Developer Diaries #5: Reputation

[scJazz]

At the risk of being a party pooper (and I'm pressed for time at the moment so couldn't check to see if it's already been answered)

1. Why would any House formally ally with a 2-bit merc unit? While they're chucking Regiments around and generally shifting their weight in tectonic scales... we never put more than a lance on the field. We seem like awfully small fish, more of a Spec-Ops unit at best rather than someone they'd want to be hanging posters of on their walls. (consider this an oblique plug for putting more controllable units on the field )

2. Maybe some kind of curve for rep gain? Basically, if no one knows me and no one really likes me... they all kinda shrug if we take missions against them. Sure, our employer likes us but it's not something everyone takes note of. Later on though, when we've got the House Marik cheerleader squad sending us love notes, THEN their enemies take note of when we show up to blow up their shiny stuff and as such, start to shake their fist at us.

And I've managed to lose my train of thought for the 3rd idea/question. Getting older sucks!

At the risk of violating my own IRL about Battletech rule...
The Factions are not aligning with us... we are aligning with them. While this may seem a minor point it is supported in lore.
We are small fish. No doubt. We are also operating in the Periphery where even 1 lance of moderately unsuck Mechs will make a difference. With FLASHPOINT/CAREER mode our 1 Lance deployment per fight becomes more interesting.
Ahhhhh... Spec-Ops... frankly this is what we Mercs are here to do. Timely, precise, no politics, deniable... Darius even mentions as much a few times.
Only around 1 in every 20 members of most militaries will ever actually fire a weapon at an enemy. (Yeah take a moment to wrap your head around that)
Of the above group only about 1 in 5 will actually hit anything.
If however you are a member of the "spec-ops" groups... the above odds sky rocket! Instead of just the above 1% roughly speaking 2% will have actually been fired upon and actually fired back causing a hit.
( I know maths has occured )
Actual Trigger Pullers are rare... unless you are Artillery (teasing @Prussian Havoc )

 

[HBS_HighCommand]

Am I the only one sad and a bit angry that we will be able to unlock only one of those major flashpoints per walkthorugh, how many major facction there are in the game? 5? Will I have to play 5 differents runs for seeing all of those? Can we break alliance with a major faction after doing the flashpoint and then rise the rep with another one aiming to ally it? Overall great dev diary and excited to be a part of the politic conflict.

You can be allied with more than one faction, assuming the factions you ally with are not enemies of one another.

 

[HBS_HighCommand]

I can't wait to see this system implemented... it's going to be a whole new game when flashpoint drops.

I do have two questions:

• Are the reputation drops linear, or does the system take your current reputation into account? It would make sense if your reputation tanked if you had good relations with a faction and took a contract with their enemies, but would see almost no reputation loss if you only had neutral reputation (assuming you were attacking another target). If the drops were linear I could see newer players burn their reputation with 1-2 factions without even knowing it.
• I know there are events in the base game that were designed to trigger when your rep dropped too low for the different factions (no idea if they were active, you really have to work at tanking a faction rep right now). Is flashpoint going to be a system in place so you can make reparations?

Keep up the good work guys!

We've changed the interface for reputation so you'll see the gains and losses as you negotiate each contract.

I don't know what you mean by reparations so I can't answer that one.

 

[HBS_HighCommand]

I guess the sad thing about the new mechanic is that they only implemented the one faction specific flashpoint.

As a consolation though, I guess do get to play through all the various backgrounds as successive merc commanders recognise the superiority of the Free Worlds League and inevitably join us on the right side of history.

That doesn't mean we can't add more faction specific flashpoints in the future, bud!
They take time to make...

 

[HBS_HighCommand]

will my rep with a particular House affect the loyalty of any mechwarriors i hire? say i hire a native Capellan mechwarrior, and i regularly take on missions with the Fed Suns against Liao...will my hired Capellan mechwarrior mutiny and leave my merc company?

No.

 

[Marc_Hicks]

You can be allied with more than one faction, assuming the factions you ally with are not enemies of one another.

Hiya,

Whilst you are here, can you confirm or deny whether MechWarrior Backgrounds will play a bigger role in Career Mode/Flashpoints-especially in relation to Factional Reputation?

 

[Marc_Hicks]

No.

Oh dear, that's a shame. Would HBS consider adding this mechanic in future patches/DLC? Even if only as an optional difficulty setting, I reckon it'd be cool .

 

[HBS_HighCommand]

Shame - seems like a missed opportunity. Especially if the effect on rep varies based on the other creation choices you made (e.g. ran off with the family heirloom = lower/negative faction rep)

Respectfully, every idea every player has can be considered a missed-opportunity. We have a limited amount of time and people and need to prioritize our decisions every day.
Luckily, in success of live-game development, all things are eventually possible.

 

[HBS_HighCommand]

Hiya,

Whilst you are here, can you confirm or deny whether MechWarrior Backgrounds will play a bigger role in Career Mode/Flashpoints-especially in relation to Factional Reputation?

Yes, I can confirm that they won't for now.

 

[ThatGuyMontag]

That doesn't mean we can't add more faction specific flashpoints in the future, bud!
They take time to make...

Well yes, but all of that is going to suffer from the problem that somehow the only faction specific content you ever come out with is House Marik content. It's a "tragedy" I say.

#UnitedWeStand #AlwaysFlyYourColours #TrueInheritorsOfTheStarLeague

 

[Prussian Havoc]

...Actual Trigger Pullers are rare... unless you are Artillery (teasing @Prussian Havoc )

 

[scJazz]

View attachment 413454

Not sure I like the Red and Yellow USMC coloring but...

Scaring the heck out of friend and foe alike for the last 500yrs... (or 1500 in 3025)

Colonel: Give me a bodycount for that fine artillery strike!
Sgt: 12,393,593,444!
Colonel: Excellen.... er... Sergeant that is twice the total population of this planet!
Sgt: Sir! That is how many pieces we found!

 

[Prussian Havoc]

No.

...ah, feeling nostalgic for the HBS Legacy forum's "Ask the Dev's" section all of a sudden...

"No."

"In Success"

"Focus equals Quality."

All the original hits. : )

 

[Martello]

Only around 1 in every 20 members of most militaries will ever actually fire a weapon at an enemy. (Yeah take a moment to wrap your head around that)
Of the above group only about 1 in 5 will actually hit anything.
If however you are a member of the "spec-ops" groups... the above odds sky rocket! Instead of just the above 1% roughly speaking 2% will have actually been fired upon and actually fired back causing a hit.
( I know maths has occured )
Actual Trigger Pullers are rare... unless you are Artillery (teasing @Prussian Havoc )

When you change the sample group to just combat arms, the percentage goes way up. I don't actually know the percentage of combat arms soldiers who have fired a shot in combat, but during an active war I'm going to assume it's much more than 1 out of 20.

 

[D-Day]

View attachment 413454

"Hi, what's your name?"

"MY NAME'S BOB RIVER..."

"and what do you do?

"I'M IN ARTILLERY"

"Can we play something for you today?"

"ANYTHING, JUST PLAY IT LOUD, OK?!"

 

[stjobe]

"Hi, what's your name?"

"MY NAME'S BOB RIVER..."

"and what do you do?

"I'M IN ARTILLERY"

"Can we play something for you today?"

"ANYTHING, JUST PLAY IT LOUD, OK?!"

I once fired a 120mm mortar without ear protection (other than the comm headset).

People that have only seen mortars in movies think they go "thump!" when they fire; they don't. They go "BOOM!" loud enough that you feel it through your whole body, your clothes flap from the pressure wave, and the ground actually shakes.

So yeah, I resemble that remark

 

[Martello]

I once fired a 120mm mortar without ear protection (other than the comm headset).

Yeah you prolly shunta done that....



Ever fired a 155mm howitzer? Even more fun! Not enough to convince me to go artillery instead of infantry though.

 

[Prussian Havoc]

Artillery and Infantry... the stuff of BATTLETECH Dreams.

 

[stjobe]

Yeah you prolly shunta done that....

Probably not It was a total SNAFU; we'd been stood down at the last minute, mortars aimed and loaded, then hurrying up waiting for so long that when the fire order finally came (without any warning, just "second platoon, fire!") it was more or less a total surprise. Got a bit of a hearing issue out of it - not enough to bother me in day-to-day life, but enough that it shows up on testing.

Ever fired a 155mm howitzer? Even more fun! Not enough to convince me to go artillery instead of infantry though.

Never fired one myself, but I've seen (and heard, and felt) them fired often enough. At the firing range, the range officer often put us more-or-less under the trajectory of the 155s only much closer to the target, and had us fire at the same target. I've spent lots of time on my back next to my mortar watching 155 shells whistle by overhead

 

[scJazz]

"Hi, what's your name?"

"MY NAME'S BOB RIVER..."

"and what do you do?

"I'M IN ARTILLERY"

"Can we play something for you today?"

"ANYTHING, JUST PLAY IT LOUD, OK?!"

I once fired a 120mm mortar without ear protection (other than the comm headset).

People that have only seen mortars in movies think they go "thump!" when they fire; they don't. They go "BOOM!" loud enough that you feel it through your whole body, your clothes flap from the pressure wave, and the ground actually shakes.

So yeah, I resemble that remark

Yeah you prolly shunta done that....



Ever fired a 155mm howitzer? Even more fun! Not enough to convince me to go artillery instead of infantry though.

Artillery and Infantry... the stuff of BATTLETECH Dreams.

Probably not It was a total SNAFU; we'd been stood down at the last minute, mortars aimed and loaded, then hurrying up waiting for so long that when the fire order finally came (without any warning, just "second platoon, fire!") it was more or less a total surprise. Got a bit of a hearing issue out of it - not enough to bother me in day-to-day life, but enough that it shows up on testing.


Never fired one myself, but I've seen (and heard, and felt) them fired often enough. At the firing range, the range officer often put us more-or-less under the trajectory of the 155s only much closer to the target, and had us fire at the same target. I've spent lots of time on my back next to my mortar watching 155 shells whistle by overhead

You know if we ever do get Infantry and Artillery... I think now is the time to request voice comments like...
Huh? Oh Yeah! Shooting It.
What? What? FIRING!
Whuddidusay?
Say it again?
*BANG* Whut? *BANG* Kinda busy... WHUT?!? *BANG*
etc