38 replies to this topic

[Kjudoon]

Adiuvo, on 30 September 2014 - 10:12 PM, said:

LRMs destroy light's legs currently.

If you'd just slow down or stop, we'd hit your torsos better and this wouldn't be such a problem.

[Sergeant Random]

Say we can be conservative, and give a locust at 150kph at 800m out ability to evade 30% of missiles locked on. Lucky LRM20 could still kill the bugger.

[Rushin Roulette]

Umm... in MWO the damage received is also scaled as per which mech is hit and the damage "can" be scaled regarding which mech did the shooting... Larger mechs can carry more weapons, so more LRMs per launch dictates the damage dealt (if you choose to take smaller launchers it is your couice however). Smaller mechs have less armour, so percentages of HP go down faster with the same amoutn of hits (Again, if a larger Mech decides to take less armour then it is their choice).

[Sergeant Random]

My first post IS confusing.

I say option 3) is best. LRM evasion stat and speed affecting tracking. (And maybe range too).

Can I work for PGI? I can get on the forum's nerves just as well?

[Sergeant Random]

sneeking, on 01 October 2014 - 02:11 AM, said:

quirk them away from the friggin legs, the very second you try to dodge them the lrm mechanic where they hit ground level and then skim is the problem.

fix the lrm mechanics so they have a terminal trajectory ending at the ground and leave the light mechs alone is my recommendation.

I guess we suggested too late. Need to schedule time for lrm coding. Maybe in the next quirk pass?

Edited by Sergeant Random, 01 October 2014 - 02:19 AM.

[Kaeb Odellas]

I'd like to see LRMs get a big boost in speed in the last 200 or so meters to the target. This makes it slightly easier to hit lights with LRMs, but lets them take more of the damage to the upper instead of the legs, due to the more vertical trajectory it would allow. Boost AMS ROF to compensate.

[Sergeant Random]

Kaeb Odellas, on 01 October 2014 - 02:25 AM, said:

I'd like to see LRMs get a big boost in speed in the last 200 or so meters to the target. This makes it slightly easier to hit lights with LRMs, but lets them take more of the damage to the upper instead of the legs, due to the more vertical trajectory it would allow. Boost AMS ROF to compensate.

Don't the mechs have a predefined "center of mass"? (Maybe a defined volume) which is tracked by the missiles? No? I'm not psychic, you have to define the problem...

[Wolfways]

MWO already has a system for lights taking less damage from LRM's. It's called BATPAL (being able to play a light).

[Sergeant Random]

In the end, PGI will have to decide just how much to follow the lore tradition of "lights are squishy" or if it wants to cash in on 1/4 of the mech classes.

Doesn't mean my suggestion makes sense though.

[Sergeant Random]

I guess the balance point doesn't have to be "a light can 1v1 bigger slower mechs" -- maybe "a light makes a good distraction to take down another mech" -- but that is off topic. This is QQ about the potential quirk.

Edited by Sergeant Random, 01 October 2014 - 07:38 AM.

[Kaeb Odellas]

Sergeant Random, on 01 October 2014 - 02:41 AM, said:

Don't the mechs have a predefined "center of mass"? (Maybe a defined volume) which is tracked by the missiles? No? I'm not psychic, you have to define the problem...

Because lights are so fast, LRMs tend to have a more horizontal approach angle than against other targets, and can often approach from below the mech if the light jumps. Because of the spread of the missiles, this means lights get hit in the legs more frequently.

[Sergeant Random]

Kaeb Odellas, on 01 October 2014 - 03:06 PM, said:

Because lights are so fast, LRMs tend to have a more horizontal approach angle than against other targets, and can often approach from below the mech if the light jumps. Because of the spread of the missiles, this means lights get hit in the legs more frequently.

Aha. Now I understand you.

In that case maybe try to justify a mechanic using fictional fluff - what do the missiles track? The fusion reactor? = center of mass. The myomer muscle stuff? = most other parts of the hitbox. A statistical gradient of the two? (also useful for looking at streaks?)

Then put the fictional fluff into an info box for missiles and gain extra immersive value.

Edit: If the light jumps or ascends a hill it's not the coder's fault anymore.

Edited by Sergeant Random, 01 October 2014 - 03:45 PM.

[Glythe]

Sergeant Random, on 01 October 2014 - 02:10 AM, said:

I say option 3) is best. LRM evasion stat and speed affecting tracking. (And maybe range too).

Lights already have LRM evasion due to smaller size and faster speed. The leg damage they are taking is in part from the missiles that miss and hit the ground.

[El Bandito]

Lights' speed + Radar Derp already help them against LRMs anyway. If you don't want your legs to be blown off then hit the breaks before the moment of impact. At least don't jump when the LRMs hit you.

Edited by El Bandito, 01 October 2014 - 04:50 PM.

[Khobai]

my dire wolf needs better lrm evasion too

[Sergeant Random]

Khobai, on 01 October 2014 - 04:53 PM, said:

my dire wolf needs better lrm evasion too

He might get some, only it will be slightly less than an Atlas's (wink).

[Kaeb Odellas]

Glythe, on 01 October 2014 - 04:11 PM, said:

Lights already have LRM evasion due to smaller size and faster speed. The leg damage they are taking is in part from the missiles that miss and hit the ground.

I don't think this is the case anymore. They took out missile splash damage a long time ago.

[stjobe]

Kaeb Odellas, on 01 October 2014 - 07:18 PM, said:

They took out missile splash damage a long time ago.

Funny thing is, they didn't. They tried, but it broke the missile spread/clustering code, so missiles tended to all hit CT.

What they ended up doing was reducing the radius of splash damage. It's currently set to 0.1 m, but it's the same old, buggy missile code as it ever was, splash damage and all.

[Sergeant Random]

Interesting threads there. I've been only playing MW:O for about a year (the SHDs were already on sale for cbills). I was only half aware of people complaining about the missile code and it is informative to see some of the roots of the issue.

That said, I don't feel it's completely fair to throw PGI under the bus. Other games don't have the hit location geometry issues that our stompy robot game has. The fact that EVE online ships and combat are defined mostly by their signature radius is actually over simplified - which allows them HUGE differences in ship scale. The reduced number of complex calculations also allows them to put the MASSIVE in massively multiplayer.

Simply put, the Battletech franchise might not lend itself easily to such oversimplification (optimizing) of code.

It's almost like we want to blame PGI for taking the Mechwarrior task upon themselves (instead of some other easier technical endeavor).

But all that does not mean that elegant solutions might not exist. The task, I think, is to find resources to develop solutions for our particular technical challenges.