Posted 28 October 2013 - 01:17 PM
This thread has prompted to review the weapons I feel are most effective (and least effective). Presented below are my opinions, and why I prefer one weapon system over another.
Autocannons: Overall, autocannons benefit from longer range, lower heat, and faster rates of fire (DPS) than their Energy counterparts. They also produce significant cockpit shake as well as blinding the target with smoke and explosions.
***** AC5 - mid weight, low heat, long range, and good DPS make the AC5 my favorite weapon. I generally run 2-4 of these weapons (in most cases 2xAC5 is a better choice than a single Gauss for similar tonnage).
**** AC10 – this weapon loses a point for weight and cooldown. The 2.5 second cooldown makes this weapon difficult to fit into a firing sequence without sacrificing its fast cooldown. Additionally its high weight makes it default to “boat”, but I have had some success with 2xAC10 + 2xPPC on Cataphract, Catapult, and Jagermechs.
*** AC20 – the critical slot requirement is the only real downside to the AC20. Otherwise the 4.0 second cooldown fits perfectly in any firing rotation. SRM, PPC, Lasers are all good combinations with the AC20.
*** Gauss Rifle - I didn't use these much before, they were too delicate and slow, and now they have a new firing delay, which also equates to a cooldown penalty. At 15 tons and 3.15 DPS they are a tough sell. However despite some of the negative aspects of this weapon, they are by far the best sniping weapon, capable of delivering 10 damage at 1100m, which is beyond visual range, targeting range, and most other weapons.
** AC2 – This weapon is too difficult to use without a Macro, primarily due to a bug were the weapon can generate too muich Ghost Heat Tax because of the Fast Fire pilot skill (which lowers its rate of fire to less than .5 seconds). In addition to this problem, even without the Heat Tax, this weapon generates a lot of heat, especially when boated.
** UAC5 – Once king of the Autocannons, the inability to fire this weapon in standard mode without a Macro has relegated it to specialty use only.
** MG – These do good DPS for their weight, but lack the ability to focus fire. They also have such a short range that it is easy to be drawn into the open just to add a couple of DPS; I tend to avoid them on Medium and heavier mechs for that reason alone.
* LB10x – This weapons suffers the same issues as the AC10, and a large damage spread. Every time I have tried to incorporate this into a build I end up going back to the AC10.
Energy:
***** ER Large Laser – This is my preferred energy weapon. It is light weight, and only produces 20% more heat than a Large Laser for 50% more range.
**** PPC – Even with the heat increase and Ghost Heat Tax, it is still very easy to run 2 of these and remain heat efficient. Additionally the 4 second cooldown standardizes with many other weapons.
**** Large Laser – Only slightly behind the ER Large Laser on my weapon list and only because the ER LL is that good.
**** Medium Laser – The generous Ghost Heat Tax allowance on this weapon, its light weight, and the proliferation of Energy hardpoints make the Md Laser standard equipment on many mechs.
** Small Laser – In almost every instance it better to take 1 Md Laser than 2 Sm Lasers; you are sacrificing 1 damage for 300% range increase. Which means if you fire at greater than 100m 1 Md Las is already a better weapon. I think this could be corrected with a slightly longer range and reduce heat to 1.0.
* ER PPC – The main benefit to this weapon is the 810/1620m range, however the projectile speed makes it inaccurate at that range. Additionally the heat load on this weapon makes it difficult to field more than 1, making this weapon more popular with lighter mechs. At this point Autocannons are far superior to the ER PPC in terms of ballistic speed, range, heat, and even tonnage (when factoring heat), while a standard PPC is equal everywhere else.
* Flamer – This weapons is useful only in specialized roles, it may see more traction if we get deformable terrain. The ability set trees/builds on fire to hide behind (IR and smoke) would make this a much more useful counter intelligence device.
* Pulse Lasers – These weapons are much less effective for the tonnage than their standard counterparts. I don’t know if my ideas will be more or less useful. I would like to see Pulse weapons turned into heavy brawling weapons. They would generate 1.5 more heat and do 1.5-2.0x more damage. Basically
Sm Pulse 6 damage 4 heat (4 max Ghost Heat Tax)
Md Pulse 9 damage 7.5 heat (4 max Ghost Heat Tax)
Lg Pulse 15 damage 13 heat (2 max Ghost Heat Tax)
Missiles:
*** SSRM2 – This is only weapon I use that reliably hits light mechs. Before HSR, at least I knew to lead an enemy with my lasers, now it is a crapshoot; sometimes you want to aim directly at them, sometimes ahead, sometime behind, most of the time it is best to just ignore them and find an ally who can scrape them off.
** LRMs – I have all but given up on LRMs, they currently require a spotter to be effective (another dedicated role, not frequently seen in PUG games), and spotting/TAG your own targets leaves you exposed to return fire for too long. Additionally ECM is the hard counter to LRMs and AMS is the soft counter, making LRMs an ineffective use of tonnage in most cases. Furthermore the reliance on additional equipment (ARTEMIS, TAG/NARC, targeting modules, etc) make them cost ineffective to purchase as a supplemental weapon; meaning that when players take LRMs they generally boat LRMs because of all the peripheral cost. LRMs are a vicious circle, and a weapon system that needs to be reevaluated from the ground up.
* SRMs – As a medium pilot I used to really enjoy SRMs (CN9-A and HBK-4SP), a lot of punch for low tonnage and heat, however the last couple times I used them I found them utterly ineffective. They didn’t appear to do their listed damage, or possibly missed or spread too far. I have gradually phazed them out of my builds in favor of Streak missiles or lasers.
4
Black Lobo, on 27 October 2013 - 07:59 PM, said:
On a personal note, I enjoy firing my Gauss-equipped 'mechs. I do not enjoy taking 2 hits in the location and having my Gauss destroyed with > 80% of my ammo left. 
