Posted 12 April 2013 - 03:50 PM
Basically, the following is my suggestion.
Airstrike/napalm could be used as a time limited area denial weapon, laying down a long/narrow band of fire that would create the following:
1. Immense, time limited heat, resulting in:
1.1 Anyone directly struck by the initial blast would gain X% of heat, meaning a hot mech might shut down and a cooler mech might have to take some tiem to cool down. Since they were hit by the initial blast, the heat could stick with them for a certain duration.
1.2 Anyone walking through the wall of fire would pick up a heat penalty until they left the "hot zone"
2. Visible light in regular view mode; vision obscuring heat wall in thermal mode, bright spot in nightvision.
I was thinking, to prevent it from becoming a super weapon, it'd need to be targeted like TAG, or perhaps a canister physically dropped in the target location (meaning a light would have to cruise in and drop it). I don't envision it as being a killer, more of a crippler.
I think this would address several common complaints
1. People boating PPC's.
2. People with overpowered alphas.
3. The current airstrike is.. less desirable; the c-bill version and MC versions could have varying heat levels, varying delays, varying durations, etc.
I think obscured vision would be necessary to avoid making it too easy to pick off shut down mechs in the firewall, so it'll obscure vision in both directions. You could drop a "firewall" in front of a cave entrance, for example, or drop it lengthwise down a canyon to heat up everyone currently located there.
For triggering, you could use something like TAG to "paint a line" to be bombed, or a canister than either has a time delay, or "detonate on demand" - then you could use it as an ambush tool.