Upgrading Upgrades

Upgrading Upgrades

When a mechwarrior falls in battle, what does she leave to legacy?

Moderators: FLOZi, SpikedHelmet, Moderators, Content Developer

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FLOZi
MC: Legacy & Spring 1944 Developer
Posts: 6240
Joined: 29 Apr 2005, 01:14

Upgrading Upgrades

Post by FLOZi »

N.B. Not asking for technical help here, I know several gadgets exist for this (zwzsg, smoth) and I'll still probably write my own specific to MCL's requirements. I'm after gameplay feedback.

So the idea;

Upgrades that you can buy for beacons become upgrade-able through 3 stages, with stage 1 being as they are delivered. (Alternatively, upgrade trees which bolster one aspect but hinder another - everything should have some drawback other than just price imo)

Dropzone - This one upgrades your dropship
  • +Increases total available tonnage
  • +Better weapons on the dropship
  • -Dropship delay and flight times increased
C3 Array
  • +Increases bandwidth (mech control slots)
  • +Only takes up one navbeacon
  • -More expensive and more fragile than multiple C3s
Vehicle Pad - Either supplement or replace the current time-based 'elevation'
  • +Increase weight class of vehicles to draw on (1 - Light & Medium, 2 - Medium & Heavy - 3 - Heavy & Assault)
  • +Possibly increase likelihood of artillery or APC
  • -Increase time between deliveries
Uplink
  • +Increases strength of orbital strike barrage
  • -Increases reload time of orbital strike barrage
  • +Tier 2 unlocks sensor towers, Tier 3 unlocks Turrets (or increases availability limit)
MechBay
  • +Increase speed of repairs/reloads?
  • +Tier 3 Restores lost limbs?
  • -Increase cost of repair/reload?
Garrison
  • +Adds a turret at tier 2
  • +Adds a squad of BA at tier 3
  • -less armour? or more money for opponent attacking
Why?

Well, dropzone/ship upgrades are already in place to solve a sticky issue with C3s granting both slots and tonnage, and have been discussed many times throughout development. I kinda dislike it being a 'one off' ability of the dropzone. This also gives us many levers for balancing upgrades and allows us to drop the costs of the initial purchase.
hokomoko
Spring Developer
Posts: 593
Joined: 02 Jun 2014, 00:46

Re: Upgrading Upgrades

Post by hokomoko »

If you didn't see this in #sy:
[00:08:43] <hokomoko> I'd split them into groups like: Quantity Upgrades vs. Quality Upgrades, and then have each upgrade nerf some attribute from the other group
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FLOZi
MC: Legacy & Spring 1944 Developer
Posts: 6240
Joined: 29 Apr 2005, 01:14

Re: Upgrading Upgrades

Post by FLOZi »

Nemo agrees.

I guess the two strands would be mutually exclusive... would there only be a single level in each?
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bobthedinosaur
Blood & Steel Developer
Posts: 2700
Joined: 25 Aug 2004, 13:31

Re: Upgrading Upgrades

Post by bobthedinosaur »

keep it simple. if it works well you could play with levels but I'd suggest trying just 1.
SpikedHelmet
MC: Legacy & Spring 1944 Developer
Posts: 1948
Joined: 21 Sep 2004, 08:25

Re: Upgrading Upgrades

Post by SpikedHelmet »

Proposal:

For Dropships, begin by removing Assault mechs from the current default Dropship. Have one upgrade to a 'Fortress', a larger Dropship with more weapons that unlocks Assault Mechs, but increases Dropship delay (or remains the same). Have the other upgrade to an Leopard Avenger, an Aerodyne type with shorter delay.

Combine Garrison and Uplink into one Upgrade that then splits between defensive and offensive abilities. I don't know what to call it or how it should start as. One upgrade path will be the Bunker->Big Gun On Top (Long Tom?)->Turret Command Link, the other Orbital Bombardment Targeter->Aerofighter Control->Nuke?

Vehicle Pad as discussed with a difference: It begins as a small LZ for militia/planetary defense units who will come in on something equivalent to a C5 Galaxy, maybe something like this: http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Caravan_Heavy_Transport - an atmosphere-only transport bringing local units in from elsewhere on the planet. Upgrade path branches from there into either Heavy Militia, which simply unlocks vehicles up to 100 tons, or House Forces units, which come in on Mark VII Landing Craft with a longer delay. House Forces can then be further upgraded to Heavy which unlocks up to 100 tons.

Get rid of C3.
SpikedHelmet
MC: Legacy & Spring 1944 Developer
Posts: 1948
Joined: 21 Sep 2004, 08:25

Re: Upgrading Upgrades

Post by SpikedHelmet »

Dropship:

Default is the Leopard, which can carry only Light and Medium Mechs (150 tons?) and has a short arrival delay (10 seconds?), 4 exit doors for quick deployment, but is weakly armed and armoured.

Level 1 Upgrade is the Union, much more heavily armed and armoured and able to carry up to Heavies (250 tons?) but with a delay of 20-30 seconds.

Level 2 Upgrade is the Overlord, the pinnacle of assault dropships armed and armoured to the teeth, which can carry all Mechs (500 tons?) with a delay of 30+ seconds.

10-20-30?

C3 Network Array:

Level 1 (it being built) unlocks a second Lance for control.

Level 2 allows automated defensive turrets to be dropped anywhere but is susceptible to enemy ECM (aka an enemy ECM getting close to it disables it?)

Level 3 allows control over Vehicle forces but removes second Lance control?


Orbital Uplink Relay:

Level 1 unlocks orbital bombardment.

Level 2 unlocks Aerofighter sorties.

Level 3 unlocks NUKULAR BAMBS

Vehicle Landing Pad

Level 1 unlocks Militia/Planetary Defense AI units being deployed to the battlefield.

Level 2A unlocks elite House ground forces that come in more slowly.

Level 2B unlocks superheavy militia vehicles (Schrek, Demolisher, Behemoth) that come in at the same rate.

Level 3A unlocks superheavy House ground forces (that arrive slowly).

Mobile Mechbay

Level 1 unlocks a Repair Bay that will repair and rearm (LITERALLY) Mechs.

Level 2 adds a respawning Logistics vehicle that roams around salvaging wrecks and repairing friendlies.

Level 3 replaces salvage vehicle with VTOL, which is quicker but weaker?

Garrison

Level 1 adds a prefab Bunker with minimal armament (a few SBLs?) but heavy armor.

Level 2A adds a heavy weapon platform on top of the bunker that can be separately destroyed and must be repurchased if lost.

Level 2B instead adds a Battle Armor squad that can be toggled to exit the Garrison and attack nearby enemies. Inside they will slowly regain losses, but if all are killed the upgrade must be repurchased.

Level 3B instead adds a Drone Control Unit that sends out replenishing Scout Drones around the map (up to 5?), small fast drones to give map info. (Possible downside, enemy ECM can disable DCU causing all drones to crash).
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