7 replies to this topic

[SmilingElf]

Just have a couple of pretty straight forward questions:

1) In what order is ammo consumed when a weapon is fired? Shared component first, top of mech to bottom? What?

2) What happens when ammo explodes, exactly? Specifically, where, does the damage go, and how much?

I'm asking this because I've had a several very odd deaths this evening involving ammo explosions. In all of them, I've still had both of my side, and my center torsos remaining. They showed some damage, but the only component missing was the one where the ammo was located. In all but one case, this was one of my legs. In the exception case, I received a notice of death by ammo explosion after the arm containing my AC20 and one ton of ammo was blown off, AFTER I had fired more than 7 shots, which struck me as very odd. (I had two more tons, one in each leg.)

I've died to ammo explosions before, but usually I've had some damage done to my major internals first. All of these cases came with no damage to my engine prior to the explosion (My armor was still intact on my torsos,) and from ammo in stored in an extremity.

To head off any topical, but unhelpful comments, I understand that CASE removes this hazard, at the cost of half a ton per mech section. That is not the point of this discussion. I am trying to find out what the processes are involving ammo.

As always, thank you in advance for your assistance.

[Brody319]

Ammo is consumed head - Right arm, Right torso, Center torso, Left torso, left arm, Right Leg, Left leg.


Ammo explosions are contained by CASE. that section might still die from the damage of the ammo exploding
When ammo explodes, it deals all damage it has left (3 shots of AC10 ammo will deal 30 damage). if that section is destroyed by the explosion it transfers to the sections connected to it. So ammo in the Side torso can transfer into the CT and core you. (Leg explosions go into the STs first not the CT)

Ammo explosions can be triggered when a weapon deals a critical strike to an unarmored component. If you have no back armor for example, you can be critted and have that ammo explode.

[Mcgral18]

Brody319, on 24 January 2015 - 10:07 PM, said:

Ammo is consumed head - Right arm, Right torso, Center torso, Left torso, left arm, Right Leg, Left leg.

While otherwise correct; isn't it head now last?

Starts CT, RT, LT, the Arms (I want to say left first), then Legs (no idea) and Head last.


There's a 10% chance for ammo to be critted if there is a critical hit (42% base chance) when it reaches 0 HP. Ammo has 10 HP.

Edited by Mcgral18, 24 January 2015 - 10:18 PM.

[Brody319]

Mcgral18, on 24 January 2015 - 10:17 PM, said:

While otherwise correct; isn't it head now last?

Starts CT, RT, LT, the Arms (I want to say left first), then Legs (no idea) and Head last.


There's a 10% chance for ammo to be critted if there is a critical hit (42% base chance) when it reaches 0 HP. Ammo has 10 HP.

I was told it was consumed like a Z pattern on the mech. head being the top. If they changed it sense then I haven't noticed.

[Mcgral18]

Brody319, on 24 January 2015 - 10:19 PM, said:

I was told it was consumed like a Z pattern on the mech. head being the top. If they changed it sense then I haven't noticed.

Head was once upon a time first; hasn't been that way in awhile.

Edited by Mcgral18, 24 January 2015 - 10:23 PM.

[Gambit72]

So what is it? I want to make sure I put ammo in places that get used first.

[Khobai]

Quote

What happens when ammo explodes, exactly? Specifically, where, does the damage go, and how much?

Ammo has a 10% chance of exploding when its destroyed. When ammo explodes it will apply damage (usually equal to the damage of the weapon times the amount of ammo remaining) to the location it explodes in and then excess damage will transfer inward towards the CT.

What CASE does is prevent the damage from transferring inward. It doesnt however prevent damage to the location where the explosion occurs.

So say you have 7 rounds of AC/20 ammo in your side torso that explodes.... you would take 7*20 or 140 damage. That damage would blow off your side torso completely and then excess damage would transfer to your center torso. But if you have CASE in your side torso your CT would take 0 damage.

Edited by Khobai, 20 January 2016 - 02:41 PM.

[Lykaon]

Gambit72, on 20 January 2016 - 02:23 PM, said:

So what is it? I want to make sure I put ammo in places that get used first.

Well good news. where ever you put ammo will be the place used first until you put more ammo somewhere else...

That being if the head has ammo in it and no ammo else where the head ammo is consumed first as it is the only source. So if the RT also had ammo then the head would be used after the RT ammo.

My recomendations is to always place ammo in the head when you can. The number of times you actually take a head hit that breaches armor is pretty low.Even when the head armor is breached the critical hit event has to occur and the ammo's 10 hitpoints need to be depleted to detonate it.That being said it is far more likely that a hit will decapitate your mech than detonate ammo in it.

Next up it is common practice to place ammo in the legs (along with shaving leg armor for tonnage).Dispite this well known practice most players still do not aim for legs and instead shoot at the center mass. (especially newer players who seem to rarely lock a target to determine if the armor is breached elsewhere). Again I find that if your mech is medium or light weight class leg ammo is pretty safe since once your leg armor is breached the leg pops off shortly after. The occurances of ammo detonation is still low enough to risk leg ammo.Especially with a light mech since the moment you lose a leg it's pretty much a death sentence anyhow.

Center torso ammo bins are also not so bad on mech without high CT structure quirking in particular light mechs.By the time your CT has sustained enough damage to breach armor you are either low (or depleted) on ammo or going to die no matter what.

Side torso ammo bins on Inner Sphere mechs should be avoided if at all possible. In particular if the mech has an XL engine.Even equiping case will not allow an XL engine equiped mech to survive a significant side torso ammo detonation. So CASE in a side torso on an Inner Sphere mech with an XL engine is a total waste of mass and crits do not bother. I find that equiping CASE on side torsos on I.S. mechs is often tonnage better spent elsewhere.

For clan mechs it's important to remember that ALL clan mech body sections have free CASE. So explosion damage will not transfer on ANY clan mechs. This makes the arms more suitable for ammo bins dispite generally being the body part shot off first. Also Clan Omnimechs frequently have fixed structure or armor taking up legs and head crit slots so your ammo storage options are limited.

Sorry I do not know the order of ammo consumption but I hope my advise is helpful.

Edited by Lykaon, 20 January 2016 - 02:59 PM.