15 replies to this topic

[Pixel Hunter]

NARC is too heavy and takes up a missile slot. I personally think NARC should be a ballistic weapon as to no rob missile boats of a slot and also should be .5 tons. It just needs a buff frankly.

[Taurian_Stubbornness]

NARC sucks because it has to, otherwise, it would indirectly buff LRMs, which is a no-no for the community.

[SafeScanner]

Pixel Hunter, on 04 July 2023 - 08:00 PM, said:

NARC is too heavy and takes up a missile slot. I personally think NARC should be a ballistic weapon as to no rob missile boats of a slot and also should be .5 tons. It just needs a buff frankly.

in what context we talking here Solo or grouped/team play?

If its solo use a tag narcs are not worth the tonnage/ammo you may end up with no one with lrms in your team

if its a team get someone to mount it "ask nicely" its a support weapon it does its job on the tin and it is powerful knocking out ecm and showing position for 15 seconds (allowing everyone with lrms the mech)it has cons weight being one of them but makes up for it

[Star Lit Night]

Only complain I have is how easily AMS destroys a NARC beacon.

NARC needs more hit points.

[Meep Meep]

Other than maybe more hit points to better penetrate ams its fine given what it does. Two lrm assaults with a narc buddy can devastate a pub match.

[Storky]

Capellan Shenanigans, on 04 July 2023 - 08:46 PM, said:

NARC sucks because it has to, otherwise, it would indirectly buff LRMs, which is a no-no for the community.

It will indireclty nerf ECM, which is yes-yes

[Thegreatdive]

HP would be nice, match score rewarding NARCing would be better. Added velocity probably won't happen, but increasing the shots per ton would also be a welcome change. The design goal shouldn't be for LRM boats to run NARC, though there are a few exceptions where they overlap in lore and the meta (mainly looking at you Trebuchet). The few NARC specialist lights in game struggle to generate match score from a weapon system that costs a minimum of 4 tons. My Jenner gets more value out of it's extra UAV slot than it does from 5 minutes of constant NARCing.

[KursedVixen]

SafeScanner, on 04 July 2023 - 09:24 PM, said:

in what context we talking here Solo or grouped/team play?

If its solo use a tag narcs are not worth the tonnage/ammo you may end up with no one with lrms in your team

if its a team get someone to mount it "ask nicely" its a support weapon it does its job on the tin and it is powerful knocking out ecm and showing position for 15 seconds (allowing everyone with lrms the mech)it has cons weight being one of them but makes up for it

Narc does not disable ECM...tag does though.

[Storky]

KursedVixen, on 05 July 2023 - 02:04 AM, said:

Narc does not disable ECM...tag does though.

By my tests it does like PPC shot

[SafeScanner]

KursedVixen, on 05 July 2023 - 02:04 AM, said:

Narc does not disable ECM...tag does though.

Storky, on 05 July 2023 - 02:26 AM, said:

By my tests it does like PPC shot

Narc do counter ecm BUT you have to hit the one that carries it and it also holds the same issue with baps if you got multi layered ecm

[Star Lit Night]

SafeScanner, on 05 July 2023 - 05:08 AM, said:

Narc do counter ecm BUT you have to hit the one that carries it and it also holds the same issue with baps if you got multi layered ecm

Confirmed, I NARCed an ECM kit fox last night, suddenly I had missile lock.

Meep Meep, on 04 July 2023 - 11:59 PM, said:

Other than maybe more hit points to better penetrate ams its fine given what it does. Two lrm assaults with a narc buddy can devastate a pub match.

I'm not asking for NARC to be immune to AMS, just have it so that it has a chance of hitting if an AMS is within range, or maybe give it enough HP to make it past 1 AMS but not 2. Say if you have AMS you are immune to NARC if fired alone, or if there is an AMS between you and the target then it can't hit if fired alone. Or you can dual fire NARC to make it to a single AMS protected mech.

[Obelix drives an Atlas]

narc is situational AT BEST in solo;

and it is way too good in groups;


so it is right where it belongs. no need to change it. if you wanna enjoy narc-play, get into a group with comms.
also look at faction, as there's always groups that will run narcs for a giggle or 2.

don't bother bringing it to solo-QP though, and don't complain that a teamplay-based weapon doesn't work in a 24-yolosolo mode

[Taurian_Stubbornness]

Storky, on 05 July 2023 - 12:13 AM, said:

It will indireclty nerf ECM, which is yes-yes

That's fair. ECM isn't what it used to be, but it's widespread at this point that it's annoying.

Obelix drives an Atlas, on 05 July 2023 - 10:31 AM, said:

narc is situational AT BEST in solo;

and it is way too good in groups;

I think this is the problem with LRMs in general. They have to suck just enough to not absolutely dominate in a group of coordinated players, so they end up being bottom tier for regular players dropping solo.

Edited by Capellan Shenanigans, 05 July 2023 - 10:36 AM.

[Pixel Hunter]

Capellan Shenanigans, on 05 July 2023 - 10:31 AM, said:

That's fair. ECM isn't what it used to be, but it's widespread at this point that it's annoying.



I think this is the problem with LRMs in general. They have to suck just enough to not absolutely dominate in a group of coordinated players, so they end up being bottom tier for regular players dropping solo.

I'd say the drama over LRMaggedon had some valid points, but just about anything in a coordinated group dominates. I think most of the gnashing of teeth is people who didn't like them as a counter to sitting behind rocks and peeking all match. I also agree that ECM is too ubiquitous in game right now and needs some more counters...like a stronger narc

[VeeOt Dragon]

yeah i gree that NARC needs a buff or more accurately de-nerfed. a few years back when the did a huge LRM update that gave LRM two flight paths depending on if you had LOS or not. during this pass not only did they nerf the hell out of Artemis but also TAG, NARC, and even decreased the area you had to have your crosshairs in to get a lock in the first place.

i would honestly be happy if those items were returned to their previous values and just keep the altered firing arcs. so far it seems that the rule of thumb has been to nerf LRM or the systems that assist them at every opportunity. there was a time when Artemis was a must have for any LRM boat but now days its no worth the tonnage (it used to effect you spread no matter what as well as a few other things not it only works with LOS, something that is only true about 50% of a match for me, still might be useful on SRMs but given that SRMs are more often used in multiples it makes that tonnage cost even nastier.)

as for rewards yeah i think NARC and TAG as well need to be rewarded. i would say that if you are using them that you should get credit for a percentage of damage done by other players to the the target with locking weapons (be that LRM, ATM, or Streaks). that would make it worth using and reward team play more. (though yes coordinated groups would still get further use from it than solos but as others have said that goes for just about everything in the game)

Edited by VeeOt Dragon, 07 July 2023 - 08:53 PM.

[TheCaptainJZ]

Reworking Narc might be like...
1. Reworking Narc to only last 15 seconds + 5 seconds for each skill node
2. Drastically reduce cooldown.
3. Increase ammo count, double or triple.
4. Broadcasts through ECM regardless, though ECM still slows down locks to some extent.

Narc (IS) requires at least 4 tons to carry. The largest issue with Narc is when you get Narc'd, it can last for 30-60 seconds, which feels like an eternity. There's some mechanic where it will fall off if you take a certain amount of damage, but I'm not sure what that is. With the above changes, it would require the Narc'er to constantly put themselves into LoS of the enemy since the beacon would only last about half as long. It also would give their teammates less time to lock on and make use of the Narc beacon. (all values subject to balance of course).

Other ideas for Narc to make it more useful outside of missile lock-on:
* Speeds up mech paperdoll by 40%, making it useful information for your team with any kind of weapon.
* Narc'd mech shows up as a seismic dot for all allies (maybe a different color than red) but only if the target moves, essentially a motion tracker.

The above two features would give Narc a distinct flavor and justify it's weight. It would make it more useful and interesting to non-LRM or non-streak boats. Rather than thinking of Narc as just a missile system, we should think of it as more like a targeting computer.