I thought I'd share my own feedback below. It's a long read, and there is no TL;DR at the end, but the cliff notes are in the main body and the interesting parts are in the spoilers if that helps you sort through it.
Enjoy!
Lasers
ER Small Laser: they feel quite nice exactly as they are; good heat, decent range, they feel like okay filler weapons even with their low damage.
ER Medium Laser: it's hard to get a good read on this one; at unquirked ranges, it feels a little hot but, when quirked, you have half of a Large Pulse laser at one ton and then it feels brokenly powerful; could probably use a slight heat reduction (down to ~4.2) and a slight duration increase (up to 0.95 or 1 sec).
Heavy Small Laser: it's too slow and too hot; at least one of them needs to come down, preferably duration (down to 1.1 sec)
Heavy Medium Laser: still too slow, but the heat seems fair given the boating potential on certain 'Mechs (i.e. HBK-IIC-A); might be easier to balance at 9 damage.
Heavy Large Laser: way too slow; heat actually not that big of a deal if you don't boat them, given their weight; could pair well with cER Medium Lasers, missed opportunity to buff 'Mechs like the Shadow Cat in this fashion; suggest duration down to 1.35 sec.
ER Micro Laser: completely underwhelming, but it might pair well with massed machine guns on the ACH and MLX variants not-yet released where you need more room for ammunition.
ER Micro Pulse: similar usage as ER Micro, but the preferred option; it brawls well when massed, better than the current cSPL due to heat on the latter, but you need a *lot* of them.
Discussion:
Spoiler
In my opinion, the max range on lasers needs to be looked at. More specifically, the Clan max range; there's simply too much going on and it's honestly confusing trying to keep track of which ones get 2x and which ones don't. I also feel that some of the IS lasers (now that we have equivalent sets) with 2x have left some of the Clan options feeling a little flat. I think we can fix this by the following means:
IS max range for lasers is universally 2x optimum
Clan max range for lasers is universally 1.75x optimum
This will result in a net buff to the max range for most of the existing Clan lasers, which I think needed it in light of all the new options. Note, I don't think they needed 2x, though. I feel that the equivalent IS lasers should retain a small max-range advantage because they do less damage and because the Clan laser ramps up to full damage faster to the point where they deal their maximum when the IS laser is still running below capacity.
A universal range multiplier of 1.75x also allows some lasers to be more potent within their brackets since they are more constrained to those brackets, which is actually good for role diversification since the Clans have an entirely new size class just for them that needs to be integrated and be made useful. In addition, I strongly feel that the Clan Targeting Computer should retain its laser range increase mechanic; for any given combination of range and damage, the Clans run colder on the net due to the increased quantity of heatsinks they can muster, which gives them wiggle room to bring a TC and meet or exceed even the slightly higher latent max range on the IS laser if they want to.
I do think it's worth pointing out to PGI that IS lasers and Clan lasers don't necessarily compete with each other one-to-one. Posted below are the common payloads and what their counterparts are:
These builds roughly correspond in capabilities, and are the bread-and-butter for either faction, and they should offer comparable heat profiles for a 'Mech of a given weight once you've added in all the DHS and engines with similar capabilities.
To that end, I've been working on my own laser table, for a couple years now, which is posted below. Here is the link to the Google Drive to see the normalization tables used to score the weapons and what the governing equations are. I strongly feel that these values are what the game needs, and the tweaks PGI has made that have come close to these values (i.e. isML, cMPL, cERLL) have been excellent and feel fantastic in-game:
Special note on Heavy Lasers: the Heavy lasers are extremes of damage and weight, which makes scoring them difficult; they don't really follow the curve. The rationale for their values is that they should offer good punch for few hardpoints, but massing them is hugely inefficient in the heat department and you are better off bringing smaller weapons that allow more heat-sinks. 12x Heavy Medium Lasers is going to deep-fry a Nova, for example. Even six is too much for it to really handle, and that's by design. A pair of Heavy Larges and an ER Medium on a Shadowcat? That is manageable. Three Heavy Large? Deep fried again. So on and so forth.
***
PPCs
Light PPC: standalone, it is a little mediocre as it can't fire four without ghost and the velocity is low; combined with UACs, it's pretty solid, don't really see buffing the ghost and velocity as having much impact on this combination; slight heat inefficiency compared to standard PPC is a good call, but both weapons are too hot; 9 heat for PPC and 4.75 heat for LPPC would be better.
Snub-Nose PPC: cycles too slowly and generates too much heat for the range bracket; might also be worth increasing optimum range to 360, but would like to see it with less heat and faster cycle first; eyeballing 8 heat and 3.25s cycle as a better starting point.
Heavy PPC: weak, doesn't feel worth the 10 ton investment at all; velocity too low and too easy to close on for a weapon that doesn't allow enough room for effective backups except on Assaults and not worth it in anything less than a pair; strongly suggest 15 damage and 15 heat.
Discussion:
Spoiler
To get it out of the way, let's address the elephant in the room: Clans have several 'Mechs which can field multiple Gauss and PPCs together, giving them pin-point, front-loaded alphas of great capacity that can hit targets at great range. The Night Gyr, Kodiak 3, Dire Wolf, Marauder IIC, Timberwolf, and soon the Nova Cat and Madcat Mk. II can all do this, often with Jump Jets. These builds are commanding the entire field and are governing the direction the game goes.
This is a problem. It has always been a problem. It will continue to be a problem until IS PPCs offer some benefit that makes it worth spending the extra weight on and until the IS receive a ballistic that can perform comparably in some role to cGauss. But let's focus on the PPCs.
The standard PPC is 9.5 heat, has 540 meters range with a 90 meter dead-zone, and has a velocity of 1200 m/s. It deals 10 PPFLD and that's it. For 7 tons and 3 slots. They fire once every 4 seconds. You need at least 15 DHS to keep a pair of these usable.
The Clan ERPPC is 14 heat, has 810 meters range with no dead-zone and has a velocity of 1300 m/s. It deals 10 PPFLD with 5 bonus splash. All for 6 tons and 2 slots. They fire once every 4.5 seconds. You need at least 18 DHS to keep a pair of these usable. So, on the net, I need one more ton to run a pair of cERPPC that are superior in every other way to the isPPC. It gets even worse with the isERPPC, which runs 13.5 heat and also needs 18 DHS to be usable, so that's two more tons over the twin cERPPC and has otherwise identical stats except for the lack of splash.
So, already, we've got two weapons which are inferior within their own brackets to the Clan counterpart because they have nothing to offer. They ought to have better heat profiles and/or inherently better velocity.
And now add in cGauss, where we have builds spitting 35+10, 40+5, and 50+10 damage out for 24, 30, and 36 tons for just the weapons. To do 35, 40, and 50 with the IS costs you 29, 37, and 44 tons, respectively. The discrepancy is staggering.
The Light PPC was a chance to lower the barrier of entry by two tons, provided you have the slots and hardpoints to manage. But that requires being able to fire four at once without penalty. However, Light PPCs offer something else that is useful; they combine very well with ballistics to create more weight-efficient DPS builds. Okay, fine, that's acceptable.
The Heavy PPC was a chance to lower the barrier of entry for each of those damage points to 28, 32, and 35 tons (actually only 45 damage here). Except since it has had its damage divided into splash, it's not at all capable of filling this niche. At best, running a pair of them on an LFE-equipped CTF-3D poptart is equivalent to a pair of cERPPC on a Summoner poptart, and only then because the CTF-3D has tremendous armor quirks. There's still nothing that can approach the Night Gyr or Marauder IIC for this capability, and both of those have been nerfed into the ground as much as they really can be. They already exist in the game, so what is PGI afraid of? Is PGI afraid of assaults combining 2x HPPC with 2x PPC to fire 25+25? Why is that such a big deal? It's hot as hell and weighs almost as much as a pair of Heavy Gauss, and it's 50 spread over two shots. It also has minimum range and can't slug a target at 900 meters out with respectable results. Maybe the HGauss needs a buff, no? If PGI wants to increase the ghost cap for IS PPCs to three, the HPPC having splash becomes a non-issue because 3x PPC can now be combined for the same result at the same weight, and that would be acceptable, too. Is it possible to have multiple weapons have different ghost limits and still be linked, using the lowest-common denominator to govern the set? Perhaps that is an option to keep it in check. But either way, something needs to be done to address that imbalance.
The Snub-Nose is in a class all by itself; it's a 10-damage, short-range weapon. A brawl implement. As a brawl weapon, it's too slow to fire and too hot; it's way too easy to overwhelm a target using these and having more than one is such a massive drain on the heat capacity that it becomes extremely niche. They need to be colder and faster-firing than they are to really unleash their potential, because right now they are interesting but not effective. You are better off with a Large Pulse in every situation.
And to top it all off, the velocity on all PPCs except the Snub is too low for them to be effective at their rated ranges. They need at least a 20% improvement, and the Targeting Computers are not the solution unless the heat is lowered far enough that they can be brought without crippling the output against alternative options.
TL;DR: the IS PPC boogeyman doesn't exist.
***
Ballistics
Ultra AC/2: feels really good, unsure about range adjustment: seems fair against the AC/2, but not the cUAC/2.
Ultra AC/10: weapon feels good, but truncated range is unnecessarily hostile for a weapon commanding 13 tons and 7 slots when the cUAC/10 retains 540 meters; either give the isUAC/10 back its range or buff AC/10 to make it actually useful as a PPFLD implement - 540 m range and 1100 m/s velocity would do it.
Ultra AC/20: weapon feels good, but the range should be 300; does not fill same role as isAC/20, no danger of overlap; not fair for 15-ton and 10 slot weapon to be so penalized next to its 12 ton and 6 slot Clan counterpart.
LB-2X: could probably use a higher base rate of fire to make those slots worth something in spite of the spread; range is good, if still lower than Clans; otherwise indifferent.
LB-5X: Lower range than Clan version with no redeeming traits at all, not even range; could use spread tightened up and higher rate of fire.
LB-20X: extra ammo per ton and range are not enough to overcome the drawbacks of spread damage and being unusable with Light and XL engines; could probably stand to have spread tightened up and higher rate of fire.
Light Gauss: serves no purpose in the game; for everywhere this weapon improves on the deficiencies of the AC/10, it is worse where the AC/10 was okay, making neither a useful option; extra range insufficient to distinguish from normal Gauss, which still does ~13 damage where the LGauss does 8 and they both drop off from there; suggest increasing damage to 10 or dramatically increasing rate of fire and range.
Heavy Gauss: powerful, but overly clumsy to wield at 180 m and overshadowed by the AC/20 in every possible way damage fall-off; hard to recommend taking as anything more than a gimmick; would honestly be more balanced with 25 damage and otherwise identical stats to standard Gauss, as the 18 tons and STD engine requirements are pretty hard; even then it still couldn't match the 50+10 alphas being fired by the Clans.
Light Machine Gun: actually a little more useful than I would have thought, but still a little weak (recommend 0.65 DPS) and it could use a slight ammo adjustment, as it uses ammo at a faster rate
Heavy Machine Gun: very powerful up close, feels good; concerned about the Inner Sphere version being in a different league from the Clan version due to double the weight and with 8x ballistics Clan Lights just over the horizon, something needs to be done about that; possibly more range on the IS version? More ammo per ton?
Rotary AC/2: they may do more DPS per gun than an AC/5, but they can't do it for long enough to matter; you are better off with an AC/5 or an Ultra AC/5 because these things are so hot with such a short firing interval and such a long spin-down time that you can actually render the target defenseless if he starts shooting by dipping into cover to get him to stop and then quickly popping back out to wail on him with impunity as his guns are stuck cycling. That spin up/down should be faster and the firing duration should be longer; in exchange, they should have a hard jam when you reach the end of the bar. Teach people some trigger discipline. They also shouldn't ghost after 2, probably 3 or 4 and not linked with RAC/5.
Rotary AC/5: similar story to RAC/2, only hotter. UAC/5 are better. I'm okay with ghost limit of 2 for these, three could get abusive when combined with un-linked RAC/2. But 2+2 is fine.
Discussion:
Spoiler
Right off the bat, let's address Standard ACs. Put simply: quit balancing around them. They do not perform well in this game, lasers and PPCs perform better in every way if standard ACs are your only option.
On that note, the pre-emptive nerf to the Inner Sphere Ultra AC/2, Ultra AC/10, and Ultra AC/20 by cutting off 50, 90, and 30 meters from their optimums is beyond hostile. They are massive weapons commanding a huge premium in weight and slots. The Clan version of those weapons have 810, 540, and 360 meters. There is no reason for the IS versions not to have their full range except unless you are trying to give players a reason to choose the standard ACs. Here's something that shouldn't be news: they will still take the Ultra every time, even at this range, because the DPS is even more important when you are so close and the enemy can easily rush your position.
Here's another item that should not be news: you cannot make the AC/10 good by making every other AC worse. We already go out of our way to take a pair of AC/5 instead of an AC/10 because it is that mediocre. The LB-10X at least has utility when combined with SRMs as a brawl weapon, but the 10? If PGI wants to keep to the trend where the UAC has better DPS at the expense of range, then the AC/10 needs a buff. There really is no other way. The 10 is only ever truly useful when it gets quirked to 540+ meters and ~1100 m/s velocity so it can work with PPCs, so make those changes permanent. If PGI does this, then the problems with PPCs discussed above become easier to work with. Look at the RFL-3N and 3C or the CPLT-K2: the AC/10 works fantastically on those 'Mechs! That's where it should be! In general, all standard ACs (including cACs) should offer better velocity and slightly better base cool-down than their Ultra counterparts to give them a role to fill and a reason for players to want them over the dramatically superior DPS offered by Ultras.
Moving on, Light Gauss is in a bind. Even with a higher rate of fire, the LGauss doesn't really have much to offer at 8 damage when the standard Gauss is doing more damage at the former's optimum for a mere 3 extra tons. If LGauss goes up to 10, it can at least combine with ERPPCs more enticingly. The alternative is dramatically increasing its rate of fire (i.e. 2 seconds) to out-pace the standard Gauss on DPS, but we can already bring a pair of AC/2 or even UAC/2 to do that. Hence, bumping the damage to 10 is the preferred solution. Competes outside the AC/10s range bracket and can have a longer cool-down with 10 damage, so there is little danger of overlap.
Heavy Gauss is a gimmick. A fun one, but still a gimmick. It pairs well with Snubs or lasers, but the STD engine requirement is such an encumbrance that the AC/20 is a better option at 300 meters because it fires faster and more intuitively and with more backup weapons and the standard Gauss is better everywhere else for most of the same reasons. If the HGauss had otherwise identical stats to standard Gauss, it still wouldn't be overpowered because it's 36 tons doing 50 points at 660 meters...which is overall worse than the 50 points at 810 meters the Clans are fielding and loses even more firepower when one of the guns inevitably explodes. That's how gimpy the Heavy Gauss is.
The LB-X series: there's nothing to really say that hasn't been said before. The LB-10X series has inferior capabilities to standard and Ultra ACs because they are shotguns. For the IS, only the LB-10X has any value because it is smaller and lighter than an AC/10, making it more valuable on a close-range build where the lack of pin-point damage doesn't really matter. The rest have zero value, especially the 20 for requiring a STD engine. For the Clans, the LB-X are their only FLD ballistics outside of Gauss, which has value for the LB-20X for brawling but is otherwise not worth much either given the raw DPS from lasers and cUACs outpaces the effective DPS of most PPFLD implementations at this range. As such, the LB-X need even higher damage rates than even standard ACs offer to compensate on their own, for both sides.
Machine guns, machine guns...the LMG is actually more useful than I thought it would be. There is value in being able to use your MGs across a greater range bracket; it means more damage out in more situations, and it can add up. The DPS is probably a little bit too low; 0.65 would be about where I would put them, maybe risk seeing what 0.7 looks like. Right now, though, it's still worth it a little more to just bring standard MGs because the DPS can make up most of the range discrepancy and because they weigh the same and have the same ammo counts. The HMG, on the other hand, is a real monster inside 80 meters. The limited ammo is a great balancing tool here. The additional weight would be, too...if the Clan one didn't still weigh a mere half-ton. That's going to be a big problem when the new ACH pods come out with 8xB, because you can comfortably house 8x cHMG with five tons of ammo and that's 12 DPS with zero heat on a 'Mech that can easily get into range to use it and get out when things get dicey. Meanwhile, the IS can only bring four for the same weight, and that's nowhere near as dangerous. I don't even think 6x isHMG is that dangerous because the only 'Mechs that can do it are slow and even if the fast ones had the hard-points, they wouldn't have the tonnage for ammo. Something will have to be done about that, like more range on the IS version or less DPS on the Clan one. There are options.
Not much to say on RACs that wasn't said above.
***
Missiles
Medium Range Missiles: hit registration seems inconsistent; not enough velocity to be useful at 450 meters, spread could use tightening at longer ranges to make landing a hit rewarding and encourage their use as something other than marginally more flexible SRMs; easily munched by AMS; suggest 450 m/s and a spread of 5.4. Note: these are my thoughts with Artemis installed and the glitch applying; I don't even want to know how bad the weapon is without Artemis.
Rocket Launchers: hit registration seems inconsistent; too powerful for 4v4, gimmicky-to-useless for larger game modes; suggest limiter be placed on number that can be fired together or a total mechanics change (i.e. all RLs fire volleys of the same damage and number indicates number of times it can fire, so RL-20 == 20 shots).
Streak SRMs: inferior in every department to cSSRMs, but at least IS can now delete Clan light rushes in CW if they've got the tonnage to bring them. I don't care much for this weapon system, but it probably wouldn't hurt if PGI threw IS SSRMs a bone and gave them something to make their 90 meter deficit and +50% tonnage have meaning beyond "don't take this gun, ever, go take the Clan variant." IS SRMs have increased damage and decreased spread and it works well, so maybe something along those lines for SSRMs?
ATMs: short range potential is unusable, range is too long, ammo count is too low, projectile health is too low; AMS is close to 100% effective against these at any range they can be used from, better to take any other missile type.
Discussion:
Spoiler
MRMs have potential to be great. I don't mind the stream fire at all, I think that's the right way to go. I only mind that the whole volley goes to where I was pointing when I hit the button and not where my crosshairs actually pointing during the firing sequence. AKA, I can't drag the volley along. That, combined with low velocity, makes them ineffective against even modestly quick 'Mechs. That low velocity also means they aren't terribly useful at their rated ranges except against immobile 'Mechs like the Dire Wolf. The result is players using them like SRMs, at SRM ranges. Might as well just take SRMs, then, because the MRM spread is correctly awful at SRM ranges. A velocity bump and a slightly tighter spread at-range, while retaining poor spread up close, would make MRMs much more useful to their role without invalidating other missile types.
ATMs are bad. Straight up. The missiles are in such small volleys that AMS can gobble them up with nearly a perfect rating, nullifying them entirely. They need more missile health. Their short-range capabilities are useless, because you can take two steps and be under 180 meters and render them impotent. Better to cut their damage down than give them this hard limit. Their velocity is also too low; would actually recommend that it accelerates with range to not take an afternoon for its low-damage long-range volley to reach the target. Also recommend increasing their turn radius to weaken their tracking, allowing Streaks to retain their position as the top anti-Light stick and keep to the flavor where Streaks "never miss."
Rocket Launchers are a gimmick. They can lopside a small match by allowing the IS to instantly blow out components for dirt cheap and still have enough remaining weapons to finish the job. Even a hard limit on the number that can be fired at once to curb the output may not necessarily solve the problem, because the firepower is still there. Forcing a universal cool-down per launcher would curb the problem, but then the weapon just becomes useless next to SRMs. I think this weapon needs a rework. IMHO, the better mechanic would be to have all rockets deal a universal amount of damage per volley (i.e. all of them deal 12 damage per volley) and use the number attached to them as the amount of "ammunition" it has (i.e. an RL-5 gets 5 volleys and an RL-20 gets 20 volleys). You can cap the range to 180 meters or so to keep them reigned in next to SRMs. But, now the damage output won't be abusive and the weapon has greater utility as a back-up weapon or even a primary if you have the hardpoints for it.
Really not much to say about SSRMs that wasn't said above.
***
Equipment
Light Fusion Engine: a much-welcomed addition to the game, even with the toro-loss penalties; not really much that can be discussed except an examination of penalties when a side is lost, since the LFE does weigh more than the cXL.
Light Ferro: extremely useful, very make-or-break in quite a few instances and pairs well with LFE; not strictly better than Ferro, and Clan Ferro still notably better than either.
Stealth Armor: quite useful for hit-and-fade tactics, almost frustratingly so, but steep heat requirements balance it out on the chassis that would be brokenly powerful with it (Lights).
Laser AMS: hilariously hot; cannot use Laser AMS in combat due to the heat, making it all but completely useless; if players are compelled to cycle the AMS on and off for effectiveness, standard AMS is the clear and obvious choice because 1000 rounds can stretch a long way when cycled and can be left active during combat if necessary.
Light TAG: it's a TAG with less range.
Light Active Probe: it's a non-corporeal Active Probe...with less range.
Targeting Computers: really hard to use with the IS, simply can't justify losing a heatsink for even a Mk. I, let alone a Mk. VIII; loss of laser range increase on the Clan ones removes a balancing dynamic that, IMHO, was actually an interesting one.
Conclusion:
If you've stuck it out to read this far, thank you. A few hours were spent writing this. Please share thoughts below.
Just a remark: Unlike SRMs, IS SSRMs do not come at double the clan versions weight. They have 50% more weight and 2/3 the cooldown time to make up for that. So damage per ton should be equal. That does not negate the clans range advantage, but the IS SSRMs are not as bad compared to the clan version as you might think.
Just a remark: Unlike SRMs, IS SSRMs do not come at double the clan versions weight. They have 50% more weight and 2/3 the cooldown time to make up for that. So damage per ton should be equal. That does not negate the clans range advantage, but the IS SSRMs are not as bad compared to the clan version as you might think.
Fixed the statement. Damage per ton won't be equal, or did you mean DPS per ton?
That said, it's not just about the DPS per ton; with massed cSSRM, you can get more ammo or heatsinks in than massed isSSRM, so there ought to be some give to that.
Yes, DPS of course. Projectile speed of IS SSRMs is higher than Clan SSRMs too. But I am not sure if 250 compared to 230 makes a measurable difference.
Edit: Same DPS per ton also means, if I do not think in the wrong direction here, that you need less individual launchers for the same amount of damage which makes IS SSRMs less prone to ghost heat.
Yes, DPS of course. Projectile speed of IS SSRMs is higher than Clan SSRMs too. But I am not sure if 250 compared to 230 makes a measurable difference.
Edit: Same DPS per ton also means, if I do not think in the wrong direction here, that you need less individual launchers for the same amount of damage which makes IS SSRMs less prone to ghost heat.
The thing about SSRMs, though, is that it's more about how much did you cripple that Light in the first shot? The schtick is that a leg is pretty much gone in one go. SSRM24 will let that Locust live to scurry to safety, where cSSRM36 did not.
Against a larger target the DPS per ton makes a bigger impact and the two even out, but Streaks are not really at their best when being used against such targets.
The thing about SSRMs, though, is that it's more about how much did you cripple that Light in the first shot? The schtick is that a leg is pretty much gone in one go. SSRM24 will let that Locust live to scurry to safety, where cSSRM36 did not.
Against a larger target the DPS per ton makes a bigger impact and the two even out, but Streaks are not really at their best when being used against such targets.
That was true in the good old cSSRM days. Last time I tried cSSRM 24 Adder or cSSRM 36 MadDog they did not do all too well at crippling anything with one salvo. All the structure and armor buffs and cSSRMs spread are quite effective at preventing that.
That was true in the good old cSSRM days. Last time I tried cSSRM 24 Adder or cSSRM 36 MadDog they did not do all too well at crippling anything with one salvo. All the structure and armor buffs and cSSRMs spread are quite effective at preventing that.
Not quite. It may not kill it outright, but 9 out of 10 you've either disarmed it or legged it. Even my ultra-armored MLX will be done after one hit.
A few mechs (Heavy Metal, Atlas K) do not show the correct weapons - place a RAC 2/RAC 5 on the heavy metal, only the first one appears in the test grounds, the second one isn't listed on your weapon list (and yes there was ammo)
For the atlas K, the second torso mounted laser doesn't appear in your weapons list
The heavy shake for a heavy gauss is a stupid idea - just shoot the other weapons a split second before the gauss - why put something this easily avoided into the game?
ATM's are not worth using, quickly removed from everything,
horrible spread and speed, even the horrid streaks are better
It appears that ghost heat isn't implemented on IS UAC 20's, I was able to double tap 2xUAC 20's 4 times before shutdown (so 16 shots total), if this is really supposed to be the case, you can leave the range where it is, I'll take the lack of ghost heat.
Heavy PPC's at better, but not enough to replace the others.
The Heavy Lasers (especially the mediums) are nicer with the shorter burn.
I tend to like the MRM 30's and 40's, the spread on the 10's and 20's are a bit much (even with artemis)
Hard to believe that shooting 2XRAC 5's is fine, but Rac 5/Rac 2 is supposed to be bad, ghost heat penalty applies to that combo...
...Hard to believe that shooting 2XRAC 5's is fine, but Rac 5/Rac 2 is supposed to be bad, ghost heat penalty applies to that combo...
More testing to do
I find it pretty silly that ghost heat hits that RAC2/RAC5 combo. Isn't that the reason Kodiaks do the UAC10/5 combo, to escape the ghost heat on 4 10s?
MRMs: feel a lot better with the velocity increase, but using them at their rated 450 meters is still a little bit of a crapshoot.
Heavy Lasers: handle much better now; they feel pretty nice, heat is actually quite fair on them I think; the Heavy Small is the one in need of the most attention, because it's incredibly clumsy. It takes too long to cycle and I think its range is too short. Could perhaps lower the burn on the lot of them just a tiny bit more, by at most 0.1 s.
Micro Lasers: feel pretty weak. Ever since the cSPL nerf, there's been nothing to replace them with on my MLX-B and it kind of blows. Tried micros, but they just don't have the output to be dangerous unless taken in huge groups, which the MLX doesn't have. Actually think the solution is to my MLX problem is to lower the heat on the cSPL a little bit more, but the Micros are still underwhelming.
ATMs: An ATM boat is about as threatening an IS LRM boat, if even that. Still don't see any utility in bringing them.
RACs: much more usable now; I think the damage on them is fine but they could use longer up-time to justify the face-staring required.
LPPC: being able to fire 3 before ghost doesn't really change anything; we could already get that kind of damage without ghost by firing a PPC with an LPPC; sure it cost an extra ton, but it was also slightly colder and I could just swap some of the backup weapons around to gain the weight back. It has to be four to make a difference as a poke weapon. If PGI is so concerned about obsoleting the standard PPC, consider giving the standard PPC a leg up through even lower heat or greater velocity instead of gimping the alternatives. It's not like it doesn't need it.
HPPC: still feels weak. I mean, it's 13 PPFLD, but it's still a 10 ton gun running really hot; in the time it takes to line up and take the shot, the cLPL does almost as much damage to one location and weighs only 60% and deals 30% less heat. Just doesn't feel right. Do like the min-range decay mechanic, though I would also say include it on the standard PPC, too (but not the LPPC). If PGI has to implement the Gauss charge mechanic on the HPPC to justify 15 PPFLD, then do it, please.
SN-PPC: no change, still needs to be colder and faster
LMG: Perfect; that buff put it right where it needs to be. I am actually surprised at how much I use them, being able to get damage out of them across a larger range bracket is incredibly useful. Even on Lights, you can do full damage without having to put yourself as at-risk as MG or HMG.
Light Gauss: really, not much of a change; it doesn't do enough damage to be a worthy PPC companion and it doesn't fire fast enough to compensate for its lack of up-front damage relative to the moderately heavier standard Gauss.
Heavy Gauss: still a gimmicky gun, AC/20 is better. I don't think PGI can force the HGauss to be viable as a close-range weapon like this, it's just not the way the game works. At brawl range, it's all about sustained DPS, and the SRMs and AC/20s and Small lasers have it without breaking the tonnage bank.
The HPPC may be a really hot 10 ton gun, but it is not as heavy as a AC 10 or a Gauss and it does not need ammo or time to charge. Actually that seems pretty decent.
The HPPC may be a really hot 10 ton gun, but it is not as heavy as a AC 10 or a Gauss and it does not need ammo or time to charge. Actually that seems pretty decent.
It's deceptive. It's not really a 10-ton gun, it's a 15 ton gun because that's the number of heatsinks you need to make one usable and, unlike Gauss and AC/10, it doesn't pair well with other energy weapons for obvious reasons.
I agree with the OP on most of his points. The heavy ppc is useless as is. 10 tons 4 crits for a 13 damage weapon with a huge heat spike.... no. Light PPCs are the only new model ppcs that offer anything useful. They are excellent as they are. Snubbies are too hot with too slow a cooldown to be of any use. MRMs need a bit more tweaking. They are very inconsistent damage dealers at any range and the velocity of the missiles is way too low to be effective against anything beyond standard srm range. To be useful, they need to fire all at once with much much higher velocity. Light gauss needs a 10-15% cooldown reduction to make them capable of some useful damage. Heavy gauss and IS LB 20X need a crit space reduction to 10 crit spots. As they are... nobody will ever use them.
ATMs are great as is. Heavy lasers, especially the medium heavy are pretty good. They really pump out damage at short ranges.
I've found out that almost all of the Civil War stuff works best if only taken sparingly and sprinkled among the older weapons, at least on the test server. The CW tech doesn't feel like replacements at all, if for example you replace all your IS lasers with ER ones and SRM's with MRM's, the end result is a horribly toasty failboat.
But MRM's can work with old medium lasers and ER medium lasers can work with old AC2's and 5's, and SRM's can be paired up with Rockets for a good rear punching assassination.
I was just in a test session on the Caustic Valley in my Summoner SMN-B, and used four SRM6's with a single ATM 9. I shot the SRM's in groups of two and only used the ATM when an enemy moved more than 140 meters away from me, and I never overheated in the match even when brawling on top of the volcano. I did the most damage(over 600) in the match and got two of the killing blows, legging two or three of the enemy mechs. It ended 4-2 in our favour.
Previously I had used four ATM3's with that ATM9 and could barely reach 200-300 dmg in the matches. A single ATM definitely feels a lot better than boating five of them. I also have a laser AMS in this Summoner and it did cause way too much heat combined with those five ATM's, often shutting my mech down when I wasn't prepared for it.
Similarly, I've tried bit of a sniping in a medium mech with the new PPC's and didn't do very well with a Heavy PPC & two Light PPC's, instead finding out that an ER PPC & two Light PPC's work better as it causes less heat and you still have something you can use in close quarters.
My Huntsman has benefited from Heavy Medium lasers when I took four of them combined with two SRM6's and an UAC2, but a Nova with six ER Micro Lasers & three Heavy Mediums was just plain bad. Those Heavy Medium lasers once again work much better when combined with good old ER Small Lasers, at least for me they do.
I've found out that almost all of the Civil War stuff works best if only taken sparingly and sprinkled among the older weapons, at least on the test server. The CW tech doesn't feel like replacements at all, if for example you replace all your IS lasers with ER ones and SRM's with MRM's, the end result is a horribly toasty failboat.
Well, I wouldn't say it's that the new tech sucks when used with other new tech. It's really a matter of choosing the right tools for the job, and some people weren't thinking about the weapons in terms of roles, only tons, slots, and lack of certain existing deficiencies.
Fighting below 300 m? Don't take ERML.
Not building for DPS? Don't take LPPC.
Not fast? Don't take HMG (bring LMG instead).
ERML acually do combo pretty well with MRMs, just don't think you will boat large numbers of MRM20s and ERML and have any decent output. I have a MAD-5D with twin MRM20, four ERML, and a standard LL...and it has a very sustainable 69-point alpha.
Slambot, on 01 July 2017 - 09:49 PM, said:
I agree with the OP on most of his points. The heavy ppc is useless as is. 10 tons 4 crits for a 13 damage weapon with a huge heat spike.... no. Light PPCs are the only new model ppcs that offer anything useful. They are excellent as they are. Snubbies are too hot with too slow a cooldown to be of any use. MRMs need a bit more tweaking. They are very inconsistent damage dealers at any range and the velocity of the missiles is way too low to be effective against anything beyond standard srm range. To be useful, they need to fire all at once with much much higher velocity. Light gauss needs a 10-15% cooldown reduction to make them capable of some useful damage. Heavy gauss and IS LB 20X need a crit space reduction to 10 crit spots. As they are... nobody will ever use them.
ATMs are great as is. Heavy lasers, especially the medium heavy are pretty good. They really pump out damage at short ranges.
Eh, the stream on the MRMs is fine, it's really not a long stream and all sizes of MRM have the same one. It's just too easy to dodge MRMs.
Another poster also said that, at 450 m, they don't really feel mid-ranged. I kind of agree. I mean, 450 m is indeed mid-ranged, but it's on the short side of it. The AC/10, Large Laser, and even the PPC don't really start coming into their own until they get quirked/skilled to 540 and 650 meters, respectively, and even then they need other help from velocity, duration, and heat quirks to actually be good. MRMs fall into that same trap, if you will.
Seems like 450 m weapons are always doomed to be underwhelming.
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