Khobai, on 30 March 2014 - 04:31 PM, said:
Except PGI has said they want IS and Clan mechs to be equal. For that reason, clan tech cant be significantly better than IS tech.
For a CERPPC to do 15 damage and be equal to an IS ERPPC it's going to have to generate like 20+ heat.
Same with the CGAUSS. Since it weighs 3 tons less than IS Gauss, its going to have to have a much longer cooldown to offset the lower weight.
Probably best to change the cool down cycle times. They could also incorperate a splash like effect, giving it a 9-10 damage base, and a small splash radius...? Might be bad considered splash on missiles and what wonky things they did... but it could be an option if splash could be redone...
MisterPlanetarian, on 30 March 2014 - 04:36 PM, said:
Best way to balance it is to give them longer cycle times to impact DPS more. Especially for their ballistic weapons.
They mentioned (as a concept) to have ER weapons (or rather clan lasers in general) have a longer beam duration, meaning they will require more skill to keep them on target to do full damage. A minimum range would just about negate the clans.
Clan Ultra ACs could also have not only a longer recycle rate (balanced by the Ultra mechanic), but also have increased jam.
Gauss could have a longer charge up time, or a shorter "charge hold" time. Meaning you will have to either charge it sooner, or release the round in a smaller window. Heat could also maybe be changed, as any Gauss I believe does 1 heat, it could do 2 or 2.5 heat generated instead.
Don't forget though, clans can't adjust their engines (as of this time to my last knowledge). This in and of itself will highly limit what the clans can bring into their mechs. Having lighter stuff will help with the fact that they can't lower (or raise) their engine to fit more things in. On top of that, their armor values will now also have to take up their "pod" space, as most everyone will probably max out their armor values. This will take away from precious pod space, farther reducing their ability to alter their mechs. Slightly more powerful weapons might still be needed with these other pieces of clan tech being considered. They very well may need to have the lighter weapons to fit in anything once they max out their armor, which also means they will have less pod space compared to stock versions.
AKA: Look at it as a whole unit for balance, and not just each weapons system. If you look at each weapon system alone, you will be trying to make balance "issues" without considering all of balance being considered.
(It's like looking at the current LRMs and saying "They move too fast now!" My response is, "is it really the speed? Or could other things be changed to help bring them more into balance?" I say this because we can still adjust spread, TAG, NARC, Artemis, flight arc, etc. Speed is not the only factor when being considered for balance on LRMs. (But this would be divergent from the topic if discussed more here, and is only being brought here as an example.)