Dakota1000, on 03 July 2017 - 12:54 PM, said:
Wish PGI would actually state the effects on different weapons, LFE definitely shouldn't have penalties.
I disagree about your opinions on the weapons and stealth armor though. ERML and UAC10s were the least attractive options out of the ones I named in my opinion.
Rocket launchers allow IS mechs to add in what is basically a one time "i win" button on any mech with some spare missile hardpoints. You get ambushed by a brawler in your laser boat? Just slap him with a 105 damage alpha from a trio of RL20s, and finish off his structure with your laser burst. In FP matches where its a battle of who can take out the most enemy mechs first rocket launchers could be fitted onto IS mechs to quickly deplete the Clan wave. I mean, each mech gets the ability to basically call in what would previously have been a 3 man focus fire alpha at any time. Warhammer 7S would be perfect for it, bringing 3 LPL, 3 ERML, and 3 RL20s.
MRMs provide a missile option worth taking on the IS mechs that would have just a single stray missile hardpoint. 40 damage at mid range isn't much to scoff at, especially from a single weapon.
SNPPCs offer a frontloaded damage alternative to the LPL at a ton less, but with 100m less max range and a bit more heat, it could be a decent alternative, especially if its heat gets cut down before the PTS ends.
UAC20, even with the same range as an AC20 still has the ability to push out double the damage at once, 40 damage, as I said before, isn't much to scoff at when its also backed up by other weapons.
Stealth armor, looks like it may be much more than a gimmick. You become completely untargetable, except maybe when hit by TAG, haven't tested that yet, which helps a lot with sneaking up on the enemy, or poking the enemy with your alpha without taking return fire, or just becoming completely immune to LRM boats without the need to stick to cover, allowing for you to get to better positions or move up without taking heavy rain. At extreme range maps in FP where the meta is trading ERLL back and fourth having stealth armor would make you incredibly hard to pick out at optimal ranges. I've learned from my experiences mastering the Hellbringers and Shadow Cats before the skill tree ECM nerf that having a bit of stealth really does let you get away with a lot of free trades that you normally wouldn't get.
Rockets are OP, and IMHO they should never have been added into the game, at least not as one-shot weapons. I can think of a zillion alternatives to their current implementation that would make them useful instead of gimmicky or broken.
MRMs are essentially missile lasers. Use with lasers. At best, it allows the IS to boost laser vomit outputs to similar levels as Clans, but it's only really effective in that capacity against larger targets, it soaks up tonnage and it can be countered by AMS. I've got a 69-alpha Marauder that isn't too shabby with a pair of MRM20, but that's XL and it looks like about 20% of the MRM damage goes everywhere but the target location at >300 m.
SNPPC is flatly inferior to the LPL; the LPL was already front-loaded enough and it offers better range, better heat, and shorter cool-down, all of of which are most definitely worth the extra ton. Even just a cool-down buff on the SN-PPC would make the choice less clear-cut, but right now the only 'Mechs where the SN-PPC is properly good are the BoomHammer and the SHD-2K (which now supersedes the SHD-2D2 for brawl), otherwise it mucks up the heat profile.
UAC/20 doesn't have any capability the cUAC/20 doesn't save for the uncertain state of ghost heat. It's decent, but like MRMs it's really just a sort of side-grade to laser vomit that boosts it a little bit at the expense of only really being great against bigs. So I can now match what my 4x cMPL + 1x cUAC/20 HBR can do using a +10 tons Marauder with 5x ERML + 1x UAC/10...neat, but nothing impressive. Would definitely not hurt anything to give it the 300 meters it is due.
Stealth Armor comes at the penalty of not being able to lock or dissipate heat. It costs you any savings you might have needed from Ferro. It locks slots in specific regions that can interfere with what would have otherwise been effective builds. It is far and away better to just spend the nodes on ECM and run ECM-only, especially if what you are trying to do is get in free trades at range where the locks are hard to get in the first place. Where Stealth Armor is most effective is on a cold, dark map like HPG where you can't see anything in the first place and the heat gain is lowered, but if you are playing to win you've probably cranked your gamma up (like a ******) and then the effect is nil. The ECM shield will alert you of proximity anyway. Basically, positioning is OP.
Edited by Yeonne Greene, 03 July 2017 - 01:28 PM.