8 replies to this topic

[FruitFly]

So I have been thinking this morning that the AMS system is a bit under powered. I noticed that my stalker sporting 2 AMS systems can shoot down a flight of lrm 5's before impact but a single AMS system will not fulfill such duties and as such is almost the last thing I would want on my Mech. Additionally, why cant it do more to protect me from short range missles like streak srm's?

My suggestion is make the exsisting AMS system slightly more effective, just small tweak to give better deffense from Streak SRM's and LRM's. Then intorduce a new type of AMS system based around the concept of a Active Ballistic Intercept system capable of intercepting large clustered groups of missles. Give it a long reload time, twice or three times the reload time of lrms or srms. this system could effectively destroy an entire cluster of missles before they made contact, however if the incoming missles were strung out in several clusters the system would only take out the first cluster in the string. This system would give defense to an alpha volley from a splat cat but not the next 2. It would act like the exsisting AMS and cover a bubble around your mech, giving cover to friendly mechs near you at a slightly lower effect.


For referrence:

[BATARA KALA]

Any Anti-Missile System put on a Mech one thousand years into the Sci-Fi future should be at least 90% effective.

The rate of fire on these weapons would be massive, specifically designed to obliterate nearly all incoming missiles, which are travelling at a slow rate, relative to the ballistics coming out of the AMS.

If you're going to include an anti-missile system in a sci-fi game, make them effective to warrant their inclusion in the weight of a mech.

Two AMS's on a mech should exterminate any and all inbound long-range missiles.

Any review of a modern point-defense vulcan cannon on any 2013 AD naval vessel will give you a clear perspective on how these weapons work.

The enemy missile is never going to get there.

[Vincent Lynch]

a slight buff would be fine. especially it should work better on SRM.

[Satan n stuff]

I'd suggest a significant damage boost with the drawback of accuracy loss over distance, so it will be able to shoot down more streak missiles but it won't instantly vaporize LRM volleys. If random misses turn out not to be reliable enough it could easily be made completely deterministic.
Most streak lights will close to well within the minimum range required to shoot down even one missile so there is definitely a problem here, with LRMs you're guaranteed to lose at least a few missiles to one AMS as the minimum range of LRMs is only slightly less than the maximum range of AMS.

[Bobzilla]

ULFHRAFN, on 12 March 2013 - 09:00 PM, said:

Any Anti-Missile System put on a Mech one thousand years into the Sci-Fi future should be at least 90% effective.

The rate of fire on these weapons would be massive, specifically designed to obliterate nearly all incoming missiles, which are travelling at a slow rate, relative to the ballistics coming out of the AMS.

If you're going to include an anti-missile system in a sci-fi game, make them effective to warrant their inclusion in the weight of a mech.

Two AMS's on a mech should exterminate any and all inbound long-range missiles.

Any review of a modern point-defense vulcan cannon on any 2013 AD naval vessel will give you a clear perspective on how these weapons work.

The enemy missile is never going to get there.

So you think the AMS got better but the missles didn't?

Anyways, they should work better for Streaks and SRMS. If streaks weren't auto hit i would say it shouldn't hit streaks. I find one can take out LRM5s easy

[FruitFly]

My point of the post is to give pilots a counter against an over used tactic i dont want this to eclipse the lrms or srms just give pilots more options, for the lrm and srms based pilots this wouldnt kill your piloting skill but force you to be smarter and not just sit in the back like a papper weight hitting the launch button. for the missle pilot to overcome this new ams system they would just have to split their missles up so not all the missles are in flight in 1 group.

[FeralBerserker]

AMS could be a little more useful. I'd say that if it's power is increased though, especially in the manner of combatting SSRMs and SRMs better, it would need some sort of limiting factor. Such as selecting the mode your AMS operates in. Could be as easy as setting it to Short Range or Long Range, or choosing between Burst Mode (one large burst of anti-missile fodder with a significant reload time) and Continuous Mode (smaller, less effective bursts that reload quickly). Personally, I only use AMS to lessen the damage from incoming LRMs. When it comes to SRMs of any sort I figure 'If they're close enough to shoot me, I'm close enough to shoot them.' Switching between Short and Long range would hopefully help with the balance, since you'd still be vulnerable to missiles of some sort based on your preference. I can honestly say though that AMS shouldn't be able to shoot down all incoming missiles, seems like it would take a lot of the depth out of the game, especially when considering mech variants like the Catapult A1, which can only use missiles.

[Roadbeer]

I think the flaw with AMS lies in it's concept.

The current system uses a Phalanx type system, throwing up a wall of lead designed to stop a few devastating missiles. Where the LRM system puts up many missiles.

I think a better form would be akin to the old flak systems that were designed to be used against multiple targets.

I would suggest that AMS put up a burst cloud at a ROF of say 1/ 1s or 1.5s and each missile passing through that cloud has a, say 30%, chance to be destroyed (45% for mechs that have dual AMS). Each missile would 'roll' for survival, giving the system a random chance of a better or worse than the 30%.

[Stormwolf]

AMS has always been a bit meh in both TT and past MW games, I think that the MWO AMS is pretty good compared to them.