Operations

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Core Operations
Fellow Mekwars players. The Council of Six has been working on a significant change to operations and the campaign since we have been elected. Through a great deal of discussion and work we have developed a number of ops which we are calling "core operations." There are two broad categories of ops--Inner Sphere Operations and Pirate/Counter-Pirate Operations.


Inner Sphere Operations

Inner Sphere operations fall into two general types: Incursions, which are low land-exchange thrusts into enemy territory, and Assaults, which are high land-exchange operations with artillery. Incursions have no special requirements. Assault operations require 750 XP to launch or defend. Both players must also have a minimum ELO of 1525. The attacking army must also have at least 1 level per 2 units (for example, two 4/5's, and two 4/4's).

These ops are then sub-divided into two deployment categories–Drop Operations and Ground Operations.

Drop Operations are mech-only (for the attacker) orbital insertions used to attack worlds where the attacker controls no or little land. They are more risky than ground operations because it is more difficult to escape when the enemy controls most of the territory. Drop operations therefor grant higher salvage percentages to the defender, and may grant other defensive bonuses (artillery, mines, etc.) as well. Drop operations also grant significantly more *potential* payouts to the DEFENDER (see "Operations Details," below.)

Ground Operations can only be launched only once the attacking faction has secured a beachhead (20% land or more) on the target planet. Unlike drop operations, ground operations allow the attacker to use any type of ground unit (mechs, tanks, infantry). Salvage chances are equal for attacker and defender and, in ops that feature artillery, both sides get these weapons.

The combo of base type and deployment type produces 4 total op types:

• Drop Incursion -- low land-exchange (~15 cp) operation, attacker can only use mechs
  Drop Assault -- high land-exchange (~30 cp) operation, attacker can only use mechs, defender receives artillery and mines
  Ground Incursion -- low land-exchange (~15 cp) operation, requires beachhead, all units types allowed
  Ground Assault -- high land-exchange (~45 cp) operation, requires beachhead, all unit types allowed, both sides receive artillery

Pirate and Counter-Pirate Operations
Along the outer edge of the Inner Sphere, another war is being fought on the countless backwater planets of the Periphery and the Near-Periphery: the struggle between vicious Periphery pirates, and the pirate hunting forces of the Inner Sphere who are determined to stop them.

Pirate and Counter-Pirate Operations are organized similarly to Inner Sphere Operations, with Incursion-level ops and Assault-level ops.

Pirate and Counter-Pirate ops are distinct from Inner Sphere operations in that they generally have longer range because there are almost no naval forces to prevent pirate and pirate hunters from moving around. Pirate and Counter-Pirate operations also don't require beachheads because Periphery and Near-Periphery worlds don't have advanced defense grids. This means attackers can use any type of ground unit (mechs, tanks, infantry) because dropships are able to land with impunity. Pirate and Counter-Pirate ops are also distinguished by higher than normal salvage rates because pirates are interested primarily in material gain. Like Inner Sphere drop operations, the DEFENDER has more *potential* CBill awards (see "Operation Details," below.)

The Pirate and Counter-Pirate Operations are summarized below:

Pirate Operations (Launched By P)

• Pirate Foray -- the Incursion-level pirate operation; all units legal, no beachhead required
  Pirate Onslaught -- the Assault-level pirate operation; all units legal, no beachhead required, elevated salvage chance, both sides receive artillery

Counter-Pirate Operations (Lauched by CC, DC, FS, FWL, and LC).

• Counter-Pirate Incursion -- all units legal, no beachhead required, no salvage bonus
  Counter-Pirate Assault -- all units legal, no beachhead required, elevated salvage chance, both sides receive artillery

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Operation Details

To give players a more detailed understanding of the operations, The Council has also decided to publish a detailed list of the operations specs and average land and CBill payouts (@ 5000 BV with no ELO weighting).

Note: The exact land and CBill payments will change somewhat depending on the BV of the armies and the ELO of the players involved.

• Ground Operations
  
  
  • Ground Incursion
    • Cost: 30 flu
      Range: 30 LY
      
      Player XP Required: No XP Required
      Units Allowed: All Units
      Skillsum Requirement: No Unit Level Requirements
      Land Required: 20% -- Beachhead Required
      
      Land Exchange (@ 5000BV): ~15 conquer points
      Salvage: 40%/40% (attacker/defender)
      
      Payout, Attacker Wins (@ 5000 BV): ~5500 CBills / ~3700 CBills (attacker/defender)
      Payout, Defender Wins (@ 5000 BV): ~3700 CBills / ~5500 CBills (attacker/defender)
  
  
  • Ground Assault
    • Cost: 60 flu
      Range: 30 LY
      
      Player XP Required: 750 XP
      Units Allowed: All Units
      Skillsum Requirements: 8.5 -- 1 Level Per 2 Units
      Land Required: 20% -- Beachhead Required
      
      Land Exchange (@ 5000BV): ~45 conquer points
      Salvage: 40%/40% (attacker/defender)
      
      Payout, Attacker Wins (@ 5000BV): ~6750 CBills / ~4500 CBills (attacker/defender)
      Payout, Defender Wins (@ 5000BV): ~4500 CBills / ~6750 CBills (attacker/defender)
      
      Special: Both Attacker and Defender receive artillery

• Drop Operations
  
  
  • Drop Incursion
    • Cost: 45 flu
      Range: 30 LY
      
      Player XP Required: No XP Required
      Units Allowed: Mechs only
      Skillsum Requirement: No Unit Level Requirements
      Land Required: 0% -- No Beachhead Required
      
      Land Exchange (@ 5000BV): ~15 conquer points
      Salvage: 30%/50% (attacker/defender)
      
      Payout, Attacker Wins (@ 5000BV): ~5500 CBills / ~4500 CBills (attacker/defender)
      Payout, Defender Wins (@ 5000BV): ~3700 CBills / ~6750 CBills (attacker/defender)
      
      Special: Attacker has 33% chance of center deployment
  
  
  • Drop Assault
    • Cost: 90 flu
      Range: 30 LY
      
      Player XP Required: 750 XP
      Units Allowed: Mechs only
      Skillsum Requirements: 8.5 -- 1 Level Per 2 Units
      Land Required: 0% -- No Beachhead Required
      
      Land Exchange (@ 5000BV): ~30 conquer points
      Salvage: 30%/50% (attacker/defender)
      
      Payout, Attacker Wins (@ 5000BV): ~6750 CBills / ~5400 CBills (attacker/defender)
      Payout, Defender Wins (@ 5000BV): ~4500 CBills / ~8100 CBills (attacker/defender)
      
      Special: Attacker has 33% chance of center deployment; Defender has small amount of artillery and mines

• Pirate Operations
  
  
  • Pirate Foray
    • Cost: 30 flu
      Range: 60 LY -- lightly defended near-Periphery worlds allow deeper penetration
      
      Player XP Required: No XP Required
      Units Allowed: All Units -- pirates can use any unit; YARRR!!!
      Skillsum Requirements: No Unit Levels Required
      Land Required: 0% -- No Beachhead Required -- pirates don't need beachheads; YARRRRR!!!
      
      Land Exchange (@ 5000BV): 0 cp
      Salvage: 50%/40% (attacker/defender)-- Pirate Attacks are about salvage!
      
      Payout, Attacker Wins (@ 5000BV): ~5500 CBills / ~4500 CBills (attacker/defender)
      Payout, Defender Wins (@ 5000BV): ~3700 CBills / ~6750 CBills (attacker/defender)
      
      Special: 33% chance of EITHER center or edge deployment.
  
  
  • Pirate Onslaught
    • Cost: 75 flu
      Range: 60 LY -- lightly defended near-Periphery worlds allow deeper penetration
      
      Player XP Required: 750 XP
      Units Allowed: All Units -- pirates can use any unit; YARRR!!!
      Skillsum Requirements: 8.5 -- 1 Level Per 2 Units
      Land Required: 0% -- No Beachhead Required -- pirates don't need beachheads; YARRRRR!!!
      
      Land Exchange (@ 5000BV): 0 cp
      Salvage: 60%/50% (attacker/defender) -- Pirate Attacks are about salvage!
      
      Payout, Attacker Wins (@ 5000BV): ~6750 CBills / ~5400 CBills (attacker/defender)
      Payout, Defender Wins (@ 5000BV): ~4500 CBills / ~8100 CBills (attacker/defender)
      
      Special: 33% chance of EITHER center or edge deployment. Both Attacker and Defender have artillery (pirate cannons! YARRRRRR!!!)

• Counter-Pirate Operations
  
  
  • Counter-Pirate Incursion
    • Cost: 30 flu
      Range: 60 LY -- lightly defended Periphery worlds allow deeper penetration
      
      Player XP Required: No XP Requirement
      Units Allowed: All Units -- pirate worlds are lightly defended, so dropships can land with impunity
      Skillsum Requirement: No Unit Level Requirements
      Land Required: 0% -- No Beachhead Required -- pirate worlds don't have defense grids
      
      Land Exchange (@ 5000BV): 0 cp
      Salvage: 40%/40% (attacker/defender)
      
      Payout, Attacker Wins (@ 5000BV): ~5500 CBills / ~4500 CBills (attacker/defender)
      Payout, Defender Wins (@ 5000BV): ~3700 CBills / ~6750 CBills (attacker/defender)
      
      Special: 33% chance of EITHER center or edge deployment.
  
  
  • Counter-Pirate Assault
    • Cost: 75 flu
      Range: 60 LY-- lightly defended near-Periphery worlds allow deeper penetration
      
      Player XP Required: 750 XP
      Units Allowed: All Units -- pirate worlds are lightly defended, so dropships can land with impunity
      Skillsum Requirements: 8.5 -- 1 Level Per 2 Units
      Land Required: 0% -- No Beachhead Required -- pirate worlds don't have defense grids
      
      Land Exchange (@ 5000BV): 0 cp
      Salvage: 50%/50% (attacker/defender) -- elevated salvage chance for both sides
      
      Payout, Attacker Wins (@ 5000BV): ~6750 CBills / ~5400 CBills (attacker/defender)
      Payout, Defender Wins (@ 5000BV): ~4500 CBills / ~8100 CBills (attacker/defender)
      
      Special: 33% chance of EITHER center or edge deployment. Both Attacker and Defender have artillery.

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Developer Notes
As the Council was designing these ops there we several game dynamics that we wanted to put in place that we believe will improve the campaign. Through a great deal of discussion and work we identified several changes we wanted to make. These changes are summarized bellow:


More Advantages For Defenders
Historically, operations on MMNet have given attackers a fairly major advantage over defenders--the ability to choose the planet where the battle will take place. While this may seem minor, the ability to choose the site of the battle enables attackers to control terrain (allowing them to specifically build armies for that terrain), and also gives attackers the ability to attack worlds where the attacker's faction has no ownership (so-called 0% worlds). This, in turn, gives attackers a major ability to limit their losses. If they win the battle they gain land. If they lose the battle, they lose nothing. It's a MASSIVE advantage.

We on the Council believe this overwhelming attacker advantage directly contributes to 'ambush culture' on MMNet where players only want to be attackers and don't want to risk being defenders. As result, players sit inactive for long stretches (or even log out) if it looks like there are too many players online who are not currently in games. Because this behavior decreases the number of games and/or increases wait times for games, we feel this is an very undesirable dynamic.

To correct this problem we've deliberately designed ops, particularly ops on 0% worlds, to be significantly more lucrative for defenders than attackers. Players receive more base CBills for defending ops, bonus Reward Points (RP), and also get a significant flu payout. Defenders on 0% also receive a better salvage rate than attackers. Thus if you defend an op, stand your ground, and defeat your opponent you will receive a very significant rewards. And even if you do lose the defense, your payout will only be slightly less than the attacker receives.

For example, in a 5000 BV Drop Assault the CBill payouts are as follows:

• Payout when Attacker wins: 6750 / 5400 (attacker/defender).
  Payout when Defender wins: 4500 / 8100 (attacker/defender).

Our goal with this change is to give players more incentive to defend. By upping the pay for defenders and reducing it for attackers, our hope is more players will be willing to defend than they do now. We will observe how this dynamic plays-out and will make adjustments if necessary.


ELO Weighting Changes
Another important change is we are altering the ELO impact on Land and Cbill payout. We noticed two concerning trends. One, High ELO players quickly became effectively irrelevant to the outcome of the campaign. At the same time very low ELO players (VLELO's) were winning astonishingly large amounts of land. The ELO modification was simply too great. The better players needed to win two or three times as many games to have the same effect an average player had and 6X as many games as a developing VLELO player. We've now reduced the impact of ELO weighting so that the difference is 2.7X for very high and very low BV players.


Lower Loss Pay
Still another thing which the Council has decided to revise is the amount of payment that players receive when they lose. In previous cycles losing players received only marginally less BASE pay than attackers and--once ELO weighting was factored-in--losing players often earned substantially MORE than winners. Aside from the fact that this system seemed to incentivize players to lose, what this also allowed was a situation where players that consistently lost high value games could afford to replace a nearly unlimited amounts of heavy and assault mechs and in the process drained their factions of heavy and assault components (harming the ability of other players in the faction to play).

To correct this problem, ops will now pay 1/3 less pay for losing that winning. While this payout rate will allow players to sustain occasional loses at high BV, it will not allow them to sustain an UNLIMITED high BV losses.


More Profit @ Low BV
While the economics of the game are now going to be tougher at the higher end of the BV scale, towards the low end of the BV scale (and even in the middle) losses are considerably easier to afford. While ops at low-to-middle BV pay less than high BV ops, because units in the lower BV range are so much cheaper to repair or replace, the profitability of operations increases significantly the lower down the BV scale one goes.

Particularly if a player uses light and medium mechs (or even cheaper vees), ops will often end up paying enough that a player can they can afford to lose all of their lost units, even after suffering a string of losses.


More Land @ High BV
In recent cycles army BV has had no impact on land gain. A 8000 BV army earned just as much as a 2000 BV army.

In the new ops, land exchange increases at higher BV's, but the amount of land captured follows The Law of Diminishing Returns. For example, a 4000 BV army will earn roughly 40 conquer points (cp) in a Ground Assault, whereas an 8000 BV army will earn 60 cp (50% more).

Our rationale for this is that no matter what BV you're playing at, a battle is still going to require roughly the same amount of time to play-out. It's therefore somewhat unfair to give a 8000 BV player twice as much land exchange as a 4000 BV player. This payout system gives more benefit to the high BV player than they system has in the recent past, but it doesn't make high BV players overwhelmingly dominant.


The Result: A Balancing Act
Between higher land for high BV ops and higher profit for low BV ops, what we expect to happen is players will have to make smart choices about what units they field. Are you prioritizing profit or are you prioritizing land gain? The decision depends on what your current situation is and might change over time as the campaign evolves. To the extent this causes players to move around in BV from time to time, we believe this will lead to a more dynamic and interesting campaign environment.

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Please note that these descriptions are obsolete, but kept for historical reference.

Operations are now documented on the Wiki