Re: Games Discussion Thread
Kind of confused, haven't looked at any info on this outside the thread so please bare with me. They're just special mechs that you can purchase with real money, yes? They aren't going to try and make me use real money to get better mechs and parts as I progress... right?
I mean, I'm happy to pay for a game (this game), or even have the game be free and purchase access to content, but if I'm going to have to buy the game and then buy content I'm going to have a problem with that.
Hokay.
The game will be free to play and download, based on the common "freemium" market model lots of games are taking up these days. In the game you will be able to buy mechs with both in game 'C-Bills' and premium 'MWO Credits'. Earning the hefty chunks of C-Bills in the game will obviously take longer than throwing your credit/debit card at them, but all mechs can still be earned without paying real money.
Other uses of the premium currency include cosmetic details such as custom paint jobs and decals, and possibly small cosmetic tweaks and additions 3D model. Purchasing months of premium account membership will grant a 50% bonus to XP and C-Bill earning rate. There's still plenty of speculation as to what else it might do and buy, or what inevitable special offers and such will be unveiled in the future, but mostly it's a way to get things faster.
Whilst premium cash allows you to get the stuff you want faster, the game is designed in a way (largely thanks to it's tabletop roots) that you can't just buy your way to victory. All mechs work on a tonnage system, which means an 80 ton mech will always have 80 tons worth of distributed capability, same as any other in its weight class. Various chassis may feature more or less weaponry, speed, armour, internal integrity, special equipment or different hardpoint combinations than others, but it will always add up to the same overall sum of values. The weaponry likewise is consistent and modular, and are intended that none are superior over the rest. A 25 ton mech firing a medium laser will do the same damage as a 100 ton mech firing the same weapon. And a large laser may hit at around three to four times the damage and range as a small laser, but it does so at the expense of being ten times heavier and only half as heat efficient. Plus you can start out in the largest mech available right from the start without any premium cash, if that's what you want, so its by no means a case of buying the biggest thing around and assuming that means you win either.
The four available founders mechs are simply normal common mech variants that can be purchased easily as any other using regular C-Bills, except they come with an exclusive "founders skin" (meaning they have a blueish paintjob, have small model differences, and have a red cockpit.) and a 50% C-Bill bonus for when piloting that mech that cannot be bought any other way. Functionally they're identical to any other mech. The gist is that two years down the line when there will supposedly be thousands of players piloting dozens of different mechs of all colours, your founders mech will mark you out as having been in the game from the start.
Hope that cleared some stuff up for you. : )
