Weatherman, on 09 March 2013 - 11:02 AM, said:
I think the entire point of the slot size restrictions is to prevent mechs from placing unrealistic weapons in a hardpoint. Did you ever consider that a mech is designed with limitations in mind? Seriously, please stop complaining how you cannot put in a Large Laser when the mech never carried one or not fit a couple of LB-20Xs in a mech that NEVER carried something that big. The point is that a mechs weaponry is designed a certain way. Take the Jagermech, it will have at least 2 ballistic slots in each arm (2x AC/2, 2x AC/5) so tell me how its reasonable that they can place a Gauss Rifle or an AC/20 in there? It's not reasonable because the slots weren't designed for that.
Unrealistic is "self imposed" or "wishful thinking"? The great thing about the game is customization . but there should be imposed limits to it. I shouldn't have to worry that I cannot fit 1 PPC on a spider.. it should be allowed. If it were somehow possible to fit 2 PPCs on a spider (ignoring many of the restrictions like tonnage, engine size, no armor), then OK, we have a problem.
Telling me that a PPC cannot fit on the mech side torso, despite it being a legal option, and then forcing me to put it on the arm, which could potentially be less desirable, is simply not acceptable. If you don't want me to carry two PPCs on a particular light mech, I can be fine with that, but I should be able to put that PPC on either the arm or the torso (for whatever the reason). If you don't want me to put PPCs in both sections, I can live with that. Don't force additional restrictions to what should be relatively flexible, within reason.
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Adopting these limitations means players have to seriously consider their purchases, not just mech model, but variant as well. It means players will HAVE to take role warfare into account since, with few exceptions, Heavy and Assault mechs carry the big guns. That means if you want big guns, take a Heavy or Assault. Not a stupidly fast Light or Medium that you can arbitrarily place an AC/20 or a Gauss in a hardpoint that was never designed for a weapon that size.
I dunno, are AC20/Gauss Ravens in force? They are impractical, but that doesn't mean that it is OPed or unrealistic. I wouldn't mind those going away, but you make it sound as if this is the core cause of strong builds. This isn't one of them.
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Let me also point out that the Loki and Thor had variants that DID mount heavy weapons which is why they would be able to mount Gauss Rifles and AC/20s. There is no Raven variant with an AC/20, there is no Catapult variant with a Gauss Rifle, so why they suddenly be allowed to mount these massive pieces of equipment?
Again, these are self-imposed limitations. I've understood that missile slots should have missiles come out of them and energy arms should have energy weps come out of them... great, noone disagrees with this.
However, just because the stock cfg of a K2 has mguns, doesn't mean we should just be stuck with mguns in them.
I would rather propose a more simple hardpoint system, using the existing system in place.
No special additions are needed for missiles, as they have the # of missile holes as the limiting factor.
We would define the following energy/ballistic weapons as "heavy weapons" (more can be added later as they are added):
ERLL/Large Laser
ERPPC/PPC
Large Pulse
AC20
Gauss
Kind of like the floating ff/endo slot system, we apply the same idea to mech energy and ballistic slots. For light mechs, they can (on average) use at most 1 large energy weapon (Puma uses 2 IIRC, so that would be a special case) and 0 large ballistic weapons (so, we remove the AC20/Gauss out of the equation).
For medium mechs, there would be a split @ the 45 tonnage level, where the mechs under that tonnage follow the light mech rule. 45 and above would have 2 large energy weapons and/or 1 large ballistic weapon (so, the hunchy can have its gauss or AC20).
For heavies, they can use up to 3 large energy weapons and/or 1 large ballistic weapon. There could be an instance where some mechs can hold 2 large ballistic weapons or 4 large energy weapons (but not both at the same time). This would eliminate dual AC20 catas, but would allow them to use 1 AC20 if they so desire.
For assaults, they can use up to 4 large energy weapons and 2 large ballistic weapons. You can have your strongest mechs have most of the strongest weapons, but avoid having 3 AC20 builds altogether (it would wreck balance and the battlefield). Right now we have no assault mech that can deal with it, but we can still have those valid 4 ERPPC builds that go with those builds that are dependent on it (like the Awesome or Masakari). Some special exceptions can be made, within balance.
Anyways, the point I'm trying to make is that you are a little too restrictive in the idea you have. I understand the basis of your problem, but the implementation is not entirely desirable in a customization standpoint. If you tell me I can use 1 PPC on a light mech, I should be then allowed to put it wherever I please (assuming the energy hardpoint is available there). It's really that simple. Otherwise, shoving down the MW4-ish hardpoint system further into MWO brings back the dread I had with that system's negative highlights.
Edited by Deathlike, 09 March 2013 - 12:14 PM.
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