First of all, I would like to thanks HBS, the backer funders and Paradox for making this game happen. Until very recently, I was completely unaware of all this vast collection of games related to this universe, be it tabletop, pen and paper or video-games. Not to mention the plethora of novels written. To a RPG/sci-fi fan like myself, it was a very pleasant surprise.
I have just finished my first campaign playthrough and I would like to share my experience so far, pointing what I believe could be improved.
Issue: Background has no impact.
Feeling: During char creating, I carefully read the factions and options presented, even doing a little side research on the Great Houses, its canonical story. During gameplay i tried to emulate my answers as a “samurai” of the Draconis Combine would behave. Besides a few different dialogue options, you don’t “see” the background having any meaning or adding any flavor to the gameplay. Its just about initial stats, and even this is negated when everybody is hard capped at 10/10/10/10.
Suggestions:
1) Add traits on top of skills granted. Each trait unique to each background. Be it a 5% discount on shops, or an innate +5% accuracy or evasion, a +1 wound resistance, faster healing time, anything that adds a little uniqueness to the choice you make.
2) Add Personal Missions. Not everything is about Money, even for a mercenary company. Add one, a couple or even a small chain of missions related to the choice made. Ex: You discover that the accident that killed your parents was a sabotage, and you do a “destroy base” followed by a “Assassinate” mission to avenge them. Or as a former gladiator, you might have scores to settle, so a “Battle” mission against a rival lance or a “Recover” mission because someone you care about from those days is being held hostage to harm you. These missions have no contract. You have to pay for the travel expenses, gain no money, but receive all salvage. Add a few cutscenes to flavor things and you just added a little more depth to the characters and replayability options building upon existing game mechanics.
3) Companion missions: You might do something for Darius or Dr. Murad. Maybe a random MechWarrior needs your help. You do the mission and you get a “High Spirits” boost with that person for 90 days or an overall morale boost
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Issue: Time is of no concern, besides monthly expenses. No sense of urgency.
Feeling: This is an universal issue with most games. War is all around you, billions of lives are at risk, the enemy is closing in and you must act to protect them... on your own time, on your own terms. Nothing is urgent, the enemy will always wait for you. Perhaps this is more evident in games such as Battletech then it is on Mass Effect because in BT time passing/time management is part of the design. This is immersion breaking... Yeah, Smithon is under attack but i can arrive 3 days or 3 years later to defend it and it has no difference.
Suggestions:
1) Add “Urgent” priority missions. You might have the time to plan the liberation of Panzyr, do it on your terms, but repelling an enemy invasion is not that simple. “Urgent” missions you have to accept right away. No waiting for your A team to be healed or favorite mech be repaired besides the travel time to the mission.
2) Add “Important” missions. These work as regular contracts, but are time constrained (EX: must be completed before 30 days). You gain a greater Reputation bonus for doing those, but also take reputation hits if you dont do them. Maybe you get diminishing rewards for delaying to take the missions (less salvage/payment) the longer you wait.
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Issue: Reputation bonus is also of little consequence
Feeling: I saw no reason to ever take rep bonus over salvage/money. 10% discount in stores is nothing if compared to what you earn more by sliding the money bar another tick to the right. I played the whole campaign without giving a second thought about my MRB rating.
Suggestion:
1) Add special “reputation perks” to contract negotiations. Maybe you get chose to get an extra priority salvage or 3 random salvage on top of what was negotiated. Or a permanent X% increase in payment to all missions because you are that good. Or even “MRB Elite missions” a special kind of mission that only those with high rep can take. Perhaps turn it into some sort of “currency” that you spend to unlock these benefits or spend on “please reroll the random salvage for this mission”. Or perhaps some wares in stores can only be purchased if you have a high enough reputation with the faction/MRB.
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Issue: Mechbay/warrior size
Feeling: I finished the campaign hiring only 2 extra mechwarriors and no, I didn’t pass time waiting for injuries to be healed. I hired a third mechwarrior because I was under the assumption that for the final mission I would actually deploy 2 full lances. Also at no point in the game I had more then 9 active mechs, mostly because I had a “backup” mech with similar build to the ones in use. There is no reason to have more. I upgraded for the Tech/med points not because I needed the space (and got a 50k monthly expense increase for the useless 3rd bay)
Suggestions:
1) Multiple lance deployment missions. While I have no objection on deploying more then 4 mechs in the same mission even if combat takes the whole day to resolve, a simpler solution would be to have “simultaneous” (as in deploy at the same time) missions that are resolved individually. Lance A of 4 mechs do a “destroy base” mission to disable comms while Lance B will be deployed immediately after to perform a “Recovery” mission elsewhere on the planet without reinforcements arriving (if comms were successfully disabled). Basically, the same thing that happens in Artru, but with your own mechs. Once mission A is finished, you are taken straight to mission deployment to choose Lance B (Lance A mechs and pilots are “locked”). No repair/travel interval.
2) Prolonged missions. Missions like “Defend Base” or a new “Patrol” mission (basically the same as “Battle”, but you are the one on the planet being engaged on) could require you to leave your mechs there for, say, 30 days. With urgent missions, important missions (above) also on the plate, most of the time just waiting those 30 days wont be an option. Other variant of these prolonged missions would be a mission that happens during a few days span. You drop your mechs, do the mission and next game day you need to deploy again. While simple repairs can be done, anything that takes longer then 1 day might not be ready, thus requiring more mechs pilots to be battle ready.
I have just finished my first campaign playthrough and I would like to share my experience so far, pointing what I believe could be improved.
Issue: Background has no impact.
Feeling: During char creating, I carefully read the factions and options presented, even doing a little side research on the Great Houses, its canonical story. During gameplay i tried to emulate my answers as a “samurai” of the Draconis Combine would behave. Besides a few different dialogue options, you don’t “see” the background having any meaning or adding any flavor to the gameplay. Its just about initial stats, and even this is negated when everybody is hard capped at 10/10/10/10.
Suggestions:
1) Add traits on top of skills granted. Each trait unique to each background. Be it a 5% discount on shops, or an innate +5% accuracy or evasion, a +1 wound resistance, faster healing time, anything that adds a little uniqueness to the choice you make.
2) Add Personal Missions. Not everything is about Money, even for a mercenary company. Add one, a couple or even a small chain of missions related to the choice made. Ex: You discover that the accident that killed your parents was a sabotage, and you do a “destroy base” followed by a “Assassinate” mission to avenge them. Or as a former gladiator, you might have scores to settle, so a “Battle” mission against a rival lance or a “Recover” mission because someone you care about from those days is being held hostage to harm you. These missions have no contract. You have to pay for the travel expenses, gain no money, but receive all salvage. Add a few cutscenes to flavor things and you just added a little more depth to the characters and replayability options building upon existing game mechanics.
3) Companion missions: You might do something for Darius or Dr. Murad. Maybe a random MechWarrior needs your help. You do the mission and you get a “High Spirits” boost with that person for 90 days or an overall morale boost
---------
Issue: Time is of no concern, besides monthly expenses. No sense of urgency.
Feeling: This is an universal issue with most games. War is all around you, billions of lives are at risk, the enemy is closing in and you must act to protect them... on your own time, on your own terms. Nothing is urgent, the enemy will always wait for you. Perhaps this is more evident in games such as Battletech then it is on Mass Effect because in BT time passing/time management is part of the design. This is immersion breaking... Yeah, Smithon is under attack but i can arrive 3 days or 3 years later to defend it and it has no difference.
Suggestions:
1) Add “Urgent” priority missions. You might have the time to plan the liberation of Panzyr, do it on your terms, but repelling an enemy invasion is not that simple. “Urgent” missions you have to accept right away. No waiting for your A team to be healed or favorite mech be repaired besides the travel time to the mission.
2) Add “Important” missions. These work as regular contracts, but are time constrained (EX: must be completed before 30 days). You gain a greater Reputation bonus for doing those, but also take reputation hits if you dont do them. Maybe you get diminishing rewards for delaying to take the missions (less salvage/payment) the longer you wait.
-----------
Issue: Reputation bonus is also of little consequence
Feeling: I saw no reason to ever take rep bonus over salvage/money. 10% discount in stores is nothing if compared to what you earn more by sliding the money bar another tick to the right. I played the whole campaign without giving a second thought about my MRB rating.
Suggestion:
1) Add special “reputation perks” to contract negotiations. Maybe you get chose to get an extra priority salvage or 3 random salvage on top of what was negotiated. Or a permanent X% increase in payment to all missions because you are that good. Or even “MRB Elite missions” a special kind of mission that only those with high rep can take. Perhaps turn it into some sort of “currency” that you spend to unlock these benefits or spend on “please reroll the random salvage for this mission”. Or perhaps some wares in stores can only be purchased if you have a high enough reputation with the faction/MRB.
----------
Issue: Mechbay/warrior size
Feeling: I finished the campaign hiring only 2 extra mechwarriors and no, I didn’t pass time waiting for injuries to be healed. I hired a third mechwarrior because I was under the assumption that for the final mission I would actually deploy 2 full lances. Also at no point in the game I had more then 9 active mechs, mostly because I had a “backup” mech with similar build to the ones in use. There is no reason to have more. I upgraded for the Tech/med points not because I needed the space (and got a 50k monthly expense increase for the useless 3rd bay)
Suggestions:
1) Multiple lance deployment missions. While I have no objection on deploying more then 4 mechs in the same mission even if combat takes the whole day to resolve, a simpler solution would be to have “simultaneous” (as in deploy at the same time) missions that are resolved individually. Lance A of 4 mechs do a “destroy base” mission to disable comms while Lance B will be deployed immediately after to perform a “Recovery” mission elsewhere on the planet without reinforcements arriving (if comms were successfully disabled). Basically, the same thing that happens in Artru, but with your own mechs. Once mission A is finished, you are taken straight to mission deployment to choose Lance B (Lance A mechs and pilots are “locked”). No repair/travel interval.
2) Prolonged missions. Missions like “Defend Base” or a new “Patrol” mission (basically the same as “Battle”, but you are the one on the planet being engaged on) could require you to leave your mechs there for, say, 30 days. With urgent missions, important missions (above) also on the plate, most of the time just waiting those 30 days wont be an option. Other variant of these prolonged missions would be a mission that happens during a few days span. You drop your mechs, do the mission and next game day you need to deploy again. While simple repairs can be done, anything that takes longer then 1 day might not be ready, thus requiring more mechs pilots to be battle ready.
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