I was thinking about Mark's comments on having a pilot roster and and idea ran through my head.
I haven't really had time to polish it up so take it for the partially formed concept it is.
What if your pilots could permanently die. If a pilot is lost, the broken mech is out on the field and has to be salvaged (and the body recovered for a funeral presumably) by another pilot. The salvaged mech would always go back to the deceased pilot's team (the player) and while someone could risk their thumper on the salvage, it's ultimately the player whose pilot died's responsibility to get back out to salvage the mech.
The actual salvage wouldn't take long but while the original mech is out of commission, the player would need to use a backup frame. The salvage could remain persistent and if in a contested area, may need a group to clear out threats in order to perform. Or if it were timed right, you could jump in, perform the salvage and jump out before anything notices.
Players could manage their mech's damage. If taking a beating, they can call in another mech proactively. Too early and the pilot-less mech is vulnerable, too late and you risk the current mech breaking down, leaving yourself vulnerable while you wait for the new frame to arrive.
"Experienced" pilots could earn prestige and receive slight bonuses. A short reduction on mech call-ins, or a small priority in a queue. Nothing very big, just minor increments that are nice to have but not too disruptive of gameplay. Your character templates could be saved so you could bring back an identical pilot, but it would start over with 0 prestige.
At any rate. This was just something that ran through my brain, thinking about the waifu/husbando pilots and having multiple pilots in one's dugout.
I haven't really had time to polish it up so take it for the partially formed concept it is.
What if your pilots could permanently die. If a pilot is lost, the broken mech is out on the field and has to be salvaged (and the body recovered for a funeral presumably) by another pilot. The salvaged mech would always go back to the deceased pilot's team (the player) and while someone could risk their thumper on the salvage, it's ultimately the player whose pilot died's responsibility to get back out to salvage the mech.
The actual salvage wouldn't take long but while the original mech is out of commission, the player would need to use a backup frame. The salvage could remain persistent and if in a contested area, may need a group to clear out threats in order to perform. Or if it were timed right, you could jump in, perform the salvage and jump out before anything notices.
Players could manage their mech's damage. If taking a beating, they can call in another mech proactively. Too early and the pilot-less mech is vulnerable, too late and you risk the current mech breaking down, leaving yourself vulnerable while you wait for the new frame to arrive.
"Experienced" pilots could earn prestige and receive slight bonuses. A short reduction on mech call-ins, or a small priority in a queue. Nothing very big, just minor increments that are nice to have but not too disruptive of gameplay. Your character templates could be saved so you could bring back an identical pilot, but it would start over with 0 prestige.
At any rate. This was just something that ran through my brain, thinking about the waifu/husbando pilots and having multiple pilots in one's dugout.
