Board 8 > Mercenaries 5 Preseason Topic 2: That's The Name Of The Game

(+) Yeah! (+)

I can almost guarantee y'all that I won't follow through with this idea of mine, but I thought I'd share it: I think it'd be super cool to cover Mercs 5 on a podcast! After practicing by doing introductory episodes which explain the rules and the lowest levels of strategy I would cover the season one Mercs day at a time, as well as do segments/specials which cover topics like being an effective Mercs player and guides to starting your own Mercs group. I'd also try and get guests on the show pretty frequently, as I've only played one season of Mercs. Thoughts?

hi firefox!

I think it's a pretty cool idea. I mean, I'd listen.
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Drakeryn posted...

I think it's a pretty cool idea. I mean, I'd listen.

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Tom Bombadil posted...

Drakeryn posted...

I think it's a pretty cool idea. I mean, I'd listen.

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Episode 1: a New Hope ft reformedgravy294
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Drakeryn posted...

I think it's a pretty cool idea. I mean, I'd listen.

Please use it to insult decisions I make.
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Sounds neat!
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Yes yes yes

This would actually work both as a current news podcast and also as a historical one revisiting old seasons

Now imagining getting lopen on to defend m4 rulings
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Oh hell yes thatd be awesome
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Dantezoid posted...

Now imagining getting wang on

ftfy

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I will never want to play Mercs again, but I would be the perfect pompous "expert" to appeal on a podcast and break down things and I feel like everyone knows this in their heart.
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Yay
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Alright gamers.

Who's the best Three Houses girl to make a model out of?

Make your cases or you're getting Lysithea.
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Byleth
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I already hate precog, I'm not gonna put "I can rewind time to the start of the match or any point after it up to eight times" in the game. No matter how pretty her hair is.
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Boy, Tekken 7 goes overboard on making its characters OP. Heihachi reflects rockets by kicking them. Bryan Fury explodes a distant helicopter by throwing an I-beam at it
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Also Akuma beats Heihachi in a fight, but then Heihachi ignores it and doesn't even fall down, which is kind of funny
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Perennial Jobber Kazuya laser beams an orbiting satellite to death while standing on Earth
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tekken too stronk
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I don't say this often enough, so this is a good time: thanks for keeping this topic up guys. I know news have been kinda sparse lately so I figured this would be a good time for a quick update. Without further ado:

-The big reason for this total info blackout is we're getting hammered by RL. Mentioning only my own personal experience, I'm halfway through a month of doing twelve hours of work during the workweek, for instance.

-In spite of this, work is still underway, both with mercenary review to make sure we understand where M4 went right and wrong, and also systems work as well. Remember that Bounty Hunter system from way back when? It's been reworked after it was found to be confusing and unintuitive. Now, instead of being a guessing game where you try to get the right contract to trigger, you instead pick a merc from the unbought pool (or the permanent bounty hunter pool - think a bit like Claude in M3) and pay them a sum. If the opponent fulfills their activation condition, which is usually a paydown, you get to use them and get 1 AP to spend on them. If you roster the merc and win, you can get some money back, giving an incentive towards using more than just ability slaves. It's my hope to post a proper, readable version of this soon if I can find a day off.

-Current explorations on system mechanics is how to do 'gated' abilities that you can't use willy-nilly but don't necessarily key off of fatigue -- think stuff like Shepard's Citadel ability, which would be terrible if using it banned him from employing another useful ability for two cycles or something silly like that. A thought we've been toying with is introducing a tentative 'third option' for ability design beyond AP and Fatigue, tokens. These have existed in Mercs since forever, but codifying them and making them more consistent could allow us to make some abilities less binary in how they function.

-We're committed to releasing a full set of system mechanics by year end at the latest. This way, we'll be handing anyone who wants to make builds both the toolkit to do so in a way that will be compatible with the upcoming game, and also provide a bit more guidance in how to do ability formatting/interactions.

-Since we're doing a lot of changes, we will most likely test things with a short draftgame once we have the rules out in the open and enough updated/new builds to work with. No ETA on this yet, but know that there'll be a chance to experience an M5 prototype without hard-committing to the Long Walk once again, once the time is right.

EDIT: Also, and this is a personal note, I'm pondering something I remember gravy saying way back when and I'd like some feedback on it. How do you guys feel about pushing the overarching storylines angle of Mercs? By this I don't mean introducing RP elements or anything of the sort. More acknowledging that, since Mercs is a long game, feuds, rivalries, grudges and dramatic moments naturally arise, and it already has built-in peak drama moments in the events and elimination matches, it may be a good idea to encourage people to be hype men, or even look to get someone in particular to keep up running commentary of it. If the secret stories that the game creates were made a bit more public, it's possible more voters would stick with the game even as it gets more complex because they wanna see where it goes, much like in sports or wrestling, thus counteracting some of the game's natural voter attrition. Thoughts?

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I support the bounty hunter thing, on the grounds I loved dragging up characters no one put any value to and going "Yo this guy's actually pretty good"
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Good luck with stuff!

KanzarisKelshen posted...

A thought we've been toying with is introducing a tentative 'third option' for ability design beyond AP and Fatigue, tokens

I'll wanna see more details before I make a judgment but my kneejerk is that two mechanics is already a lot

KanzarisKelshen posted...

it may be a good idea to encourage people to be hype men, or even look to get someone in particular to keep up running commentary of it

This is a good idea on paper but I'm not sure how easy it'd be to pull off. I think that kinda thing loses a bit if it's not organic. (and some of that already happens anyway!) The color commentary idea I like better (nominate Drak and/or Chris) but then you run a weird balance between keeping things interesting and talking too much and tipping people's hands in some fashion. One of the cooler things about the Drak journals is that most of the stuff in them was not public info at the time, so it would lose something if he tried to do that in real time without compromising the integrity of the game.

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For 'tokens', it's just codifying stuff like Naoto's Death Counters, M3 Johnny's Coins, Wrex. Shepard. that sort of thing.
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Kamekguy posted...

For 'tokens', it's just codifying stuff like Naoto's Death Counters, M3 Johnny's Coins, Wrex. Shepard. that sort of thing.

This. Making it less of a bunch of weird one-offs and more something the rules go over.

This is a good idea on paper but I'm not sure how easy it'd be to pull off. I think that kinda thing loses a bit if it's not organic. (and some of that already happens anyway!) The color commentary idea I like better (nominate Drak and/or Chris) but then you run a weird balance between keeping things interesting and talking too much and tipping people's hands in some fashion. One of the cooler things about the Drak journals is that most of the stuff in them was not public info at the time, so it would lose something if he tried to do that in real time without compromising the integrity of the game.

Absolutely, yeah. The idea isn't to reveal secrets. More like a more involved version of the old M1 standings to keep people in the loop. Possibly something like combining those old standings recaps with a 'power rankings' style? Suggestions and ideas welcome on this front.

DeathChicken posted...

I support the bounty hunter thing, on the grounds I loved dragging up characters no one put any value to and going "Yo this guy's actually pretty good"

No joke this is something that instantly came up for BH's. It lets us get a mix of lesser but good characters from big franchises in (for example, Gray Fox from MGS), and some of those 'whos' who are really good if you can make a case for them, making them less of a gamble since you can try them out for a day or two and see what they're like.

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a weekly podcast with permanent host a + permanent host B + guest mercs 5 player probably works the best

in this way, it gives a voice to the player and potential trash talk, an analysis of what went down the week prior. sure, drak's journal had some confidential information, but anyone actively participating in the game generally knew where the battle lines were drawn anyway
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That's not a bad idea actually

let guests say as much as they want while the hosts stick to the public stuff. I could definitely see that working

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firefoxgum posted...

I can almost guarantee y'all that I won't follow through with this idea of mine, but I thought I'd share it: I think it'd be super cool to cover Mercs 5 on a podcast! After practicing by doing introductory episodes which explain the rules and the lowest levels of strategy I would cover the season one Mercs day at a time, as well as do segments/specials which cover topics like being an effective Mercs player and guides to starting your own Mercs group. I'd also try and get guests on the show pretty frequently, as I've only played one season of Mercs. Thoughts?

:3

I'd love to see a testrun episode, certainly! Do you have any ideas for a cohost?

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DoomTheGyarados posted...

I will never want to play Mercs again, but I would be the perfect pompous "expert" to appeal on a podcast and break down things and I feel like everyone knows this in their heart.

Maybe this one? Other than that I'd prolly just take a volunteer :)

The thought of Chris on a podcast with someone who uses :3 is delightful to me.
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mildly interesting to me, maybe not to others: i am downloading my entire chat log of my alliance of eddv and i, if anyone would like to see any of my thoughts on events let me know
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@firefoxgum

if you are willing to host a trial run, kanzaris has agreed to discuss the events of m4. we had probably 44 straight weeks of fighting, so it's as interesting of a 3 year old topic than anything else that i can particularly conceive
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@greengravy294 That sounds fantastic! @KanzarisKelshen I'll message you to start planning everything :)

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Not done a minigame in awhile. Let's roll Death! Random says...

Lil Slugger has challenged Mike Nelson, Crow and Tom Servo to Battleship. Ahahaha

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/78124145
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MST3K beats Lil Slugger at Battleship 4-0. Also Mike Nelson probably destroys the landscape while they're at it
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lol

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Al Bundy
Neutral Male Human
1/week

Al Bundy is as he appears in Married With Children. He is carrying a football and wearing his Polk High football uniform.

Let's Rock (Start of Battle) - Every three weeks, Al may lean into the only thing he has going for him, his high school glory days when he once scored four touchdowns in a single game. He may pre-select an opponent, and the first time he meets that foe on the field of battle, they will be compelled to draw a line on the ground and struggle over whether Al can cross it with his football. One begun, all teams will magically be compelled to not attack either Al or his opponent until they are done with this display, either Al crossing the line or being brought to the ground/losing his football.

Upgrade

Ability Upgrade

In the event that Al somehow wins his football duel, the chosen opponent will immediately KO themselves in shame.

Terrain

Polk High - Al Bundy's old high school, where he once scored four touchdowns in a single game, proving to be the last meaningful thing he ever did in his life. All areas are accessible.
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Kick Master looks like a fun deep cut merc

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Avenging Spirit looks like a fun deep cut merc

tune in tomorrow to see what weird arcade game I played at my friend's house this time

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Bossman coolguy was an inside job

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