Balance?

[Shrew]

Hi all,
I have been waiting for a new Mech game as have you all for the longest time.  I even have found myself wondering about a new Mech MMO, but then after some searching i found this and i was like OMG this will be very sweet.

Now i understand its gonna be split between Innersphere and Clans Factions, but if they are adhering to the rules like they say they are, isn't the clan weaponry far superior?  Being that more effective with heat, tonnage, and damage?

How will this be balanced? I really wanna go with Innersphere but my buddy that loves Battletech and Mechwarrior says go clan all the way they have way better gear?

any insight will be greatly appreciated!

[KorJax]

Actually...

1. Clan weaponry generally uses more tonnage and more heat

2. However they are also more "effective" damage/range wise than IS weaponry traditionally.

3. Clan weaponry also in general have longer reload/fire times, but are considered built of higher quality and generally have had more "advanced" weapons.

[AoP]

How will this be balanced? I really wanna go with Innersphere but my buddy that loves Battletech and Mechwarrior says go clan all the way they have way better gear?

This problem is a tad more complex.
First, there are two game modes in MWLL: SolarisArena (SA) and Trial of Annihilation (ToA).
SA, a teambased Deathmatch game mode, will only by name make a distinction between the teams. Both teams have access to the full bandwidth of technology.
ToA, an objective-based game mode, will have IS technology for the Inner Sphere and Clan technology for the Clans.

A key feature of MWLL is a per-round economy - every player can only use that piece of equipment they can actually afford. As you correctly mentioned, Clan has technological advantages, therefore Clan weaponry is more expensive than IS weaponry. In addition, as Korjax pointed out already, Clan technology has its share of disadvantages as well which have been implemented as well of course.

I hope this clarifies the situation a bit.

[Shrew]

oh makes sense thanks for clarification

another question i watched some videos about the modular pod system, now when you purchase a mech or variant and make it your own later do you keep that? or keep the pods you buy to put on other mech variants you purchase?

[Shrew]

hmm the heat and tonnage im not sure is quite right, from the battletech tech readouts, my buddy has 6 of them and 54 books he pretty much lived and breathed this stuff, he showed me that the clan weapons are lighter and do more damage and use the same amount of heat and use less crit slots most of the time it seems

unless theres a new rule set out he asked

the longer recycle times im not sure of that is probably right to justify the advanced tech

i dont meant to argue im just trying to see where the info is from

[xKamikazex]

The tonnage is lighter, but at expense of recycle time and higher heat costs.

[TuRbOlAg]

In terms of MW4 and MW3, Clan weapons generally are lighter and sometimes do more damage, but give out more heat and some have longer recycle, especially with energy weapons. 

[Belisarius†]

Yeah, heat/damage/reload differences are largely confined to energy weapons. For missiles and ballistics, the clan stuff is exactly the same but much lighter. I imagine that's what Shrew's buddy was talking about.

I'm glad to hear Clan and IS Tech are being implemented. There was a rumour floating around a while ago that all 'Mechs of either origin would have ubiquitous equipment. Very happy that's not the case.

[CHHš Sturmadler]

I'm also glad to hear that most of the balancing was handled by cost rather than a blatant nerf of the clan-tech.  Just another example of what we get when the community makes the game instead of microsloth.

[KorJax]

The tonnage is lighter, but at expense of recycle time and higher heat costs.

Ah my bad, mixed that up.

Also, note that in the initial beta release you'll only be able to pick from pre-defined variants.  Full customization won't be implemented until the first version full release.

[Valaska]

 I dont mind playing with presets, I just want to get my handies on this jewel! Hehe. Oh and Woo clans, the houses will burn as all do eventually!

[TuRbOlAg]

Ah my bad, mixed that up.

Also, note that in the initial beta release you'll only be able to pick from pre-defined variants.  Full customization won't be implemented until the first version full release.

We trust you.  <3

[SeniorBiscuit]

[IDLE SPECULATION] Even though Clan weapons produce more heat, clan machines are often more heat efficient due to their double heat sinks.

The inner sphere's real advantage is numbers, a medium weight company (maybe a couple medium lances and a heavy lance) would be a pretty fair fight against a star of frontline clan heavy omnis. Though I'm thinking initial invasion here. In mechcommander gold a Mad Cat was around 90k credits, while a catapult was around 35k, to give you an idea.

The C-Bill cost in classic battletech is even more extreme. However innersphere mechs mounting gauss rifles, double heat sinks, and other advanced technologies developed to counter the clans begin to cost the same, which is what I assume the tech level in MWLL will be.

Regardless Id like to see the IS tech be pretty cheap in comparison to maintain classic vibe. [/IDLE SPECULATION]

[KorJax]

I wonder how much a 31st century cbill is vauled compaired to a 21st ventury USD 

[Kiriko Mikino]

I wonder how much a 31st century cbill is vauled compaired to a 21st ventury USD 

1 C-Bill was rated at US$5 in 1991 and is worth around US$8 right now.