Infantry, Mechanized Infantry & Jump infantry??

[olivermaga]

Vehicles are included in game. So my question is are there infantry platoons, or are there any plans to include them??

[ApexSun]

I would think that they would have to expand the forces beyond the initial single lance for Player Controlled combined arms teams to really work. That does remind me of the first BT game that I ever won at a ComiCon, though. This was early post Battledroids pre BattleTech and you matched up by tonnage, no Mercenaries / C-bills rules yet. Dude smirked at me across the map with his sparkling new Atlas model. That smirk disappeared when I dropped 20 cardboard hex Savannah Masters.

[MAD-3R_Marauder]

LOL, Savannah Masters - the ulitmate zergling horde of Battletech :)

[Sinjen Blackstar]

They discussed that maybe they would add vehicles in the future for the player. As of now they are definetely in as opponents. They also said that you would be a ble to control off map aerospace and artillery assets via calling in strikes etc.

[Granite Eyes]

I grew up on the Battletech boardgame. It was the combined arms of using infantry ( remember the three types: foot, jump, mechanized) , tanks, mechs, and other vehicles what drew me in. It was not just mech combat in the 31st century, it was combat in the 31st century. I hope the game goes that direction. If this game is just gonna be a turn based version of mechwarrior online, I'm gonna skip it. I have my hopes.

[wendigo211]

Most mercenary units have some infantry, even if it's just men guarding the mechs during downtime. That infantry might not be part of the unit and may be provided as part of the contract from local forces, but it is there. Mechs aren't exactly comfortable (not the IS ones at least), you can't live in them, and, while neurohelmets do supply pretty good security, mechs and mech parts can still be stolen. Your base of operations/drop ship/scavenging teams are going to need security and that's where infantry is useful. You're probably also going to have to take a facility held by enemy infantry (and still have a working facility left afterwards) at some point, so infantry does serve a purpose. Are you going to field infantry against enemy mechs? Not as a mercenary, the profit isn't there.

As for how useful they are against mechs... depends on what they have: With missile launchers in a hardened building they can do a fair amount of damage. Out in the open, not really very useful. Even a point of Clan Elementals isn't much of threat and they're about as tough as infantry gets.

[Rücklicht]

If they want to implement Infantry they have also to implement buildings. That could blow most budgets. But if they ask for money for that I will provide it (as much as I can)

[Mojo Amok]

They do have buildings in the game to at least a certain extent, though they'd have to model them more carefully and with extra statistical heft if they're basically bunkers.

Personally, I really want to see infantry in eventually - nothing will provide a sense of scale like tiny little men running around, hiding in ditches and screaming. As an aside, it does seem like MWO has recalibrated scale to make the Mechs look bigger in relation to vehicles, so it might be a bit wonky here. For reference:

http://harebrained-schemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/screen03.jpg

I'm not sure how they'll reconcile that, but it looks a lot different than the covers of the assorted publications and Mechs being 10-ish meters tall.

More on topic, for implementing infantry, I would be happy with the first iteration being just AI controlled and have the mechanics be more ambush-oriented. They could be in a hidden screen defending a battery of AC 2's up on top of the hill and I could see some real excitement. Throw in a minefield, some supporting vehicles and artillery support and they're a reasonable threat. To me that would not only provide good gameplay, it would also add to the world building and immersion.

Later, it would be nice to be able to control infantry and especially Battlesuits or Protomechs. I'm not a big clan fan, but I do really like Mecha of that size from other franchises (like VOTOMS and Heavy Gear) and I think the gameplay could be really interesting (especially with extreme cover bonuses and maybe even stealth).