NEW WEAPONS AND AMMO TYPES
LAC/2, LAC/5
PAC/2, PAC/4, PAC/8
- These all look awesome.
THUNDERBOLT MISSILES
- These look cool too.
MAGSHOT
AP GAUSS
- It will be nice having a small ballistic range-matched to SRMs, a great addition.
SILVER BULLET GAUSS RIFLE
- This thing looks even more awesome!
BEAM LASER
- Very cool weapon. I'm especially looking forward to trying this thing out against lights.
PLASMA CANNON
A lighter variation of the Clan ER-PPC, this weapon deals a marginal amount of heat damage to targets as well.
Tech: Clan
Tonnage: 3 tons
Slots: 2 slots
Damage: 4.5 damage + 1 splash damage to each adjacent component
Cooldown: 3.5 seconds
Optimal Range: 540m
Max Range: 1080m
Heat: 7
Ghost Heat: 4
Velocity: 1650
Heat Damage: 0.25(this will result in 1-2% based on the heat capacity of the mech)
Quirk Families: Clan ERPPC, Light PPC
(Note: Not all of the Heat Damage in the Plasma Cannon is in the primary damage, some is in the splash damage as well. In order to land full heat damage on your target, you must hit them in a torso component. Hitting a limb will result in only 2/3 of the heat damage being dealt as some splash damage is lost)
- This does not correctly model how the weapon works in Table Top. In TT it deals 0 damage and 2D6 heat damage. I realize PGI has a tough choice here. Players HATE being overheated and not being able to use their weapons. It's not fun, but 0.25 heat damage is nearly unnoticeable. Also, weapons need to deal at least a little damage to avoid weird end-game situations where it's 1 vs 1 against an enemy with no ammo or no weapons that you have to finish off. If you're equipped with weapons that don't do damage this can result in frustrating drawn matches.
- As a result, PGI has instead implemented the weapon as a near copy of the IS Light PPC except for MASSIVELY more heat. 7 heat makes the weapon unusable. A damage / heat ratio less than 1 is not acceptable given that the heat damage component is so miniscule. This weapon is dead on arrival and once the novelty wears off no one will equip it.
- PGI has an opportunity here to add a truly unique weapon effect. It would be a shame to let it go to waste. Plasma Cannons need to do a significant amount of heat damage. Try this:
-- Same weight, slots, cooldown, velocity, range, etc.
-- 7 heat --> 6 heat, 4.5 dmg --> 4 dmg + same splash dmg, 0.25 splash heat dmg --> 2.5 splash heat dmg (Yes, 10x the heat damage)
-- It's important the heat used by the weapon be greater than the heat damage inflicted by it due to quirks and skills being able to reduce the heat cost. The weapon could become debilitating on the battlefield if it was too spammable due to quirks + skills making it much more heat efficient.
LIGHT TAG
- This and the Plasma Cannon are very important additions. They cover gaps in each sides technology, a light tag for STREAKs on the IS side and a light weight PPC weapon to break stealth armor on the Clan side. I had been thinking of making a post about these 2 tech gaps, now I won't have to.
WEAPON ADJUSTMENTS
LARGE LASER
Reduced heat to 5.9 (from 6.5)
- Bad change. I know large lasers are not sufficiently differentiated from Binary Laser Cannon's. Blue lasers already use too little heat so it shouldn't be reduced. (Check Table Top versions of blue lasers if you don't believe me when I say blue lasers use too little heat. I'm not saying MWO blue laser heat should be set to TT values but it's odd that they run so much cooler in MWO than in TT.)
BINARY LASER CANNON
Increased beam duration to 1.3 seconds (from 1.25)
- Correct direction of the nerf but not nearly large enough. Try 1.25s --> 1.50s. That would be enough to differentiate BLC from LL. (This is a bigger problem than just the BLC, all Clan Heavy Lasers and all ER lasers should have their durations slightly increased)
LARGE X-PULSE LASER
Increased heat to 1.5 (from 1.35)
Reduced range to 450m (from 480m)
- Heat nerf: OK.
- Range Reduction: VERY BAD. De-normalizing Large X-Pulse from standard laser range. It's just 30m? What's the big deal? If this was the only change that de-normalized something it wouldn't be a big deal, but these kinds of changes are never one-offs. They keep happening and add up over time littering the game with weird inconsistencies. The Cauldron has far too cavalier an attitude towards making these kinds of changes. Table Top is very clear about X-Pulse lasers: 50% more heat for 50% more range. (There is no DPS increase in TT)
ADVANCED SENSOR PACKAGE
- No longer useless garbage but still not good enough. Try this:
-- 1.5T --> 2.5T, only usable in head slot, keep existing sensor buffs.
-- Targeting an enemy applies the "Tagged" condition as long as line of sight is maintained. No laser is emitted to establish this effect, merely seeing the targeted enemy mech in your field of view applies it. This effect is immune to 1 ECM. (2 will counter it)
-- This is not my idea, I read something to this effect on the SARNA website but cannot relocate the page I read it from. Being able to apply the tagged effect without using a laser slot and without the enemy knowing where it's coming from would be awesome.
MASC
- I'm glad to see the MASC nerfs. I've suspected for a while now that MASC was OP.
Edited by MechMaster059, 18 March 2024 - 03:11 PM.