8 replies to this topic

[BigFatGator]

Did an unsuccessful forum search, but going to be playing around with MRM's for a bit since I've not used them since the timeline jump. A few questions on mechanics:

Is the spread really pretty much the same for 3 MRM 10 vs 1 MRM 30? (or 2 20's and a 40).
The mechlab spread value is 4.3m vs. 4.6 going from MRM 10 to MRM 40, which seems pretty much insignificant.

Does the missile stream time from hitting fire button to the last missile leaving the tube different for the smaller vs. larger tubes? I.e. does it take 1 second for all the MRM10's to fire from a single launcher and 3-4 seconds for all the MRM40's in a launcher, or is there a fixed launch time for all launchers regardless of size.

Any known 'sweetspot' launcher combinations? For my initial playing around, I'm going to be using 2 MRM30 on a couple heavy mechs to see what they can do. Is there something better about 3 MRM20?

Any other know launcher mechanics to be aware of?

[Bombast]

BigFatGator, on 06 January 2018 - 05:35 PM, said:

Is the spread really pretty much the same for 3 MRM 10 vs 1 MRM 30? (or 2 20's and a 40).
The mechlab spread value is 4.3m vs. 4.6 going from MRM 10 to MRM 40, which seems pretty much insignificant.

Spread difference is insignificant, especially with how stream fire works.

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Does the missile stream time from hitting fire button to the last missile leaving the tube different for the smaller vs. larger tubes? I.e. does it take 1 second for all the MRM10's to fire from a single launcher and 3-4 seconds for all the MRM40's in a launcher, or is there a fixed launch time for all launchers regardless of size.

There's supposed to be a fixed stream time that all MRMs adhere to, but its currently bugged. MRM10 streams are shorter than MRM20 streams, an so on. It's been tested.

However, the difference is absolutely minuscule, and only noticeable if...

1. You're in a mech with a lot of cooldown quirk
2. In a mech with either significant heat gen quirks, or a significant amount of heat sink capacity
3. You hold the trigger down non-stop for long enough to start hurting yourself

In practical combat, it doesn't really come up. The only noticeable difference is the cooldown desync between MRM40s and the rest of them, which is as intended.

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Any known 'sweetspot' launcher combinations? For my initial playing around, I'm going to be using 2 MRM30 on a couple heavy mechs to see what they can do. Is there something better about 3 MRM20?

MRM30s and MRM40s are the 'good' launchers.

MRM10s are tonnage effecient, but because of how MRMs work, you usually need a ton of them to make them worthwhile, and their usually best used on mechs with low hardpoint counts - MRMs arguably get more help out of missile quirks than any other missile. Generally, any mech that can carry enough MRM10s to be worthwhile should probably be boating SRMs instead. There's some arguaments for mechs like the Cyclops and Archer to boat these, but I'm not personally a fan. They make fine 'boosters' for bigger racks.

MRM20s are really inefficient tonnage wise, and are only really useful if you have one MRM30 but just can't squeeze enough tonnage out for a second MRM30, or are crit starved (The Zeus needs to use MRM20s to get a 60 missile volley out, for example).

MRM30s are one of the less efficient launchers, but they're just the right weight to dual up for Mediums and lighter heavies.

MRM40s are the most efficient, with ghost heat that practically doesn't matter, but their cooldown desync with the rest of the launchers can be problematic. Their good in pairs on heavier heavies and assaults.

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Any other know launcher mechanics to be aware of?

Not off the top of my head.

Edited by Bombast, 06 January 2018 - 06:05 PM.

[Seranov]

2xMRM30 is the biggest number of missiles you can alpha strike with without ghost heat. As far as the other questions, I can't say I have the answers. I generally find MRMs work best as a secondary weapon. They sandblast armor well, but that 60 damage from 2xMRM30 spreads all over enemy mechs, and some missiles are pretty much guaranteed to miss regardless unless you're literally pressed against your target.

That said, there are builds for assaults (and maybe some heavies?) that can run 1 UAC20 + 2 MRM30 that can do an absolute ton of burst damage.

[sycocys]

I tried them out once on one of my 4SPs, think it was a set of 30's. The extra range was nice I suppose, but if hit detection is working I feel like srm's would still be far more useful.

[El Bandito]

MRMs do more concentrated damage within 200 meters, but that's the same as SRMs and LBXs. It is a very nice suppression tool if you chainfire them.

[LordNothing]

i think my rule of thumb is to use the biggest launcher you can over multiple smaller launchers. a single mrm40 is a lot of damage for not a lot of heat. so its good to complement other weapons. a single 30 also does this and you use that when you cant afford the 40. the 40 is also great for busting up objectives in fp, so i tend to use them there a lot. 10s and 20s are for the smaller mechs. if you boat either of these, boat 10s. but as others have said, srms are often better in this situation.

they are less useful for boating than other missile types in my opinion. sure you can build up an awesome with 120 tubes to do insane damage, but i got very few kills with that build lacking any kind of laser weapons to exploit open locations. so backup weapons are highly recommended. you can use the spread to help identify weak locations, a single 40 spread aimed square ct will more or less apply damage uniformly to the whole mech, so if a segment is darker orange than the others its a good section to focus in on, say an armor stripped leg or head.

ultimately the point of mrms is to trade accuracy for raw damage and to run relatively cool in doing so. its a terrible weapon if you are going after a small target like an open ct, but at point blank range that really doesnt matter. you can kind of start out at skirmish range and the closer you get the better the weapon. on hardpoint starved mechs an mrm40 is a great drop in substitute for 3 srm6es (no artemis), and at srm ranges it will perform about the same (with the added bonus of being able to use it further out). and i cant highlight enough that its better in mixed builds than as a boating weapon.

[Mechrophilia]

I think MRMs are groovy. My fave is the 40 because of the heat per damage ratio and because it can re-invent a pigeonholed mech that has a single, usually unused missile hardpoint. They take skill to use effectively though. A pair of MRM30s in the same torso location is pure beast. They sandpaper the legs off of lights nicely too.

[Curccu]

Seranov, on 06 January 2018 - 06:02 PM, said:

2xMRM30 is the biggest number of missiles you can alpha strike with without ghost heat.

Well sure there is ghost heat to fire over 1 MRM40 but that number is 1,61 additional heats for second launcher so it doesn't really matter most of the times.

I have played quite a lot lately with:
TBT-7M 2x30 Most likely the best pure MRM platform because really good quirks and mobility for that purpose
WVR-7D 2x30 weaker quirks but with masc, not sure if it's worth to take.
GRF-5M 20+30 & 4xLMG
IV-FOUR insane durability quirks and can take 2x40
+ Atlas D with 2xRAC5 & 2xMRM30 For luls insane DPS until you overheat
All of these (not atlas) are XL builds, TBT and IF-FOUR are most viable of these.

[justcallme A S H]

Bombast, on 06 January 2018 - 06:00 PM, said:

There's supposed to be a fixed stream time that all MRMs adhere to, but its currently bugged. MRM10 streams are shorter than MRM20 streams, an so on. It's been tested.

Only after about 60 seconds of continuous firing did that show up (MRM10 vs MRM40 IIRC) - so it's less than 0.05 of a sec or something around that as the differential after that 60 sec wasn't that massive.

Is there a bug? Yes
How bad is it? So minor you'll never notice it in actual gameplay.

Far bigger bugs out there for 6-12 months unresolved to be worrying about IMO. The UAC jam is one of the larger/impact for instance.

Edited by justcallme A S H, 07 January 2018 - 03:02 AM.