13 replies to this topic

[The Great Unwashed]

Let the ghost heat penalty for the Awesome start not at 3 but at 4 PPCs...

I suppose you can image all kinds of interesting variations of ghost heat penalties and various chassis to give some mechs a bonus (or at least not a malus) when using certain weapons but I'm not sure if other mechs need this particular buff.

Similarly, you can give LRM ghost heat when the number of missiles fired per section exceed the number of tubes specified in that section but not before ((S)SRM is tubes/2.5). This would make the LRM ghost heat as it is now less silly and the #tubes makes sense.

(Of course, I'd love to see the LRMs go to 0.4t/tube weapons and you can fit any number (Each 5 tubes take one critical) not exceeding the tubes present in a section... (similarly for (S)SRM). But that would mean no LRM5/10/15/20 anymore...)

(I do not drive the Awesome but miss shooting it. I cannot play with LRMs; I rarely fire them and hit enemies even less).

Edited by The Great Unwashed, 22 January 2014 - 01:28 AM.

[kapusta11]

The entire heat system need a fix, low heat cap can fix high alphas (4-6 PPC stalkers) without the need of ghost heat, and high dissipation will buff energy weapon's rate of fire enough to be competitive with ACs.

[Troutmonkey]

oooooooooooooooooooor maybe


Ditch Ghost Heat? It doesn't actually solve any problems. The increased heat to (ER)PPCs fixed the problem...

[The Great Unwashed]

The suggestion is a variation within the ghost heat system and does not make sense without it.

A low heat cap would indeed work just as well and curtail 6PPC shots and solve time-between-shots issues that are a result of GH. You could give energy-mechs a slightly higher heat cap so they could fire 3/4 PPCs while others cannot without serious damage.

However, it would reduce the rate of fire for all energy mechs as you have no heat reserve to play with and not much more to do than wait just a but longer before firing again. Gameplay-wise boring and then I favor GH where you have some control over your total heat reserve and how you fire your weapons (Even though I find the concept of GH difficult to explain for a standpoint of how a mech might work, but who cares).

You could give each weapon an energy demand and each engine an energy rating (slightly chassis dependent). If you exceed that your supply, you will not recharge a weapon as quickly as under normal circumstances . This does not solve high alphas, nor the lackluster performance of energy weapons in general.

Edited by The Great Unwashed, 22 January 2014 - 04:59 AM.

[Oriius]

Unless such a system is clearly explained and clear to see when looking at any given 'mech I would suggest it to be flawed. If it needs someone to check the forums to see what can go where it isn't good for new players.

I am going to keep banging this drum, the heat system could do with being shifted away from high heat cap + low dissipation to a low heat cap and quicker dissipation, with penalties based on your level on the heat scale ranging from slowing you down to shutdowns, Shaking/wobbling ret, ammo explosions, damage to internals, failure of systems I.e. ECM/AMS/BAP etc.

With a lower cap and such penalties, combined with the quicker dissipation we can start to shift away from the "alpha all the time" type of game we have now, though clearly such a change is only the first step, and not a magic fix-all, it would at least however seem to hold more opportunities to balance in a more clear way (i.e no need of ghost heat type hidden mechanics).

[Khobai]

No. Too many people get stuck in the bargaining stage of grief. Dont haggle with PGI to make a bad mechanic less bad. Instead you should focus on trying to get bad mechanics removed from the game entirely.

Ghost heat should not exist in any form whatsoever.

[kapusta11]

The Great Unwashed, on 22 January 2014 - 04:49 AM, said:

However, it would reduce the rate of fire for all energy mechs as you have no heat reserve to play with and not much more to do than wait just a but longer before firing again. Gameplay-wise boring and then I favor GH where you have some control over your total heat reserve and how you fire your weapons (Even though I find the concept of GH difficult to explain for a standpoint of how a mech might work, but who cares).

No it won't, low heat cap imply high dissipation, the change will buff all energy weapons enough to be competitive with ACs.

[Joseph Mallan]

Khobai, on 22 January 2014 - 05:18 AM, said:

No. Too many people get stuck in the bargaining stage of grief. Dont haggle with PGI to make a bad mechanic less bad. Instead you should focus on trying to get bad mechanics removed from the game entirely.

Ghost heat should not exist in any form whatsoever.

I love it when we're on the same page!

[Troutmonkey]

The Great Unwashed, on 22 January 2014 - 04:49 AM, said:

However, it would reduce the rate of fire for all energy mechs as you have no heat reserve to play with and not much more to do than wait just a but longer before firing again. Gameplay-wise boring and then I favor GH where you have some control over your total heat reserve and how you fire your weapons (Even though I find the concept of GH difficult to explain for a standpoint of how a mech might work, but who cares).

Actually it would do the opposite. Right now you Alpha everything and then wait ages for everything to cool down.
With low-heat high dissipation mechs would cool down quickly, allowing you to maintain continuous fire but no massive Alpha strikes, resulting in lower burst damage but higher DPS over all.

[The Great Unwashed]

I suppose I have been looking at this problem too much from my point of view; I run around in a twin LL light with no alpha to speak of (or all-alpha playstyle if you wish). Low cap/high dissipation would then reduce my RoF between shorter encounters but with lowcap/highdis I would be able to get more consistent firing compared to the current heat implementation...

I've been enjoying reading your reactions. Who knew people didn't like GH...

(But I'd still like to see an Awesome firing three PPCS without a shutdown while other mechs would/might).

Edited by The Great Unwashed, 22 January 2014 - 06:01 AM.

[Joseph Mallan]

The Great Unwashed, on 22 January 2014 - 05:57 AM, said:

I suppose I have been looking at this problem too much from my point of view; I run around in a twin LL light with no alpha to speak of (or all-alpha playstyle if you wish). Low cap/high dissipation would then reduce my RoF between shorter encounters.

But I've been enjoying reading your reactions. Who knew people didn't like GH...

The silent Majority???

[Corvus Antaka]

absolutely. im hoping 1 day the awesome will be able to fire 3 PPC together without ghost heat

[Joseph Mallan]

Or on a 3/2 cyclic that is sustainable for 15 minutes of combat! Ahh, the good old days!

[BP Raven]

If ghost heat isn't going away (another argument) then having exceptions to it seems ... wrong somehow to me. I would rather see a flat bonus to heat generation (or reduction, however you want to word it). Or, just make all DHS on the awesome the full 2x, and go from there.

Even without ghost heat, firing 3 PPCs on the awesome with 10 heat per weapon is too hot, unless you devote the rest of the mech to heatsinks (on that subject, it would be nice if the hand actuator was removed, so we could get an extra DHS in that arm...). When PPCs were 8 heat heach, the 2/1 cycle was very workable, even if you had backup weapons every now and then, and the ghost heat penalty was a fair trade when you alpha struck.