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Some improvements could be made, my first feedback:
Indicator readability: The energy pool scale indicator needs to be much more precise to be able to determine when you can fire the next volley. Now it has 4 sections of each 7.5 energy on the scale, i suggest to break that up into 15 sections of 2. And on the scale for each 10 energy points make a bold / big line to enhance the readability further.
Weapon group indicator: On the weapon group panel there should be some form of indication what weapon group can "safely" be fired with the available energy. Much like the indication for flamers.
Energy draw regeneration: With the current energy draw threshold and heat penalty big alpha strikes are still possible, some alpha strike builds were actually buffed compared to the previous ghost heat system (double ac20, triple erppc or quad ppc). Although i believe big alpha strikes should still be possible, it should come at a big prize..
The current heat penalty is not enough to discourage that, however a bigger heat penalty would plainly destroy that possibility. I suggest a dynamic energy regeneration to take care of that. The more you exceed the threshold the slower the energy pool regenerates. That way big alphas are still possible, but it will make the striker ineffective for a while without the extreme heat or possible shutdown.
If you fire a weapon group and stay within the max energy draw the regeneration should be faster. This could help builds that struggle to come up with a balanced group of weapons that get close to that 30 damage. For example the Atlas AS7-S, the AC20 always draws to less while the quad SRM6's always draw too much. Faster regeneration when the AC20 is fired solo would help!
Although i like the changes that come with this new energy draw system, i think it will be good for gameplay i still have some concerns. Especially the fixed thresholds for the energy pool, even when that is customised for different classes. In the end it forces the user to create builds that best makes use of the available pool for that class but will run into effectiveness issues when a certain chassis is not able to get close to that max energy draw which could have multiple reasons (hardpoints, weight or space). A system that gives a bit more room for chassis where its not possible to get close to the ideal energy draw would be appreciated.
In the end i much rather see a low but custom threshold per tonnage (something like lights:10, medium:15, heavy:20 and assaults:25) and let the energy draw system regenerate according to how its being used. Big draw means slower regeneration, small draw means faster regeneration.
Edited by B3R3ND, 19 August 2016 - 03:57 AM.
