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1. What all affects missiles?
-ECM: In the old games, ECM interefered with communications and sensors, period, and then only inside its range; it did not affect missile locks or reduce sensor range. In this game, the device apparently manages to remotely hack into enemy mechs and selectively disable weapons systems, not to mention acting as both a stealth device and ECM (and nevermind that those two functions are pretty much fundamentally the opposites of each other). IMHO, this is the absolute worst aspect of this game; it is simply not fun.
-TAG: Canonically, TAG was just a designating laser a spotter would use, primarily to allow targeting of enemies outside of the missile-carriers sensor range. In MWO, it (sort of) counters ECM, but only if you are NOT in range; this is one of the systems that ECM apparently hacks into your mech to disable.
-Artemis: This system used to just increase missile accuracy. I'm not sure what it does in MWO; I have it on my missile boat, but other than taking up weight and space, I haven't noticed much of a difference. I would take it off, but I don't want to waste the c-bills. ECM countered this in the old games, but since there is nothing in this game to cancel...?
-BAP: This one is really throwing me for a loop; it used to detect shut down mech and/or mechs hiding behind buildings, etc. Now, I don't know what it does. It is supposed to counter enemy ECM (again, exactly opposite of every previous example), but it doesn't. It is supposed to reduce lock-on times, but I don't notice any difference.
-NARC: What is the point of this?! I have never seen as useless an implementation of a game mechanic in my life, and I used to play Everquest.
-Something else?: I don't know what, but it seems like ~10% of the time, even with no enemy ECM around, I am simply not allowed to lock-on to close, light mechs. I hold the reticule over them, get the circle, but it just stays yellow and never locks on.
2. Ballistics
-Vector addition: I often notice when I fire a ballistic weapon while moving that it noticeably curves as it approaches the target. This is, of course, natural, but the extent to which it happens seems a little... off. If I am running sideways respective to my target at 50KPH and fire and AC/2 at a range of 1KM, the AC/2 round should land ~7 meters to the side of where I was aiming, and I don't think it does. It seems like it carries a little motion, but generally it hits somewhere else on the mech I was shooting at, not 20 feet off to the side.
-Recoil: If this isn't self-obvious, please go watch a video of a battleship firing its guns. Basically, firing an AC/20 or other heavy gun should noticeably affect the mech firing it, if not so much as the mech it hits, at least enough to throw off its aim, and even ac/2s should kick some.
-Gauss rifles: I understand that they felt that they had to nerf the low-heat, long-range, high damage ballistic weapon, but it was already balanced by ammo, weight, and size, so all they have done is annoy a bunch of people. "Charge up?" Come off it, we have superconducting capacitors today that can hold a charge for centuries.
3. Heat.
I know, I know, this is canonical, but if PGI is going to throw out parts of all the old games, why not throw out parts that didn't make any sense to begin with?
Just to break it down for people who are unfamiliar with the problem, you should not heat up significantly more or less on any map currently in the game. A difference of 200° is insufficient to change the rate of cooling of a heat sink at high temperature. The rate is determined by the efficiency value of the system, which is defined as:
nu = 1- Tc/Th
Tc = Cold reservoir
Th - Hot reservoir
Of course, these values have to be in Kelvin, so for a block of graphite at high temperature (what we would use for a heatsink today), the values for hot and cold planets would be:
(Frozen City) nu = 1 - Tc/Th = 1 - 185/5000 = 0.963
(Terra Therma) nu = 1 - Tc/Th = 1 - 370/5000 = 0.926
So you should lose heat about 5% slower on Mordor than on Hoth.
Now, if we were to have a map on an airless moon, that would significantly slow down the rate of cooling, with some differences between light and shadow. Another option would be underwater maps, which would of course increase cooling.
4. What's the deal with lights?
I don't know what the problem is, here, but I find light mechs to be much more difficult to kill than heavies, and even some assaults. Some of it, obviously, is that it is harder to hit a fast-moving target, but I've dropped 6 AC/20 rounds in the same spot on a stationary Raven, then had him turn around and kill me.
When I mention it in game, I get spammed with messages about internet speed, but my ping is good (60-70ms usually) and don't have any problems in any other game.
This could be a good game, but they're going to have to fix some of this stuff before it gets out of beta.
Edited by colsan, 16 October 2013 - 05:50 AM.
