67 replies to this topic

[Mystere]

tortuousGoddess, on 04 February 2016 - 02:39 PM, said:

Exactly how? Brawling will be weak due to reduced ability to keep groups of short range weapons on target, but shoulder mounted long range still shoots all its force in a straight line, to nearly the same spot. Poking will be practically unaffected, since shoulder mounted large weapon groups will let you deal accurate location damage at long range, even with no convergence. Even if you did get close, accurate pinpoint damage will core you before any damage spreading short range weapons can even breach my armor. I wouldn't be at any disadvantage close up, it's just easier for me to land my pinpoint damage on the right spots. The only way you'd stand a chance is to take up the same kind of builds and tactics.

Oh, and let's not forget that locking convergence means nothing but ECM mechs with radar derp in every game, making long range poke even stronger than all that.

Why are you so worried about the damned meta? That must be sucking the fun out of you.

As for ECM, the range is so short right now I rarely see anyone other than the carrier under it's umbrella. So other than the Hellbringer, what else can do ECM + Radar Deprivation + 3 big long range weapons?

And in the end, teamwork and tactics are still very much OP in spite of what the metawhores chase day in and day out.

Edited by Mystere, 04 February 2016 - 04:42 PM.

[Pjwned]

Mystere, on 04 February 2016 - 04:28 PM, said:

Well, to me it's "See ECM Mech, kill ECM mech". It seems to be still working just fine for me. But then again I have specialized in ECM hunter-killers.

Sure, but the real problem is "you better kill this ECM mech or else it will render entire weapon systems completely useless within its jesus box bubble."

The problem is how unbalanced ECM is when it's not dealt with immediately and not so much being expected to counter ECM or kill the mech carrying it.

[Mystere]

Pjwned, on 04 February 2016 - 04:42 PM, said:

Sure, but the real problem is "you better kill this ECM mech or else it will render entire weapon systems completely useless within its jesus box bubble."

The problem is how unbalanced ECM is when it's not dealt with immediately and not so much being expected to counter ECM or kill the mech carrying it.

At 90m, it's not as useful beyond it's carrier.

[Pjwned]

Mystere, on 04 February 2016 - 04:43 PM, said:

At 90m, it's not as useful beyond it's carrier.

That just makes the jesus box bubble a little smaller.

It's still extremely unbalanced for what it is, and if anything the bubble should be 0m.

[jss78]

I'd prefer a variable-strength ECM field. If they put in the information warfare bits, it could easily be implemented within that system.

Make obtaining target lock depend cumulatively on:

- Radar signature of the targeted mech
- Strength of the targetting mech's sensors
- Distance between targetting and targeted mech
- Number of ECM fields covering the targetted mech AND the strengths of those ECM fields (distance to ECM carrier)
- Same for ECM counters: how many are there, and how close they are to the targetted mech

Depending on the stacked effects of the above, you might never get a lock, you might get it with some delay, or you might get it instantaneously.

[LordNothing]

pgi doesnt like people boating, so they throw on ghost heat
people then throw on different size lasers to avoid this.
solution, range windows on lasers. (min and max with falloff)
that is all.

Edited by LordNothing, 05 February 2016 - 12:24 AM.

[Ratpoison]

Mystere, on 04 February 2016 - 04:32 PM, said:

Why are you so worried about the damned meta? That must be sucking the fun out of you.

As for ECM, the range is so short right now I rarely see anyone other than the carrier under it's umbrella. So other than the Hellbringer, what else can do ECM + Radar Deprivation + 3 big long range weapons?

And in the end, teamwork and tactics are still very much OP in spite of what the metawhores chase day in and day out.

All levels of play follow the meta, it's just less so the farther down the skill ladder you go. Note the popularity of laser boating now, as an example. Locking convergence makes ECM and Radar Dep OP because those two systems will get the bonus of wrecking your opponent's convergence. Any time you can't target the ECM mech you get no convergence, which means the only way to counter it and close the gap is to take the same long range, grouped hardpoint builds that lets you mitigate the convergence penalties as much as possible. Essentially, almost all of the weapons and builds will be nerfed into unusability with the change, except for those which can still group lots of damage on one spot with no lock.

[wanderer]

It's notable that ECM got tweaks with the Test iteration of "info warfare" to not be quite as blinding as it is- extending the time it took for getting target info vs. blocking red doritos entirely, and also giving 'Mechs better/worse ability to pick up sensor readings. Those changes never made it because they were held back when "ghost damage" was trashed.

That means the ECM doesn't end up being the binary game-killer it is on the live servers if something lock/converge goes through, and likely radar dep as well.