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[1453 R]

So apparently this continues to be a thing, with a recent Reddit post from Garth all but confirming that Piranha intends to increase the weight of Clan LRM launchers, as well as the far more sensible and understandable option of reinstating their minimum range.

Allow me to offer my opinion, in as brief and calm a manner as I am able. Ahem:

NO! BAD PIRANHA! NO WALLET TREATS FOR YOU!

This solution isn't. Increasing the weight of CLRM launchers completely destroys at least one, usually more than one, configuration of every OmniMech ever, and will set Clan LRMs into the same never-touch-these-you-idiot-noob bracket as regular Inner Sphere LRMs. One of my absolute favorite 'mechs in the upcoming Clan packs is the Adder, and one of my favorite proto-configurations I'm really looking forward to trying on it - provided PGI doesn't piss me off with this so bad that it makes me quit playing for months on end again - is dual CALRM-15 with 4 to 5 tons ammo, a TAG, and one or two medium lasers dependent on ammo count. I already have it calculated out, using the machine's stock tabletop pod space and the various configuration's minimum acceptable hard points. I want that 'Mech - badly - and there is no reason I should not be able to have it.

You know how you balance Clan LRMs against IS LRMs that weigh twice what the Clan launchers do, Piranha? Really, here...the answer is incredibly simple, completely fair, very elegant, and also has the benefit of being completely unassailable by tabletop noids looking to yell at you over breaking their canon.

The Solution Is: Reduce Clan LRM Launcher Ammunition Back to Tabletop Values of 100 missiles/ton.

The Clan 'flavor' is that of a collection of peerless warriors who are, nonetheless, really bad at actually making war. The Clans prize individual skill, valor, and savagery on the field and eschew long combats. They favor short, sharp Trials and are matchless duelists - a Clansman does not miss his mark, and if he does then he deserves what is about to befall him, quiaff?

Limiting ammo/ton of Clan weapons systems permits those weapons systems to retain their tabletop crit/weight statistics, and thus permits OmniMechs' tabletop loadouts to remain valid and usable. It also forces pilots to play more like Clansmen, carefully picking their shots and conserving their limited ammunition rather than just vomiting it all downrange the way Spheroid pilots and their Phat Binz can. Clan 'Mechs retain their legal status, and are also considerably more dangerous in the a sort of short, savage duels they're supposed to have a serious advantage in, while Inner Sphere 'Mechs and their extended ammunition supplies do better in drawn-out engagements.

If a Clanner wants to walk the path of dishonor and bring a horrific heap of LRMs to hurl at targets indirectly like a bumbling Spheroid Ghost Chef Stalker...well then, he has to take far more tonnage of LRM ammunition than an IS 'Mech would, thereby largely forfeiting the advantage of weight his lighter launchers give him. On the other hand, a Clansman who wants to fight like a Clansman, using his machine's advantage of weight and agility to bring his weapons to bear against a target in his direct line of sight and devastate them with tightly focused, wickedly efficient LRM firepower...well, he can still certainly do that. Just not as often as a similarly-equipped IS machine might.

Seriously, Piranha...don't take LRMs away from the Clans. There are so many solutions that are so much better than just increasing the weight of the launchers and breaking every OmniMech ever. Let us fight like Clansmen, ammunition shortages and all. Do that for me, confirm that CLRM launchers aren't changing weights and destroying configurations, and I'll buy your Maskari package on the spot. This is pretty much the only issue stopping me from doing so.

SO let's help clear it up, shall we?

[SeanM]

Another idea I really like is having clan LRM's fire straight at their targets like MW2. Combine that and half ammo per ton, might be usable.