2 replies to this topic

[Warning incoming Humble Dexterer]

Well of course everyone will yell if you nerf "Energy Boats", because everyone is using them to kill mechs in two alphas...

Here's the problem : With 2 heavy lasers (4T each) and 6 medium lasers (1T each), you can kill any mech with pinpoint precision and zero ghost heat in two alphas and with unlimited ammunition for as little as 14 Tons and 14 Slots. The rest of the Energy boat being filled to the top with heat sinks...

Now compare that with what 14T of Ballistics and Missiles can do : You'll get yelled at by random teams and kicked out of top Units if you even dare bring anything less then an Energy Boat to Faction play.

So here are some suggestions on how to (not) nerf Energy Weapons :
- Introduce laser resistant armor to ALL mechs (including the Clan mechs) : That optional upgrade reduces energy damage received by half, but at the cost doubling all non-energy damage received. Without nerfing energy weapons.
- Double the armor points of all mechs, and double the damage of all non-energy weapons, while leaving energy weapons as they are.
- Have lasers shoot in a straight line (no convergence), and make it cost 20+ Skill Points to restore energy weapon convergence to 100%. This will give non-energy mech builds 20+ more skill points to play with, without affecting the performance of maxed out energy weapons.
- Replace most of the "cooldown" with "laser duration", to increase the damage spread of energy alphas, without touching the total amount of "cooldown + laser duration" : Same stats, same DPS, but at least energy spread is increased a bit.


It took me 4 minutes to find those 4 ways to balance back energy weapons with non-energy weapons (their ability to chain pinpoint alpha damage), and WITHOUT nerfing any energy weapons... so if you take 30 days, surely you can come up with an even better one.

But you should already know that increasing the weapon Cooldown by ~1 second will do absolutely NOTHING anyway, when it comes to killing mechs with two pinpoint energy alphas, since that ~1 second is already being spent hiding to let the massive amount of heatsinks drop the Energy Boat's heat buildup right back to zero anyway...

Well I guess it will now take ~1 second longer, to have your Torso vaporized with two pinpoint energy alpha strikes : Good luck noticing it, specially if two Energy Boats shoot you one pinpoint energy alpha each, in which case there is ZERO difference to notice to begin with.

PS : It doesn't help that the Ballistics and Missile nerfs ended UP being BIGGER then the minor Energy tweaks, further advancing the Energy weapon lead over non-energy weapons.

Edited by Humble Dexter, 17 October 2017 - 02:12 PM.

[Jonesy1103]

I like the non-convergence idea. This is similar to how it was in MW2 and MW2: Mercs. A laser salvo would be a set of parallel beams aligned with the hard point it originated from. Only arm mounted weapons should converge (Independent pivot points). Otherwise we are suggesting that every torso hardpointed has a rear mounted actuator to steer the weapon to converge. Personally I don't want to see armor being messed about with; its simple now, I personally hope it doesn't become complicated.

Also from MW2 was DH/DT ie rate of change of heat; is this what the ghost heat mechanic is trying to emulate?

I'm looking forward to the energy weapon changes though. I think / feel that this brings energy weapons back off their pedestal, I look forward to trying them out. As a MRM LBX and RAC user I'm pretty happy with their damage capabilities.

[Warning incoming Humble Dexterer]

Another way of doing it, is to have energy convergence depend on the total amount of energy weapons being boated.

This way the more hybrid you go, the more your weapons converge.

And perhaps also the more weapons you lose, the more your remaining weapons converge.