Solis Obscuri, on 08 December 2016 - 12:30 AM, said:
There's a mechanical issue between the BT fluff and the actual game mechanics for how autocannons work (though arguably the direct blow/glancing blow advanced rules give a little wiggle room for interpretation). A very rapid burst might still roughly work, but having variable numbers of rounds/burst for different autocannon types would likely be a balancing mess - a crusher super-heavy autocannon firing 10 shells is going to be much more likely to concentrate damage effectively than, say, a Pontiac 100 firing ten times that many in a burst. It'd be hard not to make ACs even more worse than lasers and gauss rifles... though MW3's solution of boosting the overall damage per shot on the idea that there would be some spread from recoil was pretty neat. (I was also a big fan of the fluff-correct homing SRMs in that game.)
Oh I'm aware. Part of the trick of balancing that... is establishing the already existing the fact that the weapon categories are based on expected damage, accuracy and heat within a given unit of time.
For example let us establish that a weapon category (heat, damage, etc.) is expected of 5 seconds (twice the ten second standard). Assuming that ratings are for 5 second periods...
- Let us take the GM Whirlwind/5 AC/5.. It is known for shooting 3-4 shots per second (establishing the firing rate) with a cassette (magazine) size of 3 shots. Thus it also only requires a second to deliver its payload, and under normal conditions this means approximately 4 seconds (give or take) to reload.
- Lets assume that this is a burst-fired weapon and thus you fire all 3 rounds in your magazine on each squeeze, complete with the recoil associated with it.
- Now lets assume it only requires 3 seconds to reload, 1 second to fire, and the standard rate accounts for 1 firing in 5 seconds.
- Now let us establish the fact that in advanced Battletech rules, all autocannons can at least double-fire in a turn where lasers and all other weapons cannot, however unlike UACs with a small percentage chance to jam, regular ACs have an exceptionally high risk of jamming.
- This means that the Marauder 3M's GM Whirlwind/5 AC/5 turret can now fire twice within 5 seconds at the exceptionally high risk of a permanent or lengthy temporary jam... or you can wait that extra second after reloading to allow the weapon itself to cool just enough to fire again safely.
- If the player were to equip an Extended Cassette design quirk, this Marauder could fire its payload twice in succession without a jam risk, however it would not begin to 'reload' until after it has fired both shots and also gains a penalty of 1 second to reload time. (requiring a minimum of 6 seconds to fire both bursts and reload, though if only begins reloading after both uses are consumed.)
Now, for comparison, lets take the Shadowhawk 2D's Armstrong J11 80mm category 5 autocannon (AC/5). Assume all the above is true and established for balance purposes.
- The Armstrong J11 is an AC/5 for the Shadowhawk 2D, a short 9.63 meter scout mech (unlike the "nearly 2 meters taller" post-Project Phoenix Shadowhawk 5th generation made larger to fit in bulkier yet lighter equipment such as XL engines, double heatsinks, etc.)
- This 80mm AC is just short of the largest possible AC/2 of 90mm, which still isn't a one-shot-does-2-damage weapon.
- Lets assume The Armstrong J11 requires 6 shots to deliver 5 damage (0.8 and 1/3rd damage per shot, putting 90mm at 1 damage per bullet and fitting in with the rest of the ACs.)
- Lets assume the Armstrong J11 is an automatic weapon that fires 'singly', as in you can choose to fire a single bullet instead of a full payload. This means you can choose when and how much to fire. By automatic, lets assume that this means it is belt/chain fed and not reliant on cassette reloads. This means that there are no dead times in which you cannot fire, unlike the example above which dictates that the GM Whirlwind/5 has a minimum dead time of 3 seconds.
- Now lets assume it can fire up to 8 shots in three seconds before the weapon itself begins to heat up.
- As the weapon itself heats up (separate of 'Mech Heat), the risk of jamming steadily increases from slight to moderate to worse to guaranteed. Ceasing to fire will allow the weapon itself to cool off, allowing the Cooling Jacket and heatsinks to do their job. (Mech heat would build normally and dissipate, the weapon heat beyond the weapon rating would not affect the mech's heat and is instead its own balancing factor to determine jam risks).
- It can fire up 13 shots in 5 seconds at extreme risk of jamming.
- And finally that the Armstrong J11, due to its low caliber, has very little recoil.
- This establishes that while not a fantastic weapon, it has a it of an edge that if you have the skill to land your shots (and since you have full control of when it fires this is entirely in your hands), you can have a slight edge from your AC as opposed to that more FLD user. This weapon is also dynamic and unique in how it feels, giving a fresh feel and look at potential strategies that could come out of this weapon and the mechs that can carry it.
This is just an example.
The Pontiac 100, given that it is effectively a Gatling gun with its rotary gun housed inside a protective armored barrel, could probably churn through all 100 rounds in 1 to 2 seconds with a 'cool off' time of about 2 seconds, and be given a bit of a damage potential bonus... as well as potentially the merit of being a hit detection weapon rather than a true projectile weapon in terms of net code. After all, AC categories are "loose" and some ACs surpass the damage of their category.
In comparison..
With categories established, a laser could fire once for full damage in 5 seconds. (So ACs always have potential to deal double damage at some risk whether standard or UAC), or as preferred lasers would also have variants as in Battletech... lasers do in fact have variants (over 60 standard IS medium laser variants exist, of which 44 are Unique from one another in terms of beam time, firing pattern, merits, issues, etc.)
(Ideally the only true FLD one shot weapons are missiles, Gauss Rifles, and PPCs... seriously and genuinely emphasizing PPCs to be the power houses they are described to be despite the existing of AC/10s [which btw cap out at 120mm and are basically heavier UAC/5s without any jam risk for firing twice as fast as an AC/5 and delivering ten damage, and can potentially reach 20 damage before jamming).
(It also allows the accurate ranges to make sense, as bigger shells go FARTHER than smaller shells... but AC/20s [while they can fire up to 185mm for the IS] generally just shoot faster, up to 4 times faster than AC/5s).
(Also I know that TT summarizes hit location and damage for all weapons in the interest of expediting gameplay on a medium that would already take hours to resolve a battle of less than 15 minutes.)
Edited by Koniving, 08 December 2016 - 08:51 AM.
12
mean, there's probably talk about whether or not the tanks that got shown are int hat timeframe either, like the Strikers and Manticores (left side and right side, respectively).
![[Cassette] fed weapon that fires in singles at fully automatic rates or in bursts to deliver many bullets to net the categorized damage over time](http://assets-cloud.enjin.com/users/3647322/pics/original/3133806.jpg){kind=link}