4 replies to this topic

[Robot Legs]

When people talk about how may launch tubes a mech has, what's up with that?

[Nauht]

It's the physical tube that a mech has to launch missiles from. So if a mech has a 6 tube launcher it can fire off 6 missiles at once.
So if you wanted to fire off an LRM20, it'll fire off salvoes of 6,6,6,2.

This has an impact in that AMS can shoot down more and it also gives the target time to move. Think of it like PPC v lasers. One delivers damage all at once and the other takes time.

[SirLANsalot]

it means the number of missiles any one hard-point can fire. Example would be the Highlanders. The first missile you place in the torso of a highlander will be of any number of tubes, so an LRM20 will fire all 20 at once, a 15 will fire all 15 ect ect. However as it has a 2nd missile hard-point that one is attached to the side of the mech, and not in the torso itself. That launcher can only handle a maximum of 10 missiles before it needs to fire a 2nd time to get all the missiles out. Like if you placed a LRM15 in after that original 20, the 2nd pod would fire one volly of 10 and then a 2nd of 5 to equate all 15 missiles.

This same principle applies to SRMs as well, but since most mechs can handle even a SRM6, its mostly a mute issue. Certain mechs however (like the 2 new ones) have only 4 tubes in certain locations, meaning it will fire one volley of 4 then a volley of 2 to get that SRM6 on out. Where it would handle a SRM4 just fine.

[Johnny Reb]

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/

Start here.

[stjobe]

Here's the fun part though: Tube restrictions only apply per launcher, not per section.

So let's say you're in a Centurion A, with 10 tubes in the left torso, and three missile hardpoints behind it.
You can stuff three LRM-10s in there and fire 30 missiles in a single volley, but if you put a single LRM-15 in there, you'll be firing two volleys of 10 and 5.

Like so:
1 LRM-10: 1 volley, 10 missiles.
2 LRM-10: 1 volley, 20 missiles.
3 LRM-10: 1 volley, 30 missiles.
1 LRM-15: 2 volleys, 10+5 missiles.
2 LRM-15: 2 volleys, 20+10 missiles.
3 LRM-15: 2 volleys, 30+15 missiles.

It's a bit weird, but that's how it currently works.

Also, if you get the idea you'll be thinking of putting large launchers into locations with a small number of tubes, like a LRM-20 behind a single-tube NARC launcher. Don't. While the effect is impressive, the math works out to anything over LRM-10 is a waste, since the cooldown will be over before the 10th missile leaves the launcher. It's also not very efficient to have missiles come in a stream of singles - it looks pretty cool, but it's not very effective.