31 replies to this topic

[Void Angel]

Felio, on 14 August 2013 - 11:58 AM, said:

And does it make a difference if I'm in a light? I'm kind of at a loss. Legs and arms seem fragile, and the torsi and cockpit seem... important.

Thanks.

Arms are fragile - legs are not. Their max armor is equal to a full side torso (front and back combined) - meaning that a leg has more effective armor capacity than any location but the center torso. That being said, it does matter what chassis you're using. Ravens have legs literally up to their armpits, Cataphracts and Kintaros have small side torso boxes, etc. in general, I put AMS ammo in the head, then put ammo in my legs, then my center torso.

scJazz, on 15 August 2013 - 10:19 AM, said:

1st Ton in the Head
2 and 3 CT
MORE: one of the Side Torsos padded by anything you can manage to fit around it.

Not in the legs since that is where everyone is aiming no sense giving them a freebie if they manage a crit. Torso because lets face it if anyone manages a hit there it means you have been legged already or someone got really lucky. Either way you are probably dead immediately or real soon.

I see you have not piloted a Jenner. =)

[Void Angel]

FrDrake, on 15 August 2013 - 10:22 AM, said:

Look at it from the flip side too, ammo explosion when they blow off an arm or leg hurts other places, if you're getting hit CT on a light by 10+ points of damage to your INTERNALS then you are a wind gust close to dead anyway, they pop your CT and you don't really need to worry about the ammo explosion it may have caused.

*Edit* Heh, it seems alot of us put ammo in the ct

Actually, as was explained to me in another thread, the damage done by a critical hit is not linked to the amount of damage that penetrates the armor. Damage from critical hits use the full base damage of the weapon, even if only one point got through the armor to cause a crit. In practice, of course, this often does not matter, since only one hit will ever be the one to penetrate the armor and do partial damage - except with hitscan weapons. =)

[scJazz]

Void Angel, on 15 August 2013 - 10:38 AM, said:

I see you have not piloted a Jenner. =)

Void Angel, on 15 August 2013 - 10:42 AM, said:

Actually, as was explained to me in another thread, the damage done by a critical hit is not linked to the amount of damage that penetrates the armor. Damage from critical hits use the full base damage of the weapon, even if only one point got through the armor to cause a crit. In practice, of course, this often does not matter, since only one hit will ever be the one to penetrate the armor and do partial damage - except with hitscan weapons. =)

Come to think of it... no... not one that had Ammo leastwise

Excellent point... the other part being even once the ammo is destroyed there is only a 10% chance that it will explode. Unless it is a Gauss Rifle in which case it is 90%.

[Void Angel]

Jenners have a huge CT box. It's not too uncommon for people to hit your center torso from behind - particularly if they are tall 'mechs, or firing from high ground.

Also, that's exactly why I recommend CASE for any gauss installation. =)

[El Death Smurf]

I will say that stacking more than 1 ton of ammo anywhere can be disastrous. Yes I’m looking at you leg-ammo hoarders. as pointed out Heleqin legs are the last place ammo gets pulled from, so that means that IF you have , say, 5 tons of ammo, I would suggest putting it in each of your limbs and head. Spread it out so that if it does go off it will never completely destroy your mech. I have gotten plenty of 1 legged kills on mechs, where they lose 1 leg, and then take 100-200pts of damage and fall over dead without me shooting another shot. When you stack ammo, that’s 2 10% chances of exploding, and in the leg, nothing can absorb the damage, whereas in arms, your weapons and heat sinks can absorb the damage.
1ton of ammo- head
2tons-head, arm
3tons-head, arm arm
4tons- head, arm arm, leg
5tons head, leg leg, arm arm
After that (never in a light I’d assume) put extra ammo in arms, but try and keep things spread out. May the odds be ever in your favor.

[LauLiao]

Not really a light pilot but from what I've seen:

All Mechs but lights: Ammo goes in the legs since people rarely shoot for the legs
Lights: Ammo goes anywhere but the legs because everyone shoots for you there.

[Gremlich Johns]

Elizander, on 14 August 2013 - 10:13 PM, said:

You put the ammo in the same place everyone puts them in - the legs.

I never put ammo in the legs because I'm odd and do not believe the ammo can get to the weapons from the legs. Just sayin'

[Void Angel]

Well, if you want to play that game...

• Giant, six-and-a-half story tall robots which run and jump are impossible to construct with any material hypothesized by human science - much less foamed aluminum reinforced with titanium-steel alloy and the stuff they use in brake pads.
  
• Even if such large war machines could be constructed, they wouldn't look like BattleMechs - magical myomers or no. The articulation involved in making the complex joints of even a bird-form BattleMech produce multiple weak points in the armor. No BattleMech could possibly be as durable as a tank of the same mass - a fact not only ignored, but reversed in the BattleTech universe.

I think I'll just keep on playing this game, and put my ammo in the locations that seem to get blown off the least.

Edited by Void Angel, 15 August 2013 - 03:37 PM.

[Johnny Reb]

Void Angel, on 15 August 2013 - 12:38 PM, said:

Jenners have a huge CT box. It's not too uncommon for people to hit your center torso from behind - particularly if they are tall 'mechs, or firing from high ground.

Also, that's exactly why I recommend CASE for any gauss installation. =)

Only if its in the torso (side torso) and no xl engine. Case does nothing for the arms and if it goes up in a xl side torso you are dead case or not.

[Void Angel]

Well, obviously. I suppose I should have been more specific. =)

[scJazz]

El Death Smurf, on 15 August 2013 - 01:13 PM, said:

I will say that stacking more than 1 ton of ammo anywhere can be disastrous. Yes I’m looking at you leg-ammo hoarders. as pointed out Heleqin legs are the last place ammo gets pulled from, so that means that IF you have , say, 5 tons of ammo, I would suggest putting it in each of your limbs and head. Spread it out so that if it does go off it will never completely destroy your mech. I have gotten plenty of 1 legged kills on mechs, where they lose 1 leg, and then take 100-200pts of damage and fall over dead without me shooting another shot. When you stack ammo, that’s 2 10% chances of exploding, and in the leg, nothing can absorb the damage, whereas in arms, your weapons and heat sinks can absorb the damage.
1ton of ammo- head
2tons-head, arm
3tons-head, arm arm
4tons- head, arm arm, leg
5tons head, leg leg, arm arm
After that (never in a light I’d assume) put extra ammo in arms, but try and keep things spread out. May the odds be ever in your favor.

My Catapult A1 has over 500 matches in 2 configs. I've died to Ammo Crit Explosion 7 times. I know that just looking at the math it seems insane. But "real-world" testing confirms not really crazy. More often than not I take a crit and lose ammo in my CT which can be annoying since I forget and put 2 tons of SRM ammo there often and suddenly find myself out of bullets.

This is my "Demon" build.
CPLT-A1 Demon
The ammo layout reflects order of ammo use. 1 Ton each in CT and Legs, the leftover padded in RT.

[Corvus Antaka]

head, legs, center torso, arms. in that order.