104 replies to this topic

[REDSLATE]

Applejack, on 01 November 2011 - 05:22 PM, said:

In MWLL, there's a notably large divide over the canon and gameplay functionality of Coolant. Some of them even argue that 'Mech "coolant" (aka ejecting coolant to cool down your 'mech) be removed because it negates the advantages of ballistic weapons / makes it too easy to use energy weapons.

What exactly is the canon functionality of coolant and why is it conflicting with gameplay? If it exists in the canon, then I don't see why it can't be incorporated into the game as long as it is properly balanced.

By the way, wouldn't it be injecting coolant?

[Lorebot]

I don't mind coolant pods as long as they're not infinitely usable and they're another target for ammo explosion effects like in the tabletop rules.

It's not hard to imagine a large bottle of compressed coolant attached to your regular cooling system that when you start running hot you can press a button and vent some of the hot coolant in the system while simultaneously replacing it with the coolant from the bottle. This would keep your cooling system under pressure like it's supposed to be while providing fresh coolant instantly upon demand until the bottle is empty, at which point you have to stop venting coolant because you need to keep the system under pressure and don't have anything more to pump into it. At that point the coolant bottle would no longer explode if it gets hit either because it's no longer pressurized.

For balancing reasons I can't see a single coolant pod being able to replace more than 30% of your coolant, so it wouldn't be incredibly useful because it wouldn't be able to drop your total heat levels by more than 30% if you vent the entire bottle at one time. More coolant bottles would mean being able to vent more coolant, but it would also take up valuable crit slots and weight. In effect the coolant pod wouldn't be a way to repeatedly alpha strike without overheating or a means to make a laser boat, it would be a way to not have to slap that override button so soon because you could vent some coolant and get yourself back under the alert level before the shutdown goes into effect, but it wouldn't alleviate your heat issues. You'd still need to do some significant heat management but you'd have an 'oh ****' button.

Honestly I see it being far more useful for mechs with jump jets and missles than those with a heavy loadout of lasers. The less you have to use it the more useful it is.

[Nebfer]

redslate, on 05 November 2011 - 12:46 PM, said:

What exactly is the canon functionality of coolant and why is it conflicting with gameplay? If it exists in the canon, then I don't see why it can't be incorporated into the game as long as it is properly balanced.

By the way, wouldn't it be injecting coolant?

The in universe ability of coolant pods are that they allow a mech to sink an extra point of heat per heat sink (regardless of type). However their one time deals that only last a single turn (10 seconds). Their also explosive if hit by weapons fire (partly due to the compressed nature of the system). You can however mount more than one pod, but you can only use one pod at a time.

Their most useful for thoughs who want an alpha strike (fire all weapons at once) and quickly shed the heat. This is more noticeable on units that have single heat sinks than with double sinks though.

[REDSLATE]

Nebfer, on 05 November 2011 - 02:19 PM, said:

The in universe ability of coolant pods are that they allow a mech to sink an extra point of heat per heat sink (regardless of type). However their one time deals that only last a single turn (10 seconds). Their also explosive if hit by weapons fire (partly due to the compressed nature of the system). You can however mount more than one pod, but you can only use one pod at a time.

Their most useful for thoughs who want an alpha strike (fire all weapons at once) and quickly shed the heat. This is more noticeable on units that have single heat sinks than with double sinks though.

Ok, thanks.

It seems like coolant could be balanced as it has both advantages and disadvantages. If someone does try to "exploit" it by using Alpha-Strikes, they would still be limited by the number of coolant uses. Also, coolant would undoubtedly take up space and add weight, reducing the number/type of weapons which could be equipped.

[Dihm]

No coolant please.