Board 8 > Mercenaries 5 Test Run, Part 2: This Time With Feeling!

(+) Yeah! (+)

If you're familiar with the game already, you know what to expect. Signups are open, go sign up!!

For everyone else, welcome to Mercenaries, the weirdest, wackiest, and best forum game in the world. It's a mixture of 'who would win in a fight?' debates, politicking, backstabbing, grand strategy, economic planning and weaponized shonen anime plot twists via game mechanics as players seek to claim supremacy by assembling squadrons of videogame characters to fight for them! The new iteration is very close at hand, and to finish fine-tuning some of its details, we are planning to run a brief test run to test things out. If you've ever wondered if you might enjoy this but were scared about the time commitment, don't worry! The test run is a short affair, lasting only a few months. We will be running an accelerated schedule, powering up players significantly and increasing the rate at which teams grow in power to test some new mechanics.

Some of the things we are going to be testing are:

-New mechanics! Bounty hunters and desperate measures, bulwarks and simplified mercenaries, oh my!
-Upgrade costs! You'll get to try out the shiny new toys that usually take some effort to grab. Explore some fantastic and silly ability combos today!
-Starting team funds to build teams with. The first Test Run had everyone fairly resource starved. We are looking to let players off the leash this time, giving them a solid extra influx of cash to work with.

If you'd like to join us, all you have to do is post your interest! We will be picking out (likely) eight players to test teams, and then get started soon after. We also have a discord where we discuss the game, which you can find here if you want to join us: https://discord.gg/MXbzSYwn

Oh I am of course in

i volunteer as tribute

Here come the hotstepper (murderer)
He the lyrical gangsta (murderer)

In in

this is how I know I'm still in hell

FFDragon posted...

this is how I know I'm still in hell

you're not in hell until you've volunteered for the test run tbh

join us

I'm down and I have several dumb ideas for teams, although if the admins need to cut vets to make space for newbies I think I'd have a lot of fun as a spectator/voter as well.

FFDragon posted...

this is how I know I'm still in hell

If it helps any, I think that the response to the last test run was pretty positive overall. Mercs is never gonna be an undemanding game, but I think the general sentiment was that the game was the most fun it's ever been and the admin handling was acceptable (not trying to toot the team's own horn here, if anybody thinks we need to fix shit call us out pls). Most of all, I think we've made good on the idea that you can just, do what you want and things will work. Mercs is never gonna be a game that fails to get people mad, but our hope is that it's going to be the kind of mad that comes from playing a tight game of any kind and barely losing and that goes away after a bit of time, and not the sort that comes from a total misery pit that never stops getting worse. I would welcome no one's advice more than yours, as someone who is (justifiably) super snakebit about this whole thing. If there is anything we can do to make it better, we want to hear about it. We're committed to making sure M5 is a mercs people truly can look back onto and say 'I had a lot of fun, when's the next one?' for a change.

Registering intent to test the run

I'll sign up to bid max on donkey Kong then fire him

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/8ebed4ba.jpg

I'm in https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/b/b08526d2.jpg

Im interested

I do not have the mental fortitude to play Mercs, but I'm looking forward to arguing in the topics

JeffreyRaze posted...

I do not have the mental fortitude to play Mercs, but I'm looking forward to arguing in the topics

literally more important than players in some cases tbqh

bunp

come on all you night owls and/or early morning east coast people

up

I really wanna play but I really can't right now ;_;
will attempt to vote, but unless I sneak in as a late sub,this might be the first bololess mercs

up again

I'm absolutely not in a place to play but might try to occasionally vote and otherwise spectate.

On that note, even though I'm not new to quietly following along with Mercs, I still wonder - how much does it matter to have experience (whether by playing, watching, or both) with many games? Have frequently felt like my lacking breadth leaves me too uninformed to vote even after arguments or otherwise to understand characters' capabilities. Sorry if this is an unsuitable place to ask...

MetalmindStats posted...

how much does it matter to have experience (whether by playing, watching, or both) with many games?

it's best to be familiar with the mercs you buy, but you can get by with some rather extensive wiki reading and video watching

MetalmindStats posted...

On that note, even though I'm not new to quietly following along with Mercs, I still wonder - how much does it matter to have experience (whether by playing, watching, or both) with many games? Have frequently felt like my lacking breadth leaves me too uninformed to vote even after arguments or otherwise to understand characters' capabilities. Sorry if this is an unsuitable place to ask...

Personally I'm going to try to stick to being familiar with a majority of the Mercs I purchase, but that doesn't mean I'd avoid buying a couple I'm unfamiliar with if I love the build. I hadn't played SMTIV when I bought Flynn last time, but it wasn't too much homework to pick it up and run through it. Plus, you can glean a lot from wikis/FAQs/YouTube.

I also think there's some responsibility on leaders for educating voters on their Mercs. If you buy Pamela Ibis or Jacqli you are going to have to be able to summarize what their deals are, multiple times. There's not going to be enough voters if the pool is limited to just people intimately familiar with every Merc in the match. I think voters just need to be willing to learn about the Mercs they are less familiar with and keep an open mind about them.

Death Taxes and Mercs

up again

MetalmindStats posted...

I'm absolutely not in a place to play but might try to occasionally vote and otherwise spectate.

On that note, even though I'm not new to quietly following along with Mercs, I still wonder - how much does it matter to have experience (whether by playing, watching, or both) with many games? Have frequently felt like my lacking breadth leaves me too uninformed to vote even after arguments or otherwise to understand characters' capabilities. Sorry if this is an unsuitable place to ask...

'It helps but it's not needed' is my stance. I game a lot and I mean A LOT but when I played and won a mercs, my tactic was to do a quick research on each merc that seemed good at a gameplay mechanics level (ie had a good ability) OR had really strong combat buzz and see what I found in 15 to 30 minutes, whether by asking someone who loved the merc and would chat my ear off or via internet threads. If they wowed me, I considered investing. If they didn't, I passed. And it worked! It takes a bit of time but you get faster and faster as you do it more too.

I find it helps more if it's someone who's broadly known, even if you haven't played their games. Like Snake, for example, is someone most people know even if you've never played Metal Gear Solid. And someone like a Snake that you may not know but the voters do is going to be way more helpful than someone you know but the voters generally don't.

If you argue for your team then knowing the games helps, and I think this is true even for characters that are widely known. If you have a good idea of the character's abilities and personality you're more likely to produce an argument that will convince people rather than trying to sell something no one will believe. Wikipedia/etc to research will give you the tools to argue for characters you don't know, but I've seen a lot of people try and argue things that don't pass the sniff test when arguing for Mercs they don't have any first hand knowledge of.

If you don't argue, best to pick stuff that is widely known.

I'll be around to consider arguments and the like, and will agree with Lopen, take the time to be able to find the strengths, and more importantly the weaknesses of your characters, so you can argue both points, how they can protect the problems while exemplifying their strengths.

AriaOfBolo posted...

I really wanna play but I really can't right now ;_;
will attempt to vote, but unless I sneak in as a late sub,this might be the first bololess mercs

oh no

Could always have extended fights, to give more time for thinking and people to post, rather than the very aggressive timeline of actions, and arguments over the weekend.

ZeeksFire posted...

Could always have extended fights, to give more time for thinking and people to post, rather than the very aggressive timeline of actions, and arguments over the weekend.

Usually we don't really spam fights in a short period, we sort them out across the week. Sometimes a week is really busy for players and they all gotta go up in one or two days, but we do try to avoid this

man I miss mercs but I just don't know if I have the emotional energy for it lately

Johnbobb posted...

man I miss mercs but I just don't know if I have the emotional energy for it lately

If the first Test Run was any indicator, the emotional energy reqs nowadays are wayyyyyyy lower

One thing we really wanted was to make it so people didn't have to burn themselves out to keep up and a lot of mechanics help mitigate that now. Can always just vote if leading sounds like work tho!

Tagging/debating if I want to sign up~

Oh hey, we have a Mercs tag now

What a great day to be a mercenary leader~

For the people on the fence who are considering the emotional toll of Mercs, I think the test run is a perfect opportunity to dip your toes back in. Low stress, low stakes, relatively brief time commitment. We've been having test matches on the Discord and it's been very peaceful and collegial.

I hear all of you but I don't think you understand the literal generational trauma some of us experienced. M1 was 20 years ago! (Jesus fucking christ) And I only have one setting when it comes to things like this, for better or worse.

M1 chewed me up and spat me out so quickly I don't think it left much of an impression on me.

FFDragon posted...

I hear all of you but I don't think you understand the literal generational trauma some of us experienced. M1 was 20 years ago! (Jesus fucking christ) And I only have one setting when it comes to things like this, for better or worse.

I get this completely. I can think of my own examples of lasting trauma from a long time ago that took a very, very long time to heal. What I'll say is this: I think trauma doesn't heal without some closure, and Mercs is too big a part of our lives to just be a festering, open wound. I would never ask players to not play hardball. The only thing the admin team requests is not attacking each other outside the game and not being absolute animals when debating in topics. I don't think either thing is an issue you'd run into, at all, so I welcome you going in to kick ass and take names.

Also, speaking very openly here for a second...I was talking to people about whether there was anything the admin team could do to make sure mercs is not a mental health hazard. Player consensus seemed to be 'it's always gonna be taxing, Kan, some things you cannot fix'. But at the same time, the general undercurrent also seemed to be that maybe it was still worth doing. I cannot say Mercenaries under my tenure will be a fantastical wonderland of peaceful debate and sportmanlike gaming...but I can promise that the work I aim to do is to create a game you could apply these lyrics I'm very fond of to:

We bitch and we fight
Diss each other on sight
But this thing we do

These times together
Rain or shine or stormy weather
This thing we do

With world-weary grace
We've taken our places
We could curse it or nurse it and give it a name
Or stay home by the fire, felled by desire
Stoking the flame

But were here for the ride

I'm here not to make a perfect game, but a game players can say 'it was worth it, in spite of, or even because of, all the pain'. And I can think of few people more qualified to say if we've gotten closer to pulling it off than you, FFD.

And I'm in, though I totally understand if I'm one of the ones cut because I won the first test run.

to quote a wise child of ages past

yolo

It'll be fun

i'll vote when i can. signed up for the discord so i'll have a better sense of when matches are gonna be going up

don't think i was around in 2005, but i was 100% here for zeratul's clown shoes, if anyone knows what year that was

Sorry. Have to drop.

gravy, you'll be missed

Back in (no troll)

I'm home

The discord link seems to be expired for me.

Probably just going to lurk, but still.

TheArkOfTurus posted...

The discord link seems to be expired for me.

Probably just going to lurk, but still.

https://discord.gg/FdnGdztf

Try this one, you're welcome to lurk ark

You asked for it, and you got it. I am proud to present...the Test Run specific rules!

Test Run Rules:

-Players will have 45 EXP to spend on upgrades. In effect, we are simulating having gone 50-50 across two cycles to see how the EXP distribution shakes out.
-There will be a 'Week Zero' where all mercenaries will be released in staggered sets, an initial big chunk and then several smaller ones. The staggered release list will be released soon (tm).
-Players will start with 225 GP at the start of Week 0, plus 25 GP for each additional set of releases, ending up with a total 325 GP to spend on releases. All players will start the game proper with 15 Net Infra, regardless of what mercs they purchase.
-We are aiming for a Peacetime drop of 8-9 PM EST on Friday. This should give players time to handle peacetime and war effectively without it being toooooo painful.

I will announce the players selected shortly! For now, start thinking about teambuilding~. That's all for now. Kanzaris out!

https://youtu.be/rD2B3XF09vA?si=FgN1YK4Xgf-i-9ty