18 replies to this topic

[The1WithTheGun]

So, One-Shot Launchers. I've been with the game for quite a while, but my actual play experience with these weapons is poor. On the surface, they look like a huge waste (especially when compared with Rocket Launchers).

So...do they have any redeeming qualities, or situations in which they would be preferable than just coughing up an extra half-ton for a full missile bay?

[John Frye]

Only redeeming feature is the lack of ammo explosion...

[Slade Deleportas]

Another: If you are making a Handheld weapon they might be useful...

[Damion Wolf]

In game terms, I have no idea. The only way I can see them being worth it is if you have an extra bit of space left over and don't want to unbalance your heat scales by tacking on another laser. But from a tactical sense, I can see uses for them.

Imagine, if you will, some scout 'mechs built for blinding speed and electronic countermeasures making a lightning raid on a location. Pop in, flush the OS racks and then dash out. Or as a means of delivering the most ordinance to a target in the shortest amount of time.

*Shrug*

Without more experience into the board game I can only offer theories.

[CaveMan]

They cost half what regular launchers do, don't explode when they get hit, and weigh a little less than a normal launcher with ammo.

OS streak launchers are great for filling tonnage on assault 'Mechs with poor heat balance. And OS SRM-2s can be loaded with inferno rounds for a quick, nasty surprise.

This isn't strictly legal, but there's another way that OS launchers can be used: attach them to the outside of the 'Mech using the external cargo rules, as disposable bolt-on launchers, or do the same thing with aerospace fighters using bomb slots (1 bomb = 1 ton).

Overall, though, OS launchers just feel like the game makers abandoned them at birth. They could have been really interesting, but they never got the special rules to make them viable weapons in themselves. There's also the question of why a single 20kg round of ammo weighs a half a ton for an OS SRM-2, and for that matter why you need to spend multiple tons on what is basically a disposable metal tube with some missiles in it (no loading mechanism being required).

[Lina Thoren]

IIRC, there's an optional rule in Max Tech/TacOps where a OS launcher weighs half a ton less than a standard launcher. If you use that, then maybe.

EDIT: That's half a ton less than the standard launcher, before accounting for ammo. So an I.S. SRM-2(OS) would weigh 1/2 ton total.

Edited by Lina Thoren, 21 December 2011 - 08:30 PM.

[The1WithTheGun]

Indeed - I could see them being a bit more useful if the launcher weighed [i]LESS[/] and not more - and maybe a bit more compact too. I mean there is no ammo-feed system after all - just basically some tubes with a missile in each - that might make them more pallatable.

[CaveMan]

The normal missile launchers have to be assuming some kind of guidance kit on a per-missile basis, but even so, it shouldn't take 500kg of launch tube to fire an 8kg missile. Not unless each of those tubes is a mini-Gauss rifle that's flinging the missiles out. The loaders, and maybe some kind of armor shields, have to be the majority of the launcher's weight. OS launchers ought to be a fraction of the weight of normal launchers.

An infantry OS SRM launcher is 30kg including the missile, and those aren't any less guided than the 'Mech versions.

The 'Mech versions ought to be more like:

OS SRM-2, 0.25T
OS SRM-4, 0.5T
OS SRM-6, 0.75T

OS LRM-5, 0.5T
OS LRM-10, 1T
OS LRM-15, 1.5T
OS LRM-20, 2T

Seems OP at first, but then you gotta realize the heat generated by these things would prevent you from loading 50 of them and firing them all at once. Same principle as rocket launchers, just less garbage.

[Damion Wolf]

Oh yeah. I can build an operational doctrine for using those in combat.

[CaveMan]

Yep. You can build a Locust variant with 10 OSSRM-2 launchers, and volley fire them in groups of 5 for some serious punch.

On the other end of the scale, 6 OSLRM-20 launchers would be 12 tons and let's say for the sake of argument, 3 crits each, so 18. Heavier, and bulkier than an LRM-20 and 6 rounds, but you get the opportunity for a single massive volley. Would make a lot of sense on a vehicle like the standard LRM Carrier.

[Xhaleon]

Wanna improve on OneShot weapons without messing with weight and thus nutting over some official designs?

OS weapons count as 2-times their listed number. That is, an OS SRM-4 fires like an SRM-8, if only one existed, plus comparatively less heat and everything.

[ZnSeventeen]

Yeah, they never did make a lot of sense. Especially since a ton of SRM 2 ammo has 50 shots, so one shot should only be .02 tons. Doesn't make sense why that would even factor into the weapon tonnage. With no loading system and no real need of armor or any other fluff, the launchers should be less tonnage, or the same.

In the tabletop, they seemed pretty much useless, especially since you could drop ammo if you were really worried about ammo explosion. As it was you just put a minimum of 1 ton of weapon for a maximum of 4 damage. (Clan OS SRM.) For the same tonnage and 1 more heat you could do one more damage turn after turn at the same range, with no chance of ammo explosion (Medium Laser, not even clan tech.)

And there was not even a cost bonus, they were just as expensive as regular missiles, except you did not have to pay for the ammo. Generally useless, except in extremely rare cases, like if you had a hit and run unit that needs to fire indirectly and just can't afford that extra half ton of ammo to do it twice.

I personally think this could have been better thought out, like what is suggested above, or perhaps making the rounds themselves better, such as extended range, damage or chance of hit. I was very excited at first by this mechanic when I first started reading about it, but I just got disappointed. (My friends and I use extended range and regular tonnage for the weapons. I know, we are rebels.)

[CaveMan]

Xhaleon, on 22 December 2011 - 01:09 AM, said:

Wanna improve on OneShot weapons without messing with weight and thus nutting over some official designs?

OS weapons count as 2-times their listed number. That is, an OS SRM-4 fires like an SRM-8, if only one existed, plus comparatively less heat and everything.

Or have the missiles do twice as much damage. Say they're packing "heavy warheads" or some such.

[GreyGriffin]

As is, no. They really need a weight discount to be worth it.

[Incunabulum]

L2 rules (OS launcher weigh 1/2 ton more than regular lauchers) no, L3 rules with Clan IOS's yes - on light mechs with a little extra weight to play with they can give you a powerful (one turn) punch that can make a larger mech regret tangling with you.

I use them from time to time on scout hunters - pounce, fire off several IOS's at once, leave smoldering recon mech in your wake.

Their real problem is the weights for them are waaaaay too high. A OS launcher should just be a lightweight metal box to hold missile without the associated (and rather complicated) reload mechanism that normal launchers have.

A OS SRM-6 should weigh around 100 kg (6 missiles @ 10 kg each + approx 50% for the launcher), not a mt and a half.

There are 100 missiles in a mt of SRM ammo = 1000 kg/100 = 10 kg ea.

Edited by Incunabulum, 01 August 2012 - 12:30 AM.

[Lightdragon]

its redeeming feature is it weighs less than a launcher plus ammo becase its just one shot, also provides you with a last ditch alpha strike when youre desperate oh and then theres the lack of an ammo explosion when the weapon gets critted

[Beazle]

I've never messed with them for clans, but as far as IS goes...

Total waste.

They were put into the game before rocket launchers. I think rocket launchers became what they were supposed to be.

BT has this thing about never really changing anything that would break a design, so once something is put into the game, it's there to stay. So, once they put out OS launchers, they couldn't just say "Ooops, my bad" and rewrite them later.

Thus rocket launchers were born.

Atleast, that's my theory.

[Lord Captian Tobacco]

I like the idea of hanging ordinance.

Use the Aerotech rules for drag, reduce the listed weight by another half (to make them worthwhile), give it a 7+ to be damaged on any hit to their 'hanging' location (no damage from detonation but loose it prematurely).
But then just say 'its not the additional weight that slows you down. It's the havoc it plays on the gyros...'

[Karl Streiger]

Oh they did rewrite some..
in the newer source books that deal with the reunification wars or the star league era at all there are all ready Rocket Launcher...
so why not to use them in the SuccessionWars too.

Have created a scenario where a band of pirates used a commando and swapped his armament for improvised rocket launcher (nothing more than mortar grenades and a primitive propellant charge)

However using OS-SRMs or OS-LRMs i always used Streak or Thunderbolt rules...however seldom used anything else than LRM5 or SRM 2 and seldom on mechs.