mwhighlander, on 29 June 2013 - 04:04 PM, said:
Wait what? Its max range is 270, so how can you "cut the range down" if you're proposing to increase it?
The maximum range is actually 3 times the optimum range. That means you can do some damage out to 810 meters.
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ACs are actually multi-shot guns. Hence the name Auto(matic) Cannons. For example the AC/5 might shoot 5 shots at 1 damage each or another variant might do 2 shots of 2.5 damage each. The AC/20 has a number of variants, there's only two that shoot low numbers of shots. The Chemjet gun which does 2 to 3 shots, and a 203 mm one that can only fit on a specific type of Battletech Tank.
A UAC weapon is a smaller caliber that has a special dual breech mechanism that allows it to fire even as the main breech is still reloading. If the AC/5 shoots 1 shot, then the UAC/5 should shoot 2 on the first trigger pull, and have a second 2 with a chance to jam on the second. Different variants can then have different amounts.
If we had this system we'd have a lot less concentrated damage, leaving us to wonder about PPCs. Gauss has plenty of balance with the explosive situation for them and extreme weight + low shots per ton.
My own idea is a dispersion of damage. It looks like splash, doesn't it?
But unlike PGI's CryEngine based splash (base damage + % of base damage spread into splash at all components hit) which can do weird things like get 18 damage total out of a single SRM, I'm thinking a better system. 10 base damage - x damage impact = splash damage to spread.
So say you hit someone CT and it splashes RT and LT. Let's say it's 6 damage at the impact sight, the splash then applies what's left evenly to the two sides, making 2 and 2. That still totals 10.
Pinpoint is now removed from all weapons except AC/2s and Gauss Rifles. Lasers become just as viable as most weapons.