Buenaventura, on 04 September 2018 - 04:18 AM, said:
No, Clan mechs don't have C3 built-in, they don't even have that technology. To understand this, you have to know what C3 actually does in tabletop. Weapons have range brackets which makes targets harder to hit the further away from you they are. If you and your teammate are in a working C3 network and your teammate is closer to your target than you, you use his distance to calculate the modifier, not yours. Going from long range to medium is -2, to short is -4.
The whole concept of C3 doesn't work in a FPS setting. Pulse lasers and LBX weapons also come with a bonus to hit in tabletop, but since they also do something else - they are weapons after all -, they could be implemented in a way that kinda works. Targeting computers on the other hand ... only provide a bonus for direct fire weapons (and would allow targeting specific sections of a mech that isn't shut down). The implementation is weak.
Sharing targeting information has long been part of the tabletop rules, especially for firing LRMs out of complete cover using the targeting information provided by a team mate. That team mate couldn't use his own weapons that turn, but iirc he could spot for several teammates at once. (Been a long time since I last played TT
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Note this was typed on a phone. Corrections made in this edit.
This. Been trying for years to get people to see this side. To expand...
Targeting body parts outside of specific conditions is left to chance with the idea that events in a ten second cycle up to and including the enemy's reaction will yield an unpredictable result. Shots are weighted a bit to arms understandably, as according to Battletechnology and its reworded (and sometimes exactly copied paragraphs) version printed two decades later in the cockpit section of the Tech Manual state that so long as the DI computer can read intent from the pilot that does not conflict, the mech will try to evade and/or protect itself from all harm, whether this involves tilting the body or thrusting the arms out to avoid contact with (or deflect) tree branches, step around cars, dodge the lamp posts and other environmental hazards (keep in mind the Atlas in BT is the height of the Hunchback in mwo) or protecting one's self from incoming fire. The primary means of self defense are the arms, lifting legs and twisting, as such damage is weighted towards arms, legs and side torsos.
One pilot, the Danielle of the Pretty Baby (the canonical version), is known for her ability to combine her piloting skills and the DI computer's desire to protect the mech to perform such fantastical feats as making her Awesome "skip" in order to avoid incoming LRMs.
Choosing to hit specific locations is only offered if the pilot intention cannot be read (unconscious), the machine is powered off and cannot react, or if the machine is in a compromised position (prone/hull down).
Targeting computers allow aiming at such body parts without those conditions by being able to predict the actions of the target and counter them by providing an aim assist/override once the desired area is chosen by the gunner's reticle.
C3 allows all weapons (especially direct fire) to be aimed as if as close to the target as the c3 unit up close to the target is
So if I'm say 810 meters away with a weapon, and my c3 networked buddy is 120 meters away, I can aim and hit as if only 120 meters away with all my direct fire weapons that can reach that far. (Actually I need to test if it would let me use small lasers from that far and hit....)
Clans do not believe in indirect fire or in exploiting their comrades to get kills as that is disgraceful and quite damaging to one's pride. As such they never had any desire for the technology. Their better ranges are attributed to a mixture of better technology and rigorous training through life and death combat trials.
Edited by Koniving, 04 September 2018 - 10:29 AM.
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