Personally, I would rather see arm-mounted weapons able to make use of non-instantaneous, range-based convergence adjustments, while torso-mounted weapons are fixed in position and harmonized to converge at a given range in the MechLab.
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Rather than have multiple crosshairs, all torso weapons could/would be locked in place (both horizontally and vertically) relative to the torso so that they converge on the reticle's center point at their max. effective/optimal range and diverge when passing beyond that point.
This is essentially how the wing-mounted guns on WWII military aircraft were set, in a process called "
harmonization".
In this example, the red lines show the aircraft's guns when harmonized to a distance of ~200 meters, the green lines show the aircraft's guns when harmonized to a distance of ~800 meters, and the blue lines show that the aircraft's guns fire straight ahead in parallel paths and do not converge at all when unharmonized.
A far more detailed example, showing both the vertical and horizontal effects with a P-47 Thunderbolt, can be seen here:
For a MWO-based example, twin torso-mounted PPCs (as found on the stock AWS-8Q, for instance) would default to converging to a single point at 540 meters, with the impact points diverging as one moves away from that point (either toward or away from the firing unit).
Likewise, twin torso-mounted Medium Lasers (such as seen on the stock AS7-D, SDR-5V, CN9-A, CTF-3D, and others) would default to converging to a single point at 270 meters, with the impact points diverging as one moves away from that point (either toward or away from the firing unit).
In the case of non-twinned weapons (e.g. a Large Laser in one side-torso and an ER Large Laser in the other side-torso), each weapon would default to converging with the line-of-sight through the center of the torso reticle at its respective effective/optimal range (540 meters for the LL and 675 meters for the ERLL).
By contrast, arm-mounted weapons would still be able to (non-instantaneously) adjust themselves vertically (assuming an undamaged Upper Arm Actuator is present in the arm(s) in question) and horizontally (assuming an undamaged Lower Arm Actuator is present in the arm(s) in question).
For the harmonization scheme to have any real meaning, it would have to be something that is set in the 'Mech Lab & immutable from the cockpit -
it should not be able to be changed at all during a match.
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One of the advantages to overall gameplay is that it restricts the vast majority of "high alpha boats" - particularly those that carry their heaviest weapons in the torso sections, or arms that lack the Lower Arm Actuator - to a very narrow "range envelope" wherein they can deliver maximized pinpoint damage; as the target moves outside of that envelope in either direction (that is, either getting further away
or getting closer), the contact points increasingly diverge and the damage is increasingly spread across the target.
Those 'Mechs that carry the bulk (if not the totality) of their direct-fire weapons in fully-actuated arms (or at least, arms that only lack hands) - such as the CTF-4X, the
Heavy Metal, the AS7-RS, the HBK-4SP, the TBT-5J, the
Death's Knell, and the SDR-5K... and later 'Mechs like the primary variant of the
Black Hawk (and, hopefully, the MAD-3R
) - would enjoy an advantage in both the ability to track faster targets & the ability to concentrate damage at variable ranges (which, after all, is a large part of the actuated arms' reason for existing in the first place, and why they sacrifice the volume (critical spaces) that would otherwise be devoted to additional weaponry or equipment), though that advantage would/should be tempered by the non-instantaneous nature of the proposed convergence mechanic.
(Incidentally, it should be noted that each of the
Loki Prime, the
Thor Prime, the
Man o' War Prime, the
Masakari Prime, and the
Daishi Prime lack Lower Arm Actuators in both arms (no arm swing or separate lateral tracking for them, even under PGI's current system!
) while the
Gladiator Prime has one arm (Right Arm) with a full set of actuators and one arm (Left Arm) lacking both a Hand Actuator and a Lower Arm actuator (much like a mirrored version of both the
Victor and the
Highlander - each of which has an arm swing range of only 20 degrees).)
My proposed convergence & harmonization system also gives the eventually-to-be-introduced
Targeting Computer a greater raison d'être - installing one (at the cost of tonnage and critical spaces; "Clan Targeting Computers weigh one ton and occupy one critical slot for every five tons of equipment they control (rounded up), while a comparable Inner Sphere version weighs one ton and occupies one critical slot for every four tons it controls (also rounded up).") could grant a small boost to the arm's tracking and convergence speeds as well as allowing torso-mounted direct-fire weapons to use non-instantaneous, range-based convergence.
Thoughts?
1
Homeless Bill, on 09 July 2013 - 04:08 PM, said:
