The original threads
http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/170743-community-warfare-phase-2/
http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/17...-quick-update/page__pid__3713502#entry3713502
Feedback threads
http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/170755-community-warfare-phase-2-feedback/
http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/170884-community-warfare-phase-2-quick-update-feedback/
Community Warfare - Phase 2
Sept 10, 2014
Hey folks,
I'm here to give you the opening high level details of Community Warfare - Phase 2. This is where you will be able to partake in the overarching story/progression of MWO's Inner Sphere/Clan conflict.
What I've included below are cut and paste segments from the master design document for Community Warfare. The stuff not included is the technical details used to inform the engineers and artists what is required for each heading. The purpose of this is to give you an outline of what to expect for Community Warfare - Phase 2.
I know you will have a ton of questions regarding more detail for each category and here is what I am planning to do to address this.
Every 2 weeks, I will be updating the progress of these features and answering the most asked questions. I can guarantee you this, I will not be able to answer every single question, but I hope to cover the biggest questions at a minimum. This means that the first update and FAQ responses will be on Wed. Sept 24,2014. I will ask Niko and the rest of the CSR team to compile a list of questions and I'll answer everything I can.
You can post your questions here: Questions on Phase 2 - Part 1
Please keep your questions on topic and concise. I will not have the time to engage in debate but I will address your questions as openly as I can. Do not misconstrue this as not taking feedback, your questions alone indicate what you'd like to see or know more about, I just won't have the time to have a lot of back and forth dialog as I am working directly with the team as they build CW. I just want to be able to open the doors a little wider so you can see the progress of this major milestone of MWO's development unfold.
That being said, here's the first release of information:
OPT-IN TO COMMUNITY WARFARE
When a player clicks the Faction tab, they are opting into Community Warfare gameplay. This means they will be accepting the fact that teams will be split into IS vs Clan ‘Mechs and cannot mix the two technologies.
INTERACTIVE INNER-SPHERE MAP
The Inner-Sphere Map displays the status of the Inner Sphere in terms of borders and conflicts. It shows all planets that we have data for.
INTERACTIVITY
PLANET DETAILS
When a planet is clicked, an information panel should show the planet’s detailed information:
CONTESTED PLANETS
When a planet is contested, the warring factions are fighting over who will control the planet and reap the associated rewards. For each planet, there is an attacking Faction Unit and a defending Faction Unit.
ENGAGING IN PLANETARY CONQUEST
During peak player count times throughout the day, planetary control matches will be kicked off within the Faction tab. Players will see planets on the Inner Sphere map which are currently contested and be able to choose to be part of the fight.
A PLAYER’S FACTION SELECTION
The faction a player has aligned to will be a hard rule as to which ‘Mechs they can use and which planets they can attack/defend.
GROUPS IN COMMUNITY WARFARE
Groups in community warfare will be hard limited to players in the same unit. This is to re-enforce faction gameplay so you will not see groups of mixed Kurita and Davion for example.
INITIATING AN ATTACK
Initial plan is to have initiation of an attack can only be done by a 12-man unit group. The group leader will select a planet and click the attack button.
PRIORITIZATION OF GROUPS
Attacking groups are always placed in a single queue in a first-in first-out logistics order (FIFO). Defending groups are placed in queue and are given the opportunity to choose their group’s ‘Mech weight class build to meet the requirements of the defending team for the given match.
DEFENDING TEAM QUEUE
There are 2 types of defenders for a planet. Contract defenders are the Unit that won the right to defend a planet through the bidding system. Faction defenders are the rest of the players who can defend the planet but are not part of the contract defending unit.
CONTRACT DEFENDERS
DROP DECKS
A drop deck is a selection of 4 ‘Mechs in the player’s inventory. Each of the 4 ‘Mechs must be one of each weight class (one light, one medium, one heavy, one assault). All 4 ‘Mechs must belong to the same technology core (IS or Clan). The Drop Deck is a means for the player to quickly choose their favorite ‘Mech of a specific weight class when in the defender queue outlined above.
The Drop Deck will display the following:
PLANETARY CONQUEST GAME-MODE
This new game mode and map is planned to be part of the map/game mode cycle of matches for Community Warfare.
To make taking a planet feel epic, a new game mode would bring the feeling of longer matches and standoffs. Instead of playing a series of death match games to decide who conquers a planet, this new attack/defend game mode would let players feel like they’re truly fighting over something.
Invasion incorporates an attacking drop zone (where attackers spawn) and a defensive base (defenders spawn). The idea is that the attackers destroy the defenders base and defensive structures. At a severe choke point location on the map, a set of defensive barriers prevent the attackers (those who do not have jump jets) from proceeding beyond this point. If the attackers use high ground positions and take out the power plants holding the magnetic doors shut, the doors will lose power and a safety mechanic opens the doors allowing the attackers through.
INVASION MODE - MAP REQUIREMENTS
[Update]
Hey folks,
Russ and I would like to clear up the top concerns we saw in the feedback thread for Community Warfare - Phase 2.
Faction Switching - Making use of all of your 'Mech Inventory
We were looking at how the IS Map changes over time and how slow the pace would be if we controlled the release of planets to follow the actual invasion timeline. We had reservations about this for a while and with the current feedback from the community, we have started investigating the ability for units and players to switch factions at the end of a season. Seasons would last for [3] months (still to be determined), and at the end of the Season, the IS Map will reset and players will be able to change factions for participating in Community Warfare. This allows players who have plenty of 'Mechs in each faction stable to use them all in Community Warfare in stages. We think this is a fair tradeoff for both role playing aspects and player inventory aspects in relation to Community Warfare.
Inter-Faction Combat
While the primary conflict in Community Warfare is the faction war between Inner Sphere and Clan forces, we do understand the player desires to include the inter-faction conflicts between the Houses/Clans. These are the skirmishes between Davion and Kurita for example. We currently have the ability to put any planet/system on the map up for contention and can use this feature to kick of conflicts along the house borders and clan borders as well.
While our focus is Clan vs IS, there will be opportunities in Community Warfare for players to engage in inter-faction conflicts as well. Why shouldn't Liao be able to push into Davion space? We believe this will add some very interesting dynamics to Community Warfare along with the main Invasion conflict and will be adding this ability with Phase 2.
Respawns
So yesterday when I posted the information about Community Warfare - Part 2, I mentioned it was a copy and paste from the high level design doc. A few items were still being discussed so I pulled them to not put it out there quite yet. I wanted to release those other bits in the next update. But low and behold... 20 minutes after posting... Karl walked up to me and said... "You left respawn in there." After turning various shades of white/grey I saw the error. Too late.. people already commenting on it. Here's the clarification:
Originally it was planned to have 1.. ONE... respawn when the attackers breached the gate in the Invasion game mode. This gives the feeling of re-enforcements arriving because the respawn would happen in the player's respective bases. Basically players who died before the gate breach, would go into a stasis mode and observe like the current spectator mode. Once the gate was breached, everyone in stasis would respawn one time. People who had not died would have a "respawn in their pocket".
Now keep this in mind... I personally am not a fan of respawning but it just made sense for this type of game mode. Russ HATES respawns and when he saw the first design he was like "WOAH!!". So we were in talks about it. Engineering support is already done for it but everything was on hold until we made a concrete decision. Then I made the copy-paste error...
I met with the engineers involved with CW-Phase 2 and we started talking about the game mode and the idea of respawn. Wayyy back in closed Beta everyone thought Drop Ship mode would be very cool... the ability to bring in up to 4 'Mechs (1 of each Weight Class) into a match and choose non-destroyed 'Mechs to respawn back into the match with. This was a high technical risk back then and Drop Ship was put on the back burner.
In the meeting today and planning out how we will be incorporating the new game mode into Community Warfare to make a unique experience... Drop Ship came back up. Now let me tell you this... every time I mention Drop Ship, the engineering team (I'll call them Karl & Friends) would cringe back in fear with eyes that would make an anime character jealous. We all started talking.. what's best for the game?.. what would have to get done?.. everyone agreed the community would love something like Drop Ship.
I'm happy to let you know... Karl & Friends have decided bite the bullet and fully investigate the complete system requirements for Drop Ship mode. During this discussion we have found that this mode is not only cool, but it also helps with some of the match creation process that would be needed for Planetary Conquest matches. It's a scary undertaking but it's something that we are all passionate about in creating a very cool gaming experience for you the community.
Some players may have concerns about being forced into playing one of each 'Mech weight class during a Community Warfare match. Keep in mind that we've spent a lot of time creating a MechWarrior title where lights, mediums, heavies and assault all have a viable role to play on the battlefield. Bringing in your favorite 'Mech is not going to be hindered in any way and that the rest of your Drop Ship provides you with a means to support your Unit if you do happen to be destroyed in combat. Full 12-man Unit groups participating in CW might be able to ensure that they have exactly 12 'Mechs of each weight class among the 48 total. Random groups and Units that are showing up to defend will have little to no chance organizing which 'Mechs to prep and some people may end up needing to take nothing but 4 lights when they only pilot Assaults. Therefore the most balanced solution that will allow the most strategy amongst teams is to have each person bring one of each weight class into battle.
I cannot 100% guarantee Drop Ship mode at this moment, but everyone on board is going to try to make it happen. I will update you all on the final discovery in the next CW update.
http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/170743-community-warfare-phase-2/
http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/17...-quick-update/page__pid__3713502#entry3713502
Feedback threads
http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/170755-community-warfare-phase-2-feedback/
http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/170884-community-warfare-phase-2-quick-update-feedback/
Community Warfare - Phase 2
Sept 10, 2014
Hey folks,
I'm here to give you the opening high level details of Community Warfare - Phase 2. This is where you will be able to partake in the overarching story/progression of MWO's Inner Sphere/Clan conflict.
What I've included below are cut and paste segments from the master design document for Community Warfare. The stuff not included is the technical details used to inform the engineers and artists what is required for each heading. The purpose of this is to give you an outline of what to expect for Community Warfare - Phase 2.
I know you will have a ton of questions regarding more detail for each category and here is what I am planning to do to address this.
Every 2 weeks, I will be updating the progress of these features and answering the most asked questions. I can guarantee you this, I will not be able to answer every single question, but I hope to cover the biggest questions at a minimum. This means that the first update and FAQ responses will be on Wed. Sept 24,2014. I will ask Niko and the rest of the CSR team to compile a list of questions and I'll answer everything I can.
You can post your questions here: Questions on Phase 2 - Part 1
Please keep your questions on topic and concise. I will not have the time to engage in debate but I will address your questions as openly as I can. Do not misconstrue this as not taking feedback, your questions alone indicate what you'd like to see or know more about, I just won't have the time to have a lot of back and forth dialog as I am working directly with the team as they build CW. I just want to be able to open the doors a little wider so you can see the progress of this major milestone of MWO's development unfold.
That being said, here's the first release of information:
OPT-IN TO COMMUNITY WARFARE
When a player clicks the Faction tab, they are opting into Community Warfare gameplay. This means they will be accepting the fact that teams will be split into IS vs Clan ‘Mechs and cannot mix the two technologies.
INTERACTIVE INNER-SPHERE MAP
The Inner-Sphere Map displays the status of the Inner Sphere in terms of borders and conflicts. It shows all planets that we have data for.
INTERACTIVITY
- Players can pan the map.
- Players can zoom in/out on the map.
- Players can click a planet.
PLANET DETAILS
When a planet is clicked, an information panel should show the planet’s detailed information:
- Planet Name
- Planet Faction Affiliation
- Occupying Unit (If applicable)
- Any lore from BT we can add (Population, temperature, lore facts)
- Indicate if the planet is contested or not (see below)
CONTESTED PLANETS
When a planet is contested, the warring factions are fighting over who will control the planet and reap the associated rewards. For each planet, there is an attacking Faction Unit and a defending Faction Unit.
- Contested planets are specially marked on the IS map and can be identified at all zoom levels.
- Contested planets are assignable by the design team.
ENGAGING IN PLANETARY CONQUEST
During peak player count times throughout the day, planetary control matches will be kicked off within the Faction tab. Players will see planets on the Inner Sphere map which are currently contested and be able to choose to be part of the fight.
A PLAYER’S FACTION SELECTION
The faction a player has aligned to will be a hard rule as to which ‘Mechs they can use and which planets they can attack/defend.
GROUPS IN COMMUNITY WARFARE
Groups in community warfare will be hard limited to players in the same unit. This is to re-enforce faction gameplay so you will not see groups of mixed Kurita and Davion for example.
INITIATING AN ATTACK
Initial plan is to have initiation of an attack can only be done by a 12-man unit group. The group leader will select a planet and click the attack button.
PRIORITIZATION OF GROUPS
Attacking groups are always placed in a single queue in a first-in first-out logistics order (FIFO). Defending groups are placed in queue and are given the opportunity to choose their group’s ‘Mech weight class build to meet the requirements of the defending team for the given match.
DEFENDING TEAM QUEUE
There are 2 types of defenders for a planet. Contract defenders are the Unit that won the right to defend a planet through the bidding system. Faction defenders are the rest of the players who can defend the planet but are not part of the contract defending unit.
CONTRACT DEFENDERS
- When an attack is first triggered, a notification is sent to all members of the unit that is part of the contract defenders.
- The contract defenders have [2] minutes to respond by creating a 12-man unit team and clicking the defend button.
- If the [2] minute limit expires, the remaining slots available on the team are made publically available.
- When this release to faction defenders happens, all faction players are notified via an in-game messaging system.
- The remaining slots are filled by faction defenders in priority order in which they clicked the defend button.
- Faction defenders when allowed to join a team are given [30] seconds to choose their ‘Mechs to fit the available slots.
DROP DECKS
A drop deck is a selection of 4 ‘Mechs in the player’s inventory. Each of the 4 ‘Mechs must be one of each weight class (one light, one medium, one heavy, one assault). All 4 ‘Mechs must belong to the same technology core (IS or Clan). The Drop Deck is a means for the player to quickly choose their favorite ‘Mech of a specific weight class when in the defender queue outlined above.
The Drop Deck will display the following:
- Currently chosen Light ‘Mech thumbnail
- Currently chosen Medium ‘Mech thumbnail
- Currently chosen Heavy ‘Mech thumbnail
- Current chosen Assault ‘Mech thumbnail
- A drop down in each 'Mech panel will allow the player to change a 'Mech for an owned, same weight class 'Mech.
PLANETARY CONQUEST GAME-MODE
This new game mode and map is planned to be part of the map/game mode cycle of matches for Community Warfare.
To make taking a planet feel epic, a new game mode would bring the feeling of longer matches and standoffs. Instead of playing a series of death match games to decide who conquers a planet, this new attack/defend game mode would let players feel like they’re truly fighting over something.
Invasion incorporates an attacking drop zone (where attackers spawn) and a defensive base (defenders spawn). The idea is that the attackers destroy the defenders base and defensive structures. At a severe choke point location on the map, a set of defensive barriers prevent the attackers (those who do not have jump jets) from proceeding beyond this point. If the attackers use high ground positions and take out the power plants holding the magnetic doors shut, the doors will lose power and a safety mechanic opens the doors allowing the attackers through.
INVASION MODE - MAP REQUIREMENTS
- Maps must have longer travel times to point of first contact. This is important because it also increases the time it takes for re-enforcements (respawns) to arrive back into battle.
- Maps must have multiple choke points that encase the defensive barriers. Too few choke points and the defenders will have too great of an advantage focus firing on the points of passage.
- Choke points must provide some means of destroying power generators on the defender’s side of the defensive barriers.
- Choke points should be protected by defensive turrets.
- Defensive barriers should be connected to a power plant.
- Destroying power plants open the connected barriers.
- Gates should open slowly allowing players to “slice the pie” and engage.
- Light ‘Mechs with jump jets should be able to barely make it over the barriers if they so choose.
[Update]
Hey folks,
Russ and I would like to clear up the top concerns we saw in the feedback thread for Community Warfare - Phase 2.
Faction Switching - Making use of all of your 'Mech Inventory
We were looking at how the IS Map changes over time and how slow the pace would be if we controlled the release of planets to follow the actual invasion timeline. We had reservations about this for a while and with the current feedback from the community, we have started investigating the ability for units and players to switch factions at the end of a season. Seasons would last for [3] months (still to be determined), and at the end of the Season, the IS Map will reset and players will be able to change factions for participating in Community Warfare. This allows players who have plenty of 'Mechs in each faction stable to use them all in Community Warfare in stages. We think this is a fair tradeoff for both role playing aspects and player inventory aspects in relation to Community Warfare.
Inter-Faction Combat
While the primary conflict in Community Warfare is the faction war between Inner Sphere and Clan forces, we do understand the player desires to include the inter-faction conflicts between the Houses/Clans. These are the skirmishes between Davion and Kurita for example. We currently have the ability to put any planet/system on the map up for contention and can use this feature to kick of conflicts along the house borders and clan borders as well.
While our focus is Clan vs IS, there will be opportunities in Community Warfare for players to engage in inter-faction conflicts as well. Why shouldn't Liao be able to push into Davion space? We believe this will add some very interesting dynamics to Community Warfare along with the main Invasion conflict and will be adding this ability with Phase 2.
Respawns
So yesterday when I posted the information about Community Warfare - Part 2, I mentioned it was a copy and paste from the high level design doc. A few items were still being discussed so I pulled them to not put it out there quite yet. I wanted to release those other bits in the next update. But low and behold... 20 minutes after posting... Karl walked up to me and said... "You left respawn in there." After turning various shades of white/grey I saw the error. Too late.. people already commenting on it. Here's the clarification:
Originally it was planned to have 1.. ONE... respawn when the attackers breached the gate in the Invasion game mode. This gives the feeling of re-enforcements arriving because the respawn would happen in the player's respective bases. Basically players who died before the gate breach, would go into a stasis mode and observe like the current spectator mode. Once the gate was breached, everyone in stasis would respawn one time. People who had not died would have a "respawn in their pocket".
Now keep this in mind... I personally am not a fan of respawning but it just made sense for this type of game mode. Russ HATES respawns and when he saw the first design he was like "WOAH!!". So we were in talks about it. Engineering support is already done for it but everything was on hold until we made a concrete decision. Then I made the copy-paste error...
I met with the engineers involved with CW-Phase 2 and we started talking about the game mode and the idea of respawn. Wayyy back in closed Beta everyone thought Drop Ship mode would be very cool... the ability to bring in up to 4 'Mechs (1 of each Weight Class) into a match and choose non-destroyed 'Mechs to respawn back into the match with. This was a high technical risk back then and Drop Ship was put on the back burner.
In the meeting today and planning out how we will be incorporating the new game mode into Community Warfare to make a unique experience... Drop Ship came back up. Now let me tell you this... every time I mention Drop Ship, the engineering team (I'll call them Karl & Friends) would cringe back in fear with eyes that would make an anime character jealous. We all started talking.. what's best for the game?.. what would have to get done?.. everyone agreed the community would love something like Drop Ship.
I'm happy to let you know... Karl & Friends have decided bite the bullet and fully investigate the complete system requirements for Drop Ship mode. During this discussion we have found that this mode is not only cool, but it also helps with some of the match creation process that would be needed for Planetary Conquest matches. It's a scary undertaking but it's something that we are all passionate about in creating a very cool gaming experience for you the community.
Some players may have concerns about being forced into playing one of each 'Mech weight class during a Community Warfare match. Keep in mind that we've spent a lot of time creating a MechWarrior title where lights, mediums, heavies and assault all have a viable role to play on the battlefield. Bringing in your favorite 'Mech is not going to be hindered in any way and that the rest of your Drop Ship provides you with a means to support your Unit if you do happen to be destroyed in combat. Full 12-man Unit groups participating in CW might be able to ensure that they have exactly 12 'Mechs of each weight class among the 48 total. Random groups and Units that are showing up to defend will have little to no chance organizing which 'Mechs to prep and some people may end up needing to take nothing but 4 lights when they only pilot Assaults. Therefore the most balanced solution that will allow the most strategy amongst teams is to have each person bring one of each weight class into battle.
I cannot 100% guarantee Drop Ship mode at this moment, but everyone on board is going to try to make it happen. I will update you all on the final discovery in the next CW update.