Super Monday Night Combat: Third Person Lords Management

[Rorschach]

I figured this forum deserved a SMNC thread considering the interest in the Lords Management genre.

What it is?

It's a third person shooter that has Lords Management style gameplay. The setting is post-apocalyptic gameshow. It's also free-to-play with the base similarity of League of Legends with rotating free characters each week. Also a bit of a TF2 vibe with memorable character classes. Updates (balancing, new features, new classes etc.) occur every week. The Rules have Changed!

Lords Management?

The primary gametype is Super Crossfire. Two lanes of bots fight each other and static turrets to get to the opposing team's moneyball. The turrets and moneyball start with shields that can only be damaged by bots, so you're staying with the bots instead of destroying the backfield in MNC. There is a "jungle" in each map (currently 4).

Characters?

SMNC has five character classes. Each week six new characters are available for free. Unlocked characters are always available. Only one character allowed on the field per side.

• Commando: Low health, high mobility class for debuffing and ambushing (Assassin, Wascot, Captain Spark)
  
• Striker: Medium health, generalist class mixing mobility with burst damage (Assault, Karl, Megabeth)
  
• Enforcer: High health, slow moving class maximizing short range damage (Cheston, Gunner, Tank, Veteran)
  
• Defender: Medium health, healer class for buffing teammates and area control (Combat Girl, Engineer)
  
• Sharpshooter: Low health, ranged damage class for highly skilled aim (Gunslinger, Sniper, Artemis)
  

Free to Play?

You can buy characters, and non-gameplay customization (skins, animations, etc.) directly through Steam Wallet. Characters range from $1.99 to $7.49.

There's a second currency called combat credits which you can't buy, only gain through playing. Well, you can buy a boost the increases your rate of combat credits. CCs are used to buy endorsements and products which give your character various small abilities and buffs. You can buy character unlocks with CCs but it's a grind.

After roughly 90 minbutes worth of play you'll get a free drop. This could be an endorsement, product, skin or taunt.

So most everything can be unlocked through play (but a lot of play), and you can't buy your way to an overpowered status.

Persistence?

Like a Lords Management game your character levels up during a match. Your persona is an Agent which also levels up over multiple matches unlocking additional endorsement and product slots.

[Orv]

Have they rescinded the idiotic decision to put auto-aim in a PC game, or at least given an option to turn it off?

More importantly, is there any semblance of matchmaking now?

[Rorschach]

There's no auto-aim that I know of. It's a PC only game.

Matchmaking is split into newbies under agent level 20 and experienced people. The queues are split into solo, 2-3 person groups, and full 5 man teams so there's no chance your soloing will get stomped by a coordinated team. They continue to tweak the algorithms to match player skill. I'm at 164 wins and 145 losses and don't have any big complaints about matchmaking.

Oh and games last for 15-20 minutes so even if you're in a bad game it's not as long as other Lords Management games.

[Korax]

I quite prefer SMNC's third-person perspective to the first- and second-person setups of games like DOTA 2 and LoL.

Also, I don't really have any qualms with games being "pitched" to me, but when you sound like a press release or back-of-box bullet point list, it makes me want to throw old ladies holding adorable puppies into the sun.

[SGP]

I'm very fond of the game. Sadly, the community has dissolved quite a bit and they never had the playerbase to support well-balanced matchmaking without absurdly long queue times. Their Voice net-code is pretty bad as well.

On the other hand, this game has so much personality and is a breath of fresh air. I recommend that anyone try it if they enjoy Lords Management games. There's a learning curve but it really is a unique experience.

[Chris]

I quite prefer SMNC's third-person perspective to the first- and second-person setups of games like DOTA 2 and LoL.

Also, I don't really have any qualms with games being "pitched" to me, but when you sound like a press release or back-of-box bullet point list, it makes me want to throw old ladies holding adorable puppies into the sun.

I'm confused about the usage of "third-person" in this case. How are other Lords Management games not third-person? I've never seen a first-person LOMA game. (And what do you mean by second-person in the context of a video game camera perspective?)

[Twig]

His phrasing is weird, but SMNC is a third-person shooter at its core. The camera is always centered on your Lord's rear-end (or slightly above). You can't move it elsewhere. Normal games in the genre, you can move the camera wherever you want, RTS-style, a fact of which you're obviously aware. Maybe, in that sense, because you can look at what other people are doing, it's second-person? (What.)

I just realized I answered questions you didn't ask. Well, la dee da!

[Orv]

He's looking for isometric, I think, in reference to most DotA-likes.

[Jake]

It's third person over the shoulder, instead of a more omniscient third person RTS camera.

I am the third person to reply to this question with a nearly identical answer.

[Chris]

It's third person over the shoulder, instead of a more omniscient third person RTS camera.

Yeah I get that generally, but Korax then referred to other LOMA games as being first or second person, which I don't really understand. It's not a big deal, I was just curious as to his meaning.

[Rorschach]

Also, I don't really have any qualms with games being "pitched" to me, but when you sound like a press release or back-of-box bullet point list, it makes me want to throw old ladies holding adorable puppies into the sun.

Sorry I thought a FAQ format explaining the game would be short and to the point to let the discussion go on from there.

[Rorschach]

I don't have any real DOTA or LOL experience so for me the gameplay is closer to Sacrifice, The Outfit, or Brutal Legend where you participate directly within a strategy game from a behind the shoulder view. But instead of more general RTS mechanics beyond the "3rd person action" it's push the lanes, beware the jungle, etc. mechanics of a LOMA.

[Rorschach]

Okay I'll try to come across less bullet pointy but wanted to let you know that there's a co-op vs. infinite bot waves mode being previewed this week. It's crazy fun and a good way to get into the game without getting stomped by veterans.

[clyde]

I don't know why, but there seem to be a lot of new people playing today. 

If you were ever considering trying this game out, this would be a better time to do so than most. It's still incredibly difficult and the community is typically venomous, but it is an incredibly deep and unique competitive shooter and Lords Management. 

If you do try it out for the first time, I recommend playing as Assault, or as Combat Girl and just killing bots as you follow around your teammates. By doing this, you'll get a better understanding of what all the pros are capable of and how games are won. Defense is incredibly important in this game (yet often ignored) so by killing bots in territory that your teammates are controlling, you can help your team and not get shouted at as much.

The game has very high highs and very low lows. It's intense as far as competition goes. 

Don't forget it's free.