The game needs minor factions

[Stadhouder]

In the game all the standard mission are for great houses, or the the apparently galaxy wide Local Pirate Organization. What I like about this is that when I want to gain favor with one faction but not ruin my standing with their enemies I have to carefully balance the mission I take. What I don't like about this is that I end up doing a lot of mission against the local Planetary Government, and very few for them, since it the diplomatic cost of hostile relations usually isn't worth the few quids they're offering in the long term.

The could be helped if the game had more neutral minor factions, like the miners guild and the mega corporation in the first mission after the tutorial in the campaign. It also slightly breaks my immersion that all bandits are unified in the Local Pirate Organization. I understand the gamedesign reasons, to make getting access to the black markets having pro's and cons, but I just don't buy that all bandits groups are friends with each other.

It would help my immersion a great deal if I could take more mission from neutral factions like independent minor outpost, actually local bandit groups, corporations etcetera. I'm not familiar in detail with the whole BattleTech lore, but aren't mega corporations supposed to be big deal? I certainly get sense from the skill descriptions. It would be nice if they were factions in the game with their own agenda's. Doing missions for or against them would influence your relation with faction they are headquartered in, but not by as much as doing missions directly involving those factions. And maybe they sometimes offer you even missions against their own state, the BT universe seems dark enough for shit like that too happen...

I think it just would be great to play as champion for the little guy.

 

[Hoi Neuling]

Yep, that I have noticed too. We will see what we get in the next big package (DLC / Patch) for BT this year. But I hope we get more of that companys and such you explained.

 

[Mabberton]

I agree that minor factions would be an interesting way to diversify the contract lists and have more options for OpFors and reputation.

As far as lore goes, official state actors (not necessarily the central authority, but often regional power players such as Dukes) probably drive much of the intrigue that would lead to missions in BATTLETECH. Companies or other non-Governmental entities often support or even instigate the intrigue though, but they seem less likely to initiate offensive action on their own. Companies would certainly hire mercenaries on protection-type missions, though (e.g. Escort Convoy or Defend Base missions).

One last comment regarding pirate reputation, rather than there being some large, organized Pirate Organization controlling access to the Black Market. I see your pirate rep as being more of a "word-on-the-street" type of reputation. As you take pirate contracts, the word is getting out that your merc company is pirate friendly and can be dealt with safely (i.e. Black Market). If you take a lot of contracts versus the pirates, you get a reputation as a pirate hunter, and understandably, all pirates are leery about working with you.

 

[MeiSooHaityu]

I think the game needs more minor factions as well, however I don't think these factions need a reputation system in place. Basically, the way Flashpoints introduce minor factions, and the way they deal with them currently, is probably the best way to do it. I think the Reputation Page is crowded just covering the necessary large factions, adding more is just going to come across as overwhelming.

I would just like more Flashpoints with contracts offered by for other mercenaries, private clients, Bandit Kingdoms, corporations, or individual Planetary Governments. I think that will come with time and more DLC content, so I will just have to wait to see what new flashpoints come down the line. Right now we have some interesting clients, so adding more of those will add flavor to the overall experience.

I was going to comment on the Pirate Organization and Reputation, however I think @Mabberton pretty much said what I was thinking. Essentially it is more about your disposition to pirates in general and less about favor with any one individual pirate faction.

 

[Hypnotist]

Adding a plethora of minor factions would have the effect of raising or lowering rep with major factions even more difficult and tedious, much in the same way as adding lots of new mech chassis makes playing pokemech for career points or achievements more difficult and tedious by flooding the pool with mechs that are irrelevant to those goals.

IIRC, right now most planets start with 7 contracts on the books that are RNG'd when you first check contracts for a system you are visiting or at the jump point, with up to 2 more travel contracts being added as you complete missions off the default list. It can already be frustratingly difficult to find contracts for major factions, especially ones that do not have large territories of their own (DC, LC & Pirates). In one game I spent close to a year hitting up every planet in FedSuns space and never saw a single Combine mission available.

If new factions are going to be added, there would need to be:

1. A LOT more contracts available per planet, and/or
   
2. Guaranteed contracts available for each faction allowed on that planet, and/or
3. Be able to see contracts that would be available at any given system BEFORE you actually travel there.

I've always found it ridiculous that we can't see what's available until we get at least to that planet's jump point. I'm not a master of BT lore, but I'm pretty sure that's not how it works in universe.

 

[theCarthaginian]

That's what the 'local government' contracts are... an abstraction of the numerous minor forces at play. It prevents tedium, simplifies coding and streamlines gameplay.

 

[Shark7]

Personally I'd like to see the entire galaxy map brought to the game, with new packs adding in the new factions along the way.

 

[$ilent_$trider]

I wouldn't mind if I could ask Oliveira to find me missions for or AGAINST certain factions, and if it was the case, spend money to find those missions quickly.
It's such a pain to get yourself hated by Steiner and Kurita as it is right now because they don't have a physical presence in the sector.

 

[Stadhouder]

That's what the 'local government' contracts are... an abstraction of the numerous minor forces at play. It prevents tedium, simplifies coding and streamlines gameplay.

Local Government is only in unclaimed space. So they're not an abstraction of numerous minor factions. They're local independent governments. If they were an abstraction of numerous minor governments there should be Local Government against Local Government contracts. Also there should be local government contracts in claimed major Faction space.

 

[Hypnotist]

Local Government is only in unclaimed space. So they're not an abstraction of numerous minor factions. They're local independent governments. If they were an abstraction of numerous minor governments there should be Local Government against Local Government contracts. Also there should be local government contracts in claimed major Faction space.

It's still an abstraction though. If you had Local Govt. vs. Local Govt. contracts, the Local Govts each become more of a regular separate-entinty faction, on the simple basis that more than one exists and they can be pitted against each other. The abstraction would thus be diminished rather than validated like you say.

The fact that the abstraction is represented only in unclaimed space and not in faction space doesn't count for much. The dev's just chose to not use the abstraction in those spaces, probably to keep the time it takes for the game to process new contracts in a system reasonable (mission gens for 2-4 major factions vs 100+ insignificant factions) and/or to keep the game focused on the large regional factions rather than a bushel basket of "who cares" factions. In universe, I don't believe any factions stick to the planetary access list in anything like the hard and fast way it is represented in the game. Pretty sure none of the big houses give a rat's *** about borders and boundaries. Especially when they are looking for deniability like they are in so many contracts.

I will agree that it would be a little easier to accept if instead of being called "Local Government" contracts, maybe call them "Local Interest" contracts or some such more general name.

 

[kriszhao]

I think the game needs more minor factions as well, however I don't think these factions need a reputation system in place. Basically, the way Flashpoints introduce minor factions, and the way they deal with them currently, is probably the best way to do it. I think the Reputation Page is crowded just covering the necessary large factions, adding more is just going to come across as overwhelming.

I would just like more Flashpoints with contracts offered by for other mercenaries, private clients, Bandit Kingdoms, corporations, or individual Planetary Governments. I think that will come with time and more DLC content, so I will just have to wait to see what new flashpoints come down the line. Right now we have some interesting clients, so adding more of those will add flavor to the overall experience.

I was going to comment on the Pirate Organization and Reputation, however I think @Mabberton pretty much said what I was thinking. Essentially it is more about your disposition to pirates in general and less about favor with any one individual pirate faction.

Agreed.

 

[MeiSooHaityu]

There is a lot of simplification going on anyway with the way the government/houses are portrayed in game. That is ok though, it just keeps things a bit simpler.

Really, there are Lords and Nobles that control land, and they often fight each other on the same planet (especially when you get out into the Periphery), there is then maybe a regional government that ruling all over all those Lords, and then the planetary government, and then possibly a House Government/Periphery Minor House.

So I suppose there could be Planetary Government vs Planetary Government contracts in theory. Just how confusing would that get in a game like this? I think there would be a lot of people thinking it was a bug. Even if they didn't, they would probably wonder why the government was fighting itself.
I think the choice to sort of gloss over all of that and treat the planet as it's own entity was probably the best choice when it comes to regular game contracts. With Flashpoints, exploring those smaller fiefdoms and their internal conflicts would be ok. At least with Flashpoints there can be some exposition to explain what is going on, where as random generated contracts wouldn't carry that sort of explanation.

 

[theCarthaginian]

Local Government is only in unclaimed space. So they're not an abstraction of numerous minor factions. They're local independent governments. If they were an abstraction of numerous minor governments there should be Local Government against Local Government contracts. Also there should be local government contracts in claimed major Faction space.

'Local Government' is only stipulated in unclaimed space because that is the only place where it is needed for gameplay purposes. Elsewhere, the Houses are handling things... or at least local governments acting on their behalf and under their aegis.
Remember, our contractor is also an abstraction! There is more than just one person handling the mercenary contracts for every House... one person couldn't handle that kind of workload. We just see the same face because animation is expensive. In reality, we'd be dealing with a never-ending stream of folks till we really made the big leagues.

 

[theCarthaginian]

I think the choice to sort of gloss over all of that and treat the planet as it's own entity was probably the best choice when it comes to regular game contracts. With Flashpoints, exploring those smaller fiefdoms and their internal conflicts would be ok. At least with Flashpoints there can be some exposition to explain what is going on, where as random generated contracts wouldn't carry that sort of explanation.

And there is at least one 'major' minor faction - Gray Death Leigon - that I have seen receive a Flashpoint... so hopefully there will be more in time.

 

[Rubidium]

And there is at least one 'major' minor faction - Gray Death Leigon - that I have seen receive a Flashpoint... so hopefully there will be more in time.

There are a bunch of minor factions for Flashpoint purposes, both as target and employer. They range from mercenary units to rebel groups to lesser houses (e.g. a minor house of DC nobility) to individuals (such as the notorious "Trustworthy Client" in that one flashpoint). None of them show up in random missions though.

I am disappointed that the Directorate seems to have mostly disappeared as a potential target in Career mode; it was a nice punching bag.

 

[theCarthaginian]

I am disappointed that the Directorate seems to have mostly disappeared as a potential target in Career mode; it was a nice punching bag.

Well, as we have imprisoned its leader and executed his heir in ritual combat, it wouldn't be very easy to make the Directorate a target or employer. It just basically ceased to be, especially since most of the military would either just be reabsorbed into the Coalition forces at the end... or 'disappeared' if they didn't.

 

[Rubidium]

Well, as we have imprisoned its leader and executed his heir in ritual combat, it wouldn't be very easy to make the Directorate a target or employer. It just basically ceased to be, especially since most of the military would either just be reabsorbed into the Coalition forces at the end... or 'disappeared' if they didn't.

Sure, but I was more talking about Career mode, where we do none of that (and only interact with Kamea through random missions).

 

[Ed Steele]

Technically every faction that is not a Great House is a minor faction.

 

[theCarthaginian]

Technically every faction that is not a Great House is a minor faction.

Yeah... but there are Minor Powers (Marians, Oberons, Aurigans), minor powers (Circinans, Rim Collective, New Belt Pirates, Tortugans) and minor 'powers' (any number of independent planets or pirate bands).

The cutoff is quite poorly defined and largely depends on who is asking the question and who is offering the answer.