Mechwarrior 5 Mercenaries: Solaris Showdown

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Drew J

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  • #1
    I didn't see a thread for this game, so hey.

    Anyway, MechWarrior is my favorite video game series of all time, and Battletech is my favorite sci-fi/fantasy universe. I am very excited for this game. I've been watching the progress for 3-4 years, back when it was called MechWarrior (Reboot).

    The release date was supposed to be 2018, but it has since been pushed back to 2019, with a firmer date to be announced on Dec 1 at MechCon in Vancouver.

    Youtube is blocked for me so I can't link videos at work, but there is a "Destruction Trailer" and a couple longer 10-15 minute gameplay trailers out, and it definitely looks very shiny and explody.

    Anyone else looking forward to this? Let's while away the months with some discussion and fantasizing, shall we?
     
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    Helpless Will

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  • #3
    Ayup, what Nilt said. If it's done well, I will do little else with my free time.

    I think the only game I'd like to see more than another Mechwarrior is another Tiefighter. The latter to be interpreted as Tiefighter, X v T, X-Wing alliance, sort of successor of that franchise.

    All MWO did was scratch the itch a bit. Battletech was enough to make me nostalgic for the table top game.

    I really hope Mechwarrior 5 is done well.
     
    Nilt

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  • #4
    Oh, hell yeah, I'd play a new Star Wars fighter game to death! MW and those games were some of my biggest wastes of money at one point, retention renting time by the quarter hour on a HOTAS LAN setup in the mall. Now that I have almost the same setup here in my own home it'd be amazing to recapture some of that!

    Edit: GODDAMMIT! I can't even blame being on mobile for that typo. No clue how my fingers typed retention when I meant renting. Weird.
     
    ShaggyMoose

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  • #8
    There is a new trailer out. Supposedly it will be released in September 2019, which is still far enough away that the date could change many times... I got a better feeling from this than the last one. The building destruction looked a lot better this time around. The mechs seem to be extremely mobile though, even the heavies. Maybe a bit too much?

    EDIT: Things definitely feel more solid and ponderous in this earlier trailer.
     
    Ecmaster76

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  • #9
    S

    Shanrak

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  • #14
    Ecmaster76 said:
    Helpless Will said:
    MrLiNcH said:
    Have they announced co-op? Because the only thing more fun than blowing up stuff up, is blowing stuff up with friends.
    Click to expand...

    ++
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    Allegedly it will
    https://wccftech.com/mechwarrior-5-merc ... mber-2018/

    But that was announced a while ago when the release date was still this month
    Click to expand...

    It was featured at mech con over the weekend, also had some live gameplay of 4 player coop. The release date was also announced, September 10, 2019, granted that may still slip.

    The graphics looked pretty good, I wasn't sold on the gameplay, the way the mechs/tanks were walking through buildings like they were paper seemed a bit excessive. Hopefully that improves between now and release.
     
    Kaiser Sosei

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  • #16
    Pont said:
    MAINTAIN LOW EXPECTATIONS.

    Everything I've seen so far indicates a "dog and pony show". PGI has never shown any ability to build AI-controlled units. The initial teaser had an enemy Raven doing a zombie walk forward and firing its weapons pretty stupidly. This new video is all super short jump-cuts.
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    This.

    Don't get me wrong, I want the game to be good and succeed. I don't think PGI can do it.
     
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    Shanrak

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  • #18
    Kaiser Sosei said:
    Pont said:
    MAINTAIN LOW EXPECTATIONS.

    Everything I've seen so far indicates a "dog and pony show". PGI has never shown any ability to build AI-controlled units. The initial teaser had an enemy Raven doing a zombie walk forward and firing its weapons pretty stupidly. This new video is all super short jump-cuts.
    Click to expand...

    This.

    Don't get me wrong, I want the game to be good and succeed. I don't think PGI can do it.
    Click to expand...

    Very true, but the AI in previous mechwarrior games were never good either.

    As long as they follow player called targets, that's better than a typical MWO player, no? :D

    The main draw of mechwarrior for me is the mech customization (which may be limited in MW5), and that big stompy mech feel.
     
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    Shanrak

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  • #19
    Drew J said:
    How hard is it to get a decent AI for a shooter? Any large hurdles specific to mech combat that makes it harder?
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    Its not about making an AI that will be good at a shooter. The hard part is designing an AI that will be good for the player. An uber aimbot that insta shots your cockpit from max engagement range is easy to make, but hardly any fun for the player.

    A properly designed AI is engaging enough to make the player feel rewarded for beating it, but not so hard that the player feels unable to beat it and gives up.
     
    asbath

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  • #20
    This is basically Mechwarrior 5: Mechwarrior Offline Mercenaries, I think. It really just looks like MWO with an offline campaign mode.

    As long as it is better than that, I'm OK with it.

    RaveBomb said:
    Looks fun and I'll try it out. However, the mechs are a little drab, and I've got some suggestions on how to improve that.
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    Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore need to buy stock in your artwork.

    Drew J said:
    How hard is it to get a decent AI for a shooter? Any large hurdles specific to mech combat that makes it harder?
    Click to expand...
    Well, it's Battletech. That means each limb has its own armour and health. With MWO when you saw the paper model show that their leg is cherry red, everybody aims for their leg. Same thing for weapons. In MWO you could see where the big guns were, and if you had weapons that had high crit, you'd aim for those body parts to disable them. If their AI doesn't even attempt to do that, well it might as well just be another Unreal Tournament game if the AI just goes for centre mass.
     
    Pont

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  • #22
    Speed (or lack thereof), weight, armor, weaponry, and heat change mech combat vs. a regular shooter.

    FPS only recently started to use cover, and they mostly cheat by having sticky zones that characters can auto-cover in.

    A good mechwarrior AI will combine cover, heat management, and coordination with scouts and strikers and assaults, etc. Honestly, though, even Battletech doesn't do that great. e.g. it won't ever kite you into a non-scripted ambush or standoff and pelt you from range when you have insufficient long-range firepower, etc.

    I just want more than "run around like a chicken and shoot everything I can without overheating".
     
    Virogtheconq

    Virogtheconq

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  • #23
    ShaggyMoose said:
    The mechs seem to be extremely mobile though, even the heavies. Maybe a bit too much?

    EDIT: Things definitely feel more solid and ponderous in this earlier trailer.
    Click to expand...
    I'm not sure it's been significantly faster - there was a lot of slow-mo (or Atlas :D) in the more ponderous bits from the earlier trailer. I'm not sold on a mobile aesthetic for BT, but I can see why it would be necessary from a gameplay perspective with respect to player preferences on weapon firing rates, weapon damage and mook time-to-kill.

    I think that engines have advanced enough that the damage model should have greater fidelity than the TT system, but players seem to expect it. Wouldn't it be nice if, say, forearms could be removed instead of simply losing the whole arm at the shoulder?
     
    asbath

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  • #24
    Virogtheconq said:
    ShaggyMoose said:
    The mechs seem to be extremely mobile though, even the heavies. Maybe a bit too much?

    EDIT: Things definitely feel more solid and ponderous in this earlier trailer.
    Click to expand...
    I'm not sure it's been significantly faster - there was a lot of slow-mo (or Atlas :D) in the more ponderous bits from the earlier trailer. I'm not sold on a mobile aesthetic for BT, but I can see why it would be necessary from a gameplay perspective with respect to player preferences on weapon firing rates, weapon damage and mook time-to-kill.

    I think that engines have advanced enough that the damage model should have greater fidelity than the TT system, but players seem to expect it. Wouldn't it be nice if, say, forearms could be removed instead of simply losing the whole arm at the shoulder?
    Click to expand...
    From a "EVERYTHING IS DESTRUCTABLE!" perspective, that would be cool. But from a mounted weapons perspective, does that do anything for gameplay other than looking cool?
     
    Virogtheconq

    Virogtheconq

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  • #25
    Hardpoints/crit slots can be redistributed accordingly (and there could be some sharing between related slots to allow, eg, a cannon to take up an entire arm), although it'd most likely break some favorite builds. There'd also be some balancing needed for armor point distribution, etc.

    From a gameplay perspective, I could see some benefit to the player in splitting weapons between upper and lower arms, reducing their firepower loss from taking a bunch of lower arm hits. Aimed fire to the upper areas would still result in losing the entire limb, but it would be concurrently more difficult to do so.

    Also, melee attacks to the cockpit with severed stumps :D
     
    Virogtheconq

    Virogtheconq

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  • #33
    Kaiser Sosei

    Kaiser Sosei

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  • #34
    Pre-order MechWarrior 5
    Release Date Sept 10th 2019

    They are tying MWO into this to no-one's surprise. Pre-ordering gets you MWO premium time, a mech, skill points, digital content(decals, horns), and if you need it MC. Of note, Founders get double MC on the pre-order which is nice, but I would think mostly a throw away for the majority of us. I've been trying to get rid of my MC but with all the events they run, I've been gaining more than I've been spending. Nothing there to make me or anyone I play with put up cash at this point.
     
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    Shanrak

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  • #37
    Kaiser Sosei said:
    Pre-order MechWarrior 5
    Release Date Sept 10th 2019

    They are tying MWO into this to no-one's surprise. Pre-ordering gets you MWO premium time, a mech, skill points, digital content(decals, horns), and if you need it MC. Of note, Founders get double MC on the pre-order which is nice, but I would think mostly a throw away for the majority of us. I've been trying to get rid of my MC but with all the events they run, I've been gaining more than I've been spending. Nothing there to make me or anyone I play with put up cash at this point.
    Click to expand...

    Just a heads up, in the FAQ section they specified that if you redeem that MWO code, or connect to their discord server, you will no longer be eligible for refunds. So be very careful before deciding.
     
    D

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  • #40
    Drew J said:
    Has Beta access effectively replaced game demos for PC games these days? I honestly haven't paid much attention over the last decade or so.

    Anyway, I'd love a playable demo, like the tutorial mission or something.
    Click to expand...

    It's the same engine and assets as MWO; so I doubt it will play much different beyond whatever stupid / cheating stuff the AI might do.
     
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