GG - Hello folks and welcome to the Cantina! My name is Ken, and I'm the guy buying the drinks for a chance to talk with a long time pilot FJ Bros.
FJ- Nice to have a little bit of time between faction deployments to cool down and catch up on things, maybe drink a drink beer or 18…
GG- FJ, you have an extensive amount of time in the Mecha Galaxy, what path brought you to where you are today?
FJ- Luckily, I was picked up rather early in my first month of play by the AFF. I was able to learn a lot about how to play this game from the veteran players in that large and highly decorated clan. There were good times and bad times, but very good players or different types and each had their own opinion. I listened, learned, experimented, and still do the same today. There is always something new to learn, especially from other players that are continuously growing as well. Though I have departed from the AFF with a bunch of my AFF brothers, I still have a lot of respect for the players that stayed behind and very thankful for their kindness and knowledge. In the Dragons, we focus on monthly clan events. As such, you won’t see us much in the KotM or Circuit aspects of the game.
GG- This week we've seen a lot of chatter of discontent on the boards about Division placement and performance issues.
FJ- I’ve seen this game listed under several genres: MMORPG, SCIFI, and Strategy. But this is a strategy game, you have to plan and analyze to be successful in any strategy game. There are lots of moving pieces, so as a clan, you have to be aware of what everyone is doing as well, as you maneuver your own pieces.
Unless you are just starting out in the game, we all know that the clan event placements are pretty straightforward. Based on the members in the clan, and average level of the clan members excluding a certain number of members is the clan’s average level. Anyone can calculate a clan’s average level pretty simply. Of course, the average level can be overstated if they lock early and gain some levels, so you can only be 100% certain for your own clan. During the usual clan wars, avg clan levels within a division are mostly pretty close together; however, during faction wars, there are a lot larger clans and fewer of them, so divisions can have wide margins. Either way, the placement is still the same as always: top 4 averages in Division 1, top 4 in division 2, so on and so forth. Sometimes there are 8 clan divisions, sometimes just 4 clans in the division. So other than if you fall into a 4 clan or 8 clan division, there really isn’t anything to debate about regarding placements.
As for performance issues, well, there are two aspects to that: clan composition and player composition. For clan composition, you need to design your clan to be successful at the average level of that clan. If more than half of your members can be effective at that clan level average, they should have a chance at success, if not, it will be a tough road. For simplistic example, if you have 50 members in a clan average of 50 and your clan is made up of 13 lvl 80s, 6 lvl 40s, 15 lvl 30s, and 16 lvl 20s, you should only expect your clan to be roughly 26% effective as only 13 of 50 players are above the average level of the clan. Sure the other players might be able pick up some wins, but from an overall strategic standpoint, it is set-up to be ineffective from the start. Now on the other hand, a clan that is 50 lvl 50 accts, can expect to be around 50% effective or more. Like I said, this is a very simplistic overview, but advance strategies of clan composition are not simplistic at all. You got to be able to understand who your opponents are going to be and design your composition to be effective against them.
GG- One of the things that got my attention was that some folks were having trouble understanding some of the aspects of game play and mechanics.
FJ- There are many ways to play this game, how you decide to play is up to you, but typically one aspect has consequences to the other aspects. Personally, I see roughly 3 main types of players: competitive clan oriented, casual players, and people that just like to blow things up.
The competitive clan oriented players (aka campers) focus on being effective in the clan events walking the path that steers clear of consuming XP. XP means gaining levels and usually tougher competition. These types of players are usually very active, and can usually compete against players at higher levels. The down side for these players is that you specialize in the clan events and tend not to compete in the KotMs, circuit fights or playing missions.
The casual player plays a bit of everything and XP tends not to be a concern for them. They tend to enjoy a bit of all the aspects of the game; however, they tend to be ineffective against the competitive clan oriented players in clan events.
The people that just like to blow things up… well they just like to blow things up and aren’t very concerned about competition, be it Clan Events or KotMs.
Regards of how you decide to play, have fun, but understand the consequences. Of course, you can have your cake and eat it too, but you’ll need some disposable income to keep yourself competitive.
GG- Someone recently said that M.G. was "a game of resources" and I found that very accurate. The ability to obtain and gather niodes, crystal, ferrite, and bioptics is critical to getting everything you need to being stronger. What are some of the things you've learned that could help our up and coming pilots?
FJ- Like most strategy games, you have to plan out your moves. Saving enough to get that big nasty mech, could result in it being ineffective if you don’t have the resources to level, equip and arm it properly. In this game, you have to plan in terms of months.
In regards to the resources, I’ll explain how to get each in turn.
Ferrite: You can get ferrite from fighting other players (win or lose), selling mechs, weapons, and equipment, clicking on level up posts on FB. Of course, the most useful way that most players utilizes (level 11 and above), is to purchase 5 packs of fury lasers or medium mordems and sell them. On a good weapon sale, you can convert crystals to ferrite and biotpics at loss of 1 crystal per 5 pack of weapons, outside of sales, you lose 3 crystal.
Bioptics: Same as ferrite above (except the FB level posts), but you can also get your level plus 50 bioptics from joining other player’s HGs. You can join an infinite number of HGs as long as they got room for you in their HG.
Crystals: Aside from selling crystal items, you get crystals from joining circuit fights (10 crystal entry prize), competing in circuit fights and harvesting crystal farms. Harvesting your own crystal farm, only gives you the crystals in the farm. While harvesting other player’s crystal farms will give you 1-5 crystals depending on how many crystals were in the farm. They get the crystals in there farm, and you get 1-5 crystals. In Facebook, you’ll also get the option of sending the player you harvested a Crystal Seed that you can cash in 10 per day for 5 crystals each.
Niodes: Aside from selling niode items, you can get niodes from joining circuit fights (2 niode entry prize) and by purchasing them with real world currency. In addition, there is a 3 times per day lottery that you can enter for a 10 ferrite entry fee. The lotto winner can claim 100 niodes within 24 hours of winning, and the winner’s clanmates can collect 20 niodes each after the winner claims the prize.
Each day you can use an Instant Upgrade Kit, so if used properly and daily, it is like getting 5 niodes for free on a daily basis. There is a 2x Instant Upgrade Kit, that you can get from completing quests, or if your clan wins the daily lottery for killing the most tons.
And of course there are the special events, like the recent “Lucky Clover Day” event, in which resources can be received.
GG- Another thing I see is high level players who have issues with pilots 20 levels lower.
FJ- There are many factors for this occurring. One; the lower level player just have better mechs, whether it be from spending real money, lucky in missions/raids, or from clan events. Two; the higher level player isn’t playing to the top of their level, such as using mechs that are lower tonnage than they can purchase, same goes for weapons. Three; their mechs aren’t equipped effectively. General rule of thumb is cockpit for precision, chassis for dodge, speed for engines, shields are whole other advanced debate, but my rule of thumb is niode over crystal, as the shield dmg amount is more useful at lower levels than at higher levels. And four; formation is not optimized. Placing your mechs properly in a formation is vital. Splash mechs in middle of the line, trample
shield mechs not in the first line, your best mechs in the same line, etc. There is a reason why you see players level 24-27 using the level 20 base instead of the level 24 base.
A side effect of the clan war mech prizes has been a growing disparity between the gold and silver clans and the rest. Or even between gold and rest. I am not saying that gold/silver clans shouldn’t be rewarded, but it makes it very tough to catch up if you are a new player or a bronze/plastic clan player.
GG- What other advice do you have for the troops out there?
FJ- The best advice I can offer is to find a clan that fits your play style. For example, if you are a casual player that doesn’t really care about being effective for your level, then a clan like the Dragons just isn’t for. But if you a competitive player in a clan that is continuously losing in clan wars and isn’t doing anything productive about it, like exploring new strategies and clan compositions, then a different clan is what you should be searching for. Complaining about things isn’t going to amount to much, figuring out how to do better will.
There are a lot of players out there that tend to be very loyal to their clans, but Fusion has shown that abandoning old loyalties to create a clan for a specific goal can be effective.
Also, players are willing to share information on how to improve, so feel free to ask (just ignore the trolls). On occasion, I’ll watch a replay of someone attacking me and losing and I’ll give them a few tips on how to make a more effective formation.
If you are in a small clan, make friends with other clans and pool your resources. More options will help you be more successful.
Finally, one clan leader can’t do everything, figure out a way of helping your leaders plan or providing information for your clan. Something as simple as posting your opponent’s specialists can help your clan members plan for the next round. Notice an opponent that is very strong for their level, post in your clan chat to avoid that player. Every little bit of information helps, so before you decide if your clan is doing enough for you, decide if you are doing enough for your clan.
GG- Thanks for that FJ! I'll let you get back to work as my wallet has grown a bit thin.
FJ- Yup, gotta work to live. And I am always willing to chat, as long as time permits.
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Submitted By:
FJ Bros
Pilot ID: 885020
Kenneth Hicks
Pilot ID: 846092