11 replies to this topic

[Redistribute]

Machine guns, at present, are pretty close to being just a sound effect, which may slightly alert a noob that they are being shot from behind. An experienced pilot will not change targets, as machine guns are not really a threat until all your armor is missing or very cherry red. My suggestion is to make machine guns use only 1/2 of a standard ballistic slot, thus doubling their damage, weight (you can have twin machine guns) and ammo consumption - and usefulness.

Edited by Egomane, 20 March 2013 - 05:31 PM.
Edit of poll option three

[Torquemada]

In Battletech this was covered by Machine Gun Arrays. However these are not available until 3068.

Edited by Torquemada, 20 March 2013 - 12:50 PM.

[Wolf Ender]

haha wow its funny that you happened to post this exactly 30 minutes after i proposed almost the exact same suggestion in a different thread. great minds think alike?

Wolf Ender, on 20 March 2013 - 11:56 AM, said:

What if we left Machine Guns the same (stats) but allowed mechwarriors to mount 2 or possibly even 3 machine guns for a single ballistic hardpoint?

So if you had a SINGLE ballistic hardpoint on an arm, you could put 2 machine guns there, 2 slots, 1 ton (.5 each), but only 1 hardpoint. maybe?

Each machine gun would still take a full critical slot, and still use double the ammo, but it would allow mechs with limited ballistic hardpoints to beef up their machine guns if they decide to boat them.

The main problem with using machine guns is that only a few configs can mount enough of them to adequately harm a mech. there are only a couple configs that are capable of doing 4-6 MGs. If we doubled their ability to mount the guns it might make them more effective and they would still be paying a price for the crit space. just an idea.

Edited by Wolf Ender, 20 March 2013 - 12:51 PM.

[Wolf Ender]

Torquemada, on 20 March 2013 - 12:50 PM, said:

In Battletech this was covered by Machine Gun Arrays. However these are not available until 3068.

in Battletech TT we did not limit a mech's hard-points if you wanted to create a 70 ton custom mech with 20 machine guns you could do it, given enough crit slots and tonnage, etc.

the hard points give the mechs in MWO a lot of flavor and character by not allowing people to go hog-wild in the mechlab... however in the case of MG's it is a disadvantage to waste a valuable crit slot on a machine gun which could have been a gauss rifle or an AC thats 12 times the weight of a machine gun. the hard-points are a limiting factor

[Homeless Bill]

No. They just need to buff the damage.

[Kaeb Odellas]

Everyone do this:

-Load up a mech with 4 machine guns and a medium laser. A Cataphract 4x, Jagermech, those silly Cicada and Spider variants, whatever.
-Load up training grounds.
-Find the Atlas.
-Remove its rear RT armor with 4 shots of laser. It should come off cleanly with no internal damage.
-Observe as a single machine gun will destroy an AC20 in about 3 seconds of sustained fire.
-Remove its rear LT armor as above
-Observe as 4 machine guns destroy both the LRM20 and SRM6 in about 3 seconds.

Machine guns are not about scoring kills or blowing up their sections. They're about breaking all of their fancy toys in record time, for just ton and a half of weight and no heat. And the bigger the gun, the faster it breaks.

Sure, it's basically useless until you can strip armor, but most ballistics being as heavy as they are, with some builds you don't really have anything else to occupy that slot anyway. It doesn't require more than a ton of ammo, since you shouldn't be firing until the armor is gone, and you can stop firing once whatever you were trying to break is broken.

[flying1ace]

Wolf Ender, on 20 March 2013 - 12:50 PM, said:

haha wow its funny that you happened to post this exactly 30 minutes after i proposed almost the exact same suggestion in a different thread. great minds think alike?

With the new jagermech, people would be able to load 12 a mech!
AWESOME!

[FrostCollar]

We need better machine guns, not more.

Kaeb Odellas, on 20 March 2013 - 05:20 PM, said:

-Remove its rear RT armor with 4 shots of laser. It should come off cleanly with no internal damage.

There's issue #1: MGs are useless against armor.

Kaeb Odellas, on 20 March 2013 - 05:20 PM, said:

-Observe as a single machine gun will destroy an AC20 in about 3 seconds of sustained fire.

There's issue #2. Three seconds of sustained fire isn't as easy as you'd think when you've got slow moving projectiles with an effective range of 90m.

Kaeb Odellas, on 20 March 2013 - 05:20 PM, said:

Machine guns are not about scoring kills or blowing up their sections. They're about breaking all of their fancy toys in record time, for just ton and a half of weight and no heat. And the bigger the gun, the faster it breaks.

There's issue #3. In a game about destroying the enemy (or capping points), a weapon that cannot score kills or blow up sections and that cannot perform the one thing it's good at without the aid of other weapons will forever be a second tier weapon. Anyways, it turns out that the MG crit rate is bugged. It's currently much higher than intended.

Kaeb Odellas, on 20 March 2013 - 05:20 PM, said:

Sure, it's basically useless until you can strip armor, but most ballistics being as heavy as they are, with some builds you don't really have anything else to occupy that slot anyway.

Machine guns require a minimum investment of two crit slots and 1.5 tons. For that you could have:

• A BAP
  
• A heat sink and extra armor
  
• A ton of extra ammunition for a valuable weapon and CASE
  
• An AMS
  
• And more!

We need better machine guns, not more.

[Bhael Fire]

MGs are fine as they are as a trolling weapon, like the flamer.

If they are to be changed at all, their damage should be buffed...not how many crit slots they take up.

[FrostCollar]

Bhael Fire, on 20 March 2013 - 06:34 PM, said:

MGs are fine as they are as a trolling weapon, like the flamer.

I hate to be droll, but the people you're trolling the most by taking those weapons is your own team.

Bhael Fire, on 20 March 2013 - 06:34 PM, said:

If they are to be changed at all, their damage should be buffed...not how many crit slots they take up.

No arguments here!

[HammerSwarm]

this thread comes up often, I have made a suggestion thread on it personally. I grow weary of explaining why it should be fixed, and how it could be fixed, but PGI as a customer(you can look up my pay ins to this game) I'd like more from machine guns and light mechs that rely on them. Stop working on micro transactions and fix the basic functions of the game. Otherwise I for one will stop spending real money on your product and all of the micro transaction in the world won't make you any money from me.

[MasterErrant]

I voted yes but I'd like to suggest MG arrays instead. that's four MG mounted as a unit in2 spaces and two tons (It's actually a clan weapon but it's smaller for them)