Changes to Mech Combat
Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2018 3:00 pm
Since we are once again blowing up pirate mechs, this might be a good time to think about mech combat in general.
The way I see it, there are three main "problems" with mechs.
1.
Your access to the "advanced" arenas depends on our current Mech Points, which you get by defeating mechs and which are tied to the mech that gained them. You lose that mech, you lose the points.
This means two things: a) you have to keep any mech with a large amount of MP safely rusting on the sidelines so that you do not lose access to the other arenas, and b) even if you are one of the few people with access, you will not find many (if any) opponents. And the way mech combat works means it is only fun if the arena is practically bursting with mechs.
Possible change: Either change it so that MP are simply added up (i.e. are no longer tied to a specific mech and thus not lost with that mech), or tie access to "advanced" arenas to your mech commander level (e.g. once you reach mech commander lvl 5, you are also automatically granted access to Beta), either of which would lead to anyone who sends in mechs to eventually (and permanently) unlock the other arenas
2.
There is no reason not to go with the tried and true "classic" mech (Predator/Ablative 4/(Adv) Kinetic), since there is no profit in fielding a smaller/lighter mech if you have the parts for the "classic".
Possible change: Smaller/lighter mechs could gain a (noticeable!) bonus to movement, the chance to evade an attack or even higher accuracy of their own attacks. This way, there would suddenly be an actual choice between simply fielding the largest/heaviest mech you can and sending in a weaker/more fragile one that could still compete due to a bonus to certain stats.
3.
Somewhat tied into 2., there is also no real point in choosing different weapon and armour types. Ablative 4 + (Adv) Kinetic is hands down the "best" combination, all others are only done either due to necessity (if you lack the "right" parts) or a pure gamble due to a (much) lower effective damage and/or accuracy.
Possible change: Instead of four different "weights" of armour, have four different "types" (i.e. strong vs kinetic, ex, em, OR ht). That way, using different types of weapon would suddenly make sense since you just might get lucky and send e.g. a mech with ex weapons/kin armour against an opponent with kin weapons/ht armour (i.e. your mech would have a noticeable advantage).
The way I see it, there are three main "problems" with mechs.
1.
Your access to the "advanced" arenas depends on our current Mech Points, which you get by defeating mechs and which are tied to the mech that gained them. You lose that mech, you lose the points.
This means two things: a) you have to keep any mech with a large amount of MP safely rusting on the sidelines so that you do not lose access to the other arenas, and b) even if you are one of the few people with access, you will not find many (if any) opponents. And the way mech combat works means it is only fun if the arena is practically bursting with mechs.
Possible change: Either change it so that MP are simply added up (i.e. are no longer tied to a specific mech and thus not lost with that mech), or tie access to "advanced" arenas to your mech commander level (e.g. once you reach mech commander lvl 5, you are also automatically granted access to Beta), either of which would lead to anyone who sends in mechs to eventually (and permanently) unlock the other arenas
2.
There is no reason not to go with the tried and true "classic" mech (Predator/Ablative 4/(Adv) Kinetic), since there is no profit in fielding a smaller/lighter mech if you have the parts for the "classic".
Possible change: Smaller/lighter mechs could gain a (noticeable!) bonus to movement, the chance to evade an attack or even higher accuracy of their own attacks. This way, there would suddenly be an actual choice between simply fielding the largest/heaviest mech you can and sending in a weaker/more fragile one that could still compete due to a bonus to certain stats.
3.
Somewhat tied into 2., there is also no real point in choosing different weapon and armour types. Ablative 4 + (Adv) Kinetic is hands down the "best" combination, all others are only done either due to necessity (if you lack the "right" parts) or a pure gamble due to a (much) lower effective damage and/or accuracy.
Possible change: Instead of four different "weights" of armour, have four different "types" (i.e. strong vs kinetic, ex, em, OR ht). That way, using different types of weapon would suddenly make sense since you just might get lucky and send e.g. a mech with ex weapons/kin armour against an opponent with kin weapons/ht armour (i.e. your mech would have a noticeable advantage).
Can we have one more Mech weapon - trampoline. if it hit, enemy mech will be teleported to another, random tile. then Trampoline mech would selfdestruct from reactor overload.