46 replies to this topic

[Nothing Whatsoever]

Yeah, I've tried that with my 1D also.

I've also swapped in an AC/5 or UAC/5 a few times with two AC/2s on that one and/or my Victor B. The sound of staggered dakka can be too soothing though.

[General Taskeen]

Darth Bane001, on 02 January 2014 - 05:20 AM, said:

No offense but thats just stupid. Have you not played the other games? AC's have always been the big punchers in the series, what they need to do is make lasers and missiles more viable. Lasers either need a slight buff or better for them to not be so darn hot. I'm mostly a laser/ac player largely lasers as I seem to do really well with them, I haven't touched lrms's since nearly before this game was considered released.

Eh, they were not programmed the same though. In the other games they were actually quite sane balance wise.

*MW3 - AC's and MG's shot in 4 bullet bursts, each individual bullet did damage (hit all bullets in the same spot for massive damage). LB-X guns also fired pellets, but all the pellets fired in a relatively straight line doing individual damage (barely any spread except at max effective range).
*In MW4 it was just a graphic of a bunch of bullets firing, but they were not super duper powerful.
*In MW:LL - AC's fire single shells, for much lower damage than TT, but fire much faster in comparison while the UAC's were made like MW3 they fire in low-damage clips, and each round in the clip does individual damage. LB-X were programmed to fire in a pellet spread (something MWO copied), but each pellet did a LOT more damage while the whole spread can actually hit at long range, and they fired slower as a trade off.

[xengk]

Alistair Winter, on 02 January 2014 - 07:27 AM, said:

Then our experience differs wildly. The people I've been fighting get very annoyed at high ROF ballistics, and they try to deal with the source immediately. Especially when they realize the source is a Centurion with only 32 points of armour protecting those annoying ballistics.

Choosing the right heavy/assault to partner up can influence your perceived threat level by the enemy.
An Atlas, Victor, Highlander or Cataphract touting ballistic weapons then to get shot at more often than my YLW, if I am next to one.

Maybe also due to my low ELO rating.

[Hillslam]

My Founder?

AC20 + AC2



Hannah Montana

[Lightfoot]

No, I don't think PGI saw it coming. They nerfed the weakest Ballistic in DPS/payload ton required out of the game. The Gauss of course. I hardly ever see one anymore, but I see the 2-4xAC2 mechs and some matches are 70 percent Jagers. Go figure.

[Trauglodyte]

As someone said, a lot of it is due to exposure time and how much damage you can soak up during that engagement time. But, it is way more than that. The biggest culprit is really time to being cornered vs support. When you're in your big slow stompy Atlas, short of you being a god awful pilot, you're going to have mechs around you because everyone wants to roll with the Atlas. And everyone does, or should, recognize that it is the biggest slowest and most vulnerable piece on the board and, as such, needs to be protected. Mediums and fast Heavies, on the other hand, have the speed and flexibility to roll on the edges with a certain level of autonomy (Mediums more than Heavies). This means that they take the chance of getting pealed off due to a lack of support (love when teammates run with you only to change vectors without telling anyone - "um, why am I all alone?") or simply lasting to the very end of the match and getting caught in a corner. With that in mind, the Atlas or the non-meta humping Highlander/Victor can afford to take the fast firing light ACs because they've got friends who will help push the enemy back and they can take the pounding. The Mediums and fast Heavies, on the other hand, need to take advantage of their speed to make an impact because it is highly probable that they're going to get stomped in the face for doing what they're supposed to be doing.

On the other hand, I've tried running the long ranged support AC medium and have found that it requires so much more work than needed. I say that because, outside of 12 man matches, you're either solo or with a limited number of friends stuck in an amoeba of uncertainty. That lighter long ranged support mech NEEDs people to establish a front line so that you can use your speed and range to support their actions. In games where it is a giant cluster of stuck on st00pid (improper spelling for emphasis), you simply can't do what you're built to do because the lines are always changing which forces you to reposition constantly which changes your angles of attach and puts you added risk of running into light strikers when you probably don't have the needed support to counter.

So, in essence, if you're small, you run heavy to hit hard and make a dent. If you're big, you either run small cause you can take it (and its fun to exploit the smoke and cockpit shake of lame a$$ AC2s) or you run a mixture of small and big to cover all ranges.

[Reitrix]

NRP, on 02 January 2014 - 02:47 PM, said:

Alistair Winter,
If you like 2 AC/2s on your D-DC, try an AC/2+AC/20 sometime. It's almost the best of both worlds.

I did that, it scares the pants off people when they take the AC/2 shell, laugh at it, then suddenly BOOM the AC/20 crushes them.

I like scaring the **** off people in my Boars Head though. Nothing more amusing that seeing a Jagerbomb stare dumbfounded at the stump of an arm i just blew off in a 75 damage alpha.