2 replies to this topic

[MustrumRidcully]

TL;DR Version:
We classify a certain set of weapons as "heavy" weapons. These cannot be group-fired with each other (but still possibly with other weapons).

Heavy weapons are all weapons that fire a single projectile per shot for 10 or more damage. That means Gauss, AC/10, PPC, ER PPC, AC/20 for now.

The "no-group-fire" is implemented as a server enforced cooldown on all of these weapons. If you fire one heavy weapon, all other weapons go on a 0.25 second to 0.5 second cooldown.

Design Rationale:
Convergence + Group FIre is what allows someone to bring 40+ damage to a single hit location in an instant - if you use weapons that have similar enough behaviour. Firing 4 MLs together with an AC/20 is often a bad idea, since the AC/20 needs lead time. SO it's better to either go 8 MLs or 2 AC/20. In practice, the Dual AC/20 is more favorable, since it also deals the damage in a single projectile.
But not just that - firing multiple lasers together also gives you the benefits of convergence, but you still have to keep your laser on target for about a second - which will tend to spread damage around. (But if we adopt the change and realize that these weapons are also problematic, we could also institute a penalty for those.)

So, the most powerful "boats" with the highest instant damage potential are the mechs that use multiple instances of the same weapon with a high damage per projectile.

Weapons that deal less than 10 damage per shot (like the AC/2 or the AC/5) are not a big concern, simply because you cannot equip enough of them to deal massive alpha damage (even though you might be able to get superior DPS).

Weapons like the LBX or the LRM would not be affected, since they fire several projectiles per shot, and lasers are not affected because they deliver damage over time (up to 1 seconds).


Pseudo-Scientific Rationale:
Lorewise, all the weapons on the list are considered creating recoil (yes, even the PPC).
SO my pseudo-science rationale is that these weapons produce so much recoil that all weapons need to be realigned for convergence - which can happen fast with the lighter weapons, but takes longer for the big ones.


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Personally, I am against this idea, because I love my Dual AC/20 Jagermech and don't want to see it nerfed in any form. Just nerf those PPC Stalkers with some complicated heat nerf or something, just let me fire every 4 seconds and torso twist defensively the intervening time.

[Mechteric]

Artificial limitations cherry picked among weapons is a band-aid, not a solution. There's plenty of reasonable options out there that don't include gimping things just because they happen to do more damage. The heat system is there for a reason, it needs to be more fully realized and utilized to become the balancing point it is supposed to be.

[MustrumRidcully]

CapperDeluxe, on 19 June 2013 - 09:41 AM, said:

Artificial limitations cherry picked among weapons is a band-aid, not a solution. There's plenty of reasonable options out there that don't include gimping things just because they happen to do more damage. The heat system is there for a reason, it needs to be more fully realized and utilized to become the balancing point it is supposed to be.

I know there are plenty of reasonable solutions. But PGI seems to be more the band-aid type and unreasonable solution type. Just look a their plan, with the "arbitrary amounts of weapons produce extra heat" suggestion.

This might have at least a chance to be simple. Both on the player to understand, as well as on the game design level.

Edited by MustrumRidcully, 19 June 2013 - 12:25 PM.