Posted 27 July 2013 - 10:08 AM
Moar Lurm QQ! Moar, nao!
Here's the thing: LRMs are not OP. In fact, they're one of the most situation-dependent weapons in the game. If you are in a slow mech out in the open with an enemy spotter, you can get absolutely roached by them. If you're in a fast mech, under cover, perhaps with ECM, you are effectively immune.
1 - LRMs are far more effective at medium range than long, due to flight times and the need to maintain a lock or have them go "dumb" and lose tracking.
2 - LRMs have both ECM and AMS specifically designed to prevent them from being used, and give a lot of warning to the enemy with the "Incoming Missiles" warning that gives those who pay attention time to get into cover.
2 - LRMs have no extended range, and do 0 damage inside their minimum. Other weapons with maximum and minimum ranges still do some damage, with fall-off, but LRMs air-burst when they hit 1,000m and don't arm until they hit 180m, given them a very hard maximum and minimum range bracket.
3 - LRMs preferentially track the CT. This is the same problem SSRMs had, and could have the same or a similar fix. That does not make them OP, just buggy. As SSRMs were "OP" until they got their tracking fix (and are considered by many now to be UP), so too LRMs are often considered OP by those who don't understand that they're buggy and UP by those who don't understand how to use them in the first place.
Here's the solution to LRMs: Give them SSRM tracking, but slightly modified. Have them target "bones" in groups of 5, with spread based on each individual group. In other words, if an LRM 5 fires at a target, all five missiles track the same "bone" on the target, with maybe a 2m diameter on the flight formation. This groups their damage a bit, while still having them affect an area rather than be a simple lump of precision damage. If an LRM 20 fires at a target, its missiles group into 4 sets of 5, that each track separately. Some might coincidentally target the same location.
Let Artemis and TAG reduce the size of the flight formation for the individual groups. Say, from 2m diameter to 1.75m for one, or 1.5m for both. Have NARC increase the tracking capability of in-bound LRMs (make them more agile), and have it increase the odds that missile groups will target the NARCed location (perhaps twice as likely or so). With this system all three electronic warfare systems could stack without issue (having all three would make for agile missiles that preferentially target the NARCed location and have a 1.5m flight radius on each 5-missile group.
In the mean time, learn to play against LRMs. Don't wander around in the open unless you have a fast mech or are in a group with plenty of AMS. Speaking of AMS, add it to your builds, especially your slow ones that are more vulnerable to enemy missiles. Pay attention to your "Incoming Missile" warnings, stay close to cover whenever you can, and watch the angles that enemy LRMs are coming from. If you can find the carrier, check the range. If he's close, get inside 180m and laugh at him. If he's far, get outside 1,000m and laugh at him. If you're fast enough, dance in and out of range and get him to waste his ammo on you.