Halfinax, on 24 November 2011 - 11:23 PM, said:
I support it because all my shots coming from the reticule is ridiculous (for all intents and purposes that's what PPA is). I further support it because it makes the most sense with a weapons system that is calculating many variables simultaneously for multiple weapons. Yes, it is in a basic sense a RNG, but it is within a very limited variable range (likely than 5% off target at maximum movement).
You don't know this and clearly haven't played games with expandable blooms and how rapidly small changes become large ones.
Halfinax, on 24 November 2011 - 11:23 PM, said:
I was not in anyway suggesting that they should cap latency speeds or any other such notion. The Stephen Hawking vs Carl Lewis is a very misleading argument taking things to extremes, however; despite the lack of validity I will continue. All Mechwarriors will start at a same base level. This would presumably be more or less fresh out of basic training for Mechwarriors, so it's extremely unlikely any of them are quadriplegic.
If your pilot and machine do not behave in a manner that responds to the player input, it is like feeling you are stuck inside a body that is unresponsive and clumsy. Do you have the basic comprehension of this now? Pit this against someone who is not handicapped in such a manner and all matches are a forgone conclusion assuming the other person isn't an dummy (forum censors idio t?). This is not an invalid argument simply because there are other ways of handling multiple shots fired from different points of origin and resigning all shots fired to a random system (remember if you can predict the shot spread, it stops being random).
Halfinax, on 24 November 2011 - 11:23 PM, said:
I do think that someone that's been in the field for 2 months has more experience and is more adept on the battle field (this would be Mechwarrior level), but that doesn't mean that rookie can't have inherently better skill (this would be player skill). What's more is the leveling system would more likely focus on getting more out of the equipment than on making the equipment better. If you can get a better range from the BAP (notice not a RNG factor) than a guy that didn't take that skill then that gives you a slight edge. Maybe you can get better acceleration out of a light 'Mech (again not RNG) than a guy that doesn't focus on that. There are many areas that can be effected without them being tied to RNGs, and don't have anything to do with the physical aptitude of the Mechwarrior.
Hi, there is a little thing called talent which has nothing to do with skill and goes in the opposite direction of needing months of experience in order to figure out the turreting rate of speed, step pattern of the machine, and how to multi task. Also implying that the rate of acceleration is going to vary simply due to the pilot is a bit odd. If player A steps on the throttle all the way to maximum and player B does the same, both machines should accelerate exactly the same if they are both piloting the same machine. This is like implying one player's machine will be able to take more hits simply because he played longer. Those kinds of things are not representative of a balanced game primarially focused on the machines.
Halfinax, on 24 November 2011 - 11:23 PM, said:
So determining your skill sets can't be considered part of the strategy phase?
Total time played is not strategy.
Halfinax, on 24 November 2011 - 11:23 PM, said:
I don't see how having a Cone of Fire removes player skill from the equation in the combat phase. The guy that better manages his speed, facing, and team coordination, while also being on the ball about keeping his or her CoF down as much as possible wins. That's player skill. Shooting lasers out of the reticule regardless of range or speed isn't as skillful in my opinion. I run while trying to shoot a gun my shots are going to hit more wildly than when I sit still and fire the same gun.
You need to apply metagame thought processes to what you just said there. You don't seem to understand the play environment that leads to and the player bias in machine and weapon choices. It leads to a lot of standing still, hiding, and the first person getting hit losing. The amount of COF required in order to really spread out the shots over a machine is going to be huge. The way trajectories work will mandate that COF will invalidate longer range fights. Then having COF with any amount of cover concealing everything but the one weapon they intend to shoot with any semelance of accuracy will invalidate virtually all hits that don't have the luck behind it that would strike the cockpit of a mech.
Halfinax, on 24 November 2011 - 11:23 PM, said:
Looking up information on a game that I know very little about is going to tell me nothing, but there are plenty of examples of games that use CoF and aren't horribly imbalanced towards one or the other. I don't see how specializing player roles leads to an arms race of bigger is better. If anything it would lead in the exact opposite with people trying to be useful in roles beyond up front fighter.
Expanding bloom games with multiple weapon mounts fired in tandem you have not played. This would also make you unaware of sniper rifles being used as shotguns among other things as well. I provided direct examples of the system you put forward works in a finished product.
Edited by Phades, 25 November 2011 - 12:05 PM.