13 replies to this topic

[CG Oglethorpe Kerensky]

I was bored last night so I wanted to test out the new ability of the LB-10X AC to inflict critical hits.

Way back in the October/November months I used to run a Catapult K-2 with dual LB-10Xs and 4 medium lasers. While the effective range of the LBs is 540 meters with a 1.5km max, I found that I had to close to near point blank to make them effective, so I was a brawler that frequently found myself squaring off against another mech in single combat. Eventually I realized that other ballistics weapons were simply better for the job and moved on.

Last night I revisited the LB-10X Catapult to test out how things have changed, I rebuilt the mech to the same specifications and took it out onto the field to see how things went.

The results of the testing, I found absolutely no difference in performance. The only notable components I destroyed were Gauss Rifles, and as we know those things explode extremely easily anyway. At no point during any of my matches did I wreck any exposed sections via critical hits, I found the best way to knock out components in a section was to simply destroy the section which would have been much easier without cluster rounds.

CLUSTER ROUNDS ARE TERRIBLE.
The completely nullify the range advantage of the LB-10X AC, they reduce overall damage potential from missed pellets and the ones that hit distribute damage across the mech which is exactly the opposite effect you want when dealing with armored opponents.

Please stop trying to make cluster rounds useful and just implement the ability to fire slug rounds as you mentioned you were going to do ages ago. Just do it and be done with it.

[Arete]

Think they need to increase the crit chance even more. An LB-X should be the most feared weapon of all once the armor i stripped on more than one compartment. So the AC-20/10 are good for stripping armor AND getting crits when you hit stripped compartments (which requires skill), but the LB-X could be quite bad at stripping armor, but be brutal att cutting down mechs with stripped armor. I want to be as afraid of an LB-X when my CT armor is stripped as I am of the AC-20 now.

Edited by Arete, 25 February 2013 - 05:26 AM.

[Signal27]

Somebody in a different thread came up with a good point, I thought:

LRMs got a damage boost as compared to their original table top rating.
SRMs got a damage boost as compared to their original table top rating.
LB-10X's damage remains the same as the original table top rating.

Given the nature of all these weapons to "spread", I can understand the argument to give LB-10X's a damage buff of some sort. Not just a "crit seeking" ability, but a flat increase to how much damage each pellet does.

[Kmieciu]

The critical damage modifier for LBX does not work because a the typo in the config file (itemstats.xml)

LBX have critDamMulti="2.0"
MG have critDamMult="12.5"
Flamer has critDamMult="1.1"

Find the error.

I sent a PM to Thomas Dziegielewski. He confirmed the bug and said it`s going to get fixed on March 5th.

[JayVrb]

Kmieciu, on 25 February 2013 - 05:42 AM, said:

The critical damage modifier for LBX does not work because a the typo in the config file (itemstats.xml)

LBX have critDamMulti="2.0"
MG have critDamMult="12.5"
Flamer has critDamMult="1.1"

Find the error.

I sent a PM to Thomas Dziegielewski. He confirmed the bug and said it`s going to get fixed on March 5th.

Do i get a cookie?

[Kmieciu]

Vrbas, on 25 February 2013 - 07:06 AM, said:

Do i get a cookie?

You get a double LBX blast to the internals :-) Satisfied?

[JayVrb]

Kmieciu, on 26 February 2013 - 12:37 AM, said:

You get a double LBX blast to the internals :-) Satisfied?

[Deathlike]

It's good to know that a "feature" that was added isn't working as it should. No surprises there!

[Koniving]

Signal27, on 25 February 2013 - 05:30 AM, said:

Somebody in a different thread came up with a good point, I thought:

LRMs got a damage boost as compared to their original table top rating.
SRMs got a damage boost as compared to their original table top rating.
LB-10X's damage remains the same as the original table top rating.

Given the nature of all these weapons to "spread", I can understand the argument to give LB-10X's a damage buff of some sort. Not just a "crit seeking" ability, but a flat increase to how much damage each pellet does.

You do realize that all mechs received double armor.

In comparison to this double armor, most weapons are dealing half standard damage. As such SRMs and LRMs are also dealing less than standard damage.

LRM TT standard: 1.0 versus 1* armor.
LRM MWO damage: 1.7 or 1.8 damage versus 2* armor.
Mathematical Result? LRMs are doing about 0.9 damage versus 1* armor. It's been nerfed.

SRM TT standard: 2.0 damage per missile versus 1* armor.
SRM MWO damage: 2.5 per missile versus 2* armor.
Mathematical Result? SRMs are doing about 1.25 damage versus 1* armor. It's been nerfed.

LB-10X TT Standard: 1 damage per pellet versus 1* armor.
LB-10X MWO: 1 damage per pellet versus 2* armor.
Mathematical Result? LB-10X pellets are dealing 0.5 damage per pellet versus 1* armor. As with all AC and Energy weapons, its always been nerfed due to the rise in armor.

Armor was raised due to player accuracy causing a severe unbalance compared to TT's "chances" to hit and the game not being fun when 'Mechs felt like paper in Closed Beta. As such the 50 ton 'Mech's armor is that of a TT Atlas, and the Atlas has the armor of two TT Atlai.

There hasn't been anything that's been "buffed" with the exception of critical chances. They've all been nerfed.

-----------------

Also to original poster, one because you Squawk, the game singles you out. Two: The LB-10X's critical chances don't take any effect until the armor is gone. However it is true that there is apparently some mention of the critical chance error.

Have you considered using an AC-10 and LB-10X combo? Or combining weapons that are intended to strip the enemy's armor followed by the LB-10X?

I found a great combination in Gauss/ER PPC to strip armor and LB-10X to shred them after the armor is gone for my cataphracts.

Edited by Koniving, 26 February 2013 - 11:22 AM.

[Kmieciu]

Koniving, on 26 February 2013 - 11:12 AM, said:

I found a great combination in Gauss/ER PPC to strip armor and LB-10X to shred them after the armor is gone for my cataphracts.

Try 2xGauss+ERlarge on the CTF-4X. You can put 39 damage in the same spot from 660 meters away. It`s amazing how delicate those XL Stalkers are :-)

[Koniving]

Perhaps the one thing I have not tried on a 4x.

Although I am rather enjoying LPL + 4* MG with 16,000 rounds + SRM4 with 400 missiles, max standard engine, 2 or so additional doubles to bring it up to a 1.96 heat efficiency. So long as you don't lose the LPL, it is both great challenge and great fun. Lose the LPL (due to component destruction) and you're screwed.

[CG Oglethorpe Kerensky]

Koniving, on 26 February 2013 - 11:12 AM, said:

You do realize that all mechs received double armor.

In comparison to this double armor, most weapons are dealing half standard damage. As such SRMs and LRMs are also dealing less than standard damage.

LRM TT standard: 1.0 versus 1* armor.
LRM MWO damage: 1.7 or 1.8 damage versus 2* armor.
Mathematical Result? LRMs are doing about 0.9 damage versus 1* armor. It's been nerfed.

You did not take into account that in TT, even after you successfully hit, you must roll on a table to determine how many of the missiles hit, the LRM20 for example has an average hit rate of 12 missiles. It is pretty common for the entire flight of LRMs to hit a target in MWO.

[Koniving]

True. My statement is damage per missile, not how accurate missiles are.

The accuracy issue is the overall reasoning behind the double armor as those hits are usually as high as possible on MWO.

[Mazgazine1]

I think a buff to the LBX is definitely needed, but it would potentially deem the AC10 obsolet, unless its damage range is moved down (stay to 200m or something).

Then up the damage on them.