Frenotx, on November 05 2012 - 07:06 AM, said:
Chassis shop: Chassis and abilities are tied together, not too
dissimilar from how things were in CB1. There is at least one chassis
available for each ability. For some abilities, like coolant, there
might be an "A" version, a "B" version, etc. For other abilities, like
stealth, there might only be an "A" version.
Agreed, but I still say abilities should be diversified and made more interesting first
Frenotx, on November 05 2012 - 07:06 AM, said:
Upon purchasing a chassis, you can then purchase weapons* for it.
Weapon availability will be decided by the weight class, not the
individual chassis. Some weapons may not be available to every class.
The Vulcan cannon for instance, might only be valid on B and C class
mechs. Maybe the hellfire missiles will only be valid on C class
mechs. The details on this are up for discussion, but the point is
that each CLASS will have a pool of valid weapons, some of which may
be shared with other classes, and some of which might be exclusive to
that class. This allows the developers to balance weapon strength
relative to mobility, and also further defines the differences between
the classes.
I'm okay with this and it does prevent most game breaking combinations, probably. I think most of us would agree that certain combinations on an infiltrator would be kind of ridiculous, yes_
Frenotx, on November 05 2012 - 07:06 AM, said:
One important detail: All valid weapons for the chassis in question
are available for purchase IMMEDIATELY, with absolutely not
correlation to levels. Tying weapon availability to levels is lame, as
it potentially forces people to grind with weapons they don't like,
just so they can get access to the weapons want to use / actually have
fun with.
1000% agree.
Frenotx, on November 05 2012 - 07:06 AM, said:
Once a weapon is purchased, it will be available for installation
on that mech. To install, just click on the slot that you want to put
the weapon in (bringing up a list of choices for that slot), then
click on the weapon you want to place there. Adding / changing weapons
costs some amount of Hawken points. For the sake of discussion, let's
say 300 per primary, and 600 per secondary. Switching weapons that are
already installed (swapping the primary / alt primary positions) is
free. Installing weapons into a blank slot (i.e. the first weapon to
ever be installed there) can be free, too. The exact values are not
terribly important. The point is to add a bit of a currency sink, and
encourage people to buy more chassis.
I still don't really like the idea of currency sinks in most games. Especially with the rate we earn currency right now (subject to change), that seems a tad bit high. And, if I own one chassis I really don't want to buy that chassis again if I want a slightly different loadout depending on the game mode/map. I understand a cost for trading items between mechs, but I don't really see the point of having to pay for swapping weapons on the same one.
Frenotx, on November 05 2012 - 07:06 AM, said:
On the topic of trial mechs: Trial mechs will be outfitted with a
secondary, two primaries, and a default item. They will grant
experience for their chassis, and award hawken points just as if you
were driving your own machine. In other words, trial mechs will
essentially be the same as they were in CB1.
sounds good
Frenotx, on November 05 2012 - 07:06 AM, said:
On the "people will all build whatever is decided to be the optimal
mech" subject- Given a lack of perfect balance / equality (which is
impossible to realistically achieve without sacrificing all variety),
there will exist an "optimal" configuration in any system. Even if you
remove all customization and only have pre-built mechs, people will
decide that mech X is "the best". Limiting customization freedom does
nothing to get rid of this "flavor of the month" problem. In fact,
giving people less choices only makes the effect more noticeable.
If mech weights determine what we can equip, that should help immensely. With enough weapons, chassis, and options available it should be much less noticeable. I know I mention BL:R a lot on here, but I think it does a really good job with its system in this regard. The sheer availability of options makes finding optimal builds kind of hard. They exist for certain weapons, especially the sniper rifles, but it's pretty hard to detect otherwise.
Chicks dig giant robots.