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It forces every mech to run as close to the "ideal" loadouts as possible. Whether it's triple UAC/5, triple PPC, double Gauss/PPC, double PPC/Gauss (etc.), every mech will be forced to use it, and every mech that can't is now dumpster-tier. It gives a hard nerf to Brawling (Brawling weapons suck up a hilarious amount of energy) and Laservomit (same as before), making just a couple weapons that hit very hard stand head-and-shoulders above the rest of the available weaponry available, making only one real build path viable.
The 20 energy/second ratio of recharging is good. Doesn't make much sense when you're taking engine ratings and stuff like that into account, but the consistency across all mechs would most certainly be a good thing, even if it does require some stretching to explain on the lore front; the added TTK from it is icing on the cake, and there will be an increase in the skill ceiling through forcing a decision to go all-in on the first thing you see, or just take opportune shots while waiting for a real target.
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A lot of people are suggesting a lot of different things to fix it, but imo there's only one real way to fix the problem.
Tying it to the actual engine installed will gut mechs like the Dragon, Zeus, (maybe) the Commando, Jagermech, Orion... the list goes on. The reason for this is because they're forced to take small engines due to their position in their respective weight classes, in order to keep up with everything else on the field in terms of firepower, making them essentially equal to the weight class below in terms of firepower, but fall flat in terms of mobility. They also don't have as much armor as their heavier counterparts, meaning they won't win a stand-up fight. They just sit in the akward middle ground between the two, not being very useful in just about any situation, and tying energy cap to that engine size won't change a thing about that.
In the case of the lights like the Panther and Commando, they need to take smaller engines in order to use the hardpoints they've been given effectively, putting them at odds with most other laserboating lights.
Making it a sliding scale based on weight class would do no favors to the small lights, and pay way too many dividends to heavier mechs, not fixing the imbalance between classes.
Instead, I propose that PGI bases the energy draw off of the engine cap. This will incorporate the best of both worlds.
There would still be a clear "sliding scale", with noticeable spikes (like with the DRG, ON1, PXH, COM, and various other low-weight mechs, giving them a nice little buff), though on the other hand there would be noticeable dips (DWF, STK, CTF, MLR). I suggest they just give the mechs in that dip a slight buff in the energy cap department to keep things stable, and keep the mechs useful. All the mechs that are currently good would stay quite good, and with the overall reduction in TTK (in multiple facets of the gameplay), would make the TTK just a touch higher than it is on the live servers, which only need a minor bump anyways (imo). It would also lead to a more homogenization with the damage in the weight classes, with lighter mechs being able to afford to tack on more weapons or go ahead and take that heavier engine, and heavier mechs vice-versa, needing to take heavier engines and fewer weapons.
Furthermore, mechs that were historically brawlers (Atlas, Griffin, Commando, Orion, Gargoyle, Executioner, Shadowhawk, Hunchback and Hunchback IIC), get a huge buff in the firepower department. As it currently stands (with the 30 global energy cap) they absolutely and totally get the short end of the stick, with SRM's, large caliber autocannons, and large groups of smaller lasers getting huge amounts of draw, while just a few large-caliber direct fire weapons (specifically PPC's and Gauss) are just as good, if not better on the PTS. Poking laser mechs (i.e. BLR's, Zeus, Phoenix Hawk, literally every heavy but the Orion/CPLT, Banshee, Awesome, yadda yadda) can keep their midrange effectiveness from live, and poking mechs (Dual PPC/ Gauss TBR, dual PPC/Gauss KDK, etc. so on and so forth) can keep their long-ranged effectiveness.
Altogether this will homogenize the classes a bit more, and keep most playstyles intact, while improving the current state of balance from the live servers between the light mechs of a weight class and the heavy ones. The viability of the playstyles would also still be limited by the energy cap, hitting the wicket of decreasing overall alpha size and increasing the utility of heat efficiency. Oh, and getting rid of Ghost Heat.
- This will tie into my thoughts on weapon balance, don't stop reading here.
This isn't a flawless solution, seeing as mechs like the Stalker, Panther, Adder, and Dire Wolf will get smaller energy caps than their counterparts, but this can be counteracted with appropriate buffs to the energy cap when they're needed on a mech-specific basis, rather than tweaking an engine output which may have a splash effect on other mechs, for better or worse. This can be adjusted in the future, obviously.
Also, if this works out and PGI takes in my suggestions, don't let the Kodiak double tap quad UAC/10's. For everyones sanity.
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As for individual weapon balance, the PTS seems good, except for a couple things.
AC/5's of all flavors are just too weak. The nerf to the rate of fire put its DPS just way too low. I propose a minor buff of bringing it up to 1.9s. This will bring its DPS to ~2.6, making it at the least usable in its new environment, especially in groups, as it tends to be used.
The AC/2 has the niche of being incredibly energy efficient, the AC/10 has the niche of fitting nicely with alpha builds, and the AC/20 has the niche of hitting like a truck, but the AC/5 just doesn't have the DPS to make its niche worthwhile at the moment.
Brawling weapons (read: SRM's and the AC/20 class autocannon) suck up way too much energy.
I'd suggest making tweaks as severe as a 50% (with a minimum of at least 35%), reduction in energy use for SRM's, and a 25% reduction in energy usage for the AC/20 class. This way brawlers can alpha more than once before needing to take a 1.5 second break, making them have an incredible close range punch, offset by their need to get into that effective range, making the risk/reward incredibly high (as brawling tends to be, even in the current live build).
Laser weapons are much too weak with the overall cap of 30 energy points. My suggestions towards energy cap would fix this. Also, big bonuses for nerfing the CLPL and IS LPL. They were just so ridiculously good.
Don't you even think about touching Gauss rifles. They're perfect now. Literally the image of weapon balance. High range, damage, and projectile speed offset by how much power they require and their fragility. ******* love it.
It's not really a weapon but I'll mention it anyways, why does the CDHS have less HP than the ISDHS? You guys said you wanted to equalize the playing field. Just make them equal.
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If figuring out a lore explanation for this seems troubling, I have you covered.
Let's say, hypothetically (in our giant stompy robbit game), that every weapon uses the capacitor(s) in a mech, which is constantly charged by our Reactor. Lasers/Gauss use this for obvious reasons, Autocannons use this power to send a signal to the "trigger" system to let the "sears" go and let the firing pin strike the primers, and Missiles use this power to send a pulse to the rocket engines in the Missiles to tell them when to fire.
These capacitors are not plug and play, and instead they are installed into the hardpoints based on the theoretical max engine of said mech. These capacitors are rated to take the energy from that reactor specifically, by extension making them safe for use with smaller sized reactors.
The rate of charge should be slower for smaller engines, but again, Battletech is 90% handwavium anyways. A sufficient explanation would be this:
These capacitors only use the power necessary to fire the weapons load currently on the mech. Dipping into reserves (Read: using more power than even the max engine Energy cap would provide, eg. direstars, double AC/20 Jagers) would increase the heat generated by the Capacitors during discharge. Furthermore, they have a built-in safety to shut down the firing systems when the allotted energy is used up (Not being able to fire when your energy is low), working in conjunction with the mechs auto-shutdown system once the heat reaches an unsustainable level (Read: override).
It's not 100% correct, but again. It's Battletech, what more do you want.
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As problematic as the first test of the Energy Draw system is in its current form, it's tough to argue that it's not at least good start. These suggestions will really help it live up to an actual form of balancing, and though there are still arbitrary changes to help balance, they aren't in place to punish the player by forcing X amount of weapons on Y chassis, so much as force creativity within a limited frame.
Edited by Ninjamoose, 19 August 2016 - 05:37 PM.
