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Strum Wealh, on 02 February 2014 - 09:04 PM, said:
Additionally, one issue that particularly affects the AC family is the relationship between damage (and damage drop-off) and range.
For ballistic weapons, the maximum range (at which the weapon will deal 0 damage to the target) is thrice the optimal range (at which the weapon can deal its full rated damage to the target), with the damage drop-off being a linear function of distance between the optimal range limit and the maximum range limit.
The optimum range of the AC/20 - the greatest distance at which a salvo will deliver full damage - is 270 meters.
It was either that, or drastically reduce their maximum ranges (e.g. from the "3x optimal" multiplier to a "2x optimal" multiplier) - and imagine how well that would have gone over.
For ballistic weapons, the maximum range (at which the weapon will deal 0 damage to the target) is thrice the optimal range (at which the weapon can deal its full rated damage to the target), with the damage drop-off being a linear function of distance between the optimal range limit and the maximum range limit.
The optimum range of the AC/20 - the greatest distance at which a salvo will deliver full damage - is 270 meters.
- The range at which an AC/20 salvo will match the full damage of an AC/10 salvo is 540 meters - 20% greater than the AC/10's own optimum range of 450 meters, and matching the optimum range of the LB 10-X (which cannot concentrate damage on a single location at that range).
- The range at which an AC/20 salvo will match the full damage of an AC/5 salvo is 675 meters - 8.9% greater than the AC/5's own optimal range of 620 meters, and 12.5% greater than the 600-meter optimal range of the UAC/5 (which has the saving grace of being able to double-tap for higher DPS at range).
- The range at which an AC/20 salvo will match the full damage of an AC/2 salvo is 756 meters - 10.6% greater than the AC/2's own optimal range of 720 meters.
- The range at which an AC/10 salvo will match the full damage of an AC/5 salvo is 900 meters - 45.2% greater than the AC/5's own optimal range of 620 meters, and a full 50% greater than the 600-meter optimal range of the UAC/5.
- The range at which an AC/10 salvo will match the full damage of an AC/2 salvo is 1170 meters - 62.5% greater than the AC/2's own optimal range of 720 meters.
It was either that, or drastically reduce their maximum ranges (e.g. from the "3x optimal" multiplier to a "2x optimal" multiplier) - and imagine how well that would have gone over.
Given the straight up Maths is great but does not actually tell the whole story. If we add in just AMMO as another function we find this.
AC2 - 75/t
AC5 - 30/t
AC10 - 15/t
AC20 - 7/t
Thus as the range increases, the damage decreases (and not relative to the other AC's as noted, but so does the % of accuracy. If we even take a random # of 25% less accuracy at 2x Optimal range (likely higher if stats could be had) now we get.
AC2 - 56/t
AC5 - 22/t
AC10 - 11/t
AC20 - 5/t
If we go another 1/2 after 2x, accuracy declines even further as does useful ammo #'s to the point where you are simply wasting ammo using a weapon not designed for that use. Travel speeds is one way to equalize range and ammo efficiency versus maximum damage per ton of ammo carried.
