mrocz and I'm new on this forum . I made this topic because a haven't got acces to Dev Forum's and previous topic with gameplay suggestions is locked.

Well I found information about your mod on ModDB. I am great fan of Battletech and Mechwarrior PC game. I was playing every part of this game on PC ( Mechwarrior 2 is the best IMHO ). And I have some questions/suggestions.

1) How about Mech piloting realism? I know that we can't talk about extreme reality in piloting Battlemech because Battlemechs don't exist, but are you going to make Mech piloting like in hmmm... Battlefield 2149/Mechassault or rather like Mechwarrior ? Is it going to be more Advanced? It will be great to se every detailed aspect of Mech piloting like in Mechwarrior 2 or in the worst case like in Mechwarrior 4. You know Heat Level, Fire Modes, Radar Passive/Active Mode, Mechs slowing down when damaged, Full Jump Jet control (like in MW 2 ) and posibility to use Joystick + Throttle. I know that you don't know ET:QW engine limitations yet. But i want to know your plans about that.

2) If you made more advanced Battmech control, i would add a special game Mode. Here is my suggestion about something like Team Deathmatch/Deatchmatch... I know that it sounds primitive, but imagine Huge Solaris VII Arena and mechs fighting on it. It will be great opportunity to train Mech piloting for other more advanced game modes, or for Clans to select best Mech pilots. Everybody will be able to modify his mech in Mechlab, if the engine limitaions let you to do this. What do you think about it?

3) I read about your plans about Mech deploying. I think this plan about "byuing" mechs isn't good idea. Offcours Mechs should be limited on maps. But i would rather solve the problem of mech deploying by adding a Mechwarrior class... And making it limited like in Project Reaility Mod for BF 2... This class would be able to deploy mechs from MechBays/Dropships etc. This is my opinion about that. Why i think so? Well... Clans sessions will be complicated, because first minutes of battle will be without any mechs and in such sessions Clans have decided who will pilot a Mech and who is infantry. It will limit possible tactics for each maps

Hmmm... I think this is all for now. I am a hardcore fan of Mechwarrior games, so i am a little bit crazy about realism in such games like this ;]

PS. Sorry for my english... This is not my daily language so i can make some stupid mistakes. PEACE and Salute for other Mechwarriors. ;]

[death_grin]

I can answer a a few of these, but I can't speak defenitively  on a "official" basis because alot of this is, frankly, still up in the air.

1.) I do not know how specificly we will handle, well er...mech handeling.  Though I think you're idea is a great one in that we should go more the "realistic" route of MW2 than BF2142's walkers (which  is somewhat 'arcadish.')  For sure I would definintly like to see that type of piloting if we can do it.  And I think we can, but theres still alot of things we do not know.

2.)We have been throwing around the idea of arena type battles, up to and including team matched and 1v1 matches "Solaris Arena" style.  Though I don't know if a actual "mechlab" would be possible or customization to that extreme.  Though it would be cool no doubt.  This is how  I, personally, picture it-  When you jump into a 'Mech you'll have a limited weapons selection to choose from.  Some weapons will require a specific attained "points" (currency) to buy.  Similiar to how you buy weapons in counterstike but instead with 'mechs.  Some weapons will cost nothing.  These would be the default selections.  However this means that we would need to model a varient of each 'mech with every combination of weapons.  OR alternativly we could of course just have the base model and then model seperate parts (arms, etc) for each weapon.  Then have a system that tells how the mech is "assembeled" in a mech bay (you can't see this.)  I think this idea should be discussed further.

3.) Each round will start of with a pre-determined type and number of 'mechs. The whole idea behind the concept of purchasing 'mechs is meant as a player reward (through earned points.) Its a additional feature.  Of course mechs will be expensive, thus limiting the amount of these special 'mechs on the battlefield at any given time.  Also we do not want to focus solely on 'mech combat.  The mod will also feature a heavy emphasis on what all other Mechwarrior/Battletech video games lack- infantry combat.  We are putting alot of thought into out infantry classes and weapons.  The idea is that the battle would start out as a primarily infantry driven battle while later on reinforcments arrive, or the alarm is given, in the form of more mechs (purchased through the mechbay.)

As I said these are not defenitive answeres.  Some of what I have writtin on fact just poped into my mind and we should discuss further.

[Keys]

Though none of this is for certain, in regards to the mech capabilities as in heating, shutdown etc we definatly want it closer to mech 4 then bf 2142 though it might come down to coding it and what capabilities the engine can do.

[Criminal]

Everything that Death Grin said is spot on. We very surely are going to make mech handling more challenging than it was in 2142, but we still have to keep the game accesible to most players. This isn't saying that it won't have a learning curve but that it shouldn't cause players to never come back cause they just can't figure out how to get the mech's working right.

As far as game modes are concerned truly any and all ideas are still in the thinktank so to speak. We really need to get a hold of the code so we can see what exactly can be done. Personally i like game modes with more depth than a simple deathmatch type mode which is why we are using the fictional battles ie: the fall of terra as basis for alot of our maps.

Rest assured that the level of thought and detail the team takes part in on a daily basis is very high.

A final comment however this mod isn't just going to emulate mech3 or mech4 we are making something that hasn't been done for PC using the Battletech universe which is effectively mixing infantry, tanks, vtol, air and finally mechs all into one cohesive team. It should make for an exciting mod with classic battletech concepts in an extremely believable way.

[Kelembai]

just my comments on Mech handling:

MW2 rocks because Mechs actually felt like Mechs; big lumbering walking tanks (which is what Mechs are). MechAssault? Ptbthhh ! I'd love it if we could have the Mechs move like the giant robots in Steel Battallion or Chromehounds.

just my thoughts.

[MroczMR]

Thank you for replies ;] . Well i'm really glad to hear that Mech handling will be more challenging than BF 2149... ;]

And about Arena Mode concept. yes... just like you Criminal i also prefer game modes with more depth than a simple deathmatch... But Mechs are difrent... Controling Battlemech isn't as simple as normal FPP... So Deatchmatch in Battlemechs have a little bit more depth than normal deatchmatch. And i just realized that this kind of Game Mode will be a great tutorial/training for fresh mech pilots. And great opportunity for testing your mech piloting skills.

Mechlab: Well i was rather thinking about something similar to mechlab from Mechwarrior 4... Not very compliceted only changing weapons, speed, heat sinks or armor. Every mech have max Tonnage etc. You know. I loved to sit hours in Mechlab upgrading/modyfiing mechs in MechLab... ;] Timber Wolf/Mad Cat with two PPC's was my favourite...

[Criminal]

I want to answer your question a little more throughly regarding the customization of the Mechs. Essentially we have a few trains of thought going right now. First is try to code in a custom GUI where as if you decide to pilot a mech than you will have a certain amount of money gained from previous battles to place different weapons on the mech. Now the big problem with this concept is the challenge is poses to the coding team.

The second thought is just essentially making the mechs deployable from different classes and have multiple version of the same mech (IE: you could pick a Timber Wolf with 4 ERL and a light Gauss or 2 PPC's and some LRM's) again most of this is speculation as our highest priority atm is getting the mechs into the game and moving the way we want them too.

Game testing for us is going to tell a great deal where we want to go as far as customization goes.

[xKamikazex]

I'd love it if we could have the Mechs move like the giant robots in Steel Battallion or Chromehounds.

Yes! The Steel Battalion way of piloting mechs is the way it should be. Slow, cumbersome, tall, and powerful. In mech 4 they just felt like toys running around. Need to slow it down alot and also make sure we get the animations right.

Games modes themselves are not 100% figured out. The main focus we want to have is the Objective Gameplay. Sorta like single player missions, but both teams need to do stuff in order to win. Like what was said here - it gives a little more depth to game play. Other game modes like DM or TDM have really nothing new to add to the game. IMO it's a little too linear and can easily get repetitive. On the other hand, if we feel after playing with game modes that we should implement it, then we might. Again, we aren't sure of all types of game modes we'll put in. This is something we're going to have to figure out once we have the game client and code to work with.

[Criminal]

We truly apreciate the suggestions its really important to us to make this game as fun as possible and to get it out to as many as possible.

[mech_lord]

I would suggest to make the Mechs move and feel like the Mechs in Mech Warrior 3. IMO, Mech Warrior 3 had the perfect feel for the Mechs. They felt heavy and big like they should be. The Mechs in Mech Warrior 4 felt like little battle suits rather than massive walking tanks. If you want to make the Mechs feel realistic, just use Mech Warrior 3 for a reference.

[Criminal]

I very much enjoyed how the mechs felt in Mech3 but i think we might take it a little further than that and make them more akin to steel battalion where you actually felt like you were in a 70tons machine.

[mech_lord]

I don't know if you should take it that far. I mean, I can imagine an Annihilator or an Atlas moving like the robots in Steel Battalion, but I think  atleast some of the mechs should have a little swiftness in them. The recon ones atleast.

But it's your mod. If you want to do it like that, go ahead. I will probably play it regardless just because I love Mech Warrior so much.

[Sirrom Nivek]

Since this IS a suggestions thread, I was wondering if any thoughts had been made as to whether or not mechs or vehicle types would be able to use water as a cover?  Heck, even waiting in water as a cover, and then springing up when someone  or something is within range?

[Criminal]

Since this IS a suggestions thread, I was wondering if any thoughts had been made as to whether or not mechs or vehicle types would be able to use water as a cover?  Heck, even waiting in water as a cover, and then springing up when someone  or something is within range?

This has ALWAYS been a hope of mine, not really using water as cover so much as concealment though. I always thought it would be something pretty amazing to be advancing across a river pass and have a few puma's spring up from the murky depths!

[Keys]

Well maybe the battletech consultants can answer this one, is the cockpit totally airtight? Can the mechs be totally submerged without any damage to the systems? I remember hearing some battletech story of the clan mechs being bogged down in the swamp so maybe they will travel much slower in water or something.