23 replies to this topic

[TheStrider]

Odd, I found the LRM5 boats to be rather effective over the weekend.

Further, my Battlemaster LRM boat was more effective than ever. Also noticed fewer people using AMS than usual, despite the buffs to AMS.

Just observations. LRMS were ridiculous in solo queue on the weekend.

[ExoForce]

Interesting, my LRM boat damage is reduced to only one third of previous damage. And I play more agressivly with TAG, Artemis and LOS... ???

Edited by ExoForce, 17 November 2014 - 01:31 PM.

[Void Angel]

RazorbeastFXK3, on 09 November 2014 - 11:06 AM, said:

Someone was parked between me and my target using AMS x3 and I couldn't get my C-LRM15 to touch anything. I think all those "NERF LURM" critics were planning on this. "Hey.. let's get the lrms nerf'd so much that even x1 AMS can take out entire salvos of missiles!"

You are.. misinformed about how game designers, including those for this game, actually make changes to games. Player complaints serve to focus the developer's attention, but internal testing and demographic data sampling of some kind are always done before any changes even hit a public test server, much less live content. If you have to attribute dishonesty and collusion to people you never met - and who do not even know one another in many cases - as some kind of grand conspiracy to ruin a single class of weapon system, you have passed into the category of Crazy Person with Conspiracy Theory. Triple AMS, presumably with the modules and positioned optimally for missile interception, should definitely cancel your one hardpoint of Clan LRM - particularly since part of the designed drawbacks to CLRMs is the vulnerability of their streaming fire to AMS.

On-topic, chain-firing LRM5s has historically been used by its advocates for one or both of two purposes - constant screen shake, and smaller missile clusters that allow more of the volley to connect to torso locations. The former purpose is to use screen shake mechanics to prevent the targeted player from effectively fighting back; it's true that the actual point of aim (where you're shooting) isn't affected by screen shake, but tracking moving targets and identifying/engaging new targets is affected. The latter effect is the smaller spread of the 5-tube launcher to place more of the barrage on the torsos - with a smaller spread, fewer missiles are lost to arm/leg hits, or even the ground. Both purposes trade heat efficiency for firing rate and flexibility.

While I'm somewhat OK with using the smaller launchers to draw damage toward the torsos - though I do think the missile system could use some adjustment in that regard - I have deep reservations about being able to use shake mechanics to such an extreme effect. Any tactic that expressly revolves around the inability of one player to effectively play the game has vast potential to be un-fun and broken. It's not any fun to be constantly rattled into concussion-land by a constant stream of missiles, and the effect of such a tactic, being non-numerical and subjective, raises balance issues. It's not "cheating" to use the game as it's designed at present - but I'd really like to see the LRM system overhauled a bit to eliminate externalities like volley "footprints," and to standardize the effectiveness of AMS against different launcher sizes.

[Kitty Bacon]

But... Nagarahk won 1st in Davion over the weekend and he was using the Catapults. In his array, the 6 LRM 5 Catapult with Art.

Besides, No one takes AMS!!