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[VonBruinwald]

I'm going to be taking inspiration from MechAssault, sacrilege I know!

Gauss and PPC are probably one of the most potent mixed boat combinations around and they work very well together despite their mechanical differences. Having said that I've been thinking about a way to divide their mechanics even further without going game breaking.


Gauss:
Remove the charge mechanic but divide the cool-down by the total number of equipped Gauss (2 Gauss take 2x as long to charge as 1, 3 take 3x, etc. (+ghost heat multiplier))
This makes sense mechanically and thematically as gauss are always charged (weapon explosions) and boating more gauss will affect how fast those capacitors can be charged.


PPCs:
Remove cool-down, add charge mechanic;
PPCs generate heat as they charge at 50% of the weapons heat rating, the remaining 50% is delivered as a 'burst' when the weapon is fired. While the weapon is fully charged it continues to generate heat.

ie. IS-PPC when the trigger is pressed it starts generating 1.25h/s, after 4 seconds the weapon is fully charged but continues to generate heat. When the trigger is released it generates an additional 5 heat as the weapon discharges and fires. Assuming the pilot fires at the first opportunity they'll generate a total of 10 heat per shot, but if they chose to hold the charge an additional 2 seconds before firing they'll generate 12.5 heat instead.


Whilst it may seem jarring, the shift in mechanics will help divide the two weapons roles even further. Gauss will be better at pop-tarting and snap shooting and generally be more potato friendly but their size, weight and ammo capacity will limit their ability while the increased charge time will reduce their effectiveness up close. PPCs will be a more ideal snipers weapons as they are ammo independent but their heat-charging will prevent snap-shooting and reduce exploitation of charge mechanics to make effective pop-tart builds and at the same time increases the skill ceiling as pilots need to be aware of their own heat levels as they charge their weapons.


tldr: Move weapon charge from Gauss to PPC, PPCs generate heat at a reduced rate while charging.