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Just some quick thoughts ...
1) Airstrike and Artillery consumable modules will damage enemy mechs ... presumably in some area of effect.
2) To be worthwhile purchasing they will need to do some reasonable amount of damage. If they do not do some damage then no one will purchase them.
3) However, if they are even moderately effective in single use then they will be massively effective when boated by teams.
Weapons systems are more effective when stacked ... look at LRM boats, laser boats, SRM boats, SSRM boats and so on.
Consumable modules will also be much more effective when boated by a team.
If one airstrike/artillery is even moderately useful ... 8 will be devastating. Imagine a team with 8 air strikes and 8 artillery attacks against a team with none.
Similarly, although using coolant flush for one or two extra shots at the right moment can be very useful for one mech ... when multiplied across 8 mechs it may well be game changing.
Games are often won or lost with the first 2 mech losses. A 2 mech lead will often decide a match ... if these new weapons are sufficient to give the team that sort of advantage then their use may well end up determining the outcome of the match ... which I do not think is desirable.
It is my hope that PGI has extensively tested these new additions internally and have balanced them so that team boating will not be an issue.
On the other hand, if the game turns into Airstrike: Online ... I won't be around much until it is fixed (if ever ... judging by the lack of response on ECM and other community concerns).
(Edit: this is all speculation at this point since we haven't even seen it working yet ... but these would still seem to be reasonable concerns based on what is currently known).
Edited by Mawai, 05 March 2013 - 07:45 AM.
