I want a massively multiplayer Mechwarrior game...

I still have my mech creator tool and still play with it.

Submit your proposal to Blizzard. Maybe they can use the WoW engine to run it.
 
i'll dedicate 20 minutes to reading this thread later...

i'm probably one of the biggest mechwarrior fans here ;) and we all must come to accept the fact that there won't be a mechwarrior related game for a while...or at all. ever since ea screwed up battletech (which was an AWESOME multiplayer game, though not very similar to the mechwarrior series) nothing good has come out. www.netmech.org for mech 2 online. mech 3 and 4 online can be searched on google.
 
Why is it that EA kills everything they touch.
At first its awesome then they release a clan pack and a IS pack and if you are still using that old mech you are getting raped! But EA can't stop there, they need to milk every frackin cent out of the game so they release 2 or 3 sub-par expansion packs.

EA PLEASE STOP FRACKIN UP EVERYTHING YOU TOUCH!
 
You know what? Why don't we start an [H] project? It seems like there's a bunch of talented artists, modelers, skinners, scriptors, and plenty of thinkers here on the forums. Many of us have very similar thoughts about games; Why not just use that as a basis to create one that we all deign acceptable?

I do realize how difficult it is to create a game, but with the manpower we have in this community, I think it's feasible.

Dunno, just my two cents.
 
I'd love to see this too. Great ideas so far.

First person ONLY for inside the mech, 3rd person available outside.

A salvage system would be awsome, with crafting basically based off of salvage. Think of a lance with your normal heavily armed mechs, and a person running a specialized salvage mech that needs to be defended to salvage efficiently for the lance.

Oh and a land capture system kinda like Planetside, controlled by houses as a whole and subcontrolled by clans ( guilds ) made up of lances. And populated by both NPC and PC combatants, so you can "grind' off of enemy NPC's or PC's, your choice...


I have a soft spot for giant robots, as well as the Mechwarrior universe. This would be a great game IMO. Take MW4, ,strap a MMORPG to it, and you have a winner.

Only hope they wouldn't dumb down the relative complexity of the MW in general.
 
DamienThorn said:
That's really only the case when using 3025 BT rules - as soon as the clans showed up it was reasonably easy to knock out legs using targetting computers (I played tons of BT in highschool. Some of the hit charts are still ingrained in my mind...it's sad, really).
Click to expand...

I call BS on that. Target computer was a +3 and even w/pulse lasers, it was still a +1 to the called shots. :p
WuTangClam said:
There was an MMO mechwarrior game, called Battletech: 3025. Unfortunately, the project got canned by EA even though they were in the public beta testing stage. Though the battles were limited to 4vs4, the developers were really able to capture the feeling that you were in a virtual war.

http://pc.ign.com/objects/014/014050.html

Another reason to dislike EA.
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don't hate EA for canning that one. It was a hunk of crap. I didnt like them canning it for no reason, but it was pretty weak in the gameplay aspect and finding a game was horrible.

I wish they had developed it further, but in its current state (2001) it was pretty bad. Funny someone mentions MPBT3025, I recently found my login information for the beta many years ago....


edit: whoops, Geshtar beat me to the punch. I'd have to second his opinions on it

Geshtar said:
I was in that beta, canceling it was one of the few good things EA has done. I love BT, in the past playing the boardgame lots and the PC games too. The concept of it being online was neat in EA's version, but the implementation was so so so bad, it was just horrible and there was nothing they could do to fix it.
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"but it was pretty weak in the gameplay aspect"

that is the most ignorant statement in this thread....
 
Mechwarrior as a MMORPG would cost me far too much. Job, marriage, etc. I will just have to say no to the crack.



I <3 BT and I loved the Mechwarrior/Mechcommander PC/Xbox games......hell i just love big mechs :D

For people complaining about the differences between the pen/paper and the PC/Xbox games you really just havet ot look at them as two different concepts. They share some in common but they are trying to accomplish two different things.


And leg shots are fair game....if you can target it without cheating the game (by cheating meaning breaking written rules/code) and someone doesn't protect it tough...you shoot their legs. They could have armored them...they didn't.
 
What an idea.

I would be caught up in that pretty fast.

Nothing beats a GOOD mech game.
 
Spectre said:
For people complaining about the differences between the pen/paper and the PC/Xbox games you really just havet ot look at them as two different concepts. They share some in common but they are trying to accomplish two different things.
Click to expand...

So do you want it based on the paper and pen version, or the simulator version? You can have one or the other in an MMO but not both. Do you want the system to be based on the roll of a die or skill?
 
Spectre said:
And leg shots are fair game....if you can target it without cheating the game (by cheating meaning breaking written rules/code) and someone doesn't protect it tough...you shoot their legs. They could have armored them...they didn't.
Click to expand...

Actually, i've been playing online for a while, and you can take on a heavy mech with a medium one and you'll easily take it down without much of a fight if you concentrate on the leg. With two quick medium mechs legging, you can decimate the opposition with little trouble.

Imagine spending 3 minutes lumbering with your heavy mech, only to be instantly killed as soon as you crest the hill or pass the buildings because of the guys on the other side that likes to leg. I'd really like to hear how you guys are gonna counter that. The legs are incredibly vulnerable in Mechwarrior. This may not be apparent to the paper and pen game, but in a simulator where the player can actually aim, even a strider can be legged.

Would you actually be able to tolerate the game if everyone does the easy way and legs at every chance they get?
 
Spectre said:
For people complaining about the differences between the pen/paper and the PC/Xbox games you really just havet ot look at them as two different concepts. They share some in common but they are trying to accomplish two different things.


And leg shots are fair game....if you can target it without cheating the game (by cheating meaning breaking written rules/code) and someone doesn't protect it tough...you shoot their legs. They could have armored them...they didn't.
Click to expand...

I only bring up the way the tabletop works because that is how the mechs were designed and someone else mentioned legging in online play, dont think anyone is really complaining about it except as maybe choice in how the game was worked on.

Mechs were not designed with a pin point targeting system in mind. The combat and style of the BT universe tends to rely on the fact that shots being fired are going to hit a random location. When you toss that out and give the player the ability to shoot at a specific point on the target and otherwise keep the combat system the same you have changed how things work. A mech was not designed with the idea in mind that someone is going to hit it in the same spot several times with a PPC and yet never hit it anywhere else.

I dont consider it to be cheating to make use of legging in MW4, it just doesnt match up with the rest of the BT fiction.
 
Holy crap three in a row. Ok here we go....also this is all just IMO.

Sly said:
So do you want it based on the paper and pen version, or the simulator version? You can have one or the other in an MMO but not both. Do you want the system to be based on the roll of a die or skill?
Click to expand...

As they as the game was well done I would play either. I have in the past and enjoyed both...and would continue to as well. IMO a roll of the die game would be easier to eliminate many of the cheating issues that would be possible otherwise..however a skill based game would probably appeal to more people and be more profitable. A more profitable game means more work to continue and improve the game.

Actually, i've been playing online for a while, and you can take on a heavy mech with a medium one and you'll easily take it down without much of a fight if you concentrate on the leg. With two quick medium mechs legging, you can decimate the opposition with little trouble.

Imagine spending 3 minutes lumbering with your heavy mech, only to be instantly killed as soon as you crest the hill or pass the buildings because of the guys on the other side that likes to leg. I'd really like to hear how you guys are gonna counter that. The legs are incredibly vulnerable in Mechwarrior. This may not be apparent to the paper and pen game, but in a simulator where the player can actually aim, even a strider can be legged.
Click to expand...

Yeah...and you can armor them up to a point....if you choose not to that is the strategy you are employing. Not all strategies work out. Also, your strategy of which mechs to pick for what mission goal are again your choice. If you choose wrong in context of the game then tough. It is like the real world....in the real world a Javelin carreid by a gropo can take out a heavily armoured tank. It is up to you to figure out a way to neutralize the threat when planning your strategy. Guns ablazing doesn't always work.

The fact that a smaller faster more manuevarable vehicle/weapons system can take out a slower, heavier, less maneuverable system is a real world issue and is valid as witnessed by modern warfare.

Would you actually be able to tolerate the game if everyone does the easy way and legs at every chance they get?[/quote]

Yes...'cause if those are the rules of the game I would be doing the same :D

Seelenlos said:
I dont consider it to be cheating to make use of legging in MW4, it just doesnt match up with the rest of the BT fiction.
Click to expand...

No it doesn't .....but pinpoint accuracy would have been extraordinarly difficult IMO to immplement before the PC. MW on PC is a different aspect of the game it is more battle simulator than not. Different but IMO equally interesting.
 
Seelenlos said:
Mechs were not designed with a pin point targeting system in mind.
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OT:
Does the paper version also have Alpha strikes? Also, I've only seen squad pieces, never a lone soldier, is infantry actually useful?

Spectre said:
Yeah...and you can armor them up to a point....if you choose not to that is the strategy you are employing. Not all strategies work out. Also, your strategy of which mechs to pick for what mission goal are again your choice. If you choose wrong in context of the game then tough. It is like the real world....in the real world a Javelin carreid by a gropo can take out a heavily armoured tank. It is up to you to figure out a way to neutralize the threat when planning your strategy. Guns ablazing doesn't always work.

The fact that a smaller faster more manuevarable vehicle/weapons system can take out a slower, heavier, less maneuverable system is a real world issue and is valid as witnessed by modern warfare.
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You still haven't answered the question of how to counter the leggers. They take out all the strategy and tactics. When a round turns into a legfest, Flanking maneuvers are rendered obsolete, jump jets are more of a liability than useful, everything is reduced to nothing more than a cheap brawl.

The best scenarios are the capture the flag games. If everybody legged, nothing will ever get done. In all the games i've played, i have NEVER seen a legger in a capture the flag scenario.

It's a game, people want to have fun blasting each other. Cheap shots tend to ruin that and avoid it.
 
Sly said:
OT:
Does the paper version also have Alpha strikes? Also, I've only seen squad pieces, never a lone soldier, is infantry actually useful?



You still haven't answered the question of how to counter the leggers. They take out all the strategy and tactics. When a round turns into a legfest, Flanking maneuvers are rendered obsolete, jump jets are more of a liability than useful, everything is reduced to nothing more than a cheap brawl.

The best scenarios are the capture the flag games. If everybody legged, nothing will ever get done. In all the games i've played, i have NEVER seen a legger in a capture the flag scenario.

It's a game, people want to have fun blasting each other. Cheap shots tend to ruin that and avoid it.
Click to expand...
How to counter the leggers? Leg them first. You can also crouch to make it harder for them. If you are on a team, you could pair up with a teammate and cover each other.

Shooting the legs is just a strategy. It's available to both sides, so they both have to deal with it.
 
Spectre said:
IMO a roll of the die game would be easier to eliminate many of the cheating issues that would be possible otherwise..however a skill based game would probably appeal to more people and be more profitable. A more profitable game means more work to continue and improve the game.
Click to expand...

Of the two links i posted one, iswars uses MW4 engine, with MSs ok.

the second is3025 is doing everything from scratch with prelim legal ok from the powers that be as well. is3025 is implementing a COD or cone of death/destruction. From the sounds of it this will get you the best of both. Pilot skill will matter but you will also have the style of the classic combat rules. Long thread here where people smarter than me talk about it :)

http://www.is3025.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1080

Sly alpha strikes are not really in your classic BT rules. You can fire every weapon you have but the all still roll on a chart to see where each hits. There may have been other optional rules. lvl 2 and lvl3 rules, that may have had something different but dont recall seeing anything in classic.

Infantry are more of a distraction in mech battles than anything else. They are there as units, but only some of the power suit infantry pose a real threat to a mech and die quickly, at least in matches i've seen. I guess you could do nothing but try to swarm a mech under with infantry but i've never seen a battle like that :)
 
Langford said:
How to counter the leggers? Leg them first. You can also crouch to make it harder for them. If you are on a team, you could pair up with a teammate and cover each other.

Shooting the legs is just a strategy. It's available to both sides, so they both have to deal with it.
Click to expand...

^^^That was approximately what I was going to say.
 
Someone mentioned on the first page Battletech: Solaris, which used to be on AOL.

I played that game so much...loved it. Rose to the rank of Hpt. Comm in House Marik, good times.

To get in on the whole legging debate, I totally considered it a valid strat. However, the only times I usually used legging was if I was in a light mech (ie: assassin from the Solaris game) versus an assault mech (Atlas). Nothing like using light lasers and 1 medium to take out an assault mech in a light.

Strategies I still remember on 5v5 battles would be 2 cats, 2 atlas' at point, and a roving assassin. Atlas would act as shields for the cats, letting them do some jump jet dumps of LRMs, while the assassin would sneak in when things got messy and close.

In terms of the MMO portion, back in the day, AOL admins would stage wars, where the Houses would attempt to occupy the most areas within the server. An area was occupied by a team from the house, and could be challenged by other houses through winner gets to stay rules. If only they had voice-comm back then.
 
UoMDeacon said:
Someone mentioned on the first page Battletech: Solaris, which used to be on AOL.

I played that game so much...loved it. Rose to the rank of Hpt. Comm in House Marik, good times.

To get in on the whole legging debate, I totally considered it a valid strat. However, the only times I usually used legging was if I was in a light mech (ie: assassin from the Solaris game) versus an assault mech (Atlas). Nothing like using light lasers and 1 medium to take out an assault mech in a light.

Strategies I still remember on 5v5 battles would be 2 cats, 2 atlas' at point, and a roving assassin. Atlas would act as shields for the cats, letting them do some jump jet dumps of LRMs, while the assassin would sneak in when things got messy and close.

In terms of the MMO portion, back in the day, AOL admins would stage wars, where the Houses would attempt to occupy the most areas within the server. An area was occupied by a team from the house, and could be challenged by other houses through winner gets to stay rules. If only they had voice-comm back then.
Click to expand...


Oh Solaris, that was great. Spent many hours on that one.
It was a good model, with a lot of GM involvement.
I wish there was a modern version of it.
 
Here is an idea folks. It's not a mmmwg, but it might be interesting anyhow.

There are already many mech games in existence, so how about a simple open method of coordinating battles.

A website, with a made-up geographical map of a landscape, with borders dividing it into territories. A listing of teams and players, along with color indicators with which to mark their territories. Some forums to facilitate discussions, and possible to handle scheduling/news.

Designate an opening season, and a battle schedule. Teams would be allowed to draft new players in from a list of those in waiting. Teams would be allocated a starting tonnage as well as starting territories. Teams could spread tonnage between territories.

Each day, a predetermined limit of tonnage could be moved between a teams own territories. Tonnage placement of opponents would be unpublished secrets that would be known by battle officials. Battles would occur as fights over territories, something similar to Risk. "I declare an invasion of hill#23 between now and next Tuesday"---"that schedule works for us, we pick game map blablabla"---"deal". Invasions would have to be carried out on territories adjacent to ones owned by attacking team. Teams would use tonnage up to that within the territories involved in battle and territories adjacent to the defending territory. Mechs lost in battle would have their tonnage removed from the tonnage within a territory. When a territory was invaded that had no remaining mech tonnage allocated, it would become property of the invaders. New tonnage would be assigned on a schedule, in proportion to territories occupied.

When a team was completely wiped out, its members could be drafted by other teams. Teams with the least number of territories get first draft pick.

At the end of the battle season, territory is counted up and a winning team is declared.

Feel free to change any idea here, or replace it.
 
Sounds very much like the meta-campaigns that groups of wargamers use to simulate larger operations or wars.
 
Langford said:
How to counter the leggers? Leg them first. You can also crouch to make it harder for them. If you are on a team, you could pair up with a teammate and cover each other.

Shooting the legs is just a strategy. It's available to both sides, so they both have to deal with it.
Click to expand...

Well, if we're talking about a skill-based game, where pilots have skills like gunnery you could have the targetting recticle be extremely large with a low gunnery rating, with most shots falling somewhere in the large circle when taking shots. As you improve your gunnery rating the recticle gets a bit tighter - this would allow "expert" pilots to be more effective at hitting particular parts of a mech, while maintaining the chance of missing a target. What's more, gunnery could be broken up into lasers/pulse weapons/missiles/balistic weapons/et cetera to prevent gunnery from becoming too easy to build up. That's just a thought, and it assumes there is a skill-system in place.

 
I actually wrote a pretty decent high level design doc for a MechWarrior/BattleTech MMO, back when I was with Sigil Games. Potentially solved some of the issues brought up in this thread. Alas, MSFT seems content to let the IP be used only as a modestly profitable console shooter at this point, along with Shadowrun and Crimson Skies.

Since I did it on my own time at home, it's MY design, and I'm still sitting on it. ;)

Always been a big BT fan, both paper and electronic, and a pretty good player of all the sim games, including MW1 and BT on GEnie. That dates me.
 
DamienThorn said:
Well, if we're talking about a skill-based game, where pilots have skills like gunnery you could have the targetting recticle be extremely large with a low gunnery rating, with most shots falling somewhere in the large circle when taking shots. As you improve your gunnery rating the recticle gets a bit tighter - this would allow "expert" pilots to be more effective at hitting particular parts of a mech, while maintaining the chance of missing a target. What's more, gunnery could be broken up into lasers/pulse weapons/missiles/balistic weapons/et cetera to prevent gunnery from becoming too easy to build up. That's just a thought, and it assumes there is a skill-system in place.

Click to expand...
I always thought it was pretty good how the mech shook when you got show with a projectile weapon. Perhaps more mechanical vibrations would be a more fair trade. After all, small mechs are the ones people are afraid of getting legged by, and they would naturally shake a little more than the heavy mechs. Any legging done in a vibrating mech would be a well earned hit.

I loved rigging up a small mech with autocannons and hearing the screams when I started shooting someone in the torso with it. Took some effort to build; Didn't have very many shots, wasn't fast, had no arm armor, but the stream dirty words while an opponent flopped around in the cockpit trying to aim made it worth it.
 
Langford said:
How to counter the leggers? Leg them first. You can also crouch to make it harder for them. If you are on a team, you could pair up with a teammate and cover each other.

Shooting the legs is just a strategy. It's available to both sides, so they both have to deal with it.
Click to expand...

I see you need to play online more. You haven't really had much experience against leggers have you?
 
heh the ULTIMATE mechwarrior game...you can pick the year (thus taking you into the mech2,3,4, battletech games :) )
 
johnnq said:
"but it was pretty weak in the gameplay aspect"

that is the most ignorant statement in this thread....
Click to expand...

so how many hours did you rack up on mpbt3025? Just curious.

The gameplay was horrid. The controls blew, it felt excruciatingly clunky. Netcode blew, hitboxes were silly, games were won by "whoever spammed the most SRM's", once you actually found a game where you were somewhat evenly matched, the thing might crash out (granted, the client was beta), strategic operations were a joke....

Please don't take it as "I hate BT" - I've got boxes full of books, more than enough lead mini's to poison a hundred kindergarden classes and a closet full of handmade terrain. I just expected more out of a major game undertaking with my favorite tabletop game.
 
DamienThorn said:
Well, if we're talking about a skill-based game, where pilots have skills like gunnery you could have the targetting recticle be extremely large with a low gunnery rating, with most shots falling somewhere in the large circle when taking shots. As you improve your gunnery rating the recticle gets a bit tighter - this would allow "expert" pilots to be more effective at hitting particular parts of a mech, while maintaining the chance of missing a target. What's more, gunnery could be broken up into lasers/pulse weapons/missiles/balistic weapons/et cetera to prevent gunnery from becoming too easy to build up. That's just a thought, and it assumes there is a skill-system in place.

Click to expand...

Similar to No One Lives Forever 2? That should be good as long as the initial stats aren't crippling like what they did with DeusEx.

1. Gunnery Stat - That's a pretty good idea, but the missile systems will have to use something else. The homing ability (and lock-on time) is reliant on hardware that isn't in direct control of the pilot. I think that falls under 'equipment'.

2. Loadout Stat - The more stats you allocate the better possible loadout. The arm has 1 hardpoint with three slots for Laser. You can load up on ERLasers (2 slots) for the arm but nothing else since there's only 1 hardpoint. Next level might have 2 hardpoints for those three slots. So you can use Extended + Small lasers (or one ERLaser+Cap) eventually you'll have three omni hardpoints.

This way the starting stat doesn't cripple you too much. You can still use the three slots for ER+Cap or a PPC at the start if you have a friend that can spare one. But none of the ones that need more finess (e.g. Artilery or Missile Beacons) unless you're willing to put a 1 slot, 1 ton weapon in a section that has a 3slot 10 ton capacity in a level 1 arm that has only 1 hardpoint.
 
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