BUT:
PGI altered one core mechanic and idea of BTech which now screws the balancing up big time:
(Either by misinterpretation or by purpose, but from my point of view it obviously didn't work out)
How can it be in the TT, that two similar, parallel aligned weapons, mounted on the same bodypart, hit different locations if fired at the same time?
A: It is impossible.
Epic Illustration:
That means: Mechs are not supposed fire all their weapons at once!
They fire their weapons one after another.
Epic Illustration:
But why would they do that?
Well, I am not a huge BTech-Geek, but I know some people who are and they said:
the targeting system is rubbish and the reactor cannot handle the energy spikes generated by multiple weapons, fired at the same time.
But from my point of view there is one simple reason why they do that:
It looks way more awesome!
If you imagine a Mech Fight, do you think of huge battle robots constantly spiting out bullets, rockets and lasers or just firing one big blast, followed by running in circles while they are waiting for their CDs to finish?
Exactly!
So how can this system be implemented into MW:O and how would the game profit?
How to implement?
The most obvious solution would be to force chainfire on ALL weapons, which would mean that you would have to wait 0.5 seconds to fire the next weapon after you fired ANY weapon.
Doing this however, would just break the game for obvious reasons.
So how to do it?
Two words:
Global Cooldowns.
Add global cooldowns to different types of weapons.
Weapons without global cooldown (can be fired at any time and AT THE SAME TIME, if the respective CDs are ready):
SL
ML
LL
LRM
SRM
SSRM
AC/2
Flamer
Machine Gun
Why those weapons are not affected:
- Lasers already spread their damage, given how they work.
- how many missiles can be fired at once is already limited by the number of missile tubes on your chassis.
- AC/2, MG and Flamer for very obvious reasons.
Weapons affected by global cooldown (The time behind the weapon's name shows how long they will trigger a global CD on all those weapons after being fired):
AC/5 (0 sec)
Ultra AC/5 (0 sec)
AC/10 (0.25 sec)
LB 10-X AC (0.25 sec)
AC/20 (0.5 sec)
Gauss (0.5 sec)
PPC (0.5 sec)
What does that mean:
You cannot fire those weapons at the same time anymore. After having fired one of the above mentioned weapons you have to wait for 0.25 to 0.5 seconds before being able to fire off any other of those weapons.
The only exception are the AC/5s. You can fire multiple AC/5s at the same time or along with another weapon of this group, but it is still affected by the global CD.
Examples:
- A Stalker with 4 PPCs and 2 MLs plays like he had forced chainfire on all PPCs, but can fire both of his MLs off whenever he likes.
- A Hunchback with 9 MLs can fire them all at once, at any time, given the ML's CDs are ready.
- A Highlander with 2 AC/5s, 2 PPCs, 1 LPL and 2 SSRM can fire the LPL and the SSRMs whenever they are ready. He could also do that with the AC/5s, as long as he doesn't fire the PPCs. If he fired 1 PPC he has to wait for 0.5 seconds to fire the 2nd or to fire the AC/5s.
How will the game profit?
First of all, this will solve most of the the high-Alpha-Problem, because all high pinpoint-damage weapons have to be fired successively, making it much harder for a player to hit the same component with all of his weapons.
Secondly, it will make Lasers and Missiles more attractive, since they can still be fired at once or along with the pinpoint-damage-weapons.
Thirdly, it will nerf the unfair defensive power of high-alpha builds, because you cannot fire your volley and immediately Torso-Twist anymore. Even PPC-builds will now have to face the target for a longer period of time, if they want to deal all their damage.
And last but not least:
The game would look and play so much better; instead of sniping one big volley, Mechs would unleash a Bulletstrom as intended.
What do you guys think of it?
And @PGI: PLEASE TAKE A LOOK AT IT! IT WOULD MAKE THE GAME SO MUCH MORE FUN TO PLAY, TO WATCH AND IT WOULD RAISE THE SKILL-CAP FOR COMPETETIVE PLAY!
EDIT:
Current state of discussion as a short Q&A:
(Will be regularly updated and helps people who are new to this thread to see whats going on)
KEEP UP THE GOOD DISCUSSION GUYS AND THX FOR YOUR FEEDBACK!
Edited by Stat1cVoiD, 05 July 2013 - 03:51 PM.