102 replies to this topic

[sokitumi]

So all the rage has been about LRM's for a while now- But in my opinion arty and air strikes are by far the most unbalanced items in the game.

Lets review: no weight, no range restriction, massive damage, large area of effect, impossible to see if one lands behind you, the cost of them as MC or appx 1/4 to 1/2 of a games potential earnings, the fact that there are 2 so you can double the broken.

What is with this game's balance, it's all over the place.

Absurd.

[Khobai]

Agreed. They need to do the following for artillery/airstrikes:

1) reduce base artillery/airstrike damage from 40 to 20.
2) make artillery/airstrike accuracy modules double damage from 20 to 40.

That way if you want strong artillery/airstrikes, it costs you 2 module slots instead of 1 module slot.

[Thunder Lips Express]

i have no opinion on this matter, but i was just thinking...when you're under the satellite on hpg network would the arty or air strike hit you? or even further under at theta on hpg network?
i have never tried or seen it tried so i'm assuming it doesn't go through roofs

[Simbacca]

However, unlike LRMs every use there is a cost (I buy them only with CBills) - and if one misses - that is it, no retries.

Certain mechs such as the Spider-5V heavily benefit from such consumables, as the artillery and air strikes help to bring such a lightly armed mech to its maximum potential.

And unlike LRMs there is a far greater chance of getting a friendly TK, thus the weapon must be used with care.

[sokitumi]

Simbacca, on 30 March 2014 - 02:10 PM, said:

Certain mechs such as the Spider-5V heavily benefit from such consumables, as the artillery and air strikes help to bring such a lightly armed mech to its maximum potential.

Yeah I see this as a bad thing.

[R Razor]

So in summary: You don't like being Arty / Air Struck when you're standing there in your LRM boat blissfully unconcerned about what may be going on behind you because you're furiously pressing that mouse button and raining unskilled hell down on the enemy?

Got ya..............NO.

[xCico]

Make that in 5 min are allowed 3 strikes only- BALANCED...

[sokitumi]

R Razor said:

So in summary: You don't like being Arty / Air Struck when you're standing there in your LRM boat blissfully unconcerned about what may be going on behind you because you're furiously pressing that mouse button and raining unskilled hell down on the enemy?

Got ya..............NO.

That's quite an assumption there champ.

Do I mention here that I don't have a single lrm ride in my 40+ mechs and I've only piloted mediums for over a year now?.. hmm ... it's kind of pathetic that I'd need to... do you always accuse people of running broken item A when you disagree with a post about broken item B?

Hey if you want to play the fool... go for it.

Edited by sokitumi, 30 March 2014 - 04:28 PM.

[El Bandito]

The tournament made it clear just how Artillery Strike is overpowered.

Either the shell damage should be irreversibly nerfed to 20, or limit the number of strikes each side can call in.

[DocBach]

Counter Battery Artillery/ Aerospace Interceptor consumable modules:

After the enemy use an artillery or air strike, a player can activate counter battery/interceptors to add a longer global cool down for the enemy team to call further artillery/air strikes.

[Zeus89]

Or, a better idea. Just take them out entirely, because if you want artillery strikes you should go back to CoD. This is a game where you pilot a multi-ton weapons platform and someone on the dev team thought, "Yeah but what if they want more."

UAVs and passives such as that I'm more acceptable of. There's an advantage to knowing where the enemy is but if you're close enough to kill them, they're close enough to kill you. Unless they're rocking all SRMs I guess...

[rolly]

Zeus89, on 30 March 2014 - 08:58 PM, said:

Or, a better idea. Just take them out entirely, because if you want artillery strikes you should go back to CoD. This is a game where you pilot a multi-ton weapons platform and someone on the dev team thought, "Yeah but what if they want more."

*cough cough* Long Tom *ahem* Arrow IV. (Can't give the dev team credit for something that has been part of the BT universe for quite some time.)

Edited by rolly, 30 March 2014 - 09:04 PM.

[BourbonFaucet]

I'm probably gonna get flamed hard for this, but I've had the idea for a weaker version of the strikes that comes as a non-consumable module. You still only get one strike per game, but you get to keep the module. That way you've sucked up a module slot on a weaker strike, and it costs a one-time investment of several million C-Bills to own, but you're not spending 40,000 a pop. It'd be weaker through fewer shells, perhaps 4-6.

I guess people would hate my idea because my proposed "reusables" would be taken by everyone and completely replace the consumables, but there could be a rule where you can't have both the reusable and consumable of the same kind on a 'Mech. That way you have to pick between an expensive powerful strike that you don't get back, or a much weaker one that "pays for itself" by not taking a small chunk out of every game's paycheck.

[9erRed]

Greetings all,

Yes this Arty/airstrike thread has been going around the block for some time now. Make it less, make it more, restrict this , add that, it's all relative to where you are when one is used.

Just what are these asset's anyways,
- it's munitions that are called in from some place off map, but not to far away, just waiting for the co-ordinates to fire.
- It's aero space fighters that just seem to be orbiting rather close, just waiting for the target to start there run.

Both of these fire support elements that individual units would not have command call authority for, but require selected or specialized units to initiate the "call for fire" mission. Are these guns/planes directed to allow every unit on the battlefield to "order a strike"? - Apparently in this game they are.

So how do we make these off map elements become special and not see 12 or more of them fired back to back during match's.

- Make them a "Command Element". Have them only available to units that can mount the Command Console, and it would join the other items that this component was designed to enable. We were told by PGI that the Console would allow for items like , satellite sweep, advanced sensor links or use's, advanced command controls and more.

- So why not hand the off board fire control to units that actually mount the command seat in there Mech.
- Make them an element that actually has a mission specific use and should be protected.
- Give them access to a weapon that, if used at the correct time, can or could sway a skirmish or even the battle.
- Give some superior power for that 3+ tons of space and equipment.
- Make seeing a Command Mech on the battlefield something that can suddenly cause pause to the Enemy.

Note: The Command Console can only be mounted in Heavy and Assault Mech's.
~ Sorry light's, but there are new items from PGI for you, the scouts, to carry.

~ and this will eliminate the spam shoots we are seeing now. Have you been in a match yet where nearly every Mech in a 12 man group is carrying at least one arty? Wait for it, when CW arrives, if it continues as it is.

Just some ideas,
9erRed

[meteorol]

Yeah the fact that they are spammed on cooldown as soon as a tournament starts shows that they need some tweaking.
They are far ahead of other modules when it comes to scoring high.

IMO, a first quick fix would be to increase the global cooldown of each strike and the time between air and arti strikes.

[El Bandito]

DocBach, on 30 March 2014 - 08:46 PM, said:

Counter Battery Artillery/ Aerospace Interceptor consumable modules:

After the enemy use an artillery or air strike, a player can activate counter battery/interceptors to add a longer global cool down for the enemy team to call further artillery/air strikes.

That's not gonna work. People will ALWAYS choose offensive module over defensive one. That's just how it is.

Besides, such module most likely will not grant any XP or C-Bills so what's the point on spending money on it, except for tryhard group drops?

Edited by El Bandito, 31 March 2014 - 12:57 AM.

[SgtKinCaiD]

I agree with El Bandito : the fact that arty/air stirke is mandatory to reach the top level in tournaments (and I don't even talk in 12v12) shows that it's cleary OP and thus abused/exploited.

Damage is fine because an arty/air strike is something that player should be afraid of but on the contrary, it's not something that should be spammed in a match.

[Gloris]

The biggest problem with those strikes is the "no weight" part.
Taking a strike with you or not currently is a matter of "Do i want to spend the money" rather then "Does it fit onto my mech" and that is stupid imho.

[Damocles69]

Ya. Ac 40s from the sky that can instany headshot mech are dumb. Nerf please for the love of god.

Also, interesting note, they say they don't want wild swings in balance but they buffed arty/air by 400%....

400% ... buffing anything by 400% is never good for game balance

[DocBach]

El Bandito, on 31 March 2014 - 12:39 AM, said:

That's not gonna work. People will ALWAYS choose offensive module over defensive one. That's just how it is.

Besides, such module most likely will not grant any XP or C-Bills so what's the point on spending money on it, except for tryhard group drops?

Same principle behind AMS, some people do in fact take defensive measures into consideration - if you want defense against the module, use the counter against it. Right now, there really isn't any counter for air strikes and artillery beyond try to move out of the area if you notice it.