I think Blastman's assumption is that each individual hardpoint would get its own separate reticule, because keeping the current single reticule wouldn't mix very well with his suggestion...
I'm not saying I support his idea, I'm just clarifying that one specific tidbit. No randomness involved, but mechs with clustered hardpoints and asymmetrical sword-and-board setups would be even more favored than they are now.
I know I'm being p!ssy, Fup. I'm just so friggin' tired of seeing the same bullscheiss in every single thread I browse through when checking this place out. Does no one else see where this sort of crap would go? Is it really such an impossible realization to make that this crap would break ten times more junk than it purports to fix? :/
John has some tips for you. Give it a watch. It'll help.
I never said anything about removing aiming. I never said anything about making it a random diceroll or luck other than to NOT make it that. I never said anything about forcing people to chainfire. If you still take similar weapons... you don't have to.
But whatever. You can interject whatever whatever presumption you like into what you read. Just be sure to eat some mushrooms before you do it first, okay?
And OBVIOUSLY I have considered hardpoint placement. I have definitely considered stuff like back in the day with the HGNs (not good anymore, too slow) having all their energy in one torso section stacked for better placement as one example, or a 'mech having weapons stacked in one arm.
That's obvious. It doesn't take a doctorate in physics to figure that out. OF COURSE people will move to that. It's only the next obvious move in the game of chess.
But it comes with one big drawback... if you stack all your weapons in one spot... people will learn quickly that certain 'mechs are doing this. And what will happen? That hardpoint will be targeted first, every damn time. I know this because... dun dun dun! I was doing it in CLOSED BETA (say that with a long drawn out echo).
Those Hunchbacks... yeah... immediately went for that side torso. It worked like a charm. And that is precisely what will happen to players that stack. So go ahead, limit yourself by stacking. At least it has a drawback, unlike the current system which screams... alpha alpha alpha every time!
I'd take that any day over what we have now.
And stuff like gauss and AC/20 are great for coring out stacked sections quick.
Plus you'd still have to manually aim each hardpoint separately... or alpha and accept that not all your weapons will hit in one spot.