13 replies to this topic

[Oni74]

So here I am, after an untimely death after all 3 of my UAC5s on my ilya jammed simultaneously, wondering how this could happen so consistently and so often.

After all, the UAC5 is supposed to have a 15% jam rate right? So statistically, to have all 3 jam at the same time should happen 15% x 15% x 15% = 0.34% of the time if I did my math right.

So then why does all 3 jam up together so consistently, at a much much higher rate? I can't help but think that the 15% jam rate is being applied to all the UACs in the same weapon group, thus resulting in the observed higher jam rate.

If the above assumption is correct, I am thinking this is a bug that has been around for a while and likely many others have pointed this out in other posts.

Am I right here? Is this an issue that's bubbled up before but PGI has yet to address?

- Sleepy mechwarrior

[Agent 0 Fortune]

.34% for them to all jam at the exact same instance. For all 3 to jam at over the duration of firing, you have to consider the duration of the jam (5 seconds) and the rate of fire, which I believe is .5s with double-tap.
Suddenly you are shooting 10 shots per UAC5 while one weapon is jammed which is just over 80% to jam per UAC5.

In short once the first one goes, that is your cue to find cover and lay off the gas.

Edited by Agent 0 Fortune, 10 November 2014 - 09:30 PM.

[MauttyKoray]

No, you have a 15% re-occurring chance. It doesn't stack on each other as percentages and magically reduce it. So its entirely possible and honestly you just had bad luck is all. Overall I'd say lay off the UACs as much unless you're in a pinch. I generally have luck re-firing them after the whir sound stops and before the clunk at the end during cooldown.

[LordKnightFandragon]

Lol, I think its a 15% chance to jam on every individual shot....not each salvo.......so you are firing what? like 3-4 shots each salvo so yeah...

But yeah, UACs jam so damn much they really are utterly useless......ill take the LBx spread any day, atleast it will fire when I pull the trigger.

[Sovery_Simple]

I sort of gave up on UAC's after they kept jamming 3+ times every match one night. It was just "why the **** am I bothering with this" (They were actually jamming more than they were double-tapping some of the games.)

[LordKnightFandragon]

Whoops, on 10 November 2014 - 09:33 PM, said:

I sort of gave up on UAC's after they kept jamming 3+ times every match one night. It was just "why the **** am I bothering with this" (They were actually jamming more than they were double-tapping some of the games.)

LOL, I got a UAC5 on the Trial DW in Training Grounds to literally jam up every shot for like 20 straight......no damn joke......and I never got more then 3 rounds off before it jammed again.

I had a UAC20 and 10 on my WHK I was trying out....it jammed every 4th shot, 3rd shot...it didnt matter.....

Are we sure the 15% isnt actually a misplaced 51%? Cuz it sure as hell is no 15%......that means on average 15 in every 100 shots should jam up....not 1 in every 5........and evne if its counting each salvo of 4 rounds as 15% per, it still shouldnt jam up that damn often....

I would never think to bring a UAC to the field...

Oh, I did....The Trial Victor with that UAC5......I crested a ridge and fired 2 shots....the gun jammed and I ended up being swarmed and killed...I think I dealt a game changing 74dmg.........

UACs are absolutely and utterly useless.......they need to remove the jam chance entirely or seriously make it less of a Pos mechanic.....or make it where the jam rate only applies if you do rapidly double tap.......but if you single fire, wait for CD, single fire...Jam chance...0%....


It was alot of the same thing in the Mektek mod with UACs, jamming every 5th round lol...

Edited by LordKnightFandragon, 11 November 2014 - 11:13 AM.

[Revis Volek]

yea they suck...

I'm prety sure PGI nerfed them secretly behind our backs around the same time they started coming down hard on the VTR's (which since have been lifted).

I really noticed the JAM increase though sometime around when they started messing with JJ's....they are horrid. I tried using my Orion K built to quirks and the damn UAC5 still jams a lot but not nearly as often as it happen when i have 2 or more in a build. More then i can stand...

Edited by DarthRevis, 11 November 2014 - 11:27 AM.

[Triordinant]

Maybe they'll sell a Weapon Module that reduces the jam rate by 1% per level (total 10% jam rate with Level 5 module).

[RazorbeastFXK3]

Does it happen when you use them all at the same time or when you chainfire them or both? My guess is that if you're using them all at the same time, they may not have individual personalities so they'll all jam at the same time when group fired. I've had x2 UAC5s a few times and chain fired them at a rate of a single AC2 without them jamming too quickly.

Or maybe the probability of jamming increases when you try to double-tap them at 100% capacity and not allowing any cooldown after the initial cooldown?

[Thorqemada]

I thought the Jamming Rate was 10% for UACs?

I used them some time as High DPS Low Weight Ballistic bcs of the weightcontsraints on all my Mechs with a Ballistic Hardpoint in a single AC config and it is a bit randomly but i had matches i couid pretty much double shot the whole match without jamming as long i used 1 UAC.

The Mechs with 2 UACs had a behavior as if the jamming rate was increased and i had 1 of the 2 jam so much i went back to Single UAC setups and finally to AC10/20s bcs they have a higher lethality.

IS AC5 Mechs with rapid fire quirks would be a solution to get a no-jam UAC5-Mech.

Edited by Thorqemada, 11 November 2014 - 05:08 PM.

[terrycloth]

Firing them together doesn't make them jam together, but yeah -- when you refire them a lot they jam a lot. Someone did a test and the overall DPS from a UAC5 was around 4-4.5 (compared to the straight AC5's 3). So you sneak up on someone, fire until they die or all your guns jam, then take cover as if you were cooling down.

Or you can hold down the button like you would for any other weapon and they'll fire at the slow, safe pace.

I think clan UAC5s might be bugged, though -- I think they jam on each shot, not each button press, so even if you fire them once you have two additional shots from the volley to potentially jam.

[Vas79]

I have given up on my UAC's for the most part since they both seemed to jam at the same time all the time.

[Marmon Rzohr]

LordKnightFandragon, on 10 November 2014 - 09:31 PM, said:

Lol, I think its a 15% chance to jam on every individual shot....not each salvo.......so you are firing what? like 3-4 shots each salvo so yeah...

But yeah, UACs jam so damn much they really are utterly useless......ill take the LBx spread any day, atleast it will fire when I pull the trigger.

As far as I understand the mechanics:
(please someone correct me if I am wrong in this aspect, it's not like I can look up an official wiki or something to make sure :/)

UACs have a 15% chance to jam when the fire button is pressed while the weapon is on cooldown. To fire faster you press fire faster (tap-tap, instead of tap----tap), you never hold the fire button down because that means you will jam much faster without getting any more shots off. This is because the UAC cannot fire at more than twice it's normal fire rate, but it gives you a jam roll every time you try to fire it during it's cooldown (and while you're holding the button down you are effectively pressing fire all the time).

In other words, any key press more frequent than once per 0.8 seconds is wasted because you won't get an extra shot, but you will get an extra Jam roll.

Another thing you overlook is that the benefit of the UAC isn't extra DPS over several seconds, it's extra burst damage, effectively allowing you to out-trade any mech with a normal AC. When you have a target in the open for several seconds you want to control your fire so you don't Jam and miss out on DPS.

[Lil Cthulhu]

The UAC gods giveth and taketh away.

When running in multiples, I've had them all jam up around the same time just about as many times as I've ended up with a full on machine gun of death.