3 replies to this topic

[CDLord HHGD]

I wanted to give my thought, epiphany, on the requests I have seen for newer weapon tech.... With a chance to have an upgraded cryengine or a different engine altogether, I will put aside all the "cryengine can't do it" malarkey and consider the sky's the limit.

Let's take our base 3025 tech.
Small Laser
Medium Laser
Large Laser
PPC
Machine Gun
AC2
AC5
AC10
AC20
SRM2
SRM4
SRM6
LRM5
LRM10
LRM15
LRM20

Now, this idea won't apply universally, not all weapons can do it but here goes.

What if instead of adding new weapons, we can just upgrade our current ones?

PPC to ERPPC
IDK about anyone else but I have seen little to no reason to equip a standard PPC over the ER version. I personally have never done this or quickly regretted it after trying. The extra heat is little drawback to the benefits.
So, I click on a PPC in my inventory and I click Upgrade and after a cbill cost equal to the difference between the two weapons already, POOF! I get an ERPPC. This doesn't mean I can't ever equip a regular PPC again, but now I can only buy a PPC and if I want an ERPPC, I have to upgrade it.

This same can be applied to ER Small Lasers, ER Large Laser, Pulse lasers, et al. Even LRM Artemis which TBH feels like our current implementation is kinda weird anyways.

Now take the AC10. I will assume the upgrade or different engine will allow for ammo switching. I can upgrade my AC10 to a LBX10 and do both. OR my AC10 to a UAC10 and do both (assuming IS gets the UAC10 eventually).

I wrote this as I was thinking of it and there are some obvious holes, but I wanted to get the discussion going and see what my fellow forumwarriors think and if they have additional ideas or even different ones.

[Metus regem]

I thought of a way to get around the LB series ammo switching issue, make a LB-10X [cluster] and LB-10X [solid] weapons with ammo to match, now you have to make a choice between them at the start, if you want one or the other. Yes I know this would invalidate the AC/10 for the IS, until they get around putting in AC/10 [AP], AC/10 [tracer] and AC/10 [caseless]. This could also be applied for MML's and ATM's....

[Sandpit]

The only tech I think IS really "needs" are the rest of the er lasers and UACs & LBX

Right now there's some real discrepancies between the two techs and this is one of the main reasons in my opinion. Dire Wolves that carry multiple UAC20s have a distinct advantage in any brawl with any other IS mech that carries the comparable AC20 build.

Same with lasers when it comes to ranges.

Other than that I just don't, personally mind you, have the want or need to see anything beyond that as far as new tech goes when it comes to weapon systems.

MRMs might be interesting as a midstep between LRMs and SRMs.

Metus regem, on 08 March 2016 - 12:37 PM, said:

I thought of a way to get around the LB series ammo switching issue, make a LB-10X [cluster] and LB-10X [solid] weapons with ammo to match, now you have to make a choice between them at the start, if you want one or the other. Yes I know this would invalidate the AC/10 for the IS, until they get around putting in AC/10 [AP], AC/10 [tracer] and AC/10 [caseless]. This could also be applied for MML's and ATM's....

ammo variations would add a LOT of diversity to the types of builds we see in my opinion. It also leads to less "That mech is carrying xx weapon, so I know exactly what to expect every time with very little, if any, deviation from that other than range and cooldown modules.

[Repasy Cooper]

cdlord, on 08 March 2016 - 12:23 PM, said:

I wanted to give my thought, epiphany, on the requests I have seen for newer weapon tech.... With a chance to have an upgraded cryengine or a different engine altogether, I will put aside all the "cryengine can't do it" malarkey and consider the sky's the limit.

Let's take our base 3025 tech.
Small Laser
Medium Laser
Large Laser
PPC
Machine Gun
AC2
AC5
AC10
AC20
SRM2
SRM4
SRM6
LRM5
LRM10
LRM15
LRM20

Now, this idea won't apply universally, not all weapons can do it but here goes.

What if instead of adding new weapons, we can just upgrade our current ones?

PPC to ERPPC
IDK about anyone else but I have seen little to no reason to equip a standard PPC over the ER version. I personally have never done this or quickly regretted it after trying. The extra heat is little drawback to the benefits.
So, I click on a PPC in my inventory and I click Upgrade and after a cbill cost equal to the difference between the two weapons already, POOF! I get an ERPPC. This doesn't mean I can't ever equip a regular PPC again, but now I can only buy a PPC and if I want an ERPPC, I have to upgrade it.

This same can be applied to ER Small Lasers, ER Large Laser, Pulse lasers, et al. Even LRM Artemis which TBH feels like our current implementation is kinda weird anyways.

Now take the AC10. I will assume the upgrade or different engine will allow for ammo switching. I can upgrade my AC10 to a LBX10 and do both. OR my AC10 to a UAC10 and do both (assuming IS gets the UAC10 eventually).

I wrote this as I was thinking of it and there are some obvious holes, but I wanted to get the discussion going and see what my fellow forumwarriors think and if they have additional ideas or even different ones.

As far as the PPC/ERPPC goes, I actually do use regular PPC on some of my builds. Though the close range dmg cutoff can be annoying, I find that so long as I choose to brawl mid-range and have some backup weapons for close-range brawls, I do fairly well with the lower heat output.

The only problem I have with this is that a lot of weapon "upgrades" would increase the tonnage, thereby requiring you to decrease ammo, armor, or remove other weapons. That's already taken care of in the current system. I don't really think this upgrade system would add anything to the game. Perhaps what you're trying to accomplish is limit obscene meta builds by introducing weapon-specific hardpoints. ie.- some weapon hardpoints would no longer be limited to energy, ballistic, or missile, but might instead be limited to laser, ppc, autocannon, long-range missiles, short-range missiles, etc. This would accomplish the same things your idea sets on, plus it would add more flavour to each mech and their intended roles.