13 replies to this topic

[GeneralMalarky]

I cannot get an answer out of anyone, in match. I cannot seem to find a wiki for MWO, in specific.

What is the minimum range on IS PPC?

[Horseman]

90 meters.

[Buehgler]

Smurfy is probably your best resource for finding things like this as well as providing a convenient tool for constructing/sharing mech builds. You will find detailed information on all the weapons under the "equipment" tab.

And yes, min range for the IS PPC is 90m.

Edited by Buehgler, 27 September 2018 - 09:26 AM.

[GeneralMalarky]

Cool, thanks.

[Throe]

[deleted by user]

Edited by Throe, 09 November 2018 - 11:33 AM.

[Koniving]

GeneralMalarky, on 27 September 2018 - 05:48 AM, said:

Cool, thanks.

In MWO, there's a minimum range for doing damage of 90 meters as you already know.
For the Light PPC it is also 90 meters.
For the Heavy PPC, it is also 90 meters BUT instead of no damage, the closer you are to zero the less you do, with less than 1 meter being 0 damage and 89 meters being less than 15 damage.

The "Snub-nose PPC" has no minimum range.
So if you want a PPC for close range combat, use the snub-nose PPC. Its maximum range is cut in half, but it works at point blank.
----
Only read if you care: The origin of the 'minimum range'.
In the source material, Battletech, IS PPCs have a minimum accurate range penalty, where at below 90 meters it is more difficult to hit an enemy due to
(pre-Clan 1980s lore: The weapon is heavy and hard to aim; note at the time PPCs only came on the arms)
(Post Clan retconned late 80s early 90s lore that's never been put into a video game: The weapon takes up to two seconds to fire after the trigger is pulled due to building up and focusing energy and heat safely, with an option to deactivate the safety and fire semi-instantly at the risk of the weapon exploding. ER PPCs work around this but that is the source of the additional heat).

As for why the charge up of lore would affect accuracy, try hitting a light mech with a Gauss Rifle at less than 90 meters... you'll see why the min-accuracy penalty exists in the source material.

Edited by Koniving, 27 September 2018 - 09:19 AM.

[PhoenixFire55]

Koniving, on 27 September 2018 - 09:10 AM, said:

For the Heavy PPC, it is also 90 meters BUT instead of no damage, the closer you are to zero the less you do, with less than 1 meter being 0 damage and 89 meters being less than 15 damage.

This is incorrect. Heavy PPC acts the same way as regular PPC and does no damage inside 90m.

[Koniving]

You're right. That was a requested feature it didn't get put in.

[MW Waldorf Statler]

when you go over in mechlab over a weapon with the cursor you can seeing a Range schemata

[Ruccus]

It should also be pointed out that while the minimum range of a PPC/HPPC/LPPC is 90m, the distance indicated in-game on your targeting HUD is taken from the center point of the mech while the distance of whether the weapon does damage is taken from where it hits the enemy mech.

This means that if you stand 90m away from a mech and fire at it you won't do any damage. For larger mechs it can be several meters difference between the center point of the mech and the surface of the mech. For example when shooting at an Atlas from directly in front of it you won't do damage inside 93m. From the side profile shooting at the arm you won't do damage inside 96m.

Once a mech gets inside 100m consider switching to the backup (low heat, close range, light tonnage) weapons that you should equip if you're running a PPC/HPPC for your main weapon(s).

[Koniving]

I'm long overdue for making new videos.
But this is relevant due to the use of PPCs and backup weapons.

[SCUD303]

Easiest way to find ranges of weapons is to go to mech lab, put weapon on mech, go to training grounds and test it.

[ImperialKnight]

MechDB
https://mech.nav-alpha.com/
and
Smurfy
https://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab

for all your mech building needs. Especially MechDB which exports Game Build Code, so you can build in MechDB and immediately transfer to in-game. Although the code has some bugs when dealing with upgrades like Armor/Structure/Heatsink/Artemis

[PocketYoda]

If you mouse over the weapon in the mechlab it actually says.. PPC, light PPC and Heavy PPC have a minimum 90 meters. Snub PPC and ER PPC have no minimum.

Clan PPC have no minimum.