27 replies to this topic

[WhiteTiger]

PPC - Any suggestions? Which game came closes to how a PPC should look, sound and represent the damage caused by this very powerful weapon.

The original Battletech game that came out for the PC, called it one of the most deadliest weapons a mech could carry.

I have my own opinions, but my fellow Mechwarriors I want to hear yours...

[Lori Carlyle]

Liked how Mech3 did it myself.

[Pointman1]

I think the way it looks in the 2009 trailer is the way it should look. The effects on the barrels are really cool aswell.

[Cifu]

Agree, the 2009 trailer has a very good effect.

[WhiteTiger]

I agree with the visual look and effects, but I would have liked a more powerful electrical energy sound with maybe a thunder crack after effect.

[VYCanis]

ppc looks like this

[Cyber Carns]

WhiteTiger, on 07 November 2011 - 02:04 AM, said:

I agree with the visual look and effects, but I would have liked a more powerful electrical energy sound with maybe a thunder crack after effect.

Thats the way it looks and sounds like in mmll

[Intruder]

The MW 5 trailer PPC was about right

[Rendall]

I Think the trailer also had an excellent appearance. I just want to suggest what NOT to do, and thats make it the horrible ball that was in Mechwarrior 2. Even making it closer to what was in MW4 would be by far preferrable.

[Mach1SMT]

The PPC looked good in the trailer but I would like to see something more of how a mortar (Firework) looks and even its detonation. The idea of a particle cannon in my opinion should work something like how a snow ball does; it’s a type if solid but when it hits the sparks are still in that fission state causing it to leave burns. but with a distinguished commit like particle tail.

This is the best way for me to describe it. I do a lot of welding so I have the idea of plasma torch and the slag/ yarns/ sparks you get when you are using an arch/stick welder. And Im not talking like what you see with a regular oxygen/acetylene torch. Something different would be cool.

Were the long range PPC a clan weapon? And if not I think you should have variations of PPC cannons like a small PPC would have a Yellow ore, Mid is Blue, and long is Red.

[Glare]

PPCs are all described as blue in fluff and description, enough so that the anti-PPC armor option is actually called BlueShield.

[Gorthaur]

scorpnoo1, on 08 November 2011 - 11:15 PM, said:

The PPC looked good in the trailer but I would like to see something more of how a mortar (Firework) looks and even its detonation. The idea of a particle cannon in my opinion should work something like how a snow ball does; it’s a type if solid but when it hits the sparks are still in that fission state causing it to leave burns. but with a distinguished commit like particle tail.

they shoot charged particles, not plasma. think lightning.

anyway, i liked the mw3 version. it had a great sound effect and it had that awesome spark particle effect on it that added to it. i think it could use a little more white to it since lighting is intensely white with a blue hue on the edges.

as long as PPCs don't home in like heat seaking missiles on mechassault ill be happy.

Edited by Gorthaur, 09 November 2011 - 02:53 AM.

[Owl Cutter]

Since I've seen some weird things said here, I guess I should make sure we all understand that momentum is the product of mass and velocity, while kinetic energy is the product of mass and the square of velocity. That means that lighter bullets produce less recoil impulse for the energy they transfer, and PPCs fire the second lightest bullets of all- after lasers, since phota are by definition the most light things possible.

It's been explicitly stated in canon that PPC deal damage mostly through kinetic energy, and the "man-made lightning" is just a side effect, so the beam should actually be literally more than lightning fast. The heating and explosive effect of a lightning bolt is just a mostly visual side-effect, which probably makes sense since we must already have figured out how to build vehicles able to safely handle being hit by lightning- else air travel would be much less common. The beam probably should have a laser-strait white-hot core, with a bit of leaking energy producing whatever arc-themed visuals the artists think are most badass. I dimly remember people talking about a sine curve being mentioned canonically, and a helix is probably the most likely way to represent that. For people who've played some of the Halo games, the sniper beam is the closest popular image I can think of to what I imagine a PPC beam looking like as the best balance between Rule of Cool, established canon, and realism- in that order. The sine curve is there, but not too obnoxiously, and the beam looks nice and clean like a ranged weapon should have. It also looks fairly similar to real-life laser-guided lightning, which IMO should be the primary visual reference for the artists.

Since whatever quantity of charged particles it projects is probably not very much mass, momentum of the beam should be negligible and thus the firing 'mech should not rock in response as it did in some MW games. When all that kinetic energy dumps into the target, though, it will probably throw a significant mass of destroyed target mass explosively outward, so rocking your target's 'mech similarly to how autocannon do might be okay.

[Barsov]

Mmm... I would like to see something like this:



Also I like how this weapon sounds in this example.

[Nik Van Rhijn]

I agree with Owl Cutter on this - also rember that they could be less effective in this game due to the min range factor in BT for PPC's (and LRM's). Whatever they do I have confidence it will look good - just think how graphics cards have come on since MW3 & 4!

[RoundTop]

PPC's are great! For 7 tons you get 10 damage at (3)6/12/18 range! (10 heat)
Of course for ER PPCs you get the same weight and damage, but 7/14/23 range, at +50% heat
Light PPCs (3t, 5dmg, same range as original) are fun as a long ranged medium laser
Heavy PPCs are REALLY fun (10t, 15 dmg, same range as original, +50% heat)

Lights and Heavys came out around 3070, so a while away.

Clan PPCs, for the record, are 6t, 15 damage, 15 heat, and go 7/14/23.

In the board game, advanced rules, if you fire a PPC at a target within minimum range (90m), there is a chance you can damage the weapon from feedback.

[jojobear]

From the btech fluff I've read, I imagine a ppc as a blue crackling bolt of lightning that travels at near the speed of light.

Game-mechanic-wise, I feel MW4's PPC is the most accurate representation with MW2 being the least accurate representation (where it's a slow-traveling ball of plasma that you have to lead the target with)

[guardiandashi]

I don't really remember mw3/4's ppc's effect
but IMO a good place to start would actually be the mw1, where the ppc was just a blue colored laser

then you can spice it up with say a blue/white helex around the beam possibly some arcing effects out from the core beam and definitely could have some lightning skittering effects on the target

the thing to remember is a particle bolt (the true bolt of plasma) travels at in excess of 80-90% of the speed of light

[Zyllos]

Light travels ~4790 times faster than lightning. I couldn't imagine the PPC travelling at 80% of light. Of course, it's not real so who am I to say?

[WhiteTiger]

I like Barsov's example from War of the Worlds, though I would have liked to see more damage and impact. Here is some information to help narrow down what a PPC should Look like, Sound like and the impact it should have on the target.

Description from the Battletech novel: The Warrior Trilogy, Warrior: En Garde – Volume one.
PPC “Particle Projection Cannon” a magnetic accelerator firing high-energy proton or ion bolts, causing damage both through impact and high temperature. PPC’s are among the most effective weapons available to BattleMechs. Though they have a theoretical range limited only by line-of-sight considerations, the technology available for focusing and aiming the bolt limits effective range to less then 600 meters.
In the Battletech novels it is described as like a cross between a lightning bolt and a laser. I would describe it like a thick blue and bright white somewhat straight energy wave form. It would sound like a very powerful beefy high energy discharge hum with a slight thunder crack at the end.
The damage visually would look like a deep jagged gouge and depending how fast the mech was moving would determine the length of the gouge. The sound would be like a Huge Explosion like you hear in the movies when lightning hits something. But the real beauty is the physical impact when the PPC hits you, unlike a laser hit that causes only a little impact. The PPC hits you like a Big sucker punch that rocks you.