17 replies to this topic

[Yosharian]

Clan Autocannon:

Fires 3 times to achieve the damage rating of the weapon, e.g. C-UAC5 fires 3 times to achieve 5 damage (1.67 recurring per shot) on target.

Inner Sphere Autocannon:

Fires once to achieve the damage rating of the weapon, e.g. AC5 fires once to achieve 5 damage on target.

Am I missing something here? Why does the C-UAC fire 3 shells? Why not one?

More importantly, does this not mean that the double-tap on the C-UAC5 only achieves an extra 1.67 damage (since it fires one more shell), whereas the double-tap on UAC5 achieves an extra 5 damage?

I feel like I'm missing something obvious here because... this makes Clan Ultra Autocannons complete crap, no? (Yes they are lighter/less slots, but nevertheless...)

UPDATE: kind members of this forum have explained that the C-UAC actually fires a whole extra salvo rather than one extra round. I was misled by a sound glitch, is all.

Edited by Yosharian, 05 August 2014 - 05:42 AM.

[Mechteric]

Its because the C-UAC already is superior (much less tonnage/crit), so for balance purposes. Also the burst fire is pretty fun, and I'd rather see the IS UAC also go to burst fire.

Edited by CapperDeluxe, 05 August 2014 - 05:16 AM.

[Yosharian]

CapperDeluxe, on 05 August 2014 - 05:16 AM, said:

Its because the C-UAC already is superior (much less tonnage/crit), so for balance purposes. Also the burst fire is pretty fun, and I'd rather see the IS UAC also go to burst fire.

Ok so I'm not going crazy, it really does work this way.

In this case: why ever double-tap a C-UAC? You are risking a jam just to gain an extra 1/3 damage (3 shots -> 4 shots), as opposed to Inner Sphere UACs which risk a jam in order to gain 100% extra damage (1 shot -> 2 shots)...

Has anyone actually done the maths and realised how bad double-tap is on C-UAC?

As for it being 'fun', I'm not sure that's entirely relevant! (It is though =D)

Edited by Yosharian, 05 August 2014 - 05:21 AM.

[Kinski Orlawisch]

You can fit 5 into a Dire. When they would have the value of IS UAC....where you can fit up to 3 into a Jager....it would make no sence to Play against this Monster anymore.

[Yosharian]

Marc von der Heide, on 05 August 2014 - 05:21 AM, said:

You can fit 5 into a Dire. When they would have the value of IS UAC....where you can fit up to 3 into a Jager....it would make no sence to Play against this Monster anymore.

I agree... where in-game does it explain that C-UACs fire 3 times, and double-tap to fire one extra round? Answer: nowhere!

And you haven't commented on the maths regarding bonus damage from double-tapping C-UAC!

[EyeOne]

Yosharian, on 05 August 2014 - 05:19 AM, said:

Ok so I'm not going crazy, it really does work this way.

In this case: why ever double-tap a C-UAC? You are risking a jam just to gain an extra 1/3 damage (3 shots -> 4 shots), as opposed to Inner Sphere UACs which risk a jam in order to gain 100% extra damage (1 shot -> 2 shots)...

The Double Tap on C-UACs fires an entire burst. So the UAC5 fires 3 shells, and when you double tap it will fire 3 more with a chance to jam.

[Yosharian]

EyeOne, on 05 August 2014 - 05:28 AM, said:

The Double Tap on C-UACs fires an entire burst. So the UAC5 fires 3 shells, and when you double tap it will fire 3 more with a chance to jam.

Are you suuuure cos I tested in practice grounds with a C-UAC5 and it didn't seem to be firing 3 more

[RetroActive]

Yosharian, on 05 August 2014 - 05:23 AM, said:

I agree... where in-game does it explain that C-UACs fire 3 times, and double-tap to fire one extra round? Answer: nowhere!

And you haven't commented on the maths regarding bonus damage from double-tapping C-UAC!

Double tap on CUACs act like another trigger pull. So you're getting another volley of 5 damage split up between 3 shells if you double tap.

[Mercules]

Technically, IS ACs should be firing bursts of shells as well as that is the lore description given in all the battletech source books. Auto-Cannons fire bursts of shells the amount and caliber determine what class they fall into as far as AC 2, 5, 10, or 20.

Wouldn't it have been wonderful if we actually had different manufacturers that had tweaks on ACs? Maybe one AC 5 fires 5 1 damage shells but has a lower recharge time and one that fires 2 2.5 but has a longer recharge? Of course we would have none that fire 1 massive shell.

Yosharian, on 05 August 2014 - 05:28 AM, said:

Are you suuuure cos I tested in practice grounds with a C-UAC5 and it didn't seem to be firing 3 more

Pretty damn sure. In fact I just jumped into the practice grounds and verified that.

Edited by Mercules, 05 August 2014 - 05:43 AM.

[Yosharian]

Ok must be me being ******** then, I will go and re-check

If it works that way then never mind, C-UAC is pretty damn good then!

Edit: ok I checked and it does actually fire another whole salvo, I wasn't paying attention to the round visuals, the round SFX glitches and only 'fires' once but the round counter and the round visuals show 3 extra rounds being fired.

Edited by Yosharian, 05 August 2014 - 05:41 AM.

[Mechteric]

Yosharian, on 05 August 2014 - 05:28 AM, said:

Are you suuuure cos I tested in practice grounds with a C-UAC5 and it didn't seem to be firing 3 more

It probably jammed before your next burst fire of 3, same thing would have happened with an IS UAC5 where it wouldn't have fired.

[EyeOne]

Yosharian, on 05 August 2014 - 05:28 AM, said:

Are you suuuure cos I tested in practice grounds with a C-UAC5 and it didn't seem to be firing 3 more

Very sure. Now sometimes on my computer the sound doesn't play right and I only hear 2 burst instead of 3. It can't also be hard to tell because the bursts can overlap so you may only see 1 more shot after the first burst of 3 because the first 2 fired along side the last two of the first burst. Clumsy sentence.


But, yes that is exactly how it works. The UAC20 with a double tap spits out 40 damage. Which is also exactly why C-UACs are burst fire.

Edited by EyeOne, 05 August 2014 - 06:49 AM.

[0bsidion]

IS ACs are better due to pinpoint FLD. I don't really see the point in using the larger caliber C-UACs, especially when there is a noticeable drop in ROF. C-UAC/5 seems to be the sweet spot in my experience, with a nice ROF, DPR, and range with negligible heat buildup it works quite well, especially when in those instances where you can use 2 in an over-under arrangement to focus damage on a given component.

[FupDup]

For the most part, Clan UACs are fairly poop unless you carry multiple. If you simply place a lone, solitary CUAC on your build, it's often more of a detriment than a help. The CUAC/2 seems to be fairly poop even when carried en masse, because you could have just used a few CUAC/5 for better performance.

[Khobai]

Quote

For the most part, Clan UACs are fairly poop unless you carry multiple.

UACs are poop even if you carry multiple, because they do damage over time and jam like crazy. Damage over time is vastly inferior to frontloaded damage when it comes to getting kills.

LB5Xs are much better because the damage is 100% frontloaded. the LB5Xs also get impressive stats for range, projectile speed, as well as increased crit chance, and a damage bonus to internals. And their spread isnt that bad compared to the LB10X and LB20X which have AWFUL spreads. Best of all they never jam.

Plus if the LB5Xs ever get the ability to switch ammo types theyll be even better than they are now.

Edited by Khobai, 05 August 2014 - 08:38 AM.

[Y E O N N E]

The C-AC are standing in for solid-shot LB-Xs. That is what PGI said. My interpretation of this is that the C-AC are firing just how PGI wants the solid-shot LB-X to fire: in bursts of three.

[Bacl]

At first IS ac firing a single shell was feeling out of lore but now that the clans are out, they feel balanced because clan mechs can load much more firepower. Its fewer guns but direct damage vs many guns with spread.

To be honest i think this is the one of the two grounds where you could say IS tech is superior then clan tech,i would say in therm of lrm, IS is superior than clan as well, opinion may differ tho. Lasers, PPC, chassis, heatsinks, the mechs performances and loadout capacity, clan wins on these turfs.

[Noth]

Khobai, on 05 August 2014 - 08:30 AM, said:

UACs are poop even if you carry multiple, because they do damage over time and jam like crazy. Damage over time is vastly inferior to frontloaded damage when it comes to getting kills.

LB5Xs are much better because the damage is 100% frontloaded. the LB5Xs also get impressive stats for range, projectile speed, as well as increased crit chance, and a damage bonus to internals. And their spread isnt that bad compared to the LB10X and LB20X which have AWFUL spreads. Best of all they never jam.

Plus if the LB5Xs ever get the ability to switch ammo types theyll be even better than they are now.

Chances are if they get the ability to swap ammo types, they'll also switch firing modes to what the UACs do (with out the optional double tap) as that is what the normal clan ACs are supposed to represent. It is also a vital part of keeping the clan ACs in line.