5 replies to this topic

[MechMaster059]

I was about to write a post about how UAC's need more ammo per ton but then I noticed this:

UAC/2: 87 rounds / ton
UAC/5: 35 rounds / ton
UAC/10: 46 rounds / ton
UAC/20: 24 rounds / ton

The values for UAC/5 and UAC/10 rounds / ton seem to be erroneously swapped. There's no way that's intentional.

Please fix UAC/5 ammo to be the proper number of rounds / ton by swapping the the values of the UAC/10 and UAC/5.

Thanks.

Edit: These are Inner Sphere values.

Edit: The skill tree ammo boost values are mixed up as well.

Edited by MechMaster059, 05 July 2022 - 09:48 PM.

[Aidan Crenshaw]

The number of rounds for each type of weapon is correct and as intended for the number of trigger pulls.
The UAC5 (IS) has a lower number of shells per ton, because it fires a single projectile per trigger pull, whereas a UAC10 (IS) fires two shells per trigger. Each shell of the UAC10 (IS) deals 5 points of damage, so the damage potential of one ton of UAC10 (IS) ammo is the same as one ton of regular AC10 ammo.

[MechMaster059]

I stand corrected. I guess I'll be writing that post asking for more UAC ammo after all...

Now that I think about it, that makes even less sense. They UAC/5 and UAC/10 shoot the exact same round yet the UAC/10 gets more rounds / ton? (On the flip side, the UAC/10 doesn't even get twice as many rounds / ton as a UAC/5 to compensate for twice the rate of fire... lol. It must really suck for mechs equipped with UAC/10s to rip through their ammo that fast.)

I see the UAC/20 shoots 3 rounds that presumably do 6.66 damage each.

Edited by MechMaster059, 05 July 2022 - 09:54 PM.

[Escef]

MechMaster059, on 05 July 2022 - 09:39 PM, said:

I stand corrected. I guess I'll be writing that post asking for more UAC ammo after all...

Now that I think about it, that makes even less sense. They UAC/5 and UAC/10 shoot the exact same round yet the UAC/10 gets more rounds / ton? (On the flip side, the UAC/10 doesn't even get twice as many rounds / ton as a UAC/5 to compensate for twice the rate of fire... lol. It must really suck for mechs equipped with UAC/10s to rip through their ammo that fast.)

I see the UAC/20 shoots 3 rounds that presumably do 6.66 damage each.

No, the UAC5 and UAC10 do not shoot the same round. They shoot rounds that deal the same damage, yes. However, the actual rounds themselves are different in mass and velocity. The UAC10 fires a slower moving round that just so happens to deliver the same amount of kinetic energy. Also, the UAC10 fires two such rounds in rapid succession with each trigger pull.

As for it "sucking" to burn through ammo fast, yes, it does. This is compensated for with the UAC10 being a beast of a gun that can do twice as much damage as a UAC5. The UAC10's double tap is brutal, especially on mechs that can carry them paired. There's a reason why once people actually started trying the UAC10 it quickly became a choice weapon on many assaults. Note that while the overall DPS of a UAC10 is only slightly higher than a UAC5's, the amount of firepower it can unleash in peek out from cover for a quick double tap and fade back to cover is what really counts here. Sustained or even caution to the wind DPS is nice, but a lot of players favor more conservative methods of engagement where DPS numbers are less relevant.

As for the UAC20, it used to 6.66 damage per shell, but IIRC it was recently upped to 6.67.

Edited by Escef, 05 July 2022 - 11:05 PM.

[Kanil]

MechMaster059, on 05 July 2022 - 09:39 PM, said:

(On the flip side, the UAC/10 doesn't even get twice as many rounds / ton as a UAC/5 to compensate for twice the rate of fire... lol. It must really suck for mechs equipped with UAC/10s to rip through their ammo that fast.)

The entire AC/10 family has 230 damage per ton of ammo by default, which is very high by ballistic standards, being bested only by MGs and RACs. They're definitely not starved for ammo.

[Darkbeetlebot]

MechMaster059, on 05 July 2022 - 09:39 PM, said:

I stand corrected. I guess I'll be writing that post asking for more UAC ammo after all...

Now that I think about it, that makes even less sense. They UAC/5 and UAC/10 shoot the exact same round yet the UAC/10 gets more rounds / ton? (On the flip side, the UAC/10 doesn't even get twice as many rounds / ton as a UAC/5 to compensate for twice the rate of fire... lol. It must really suck for mechs equipped with UAC/10s to rip through their ammo that fast.)

I see the UAC/20 shoots 3 rounds that presumably do 6.66 damage each.

The AC weapons are not actually a weapon in the battletech universe. They're classifications for weapon systems. The AC/5 is any kind of autocannon; burst fire, full auto, single shot, whatever, which deals 5 units of damage total in a single trigger pull. The AC/10 is any kind of autocannon that deals 10 units of damage in a single trigger pull. Their behavior depends on the manufacturer, and the actual ammunition they use can differ greatly between those manufacturers and weapon systems. It's more vague than just being a single universally manufactured gun. Technically, the AC/5-BF is the same weapon system as the AC/5, but practically by different manufacturers in-universe. The AC classifications are merely a convenience for the game mechanics.

This is why you can have an AC/10 be a weapon that fires 2 5-damage shots instead of a single 10-damage shot, or why you can have an AC/20 that fires a million tiny shots instead of a single gigantic shot. It's also why all the UAC models work so differently from one another.