Mechwarrior is the computer video game version of Battletech, a board game about stompy robots blowing hell out of each other in a sci-fi knights and kingdoms setting somewhere between Dune and Mad Max. It’s a scavenger economy, where the most important weapon is a walking tank known as a battlemech and its skilled pilot, the mechwarrior. In the 31st century, life is cheap. Battlemechs aren’t. Piranha Games is reviving that setting in the virtual universe with Mechwarrior Online. New information about the game in progress has just hit the web. Ten Ton Hammer has the story.
What the world really needs is a Battletech MMORPG, set in 3025, full on scavenger economy. The game has to focus the empires offering land and nobility to sway mechwarriors to the side, the rarity of mechs and replacement parts, and the fact that the mech is more important than the pilot inside. I want to see players parting out their mechs, replacing lost weapons and limbs with spares torn from other mechs — a Warhammer with an Archer’s arm or leg. I want to see players fleeing the battle rather than risk losing their battlemech… and the other team lets them go because they know the same might happen to them in the next battle.
Also, I want to see the battlemechs handle like a FPS cover shooter, instead of walking tanks, since very few walking tanks are built of muscle bundles and patched into the pilot’s nervous system. You know, like battlemechs are.
Really, I just have a whole list here. Ask me about Battletech sometime.
I’d enjoy seeing a Battletech MMORPG — I miss the previous one just because piloting one made for amazing game play. The proper mixture of MMO, economy, and actual campaigns and reasons to get together people (and maybe a strong narrative immersion.)