FupDup, on 07 April 2015 - 06:16 AM, said:
Streaks aren't in a weird spot because of lore, they're in a weird spot because PGI felt the need to make them into an "always hit" RNG-targeting system.
This has made them into an "all or nothing" binary weapon that either wreck people in some situations or suck badly in others. There's not much in-between.
It's kinda hard to balance a gun that operates on pendulum-swings from one extreme to the other, so their performance has to be made a lot more consistent so we can measure their overall effectiveness. The best way to do this is to outright redo their whole targeting system so that they take the player's aim into account somehow (i.e. home in on the aimed location) and don't rely on lucky dicerolls to get hits. After that, we can adjust any other stats like range/cooldown/heat/ammo etc. until they get put in a good place.
But of course, that won't happen. Binary Streaks are one of the Legacy Features™ of MWO by this point.
Just to be clear I dislike their implementation and think there is tons of room for improvement.
However if PGI read this:
Overview
Originally developed in
2647, the Streak SRM Launcher is relatively similar to the standard SRM launcher but linked to a unique Targa-7 fire control system.
This system is designed to guarantee a hit against any target onto which the pilot can get a lock,
a special feature of this system preventing the weapon from firing at a target when there is no lock-on, saving ammunition by preventing shots that would miss.
Description
Unlike a standard SRM whose shotgun effect may result in some misses and some hits, Streak guidance gives the lighter launchers the effective average firepower of the heavier and more wasteful SRM systems, but with considerably less variation in damage effects. The only disadvantages are that Streak launchers are incompatible with other missile target acquisition technologies such as the
Artemis IV FCS and
Narc Missile Beacon, their specialized ammunition is much more expensive, and some users are willing to accept partial hits rather than not be able to fire on demand.
Well...unfortunately, that's pretty much what ours do.
They should have been more creative, they should have redesigned them when clans came - but I do see how we ended up with what we have now.