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Auto-cannons: Why does an AC20 fire a single projectile just like AC2? Are autocannons supposed to be a big cannon that fires big balls one at a time? Perhaps ac20 just uses a much bigger ball than ac2.. Then why do we read in manny battletech books something about a stream of projectiles? An AC2 should fire two rounds in quick succession, while AC20 fires twenty, so an AC20 will take a lot longer to fire than AC2, but do much more damage if used with skill. Ranges can stay the same, as AC20 trades firing power for the ability to fire more, meaning ac2 projectiles should also be faster than ac20 ones. No need for ghost heat rules, group-firing two AC20s still needs the target to stay in your sights and the damage is unlikely to be pinpoint anyway, so if a mech can fit 2 of them and the pilot is skilled enough to use them, he should be rewarded and not punished with some stupid heat penalty. Finally, to compensate for the possibility of spreading damage more or miss partial shots, damage per round should be upgraded to 2 points, so AC20 does 40 damage if all shots hit (or 1.5 if 2 is considered too much).
LX10X: Unlike my proposed changes to the autocannons, LB10X should stay the same, a shotgun of large calliber rounds, with each round doing less damage than a standard AC round to compensante for less weight and firing all rounds at once with less accuracy.
ultra-AC: Similar to proposed AC changes, but fires two rounds at the same time, so the total firing time is cut in half, with possibly a slight decrease to accuracy over longer distances and lower chances of jamming.
Gauss Rifle: In my opinion its the only weapon that should fire a single large slug and do pinpoint damage, I would prefer to have a slight firing delay while it charges but always firing after that, than the current system.
PPC: Dont very much like the current energy gauss rifle feeling, would rather see it as a beam with shorter duration than large pulse laser and also require charging time. Another idea to make it more unique, is have a max fire duration similar to large laser or longer, but allow the discharge to be cut short, so to make full damage and cause full heat it must be discharged (fire button pressed) until it completes, and then require recharge no matter if it were fired completely or not. Also standard ppc minimun firing distance makes no sense, if an energy shot is fired why does it do no damage just because its under 90m? Either get rid of that limitation or come up with a new one that causes damage to the shooter, like some feedback pulse or whatever.
Alternative to ghost heat for energy weapons (especially PPCs): Weapons that use energy must get it somewhere, instead of giving extra heat when many of them are fired at the same time, why not limit the number of weapons that can be fired at the same time? In the case of PPCs/erPPCs, for inner sphere mechs, allow two PPCs to be fired at the same time (except for special quirks like the Awesome can have, allowing three ppcs to fire at the same time). For chain fire, only allow the next weapon to be discharged after the current one finishes, so if the PPC is a beam weapon with a discharge time of 1.2 seconds, the pilot presses the triger to fire first ppc and to fire the second he either has to depress after 1.2s and press again to fire, or cut first shot short by depressing and then press again to fire second.
Standard Lasers: No changes, impose a different limit than ppcs as a ghost heat alternative, like 6 for inner sphere mechs.
Pulse Lasers: Instead of shorter duration than standard lasers, make them a bit longer, but allow firing to be cut short like with the PPCs, and increase damage plus heat if fired for full duration. Its the only idea I can think of, machine-gun lasers, but i do not dislike their current implementation.
LRMs: For me at the moment, the most annoying thing about lrms, is when someone packs 4 to 6 LRM5 and chain-fires them at you. A solution to this is simple, allow any number of lrms to be grouped, but after each volley a new lock should be required, so a player can launch 2 lrm20s at the same time, but if he chooses to fire only one then he must get a new lock before firing the other. Plus, I think the arming distance should be reduced to something like 90m and missile turn-rate decreased, so lrms can be usefull at shorter ranges but only if the target is standing still or coming at you. Finaly, in the books we read often about lrm volleys where only a few hit but those that hit cause a good deal of damage, so I think lrms should be more of an effect weapon, causing more damage per hit but spreading more so they dont all hit unless its a bit target coming at you or still. Over large distances they should have better capability of tracking the target but the spread will be larger, while in shorter distances spread will be shorter but higher chances of missing due to low turn-rate. Skill should be required to make good use of them, especially at shorter ranges.
SRMs: No changes.
Streaks: I can think of only one idea to change them, and it would help not make them too powerfull when streak 6 are introduced, instead of consisting of guided missiles, keep the lock requirement, but after lock-on the missiles should shoot towards the locked target (single course adjustment after launching) and afterwards go straight, so the only difference between streaks and standard srms is that streaks are easier to aim if lock is successfull, and possibly a bit faster, but if the target is too close and fast, depending on trajectory the missiles may not be able to hit. Basicly make them guided only for a fraction of a second, then go straight until they reach max distance or hit something. This way I dont see streak6s becomming too powerfull, the limited guidance is balanced with need to lock-on, and increased weight, and they wont follow that target that just passed you by as you got a lock, need to know how to use them or waste the ammo.
Machine-guns: No changes.
Flamers: Add another effect to make them a bit more interesting, a mech while being hit by a flamer gets weapon reload/recharge slow-down by half.
Thats it, thanks for reading
