Pariah Devalis, on 17 January 2016 - 06:14 PM, said:
Perhaps ERPPC should not be traveling at 2300 m/s. That... seems incredibly excessive. Yeah, I know, normalizing the travel time and all, but at 2300 m/s, there would be practically zero need to lead at most ranges one would actually engage in. Don't think I like that.
At what range, in meters, are we talking about?
As an example, a speed-tweaked
Mad Cat can run at 87.075 kph, which works out to 24.1875 m/s.
Within the span of the average human reaction time (0.25s, one-quarter of one second), this
Mad Cat can displace itself by up to 6.047 meters.
Within the span of the peak human reaction time (0.145s, roughly one-seventh of one second), this
Mad Cat can displace itself by up to 3.507 meters.
At 2300 m/s, an ER-PPC bolt would reach 575 meters from the firing 'Mech in 0.250 seconds.
At 2300 m/s, an ER-PPC bolt would reach 333.5 meters from the firing 'Mech in 0.145 seconds.
In other words: we're still talking about the possibility of a multiple-meters lead against a circling fast heavy 'Mech at the effective ranges of higher-damage autocannons (unless the target 'Mech is stationary, or moving directly toward (or away from) the firing 'Mech, or moving rather slowly, or is very close to the firing 'Mech).
Against most light 'Mechs & faster medium 'Mechs that manage to establish a "circle of death", we're necessarily still looking at significant (or, at least, not-insignificant) leading being necessary at even rather close (e.g. sub-300m) ranges, despite the proposed ER-PPC velocity, yes?
Edited by Strum Wealh, 17 January 2016 - 07:29 PM.