7 replies to this topic

[Squigles]

At the moment it's likely (although I can't be sure), that when firing ammo based weapons, they all draw from 1 ammo bin until it's empty, then move on to another.

I propose we add somewhere in the mechlab to be able to set the bin draw order for each ammo drawing weapon. As an example, say you have an SRM on the RA and LA of your mech, with 1T of ammo stored in each of the side torso's. Assuming I'm correct in that ammo is drawn from a single bin until empty, let's say in this case the LT. After 8 shots of both SRM's you'd have 0 shots left in the LT bin, and 14 shots left in the RT bin, at this point the destruction of your RT would render "both" of your SRM's out of ammo.

However, if you could set an ammo bin draw priority, then you could set the LA launcher to draw from the LT bin first, and the RA launcher to draw from the RT first, so that if the above scenario would be repeated, and you lost your RT, you'd still have 7 shots left in the LT to feed the LA launcher (or both if side torso destruction doesn't take the arm in MWO).

You could also have situations where due to crit constrictions you're forced to stick ammo in more vulnerable locations, as such you may want to set all your weapons to draw from the vulnerable bin 1st, before spreading out to a more balanced draw from the remaining bins (or maybe you're not mounting case and so want to completely empty out bins asap, in which case you could still set it to eat up the most vulnerable bins 1st).

It's not really a critical addition to the game, but it would be nice. I know careful ammo management in TT has saved my posterior on numerous occasions by keeping my guns firing for 1 or 2 more critical turns.

[CeeKay Boques]

Hmm... this might be nice for ammo dumps and explosions too if they were included... left torso starting to smoke? Better dump that ammo, but keep the ammo in the right...

[ManDaisy]

Good suggestion, I'd especially love to use up all my ammo in my most vulnerable or ammo crowded locations first.

[Strisk]

Also fractional differences in reload speed based on how far the ammo must travel from the source to weapon?

Example, sourcing a Left Arm weapon from RT would take some fraction of a second longer than sourcing from LT

This would also cause weapons situated in different sections to load a different speeds. Nothing major, small fractions of a second maybe?

I do like the original idea here though, if ammo explosions/loses will be coming into play then source selection in the MechLab should be allowed.

[Telthalion]

Also agreed on the merits of the original idea. (The option for) manually setting the order in which each weapon cycles through ammo slots could actually play a fairly significant strategic role. Preemptively reducing ammo explosion dangers by using the most vulnerable or potentially hazardous critical slots first, that kind of thing.

Strisk's suggestion of factoring distance into reload time could also be a nice touch for more advanced tweaking, depending on where the devs want to take things on the "Realist <-> Battletech Traditionalist <-> Gamist" scale.

[Rodney28021]

Sounds good if the Devs do it.

[Barracuda91]

Reviving an old thread, but does anyone know what the current bin priority settings are? Does it draw from the ammo bin in the closest component?

[Justin Xang Allard]

Squigles, on 07 June 2012 - 02:02 PM, said:

At the moment it's likely (although I can't be sure), that when firing ammo based weapons, they all draw from 1 ammo bin until it's empty, then move on to another.

I propose we add somewhere in the mechlab to be able to set the bin draw order for each ammo drawing weapon. As an example, say you have an SRM on the RA and LA of your mech, with 1T of ammo stored in each of the side torso's. Assuming I'm correct in that ammo is drawn from a single bin until empty, let's say in this case the LT. After 8 shots of both SRM's you'd have 0 shots left in the LT bin, and 14 shots left in the RT bin, at this point the destruction of your RT would render "both" of your SRM's out of ammo.

However, if you could set an ammo bin draw priority, then you could set the LA launcher to draw from the LT bin first, and the RA launcher to draw from the RT first, so that if the above scenario would be repeated, and you lost your RT, you'd still have 7 shots left in the LT to feed the LA launcher (or both if side torso destruction doesn't take the arm in MWO).

You could also have situations where due to crit constrictions you're forced to stick ammo in more vulnerable locations, as such you may want to set all your weapons to draw from the vulnerable bin 1st, before spreading out to a more balanced draw from the remaining bins (or maybe you're not mounting case and so want to completely empty out bins asap, in which case you could still set it to eat up the most vulnerable bins 1st).

It's not really a critical addition to the game, but it would be nice. I know careful ammo management in TT has saved my posterior on numerous occasions by keeping my guns firing for 1 or 2 more critical turns.

it would also be nice if we got paid more for damage, i had a game where i scored over 1200 points but got no kills. costs more to reload than i make per mission.