For starters, the Inner Sphere, where territory control is graphically mapped out, runs in real-time. For every day that passes in the real world, a day passes in the Inner Sphere. According to Piranha, Wednesday, 7th December 7th, 2011 is Wednesday, 7th December, 3048 in-game. ”The Inner Sphere is broken up into several factions, each with their own regions and sub-regions,” states the blog, ”Each faction is warring with at least one other faction at all times in a universal territory battle.”
Players can choose to be active or passive participants based on their allegiance. Players can choose a Faction, which fight other Factions for control of planetary resources. Players can also choose to be a part of a mercenary corporation, or just be a Lone Wolf.
There are three tiers of planets to fight over, including Core Worlds, which are actually managed by the dev team and are part of major historical events. Faction Worlds are lesser planets that buffer Core and Border worlds, and do not play a significant role in major historical events. The battles for control over Faction planets are a simple war of attrition where the faction with the most influence over a particular planet occupies it. Controlling these worlds result in global bonuses and abilities associated with a player’s Faction.
Finally, Border Worlds are fought over via a contract bidding system by player run Mercenary Corporations. Merc Corps must bid on a planet’s occupation rights via a system of contracts generated by the game, where a match or series of matches are set up between the defending Merc Corp and the challenger. The victor is determined from the results of each match, and takes control of the planet. They are rewarded with an immediate contract payout. These planets change hands on a regular basis, have no impact on historical events, and rewards for controlling a Border world are significant and go directly to the occupying Merc Corp.
Meanwhile, individual players earn Loyalty Points, which determine how devoted they have been to a particular faction. Players earn LP by performing in such activities as killing an enemy faction player. Earning ranks in Loyalty grant special privileges and items, including membership to special units, unit skins, and bonuses to C-Bills and XP. These are all non-permanent and subject to the player maintaining a certain rank level.
Merc Corps must have a certain amount of Loyalty Points with a faction in order to fight for that Faction. Lone Wolves earn loyalty points through participation in random matches. These Points have no positive or negative implications, and lone wolf players do not have any ranks.
