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TL:DR Dont add gimmick mechanics, fix the core problems- the heat system itself.
Ive posted this....Probably...6 times now over the few years I've played this game, I feel the need to post this again with the upcoming nerf patch.
We don't need Ghost heat. We don't need Power draw. What needs to happen, and what has always needed to happen is an entire revamp of the heat system. My suggestion would solve multiple problems while allowing much more diversity in peoples builds, and this game badly needs diversity.
If anyone remembers, ghost heat came about due to the old school 4x and 6x PPC stalkers that where running around one shotting everyone. If we fixed the heat system properly then, that build would never have happened. Here are my Ideas:
- Give us true 2.0 heatsinks across the board. Right now cramming in tons of heatsinks does not seem to give us much return. I have 27 double heat sinks in what is basically a canon Warhawk prime sans-LRMS and I can barely keep the thing cool enough even for sustained chain fired PPCS for long range support, which is basically that mechs/builds SOLE purpose. IT also ties in with my next suggestion.
- A HARD heat limit cap. Your heat capacity will be cut roughly half to possibly 1/3 of what is is now. Adding additional heat sinks will NOT increase your capacity much, if at all. Reduce the effectiveness of the pilot tree heat capacity upgrade. This can also be a de-facto ghost heat system. With the new heat capacity for example, you could STILL only fire 2 ERPPC's. BUT with true 2.0 heatsinks your mech cools off much quicker after that salvo allowing faster follow up shots. or allowing you to fire other backup weapons without some silly energy bar Basically less alpha > more DPS. Higher TTK instead of all front loaded damage.
WHAT THIS DOES:
The current heat capacity is why we have such massive alphas flying around now. My "Novaborn" for example can fire 2 CLPLS and 6 ER-medium lasers at once and only top out around 72% heat on Caustic valley....thats enough alpha to core any other heavy in one hit, and potentially one shot light and medium mechs while still having 22+ heatsinks. With the new system i can fire the 2 lpls' or the 6 ermedium lasers, but not all at once. Again. Less alpha, higher damage over time, since my mech with 22 TRUE double heatinks will cool off much faster. Higher TTK but no gimmicks restricting my builds.
- Reduce environmental effects on heat capacity. Hot maps should not make your mech's weapon heat spike higher, nor should cold maps reduce how much heat your generate. So if 2 ppcs give you 80% heat on caustic, they give you the same 80% on Frozen city...however, your mech will probably hit acceptable heat levels to fire off another pair of PPCS on Frozen LONG before they do on caustic. outside temperature should only affect heat DISSIPATION, not heat capacity.
- ADD HEAT PENALTIES. THIS HAS ALWAYS NEEDED TO BE A PART OF THIS GAME. In every game previously there where serious penalties to overheating your mech, or keeping your reactor in the red. Add movement pentalies, internals damage and the like for keeping your reactor in the "red zone" Add clearer indications on the heat bar for how hot your reactor is, and how long you are in the danger zone before you start taking damage.
For example lets say the "danger zone" for reactor heat was 85%+ once you hit this heat level, you get a small timer over your heat bar telling you how long you have to cool off before you start taking internal damage. This internal damage could be mild ranging to severe depening on how far into the red your mech stays. It can start with light internals damage on the shallow end, along with movement speed pentalties Molymer never liked being overheated last i read) ranging up to ammo cookoffs to heat sinks melting down on the severe end (95%+ heat for extended periods)
The timer can be long enough so that sudden heat spikes that redline/shut you down dont cause huge damage, but short enough that kiting your mech at dangerous heat levels for extended periods has detrimental effects.
HEAT MANAGEMENT IS A SKILL IN THE MECHWARRIOR UNIVERSE. AS IMPORTANT AS GUNNERY AND PILOTING, IT IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE GAME. If you are a bad shot you get rewarded with losing your mech to accurate return fire. if you are a bad pilot, you wind up getting outplayed by people who roll your damage while they ct core you in a few salvoes...if you are bad at building mechs and pacing fire to balance your heat generated, you should also be punished.
This new system will encourage more balanced builds that pack less weaponry, and more heat sinks. Builds that mix energy and ballistics or energy/missiles or some combination of the three will be rewarded more than just boating several large weapons. Without the ghost heat weapons heat could be tweaked a bit to allow more build diversity. We could allow 4x Large lasers now since you wont be able to fire as much weaponry all at once, and heat could be tweaked on a case by case basis depending on how the builds play out. But less "dangerous" builds like medium laser boats that dont have the tonnage to really pack on larger weapons wont suffer under the current heat system anymore. Builds that now run too hot should run much cooler, like Brawler Atases and the like...15 double heat sinks should be more than enough to keep a few medium lasers and an AC20 cold under the new system, making IS brawlers even much more dangerous. On the other hand the clans get a bit of a buff, since they usually sacrafice TONS of space for lots of heatsinks. Clan alpha will be reduced, but the clans long range sustained DPS will increase since The abhorrent amount of double heatsinks you can cram in their mechs will finally pay off.
This avoids the power draw mechanic that will hurt mixed builds that run simple things like LRM+ a few lasers Or mechs that Mix ballistics and energy weapons, like Dire Wolves. People are already working around this mechanic by switching to PPC/Gauss again and that will just have detrimental effects for the gameplay again, and result in MORE UNNECESSARY NERFS.
Edited by xXBagheeraXx, 22 August 2016 - 09:40 AM.
