Posted 08 January 2015 - 12:41 PM

With CW, we're seeing the immense boredom in many cases of looooong waits for drops.



Or being forced to ghost drop. Or not being part of a large group and damned to PUGHell as target practice for a real unit group.



Ladies and gents, we need a new contract type. Not all Battletech fights were for huge planetary assaults- some were raids, where smaller units would raid for resources, or to weaken defenses for later, more major attacks. Smaller groups = more easily filled queues, and more of what we're all here for. Blowing up giant robots.



Thus, the "raiding contract", and it's defensive equivalent, the "garrison contract".



How does this work?



1) Raid-contract maps use modified versions of the current solo/group queue maps, as these are quite large enough for the smaller scaled CW fights, require less work to get up to snuff, and in general provide more variety. Maximum time per drop is 15 minutes.



2) Raid drop decks are 75% of full drop decks- 3 'Mechs, maximum 180 tons. Four players per side. I'd -like- to see people be able to drop as 4-man groups here, since a single organized lance isn't quite as overwhelming as being able to focus 12-mans on a mob of 12. This represents a classic company vs. company scenario.



3) Raid contracts provide 5% of the control shift of a full 12-man drop (so 20 raids = 1 full 12-man), and pay 15% of the loyalty points of a full 12-man drop, 20% of the C-bills per contract. Normal play rewards remain unchanged (C-bills/xp for kills, salvage, etc. etc).



4) Raids fall under two types of "attack" - garrison reduction or resource raid.



4a) Garrison reduction requires doing sufficient damage to the defending force and/or installation. Destroying 'Mechs AND static targets (turrets, base buildings) will reduce the garrison's health bar. Likewise, destroying attacker tonnage will also reduce the raid's health bar.



Depleting the garrison results in a victory (which does not require total destruction of either, though destroying the enemy base + 50% of the defenders would suffice) for the raider force. Destroying 75% or more of the attacking force before this occurs defeats it, ending the match as well in favor of the defender.



4b) Resource raids require a "stand in square" system. Attackers must "loot" (capture) a point, then return to their dropship (a static point) and "offload" their cargo without being destroyed. Defenders will spawn from a single (well-turreted) point.



Looting is relatively fast (30 seconds, faster with cap accelerator) but once looted, a point cannot be looted again, with many points scattered in increasing density the further you travel away from the dropship (1 at closest point, then 2, 4, 8 nearest the defender spawn). Static defenses always exist near a lootable point (one turret near the 1 or 2 point distance, 2 near each of the 4 or 8 point distance). An "offload" square by the dropship takes 60 seconds to score a point, but the Dropship is well armed (and blocked off in most directions by terrain to prevent potshotting offloading 'Mechs without getting shot back). 'Mechs with loot will show a marker when targeted indicating they've got loot on board and suffer a 10% loss of speed until it's offloaded.



Six successful "loots" win the game for the raider, regardless of destroying the defending force. Destroying 75% or more of the raiding force wins the game for the garrison, or denying the attacker six successful loots before time expires (the defender has overwhelming reinforcements incoming, leaving the attacker only the 15 minute window to loot and scoot).

