1
There are few things more fun than unloading on somebody half way across the map and watching them squirm and run for cover. There are few weapon loadouts better at this than a rapid firing triple AC2.
My first mech was a Hunchback 4G (mastered) and I've just got my Shadow Hawk 2H elited. Both of these mechs have high ballistic mounts which is what first drew me to them. The 4G is slower since the Hunchie really shouldn't run an XL engine, and it doesn't have jump jets. It's not all roses for the 2H however. Without the Hunchback's massive cowling that everybody always curses, the high shoulder mounted AC2s on a 'Hawk have a hellaceous muzzle flash that occludes most of the front window, making it very hard to see what I'm shooting at when I'm rapid firing my Deuces. That said, the AC2 can't be rapid fired for more than a short burst anyway due to the stupidity that is ghost heat.
Hunchback 4G Triple Deuce (by memory, I sold it to make room for my 'Hawks)
Shadow Hawk 2H Triple Deuce (current)
Shadow Hawk 2H Triple Deuce (future design, once I get an XL 340)
I've not worked with any of the other mechs that can run a Triple Deuce loadout, so I'm not sure how they work, but I'd be very interested in other people's experiences.
Rapid Fire Woes
By 'rapid firing,' I mean firing your Deuces at less than .52 second intervals. This can be accomplished manually (by grouping one in one group and the other two in a second group then triggering the second group before the first group reloads), or with a macro. I've used the manual method for a while, and I've only recently started using a macro. However, I have not (subjectively) noticed a difference in the suppression effect; the macro is just 'prettier'.
Which brings me to the evils of the extraneous, arcane, counterintuitive, arbitrary, and badly implemented ghost heat. Ghost heat usually applies to weapons that PGI has decided to nerf when said weapons are group fired in one large alpah strike. However, as skulk of daemur deigned to explain 'explain,' any time a weapon affected by ghost heat (which includes AC2s) is fired within .5 seconds of another such weapon, that weapon is counted in that alpah strike. So, if you're rapid firing your Tripple Deuces for 3+ seconds you've sent 18 rounds down range and all 18 rounds count for ghost heat as if you had fired off 18 AC2s all at once! The only way around this is to rapid fire in short bursts only, pausing for a beat (.52 seconds) before firing the next short burst. Because of all this confusing mess, if you want to maximize DPS, you have to group fire your AC2s.
After consulting with Smurfy's, (God bless Smurfy) I've derived this table:
| Time (sec.) | 0.00 | 0.18 | 0.36 | 0.54 | 0.72 | 0.9 | 1.08 | 1.26 | 1.44 | 1.62 | 1.8 | 1.98 |
| shot number | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| heat | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4.18 | 5.45 | 6.81 | 8.29 | 9.95 | 11.85 | 14.05 | 16.85 | 20.85 |
| ghost heat | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.18 | 0.45 | 0.81 | 1.29 | 1.95 | 2.85 | 4.05 | 5.85 | 8.85 |
| ghost heat% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 4.31% | 8.26% | 11.89% | 15.56% | 19.60% | 24.05% | 28.83% | 34.72% | 42.45% |
I set up my macro to fire each AC2 at 0.18 sec delay with a .52 second delay after six rounds. This seemed to fit well with the loadout and resets the alpha count with a minimum of fuss before the ghost heat starts to really take hold. But even if you don't use macros, short bursts should do the trick nicely. (To reference my above manual example, keep the second group (with 2 AC2s) continuously firing and add in the single AC2 for short bursts for a rapid fire effect. All of this malarky could be done away with if PGI would simply design their game correctly in the first place.
edit: spelling of 'deuce'
Edited by eleazr, 10 February 2014 - 03:28 PM.
