Mech Cost vs Mech Payoff

[~SJ~ Blhurr]

Is this a 1:1 ratio?  I'd say no but I don't have the data.  I don't know what determines how much you get for blowing up a mech. Is it the mech's armor value?  The Commando thread had me thinking that an advantage of a mech like the commando would be that blowing it up doesn't net you much by way of Cbills.  Is this value something that can be adjusted on a per mech basis independent of the armor or weaponry?
 
Extrapolating this maybe Inner sphere mechs not only cost less but they also don't reward as much.  This might play well into faction based gameplay types where clanners might have the better tech which might result in better KD ratios but overall damage and cbills earned might be much lower than IS could pull off.  Just thoughts.
 

[~SJ~Azov]

don't quote me on this, ut i'm pretty sure that it's the person in the mech that you killed that really nets you the points. For example if you kill the top players you will receive more points for that kill rather somebody of a lower rank.

[Profane Arbiter]

don't quote me on this, ut i'm pretty sure that it's the person in the mech that you killed that really nets you the points. For example if you kill the top players you will receive more points for that kill rather somebody of a lower rank.

I could be wrong but I genuinely don't think that's true. In fact, I believe that kills play a very small role in overall points. They provide a bonus, but damage and destruction of mechs and other vehicles provides the lionshare of the points.

You'll often see players on a server who have a great K/D ratio but be ranked lower to someone with a worse K/D. The higher ranked person has inflicted more damage.

[Raptor Khatib]

and the other funny thing is that play who rushes to get their points can also end up costing you the match if there are more than one or two of those types on your team. You need to find a healthy balance between doing damage and taking damage. As far as kills facting into points the only part of that which matters is really the damage you do. Killing a vehicle (even with out pilots) will net you a lot of points.

I have not played much lately but I usually had about a 5-1 KD and was either top or very close to the top ranked player on the server.

My simple rule kill them before they kill you and don't let your self get killed as it usually means the next time the guy who killed you is going to get a bigger ride.

[Snowball]

Is this a 1:1 ratio?  I'd say no but I don't have the data.  I don't know what determines how much you get for blowing up a mech. Is it the mech's armor value?

Interesting question.  I've always wondered whether it was cbill value or armor value, and I've been wondering whether or not it was a 1:1 ratio as well.  I think with the old system, it was armor value at a 1:1 ratio, with bonuses for kills, but I have no idea what it is now.  There might be multipliers for total % of damage dealt, player rank differences, etc.  Hopefully a dev or something will pop in this thread and reveal their secrets  .

Also, I wonder if it scales differently for team damage: for example, let's say that if blowing up an enemy Uller A nets you 8000 pts (pulled this number out of my ass), will blowing up a friendly Uller A net you -12000 pts?  Or will it just resolve as -8000pts?

As for pilots being worth more points, I can verify that this is false.  There might be a small bonus/reward, but it's nowhere near as much as destroying a Mech/Vehicle.  On Extremity, I routinely spend the entire match picking off Battle Armor with Lasers.  As such, I get ridiculous K:D ratios (8:1-15:1), but I also very rarely make it above GC if that's all I'm doing as my score isn't as high as other players.

[MaverickOriginal]

An interesting question. But like snowball there, I think it has to do with how much the mech you destroyed is worth. (Consider BA a small mech worth about 5-8k).

Destroying a mech > pilot in mech > BA

I also think splash damage nets you more points than just burrowing a hole straight to the reactor core.

But like snowball, i'd love to hear some dev info.

[Haunted]

An interesting question. But like snowball there, I think it has to do with how much the mech you destroyed is worth. (Consider BA a small mech worth about 5-8k).

I think BA is about 2k+

Destroying a mech > pilot in mech > BA

pilot = BA

I also think splash damage nets you more points than just burrowing a hole straight to the reactor core.

Yes, since it's damage that nets cbills. Maximizing cbills would mean destroying all parts of the mech first, then CT. And splash is a great multiplier. Hit CT with a AC20 and all parts next to CT take splash damage, increasing the amount cbills earned.
And destroying any asset nets a bonus (quite a big one).

[(TLL)Siilk]

I also think splash damage nets you more points than just burrowing a hole straight to the reactor core.

Yes, since it's damage that nets cbills. Maximizing cbills would mean destroying all parts of the mech first, then CT. And splash is a great multiplier. Hit CT with a AC20 and all parts next to CT take splash damage, increasing the amount cbills earned.
And destroying any asset nets a bonus (quite a big one).

 You, guys, are wrong here. Devs stated some time ago, that the player, who deals the final blow to the mech, gets the points for all components, left on a destroyed mech. So, if you shred mech to pieces one component by one or just destroy CT, with the rest of the mech was all-green before destruction, the score would be the same and it would be full score for all components of destroyed mech.

[Haunted]

You, guys, are wrong here. Devs stated some time ago, that the player, who deals the final blow to the mech, gets the points for all components, left on a destroyed mech. So, if you shred mech to pieces one component by one or just destroy CT, with the rest of the mech was all-green before destruction, the score would be the same and it would be full score for all components of destroyed mech.

Ha thx. That explains the damage bonus on destruction. Its not a bonus .

[~SJ~ Blhurr]

Ok so hopefully we can establish what goes into the cbill calculation because once we do we can talk about adding positive or negative modifiers to the score to do some interesting things with gameplay which is what my thread was originally about.  It's possible at this point to starve the other team of cbills but what if certain mechs were especially good at this in that they yield fewer cbills than they cost or something along those lines.  Using the commando example again many would argue why use this mech when there are other better armored and weaponized mechs available in similar cost brackets, well one advantage might be that the commando doesn't yield as many cbills upon destruction such that your opponent has to kill twice as many commandos as pumas in order to rack up th equivalent yield of cbills. 

[Profane Arbiter]

If someone wants to start a server to test these questions, and others, I'd happily assist.

[MaverickOriginal]

An interesting question. But like snowball there, I think it has to do with how much the mech you destroyed is worth. (Consider BA a small mech worth about 5-8k).

I think BA is about 2k+

3 times tonight a BA was worth 2370 cbills.

[Snowball]

3 times tonight a BA was worth 2370 cbills.

Any difference in rank between them?  If not, we may have found what a BA is worth.

[MaverickOriginal]

3 times tonight a BA was worth 2370 cbills.

Any difference in rank between them?  If not, we may have found what a BA is worth.

Hmm... good question. I think it might be rank. Killing 420 netted me some good cbills.

I also wondered about the value of shooting a pilot inside their mech when the head armor is gone. any ideas?

[Buzz_Litebeer]

Here is how the score is calculated to give you cbills.  Vehicles are tanks and mechs and planes.    I dont know if these work out this way, but this is what I found in teh code.

amount  = damage done by weapon.


   VEHICLE_COMPONENT_DESTROYED = 100,
   VEHICLE_KILL_MIN      = 500,
   DAMAGE_AWARD_MULT = 0.93,
   DAMAGE_CAUSED_MULT = 1.55,
   DAMAGE_VEHICLE_MULT = 0.93,
   DAMAGE_ITEM_MULT = 0.93,
   DAMAGE_ACTOR_MULT = 0.93,
   VEHICLE_KILL_MIN   = 10,
   VEHICLE_KILL_MULT   = 0.16

self.ppList.DAMAGE_VEHICLE_MULT * amount -- Damage a vehicle

self.ppList.DAMAGE_ITEM_MULT * amount -- Damage an Item (no idea what this is)

self.ppList.DAMAGE_ACTOR_MULT * amount -- Damage a battle armor?

VEHICLE_COMPONENT_MULT = 0.25
cbillChange + (self.ppList.VEHICLE_COMPONENT_MULT * componentValue)  -- For components, I assume this means Arms and such

-- code for killing a vehicle


cbillChange = self.ppList.VEHICLE_KILL_MIN; -- since this is 10 i can find no reason why it would ever be the max.
math.max(cbillChange,    math.floor(def.price*self.ppList.VEHICLE_KILL_MULT));  -- So this gives you either the minimum cost of a vehicle killed or the price of the vehicle times the multiplier. 

cbillChange = self.ppList.DAMAGE_AWARD_MULT * amount;  -- generic damage?