I was just wondering; if there were to be a Battletech MMO developed, who would play it? Also, what sort of features would you expect to see from such a game? For my money, I'd imagine it would be a lot like a ground-based EVE Online, at least as far as the game mechanics go. Thoughts?
Comments
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BattleTech_3025
http://www.forceofarms.com/foa_v1/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
not out for a while but seems promising.
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currentlyplaying:
age of conan
I think that if a good developer were to obtain the Battletech rights, a good game would not be difficult to make; the material alone would seem to be enough of a draw for a lot of people.
Would I play a Battletech MMO? Hell yes.
I like the idea of making it somewhat similar to EVE; I'd definitely like for it to be an open universe, single server type of thing like EVE. I guess that would be much harder to do, though, since the game world would contain terrain on all of those planets, in addition to the planet objects in space.
I think Battletech has a lot of potential for a MMorpg. THe rules are much better when handled by a computer, especially if taking in consideration all the various optional and semi obscure ones.
The setting is perfect for wars of any type, with merc units, house units, clans and what not.
I think the major problem come from the mech themselves. make it a Arcade like game or a more strategic one? historically the arcade ones (ie: the mechwarrior series) have been way more succesful than the short lived "Mech commander" series..
"If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, if you teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime"
Imagine all that with the true MMO experience of inter house politics, espionage, Clan warfare and the pvp aspect of it all...*drools*
I wannnnnnnnnnnntttt!
House Kurita!
Feel the Dragon's Wrath!
Here is hoping it happens. But I think Force of Arms is the closest thing we will ever see.
Such a game would have to balance strategy and action very well. Personally, I would favour a game that is as close to the board game as possible. The rules set is already existent and very well balanced. The core mechanics (like heat management, how critical hits work, etc.) are also quite well suited to be transferred to computer. Sadly a proffessional 1:1 port was never done (save for small fan projects), though I honestly don't get it why.
Founding your own Merc unit (Guild), taking on assigments from non-combat players (like Traders who need protection), NPCs (House Representatives) and other Mercs to support an assingment, taking part in the intrigue going on in the Inner Sphere, and exploring the outer Reaches of the Periphery has a hell lot of a potential to be a real addictive experience - at last for me. Battletech has such a rich background that the immersion would be very easy.
Though the individual design ideas and decisions would be the ultimate judge for me. How does character developement work? Is it a Grindfest? PVP only? PVE only? PVP and PVE well mixed? How is the death penalty? Are civillian careers possible or is the game oriented only for military style? How does "crafting" work? Are Techs really the most valuable characters? Is the Lost Tech feeling of the original kept? At which time does it take place? 3010? 3025? 3039? 3049? 3060? etc, etc.... a lot of things to keep in mind, imo.
That said, I think I would have tears in my eyes the first time I log in.
@ Devildog1: You stole my sig
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Originally posted by Mandolin
Designers need to move away from the old D&D level-based model which was never designed for player vs player combat in the first place.
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Hell yes. This a robust IP with extensive story and factions and a very complex and in depth rule set. The microsoft games were a nice adaption of the rule set which combined personal skill with tactical decisions in building and managing your mech.
Really miss these, you guys are making me want to dug up Mechwarrior:Mercenary and such
I agree that I'd very much like to see an open-ended, factional sort of PvP, and definitely some sort of reasonable salvage system. It would have to be well-balanced, but I still say it would be fun to be tooling around in an Atlas and have 3 or 4 punks in Catapults pop up and try to ambush you, then have to try and guard your downed 'mech until salvage is completed.
As far as 'mech customization goes the first comparison my mind draws is between the Mechwarrior PC games and EVE Online , because of the different weapon systems hardpoints. I'd welcome a more ambitious sort of system though too, because how much fun would it be to just trick out an assault 'mech until it's bristling with Clan Gausses?
I'm not expecting such a title to be made, to be honest, but we can hope. Who knows, maybe there'll be a developer out there scrolling through the MMORPG.com forums in the early hours of the morning who finds this and thinks it's a good idea.