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Basilisk222, on 17 August 2017 - 07:40 AM, said:
Machine Guns are just really not effective at stripping armor, as my posts showed and explained, yes, they can do it, and yes they can chew through about 10 armor in a second, but the volume of ammo to do this is extremely inefficient. I have no idea why this is not being internalized. You use up 1000 ammo in 10 seconds with 8 HMG's. 1 ton. 10 seconds of fire. Feasibly, this means around 100 bullets per 10 armor/health. If that's the case, your max damage output with 3000 shots is about 300 damage. And that's going to include misses and spread as mechs twist and move. Keep in mind, 3 tons HMG on an MLX is goign to be problematic. This relegates you to smaller weapons, or very hot ones. All of which will make you very likely to be forced close or have unfavorable face time. Not to mention the MLX already is not a chunky light.
You can't just dismiss forced range. The RAC 5 can begin firing considerably sooner in an engagement, in a map with open spaces like any of the snow maps or tourmaline, the MLX is at a huge disadvantage to close gaps to firing range safely. Let's also not forget that the MLX's arms are freaking enormous and easy to remove, even by accident.
For 10-30 seconds. at 121 KPH max, on a mech with the defense equivalent of armor made from bubble gum. With almost zero range. I'm sorry, this is a niche build for the MLX, An assassin, locust or firestarter, hell, even a commando should have very little issue in direct competition. A hunchie can disable a lynx in seconds, a shadow hawk has enough mobility to easily counter, and a centurion should make extremely quick work of a lynx, as would a an Urbie with a RAC 5. A ERLL Raven could snipe it out, and an Oxide has enough damage potential to cripple the lynx very quickly, and all of these mechs have more mobility or range than a MLX. As soon as you get to heavy class, a catapult would straight murder the lynx, a cataphract would tear it apart, and so on and so forth. The only way this chassis is over powered is if it's ignored or it gets the jump on you from behind. SAME WITH ANYTHING ELSE that is sub 40 tons.
Really? The Piranha stocks with 12 machine guns in TT. that's 3 hex range, no heat, 24 damage. If you ignore that piranha, you are going to have a VERY bad time.
To be honest, if /when that Piranha hits MWO, I can't wait to see the QQ.
If 8 HMG's is OP, then the Nova's op for being able to mount like 14 lasers. And the Nova Ain't OP because it's hot. Except Micro's aren't really that hot. The MLX ain't OP because it's lumbering for a light, it's arms are the size of texas and it has very little armor to work with.
Tonnage contraints and ammo constraints make this build very difficult to engage with properly, and the MLX is left very very vulnerable when it loses an arm or runs out of ammo.
Ammo, Range, and Tonnage Make this mech very sketchy to run. If you're really good with the chassis and are really good at aiming on the run, you'll probably do well. Everyone else will get utterly slaughtered trying to run this. I tested it last night a bunch. It's not easy mode.
Best response I've seen. Thank you for taking the time to write it up. The reason I don't really see ammo as being a significant problem is I didn't really have any issues with ammo on test. Granted it was 4 on 4, so I might have to relook that part.
I'm not saying MGs are easy mode. They are a higher skill weapon given the range restrictions. However, they have a very high skill ceiling which means the people who do well with them will be too strong.
The Nova is a great example of a mech that was overpowering and the weapons were tuned because of the performance in the hands of skilled pilots.
Last, you mentioned 300ish damage from an average build with MGs. I'm going to assume that build has some lasers as well since the majority of posts I've seen suggest at least two lasers to soften armor before unleashing with the MGs. That 300 damage can easily turn into 4 kills which is a great performance for any light mech. I'll concede that won't happen often because of bad players, but the good players will do it consistently.
The problem with MGs isn't that most people can't use them well, the problem is the best people will be getting an overpowered weapon because the drawbacks just don't really balance when you have skill to mitigate the disadvantages.
