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IMPORTANT NOTE:
A mechanic such as this would need to be evaluated and modified as-required in the Public Test Server before it ever went Live. I'm not asking for this to be implemented as-is. It's a foundation to build off of.
Currently, due to the way the meta has worked out, PPCs and Gauss Rifles are the kings of the battlefield.
I present a suggestion to (hopefully) ease that problem:
The introduction of another limitation on all weapons, called "power draw". (Name is arbitrary, just make it easy to understand what it is.)
Before anyone starts saying that logic and MWO mix like osmium and hydrogen, stop and think about this for a second.
All weapons require power to operate in some amount, however small, or you'd be able to use your weapons while your mech was powered down. Among all weapons, the gauss rifle, lasers, and PPCs are all weapons which require much higher amounts of power, (relative to missiles and AutoCannon ballistics), in order to operate properly.
Potential Gameplay Mechanic:
The engine of a mech can only output so much power at once, and once it reaches that limit, no additional power can be drawn from the engine until something stops drawing power. (I haven't decided whether or not that level of power should be dependant upon engine rating, as I can see issues with both sides.)
PPC:
The PPC -- Particle Projector Cannon (http://www.sarna.net/wiki/PPC) -- fires a stream of either protons or ions at a target in order to cause damage via the transfer of thermal and kinetic energies. Both protons and ions are electromagnetically charged particles, which must be isolated from electromagnetically neutral sources. It takes large amounts of power to isolate protons or create ions via non-chemical means, and the PPC is most certainly not a chemical weapon. When the PPC fires, it requires a HUGE power supply, and causes a massive spike in the power draw of your engine. Because it fires all at once, the spike dissipates very rapidly, but it is still there. Has incredibly high "power draw".
Gauss Rifle:
The gauss rifle (http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Gauss_rifle) uses electromagnetic energy to fire a large slug made of nickel and iron at a high velocity. The energy is stored in capacitors untill the rifle is fired, at which point the energy in the capacitors is used to accelerate the metal slug to high speeds to cause damage. (Capacitors are basically batteries which can be quickly drained and recharged.) The energy has to come from somewhere, right? Make it so that when the gauss rifle is fired, it immediately starts drawing energy from the engine to recharge the capacitors, and this is its power draw statistic. Has extremely high "power draw".
ECM/BAP:
ECM is a constantly emitted jumble of electromagnetic signals known as "white noise", which serve to confuse radar systems of the opposition. (Technically, it also confuses allied systems as well, but PGI has been pretty clear on its stance in that regards, so I'll leave that alone.) Has very high "power draw". (This one isn't really a required one -- it just popped into my mind while I was making the rest of this post, so I thought I'd include it.)
BAP is a form of high-powered radar which increases sensor range, reduces the time to identify specific details of targeted mechs, allows the detection of powered-down enemy mechs at short range, and allows negation of ECM at short range. Has medium-high "power draw". (This one isn't really a required one -- it just popped into my mind while I was making the rest of this post, so I thought I'd include it.)
Lasers:
Lasers require continuous streams of power to work, though on a much lower level than that of a gauss rifle or PPC. Lasers draw power for the entire duration of their beam, but not their cooldown duration. The amount of power drawn is dependant upon the size of the laser (small/medium/large) and the type of the laser (standard/pulse/ER). Standard lasers draw their power over a slightly longer duration than their Pulse counterparts, but also draw a higher total amount. Pulse lasers draw their power over a shorter duration than their Standard counterparts, but also draw a lower total amount. ER lasers draw a much higher amount than standard lasers, and draw it over the duration of the beam.
- Small Pulse Lasers - Have very low "power draw".
- Small Lasers - Have low "power draw".
- Medium Pulse Lasers - Have medium-low "power draw".
- Medium Lasers - Have medium "power draw".
- Large Pulse Lasers - Have medium-high "power draw".
- Large Lasers - Have high "power draw".
- ER Large Lasers - Have very high "power draw".
AutoCannons require only a small amount of power -- just enough for the firing mechanism of the gun to go off and make the propellant in the shell ignite. The requirement of power is per shot fired, so the AC/2 would be a low power draw, but done frequently, while the AC/20 would be a high power draw (for an AutoCannon), but done much less often. Have low "power draw".
Missiles/NARC beacon:
Missiles should require the second-least amount of power of any weapon system, as they require only enough power to tell the missiles to fire if they are SRMs or NARC, and only enough to fire, then be guided by a targeting computer if they are Streak SRMs or LRMs. Have very low "power draw".
Machine Guns/AMS/TAG:
All of these pieces of technology require so little power that their power draw is, for all practical purposes, nearly nonexistant. All of these systems have a negligeable "power draw".
To give a sense of scale, I'll make a comparison using a scale of 0-100. (These numbers are just examples, and could just as easily be adjusted to 0-10, or to 0-1000. I picked them to showcase the differences between the systems more easily.) I also included the method in which the power is drawn from the engine, that being when it is drawn from the engine, and for how long.
- PPC - 80/100 -- (high spike drawn all at once when weapon is fired, drops off quickly)
- Gauss Rifle - 70/100 -- (high draw spread across duration of cooldown, stops once cooldown is complete)
- ER Large Laser - 55/100 -- (drawn constantly during the beam duration)
- ECM - 50/100 (drawn constantly while ECM is active)
- Large Laser - 45/100 -- (drawn constantly during the beam duration)
- BAP - 40/100 -- (drawn constantly while BAP is active)
- Large Pulse Laser - 35/100 -- (drawn evenly per pulse during the beam duration)
- Medium Laser - 30/100 -- (drawn constantly during the beam duration)
- Medium Pulse Laser - 25/100 -- (drawn evenly per pulse during the beam duration)
- AutoCannons - 10/100 - 20/100 -- (drawn every time the gun is fired)
- Small Laser - 15/100 -- (drawn constantly during the beam duration)
- Small Pulse Laser - 10/100 -- (drawn evenly per pulse during the beam duration)
- Missiles - 5/100 -- (only requires enough power to run the launcher and targeting computer)
- Machine Guns/AMS/TAG - 1/100 -- (for practical purposes, they don't really draw much at all)
*DISCLAIMER*
These numbers are just examples for a sense of scale. I picked them based upon my personal opinion of how I think these systems should be organized at a quick glance. Please don't talk about 'adjusting' the values unless you support the idea, as it isn't going to end up meaning anything at all if this idea ends up not being used.
So, what do the rest of you think about this?
*EDIT*
And for Kerensky's sake people -- if you think it needs changes, please, suggest some! I can't read minds!
Edited by Spirit of the Wolf, 03 July 2013 - 01:51 PM.
