I know plenty of people are posting how they don't want to see the clans soon/ever but I can't help but think how perfect the game is setup to work for the invading clans once the timeline has gotten there.
Even in our current iteration during 3025 you're already in superior 'Mechs (thanks to better pilots, improved weapons, and not being stuck with stock designs) fighting waves of inferior enemies. It just makes a bit more sense when it's the clans fighting the IS in the initial invasion, rather than some rag-tag mercs that have the best equipment in the galaxy.
I'm imagining a choice to pick one of the four invading clans when you create your character and then bid on battles on various planets in your invasion path. Bidding gives a reasonable and in-universe reason to have drop weights for your Star and gives incentive to use lighter (or fewer) 'Mechs from time to time as you'd gain more honor for using 'less' to achieve your victory.
Replace cbills with some sort of honor system that means the more successful you are the more support you get from your clan for replacements and repairs. Start failing (or over bidding for fights) and expect to see fewer or worse replacement options and start losing tech points, etc. as resources are used on your more successful peers.
There's opportunities for trials of position as you make a name for yourself (possibly culminating in a bloodname trial), and even small scale trials of possession against other clans so you're not always against the IS. It's also been a very long time since we saw a game set on the Clan side of things. It's also hard to reasonably play the IS during the invasion without turning canon on its head by actually throwing back the Clans at every turn (and you'd end up with clan salvage pretty quickly so you'd end up IS in name only).
I want to see lots of things between 3025 and 3050 but the potential is really there to use a similar formula and make an amazing game different from what we've seen in the games before. We haven't even fought as the Clans since MW2 and Ghost Bears Legacy more than 20 years ago and those were very linear campaigns.
Even in our current iteration during 3025 you're already in superior 'Mechs (thanks to better pilots, improved weapons, and not being stuck with stock designs) fighting waves of inferior enemies. It just makes a bit more sense when it's the clans fighting the IS in the initial invasion, rather than some rag-tag mercs that have the best equipment in the galaxy.
I'm imagining a choice to pick one of the four invading clans when you create your character and then bid on battles on various planets in your invasion path. Bidding gives a reasonable and in-universe reason to have drop weights for your Star and gives incentive to use lighter (or fewer) 'Mechs from time to time as you'd gain more honor for using 'less' to achieve your victory.
Replace cbills with some sort of honor system that means the more successful you are the more support you get from your clan for replacements and repairs. Start failing (or over bidding for fights) and expect to see fewer or worse replacement options and start losing tech points, etc. as resources are used on your more successful peers.
There's opportunities for trials of position as you make a name for yourself (possibly culminating in a bloodname trial), and even small scale trials of possession against other clans so you're not always against the IS. It's also been a very long time since we saw a game set on the Clan side of things. It's also hard to reasonably play the IS during the invasion without turning canon on its head by actually throwing back the Clans at every turn (and you'd end up with clan salvage pretty quickly so you'd end up IS in name only).
I want to see lots of things between 3025 and 3050 but the potential is really there to use a similar formula and make an amazing game different from what we've seen in the games before. We haven't even fought as the Clans since MW2 and Ghost Bears Legacy more than 20 years ago and those were very linear campaigns.