Unless you bring all bulwark pilots yourself you've already lost. If you bring all bulwark yourself you and your opponent can just stare at each other doing half damage. Yay. A person who knows how to use bulwark will win every single time. It's a broken ability and it's ruining the game.
Bulwark [in MP]
- Thread starter Pewpew!
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Melee, breaching shot or back shots break it. I tend to take 2 pilots with bulwark at most, sometimes only one. I don't have a problem with it.
Bulwark never ruined my day and yes, I've broken Lances of 4-Bulwarkers used by my opponents in Multi-player. Key for me II's just like Sensor Lockers, you've got to plan for it and have a pair of those abilities in your Lance Composition. Then my Indirect Fire Speciallist Apex and Turn Order Setting Arclight in a Firestarter can play Holy HELL with a Lance of Bulwarkers.
But Sumo in a Locust...
...now THAT will set you back some.
But Sumo in a Locust...
...now THAT will set you back some.
But the larger issue that Bulwark can be refined (not just outright nerfed) to me has merit. And the discussion of just how that might best be accomplished is one I would very much like to see continued.
A solid start. :bow:
I'd like to see that for the first turn Bulwark is assumed, but let's say the Bulwarking MechWarrior is in the open (thus no Cover) then each succeeding Turn, damage reduction would increase by 12.5. In this fashion after three Turns, Bulwark (in the open) would be up to 50%.
I like this because, you get an indicator that the Enemy is "getting ready to dig in like an Alabama Tic!" And if you take action early, you can hit that Bulwarking MechWarrior while he only has 25% or 37.5% damage reduction, but wait too long and you have to deal with the whole 50%.
Like I said above, I do t want to see a simple nerf. But a refinement that offers gradations of benefit and windows of vulnerability, to me deepens the tactical play and offers the players more nuanced and rewarding choices.
Interesting input. I was thinking about counters last night and I was successful with back shots in that game but not enough. I was fighting a very good player after all. Arano was the name on discord.
Yeah, Arano Sunfire was the first ever gamer to claim a victory against Chris Eck IIRC. A very good player indeed. :bow:
You know... one area that HBS has chosen to not yet explore in any real depth is Maluses. Perhaps for Hope exceedingly strong Bulwark is, it should have an incremental Malus of some manner, rather than a straight up nerf. Hmm... from my time in the military a unit making full use of its maximum movement rate has a great swath of area it collects Line of Sight and Sensor Data from, while a Unit that has Dug In/Bulwarked cannot collect near as much information, perhaps Sensor and Line of Sight Range for Bulwarked Units could be lessened 20%.
This was just the first blush of a Malus suggestion, I am sure there are better ones out there. But such a Bulwark Bonus/Malus combination would present interesting choices and decisions to players as they need to weight, balance, compliment and plan of intersections of Benefit and Detriment.
But again, HBS at Launch did not appear to favor Malus's much at all. At one time there had been comment from HBS that Weapon Differentiation might hinge on trade-offs. An example being, a PPC that has extended range might loose Accuracy, so while it gains on the one hand, it loses something along the way.
While I would very much like to see HBS explore corresponding Maluses, I would be surprised if they do. :bow:
More pilot options would help. I’d like more pilots with breaching shot.
I think the pilots are well balanced as far as skill points but some pilots have no equal. Sumo, Archlight, and Apex are one of a kind.
I’d also like to see cost of pilots play into MP. Add some lower skill pilots and add prices. Sure you can have apex but she’ll cost you three times as much as a pilot with no skills.
Also there should be another way to counter a bulwark pilot. Volume of fire. After a set amount of damage the ability is lost for the turn. It should also come off quickly for light mechs. Stay on longer for assault mechs.
I think the pilots are well balanced as far as skill points but some pilots have no equal. Sumo, Archlight, and Apex are one of a kind.
I’d also like to see cost of pilots play into MP. Add some lower skill pilots and add prices. Sure you can have apex but she’ll cost you three times as much as a pilot with no skills.
Also there should be another way to counter a bulwark pilot. Volume of fire. After a set amount of damage the ability is lost for the turn. It should also come off quickly for light mechs. Stay on longer for assault mechs.
I want 4 pilots without skills - just plain 5 - 5 - 5 - 5 or 6 - 6 - 6 - 6 but no skills... come give daddy tourney organizer some sugar here... 
You think we could get somebody to make up a pilot mod for mp? Then we could try combining pilot mod and unseen mod and having a unseen turny
It's sad that you have to outsmart any pilot ability - not just bulwark. Rather than to use classic strategical and tactical advantages like terrain and weather conditions people struggle fighting against "super powers". I don't dam anyone who's enjoying this kind of gameplay, mind you. However, on top of "neutral pilots" and a "fury" toggle option, if there would be a reduction in "ability power", for instance bulwark gives only 10/25% of damage reduction, it'd be a bit better I guess.
Weather Impacts, both to Mech Operations (fog affecting LoS though not Sensor Range, etc) and Terrain (mud slightly affecting Mech mobility, etc) would be a very interesting addition to the game. : )
I was kind of hoping or even expecting those or similar things to be included ... I remember even very early on, a couple of years back, we were discussing this topic in detail. I hope we'll see some "real" effects eventually. Haha, extreme but fun - imagine the weather condition would change mid-game.