11 replies to this topic

[Sephlock]

In 3051,[1] the Federated Commonwealth started development of the Blue Shield Particle Field Damper, a defensive system that would reduce damage from PPCs. The New Avalon Institute of Science produced its prototype in 3053. While the field damper did shield the equipped unit from PPC fire, it was also notoriously unreliable in ground units. After roughly a minute of operation, the dust and other miscellaneous debris it sucked in began to adversely affect the operation of the damper, eventually resulting in shutdown of the system.[2] To delay this problem, MechWarriors are known to shut down the Blue Shield if there are no enemy units wielding PPCs, reactivating it if a PPC-equipped foe arrives.

Just say that whatever module or piece of equipment that we get has the same relationship to the Blue Shield device as the YRB-49 has to the B-2.

Really, it only needs to last long enough for a mech (or group of mechs) to close- at which point their close range weapons should be able to fight evenly or overcome the PPC mechs, at least in theory... and given some upcoming buffs...

[Sephlock]

Hell, it could even serve as a permanent damping field that decreases in effectiveness the closer the user is to whomever is firing the PPCs.

[Renthrak]

I hate to rain on this parade, but this would disproportionately harm 'Mechs that carry small numbers of PPCs. The more PPCs a 'Mech carries, the greater the damage bleed-through, so 4+ PPCs would still be an effective setup unless the damper blocks nearly 100% of the damage.

[Owlfeathers]

Renthrak, on 18 June 2013 - 04:12 PM, said:

I hate to rain on this parade, but this would disproportionately harm 'Mechs that carry small numbers of PPCs. The more PPCs a 'Mech carries, the greater the damage bleed-through, so 4+ PPCs would still be an effective setup unless the damper blocks nearly 100% of the damage.

Agreed. 6 PPC Stalkers would still be doing insta-core alphas regardless of the shield unless the damage blocked is a huge amount. And in that case, this would just make anything carrying less than 4-6 PPCs completely useless.

[aniviron]

This has been brought up before on these forums; it's been rejected for a lot of reasons. Among them are: it is not 3051 yet, it will only be a prototype then, it's unreliable, and most importantly, it makes for bad gameplay.

It's the same problem as ECM/LRMs from when LRMs were OP and ECM was brand new, almost exactly. Either your opponent has this hardware and your very heavy weapons are suddenly useless, which is no fun for the player who want to take PPCs, or your opponent doesn't have the hardware and your weapons are still way OP and not fun for the person getting hit. It's just bad balance. It would be a lot easier just to, I dunno, drop damage or up heat by one point.

[General Taskeen]

Meh, it could probably be done IF its not programmed in a silly way.

Like say for instance if it was an actual piece of equipment:

1 crit
3 tons

Then how to balance it?

Let's say it gives a 50% (or go lower like 25%) damage reduction to first PPC that hits it for every single Dampener mounted (OR only allow 1 or 2 Dampeners to be mounted period), but immediately overloads it, shutting it off. So any subsequent PPC that hits does full damage, and it only can be turned on if not hit by PPC fire after 10+ seconds.

And it should immediately overload/shut off IF kept on for a certain period of time. Let's say, 30 seconds. So that's 3 disadvantages.

Pros: 1.Can be managed with button press, 2. Reduction of damage per dampener mounted.
Cons: 1. Takes up crit space/tonnage, 2. Immediately overloads when hit, 3. Automatically shuts off after 30 seconds of being 'on' (time managed by user, must be manually turned back on)

Edited by General Taskeen, 18 June 2013 - 05:29 PM.

[Owlfeathers]

One more thought, as this could (?) make it okay. Perhaps if it was an equipment piece which blocked 50 percent of all incoming PPC damage for, say, 2-3 seconds (able to activate once per match), but after that it was useless for the rest of the match. That way, you can maybe survive if a 6 PPC Stalker comes at you, but it probably won't be worthwhile to use it up when people are shooting at you with 1-3 PPCs (normal, non-boat builds).

[aniviron]

p.s. came to this thread expecting Awesomes, was disappointed.

[Levi Porphyrogenitus]

Hard counters are toxic for gameplay.

Make high-heat high-alpha builds have to choose. Make them suffer consequences for spiking their heat. Add penalties when running hot, soft ones while between ~25-100% heat and hard ones (damage) while at 100%+. Inject some player skill into the high-heat high-alpha gameplay and suddenly many of the FotM PPC boaters will move on to something easier (likely something more heat efficient, like going back to double Gauss or stacking AC5s or something).

[Sephlock]

This.

Owlfeathers, on 18 June 2013 - 05:36 PM, said:

One more thought, as this could (?) make it okay. Perhaps if it was an equipment piece which blocked 50 percent of all incoming PPC damage for, say, 2-3 seconds (able to activate once per match), but after that it was useless for the rest of the match. That way, you can maybe survive if a 6 PPC Stalker comes at you, but it probably won't be worthwhile to use it up when people are shooting at you with 1-3 PPCs (normal, non-boat builds).

[canned wolf]

Or maybe people could learn how to pilot? I own a stalker which I rarely take out. It's and alpha machine, but it's slow as dirt and has blind spots that you can hide an assault lance in. I have outmanuvered Stalkers in my Atlas!

Don't play the alpha game with high alpha mechs, get in behind them and tear them apart, or get a friendly Atlas to take the hits. Mine will take at least two alphas from a Stalker, which usually means they are an overheated sitting duck, or go after them with a High ROF ballistic mech. The constant explosions in their face will keep them from shooting, or use an LRM boat to take them out from behind a hill.

The only reason why high alpha is a problem right now is because it is easy to exploit the mistakes others make with them. Make it your job to take guys like that out so your team can win.

[Sephlock]

^