45 replies to this topic

[Mcgral18]

5th Fedcom Rat, on 29 July 2014 - 01:15 AM, said:

Pulse lasers definitely seem to have a little extra crit power, I've seen plenty of instances where they've killed or crippled mechs suddenly and prematurely. It could possibly just be a function of their higher FLD potential, but nevertheless it's an advantage they have over regular lasers.

They do not, I'm afraid. They have better crit damage than normal lasers, but it's still very minimal.

If a tick is every 1/10th of a second, that means an isLL is doing .9 damage per tick, while the LPL is doing 1.7 damage per tick.

It takes 2 of those to take out ECM, at 42% chance to get a at least 1 crit, and 11 to take out an AC20.

Better than std lasers at critting, but much poorer than any FLD weapon, even the AC2.

[Sethliopod]

There's an argument to made that winning at all costs may not be enough for some to maintain enjoyment of the game.
If one can win, and have more fun with a vastly superior* sound effect, then more power to them. Not too dissimilar to more guns/more speed discussion.

The quality of sounds we hear hundreds (thousands) of times during play and how it impacts our happiness and effectiveness cannot be ignored.


* "Vastly superior" would be considered subjective, if it were not so obviously awesome.

Edited by Sethliopod, 29 July 2014 - 08:54 AM.

[Fantastic Tuesday]

Seeing this thread spurred me to dig out some footage of my wub builds. I settled on this clip of my first run in my SHD 2K LPL + SRM build. And then I sprinkled my editing juice all over it.

You can see in the vid quite a few cases where I would not have grabbed the destruction or kill if I had two Large Lasers in my shoulder instead. That's because for every instant a pulse laser is on target, it does TWICE the damage of its normal counterpart. Sure, if you can get the whole one second of a standard laser's beam on to the section you want, then you can do almost as much damage as the pulse version. But then your only advantage is tonnage and range. Pulses also allow you to torso twist a lot more freely, what with you having to stare at clanner's deathbeams for 40% less time.

[Heeden]

Mcgral18, on 28 July 2014 - 11:32 PM, said:

Smurfy doesn't seem to mention any extra crit damage, while it does for the LBx series and MGs.

It gets the same chance as lasers, and every other weapon. Inferior critting potential compared to FLD...which are the best critting weapons.

If you have the choice between 4 MLs and 2 MPLs, there isn't much of a decision. 9.2 heat VS 12, 20 damage VS 12.

You say: "But the shorter pulse duration makes up for that!" While I counter with: "60% of 20 damage is still 12 damage"

So, for slightly more heat, you get the same damage in the same duration, with nearly double potential damage at greater range.

Firstly I'm not disagreeing with you, if you have 4 tons to spare and 4 energy slots you should definitely go for 4 MLas over 2 MPLas, but you got your numbers a bit wrong.

4 MLas = 16 heat (not 12 as you say) and whilst the damage from a single volley is 20 vs. 12, in DPS terms it's 5 vs. 3.33... which is a bit closer. Also if you only have the 0.6 seconds on target (contrived situation I know) the 2 MPLas will do the same damage as the 4 MLas but for almost half the heat.

It's also worth noting that each point of damage from a MPLas costs 4.6 / 6 = 0.767 heat.
Whereas from a MPLas it is 4 / 5 = 0.8 heat.
To do 60 damage with a MLas (12 volleys) would take 45 seconds total, 12 seconds on target and generate 48 heat
To do 60 damage with a MPLas would take 33 seconds total, 6 seconds on target and generate 46 heat
This means MPLas are marginally more heat efficient that MLas, have better damage-per-second-on-target and better raw DPS; the trade-off is in tonnage and range.

[Mcgral18]

Heeden, on 29 July 2014 - 09:12 AM, said:

Firstly I'm not disagreeing with you, if you have 4 tons to spare and 4 energy slots you should definitely go for 4 MLas over 2 MPLas, but you got your numbers a bit wrong.

4 MLas = 16 heat (not 12 as you say) and whilst the damage from a single volley is 20 vs. 12, in DPS terms it's 5 vs. 3.33... which is a bit closer. Also if you only have the 0.6 seconds on target (contrived situation I know) the 2 MPLas will do the same damage as the 4 MLas but for almost half the heat.

It's also worth noting that each point of damage from a MPLas costs 4.6 / 6 = 0.767 heat.
Whereas from a MPLas it is 4 / 5 = 0.8 heat.
To do 60 damage with a MLas (12 volleys) would take 45 seconds total, 12 seconds on target and generate 48 heat
To do 60 damage with a MPLas would take 33 seconds total, 6 seconds on target and generate 46 heat
This means MPLas are marginally more heat efficient that MLas, have better damage-per-second-on-target and better raw DPS; the trade-off is in tonnage and range.

I always forget Paul's nerf...

MPL is less affected at .6 extra heat, but even that could safely be the same as what the ML should be at; 3 heat.

It's also very sad to see the SL still at 2 heat while it should be at 1 heat. The Slunchback is very much dead.

Edited by Mcgral18, 29 July 2014 - 09:51 AM.

[SolasTau]

I think Pulse Lasers need to be adjusted *in context* of MW:O.

In TT, the range difference is fine. But in TT, jump jets actually let you close distance instead of barely hovering you off the ground.

In MW:O, larger mechs have a certain amount of waiting for smaller mechs to close with them. My Catapult C1 mounts MPL's instead of ML's because I found the situations where lasers come up *as a Catapult*, the MPL is more useful and by far more horrifying to those dinky little mechs that think they can easily pick off what they thought was a missile boat. The MLs would be more useful... if this weren't MW:O where everyone has double the durability but still fires the same weapons. Except for S and M Lasers, which generate more heat because "reasons."

In context of the game we have, the Pulse Laser needs adjustments. Whether that's more range, less weight, fewer criticals, or what have you, they objectively need something. No, they are not always clearly inferior. But a weapon shouldn't be THAT niche.

In point of fact, the Clan ones just suck. Extra weight for a tiny reduction in hold time AND reduced range? No. Just no.