215 replies to this topic

[Xyuni]

I absolutely love the dual gauss on my Cataphract-3D, even sniped a few light mechs with it before.

The only gripe i have about it is the low hp on the weapon and that the weapon can actually cause ammo explosion

I voted just about right but i think a little tweak to it would make it more usable by many others, such as allowing CASE to prevent it from exploding, or increasing its hp from 3 to maybe 7....

My KD was always 1:1 but ever since i put on the dual gauss + 4 med lasers, it have been rising game over game.

Pro tips: When you use JJ , don't release the gauss shot when your spacebar is pressed, only release it after you release the space bar, your aim will be accurate again, but that also means you have like 0.25 secs to point at the right location....advanced zooming helps alot over great distances....

Pro Tip 2: On a Cataphract 3D , your right section is the most important part because it has both the gauss rifles and 2 med lasers, while on your left section, it only have 2 med lasers. So when you brawl, after you release the gauss, just use your left section as shield , while waiting for the weapon to recharge....once your left section is almost gonna blow, keep using jump jets to jump as high as you can, so they end up hitting your legs this time.....do whatever you can to protect your right section and you'll walk away victorious in most battles.....

Edited by Xyuni, 01 October 2013 - 12:28 PM.

[AvatarofWhat]

Lore-wise and even reality wise it is really stupid that you charge the weapon only to have it lose its charge a second later. The whole reason for having capacitors is so you don't have to waste time building up energy! No weapon in real-life or a well done story would ever be designed like this.

From a gameplay standpoint the mechanic is okay. I can fire the thing just fine but the extra time I have to hold the trigger got added to the weapons recycle time making it the lowest DPS per ton weapon in the game. Thats before you count ammo, or the fact that its highly explosive. Gauss was in a good place for a long time, you heard a lot of complaints about AC-20 boats, and PPC boats, but you almost never heard complaints about the gauss prior to the change. Because players knew that although gauss boats have range and damage they are gonna be either slow, vulnerable, or more then likely both.

The poll shows a scary curve. Normally youd get more of a bell curve but the poll is skewed toward underpowered/not worth using. If almost half of all players think a weapon sucks then it could probably use a buff.

Edited by AvatarofWhat, 01 October 2013 - 12:11 PM.

[amaslenn]

Kazma, on 26 September 2013 - 04:37 AM, said:

I think they should only change the explosion rate. Its just too dangerous to go out with a Gauss now because it 100% explodes when damaged.
The weapon itself is fine imo

I suppose Gauss should explode only when charging or charged. If capacitors are empty why should them explode?

Edited by amaslenn, 01 October 2013 - 12:09 PM.

[Alistair Winter]

Let me explain the whole DPS issue to some of you.

DPS becomes increasingly important in longer engagements, while alphastrike/burst fire is increasingly important in short engagements.

If you're engaging in a brawl on some open field on Alpine, where there's very little cover and everyone will blast each other untill one side wins, then DPS is very important. This is where cool builds with high DPS really shine.

If you're engaging in a sniping battle on Tourmaline, where there's a lot a cover and people pop their head out, shoot and disappear, then a high DPS doesn't really matter. A CTF-3D with double gauss can emerge from cover for less than a second, deliver 30 damage to your CT, and disappear again. While its guns are reloading, it's hiding behind cover.

If you're using the gauss rifle on a brawler, like an Atlas with 4 medium lasers and 3 SRM6's, then the gauss rifle's low DPS is a problem. But that's not how the gauss rifle is meant to be used. If you're using the gauss rifle on a Jagermech, then the low DPS is not a problem, as the Jagermech is an ideal sniper.

[Captain Stiffy]

Low DPS this low DPS that, a 30 damage zero heat alpha is still totally possible with this weapon.

Pros that take patient shots can abuse the hell out of this. Bads that run in spamming left mouse will not enjoy the gauss.

[spottiedogman]

I guess my complaint is that it messed up the mechanics or playability(play style) of some of the Hero and Champion mechs that were brought out before the change, DS, Dragon©, etc... To me they are not as effective or can be used in the same manner due to the gauss mechanic now. Not that the change was bad just different and out of my play style.

Edited by spottiedogman, 01 October 2013 - 01:57 PM.

[Lyoto Machida]

Joseph Mallan, on 24 September 2013 - 07:29 AM, said:

Alistair the UAC5 may be OP in your hands but it is just average in mine. Sometimes that which is called OP is just good synergy between the weapon an the player.

I'm not sure how much synergy one needs between the pilot and UAC5...ran a triple UAC Ilya last night and pulled 1000ish damage and 4 kills by just pointing at the targets and mashing on the left mouse button. LRMs are harder to use than UACs.

Of course, its a bit harder with just one, instead of three...

[Arguss10]

I feel the gauss is like having a flintlock rifle in today's world. It wouldn't work in the armies around the world today, it shouldn't be in the armies of 3050(maybe in 2750 when technology hat been stripped bare). When the clans come they would laugh.

[Lunatic_Asylum]

I love running my triple-gauss 'Mech to collect money fast! Also, my Atlas with 1xGauss gets more kills than anyone (except for the triple-gauss dude). The change is perfect!

Edited by lunticasylum, 02 October 2013 - 02:02 AM.

[Aym]

I'd like to see the chance to explode reduced except during charge and CD, to replicate the charge in the capacitors being what explodes...

[Aym]

Drehl, on 24 September 2013 - 01:31 PM, said:

the weird side-effect of the new mechanic is... it made the gauss far harder to use in mixed builds than it is in gauss-only builds. I don't think that was their intention...

Nothing wierd about it. Every weapon design decision makes this the case. In TT you used weapons with similar range together for best effect, so that AC20's, SRM's, and MLas all had synergy. Now with their different effects, they have practically no synergy, so now only weapons of the same type have synergy. This is amplified by weapons that have significantly differnet mechanics, IE lasers and any projectile (amplified by slower projectiles like SRMS). This has been the main argument that boating is too effective, yadda yadda, Thus does Ghost Heat the Magnum Opus enter the equation.
If they had gone the other way with the Gauss, the Canonical way, and made firing the Gauss in any group cause your mech to shut down from power draw until you manually power up, and when fired individually apply the Chain Fire cooldown (.5 seconds) to all other weapon groups so they can't be fired too quickly. This would make it less penalizing to use in a mixed load out while discourage the dual guass and effectively deal with potential larger dual or triple gauss builds. Eventually PGI will have to deal with a mech that can mount dual PPC's and dual gauss rifles effectively, and the current system of ghost heat and charge up simply won't deal with that, whereas this Canonical solution will to some extent.

[Vultura]

Gauss balanced? - NO
Useless? - YES
Good Mechanic? - ABSOLUTLY STUPID

No more fun ingame after more and more nerfs from PGI.

[ReguIus]

I think Gauss is well balanced right now. It's still a devastating long range direct-fire weapon as it should, but vulnerable against fast targets who will try to minimize their time on target, i.e. pop tarts.

Gauss requires a different game style, that's all IMHO... You just can't twitch shoot everything anymore...

[Solaxxas]

AvatarofWhat, on 01 October 2013 - 12:08 PM, said:

If almost half of all players think a weapon sucks then it could probably use a buff.

Or it could mean that almost half of all players don't know how to use it properly and should train harder. My accuracy with the thing has gone through the roof after the change, and my trusty old CPLT-K2 is now more a veritable killing machine than it ever has been - it now boasts a K/D ratio of almost 2 to 1, better than any other of my mechs, and I expect that ratio to go up in time.

I voted that it's just about right - as a sniper weapon. It's a bit too unwieldy for brawling now, but IMO it was never intended to be a brawling weapon with it's humongous range and tendency to explode. If you ask me, the gauss is perfectly balanced as it is now and should not be changed further unless future game changes warrant it.

[thesleepyslam]

well, as far as sniping with them has been. i've much improved over my previous gameplay with the improved zoom and the charge mechanic literally forcing me to take my time.

at the same time, that charge really holds you back at close range, though it's still functional if you have time to line up shots before you die.

Right now, i feel like the gauss rifle is perfect. Maybe give it some more HP. If you gave it a little more HP to where you didn't explode at orange, then I'd say that it's perfect.


"rock is overpowered, paper is fine"~scissors

[SynAck]

Don't have too much of a beef with the charge time; between sound effects and the weapon group cue, I know when it's ready. I still miss many opportunities though because of the 1.25 second the charge is held. It's fine for shooting exposed still targets, but medium to fast moving targets (for me at least,) take longer to line up and I lose the charge.

[Monkeystador]

Captain Stiffy, on 01 October 2013 - 11:28 AM, said:

I honestly don't know.

On one hand I play this game a LOT and I never see them anymore. I certainly don't fear a mech equipped with a gauss rifle.

On the other hand if I put 2x Gauss on my Muro I kick complete *** with it.

So what's the problem?

I think the change needed is that the Gauss should not wipe the charge, i.e. once charged the Gauss rifle should stay charged (until fired). This would allow you to use it off the cuff but still make it harder to use in general.

My 2c

liar... gauss dps is in the basement now.

[Mudhutwarrior]

Got moving after this thread and got killed a lot trying to run gauss. Starting to get the hang of it and love it now. If I get decent I will try a dual build. Just takes much patience to get the hang of it.

[johnyboy420]

its not useless its a nich mechanic that only the crazy's can get insane at and something most people can't get good at but i made myself get good at it now it's back too broken for me and people who can use it, I run 2 ERPPC's and a gauss and with the round speed change on the gauss and PPC's still move fast 800m to 1200m you don't stand a chance because your all in brawlers

PS i have slayed alot of silly lights geting back in too brawler hug mode then get vaporized by my alpha lawlz

Edited by johnyboy420, 02 October 2013 - 12:52 PM.

[Rhent]

If by some miracle the hold to fire for Gauss stays (it should be removed and never brought in the first place) then the delay needs to be reduced to 3.25 due to the .75 charging time.