7 replies to this topic

[Renzor the Red]

Hi. I know there's a lot of talk out there about gauss rifles vs xyz, but I'm wondering on a more technical level:

Is there a reason to use Gauss rifles over something else other than its near-instant velocity and increased change of critical hits?

I thought that maybe Gauss rifles might ignore armor to a degree or something (do they??), but I was trying out a light gauss on my DarkDeath, and it took me like a billion CT hits to kill a Cataphract. Kinda seems like they're just super-heavy, prone-to-explode auto cannons that need charging, have faster velocity, and increase crit chance. That would be cool if they are armor-penetrating. (Are they??)

[admiralbenbow123]

The thing with light gauss rifles is that they work the best in pairs. If you put 2 of them on something like a marauder you will basically get as much damage as a regular gauss rifle but with less charge time and a shorter cooldown. One of the best medium mechs to put light gauss rifles on is the Grid Iron because of it's crazy gauss cooldown quirk.

[Koniving]

renzor51, on 26 January 2019 - 10:50 PM, said:

Hi. I know there's a lot of talk out there about gauss rifles vs xyz, but I'm wondering on a more technical level:

Is there a reason to use Gauss rifles over something else other than its near-instant velocity and increased change of critical hits?

I thought that maybe Gauss rifles might ignore armor to a degree or something (do they??), but I was trying out a light gauss on my DarkDeath, and it took me like a billion CT hits to kill a Cataphract. Kinda seems like they're just super-heavy, prone-to-explode auto cannons that need charging, have faster velocity, and increase crit chance. That would be cool if they are armor-penetrating. (Are they??)

Increased chance of A critical hit...not plural.
For double and triple crits, it is a -100% chance (impossible).
But admittedly, it will instantly destroy whatever it actually crits when it does crit, and apply that to bonus structure damage.
For a standard Gauss Rifle, 15 + (15% of 15) = 17.25 damage when you land a hit that also crits the structure; in addition to destroying what you hit. The only thing that'd survive a single Gauss Rifle in terms of equipment would be the "20" class cannons, everything else has 15 health or less.

Clan 20s only have 16.5 health, so it wouldn't take much after that Gauss; maybe a couple of lasers at most, to finish the twenty off.


As for whether it is worth it, depends on what you're doing. Most tend to pair them with other weapons, such as PPCs or lasers. I personally like to back mine up with MGs to 'finish the job' after opening someone up... but really that's about the same as following up your Gauss shots with lasers.

[Koniving]

It doesn't ignore armor in MWO.

The Light Gauss is only 8, and its DPS is only slightly higher than the AC/5 (and curiously the Ultra/2, but I assume that's if you ignore/discount the 'double tap'.) As a single weapon it isn't all that useful. I've found it to be decent in a pair, given its long range, with 2 hits (from a pair) on cockpits to sometimes be overkill depending on whether or not the enemy skimped out on head armor. Best to aim for Clan cockpits, they are larger and easier to hit.

If tonnage cooperates, ER PPC and Light Gauss could work for a good combo.
But truth be told, for Dark Death I've mostly seen the use of an Ultra/2, a machine gun (complimenting lasers), or a RAC have any decent success on it. That's assuming they even bothered using the ballistic. I'm personally using an Ultra/2. I think.

Lemme check.


Yes, an Ultra/2 and a Light PPC with some rockets for emergencies.
Far from an optimal build, I'm sure, but I play it largely like a Panther so it works out...and tanks surprisingly well at the sacrifice of rear armor. It cannot handle a certain preference of mine, being able to handle multiple people at once, but it can handle a single target reasonably well from a distance, and is very effective against 'busy' targets.

Virtually anyone else's ideas for Dark Death would probably be better, however. I just find myself to be a lot more accurate when not moving so fast, and being accurate allows me to be more effective.

Edited by Koniving, 26 January 2019 - 11:39 PM.

[Renzor the Red]

I was toying with putting a RAC5 on that arm for a while, but it's really hit and miss, getting shots with that from a little assassin while enemies are distracted on bigger mechs. Looking for something else good as a primary single ballistic weapon with 2ERML's as backup, but yeah, that light gauss kind of sucked for that.

[tutzdes]

renzor51, on 26 January 2019 - 10:50 PM, said:

Hi. I know there's a lot of talk out there about gauss rifles vs xyz, but I'm wondering on a more technical level:

Is there a reason to use Gauss rifles over something else other than its near-instant velocity and increased change of critical hits?

Light Gauss is bad. Regular Gauss and Heavy Gauss are ok. Normal Gauss works well when you need to save the heat (be it for stealth or lasers). Heavy Gauss is a very strong weapon for close-mid range delivery of massive pinpoint damage.

Lightest mech to mount Gauss rifle (if you expect it to perform) is IMO 50t Ghillie. Gauss rifles are way too heavy for lighter mechs.

[ShiverMeRivets]

Normal gauss has extremely low dps for its weight. What it brings is high alpha, and very high damage/heat. The latter means that if you mix it with hot weapons (ppcs, lasers) you end up with a manageable damage/heat. The former means that regular gauss are not good in a brawl unless your dps comes from somewhere else. High alpha+low dps makes it mostly a trade or sniper weapon.

HGRs have such a high alpha, that thier dps starts to get reasonable for their weight. If you have 2 of them the alpha is so high that dps does not matter anymore - but not many mechs can carry 2 effectively.

LGRs have a high dps/ton for a gauss thanks to the short cooldown, short charge-up. With the bonus crit damage, it is almost decent, but still falls short of AC10 that weights the same, and UAC5 that weights less, occupy the same number of crit slots, but has ridiculous dps (UACs are just stupid). In rare builds LGR is useful because you can fit 2 in a side torso and a light fusion engine, where you can take 2 AC10s, but only if you really really want to use the long range advantage of LGRs.

[Princeps Ibram Cain]

In my opinion Gauss rifles dont worth it. Too heavy, too tricky, too risky.