How to add more soul to this game

[Oni-Chan]

My biggest objection about this game is the shallow character system and general lack of immersion. Characters do not feel special or unique in anyway and they just generally are a mechs biological components which you slot in.

How would you go about making the game to have more soul, disregard combat and other objections... those cannot be really helped at this point.

[Jamie Wolf]

What exactly would make pilots more special or unique to you?

[Bovril Brigadier]

You wanting Mechwarrior RPG characters? Cause that's a mixed realm of insanity waiting to happen.

[Kornstalx]

There are Pilot Quirk mods that add life to the (currently useless) quirks each pilot has (Steiner Commoner, Military, Cautious, etc). This really livens up your crew when you're not just interested in their skill stats, but also the perks they bring to the team.

[Oni-Chan]

I do not know what is the thing that is missing but _something_ is missing here so i decided to make a topic about it. The game has some amount of bells and whistles but to me it just feels something is missing.

I want to like the game but it just feels hollow and lacking of soul. So question is how would YOU add soul to the game?

[pete]

You wanting to like the game is entirely up to you. The game is not a living entity - so good luck on the 'soul' thingy, A turn based tactical combat game set in the future with big stompy robot thingys and 'soul' - sounds mutually exclusive to me and as about as necessarily important as a hole in the head.

[Jamie Wolf]

There are several mods out there that add things to pilots.

Pilot Quirks gives tags/attributes pilots have actually do something.

Abilifier allows pilots to be setup for additional skills (so instead of getting multishot at gunnery 5 you can choose between multiple skills instead (or depending on its setup a skill can be given at skill 10 too).

Mech affinity gives bonuses for keeping a pilot paired with the same chassis (doesn't have to be the exact same mech. So if they get good in a shadowhawk they get the bonuses in any shadowhawk they pilot), it also offers a configurable alternative to pilot Quirks and can even give specific pilots unique affinities (example in BTA it gives the Tex pilot a unique affinity to the Awesome)

[Fang]

I think I sort of understand. If you take a series like Super Robot Wars, or Gundam Cross Rays, etc. (overal flashiness and not-as-serious tone aside) you get to know the pilots as well as you do the mechs they use - even if you've never watched their source material.

In this game it's basically just pictures with the same skills.

MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries has shown that it is possible to add some life to the pilots and their lore, particularly with special clan pilots and of course the colosseum/arena.

[Oni-Chan]

Originally posted by pete:

You wanting to like the game is entirely up to you. The game is not a living entity - so good luck on the 'soul' thingy, A turn based tactical combat game set in the future with big stompy robot thingys and 'soul' - sounds mutually exclusive to me and as about as necessarily important as a hole in the head.

I appreciate your input.

Originally posted by Jamie Wolf:

There are several mods out there that add things to pilots.

Pilot Quirks gives tags/attributes pilots have actually do something.

Abilifier allows pilots to be setup for additional skills (so instead of getting multishot at gunnery 5 you can choose between multiple skills instead (or depending on its setup a skill can be given at skill 10 too).

Mech affinity gives bonuses for keeping a pilot paired with the same chassis (doesn't have to be the exact same mech. So if they get good in a shadowhawk they get the bonuses in any shadowhawk they pilot), it also offers a configurable alternative to pilot Quirks and can even give specific pilots unique affinities (example in BTA it gives the Tex pilot a unique affinity to the Awesome)

Oh those sound quite interesting, would end up way more invested to the actual pilots. Will need to check those out. It is the small things really. Other than pilots and stats how would you make the game feel 'more'?

Originally posted by Fang:

I think I sort of understand. If you take a series like Super Robot Wars, or Gundam Cross Rays, etc. (overal flashiness and not-as-serious tone aside) you get to know the pilots as well as you do the mechs they use - even if you've never watched their source material.

In this game it's basically just pictures with the same skills.

MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries has shown that it is possible to add some life to the pilots and their lore, particularly with special clan pilots and of course the colosseum/arena.

Mechwarrior Mercenaries did it really well, things seemed quite lively in that universe things were moving around and there ere surprises in the missions. Loved that game to bits. It likely is a lot of small things that mount up to make a large pile which makes games feel so much more.

[JC]

I would of loved NPC tags to do something in combat, giving them a bit more of a mind of their own. a cowered could loose accuracy for example, Brave could be less likely to eject. A loyalist could refuse to fight on a mission, or maybe even swap sides.

There are lots of things that could of been done, though i suspect some folks wouldn't like this sort of thing, but could of made for a great DLC. The Way of life BT style. Could of been nice :)


and i agree, Mech warriors mercs 5 has expanded on this a bit, it's actually one of the more fleshed out things. I look forward to see where they take it.

[Jamie Wolf]

Originally posted by JC:

I would of loved NPC tags to do something in combat, giving them a bit more of a mind of their own. a cowered could loose accuracy for example, Brave could be less likely to eject. A loyalist could refuse to fight on a mission, or maybe even swap sides.

There are lots of things that could of been done, though i suspect some folks wouldn't like this sort of thing, but could of made for a great DLC. The Way of life BT style. Could of been nice :)


and i agree, Mech warriors mercs 5 has expanded on this a bit, it's actually one of the more fleshed out things. I look forward to see where they take it.

PQ and panic system do just that. Brave pilots less likely to eject while cowardly pilots more likely to eject. Some quirks affect battlefield others don't. We ended up dropping PQ in RogueTech for mech affinity's version because we can define exactly what tags do, with PQ the effects are hard-coded and you can only choose control the magnitude of some of them

[nycowboy04]

I would say that that provides a plus to the underlying ethos of the Battletch universe: life is cheap. Don't make connections with your compatriots because they very well may die on the next mission. And if they do? Big deal. There are a dozen other mercs itching to get in your company. Rinse and repeat.

[wesnef]

I just customize them to the voices I like, give them callsigns that fit for my group, and then remember some of the wacky things they get up to in the field. I don't really expect RPG levels of character from the random pilots. It's a strategy/tactics game, not an RPG. Yeah, they're just there as another part of the unit. /shrug

[Steinin]

I only hire Ronin pilots, that gives my mechwarriors more personality.

[chronobomb]

This is the main reason I am happy that they finally went with a respected publisher. Showing what they can do with limited budget and a dated engine makes me excited for their first showcase as a supported developer.

[Wat]

Originally posted by Oni-Chan:

How would you go about making the game to have more soul, disregard combat and other objections... those cannot be really helped at this point.

More story related characters, like Kamea Arano and Raju Montgomery, in your lance. Would only work in campaign mode though.