12 replies to this topic

[Mr Andersson]

I think most of you would agree that the 'heat scale' fix to the boating problem is both ineffective and unecessarily complicated.

IMO, the problem is that using PPCs and Gauss rifles in large quantites (like 6 PPCs or 3 PPCs + Gauss) players can inflict high amounts of damage to precise locations on enemy mechs at long ranges. Other boating issues, like AC/40 Jagermechs, SRM36 Catapults and LRM60 Awesomes, are less of a problem. They all have drawbacks that keep them from being overpowered. Lasers don't do pinpoint damage, so nerfing them is just stupid.

The solution I propose is that if you fire more than a certain number of high damage pinpoint weapons (PPCs, ER PPCs and Gauss rifles) within a short time span (0.5 seconds is a good limit) then a portion of each weapon's damage goes as splash damage to an adjacent body part. For each additional weapon above the limit, the portion is bigger. For discussion purposes, let's use 2 as the limit.

Example:
You fire all your PPCs into the center torso of mech.

If you fire 2 PPCs, they do 20 damage to the CT, and all is fine.

If you fire 3 PPCs, you exceed the limit by 1. Therefor, 1 damage from each PPC is splashed to an adjacent location. The result is that 27 damage is done to the CT and 3 "packages" of 1 damage each are distributed randomly between RT, LT, RL and LL.

If you fire 4 PPCs, 2 damage from each PPC is "splashed". That means 32 damage is done to the CT and 8 packages of 1 damage each distributed as explained above.

And so on.


This of course implies that the heat scale system will be removed.

[Rhent]

Dude, don't even try to make suggestions to the Piranha development team. It won't go through. They *know* what will work. Their game improvements have worked so well (SSRM, SRM, Gauss), that I've saved $80 on Project Phoenix by getting a refund.

Can't wait till a major studio gets the license and see what they can do with it. It shouldn't be long now till its free again.

[Joseph Mallan]

Not only that Rhent but Splash damage was not working as intended for Missiles, I don't think it would be good for Alphas. Youd get your whole alpha pin point with extra damage hitting other areas.

[Ozric]

I rather like this idea.

[Carrioncrows]

Absolutely not.

Splash Damage is never the answer.

The only thing that should have splash damage is Artillery weapons.

All that effort to protect your damage locations splash damage mitigates. Have a cored CT? You turn around and present your back and get nailed by a splash weapon that reaches through your mech and hits your CT and kills you.

So, no.

Splash. Should. Never. Be. In. MWO.

[Mr Andersson]

Carrioncrows, on 31 August 2013 - 05:51 AM, said:

Have a cored CT? You turn around and present your back and get nailed by a splash weapon that reaches through your mech and hits your CT and kills you.

Well, there is a much less chance that you will have a cored CT in the first place. What would you rather have - damage concentrated on your CT or damage spread out over several parts of your mech?

[Nicholas Carlyle]

Jesus christmas, do you people even read the {Scrap} the devs talk about?

This is already the devs plan.

Essentially what the devs want to do is have a PPC do 10 damage. 5 Damage goes to the spot you hit, and 5 damage splashes in 1 point increments.

So for instance you hit the center torso, 5 damage is center torso, and 3 damage might go right torso, and 2 damage might go left.

The problem is they are incompetent and can't figure out how to code it.

So it's something you might see a year from now.

The only way they can do splash now ends up multiplying like crazy (See SRM's before the nerf) and so they can't use it properly.

[Royalewithcheese]

Weapon balance still hasn't recovered from the last time (lurmageddon) PGI tried to mess around with splash damage.

[Carrioncrows]

Mr Andersson, on 31 August 2013 - 09:14 AM, said:

Well, there is a much less chance that you will have a cored CT in the first place. What would you rather have - damage concentrated on your CT or damage spread out over several parts of your mech?

I prefer not to give inaccurate people better ways to get kills and take away a skilled persons reason to torso twist.

You always end up cored, it's just what happens so a skilled person will try and protect himself by torso twisting and playing defensively.

Now you want to basically strip that way with Splash damage? All the defensive evasion in the world and it still doesn't matter because all the guy has to do is hit your mech, doesn't matter where and the splash does the job for you.

There are easier ways to balance. Easier in giving the PPC a charge shot ability like the gauss is getting. Fixes it right there.

Nicholas Carlyle, on 31 August 2013 - 09:19 AM, said:

Jesus christmas, do you people even read the {Scrap} the devs talk about?

This is already the devs plan.

Essentially what the devs want to do is have a PPC do 10 damage. 5 Damage goes to the spot you hit, and 5 damage splashes in 1 point increments.

So for instance you hit the center torso, 5 damage is center torso, and 3 damage might go right torso, and 2 damage might go left.

The problem is they are incompetent and can't figure out how to code it.

So it's something you might see a year from now.

The only way they can do splash now ends up multiplying like crazy (See SRM's before the nerf) and so they can't use it properly.

In one post they considered it, but that was forever and a day ago. It has been dismissed.

Edited by Carrioncrows, 31 August 2013 - 01:11 PM.

[SkyCake]

the only weapons that need to be splashed are ac 10/20 that's it. .. The whole point of ppcs and gauss is that they are supposed to be the only pinpoint weapons in the game and that that strength is balance out by heat tonnage critical damage etc..

[Miekael]

We have seen PGI do splash damage before, they can't get it right.

[Aeolus Drift]

Its funny you mention splash damage on ppc. Not many people may know this, but the PPC back in MechWarrior 2 actually did splash damage. Unfortunately This also had the unintended consequences of resulting in splash-damaged induced headshots when ever people boated the weapon (or its clan variant thereof). Now PGI, from what I have heard, is considering to implement a similar solution, based on their "corrected" splash damage model, However, while I have no personal experience from MechWarrior 2 myself, I fear that this suggestion PGI is seeing to implement will do less to solve the ongoing alpha meta, and may only result in similar abuses as to what I have heard described from MechWarrior 2.

[Nicholas Carlyle]

Carrioncrows, on 31 August 2013 - 11:14 AM, said:

In one post they considered it, but that was forever and a day ago. It has been dismissed.

The post was within the last 90 days. It was not dismissed.

They cannot figure out how to do it. But it is the plan.