1 reply to this topic

[knight-of-ni]

The Short Answer (TLDR)

This thread documents what some of you already know. Artemis produces an unintended decrease in SSRM lock time. 0.453 seconds according to my data. The difference between this thread and others, is the method used is documented and verifiable.

The long answer

I admit it. I was adamant this was not true. Why? The primary argument for most went along these lines: “because I noticed it and therefore you should believe me”. At the time, I did not perceive any kind of bonus to lock on time during my own qualitative Training Grounds tests.

Add that to the GM's response to my query below, and I was certain this was not true:

My original question to support:

Quote

Hi,
I see a lot comments on the forum stating that Artemis decreases the lock on time for SSRM's.

What I have not found, however, is someone who has produced verifiable evidence, through either a video comparison or an official statement from PGI, supporting this claim.

Indeed, my own testing grounds experiments using a streak-weilding, Artemis equipped, Trebuchet indicate this is completely untrue and should go into the category of Urban Legend.

Can you respond to this claim? Is there any kind of bonus that one currently receives, either via designed featured or unintended bug, by using Artemis with SSRM's?

If this question has already been responded to in official capacity, please point me to where I can read about it. Thanks!

And the official response:

Quote

Hello knnniggett,

The official description for Artemis functionality is as follows (copied from 'http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/69346-november-6th-patch-notes-10142/'):

-Artemis improves the grouping size of LRM and SRM volleys.
-Artemis improves the lock on time and tracking strength of LRMs
-Artemis does NOT add guidance to SRMs.
-Upgrade panel has an Artemis category with two options – Artemis and Remove Artemis
-The Artemis category will not show up if the ‘Mech does not have Missile hardpoints.
-Changing options will automatically upgrade/downgrade any existing eligible missile weapons and swap any eligible missile ammo to the proper type
-The Artemis upgrade can be applied to all standard LRM and SRM launchers, but not Streak SRMs or Narc Beacon launchers
-Price of the upgrade includes cost of the upgrade itself plus cost of the ammo if there was not enough in the inventory
-Ability to select the Artemis upgrade will depend on availability of sufficient slots and tonnage
-When viewed in “Loadout”, all Artemis capable weapons will take up one extra slot and weigh one more ton than usual when Artemis is selected
-For any weapons that are Artemis eligible, only the Artemis version will show in the equip list
-Similarly, only Artemis ammo will appear for the ammo for those weapons

Artemis is not applied to Streak Missile launchers. If you go to the MechLab and look at a Mech with Artemis installed, you will see that all LRM and SRM weapons show as "weapon name + ARTEMIS" except for Streaks which have no mention of Artemis.

End of discussion, or so I thought.
However, this did not appear to sway the position of a couple of people in a different thread.

That's when the light bulb went on, and I realized that I could rather precisely determine the lock on time, both with and without Artemis, by counting frames. Don't know why I didn't think of this sooner.

So I performed a test using the following parameters:

• Mech used for both test was the same TBT-7M with three SSRM 2's.
  
• The only difference between the first and second test (other than the map) is the presence or absence of Artemis.
  
• For each test, I stood 188m from a Commando
  
• raw video was recorded using Fraps and then transcoded into H.264 using Avidemux

To calculate lock-on time, I noted the precise time the first, yellow lock-on ring faintly appeared. I then noted the time the second, red ring appeared. Subtracting the two times gave the total time it took to achieve a lock. I repeated this a number of times and computed the average for both cases.


You can see all the data here in this spreadsheet:
https://docs.google....U0E&usp=sharing

Here are direct download links to the video source files:
https://dl.dropboxus...-04-81_x264.avi
https://dl.dropboxus...-10-56_x264.avi
I did not upload these to youtube, because I don't think you can advance frame-by-frame in youtube like you can with a local application.
As one can see from the data, performing this test both with and without Artimes showed almost a ½ second reduction in lock-on time when the mech was equipped with Artimes.

Once I discovered this, I sent my results to Support, which got forwarded to QA. Today, I received the following response:

Quote

Hello knnniggett,

According to my QA's tests it seems there is a certain effect being applied that should not. We have entered a bug for this and this will be adjusted in a future build. Thanks very much for the report!

So there you have it. The data indicates there is a reduction in lock-on time when equipped with Artemis, and the Dev's have acknowledged this is something unintended.

Thank you to Kitane and Equalizer for being persistent in your position that this was true all along. Since I am offering thanks, I think it's ok to post your names.

If you want to see me eat crow, then all I ask is “got any Ketchup”?


EDIT: Changes made based on Ninjai's follow-up response

Edited by knnniggett, 22 May 2013 - 10:35 AM.

[aniviron]

I don't know where you had been reading that artemis doesn't decrease lock times besides the official description, but it is 100% true that ssrms lock faster with arty. Specifically, the bonus is the same as the one applied to LRMs, a 50% decrease in lock time.

Why is it the same bonus LRMs get? Because that is the only way for it to work. Ask yourself this: what happens if you have both LRMs and SSRMs, and artemis? There is only one way to lock on for both groups, which means that the lockon time has to be the same for them, else you would wind up with LRMs locking too slowly or SSRMs locking too quickly. The only way to fix this behaviour would be to have separate lockons for LRMs and SSRMs, or to change the text to indicate that artemis does have an effect on SSRMs. :]