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But you call for placing TT numbers into MW:O!
That is only partially true. Take for instance the Heat System we've got;
Its 30 base + Heat Sinks. DHS is double in engine, and 1.4 outside. This leads to a massive threshold to use.
In BT it was simple the Heat Sink number. That +30 adds 30 free heat to use. Why?
Heat dissipation and recharge. Its the idea that you need a certain capacity of heat for the weapons. Why?
Well, lets look at the basic idea;
In BT you had turns, each turn you could fire a weapon, move, dissipate heat.
In the original idea of MWO they translated that into 10 seconds. A turn is 10 seconds.
A great point was made in another thread by DarkJaguar that is easily overlooked; http://mwomercs.com/...-balancing-mwo/
Spoiler
As his charts point out, weapon damage is off the intended TT scale. Alot.
The idea in TT is that each shot of a weapon could cause so much damage per turn. That is the damage done in that 10 second interval of MW;O.
Somewhere along that line they got the idea that 10 seconds was too slow even then and doubled recharge, leading to the double damage we have now - which really aggrevated the issue.
But why don't we see that kind of damage on some of that? Its simple really, the comparison of DPS over that 10 seconds against the single shot damage of up-front impacting PPC and such became favored for faster kills.
Now, we all know that doesn't work.
So what do I (and I woudl think everyone arguing this here) propose?
Use it as a base stat and adjust around it.
Now, this doesn't mean you have to change how the damage numbers look in the Mechbay for appearances. That just identifies the weapon's effectiveness. But in-game the mechanic numbers of it that add up to that damage needs tweaking. And how hard is that?
All that needs to be done here is a simple three-step change, that should be as simple as changing numbers in a spreadsheet. I don't know how many out here ever toyed with the Space Empires line and made their own game balance under it, but I know how fun and frustrating it can be to make the game work if something's off. So I understand its not perfectly easy, but it should be doable.
Step 1) Identify the timeframe a Turn should be.
I understand it was supposed to be 10 seconds, and we have double recharge now so its 5 seconds maybe?
Step 2) Fix the heat dissipation around that Turn.
This means simply increasing the regular dissipation to be at 1 heat per Heat Sink every 5 Seconds, right? DHS is 2 heat per Heat Sink. You follow the BT base, that's also the max amount of Heat Threshold.
If we remove that odd 30 Heat base and just run with the Heat Sink levels we end up limiting what we could do with weapons to begin with. Certain cheese builds right now wouldn't be able to function effectively and likely would be tossed out.
I know some of you are skeptic, but this relies on step 3 being done.
Step 3) Adjust Weapon Damage/efficency using Battletech as a Base per Turn.
We establish that the Turn is 5 seconds, so in 5 Seconds the weapon in BT deals that much damage. If we have the recharge faster than 5 seconds for appearances, the damage is less, right?
I might want to call for some fundamental changes in certain weapons however, just to make it work. But still basically match that received damage over the Turn time.
But what about those cheese builds?
With the Turn established, heat dissipation around that turn and weapons balanced that way we then allow the system to be balanced. Since weapons in Battletech has been balanced well around that turn it then balances them well around it here - there isn't a clear "best weapon" anymore as the factor of crit sizes, tonnage, heat and ammo balances out to a similar level when you load it up.
But does it stop boating? Honestly, not likely. That's an old Battletech strategy, but it also doesn't gimp anyone wanting to use a different weapon or strategy. You could expect similar damage outputs for invested space, or sacrifice some weapons for speed and mobility. Depending on how it turns out you can end up making pretty much what you want and it'll average out.
The last diffing factor remains skill and effective application of the weapons that are used.
What does this leave for the game mechanics? The issues of Convergence and Group Fire.
Since its unlikely we'll ever toss out the converging weapons part I am leaning towards removing the Group Fire. Force weapons into a kind of Chain Fire effect to mitigate the damage received and how fast. And again, thanks to that Turn is 5 Seconds we can determine how fast we want to receive damage by setting that Chain Fire system. There are a number of ideas for differing GCD or Chain Fire systems around, and many of them could work.
I say follow through that, and you get your balanced game. Weapons average out. Heat System isn't a complete mess that allows abuse and all that remains is how the weapons are aimed and fired.
Edited by Unbound Inferno, 15 July 2013 - 10:31 PM.
)UNIFORMLY.
