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Have you ever been out there on the battlefields, and had either a Light Mech, an ECM-cloaked Mech, or perhaps a Stealth Armor Mech sneak up behind you and ruin your day? Is your Enemy managing to just flatly block you from doing ANY Target Locking until they're in Brawling Range? Have you perhaps brought LRMs/ATMs/SSRMs, only to have somebody on your Team rudely telling you to "Get Your Own Locks", usually followed with some vulgar & toxic name-calling? Are you maybe just feeling like your Sensor Systems are just totally freaking inadequate?
Well, it's time we put an end to that. We should introduce the...
"ENHANCED ACTIVE SENSOR UNIT (EASU)"
- Available to BOTH the Inner Sphere and the Clans
- 600,000
(C-Bills) Price to Purchase & Equip - 2.0 Tons (No difference by Faction)
- 2 Critical Slots (No difference by Faction)
- 7.5 Health (No difference by Faction)
- 15% Boost to Sensor Range
(No difference by Faction, the ONLY Always-Present Passive Ability for the mere Cost Of Equipping) - Starts in "Passive" Status (No difference by Faction, allows Normal Game Behavior from Round Start)
- Toggled by Default both On AND Off via the "8" Key on your Keyboard, along with the normal Weapons Console Controls
(Maybe it should be a Linked Key Mapping with the ECM on "J", but I just don't know!) - Has Various Additional Abilities, but REQUIRES switching to "Active" Status to enable them
(No difference by Faction, Read Below to find out!) - Has Drawbacks while in "Active" Status, Usability is Balanced by Costs
(No difference by Faction, Read Below to find out!)
Helpful Pros (Abilities which REQUIRE Manual "Active" Status Selection)
- Immediately Reveals ALL Enemy Mechs within your Total Sensor Range (Baseline Radar Range + Mech Quirks + EASU + Active Probe + Skill Nodes), INCLUDING ones that you do NOT have LOS (Line-Of-Sight) upon, except for those running Stealth Armor
- Can help to Simultaneously Counter A Second Nearby ECM Unit in ANY direction, but REQUIRES Your Faction's Active Probe to be on Your Mech in order to gain this functionality, giving even more use to BAP/CAP (possibly CLAP too)
- Auto-Switches your ECM to "Counter" Mode when the EASU is put into "Active" Status, potentially creating up to a Triple ECM Counter if you have Your Faction's Active Probe Equipment installed on your Mech. (Has matching Balancing Cons for Drawback... Please Read Below.)
- Provides a Baseline 100 Meters of Seismic Sensor (in addition and possible to enhance with the Skill Tree Nodes, allowing easier detection of Enemy Mechs sneaking up behind you)
- Causes your Missiles (LRM/ATM/SSRM) to Lock-On as if you have Direct LOS on the Enemy Target Mech... But it will fire in IDF Mode with the Spread of Direct Fire (Please refer to the recent "2019 Jan./Feb. LRM PTS" for why this last bit is mentioned about IDF and LOS differences.)
- With the Inner Sphere's "Command Console" Unit Equipped on your Mech, or ANY Faction's Targeting Computer (of a Mark-IV or larger rating) Equipped on your Mech, you can share your Targeting Data with your Entire Team, allowing them to see what Targets that you're talking about. (I know those "Information Warfare" folks will LOVE this. Like one could say, Information IS Ammunition, and this HELPS TeamWork!)
- Enables MiniMap & Lance Status Display while you're in Third-Person View (It's damned hard to go where your Team wants you to be without those. You would want to Equip the "Enhanced Active Sensor Unit" to fix that.)
- Stabilizes the Third-Person Aiming Cursor to move as if you're in First-Person (You're already being given away by that Blinking Red Light on the Camera Pod behind your Mech. It's only fair you're allowed a Stable Aim at the Enemy Mechs, since you paid out to Equip this too.)
Balancing Cons (Drawbacks -- What you deal with while this Unit is in "Active" Status)
- Once put into "Active" Status, you can NOT switch it back to "Passive" Status for a Minimum of a 10 Second Period. During this time, you will see a Yellow Charging Meter on the EASU, which will then turn Green once the Limiting Window is over, and "Passive" Status is once again possible to use.
- Upon returning to "Passive" Status, there will be a 5 Second Period during which the Green Meter will turn into a Red Cooldown Meter, and drain back down to all Black again, after which you may re-activate the EASU's "Active" Status
- The EASU is REQUIRED to be in "Active" Status to gain any of the Abilities listed above in "Helpful Pros", and "Passive" Status will disengage all of those "Active" Abilities again until the next time the EASU is placed into "Active" Status. (The MWO Game Server WILL be monitoring this, and controlling what you're allowed to see, so there will be NO CHEATING on Sensors/Radar, PERIOD!!!)
- Data Sharing on Enemy Locations is ONLY possible while the EASU is in "Active" Status (The MWO Game Server WILL also be monitoring this, and controlling how/when you're being allowed to share based on the valid true Status of the EASU and Your Other Equipment on Your Mech, so there will be NO CHEATING on Sensors/Radar, PERIOD!!!)
- If the "Command Console", "Targeting Computer", and/or "Active Probe" are NOT Equipped, then you will as equally NOT have access to the Expanded Abilities which might have been provided on the EASU either. (It would NOT be legal to have access to the Expanded Functionality which you have not met the Requirements for!)
- ONLY while the EASU is in "Active" Status, your Mech is revealed in return to the Entire Enemy Team. You will effectively look like you are NARC'd to them, and will be vulnerable to ALL Incoming Lock-On Missiles and Enemy Tracking until it is put back to "Passive" Status. (If you don't have AMS to help defend yourself, or a Teammate near you with enough AMS, be prepared to take a pelting unless you actually learn to use some Terrain Cover.)
- ONLY while the EASU is in "Active" Status, if you have ECM, it will be flipped to an Omni-Directional "Counter" Mode. (You're not allowed to cloak, nor mess up your Enemy's Targeting yourself while the EASU is operating. You're also not allowed to know if an Enemy ECM is actually Within Range of you or not, until the 4th one gets too close and no other ECM Countering is nearby.)
- The EASU can NOT use Your Mech's ECM alone to gain the ability to Counter other ECM. You MUST have an Active Probe Equipment item loaded on Your Mech in order for the EASU to gain ECM Countering Abilities. (The ECM gets Stealth Armor as its' pairing already... The EASU is meant to pair with the Active Probe in turn.)
- Switching your ECM into "Disrupt" Mode will disengage the EASU back to "Passive" Status and re-engage cloaking, but is only possible if more than 10 Seconds has passed since you put the EASU into "Active" Status
- Stealth Armor is unable to function ONLY while the EASU is in "Active" Status, and may only be toggled on again along with your ECM (This is because the EASU disengages your ECM. Choose wisely as to when you're making yourself a Target to the Enemy Team.)
- If the EASU is Destroyed while in "Active" Status, your Mech will be stuck just once in a "Low Signal" State for 15 Seconds. Lock-On Weapon Systems will be briefly unable to set up a firing solution during this Time Period. (Be careful about how much you use the EASU, or it could bite you when you least expect it.)
- If the EASU is Destroyed while in "Active" Status, your Mech will temporarily lose ALL Seismic Sensor capability for 15 Seconds. After the Seismic Sensor comes back online, you will only have what you unlocked in the Skill Tree Nodes for Your Mech.
...and now that I've listed all that out, I'm going to throw a very important Question at you... Which would you rather have, the complainers who are utterly ticked off because they can't see who or what something came from and feel they were unfairly blindsided, or would you prefer the Information Acquisition Capabilities that come at an Equipment Cost but silence all that unnecessary toxicity and/or whining so you can simply enjoy MWO in all it's Mech-Loaded Glory??? Please, feel free to give your Feedback in Non-Toxic Form through replying below, and please also make sure you give an Unprejudiced Vote in the Poll that's up above! I hope you'll agree with me (even though I'll understand if you can not, provided your disagreement is NOT laced with Toxicity) in choosing to Support this Idea that it took me quite some time to design, several hours to type up (plus gave myself both a head and back ache while trying to make this Thread), and ultimately help to bring the "Enhanced Active Sensor Unit" (or "EASU" for short) into MWO, all in order to take this fine MechWarrior-Series Game to the Next Level of playability!!!
~Mr. D. V. "It's time to end the hate & prejudice! It's time for the EASU! This is NOT a Troll!" Devnull
