Apologies for the incoming wall of text, but I'm gonna hammer the keyboard a bit. I'm annoyed, and I'm going to spread the love and do a rant-o-analysis on what I think are the likely effects of the nerfs.
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Missile health on SRMs and MRMs did not need a nerf. Those systems already have advantages and disadvantages compared to other direct-fire options, offering high damage per ton but suffering from a very short effective range (with a hard range cap which the missiles explode upon reaching rather than experiencing damage falloff like other direct fire weapons), slow projectile speeds, and poor damage focus. That left SRMs and MRMs balanced vs. lasers, which offer the lowest tonnage cost and best accuracy but with a high heat cost, and ballistics which run cool and (mostly) offer better damage focus and higher projectile speeds than missiles, but cost more in tonnage and slots.
Simply put, direct-fire unguided missiles
did not need to be countered by AMS at all. They were already balanced using the same factors that balance other unguided direct-fire weaponry. Losing effectiveness vs. AMS, for the unguided missiles- especially by such a huge margin- also means that they lose effectiveness compared to other already-just-as-good direct fire weapons which do not have counters.
Remember, just because the size of the volley is reduced before impact doesn't mean the spread reduces with it. Before, firing an MRM40 delivered a cluster of 40 missiles with ~15 landing on the targeted component, ~15-20 more on the 'Mech somewhere, and 5-10 missing the target... assuming that you were
highly skilled with the weapon.
Now you're going lose 20 or so to AMS (against
just one AMS), but some are still going to miss, and some are still going to scatter to components other than the one you meant to land the volley on. In the end, you might end up only doing 5-ish
effective damage with that launcher, which just isn't worth it. For the same cost as a MRM40 and 3-4 tons of ammo, you can have a UAC10 and 2-3 tons of ammo... but all of it hits the target with no chance of interception, and how much of the damage hits the targeted component is limited only by your personal skill.
The math does not work out for the missile launcher there. It is now objectively weaker than other weapons requiring the same or similar investment in tonnage and crits, despite requiring just as much skill to use (if not more- MRMs aren't as fast as AC or Gauss slugs). It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out what the consequences are for missile-based 'Mechs. Since brawl and midrange direct-fire trading will no longer be options for them, they'll either get shelved... or else they'll switch to using LRMs (and/or ATMs if Clan) so that, even though they're still going to lose a big chunk of their volley, and even though indirect locks now take longer to acquire, at least they won't be losing trades left and right just to get some damage in.
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Guided weapons
do need counters like AMS and ECM, along with a heap of other limitations, because they otherwise
would be unbalanced. Having a weapon which partially or completely aims itself is a
huge advantage. Since the level of effort required by the weapon is lower, it makes sense to also have low-effort counters for it, with a relatively low tonnage and slot cost because the 'Mech attempting counterplay also needs to carry its own weapons.
Even here, though, the changes don't have the desired effect. Indirect fire with massed large launchers will be
encouraged, rather than discouraged. Since so much of every volley is going to be lost, LRM and ATM boats will tend to avoid trades because they won't be able to out-damage ballistic and energy builds in direct engagements. If they hide and fire indirectly, they will probably lose even more damage, but it will be
unopposed damage, making it by far the better option. We may see fewer missile boats overall, but the ones we do see will more often be exactly the type that prompted this balance pass in the first place.
And AMS usage is not going to decrease- it will
increase. The effectiveness of the equipment is so high now that it's almost mandatory- much like ECM was back in the days of the 180m magic bubble (better, even- there's only
one 'Mech that can't take AMS: the CDA-X5). One AMS shaves off enough damage to survive an alpha that otherwise would've killed you. Two AMS neuters one large missile launcher completely. More than that, and you're ignoring whole alphas from some lights and mediums. That's an
insanely good deal. Any 'Mech capable of taking two or more AMS basically
must take them now, because otherwise they'd be throwing a game-winning advantage against any and
all missile builds- not just the ones that have lock-on mechanics.
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The TL;DR version: Kiss your SRM and MRM poptarts and brawlers goodbye for a while. You can expect to lose half or more of every volley you fire, so you might as well just bring ballistics or lasers instead. Also expect to still see 80-100 tube LRMboats hanging out under cover in the backfield, because that's pretty much gonna be the only way to win trades with non-ATM missile builds once everyone figures out just how powerful AMS really just became. Streakboats will be affected somewhat less because their prey of choice (fast lights) mostly can't carry enough AMS to defeat them, and frequently leaves the protective shell of their team.
Edited by WrathOfDeadguy, 20 March 2019 - 10:10 PM.
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50 50, on 20 March 2019 - 07:24 PM, said:
