10376 replies to this topic

[Alaskan Nobody]

C Lochiel, on 07 November 2013 - 12:51 PM, said:

How does dmg on a laser work? If my laser is rated to do 5 dmg and fires for 2 seconds and I rake it across my target does it deal 5 dmg to each section, 5 dmg avg'd across each section, 5/x dmg each x seconds for 2 seconds, or what?

Gimme a sec to dig it up - i did the (mostly right math) on that a while ago

Edit

Quote

Pulse lasers do their damage in fewer bursts, but they still split it into parts.

Your friend has a point - it is much easier to outright miss with a pulse laser, making those untrained in them unhappy with hunting lights (Large and Medium pulse do their damage over 0.6 seconds - comparable to the Large and Medium standard lasers 1.0 seconds)

You also have a point though - each pulse on the Pulse lasers is worth more, so that slight hit from a pulse laser is worth more than a similar time from a standard laser.

Large Pulse does... what? 1.7 damage a pulse, (approx?)
(10.6 damage over 0.6 seconds doing damage every 0.1 seconds?)
As opposed to the LL's 0.9?
(9.0 damage over 1.0 seconds doing damage every 0.1 seconds?)

Edited Edit:
Normal lasers (the 1sec burn ones) appear to do their damage every .2 to .25 (1/5 to 1/4 second) pulses
So they may do more damage per pulse, but you are more likely to 'miss' or not hit the target when the pulse happens.

C Lochiel, on 07 November 2013 - 12:51 PM, said:

Are machine guns completely useless against armored sections, or only effectively useless? (IE,do they flat out deal 0 dmg to armor?)

Machine Guns do 1 damage a second, doing .1 damage every 1/10 a second (like lasers)
They have a chance of doing more on the internal structure of the mech.
They are not -quite- useless against armor, but they are the second worst weapon for burning through external armor values.
(worst being the flamer - .7 damage a second)

Edited by Shar Wolf, 07 November 2013 - 01:42 PM.

[Lochiel]

Eaerie, on 07 November 2013 - 01:01 PM, said:

lasers do there damage spread out over the time of the beam. 1sec for normal and .75sec for pulse lasers. so as it scatters across mech it will do partial damage to each section it crosses. Keep in mind it is actually possible to sweep your beam across a mech to do very little/no damage. (if you are fast enough)

Just to make sure I understand; if I run the laser across 3 sections (Arm, Torso, CT), then the dmg is split evenly across those three.

If I get a glancing hit on a single section, and then spend the rest of the shot vaporizing air; does that single section get the full load of dmg?

Thank you for the answers.

[DEMAX51]

C Lochiel, on 07 November 2013 - 01:41 PM, said:

Just to make sure I understand; if I run the laser across 3 sections (Arm, Torso, CT), then the dmg is split evenly across those three.

If I get a glancing hit on a single section, and then spend the rest of the shot vaporizing air; does that single section get the full load of dmg?

Thank you for the answers.

A laser's damage is broken up evenly throughout the entire duration of the beam. So, for instance, a medium laser does 5 damage over its 1 second duration, with .5 damage being delivered each tenth of a second.

So, if you glance your laser across three different parts of a 'Mech, they will receive damage depending upon how much time your laser spent hitting each part. Say you shoot a medium laser and hit the arm for .3 seconds, the side torso for .2 and the center torso for .5 - the arm will take 1.5 damage (.5 for each of the three tenths of a second), the side torso will take 1 damage (again, .5 for each of the two tenths of a second) and the CT will take 2.5 damage (.5 for each of the 5 tenths of a second) doing a total damage of 5.

If you don't keep the laser on target, the laser's damage is just lost. So, if you shoot the arm for .5 seconds, and then miss the mech completely for the other .5 seconds, you'll do 2.5 damage to the arm and that's it.

TL;DR: keep your lasers on target for as long as possible, and try to keep the laser on one specific component to destroy it as quickly as possible.

Edited by DEMAX51, 07 November 2013 - 01:50 PM.

[Lochiel]

Yar, I see that now. Shar Wolf ninja'd me with that excellent answer.

[Alaskan Nobody]

C Lochiel, on 07 November 2013 - 02:04 PM, said:

Yar, I see that now. Shar Wolf ninja'd me with that excellent answer.

Math isn't guaranteed but ahm working on it (clueless-ly, but working on it XD )

[JJ Millzie]

Either I really suck at this game or I ain't doing it right. Been getting progressively better but over a period of time I am yet to accrue any xp. What am I doing wrong?

[Alaskan Nobody]

JJ Millzie, on 07 November 2013 - 09:37 PM, said:

Either I really suck at this game or I ain't doing it right. Been getting progressively better but over a period of time I am yet to accrue any xp. What am I doing wrong?

That would probably not be a short question or short answer - as there are loads of tiny details in each match that can totally destroy your score - send me or one of the others a personal message, and we can give you some help though.

Be warned if you pick me though - I tend to approach things a little different than most people do (stuff like putting speed as a second priority on my light mechs - to learning positioning.)

[Denolven]

C Lochiel, on 06 November 2013 - 05:20 PM, said:

Sensors; how do they work?

Redshift2k5, on 06 November 2013 - 07:07 PM, said:

distance is also a factor, your sensors max out at ~650 meters which can be improved with a BAP or a sensor range module.

If you have line of sight* to another mech within 800m, you get a hollow marker. Hollow marker means nobody locked it, but you meet the conditions. Hollow markers are always personal - nobody in your team will get those, unless they meet the conditions themselves (then they get their own hollow markers).

As soon as you or someone else locks a mech, everyone gets a solid marker. Solid marker always means someone locked the target. Solid markers are shared.

Data gathering starts when you lock a target. Indirect locks (an ally holds the direct lock) don't get instant data if the direct lock holder has the data already. But I think it's a bit sped up, not sure.

BAP increases locking range (the range where you get a hollow marker) by 25%, meaning that you have 1000m now. Advanced Sensor Range (module) does the same. Bonuses are applied to the base value, meaning that if you use both BAP and the module, you have 1200m locking range.


*

Spoiler

"line of sight" may not be accurate to what your screen shows - there are technical issues like invisible walls or mech parts that are not seen as a real part of the mech for the LoS calculations (usually there are some optimizations in place to reduce the workload on the server, resulting in a few points of a mech that are checked). Also, keep in mind that an ECM bubble can disable the markers. If you clearly see a mech 700m in front of you (mouse cursor over target shows distance), but you don't get a hollow marker, then you know there is ECM near him.

Edited by Denolven, 08 November 2013 - 04:08 AM.

[DEMAX51]

JJ Millzie, on 07 November 2013 - 09:37 PM, said:

Either I really suck at this game or I ain't doing it right. Been getting progressively better but over a period of time I am yet to accrue any xp. What am I doing wrong?

If you haven't purchased your own 'Mech yet, and you've just been using trial 'Mechs, you have been accruing XP but can't use it yet. You can only spend XP on 'Mechs that you own.

[Koniving]

Q. "I've heard of the ROFLpult. What is it? How do I build it?"

A.

Spoiler

The ROFLpult is a joke build that capitalizes on an ability that only the Catapult A1 currently possesses; the ability to sport 6 LRM-15s at once.


Though no longer able to fire all 90 missiles at once through what was originally 30 holes, recent changes has actually further enabled the ROFLpult as a deadly weapon. Even so, because of its extremely fragile nature the build is still referred to as a joke despite its ability (in a 'perfect' game) to achieve 1188 damage + splash damage.


The ROFLpult's greatest trait is its ability to annihilate a perfectly unscathed Atlas at a range of 300 meters quicker than a single AC/20 can be fired twice. However this is impaired by its terrible armor, slow movement speed, inability to jump, and heavy reliance on allies.


How to build it.


An idea of how it performs. Bad and good, running solo. The bad run gives you an idea of what happens when you develop "tunnel vision" or rush this support-only build.


Modest performance here.

Enjoy.

Edited by Koniving, 08 November 2013 - 04:28 PM.

[scJazz]

Koniving, on 08 November 2013 - 03:29 PM, said:

Q. "I've heard of the ROFLpult. What is it? How do I build it?"

A.

The ROFLpult is a joke build that capitalizes on an ability that only the Catapult A1 currently possesses; the ability to sport 6 LRM-15s at once.

This is what happens when you have like 70+ mechs. You take perfectly wonderful mechs like the A1... my most treasured mech (although I'm starting to wonder about the Shadow Hawks) and do seriously funny and goofy stuff with it

[Erranty]

Made an account a long time ago, didn't have a PC good enough to run it, I do now.

Just downloaded and patched the game, tried to sign in, it says "User is not Valid" even though I have the right info and password in.

How do I fix this and get to the action?

[TheCaptainJZ]

Erranty, on 08 November 2013 - 10:01 PM, said:

Made an account a long time ago, didn't have a PC good enough to run it, I do now.

Just downloaded and patched the game, tried to sign in, it says "User is not Valid" even though I have the right info and password in.

How do I fix this and get to the action?

If you are sure the username is right, try the password reset/forgot password option when you log in. Otherwise, email support@mwomercs.com. They should be able to help.

[Nothing Whatsoever]

Erranty, on 08 November 2013 - 10:01 PM, said:

Made an account a long time ago, didn't have a PC good enough to run it, I do now.

Just downloaded and patched the game, tried to sign in, it says "User is not Valid" even though I have the right info and password in.

How do I fix this and get to the action?

Double check if there are any possible mistakes and anything preventing a connection such as a firewall restriction and so on. We might be able to help.

Then if it you still need to contact support for this kind of issue, I suggest emailing support to see what can be done: support@mwomercs.com


Ninja'd too

[Erranty]

Yeah, I only posted because I had already checked all of that. I even reset my password. Looks like I need to contact support.

[Redshift2k5]

Erranty, on 10 November 2013 - 01:55 PM, said:

Yeah, I only posted because I had already checked all of that. I even reset my password. Looks like I need to contact support.

I almost wonder if you were inactive for so long, you were flagged as some sort of invalid account. Support will sort you out (but not on weekends or holidays, like tomorrow), or if you have not yet purchased anything then a new account might get you playing sooner than waiting for a support fix.

[Lochiel]

Why do most of the smurfy links on these forums not work for me? Example: http://mwo.smurfy-ne...bdd0ae8e75f7e24 gives me "ERROR:[color=#B94A48] Sorry this loadout could not be loaded. Bad Request"[/color]

Focus Fire is gooder, obviously. Does this mean that flanking as less value as it increases the chances that the damage you do won't actually disable or impair a mech?

If you manage to cap the enemy base without doing any damage, you get low payout. If you do lots of damage and destroy a few components you get a higher payout than if you straight up disable your opponents. Why does playing sub-optimally reward better?

[LauLiao]

C Lochiel, on 11 November 2013 - 12:35 PM, said:

Why do most of the smurfy links on these forums not work for me? Example: http://mwo.smurfy-ne...bdd0ae8e75f7e24 gives me "ERROR:[color=#B94A48] Sorry this loadout could not be loaded. Bad Request"

[/color]

Not sure, could just be people using bad links...

Quote

Focus Fire is gooder, obviously. Does this mean that flanking as less value as it increases the chances that the damage you do won't actually disable or impair a mech?

Where you shoot from is not important, it's where you hit. Flanking is good if an enemy is stripped of armor on one side and a flanking maneuver allows you to hit that side. Flanking is bad if it leaves you unprotected away from your teammates and vulnerable to be overrun. It's all situational. In general you just want to shoot for whatever has the least armor. (Sorry if this doesn't answer your question, but it's not terribly clear what you're asking here)

Quote

If you manage to cap the enemy base without doing any damage, you get low payout. If you do lots of damage and destroy a few components you get a higher payout than if you straight up disable your opponents. Why does playing sub-optimally reward better?

In order to reward active participation. If all players got the most rewards from capping, then everyone would just play the fastest light mechs they could in order to get to the cap faster than the enemy, and most people don't want to play Mech Racer Online.

[TheCaptainJZ]

C Lochiel, on 11 November 2013 - 12:35 PM, said:

Focus Fire is gooder, obviously. Does this mean that flanking as less value as it increases the chances that the damage you do won't actually disable or impair a mech?

Flanking can be a very successful tactical manuver. You need to play to win, not get the most kills or damage. Catching enemies off-balance is usually pretty effective. Like LauLios said though, it's situational.

[TinFoilHat]

I'm approaching 800 games since signing up in my first mech, every one a PUG as a Keyboard Warrior (meaning no voice comms, although I have a headset and TS). Thinking I'd start enjoying a little more interaction / more tactical play as recently matches it's getting a little frustrating watching half my team try to nail whichever light was spotted 1K away and leave the rest of us to mix it up with the bulk of the other team.

My question - is now the right sort of time to be looking at trying to get some drops with people over TS?

edit: I should add I know which forums to post an application/ad for my services, just wondering if I have about the right amount of experience to start thinking about moving up a level.

Edited by TinFoilHat, 11 November 2013 - 11:17 PM.