Will there be a sense of progression in the final release?

[Skabb]

Right now, everything is available at level 1. It makes sense for the purposes of a playtest, but I can't help but think there lacks any excitement around leveling up when it comes to your mechs, you just get higher numbers and that's it. Perhaps extra frame/arm/leg/aux slots every tier for more flexibility, perhaps some sort of gated computer upgrades that act kind of like feats for the mech. Even locking of certain equipment, like the recon frames or certain limbs (though I think leaving this as a last resort if nothing else works is best).

I know you can increase flexibility with lower tier mechs as you gain levels, but that only works within your first few levels, at which point you can't really add more below a certain tier due to slots.

[Jack Rift]

I hope so as well. It was something I noticed as well while reading the Mech section. Also several of the frames currently are better than other options with little draw backs. Recon vs flight frames for example. Also I personally feel the assault frame category needs something to feel competitive to the others besides cheeper.

[Garretmander]

Good or bad, I feel the mechs are designed more for a short series of encounters rather than a whole campaign using them as often as possible.

[Jack Rift]

Then I feel that is missing some of the fun. Same as people pointed out with Starships and until recently, lack of squadron rules.

[Mimski]

I wouldn't mind mechs getting some kind of "free upgrades" every few levels. Or maybe unlocking/improving frame/limb/weapon abilities over time, similar to animal companions in PF1.

[Jack Rift]

They at least get Str upgrades at 4th and every 3 tiers there after, besides hardness and HP upgrades. But yeah, that isn't that impressive.

[IvoMG]

Mimski wrote:

I wouldn't mind mechs getting some kind of "free upgrades" every few levels. Or maybe unlocking/improving frame/limb/weapon abilities over time, similar to animal companions in PF1.

Having this kind of improvments on mech parts could be really troublesome for a few players to remind.

Having more parts variation (let's say MK1,MK2 and MK3, arms legs mech frame) could be much more easier to remember or take notes, this parts should never be tied to a certain tier mech (let it be free and players should choose whats best for them), also having flat cost in a few upgrades and auxiliary systems also could give more notion of getting upgrades.
But having this kind of things is useless if the MP build points don't scale up as you level, because as it is every mech part selection is tied to Cost/tier.
Something like maybe you start with 10 MP and gain 10MP every level but every even level the MP gain rises by 1, this would end up with the same 300 MP. or even adding 5 bonus MP at every 5 levels (same levels that characters receive bonus stats).
This way your mech will star with few points and as you level you have more free MP to better customize you mech