265 replies to this topic

[Svidro]

Yeah, that's the one thing that I dislike about the gauss charge time, it benefits the poptarts most. But then I use it on my cataphract mostly so...

[Karl Streiger]

Hey guys you have a problem with Gauss Charge - here is my solution - i have encountered for my self.
Stop playing for 3-5 Months. (last time i played was in October) - this weak i came back for the 3rd time (allready did half a year break from Januar to October)
The first Mech I tried was my loved Atlas F - since now 13 months hardly any changing of the loadout - its main gun is the GaussRifle - charge wasn't a problem at all any more. - the opposite happened - all the other weapons without charge became problematic - .

So hey PGI can you add a weapon modules for - Charge Time for all weapons?

[JigglyMoobs]

Well I've gone back to ppc gauss for my victor. Once you learn to time the charging with your jjs it's a piece of cake.

Also I recently noticed that there is a subtle "clang" now to let you know that your gauss is fully charged. Nice. Was that put in during the last couple of patches? Did not notice it before.

[Svidro]

Been in for a while. Didn't start gaussing again before January 1 so might have been put in before that.

[GI Journalist]

One reason I can think of to include a charge time for the Gauss Rifle would be as a safety measure. By leaving it uncharged, a pilot can avoid a catastrophic explosion. Therefore, the Gauss would not explode unless it takes a critical hit while charged. However, it doesn't sound as if any changes were made to the critical damage effects when they changed the firing method.

I feel this is a poor fix for a MechSim. In fact, given a choice, most MechWarriors and their technicians probably would disable this safety feature, and keep the weapon charged and ready to fire as fast as it could recharge. The change is not insurmountable in terms of game play, but overall, I feel this was a disappointing and unrealistic change to the game.

[Lightfoot]

My advice is un-nerf all the weapons especially the Gauss desync charge for less than a second garbage. MWO's mechs are too weak to damage to be in a Battletech game, that's all.

Why is that? Because even if the game seems balanced on the field of play nerfing all the weapons gives players little reason to use Mechlab or buy new Mechs. So their CBills just keep piling up and they have no need of MCs unless some new wonderful Hero mech comes out, (which would be unlike the Pretty Baby).

To continue to grow well financially MWO must have a Mechlab that is like mad science fiction where players are challenged to create the ultimate Mech. So dump the nerfs and make the Mechs tougher. I think it's been 6-8 weeks since I made any major loadout changes to my Mechs and that is the exact opposite of what I like to do.

[Vahgus]

I'm not big on the charge up feature on a weapon that is only enhanced by energy not an actual energy weapon. However, for some reason they decided to either disable or break the weapon altogether? WTF?? Yes I recently equipped a Gauss Rifle and it failed to charge at all in just the training area.

Oh and btw IGP/PGI (if you are reading this) we pay your bills for this game why aren't you delivering?

[Alvor]

Gauss in this state is broken @ best.

It still explodes as ammo even though it no longer holds a charge since i.e. player has to hold release the charge.

Rounds are slow in flight. Not a sniper weapon as some say it is.

Charge mechanics give unfair advantage to those who use scripts & macros to instant fire the Gauss. (Yes I have spectated team mates using it in this manner and it is not speculation on my part.)

This is not how this weapon is intended to work in the MW universe nor does it work this way in reality.

Gauss is a railgun so should have fast projectiles, no charge up, & high rate of fire.

[TimePeriod]

I hold it standard with my Victor-DS since I cannot outfit it with an AC20 to get in close and brawl. Perhaps they could make the gauss ammo have a chance to penetrate internal systems and hit into the next target? That would make the gauss a lot more interesting.

[RedDragon]

I guess the charge-up has to be the worst weapon mechanic ever implemented into a game. Or does someone have an example of a game with a weapon that is worse to use?
The Gauss as it is is unintuitive, it failed both in desyncing with PPCs (at least for people who use macros) and in making it a sniper weapon (nearly impossible to make pot shots against targets far away that move between cover, while the charge mechanic is no real disadvantage in close combat). And last but not least it just doesn't make any sense both logically and lore-wise. What sane pilot would want such a clumsy way of firing his weapons? And for what reason is there a recharge time for the Gauss when we have to recharge it manually? And why can it explode while not charged?

Please, just file it under failed attempts and bring back the old Gauss.

[AEgg]

I think adding charge up to the gauss is one of the best balance changes PGI has made. It makes no difference if used at long range, but makes it much worse for close range or for taking quick shots from cover. Adding a charge makes the weapon much worse for sustained fire, but if you're using a sniping weapon for more than one shot at a time then you aren't sniping in the first place.

It needed a drawback. Sure, a guass and ammo weighs ~17 tons, but two ERPPCs and the heatsinks required to fire them weigh at least twenty, do more damage, and even at that point they're still producing lots of heat. The gauss outdamages everything else in the game (but LRMs), has one of (if not the) fastest projectile, the longest range (other than AC/2), and produces no heat.

I think it's a great fit lore-wise. Gauss rifles work by sending an enormous amount of power into electromagnets. Having to charge those up for a second before firing is entirely reasonable. The cooldown is exactly what it says, the weapon cooling down. It can explode because it's unstable, that's a simple enough explanation. Funneling electricity into something doesn't actually make it any more likely to explode. The charge up mechanic also helps make the weapon unique, much like the original ultra AC unjamming mechanic did (though they both can be abused via macros).

Being explosive isn't really a significant drawback to the gauss anyway, since if you lose a gauss you just lost most if not all of your firepower, so you're pretty much out of the match whether it explodes or not.

Edited by AEgg, 12 April 2014 - 06:32 AM.

[Daekar]

Gauss works fine. I'm running 2xPPC and Gauss on my K2, and it's great. The charge mechanism takes time to learn, but it's worth learning. It was a necessary change, and it's totally worth putting up with to have a weapon with practically no heat. I wish the recycle was shorter to compensate for the charge time.

[Lightfoot]

I am annoyed that the Gauss de-sync came out after the Phoenix Paks were sold. I would never have bought it if I had known PGI was essentially removing the Gauss Rifle for average player/ normal use. It's a real game changer since it's the best weapon for a Heavy or Assault mech with one medium Ballistic slot. Now before I buy a mech I need to see it's hardpoint layout, but I have only bought one Orion and the Ember since the Gauss De-sync was released, however I own 51 mechs.

So before Gauss Desync I bought 49 mechs and after, only 2. So only two mechs purchased since last July I believe, mostly due to the Gauss desync, but also due to the poor implementation of Ghost heat and DHS 1.4. Who needs new Mechs when most just don't work anyway? It's a basic functionality flaw so I know I am not alone.

That's why they should just return the Gauss to it's normal Battletech state. Give it a 30% longer recharge and viola, it fits in nicely between the AC10 and AC20.

Edited by Lightfoot, 12 April 2014 - 09:07 AM.

[-Natural Selection-]

Alvor, on 12 April 2014 - 04:01 AM, said:

Gauss in this state is broken @ best.

It still explodes as ammo even though it no longer holds a charge since i.e. player has to hold release the charge.

Rounds are slow in flight. Not a sniper weapon as some say it is.

Charge mechanics give unfair advantage to those who use scripts & macros to instant fire the Gauss. (Yes I have spectated team mates using it in this manner and it is not speculation on my part.)

This is not how this weapon is intended to work in the MW universe nor does it work this way in reality.

Yes I use a macro to fire mine. I can manually fire like normal, auto charge and fire with macro, or chain fire 2 with macro. However you can waste rounds due to not being able to stop the process, you can hit the dink who decides to walk in front of you at the last second. Sure it makes sure shots a little easier, but it isn't rocket science how to do it without. I only use it on about half my shots when I know I have the shot.

You are incorrect with what you are seeing. They charge like they would for anyone else, except when you spectate it does not show the charge mechanic in your view. I know because I have guys on comms ask me how I was firing without having to charge. *simply isn't happening.

Edited by Dozier, 12 April 2014 - 09:28 AM.

[Mazzyplz]

gauss is great as it is, i'm using it.

it's false that you can only hit stnding still enemies, you just charge up before you hillhump and hit a moving target on release of your finger. easy-peezy

just try harder, you'll get it down.
i hit light mechs with it often

[shellashock]

I only have two complaints about the Gauss Rifle right now. The mechanic used right now is too good at its job of de-syncing weapon groups (therefore encouraging boating), and the .75 seconds of charge time was not removed from recycle time. Other than that, I think the Gauss is just about perfect.

I made a suggestion before on the forums about making the Gauss charge time dynamic. I think it could be best of both worlds, but it probably would suck up a lot more development time then would be needed to put the weapon in a balanced niche. Just food for thought. http://mwomercs.com/...age__mode__show

[WILL WORK FOR AMMO]

I run a CPLT-K2 with 2 gauss rifles and 4 medium lasers (and I'm still experimenting with a laser-gauss rifle combination build for the K2).

I don't really consider boating these things an issue, as boating gauss rifles means using one of three heavies, of which two are used for more popular builds involving autocannons. The added risk of running double gauss rifles also deters people from running double gauss, as an explosion in the arm could easily leave you at half firepower and an explosion in the torso could just kill you.

Given that, I'm somewhat split on the issue of where the gauss rifle is.

Charge Time
I'm not exactly sure when or why this was introduced, but the charge time has had the effect of discouraging close-quarters combat with the weapon:

• Harder to hit fast mediums and lights, as they can take advantage of the charge time to duck out of your sight. This is negated if you're able to predict when your target is going to be in your sight.
  
• The added charge gives an effective 4.75 seconds, at best, between shots. This drops its DPS (effective ~3.16) down to AC/5 level (at the moment, ~3.33). That is, if you're brawling, there's a much lighter and more effective weapon for you than the gauss rifle. However, given that AC/2 and AC/5 nerfs are coming, I'm interested in seeing how this point will change.

Explosion
If we assume that the chance of a single gauss rifle exploding in any match is p, then running two gauss rifles yields an explosion chance of a gauss rifle in a match of 2p-p² (go here for a plot) if we assume i.i.d. Given that you're running either a 65 or 70 ton heavy with an XL engine (as a standard would lead to ammunition or armor issues), this makes it particularly risky especially if you have a gauss rifle in a side torso (which is what a K2 is forced to do).
Therefore, if you're boating gauss rifles, you're going to want to go for range to minimize damage. In turn, you'll also want a fast engine to reposition yourself quickly (you can go purely 2 gauss rifles with 60 ammo on a K2 boasting an XL300 with a decent amount of armor).
Again, this just discourages using the weapons in close quarters combat. However, (ER)PPCs, AC/2 and, to some extent, the AC/5 will still be able to pummel you at long range unless you don't mind the reduced damage you'll deal at 1000+ meters.

All that being said, I really love the build I have for the K2. I explode a lot, especially because the 500ish meter max range of the MLs, but I also feel that I put out a satisfying amount of damage, and I get moments where I'm able to charge at just the right time to one shot an unsuspecting light thats popping out of a corner. In addition, I don't feel locked into a specific range, because if I need to, I can just fire the gauss rifles from a distance. On that note, I fear improving the range at the cost of making matches long and mid-ranged focused battles.

Edited by WILL WORK FOR AMMO, 12 April 2014 - 11:26 AM.

[Amsro]

All your Gauss are belong to me!

[Lightfoot]

It was still a pointless nerf since the Gauss Rifle is the weakest DPS per ton weapon in MWO. It was big in the minds of players, so they used it, but 3xAC-5's will do as much damage as 2x Gauss at the same range for 8 tons less and 2xAC-5's will do about 60 percent more DPS than a Gauss Rifle for one ton more, and they don't explode. So all you see in MWO now is mostly Jagermechs since they can skirt all the nerfs PGI has applied since last June.

So all the Gauss desync did was stop mechs with one medium Ballistic slot from competing. Damage-wise it taught players to use 2xAC-5's or 2xUAC-5's which are much more devastating at 600-200 meters than a single Gauss.

Edited by Lightfoot, 12 April 2014 - 12:08 PM.

[DeathlyEyes]

The only thing that was really necessary with the gauss rifle was to decrease the recycle time. The charge mechanic just ruins it as a counter sniper weapon. The target will be back behind cover by the time the thing is charged up. The only reason people take AC5 over gauss now is because of the new charge mechanic DPS is way lower. The charge does nothing to affect me when sniping with it unless I am caught out in the open against other poptarts.