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Today I saw two players make excellent suggestions that would make it all work without a drastic universal change.
My conclusion on the LRM issue is that the damage output is fine as it is (splash could be increased a little bit). The problem with LRMs now comes from the fact that the missile warning message is reducing the impact ratio of the LRM to near zero as it literally gives up to 10 seconds warning of incoming... and when you fire your LRMs 1km away, when behind a hill (using spotter for lock) the target instantly gets the warning the moment the LRM player clicks the fire button. That is very wrong. another big issue is that when firing LRMs at one mech traveling with others, it is only the targetted mech that has to run for cover (is suppressed) since the other mechs would see a missile swarm and not see missile warning..so they dont go for cover. The suppression aspect of the LRM is lost.
Next is the overall damage output of the LRM weapon system as compared to its tonnage. Simply put, with the damage reduction the LRM ammo per ton is the issue. You cannot carry enough ammo to provide effective support firepower. You can barely carry enough to kill one or 2 mechs with. Simple solution is to double the ammo per ton. Not increase the damage but simply give us more ammo to shoot with.
The issue with the AMS not being used is that it costs too much tonnage for too little benefit. Even 2 AMS mechs cant do more than intercept the equivalent of a single LRM10 volley. I've suggested the AMS range be extended to 200m and have it shoot down 5 missiles every 40m so one AMS could counter one LRM20 launcher equivalent. The range extension is available only through AMS module upgrades.. AMS 1 of 2 ups the range to 140m and AMS 2 of 2 ups it to 200
And then these players made the following suggestions:
AMS:
Kitane, on 30 April 2013 - 02:58 AM, said:
The (missile) warning could be a function provided by AMS.
No AMS? No warning.
AMS? A warning when missiles enter 350-400m range to give 1-2s before AMS starts engaging incoming missiles.
No AMS? No warning.
AMS? A warning when missiles enter 350-400m range to give 1-2s before AMS starts engaging incoming missiles.
Brilliant!
Farpenoodle, on 30 April 2013 - 02:21 AM, said:
I'm not particularly for or against the missile warning going away. I kinda like just throwing away a volley to get a high DPS target to hunker down. But at the same time it would make it a lot easier to hit my targets. Perhaps a module for the shooter that would hide the warning for his targets?
Yes. Just YES. The use of modules to fix the issues is excellent.
If the devs combine all these suggestions into one package:
1- Double LRM Ammo per Ton through an 'ammo magazine' module (upgrade 1: 50% ammo increase per ton, upgrade 2: double ammo per ton).
2- Add Warning System to be enabled only if mech has AMS system installed.
3- AMS upgrade module to extend AMS firing range per upgrade.
4- Add a module that disables missile warning from AMS systems until the missiles are in range of the AMS.
.... this would fix the LRM damage problem and it makes the AMS functional and worth having. On top of that it does it so that, this can all be done via module upgrades so there is no need to mess with the core game mechanics.
