55 replies to this topic

[Voidcrafter]

The topic says it all, I will share my own taste for blood later

EDIT addition:
I like the "Basic" ballistics the most, cause I find it challenging not only to hit the target in the given circumstances(weither the obstacles would be the range, the speed of the enemy or something else), but it challenges you further when you try actually land a shot on the body part you need to hit to be the most effective.
Add to that, that they are versatile weapon, cause they cover 0-1000(and even more)m range quite well.
I personally think that they are also very well paired with the "Basic" energy weapons(lasers), or, especially, SRMs(but very few mechs allow you currently to pair ballistics with SRMs) - giving your mech not only quite a punch, but making it good on every map and effitient against any kind of weight class mech in the game.

I am prejudiced in my opinions about the weapons that require the least skill, but I gave a word, so I would fufill it.
I think LRMs are the ones requiring the least skill.
I've played with it and so far it's the only weapon that feels like point-and-click adventure with insane punishment for your target.

Edited by Voidcrafter, 21 March 2013 - 02:29 AM.

[Training Instructor]

I use a lot of erppc/large laser/med laser/srm builds.

[stjobe]

There's three broad "skill classes" to the MWO weapons:

1. Instant-hit weapons
These are the ballistics (sans MG), PPCs, and SRMs. You need to aim, but when you've pulled the trigger, that's it.

2. Beam weapons
These are the laser weapons. You need to aim, but you can adjust your aim during the beam duration

3. Lock-on weapons
LRMs and SSRMs. You need only to keep your reticule somewhat near the target, and the weapon will hit.

Of course there's other considerations as to whether a weapon will hit or not, but those are the same for any weapon. Target goes into cover - miss. Target evades - miss. Target moves out of range - miss.

In my opinion, the lock-on weapons are a bit too easy to use compared to the instant-hit and beam weapons.

Edited by stjobe, 21 March 2013 - 01:45 AM.

[M4rtyr]

Use SRM's alot just because they are that knockout punch for a brawler and the mech I've used most is a hunchie 4SP brawler.

Streaks are obviously the easiest weapon, simply lock, keep and view, then fire until dead.

Balistics the hardest, partially do to no state rewind and misses are no damage compared to lasers sweep, then of course ammo.

[Solis Obscuri]

I think lumping the Gauss Rifle with the AC.20 is a copout - Gauss Rifles are a lot easier to aim than the heavy autocannons.

Likewise, who runs without some kind of basic lasers as a supplemental weapon on most builds? Sure, they're easy to use, but they're also pretty practical to have as a back-up; I haven't had too many builds without them since my beloved CN9-AH was removed.

[Voidcrafter]

stjobe, on 21 March 2013 - 01:43 AM, said:

There's three broad "skill classes" to the MWO weapons:

1. Instant-hit weapons
These are the ballistics (sans MG), PPCs, and SRMs. You need to aim, but when you've pulled the trigger, that's it.

2. Beam weapons
These are the laser weapons. You need to aim, but you can adjust your aim during the beam duration

3. Lock-on weapons
LRMs and SSRMs. You need only to keep your reticule somewhat near the target, and the weapon will hit.

Of course there's other considerations as to whether a weapon will hit or not, but those are the same for any weapon. Target goes into cover - miss. Target evades - miss. Target moves out of range - miss.

In my opinion, the lock-on weapons are a bit too easy to use compared to the instant-hit and beam weapons.

I think the ones you named "Instant-hit weapons" are not named quite correct, cause they have a "travel time" , they do not hit instantly and having that in mind one firing with such, should always adjust the head aiming corresponding to the distance
But yea - I could've categorized them more "codex"-ish or something.
Thank you for the note

[The Mech behind you]

looks like I'm following the trend. I'm a Laser guy. I needed the most practise for the ballistics to master them so I think they're the weapons that need the most skill. And I think Streaks are the easiest weapon ingame. Even easier then LRMs. While you need a good positioning for LRMs to hit a target, Streaks are only about Lock, Fire, Win

Uhm I see an ER Large PULSE Laser in your poll! I don't know where you get it, but can I have one, please?

[Voidcrafter]

Norman Kosh, on 21 March 2013 - 01:57 AM, said:

looks like I'm following the trend. I'm a Laser guy. I needed the most practise for the ballistics to master them so I think they're the weapons that need the most skill. And I think Streaks are the easiest weapon ingame. Even easier then LRMs. While you need a good positioning for LRMs to hit a target, Streaks are only about Lock, Fire, Win

Uhm I see an ER Large PULSE Laser in your poll! I don't know where you get it, but can I have one, please?

Yea it was a typo, sorry about that...
I'm playing mechcommander gold from time to time, so it's not that hard to mess things up a bit

[Blue Hymn]

I pilot an Awesome, and I use PPCS a lot of the time. Personally, I think PPCs are one of the most skill-intensive weapon there is. Not only do you have to be careful with your heat, you also have to consider the map you're in (There's a lot more heat-intensive maps than the cold maps), the amount of heat sinks you have, as well as fending off fast mechs that try and get up close and personal with you. Regular PPCs have a min range of 80ms, and ER versions, while having no issues with min range, suffer from significantly higher heat output.

Not to mention that while under fire, missing shots while overheating adds more to the difficulty of the weapon, and chainfiring becomes a necessity trait to acquire.

Edited by Blue Hymn, 21 March 2013 - 02:04 AM.

[Ewigan]

I basically run every type of weapon, and every type of weapon has it's pros and cons.

So i am completely ambivalent to those polls.

[Gaan Cathal]

Ewigan, on 21 March 2013 - 02:04 AM, said:

I basically run every type of weapon, and every type of weapon has it's pros and cons.

So i am completely ambivalent to those polls.

Clearly Polls are UP and need buffing.

Although, since it's multiselection poll, you could just click all the things.

[Brilig]

Its funny that people think Lasers are harder to use than LRMs. LRMs at least have a travel time.

Edited by Brilig, 21 March 2013 - 02:11 AM.

[Voidcrafter]

Gaan Cathal, on 21 March 2013 - 02:08 AM, said:

Clearly Polls are UP and need buffing.

Although, since it's multiselection poll, you could just click all the things.

Yea when I started making the poll I thought about making it single choice only, but how many mechs have you seen running only one type of weapon at a time?
Ofcourse anyone can just click around, but I'm counting on people taking this seriously and trying to contribute.
I'm very sure, that these kind of people are way more than the others.
Or atleast I have solid faith in that

[Gaan Cathal]

Brilig, on 21 March 2013 - 02:09 AM, said:

Its funny that people think Lasers are harder to use than LRMs. LRMs at least have a travel time.

They also require lots of heat management like lasers. And require actually maintaining an aim point like lasers.

Oops, no they don't. At least lasers have that "do 7 times as much damage as they're meant to" thing against the right mechs just like miss- oh....yeah.

Voidcrafter, on 21 March 2013 - 02:12 AM, said:

Yea when I started making the poll I thought about making it single choice only, but how many mechs have you seen running only one type of weapon at a time?
Ofcourse anyone can just click around, but I'm counting on people taking this seriously and trying to contribute.
I'm very sure, that these kind of people are way more than the others.
Or atleast I have solid faith in that

That was actually an genuine suggestion to him, the poll works better if people who use everything click everything.

[Voidcrafter]

Brilig, on 21 March 2013 - 02:09 AM, said:

Its funny that people think Lasers are harder to use than LRMs. LRMs at least have a travel time.

Yep. But all of the lasers have shorter effitient range than LRMs thus putting you in danger of actually taking some punishment.

M4rtyr, on 21 March 2013 - 01:44 AM, said:

Use SRM's alot just because they are that knockout punch for a brawler and the mech I've used most is a hunchie 4SP brawler.

Streaks are obviously the easiest weapon, simply lock, keep and view, then fire until dead.

Balistics the hardest, partially do to no state rewind and misses are no damage compared to lasers sweep, then of course ammo.

I do not completely agree with this statement - while you're counting on engaging someone with streaks it means, that you're about to take some punishment, cause of the danger range(well... not concidering LRM boats under 200m). That's when they're not used as defensive weapon, cause then - you're often engaged by light with ECM, which renders this weapon from "easiest to use" to "completely useless" or "highly skill required" - cause you gotto hit a 130+km/h moving target with a PPC(if you have any) to get a lock or to counter ECM, putting yourself in danger.
While with LRMs, for example, you can stay behind most of the time and count on your teammates ECM, TAG, spotting assist, etc. Yep - the travel time is greater - but also is the damage, ammo per ton, ease to hold the lock on the target(since it's not circling around you and is easier to track in the distance).
I never ever put SSRMs on a mech without PPC or TAG. No one should.

[Mazzyplz]

your poll says: ER Large Pulse Laser.

there is no such weapon in the game??

[Lyrik]

LRM's need less or no skill to fire, but positioning is much more vital than with UAC5/AC etc... And LRM's are only a meatgrinder against noobs.

If you are playing against the offspring of ****** then you will achieve with ease damage over 1000. Against normal intelligent players your LRM's are forcing them into cover and weakening their armor so that the brawlers in your team can kill them.

My Awesome 8T got more kills with his 4xMPL than with his 2xARLM15 xD

[LegoPirate]

gonna go against the grain and say heavy lasers are the hardest to use. yes you can sweep across an enemy and score damage. but in order to effectively hurt/kill someone, you need to keep aim on the same body part for up to an entire second. on anything faster then an assault this can be quite the challenge, especially while moving yourself, and at any sort of range

with ballistics you get a feel for lead times and you can often hit the bad guys pretty consistantly. not to mention the significantly faster reloads and reduced heat penalties of ballistics.

Edited by LegoPirate, 21 March 2013 - 02:31 AM.

[stjobe]

Voidcrafter, on 21 March 2013 - 01:56 AM, said:

I think the ones you named "Instant-hit weapons" are not named quite correct, cause they have a "travel time" , they do not hit instantly and having that in mind one firing with such, should always adjust the head aiming corresponding to the distance

I call them "instant-hit" because they deliver their damage in one instant hit, as opposed to the beam weapons that deliver their damage evenly during their beam duration.

[Denolven]

There is a difference between "use" and "use effectively". Lasers are very easy, because you have 1 second to adjust your aim, and they hit where you aim. Ballistics are the toughest one to master, because you don't get a second chance AND have to have pinpoint lead accuracy.
But that's ok, ballistics are the pro weapons (very great if you can hit), and lasers are the newbie weapons - easy to use and still viable for pros due to the "out of ammo" issue. Looks fair to me.

For education purposes:

Edited by Denolven, 21 March 2013 - 02:40 AM.