This idea sounds great but it has 1 little problem only SM and CSM have Titans as far as i can remeber. Otherwise fighting on the back of a 800 meters Imperial class titan. Hell i'm in for it.
I can't imagine Titans being player-driven at any point in game. (My Points here are largely on the imperiums side, but I guess they are more or less true for the other factions as well) Lore-wise: The Princeps in everything but the warhound is fixed in their amniotic casket, because they couldn't process it all without it. And even the other people in the crew are highly specialized and modified for their task(s) (and a marine wouldn't even fit in the seats, if they even can come in without damaging anything along the way), plus every crewmember is part of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Could go on, but anyways. Gameplay: Now it stands to reason if it were pilotable by players, it would use the same mechanic as a tank with several people needed to operate it. Using a tank should be rather easy to use, while a titan should most definitely not be (missing interfaces and stuff). Then, even the Warhound has _massive_ firepower which could (depending on load) shoot across half the battlefield, Reavers most possibly always can and Warlords definitely can (Imperators could possibly cover the entire map, however large it might be). On the other hand, Titans have void shields. They take a lot to shatter and almost all weapons carried by infantry are absolutely ignored by them (yes, I choose to ignore those Devastators spoken of before. Lascannons? Nope. Maybe Plasma Cannons, but I'm sceptical there, too), with most tank-mounted weapons need some serious numbers and coordination to punch through. And of Super-Heavies we can't even be sure if they will be player-driven (a single Shadowsword would be a match to a Warhound, imho, but anything heavier or more...). Now, that being said, I can imagine Titans being AI controlled in at least two instances: 1. Homebase Defence - A pair of Warhounds or Reavers patrols the perimeter of the base and shoot at any enemies near it, so it is near to impossible to be lost (but if it happens there should be severe punishment). They can't be ordered around in any way by the councils as not to use them offensively. 2. Titan Battles - Yes. You read that right, I wrote Titan Battles. It would be quite atmospheric if some titans fought around you and maybe, just maybe, once in a while (say 10-30 seconds or so) they shoot with something in the general area of the enemy groundtroops, if they stray too close. Now to ensure neither battling faction gets a advantage out of it, once the titans are only on one side left, the surviving ones are either too damaged and return to base (read, despawn) or get shot down by anything outside the battlefield (artillery, space bombardment, etc.). Just my... well, it is more than two cents, isn't it? Let's just say, it's a buck
Even if Titans are never playable or included in the fights as A.I. controlled, they should be, at the very LEAST, part of the background far off the edge of some map in the game. You would be able to see a truly giant Imperator-class Titan just standing in place, towering over a distance battlefield, the many smaller weapons placed all over it's body firing off in all directions, void shields briefly flaring up as they shrug off pathetic attempts to hurt the God Machine. Then, every few minutes, it's massive arm-mounted plasma annihilator slowly begins to glow as it charges and prepares to fire. Then it unleashes the shot at some unseen target far into the distance, and a moment later, an incredibly bright light as the shot hits with the power of a small nuclear explosion. The blast would look something like this (not including pushing players around lol): View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO-8JPjUmLg or maybe like this (skip ahead to 2:50): View: http://youtu.be/fu0scA8kqHQ?t=2m50s Holy shit... that would just be pure awesome if they actually put that in. That would add so much to the atmosphere of the game if they had map backgrounds like that. It would really give the feeling that you are fighting in a planetary-scale war instead of just a small 1000 man battle.
Rather than having active titans, how about a map that is actually the body of an Imperator or Warlord titan that fell long ago? The final mission for the respective factions of Dawn of War: Winter Assault took place on such a map, and driving back the Necrons between the half-buried remnants of the Titan definitely had style. If one were to step further, you could make this a Capture and Hold style mission, where both sites try to conquer the still semi-functional titan and direct its smaller "side guns" against the enemy base, just as you used the Titan to blast the Necrons to Kingdom Come in Winter Assault.
I think having Titans and other superheavies implemented as environmental hazards, so say 2 sides are fighting on the field. the field contains some titans on both sides stomping around and shooting each other. while we the players, duke it out around their legs. this visually alone would be dam awesome if done right. add to that the hazard of being underfoot when one of them stops down or a stray shot from one of them hits the ground nearby. To take it further you could have if one side of players has the upper hand in the battle, this is reflected on the titans with the losing side titan becoming heavily damaged and toppling down should the engagement be lost. This I think would be an awesome thing to behold in a game.
I actually really like this idea, A titan basically is a walking fortress so it's not beyond the realms of possibility that we would be able to fortify it and hold it while we scavenge tech from the wreckage.
I think adding Titans as a gameplay mechanic in a "regular" battle is a bad decision and completely impossible if it's player-controlled, it needs to be AI. What could work, however, is adding a titan as part of a few campaign-events. One example can be that traces of a lost Titan is found on some planet. Chaos and Space Marines want it to restore it for personal use, Eldar want to destroy it because in 400 years it's going to destroy a craftworld or something, Orks want it for the scrap to build orky things. If Space Marines or Chaos win the campaign, it'd be restored/pimped out warp-style and used to siege a traitor/loyalist planet. That would be an interesting plot-turn and allow the defending faction to possibly team up with another faction, e.g Chaos teams up with Orks or Space Marines team up with Eldar. The Titan could have a fixed amount of health, and if it doesn't deplete within a certain timeframe (several hours minimum, several days maximum), the attackers win the campaign. If Orks found it, well, same scenario except with tons of Gargants instead of a single titan?
Having titans would be no different to having call ins like choppers or nukes in games like Call of Duty
Which I thought was completely terrible, If it's going to be implemented it needs to be something better than the CoD kill streaks!
