9 replies to this topic

[The6thMessenger]

I've been thinking about Strikes. Why not have them as legit equipment instead? I mean 24 possible strikes from 1 side, 96 during the course of a faction play with each players capable of putting 2 in each of their mechs in a drop-deck.

If MWO-Pedia's info of this is correct ( https://mwo.gamepedi...rtillery_Strike ), each shell doing 10 damage, with 6 shells each, that is 60 damage on the area. A single mech could bring 2 which is 120 damage, and a single dropdeck is 480 damage, and that is on the assumption that it hits at least one mech full salvo each.

Consider that the consumables are 40,000 CBills a piece, and no weight whatsoever. That means a totally meta setup like a MCII-B can bring a legitimate dakka, while having basically a one-shot or two-shot Thumper for no weight, and 40k to 80k CB.

At that point, Why not just have it legit equipment when they have to sacrifice a mech to build an extremely helpless specialist that have to be babysat? Thumper and Arrow-IV? There-Ain't-No-Such-Thing-As-Free-Lunch, an artillery-specialist will reduce the front-line effectiveness by having less players on the front.

By having legit Artillery builds, it won't feel as cheap.

Quote

Thumper:
Damage: 20 (Splash 90m) + 10 (Direct)
Heat: 10
CD: 10s
DPS: 2.0 (Splash), 3.0 Direct
Velocity: 650m/s
Range: 2000m
Ton: 15
Slots: 11 (IS), 7 (Clan)
Ammo/Ton: 5
Notes:
- Direct-Fire

This setup is somewhat like MW4 Mercs, totally eyeballed, it's a heavier and stronger AC20 that you only need to hit the vicinity of the target. I would argue that, though it is powerful, that it's a bit less cheap than LRMs because you actually need skill to land this thing and hit players, and you can boast a direct-hit as well.

Quote

Arrow-IV:
Damage: [7 (Splash 90m)] x 5
Volley Interval: 0.20s
Heat: 12
CD: 12.s
DPS: 2.69
Velocity: 475m/s
Range: 2000m
Minimum Range: 270m
Ton: 15 (IS), 12 (Clan)
Slots: 11 (IS), 7 (Clan)
Ammo/Ton: 5
Health/Missile: 3
Notes:
- Requires Lock to Fire
- Requires NARC or TAG to fire
- Missiles hit the general area
- Deals total of 35 damage

Basically a super LRM5 with splash damage, shoots a volley of 5 missiles that deal AOE damage. It doesn't need to hit mechs directly at all, it just showers an area.

Unlike Thumper, this requires a NARC or TAG to launch, likewise is susceptible to AMS fire. The major selling point of the Thumper is that there is less complication on it's use, you can shoot as soon as you want.

Because of that, the Arrow-IV is instead geared more for AOE damage. That if you aren't accurate with Thumper to begin with, the Arrow-IV would at least guarantee an amount of damage. If you are landing your thumper shots, you are going to deal more damage in the long run.

Edited by The6thMessenger, 08 December 2020 - 08:56 PM.

[My Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ]

Artillery has no place in such a close quarters game.

[General Solo]

We had a perfectly FINE Long Tom
An look what happened
Went the way of Repair and Refit/Rearm

Edited by OZHomerOZ, 09 December 2020 - 05:21 AM.

[The6thMessenger]

OZHomerOZ, on 09 December 2020 - 05:11 AM, said:

We had a perfectly FINE Long Tom
An look what happened
Went the way of Repair and Refit/Rearm

You mean this?



I think it's the matter of execution, as in PGI ****** it up. Long Tom seems to be too strong, even sarna shows damage between 30 to 10 -- if it was adjusted for current armor value inflations that is just 60 to 20 damage. I think it's borked that they can kill mechs in one shot.

As opposed of just some somewhat-random nuke, or free shots of Thumper/AIV, it'll be much more fair and easier if we just have access to Thumper and AIV in the first place, and have people playing as artillery support to their heart's desire.

Edited by The6thMessenger, 09 December 2020 - 06:20 AM.

[Lanzman]

Long Tom was treated as a nuke, and it's never been that in the lore. I think PGI was thinking of the Davy Crockett when they did the Long Tom. LT is basically just a big artillery piece, so it should have been like the existing artillery strike, but maybe twice the damage.

[VonBruinwald]

justcallme C L O U D, on 08 December 2020 - 10:22 PM, said:

Artillery has no place in such a close quarters game.

Yet people pack Strikes and Arty like it's going out of fashion.

[Requiemking]

The problem is that, in the Tabletop game's building system(which PGI has stuck to in nearly all aspects barring hardlocked weapons like the Adder's Head Flamer), the only Artillery systems that can be mounted on a mech without crit splitting(a mechanic that, for various reasons, cannot be added to the game at the moment) are the Thumper Artillery Cannon(basically just a Thumper Artillery Piece with a sawed off barrel and a weaker ammunition, resulting in what amounts to an ERAC5) and the Clan Variant of the ARROW-IV launcher(still weighs 12 tons and takes 12 crits, meaning that the only things that can run it are Clan Battlemechs with a missile slot in the ST). As neither of these are particularly practical nor do they add anything of note to the Game(the Thumper Cannon wouldn't be touched with a ten mile pole and the C-ARROW-IV would basically just be used like an IS AC20), it is highly unlikely that these will be added. A better solution would be to tie Arty strikes to TAG, thus giving TAG one of it's lore uses back and actually giving spotter mechs a reason to use it.

[LordNothing]

i think the consumables really screw a lot with the game play and map design. cant have underground because arty dont work, cant do underwater because air strikes wont work. what should happen is you cap a space port or a radar tower, you get air strikes, you cap a forward observation post, you get arty. then you would require a smoke launcher if you wanted to designate targets. then it need not be limited to those two things. each map could have their own emplacements. an underground map might have autocannon turrets in the ceiling, an underwater map could have an lrt battery. there could be a whole gamut of off the map weapons systems in play. arrow iv, thumper, long tom, capital ship weapons and on and on.

air support should be more than just bombers, what about vtols and aerotech that shoot more or less typical battletech arsenals that you have to shoot down. its a lot easier to write a flying ai than one that has to deal with terrain. even drop ships should have ai so were not stuck using the statically animated dropships. this comes with the added bonus of having moving drop locations. spawn camping wouldn't have been an issue at all if the drop locations are constantly changing and it would spice up qp if every game started at different spawns.

Edited by LordNothing, 10 December 2020 - 04:12 PM.

[Ekson Valdez]

This thread was moved to FEATURE SUGGESTIONS

[PocketYoda]

They need to be removed completely.. they are just cheap damage padders.