Spitballing an outline for a Mech Game

III
-Progression-


- Item tiers similar to MA, except every tier is an individual hangar and MM queue.

So, a T1 hangar can only have T1 items. Upgrading an item to T2 will duplicate it, so the T1 version stays in T1, while the T2 version is only usable in a T2 hangar.



- A hangar above T1 needs at least 3 mechs to queue into battle. 6 total tiers.


- Mechs are a one-of outside of the tier, weapons are two-of out of the box.



- Upgrades for mechs and weapons within tiers will be modular, similar to BoT. Mech mods have an EN cost that pulls from the same pool weapons do, so there is a control lever between using mech mods or the highest powered weapons the mech can wield.



- No levels for any item, only tier ranking, so items are all hard-locked to static performance outside of the player choice in the modular customization.



- Some mechs and weapons start at tiers above 1, so they cannot be used against newer players. Using MA as an example, a T1 player with Paragon, Lancer, and Juggernaut, would never face a Panther, because Panther's BASE tier is T2. This would allow players to progress at their own pace, and still participate in low-stakes games with basic hangars without killing anyone's fun.



-All items gain 1 mod slot per tier above T1. T1 gear has no mod slots, so all performances are static. If a bunch of people played in an e-sports setting, they could easily be provided all of the T1 items, and the contest will be a matter of mech/weapon selection and mechanical skill.



- Mechs gain base HP and EN capacity when ranked up(as well as the aforementioned mod slot)



- Weapons gain damage when ranked up, and also unlock a higher EN cost version of themselves when available.

Using MA as an example, Say Autocannon 2 starts at T1. Ranking up Autocannon 2 will create the T2 variant of it, but also unlock Autocannon 3. The 3 cost version would ~start~ at T2.

While it can be cloned into higher tiers, it can never get into T1, even if a T1 mech has the EN to equip it.



This is meant to create more build variety in later tiers. It also allows low tier to remain both casual and competitive. It also justifies higher teir mechs and weapons being able to do outlandish things. The higher the tier, the more complex matches are likely to be, but with every mech/weapon in each teir balanced against each other, players can find their sweet spot.

- This can be fully expanded to include "pilots" OR "titans" at T5 or T6. They won't influence lower tiers, so they game can get as complex as people *enjoy it".
*From simple AF: Free to *play", and getting the Tutorial (a taste of PvE AND PvP) the player can buy a single player experience, with extended difficulty that can be played offline.

AND/OR

They could unlock multiplayer.

Offline missions can grind currency, BUT, said currency is seperate between PvE and PvP.

Offline and Online are their own experiences. If a player pays for the full 
pve game, their lifetime PvE ~in game currency~ get's a (one time) transfer to the PvP file from the offline missions. 

An example of progression, using MA items as placeholders:




- T1 lancer is 4 EN.

--It can equip 2 × 2 EN weapons, or a 4 EN weapon.



- T2 Lancer has 8 EN and 1 mod slot. It can go for armor, foot speed, or ability cooldown with that slot. Armor costs 1 EN, speed and ability cooldown cost 2.

-- It can equip 2 x 4 EN weapons, OR A 2 EN mod with weapons equaling 6, OR a 1 EN mod with a weapons equaling a cost of 7.



- T3 Lancer has 12 EN and 2 mod slots. On top of highe tiered versions of T2 mods, there are new mods of those categories with +1 EN consumption, and a completely different new mod that gives it an additional Jump charge for 3 EN.

-- It can equip 4 EN worth of mods (2+2 or 1+3) have 8 weapon EN, 6 EN worth of mods and only have 6 EN for weapons, so on and so forth.



- EN capacities will be overall higher, BUT! There will be an oppurtunity cost between the items that directly impact mech performance, and the weapon sets that mech can use.



So, a T5 Lancer may have 24 EN, but it has 4 mod slots with mods that drain anywhere between 1 and 5 EN. It can forgo mech mods and equip bigger weapons, OR pimp the mech out with extra armor, speed, jump regen, and/or jump charges, etcetera.

~V~
-Mechs-


Mechs, weapons, modules and hangars will work on a Teir system. There will be 6 teirs with titans available ONLY in T6.

Owning a mech in a specific teir is permanent. Purchasing the next teir up is a duplicate that exists only in hangars of that teir.
-Modules are an exception to this. Lower teir modules will remain usable on the items they modify in higher teirs. Higher teir modules will not be available to lower teir items.

Each teir will be an independent MM queue, and balanced for the curated experience the teir is supposed to provide.

Every item will have 1 mod slot per teir starting at 2 and ending at 5, for a total of 4 at T5 and 6.

TITANs will work similarly to War Robots titans, and will only be available in T6.

The general outline for teirs:

Teir 1: Beginner
No mods, low numbers. Simple abilities and weapons built specifically for pick up and play.

Teir 2: Novice
Items have 1 mod socket. Items starting at this teir have more variability.

Teir 3: Professional:
Items have 2 mod sockets. Increased variability in weapons and mechs available at this level.

Teir 4: Expert:
Items have 3 mod sockets.

Teir 5: Master:
Items have 4 mod sockets. Mechs are at their maximum base health in this teir.

T6: War:
Items have 4 mod sockets. Mechs reach their maximum EN capacity in this teir, allowing for more weapon/mod combinations. Weapons reach their maximum base damage in this teir, making for faster time to kill than T5.
Titans with two abilities become available in this teir, and function similarly to War Robots titans in how they're deployed.


All mechs will have 4 weapon slots, with their EN capacity dictating what combinations a player can use between modules and weapons

Mech types:

Every mech will have a role categorization instead of "Light/medium/heavy". Their prescribed role and an identifier of their niche. They will also have a small descriptor denoting their playstyle.

Roles:

-Scout: Nimble mechs designed for map control through and flanking.

-Tank: Highly armored mechs designed for area control through brawling.

-Assault: Mechs that have offensive abilities, with higher firepower at the cost of armor and/or speed.

-Support: Mechs with variable speed and firepower that alter the battlefield with their abilities, such as slow, damage over time, healing and suppression.


Now for the actual mechs:
The format for this section will not have any "hard numbers", as I'll be saving that for an excel spreadsheet somewhere down the line(balancing, yay!). Instead, I will use a grading system:

S: =>50% above average
A: 25-50% above average
B: Average
C: 25-50% below average
D: =>50% below average


Teir 1: Mechs available from the very beginning.


Striker:
Role: Scout
Armor: B
Speed: A
EN capacity: C
Ability:
Burst: A rapid boost in the direction the mech is facing.
Distance: 40m
Charges:2
Cooldown: 7 seconds per charge.


Rogatka:
Role: Scout
Armor: B
Speed: B
EN capacity: B
Ability:
Jump Jets: Leap vertically.
Distance: 30M vertical, 30M horizontal.
Cooldown: 5 seconds per charge.


Mender:
Role: Support
Armor:A
Speed:B
EN capacity:C
Ability:
Repair burst: Deploys three consecutive bursts of energy that heal both Mender and nearby allies.
Range: 30M radius
Healing: 20% of Mender's health to allies per burst, 10% self heal per burst.
Cooldown: 3 seconds active, 10 second cooldown.


Loris:
Role: Support
Armor: B
Speed: B
EN capacity: B
Ability:
System Crash: Releases a burst of Chaff that disables enemy targeting(aim assist) for a short duration. Removes status effects from allied mechs.
Range: 30M, 180° angle in the direction facing.
Duration: 6 seconds
Cooldown: 14 seconds after duration is expended.


Trooper:
Role: Assault
Armor: C
Speed: B
EN capacity: A
Ability:
Sprint: Increases movement speed by 30%.
Duration: 6 Seconds.
Cooldown: 9 seconds.


Blitzker:
Role: Assault
Armor: C
Speed: B
EN capacity: B
Ability:
Melee Charge: Boosts forward a short distance and deals damage to an enemy mech.
Distance: 15M
Damage: 50% of Blitzker's maximum health
Cooldown: 8 Seconds.


Haskell:
Role: Tank
Armor: A
Speed: C
EN capacity: B
Ability:
Personal Shield: Deploys a shield that covers the Haskell and absorbs all damage.
Shield HP: 15% of it's total health.
Duration: Until destroyed.
Cooldown: 12 seconds.


Sentinel:
Role: Tank
Armor: A
Speed: C
En Capacity: B
Ability:
Sentinel Shield: Sentinel anchors itself in position and deploys a physical shield in front of it that absorbs kinetic and explosive damage.
Shield HP: 100% of Sentinel's health. Shield health persists, and does not recover if destroyed.
Duration: 2 seconds to anchor and deploy shield. 2 seconds to raise anchor, shield retracts immediately.
Cooldown: None



Teir 2: Slightly more complex abilities and stat combinations.

Apollo:
Role: Scout
Armor: C
Speed: B
En Capacity: B
Ability:
Burst: Dash in the forward facing direction.
Charges: 2
Distance: 30M
Cooldown: 7 seconds per charge.


Disruptor:
Role: Support
Armor: B
Speed: B
En Capacity: C
Ability:
Chaff emitter: Deploys a stationary mine that greatly decreases the detection abilities of affected enemies. (Enemies cannot target mechs beyond 40M, and all friendly mechs outside of that range are hidden on the enemy minimap)
Range: 40M from mine, 360°
Duration: 10 seconds.
Cooldown: 15 seconds.


Claymore:
Role: Assault
Armor: B
Speed: C
En Capacity: A
Ability:
Sprint: Increases movement speed by 30%
Duration: 7 seconds.
Cooldown: 7 seconds.


Heracles:
Role: Tank
Armor: A
Speed: D
EN capacity: A
Ability:
Physical Shield: A two segmented forward facing physical shield that absorbs kinetic and explosive damage.
Sheild HP: 50% of Heracles' health per segment.



Teir 3: abilities introduce specific counterplay for both aggressive and defensive tactics.

Shadow:
Role: Scout
Armor: C
Speed: A
En Capacity: B
Ability:
Stealth: Jams enemy from targeting and spotting on radar. Speed increases by 30% for the duration.
Duration: 10 Seconds
Cooldown: 15 seconds


Odin:
Role: Support
Armor: A
Speed: B
En Capacity: C
Ability:
Truesight: Enhanced radar that exposes all enemy mechs(ignoring chaff and stealth) to targeting and on Radar. Calling out enemy positions (emote communication) has them appear on allied radar and targeting systems.
Duration: 5 seconds.
Cooldown: 8 seconds.


Thor:
Role: Assault
Armor: C
Speed: C
En Capacity: A
Ability:
Lightning strike: fires a projectile that emits a burst of energy damage that will chain to enemy mechs nearby.
Distance: Projectile: 40M(will detonate at 40M if it doesn't collide with anything) AoE 25M, 360°
Damage: 30% of Thor's maximum health to primary targets, 15% to secondary targets.
Duration: Instant
Cooldown: 12 seconds.


Fenrir:
Role: Tank
Armor: B
Speed: C
En Capacity: B
Ability:
Riposte: Deploys a temporary skin shield that absorbs explosive and energy damage, then deals damage equal to the damage the shield endured in a 30M, 360° radius.
Shield HP: 40% of Fenrir's max health.
Shield duration: 3 seconds.
Cooldown: 15 seconds.



Teir 4: a heavy focus on area control

Cheetah:
Role: Scout
Armor: C
Speed: B
En Capacity: C
Ability:
Escape plan: A burst of immediate speed in whatever direction Cheetah is traveling. Leaves an explosive mine at the point of activation.
Damage & Radius: TBA
Distance: 30M
Cooldown: 7 seconds.


Aegis:
Role: Support
Armor: B
Speed: B
En Capacity: B
Ability:
Sentry: Aegis anchors in place and deploys a large energy shield, protecting itself and allies within the shiels from explosive and energy damage.
Shield HP: 60% of Aegis' maximum health.
Duration: 2 seconds to anchor, 2 seconds to lift anchor. Anchor lifts automatically when shield is depleted.
Cooldown: Shield health persists between activations. 15 second cooldown once depleted.


Rhino:
Role: Assault
Armor: C
Speed: C
En Capacity: S
Ability:
Ballista: Deploys a three segmented physical shield that absorbs Kinetic and explosive damage. While the shield is deployed: +50% movement speed, strafing disabled, -50% weapon damage.
Shield HP: Main segment: 40% max HP, side segments: 15% max HP.
Duration: 3 seconds to deploy, 1 second to disengage.


Juggernaut:
Role: Tank
Armor: A
Speed: D
En Capacity: B
Ability:
Bulwark: Dual modes, physical shield and energy skin shield. Physical shield absorbs Kinetic and explosive damage. Energy shield absorbs Energy and explosive damage.
Shield HP: Physical: 40% of Juggenaut's maximum health. Energy: 25% of Juggernaut's maximum health.
Duration: Defaults to Physical shield when EN shield is depleted. EN shield regenerates when inactive, or on a timer when physical shield is destroyed.
Cooldown: 20 seconds(EN shield)



Teir 5: The combination of everything learned from previous teirs, with mechs/abilities introduced being further specialized.



Spazmok:
Role: Scout
Armor: D
Speed: S
En Capacity:B
Ability:
Pile Dash: Quickly boosts forward and deals heavy damage to enemy mechs it collides with, momentarily disabling their targeting system(aim assist) and applying ~Overheat~
Damage: 100% of Spazmok's maximum health.
Stun Duration: 3 seconds.
Distance: 40M
Cooldown: 7 seconds.


Hades:
Role: Support
Armor: B
Speed: C
En Capacity: B
Ability:
Hellfire: Deploys a feild around Hades that causes enemy mechs to ~overheat~, and allied mechs(including itself) to heal over time.
Distance: 60M, 360°
Healing rate: 3% of max health self heal/second. 6% of max health healed to allies/second.
Duration: 10 seconds
Cooldown: 15 seconds.


Rasputin:
Role: Assault
Armor: B
Speed: D
En Capacity: S
Ability:
Crippling Blow: Fires a long range energy projectile that inflicts ~suppression~, ~overheat~ and ~slow~ on it's target.
Range: 100M
Damage: TBA
Charges: 2
Cooldown: 9 seconds per charge.


Behemoth:
Role: Tank
Armor: A
Speed: D
En Capacity: A
Ability:
Carnage: Inbuilt physical shield. Behemoth applies ~Overheat~ to itself to deploy a wide Energy shield in front of it and increase it's movement speed by 100%.
Shield HP: Physical Shield: 30% Max HP(non regenerating) Energy Shield: Wide forward facing shield(think Ares), 30% of max health.
Ability duration: 5 seconds
Self overheat duration: 8 seconds
Cooldown: 12 seconds.

~VII~
-Maps-

Koalabear my time for things this involved really is limited.
I'm going to add progression next. I'm thinking of a way to combine the best of what War Robots, BoT, and MA have done, while making an actual fair game so that a PC/console port actually has the oppurtunity for E-sports.
The requirement for esports is an even playing field at match start, every match start.

What I'm currently sitting on:

- Item tiers similar to MA, except every tier is an individual hangar and MM queue.
So, a T1 hangar can only have T1 items. Upgrading an item to T2 will duplicate it, so the T1 version stays in T1, while the T2 version is only usable in a T2 hangar.

- A hangar above T1 needs at least 3 mechs to queue into battle. Number of total teirs is debatable. 3-5 sounds about right.

- Mechs are a one-of outside of the tier, weapons are two-of out of the box.

- Upgrades for mechs and weapons within tiers will be modular, similar to BoT. Mech mods have an EN cost that pulls from the same pool weapons do, so there is a control lever between using mech mods or the highest powered weapons the mech can wield.

- No levels for any item, only tier ranking, so items are all hard-locked to static performance outside of the player choice in the modular customization.

- Some mechs and weapons start at tiers above 1, so they cannot be used against newer players. Using MA as an example, a T1 player with Paragon, Lancer, and Juggernaut, would never face a Panther, because Panther's BASE tier is T2. This would allow players to progress at their own pace, and still participate in low-stakes games with basic hangars without killing anyone's fun.

-All items gain 1 mod slot per tier above T1. T1 gear has no mod slots, so all performances are static. If a bunch of people played in an e-sports setting, they could easily be provided all of the T1 items, and the contest will be a matter of mech/weapon selection and mechanical skill.

- Mechs gain base HP and EN capacity when ranked up(as well as the aforementioned mod slot)

- Weapons gain damage when ranked up, and also unlock a higher EN cost version of themselves when available.
Using MA as an example, Say Autocannon 2 starts at T1. Ranking up Autocannon 2 will create the T2 variant of it, but also unlock Autocannon 3. The 3 cost version would ~start~ at T2.
While it can be cloned into higher tiers, it can never get into T1, even if a T1 mech has the EN to equip it.

This is meant to create more build variety in later tiers. It also allows low tier to remain both casual and competitive. It also justifies higher teir mechs and weapons being able to do outlandish things. The higher the tier, the more complex matches are likely to be, but with every mech/weapon in each teir balanced against each other, players can find their sweet spot.

An example of progression, using MA items as placeholders:

- T1 lancer is 4 EN.
--It can equip 2 × 2 EN weapons, or a 4 EN weapon.

- T2 Lancer has 8 EN and 1 mod slot. It can go for armor, foot speed, or ability cooldown with that slot. Armor costs 1 EN, speed and ability cooldown cost 2.
-- It can equip 2 x 4 EN weapons, OR A 2 EN mod with weapons equaling 6, OR a 1 EN mod with a weapons equaling a cost of 7.

- T3 Lancer has 12 EN and 2 mod slots. On top of highe tiered versions of T2 mods, there are new mods of those categories with +1 EN consumption, and a completely different new mod that gives it an additional Jump charge for 3 EN.
-- It can equip 4 EN worth of mods (2+2 or 1+3) have 8 weapon EN, 6 EN worth of mods and only have 6 EN for weapons, so on and so forth.

- EN capacities will be overall higher, BUT! There will be an oppurtunity cost between the items that directly impact mech performance, and the weapon sets that mech can use.

So, a T5 Lancer may have 24 EN, but it has 4 mod slots with mods that drain anywhere between 1 and 5 EN. It can forgo mech mods and equip bigger weapons, OR pimp the mech out with extra armor, speed, jump regen, and/or jump charges, etcetera.

My opinion, MA wasn’t that far off. Take out the aspects of it that make you feel like you HAVE to pay to get anywhere, and I would willingly support it. Specifically, the absurd ‘matchmaker’ that is anything but, and the blatantly manipulative AI that rewards you for playing well by giving you brain dead teammates and increasingly impossible opposition. Oh yeah, an BE HONEST WITH YOUR PLAYERS. Just those minor tweaks and MA could have been a winner.


That’s the best I can come up with.

The point is getting away from too much variability between battles. Part of being able to make tactical decisions is being able to identify what the opponent is using. Too much variance between identical looking mechs is why games like this lack one very important thing: consistency.

The achievement system giving large resource chunks to obtain the item's next teir, is how that "skill up" mentality is applied, while keeping each teir performance consistent.

The modular alteration system will remove some predictability, but item knowledge would allow players to have a solid understanding of the possible interactions and specs at their level of play. With every teir being separate and simultaneous, and mod slots being uniform for all mechs in the teir, a player making the venture into a higher teir need only to select their lower teir hangar for MM to go back to the more familiar and manageable environment.
The modular system ensures a base line uniformity, with modifications having oppurtunity costs that affect weapon usages. Some mods will be "give and take". The double edged mods will lean closer to changing statistical performance to the point of mocking up another mech that might not be available in that teir. They'll also be teir specific, so two mechs don't overstep their niche in teirs they both exist in. That allows for unique builds at every level, and also mitigates the rush of ~NEEDING~ to obtain all of the specific items associated with a new mech.

For a tactical example, say you know you can kill a mech with a certain amount of damage.
Since everything is uniform at base in any given teir:
-Seeing it carry weapons that don't fill the total EN of that mech at that teir gives away that it's performance is modded.
-Watching it's mobility and ability uses will give the general idea of how it's moded. If it's not using mobility/ability mods. Then it might have more HP.
-figuring that out gives a tactical advantage in the engagement. Since mods/weapon load will be balanced with each other in the same manner as base performance, how the players act/ react in the engagement is still the major deciding factor.

For an example of a mech mocking up another mech:
Think of the previous example of the Mobile, shieldless tank.
Consider Paragon in MA. The double edged mods would allow Paragon to have a similar stat spread as that mobile tank, to perform similarly to that mobile tank, in a teir that mobile tank isn't available in. In the teir that mobile tank is usable, the mod set specific to Paragon that would allow it to emulate the tank will not be available.

There will be enough available from first log in for people to buy their way into any teir. There will be enough for anyone to wet their feet at any level they want and do reasonably well. The endgame will revolve mostly around actual build crafting, specialization and counter specialization.
That combined with limited amounts of item copies, but a wide array of actual items, leads to a metagame that won't stagnate. A metagame that doesn't need constant nerfs/buffs or a power creep flavor of the week to actually change.

In games that can actually be played competitively, there is no finite meta. Just matchup specific advantages and disadvantages, and a focus on player decision making and execution. Meta shifts happen organically as hard counters to the current dominant strategy are discovered. This would in perpetuity, to the point where everything has a place, and every teir is it's own unique experience where choices matter more than an arbitrary level or upgrade number.

bump

Glad you did bump it... I've somehow missed this until today.

I love it.

Progression, mix of offline and online, separate MM queues an the differences between the queues, weapon mods, etc.

Yes.

I would easily play this and as long as it was smooth and didn't stutter and lag, I'd buy it straight out with the ideas you have in mind.

How're things progressing?  No posts in a while.  Is this a dead concept?