10 replies to this topic

[GothicVash]

overall i kind of like it. i think brawler type weapons will need more specific tweaking to keep brawling relevant (ie uac20's srm's medium pulse ect.) the gauss, ppc cooldown is kind of terrible for gauss/ppc builds but it can work. just not as well as i am used to possibly gauss/lpl or gauss/mpl builds will be more of a thing. i do think the 2 limit on gauss is a bit silly. but overall so far i think this could actually work i was very skeptical until trying it. i would like to see lrm boats like the 4 15's and couple 20's be able to alpha fire a few times before having to slow down/cool down from excessive heat.

[Mechteric]

GothicVash, on 18 August 2016 - 04:52 PM, said:

overall i kind of like it. i think brawler type weapons will need more specific tweaking to keep brawling relevant (ie uac20's srm's medium pulse ect.) the gauss, ppc cooldown is kind of terrible for gauss/ppc builds but it can work. just not as well as i am used to possibly gauss/lpl or gauss/mpl builds will be more of a thing. i do think the 2 limit on gauss is a bit silly. but overall so far i think this could actually work i was very skeptical until trying it. i would like to see lrm boats like the 4 15's and couple 20's be able to alpha fire a few times before having to slow down/cool down from excessive heat.

I for one think the limit on gauss should be 1 at a time, especially if they are removing its charge. Having one gauss on your mech should be desirable, having two or more should require at least a fraction of a second between individual shots.

[GothicVash]

i think that should be up to the pilot of course firing more then one at a time should draw more energy but their are builds with 3 gauss rifles on stock variants. that should be usable i think one of the marauder iic's is one of them. i do know their are several with 2. one of the stock mad dog being one. personally i like the charge mechanic but i would prefer to see it on ppcs instead of the gauss

[pyrocomp]

CapperDeluxe, on 18 August 2016 - 06:00 PM, said:

I for one think the limit on gauss should be 1 at a time, especially if they are removing its charge. Having one gauss on your mech should be desirable, having two or more should require at least a fraction of a second between individual shots.

And how about triple PPCs? Those also must be chainfired or fired in pairs only?

[C E Dwyer]

With such a slow recharge on the Gauss I don't think it will need to be limited to one.

I'm liking the whole system, and I think it could be brought down to 29 or 28 from 30 (this would produce extra heat on ac20/10 builds and twin guass) because I found it every hard to Alpha a mech to destruction on the testing grounds, using this system at it's current rate of 30

Frankly I'd leave it as is

pyrocomp, on 18 August 2016 - 06:14 PM, said:

And how about triple PPCs? Those also must be chainfired or fired in pairs only?

Not with I.S builds, I blasted away with a erppcx3 Awesome. might have to look at clan ones tomorrow, but its 3am

[pyrocomp]

Cathy, on 18 August 2016 - 06:22 PM, said:

Not with I.S builds, I blasted away with a erppcx3 Awesome. might have to look at clan ones tomorrow, but its 3am

I think that the charge up mechanic will be back on GR and that will be for good.
Or on ERPPCs (to make PPCs an option).

[GothicVash]

id like the charge option on ppc's just because i find it a fun mechanic and idk it just seams right on them. you should be able to fire 3x ppc's its hot but should be doable awesomes are a great example of that sort of build working well.

[Orville Righteous]

I could probably use the current system as is on Production. It didn't seem too bad and wasn't that hard to adjust to (don't alpha, fire weapons in groups instead). I had to modify some of the mechs I use (splitting some lasers into two groups instead of one for example), but overall most of my mechs were fine just out of the box.

I think the biggest change is the recharge adjustment. I ended up putting Cool Down Modules on my mechs, whereas sometimes I use Range Modules.

I really wish the Test server has 12v12 matches. Most of the matches I tried were pretty heavy unfortunately. I'd like to see some variety.

[nehebkau]

My Thoughts:

Gauss change .... bad. I was effectively brawling with a dual gauss mech and winning. Currently gauss requires some skill, with the change it would require none.

Power drain has little to no affect on lights
Power drain recharges WHILE a weapon is firing, really notice it with clan ERLLs that the bar is charging while my weapons are still firing.
Really appears to be affecting assaults -- I was having a much easier time with them when using a medium or light. (not sure that is a good thing)

Thinking that recharge should be based on the engine size in the mech. Smaller engine, slower recharge. That would mean that clanners have a constant charge rate but IS would be all over the place depending on engine choice.

Edited by nehebkau, 18 August 2016 - 08:03 PM.

[1453 R]

Going to borrow this thread for my own first thoughts, as well.

1.) 4v4 is Distorting the Data, Badly

I get why the team count is so low on PTS right now - 8 players find a game a lot easier than 24 on the player-starved PTS - but the 4v4 format is massively skewing anything I can really comment on. I would love an official 4v4 mode (outside FP, please-and-thank-you) because there's some real fun to be had here, but this isn't anything close to a real test of the system in anything approximating live conditions. I'm altering my play a lot to compensate for the fact that I'm now worth three 'Mechs, and it leaves me paying a lot less attention to what I'm supposed to be testing.

Anyways. With that out of the way...

2.) The Sky is Not, In Fact, Falling

In my testing so far, I've barely even noticed energy draw. Habits from playing with Ghost Heat for so long and running hot-as-bawls Clan lasers this whole time means I tend to fire in staggered sub-30 damage groups as a general thing anyways, unless I'm going for a Hail Mary final stab to try and drop some foo' before he gets away/drops me. Have not been able to test my new loves in PTS (where are my VIPERS, PIRANHA?! *angry face*), but most everything else I've played with? Regular ol' Ghost Heat avoidance instincts seem to work well enough.

In one memorable instance I tried running a Gargoyle with 4 cERML in one arm, 6 cERSL in the other, and a mess o'heat sinks. Deliberately ignored the E.D. penalty on the SL arm, fought as if it didn't exist. Mostly...didn't notice any real difference from any previous runs with the Gargoyle. Admittedly I was on Polar and Polar is cold as hell, but still. Only time I've really hit issues with E.D. is when I busted my Jenner-IIC(O) out for a ride and got heavy-handed with the SRMs (six SRM-4s). But then again, that build runs hot as blazes as it is when I'm not careful with the tubes, so not really any change there.

Frankly, I don't even see the yellow energy bar. It bounces too quick for me to pay much attention to it when I'm trying to aim, and when I'm not aiming it's because I'm not firing and the bar is full because it recharges crezzeh fast. Only time I deliberately poked at it is pre-fight when I'm shooting the ground to see how bad the heat is on a given set-up.

Have not yet tried assault brawlers or energy boats, which're the guys supposedly hit the hardest in this update (unless, y'know, a ten-laser Gargoyle counts as an assault energy boat), but will do that as I can now that the THIRTEEN FRIGGIN' GIG download is done and I can drop when I need to.

So yeah. Piranha. You guys should maybe fix that in your utterly awful PTS system. It might improve PTS engagement for players to not be facing six-hour downloads prone to errors.

Anyways.

3.) Gauss Rifles May be a Little Ridiculous

I honestly think this may be an artifact of the 4v4 thing. Two dual-Gauss KDKs, in the PTS right now, is equivalent in firepower to six dual-gauss KDKs in the regular game since every player counts for triple his normal allotment. That being said, I have been getting downright Shrekt by Goose guys in my testing. Goose Kodiaks are pretty much the king of PTS at the moment. I do believe it's because there's not enough enemy team to properly suppress a Goose-iak, or other Goose snipers, but that seems like it could also be an issue on live servers if enough guys switch over to Goose builds.

Especially ridiculous are the Goose-over-Quack/5 Kodiak builds - Goose Waffles generate null heat and have a long-as-hell cooldown, which means you get roughly six seconds of sustained Quack/5 dakka in between dual Goose war pokes, all pretty much completely unaffected by Energy Draw. It is not even remotely a pleasant thing to encounter and I'm honestly not sure how to stop it. They can keep up with the DPS of most regular builds whilst also deriving huge advantage from nigh-free 30-damage megapokes every seven seconds. I've checked in Smurfy - you can build it on the stock cXL400, so even trying to outmaneuver them is a bear (tee hee hee...)

I'm not sure if restoring the charge sequence to Gauss Rifles would help, or if it's just overexposure because people are glee-ing over the snapfire capabilities, but I haven't been this Gauss'd since the days of the toaster pastry.

4.) TTK is...Impossible to Determine

It's 4v4, Piranha. If people don't screw up, they can't get focused to death as happens on the main servers. This 4v4 set-up on PTS makes it impossible to figure out what sort of effect Energy Draw and increased cooldowns and all the rest is realistically having on TTK because the games don't resemble live games whatsoever. You need to open it up to 12v12, outside of crappy private games hosted by streamers, if you want any sort of realistic data.

5.) I Really, REALLY Miss My Vipers...

Seriously, did you guys take this snapshot in 1997? Had to rebuild my graphics settings and keybinds pretty much from the ground up - that was a nasty surprise in my first game, lemme tell you! And seriously! Seriously! How am I supposed to test the impact of E.D. on high-speed, Unload-and-Evade skirmishers like the Viper if I DON'T HAVE MY VIPERS?!

No, Ice Ferrets don't count. They have never counted in the history of ever. I miss my Medusa so bad it hurts. See how those Goose-iaks like ten small lasers in their rectums...

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ANYWAYS. Wanted to get my first raw impressions down somewhere before I nodded off for the night. Will continue to test as able throughout the week(end), deliberately forgoing my WotW event rewards to do so because I know what's more important at the moment. Even if I'm still p!ssed as hell that Piranha is forcing us to choose between PTS testing and Sweet Sweet Lootz.

D!ck move, Piranha. D!ck move.

[Mechteric]

pyrocomp, on 18 August 2016 - 06:14 PM, said:

And how about triple PPCs? Those also must be chainfired or fired in pairs only?

PPCs already build up heat, Gauss build up ZERO heat. That means a lot when talking about sustained fire, which is what the heat system in Battletech is meant for.