Posted 11 April 2014 - 07:38 AM
Onyxian: MGs are crit seekers. That is, their critical hit damage and chance to hit critical are higher than other weapons. They're not much use for attacking armor, but once the armor on some part of some mech is pierced, MGs are BRUTAL to the internal structure and critical components there. Also, they produce ZERO heat. So, there's that.
The LPL LCTs are not something I run in game. I'd sooner spare the 2 tons for a ERLL if I was going to go derpin'. But I typically run some fairly pedestrian LCT builds, when I run them. ML or MPL and 4MG on the -1V, ML and 3 or 4 SSRM2 on the -3S, and some combination of ML, SL, and/or SPL on the -3M, sometimes with two AMS.
The LPL was selected, rather, for its high heat output and sufficiently small critical size--it's the hottest gun I could fit in a Locust's single CT energy hard point. It might have been a better idea to run a 2 ERLL -3M, with each SHS and DHS, and compare, as well as making runs of each with single shot and both firing, in order to start to approach the ghost heat effect. I'm not sitting on a sufficient pile of money, though, to go re-outfitting that mech for test purposes. I had to spend ZERO C-Bills for this test; I already owned all three mechs, with the appropriate type of heat sinks installed, as well as a sufficient stockpile of spare HS, and the 190 XL engine, and the LPL. I'd have preferred to run this test in Jenners, but I own only one of those at the moment (JR7-D(S) used for the failed/aborted JJ test).
Interesting note: The JR7-D(S) used produced the same heat numbers as did the similarly-equipped LCT-3M. That is, a mech's peculiar geometry, total surface area, total mass, etc., have no appreciable effect on heat buildup and dissipation.
Admittedly, critical space is short in the LCT-3M due to the DHS. It was one of those light bulb moments when I realized that I could only fit, AT MOST, seven heat sinks in the engine, and therefore had to find homes for three of them elsewhere, in competition with weapons, AMS, AMS ammo, the XL engine's added bulk, and ES internals. Not much of a problem in the other two (SHS) mechs at all, and I think DHS is on the near-term shopping list for them. I have never overheated a healthy LCT-1V, but I HAVE overheated a healthy LCT-3S (MPL, 2 SRM4). Gonna spend some time in Smurfy figuring out the builds.
The test was intended primarily to illustrate two things:
1.) the difference in heat capacity and dissipation between SHS and DHS, and
2.) the difference in heat capacity and dissipation between leg-mounted and non leg-mounted SHS
Hopefully, this has been useful to that end.
If critical space is a serious concern on your mech, then yes, you may actually be best served by sticking to SHS. The LCT-1V is a mech that, when reasonably outfitted, may be best served by SHS. The SDR-5K (I think? the one with arm ballistics) also fits this category. Builds heavy on Gauss or MGs will gain considerably less benefit from DHS, while energy-heavy builds absolutely require DHS to survive.
Also, one other factor has not yet been controlled here. In the old test (the second set of numbers in the OP), none of the unlocked efficiencies, neither from the mech tree nor the pilot tree, were applied. Testing Grounds was used for all these tests, and it wasn't until quite recently that it allowed those efficiencies to apply there. The three mechs used in this test were not all MASTER leveled, or at least I don't THINK they were (I'll have to check that). As I recall, the BASIC efficiencies are doubled when one opens ELITE, and then everything is doubled again when one opens MASTER. I'll have to go into my account shortly and see what the efficiency multipliers are right now.
There is a significant difference, though, between the identical mechs with and without the two heat-related efficiencies active. If you're running a hot build, those are the FIRST TWO EFFICIENCIES TO UNLOCK on that mech. It's 1,750 XP. That's two or three wins, or at MOST 12 losses, or some combination thereof, in a decent light mech. You need those more than you need anchor turn. Trust me.
Look, Mordor is no joke. Heat there is deceptive, because it's dark (like night time, which we are wired to know is cooler than day time). I cannot count the number of times an overheat shut down has cost me my mech on Mordor (sorry, I don't even remember that map's proper name any more... I am NOT a LotR fan, at any rate, but it's a funny name).
MANAGE. YO. HEAT. SON.
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Shar Wolf, on 10 April 2014 - 08:59 PM, said:
