RAT playing Mechabellum FFA (new Free For All game mode)

New mechabellum game mode - Free for all!
RAT is playing the new mechabellum FFA mode against Steelsane, Druski and Amaroq. In this video you will learn about the new mechabellum 4-Player Brawl and see how it works. It will be released to the public on Thursday, May 16th.

[@HolgFromHell]

Crazy game mode. From what I saw: - I want to fight the other players, not mainly bots - spamming units should not be a successfull Mechabellum gameplay - visualization must be smooth, lagging is not acceptable

[@SurreyEZ]

Yea this game mode really wants you to go mass melter, mass factory or mass boat. I think the map with the neutral units is a good design but i would also like a little bit more pvp action. Seemed really random where my units went and how the boss rounds turned out

[@MaikNeuhoff]

@@SurreyEZ this game mode is dumb... as you said, you have to spam units that scale well into the lategame... the rest is random^^

[@HolgFromHell]

@@SurreyEZ not sure, but did you miss to mention that there is now a limit for spawning new units? saw it on Druski's video. so Overlords, Melters, Fortresses may not be overpowered in the last part of a round.

[@SurreyEZ]

@@HolgFromHell wasn't the case when i played the game and not info on how it works exactly, but yea its coming

[@HolgFromHell]

@@SurreyEZ I'm pretty sure I wondered that at the end of the rounds there were no new wasps present; I thought about EMP; but against air?? probably it was that limit.

[@Scarlet_Fate]

I don't think they are even trying to make this mode super competitive and balanced. The boss always attacks the player who is in the lead.

[@OneFingerYT]

Yeah, not was I was expecting. My best guess is the developers fear the game becoming stale, and are endlessly overcorrecting by adding randomness, chaos, and complexity.

[@FiftyShadesOfGames]

awesome edit, adding the rule explanations!

[@SurreyEZ]

Glad you liked it!

[@lordfantas_]

It feels like you'd really want to tech some of your units very differently for this game mode. Photon seems useless since so much of the fight happens late, for example. Could be fun with the right balance as far as what's happening in the center.

[@SurreyEZ]

Yea lots of different tech options could be good, like crawlers acid might be super good. Or the wasp emp that i mentioned in the video. It's a fun mode but apart from the early game tower sniping it doesn't feel like i'm in control of the game. Just build a bunch of stuff and pray

[@lordfantas_]

@@SurreyEZ yeah, just build giants that are producing chaff and cross your fingers

[@alk8786]

The very, VERY and kinda the most important question in any FFA game - is the chat allowed? Is teaming up allowed? It make perfect sense to make alliances between lowest scoring players. At the same time, im not sure if there enough time between rounds for diplomacy. Lurking on discord channel with all other players may become quite an advantage. And even if chat is not allowed you could still communicate by predertemenied actions.

[@slydergugus4987]

i think it's gonna be pretty fun. I like the idea of a "fun mod" and i think it's good to have variety in a game like mechabellum. I like the 1v1 ranked but i feel that you can't go crazy past a certain rank so a mod like this will be very cool!

[@Swisscow6]

lol the laaaaag is insane ;-) i like stupid game mods, so u can play bad and no one will notice ;-) and those bosses ar hilarious

[@SurreyEZ]

Yea there's a actually a disclaimer when you start the mode that it might lag and they are working on it. But hopefully its a bit better for you guys since im recording a video here at the same time :) It's really fun mode! Had a good time playing it and there are many nuances what you can do with beacons etc.

[@ipatchymakouli415]

Hackers are pretty strong in this mode too, not only melters. Stealing bosses back to full life wins games from what I've seen (even against mass melters with full tech, yes), and it snowballs hard, since bosses will go towards the player ahead on score...

[@SurreyEZ]

i just assumed they would be unhackable but apparently not

[@3dLuck]

in a FFA getting second place is also good. And with hackers and some bosses that do not shoot air, it can be a little of a luck roll, like get in first place and now hope that you get an easy boss.

[@kOfTheQ]

Grabbing the melting point drop and saving it to pair with the rhino, then dropping them to snipe one of the further pylons is what I'd do. Deny opponents resources that way.

[@shrapnel8869]

The slow guy was winning rounds sure, but he was falling super far behind on econ.

[@jonghyeonlee5877]

After thinking about this for a bit, I think it might actually be very good for the health of the game. One of *the* big problems it's been having, is how the fanbase has split in two over whether the "Chaotic Fun" random unit cards are good for the game or not. And I think *that's reflective of an underlying split in what kind of person who plays this game:* "Casuals" vs. "Tryhards" one could put it, or people blowing off steam with the cool robot game vs. people treating this like a martial art, where through intense study & practice, you seek to cultivate the best version of yourself you can be & find out what you're _really_ capable of. Same thing as Magic: The Gathering's famed "Timmy/Johnny/Spike" player archetypes. *And you could never build a single game that would make these two sides both happy.* That was what was tearing the game apart. But perhaps you could make two *formats* of a game where they can each be happy, in separate worlds. Make a gamemode for Chaotic Fun and move the random unit drop cards there, then rename the standard 1v1 to something like "Competitive" to make its focus clearer. (Like what happened to Team Fortress 2: there's this huge split between the Casual vs. Competitive players, but for the most part they don't interact, so they both get to be happy with _their_ game. It's only when they both have to share, as with Uncletopia servers or the like, that things get ugly.) The Free For All gamemode isn't quite ready for that, of course, the lag is unbearable (amongst other things). But it's a sign that the developers may actually know how to solve the split in the playerbase. (Either that, or they don't know, but someone should really tell them.). Of course, every new gamemode comes at a cost in terms of splitting the matchmaking queue (so it takes longer to find games), or splitting developer time & attention, or things like that. *But it's necessary.* The game can't expand without the super-passionate Competitive players evangelizing for the game & drawing in new people, and it can't survive without the flood of casual players tossing $10 or whatever to the developers to play a 'Beer & pretzels' robot game. *The game can't be all things to all people;* there are player archetypes like the "Johnny" type who will probably never get representation. *But it has to be at least 2 things to 2 peoples,* and this is the start it needs. (See also, Warhammer & Warhammer 40k tabletop; the two main types of people Games Workshop caters to are the Johnny & Spike types, the "main" entries in the Warhammer series universe have been _notoriously_ inaccessible to newcomers for decades now. But the series doesn't *need* Casuals when it instead makes its money from "pumping & dumping" [so to speak] its few devoted players as hard as it can: if you actually pay Games Workshop for official minis, you can easily pay _thousands_ with every new edition or even just update, which goes really far in terms of replacing hundreds of Casuals paying $10 each. Accordingly, the civil war constantly brewing in the playerbase is between the Johnnies & Spikes, not the Casuals vs. Competitives. I suppose Mechabellum could follow a similar path & focus on squeezing as much money from a few devoted players as possible, rather than squeezing the game into a Casual mould to appeal to the masses... ... though, even Warhammer tries to appeal to Casuals, it just splits that sort of thing off into entirely different games. Tie-in games, in genres much more likely to appeal to mass audiences like FPS games. That only works of course though because the Warhammer universe & lore is strong enough & famous enough to make tie-ins sell; not sure whether a Mechabellum tie-in FPS would work...)

[@TheHuffur]

Yeah not all that thought out with the bosses, you just kinda lucked out that the last boss wave was weak against air so you barely lost anything from your main force while it still took time to beat the boss keeping your units 'safe' from other players. I think a much more balanced and fun game mode would be a sort of tournament style game mode that looks exactly like this but instead of AI enemies and money towers its one of the players units that gets placed in the middle and another player fights that 1v1, goal being to make a army that can win as much as possible in the middle. So for example: Player1 makes a army and it gets copied into the middle, it fights against Player2. Player1 wins, does 500 damage/score. Player1 army(restored) then fights Player3. Player3 wins but gets no score, instead their army takes the place of the middle army. Player3 army(copy) fights Player4, wins, does 300 damage/score. Player3 army fights Player1, wins gets 600 damage/score. Player3 army fights Player2, loses so now Player2 takes the middle etc etc. This would be kinda interesting since you could either try to counter as many different players as possible and win several times or try to super hard counter one player and win BIG instead. Since its basically a series of 1v1 tournament style rounds the game speed should probably be increased automatically all the time so it doesnt take hours to play a single match.

[@SurreyEZ]

There's infinite options where you can take it. But yea I didnt like the boss design. If they go with what they have they should have supply towers in the center and corners and then guardians guarding it. Then you would need to decide with your deployments on do you go to center or the sides

[@Mortis_XII]

Will you play this mode anymore after the curator exclusivity period? This is not what i was expecting nor hoping for in an ffa mode

[@SurreyEZ]

I think it's good that there's some objectives on the map. Probably play a little bit to learn the best strategies but after that probably not. I'm not too interested in the "fun" modes :D But i really think the ffa was a good mode and a lot of fun, i just happen to hate fun :D maybe i would play more if it was like 2vs2vs2vs2 that i can play with a friend

[@aarondrivesabus]

Why do you mass overlords instead of upgrading the one you had at the time? Isn't it more efficient to upgrade

[@SurreyEZ]

more summons and more bodies. More overlords clear chaff better and die slower to something like melting points

[@RationalOrc]

If I wanted to fight bots, I'd fight bots. Also, I think you should be able to flank the guy opposite you. Because otherwise, you can't really interact with them.

[@Isvoor]

Nyt on paljon mechejä. Romumetallia kaikille!

[@Kepals8766]

What the hell? We got Giant-spam-simulator in mechabellum ?! No but for real what are these frames in this game mode 💀

[@mehgamer1]

People in comments sound really mad about the kind of content that has existed as long as strategy games have had MP lobbies: silly stuff! Where would we be if not for AoE 2 maps made entirely out of trees? This looks like a great time with the homies.

[@MegaHuntress]

Or silly 5 vs 5 hero arenas is our RTS games.

[@SurreyEZ]

Yea it's a different mode, dont like it? dont play it. This is for sure going to be the preferred fun mode of many people

[@sandereker4861]

How do you play on the Mechabellum test server?

[@SurreyEZ]

have to become a youtuber or a streamer

[@noneyabusiness8065]

I don't mind new game modes, allows for diverse playing and replayability for the game overall. I know there is a diehard competitive scene for this game, and I do enjoy playing 1v1 competitively, but i think new ways to play the game are good for the overall longevity of mechabellum.

[@SurreyEZ]

yea new modes are always cool

[@Ilostmycactus]

Looks fun but laggy.

[@devinbyrnes8058]

I dislike the boss mechanic. Strategic sandbagging until the last round doesn’t seem fun.

[@SurreyEZ]

Yea I havent really learned yet if its good that the boss is attacking you or not, but the boss mechanic felt a little bit weird to me. Whatever it is, positive or negative effects its very strange that only one player gets it

[@theRizza791]

@@SurreyEZ Its always the player with the highest score that gets attacked. So its advantageous to take towers but still lose in the end. Bad mechanic imo

[@willianlussin8981]

They had a good game going and now its being ruined, RUINED I SAY

[@SurreyEZ]

It's a different mode

[@07vlas]

What a shame development of ffa mode... Is this strategy anymore? I can't understand the view of devs

[@SurreyEZ]

Well it's a chill, non-stress game mode. Buy a bunch of giants and watch them battle :)

[@07vlas]

@@SurreyEZ sure it is, but for what purpose? You need to "chill"? Go to testing grounds and chill there til end of times I do like that devs are doing something and testing this and that, but the direction is questionable And now they will spread their manhours to this gamemode and than for the normal and and and What do you think?

[@sukuidoardo]

@@07vlas bro no one is forcing you to play an alternative gamemode. Why are you trying to gatekeep which there is not even a gate?

[@07vlas]

@@sukuidoardo Well bro, of cource not bro. But... -> this gamemode costs work hours of the devs. They could invest them into more useful things, like better replay system, QoL features (like permanent on grid) etc. That is why i'm worried about that! I can't understand why do the invest time to that thing, rather making the whole strategic part of the game better

[@oddwolf4601]

What a waste of time. FFA is never really a thing to take serious. This will get stale after 3 games. Rather have them focus on the 1v1 and 2v2 modes. Make the random unit drops weaker and only include the new "rare" units.

[@jackplisken4738]

today is a good day , i finaly deinstalled this piece of unbalanced garbage

[@SurreyEZ]

you could set aside the 1v1 and embrace the madness in FFA battles :)