25 replies to this topic

[Asmudius Heng]

I restate what I have said before.

Make the weapon fit the role and do not make it infringe on another weapons role too much.

Gauss are fine as a sniper weapon, but they are also good brawlers. This is the problem.

Extending reload time is the easiest fix ... they can still brawl but not at the same DPS as an AC10 or AC20 say ... minimum range would also work but people do go 'what the' in regards to why that would be.

I am in favour of increasing the reload of the gun so it cannot output as much raw damage over time ... this way it becomes a precision hit and run weapon where firing every single time it recycs is less important than making sure you keep at range and hammer people when you can ... while you can still inflict damage when you are encroached upon.

Make the weapon fit the role ... do not worry about exact stats until THIS is established ... after that work out the behaviour of the weapon, then the stats to make that work.

ROLE NICHE

Only thing that we should be discussing so we clarify WHY we ask for certain things not just because TT did it.

[Firewuff]

I still think that becuse of the size it needs to track slower and cause the attached mech to turn slower, this balances it for brawling as smaller mechs can just avoid better and make hitting a fast moving target harder. Snipe a static target to hell, if some one stands still in the open bad luck. Even a slight fireing delay would work to balance it better

It does suck that at close range an AC20 is actually worse than a Gauss due to heat and ammo capacity, I should be able to go toe to toe with a gauss cat with a heavy mech and AC20s and win but it is rarely the case. As has been pointed out before part of the problem with the Gauss cat is the weapon is in the body which is hard to destroy

[Renthrak]

To best simulate the 'big and cumbersome' aspect, my suggestion remains to prevent convergence within 60m, which naturally makes it more difficult to aim, and almost impossible to hit the same armor location point-blank.

[Lawler]

The minimum range for any weapon in the tabletop version did nothing to the actual damage of the weapon. It applied a hit modifier to your roll so that you were less likely to hit, but did full damage if you did. They explained it in all manner of ways in the novels and sourcebooks as everything from potential feedback in the case of PPCs to the sad state of the fire control systems in the mechs of the period. However they rationalized it, the mechanic is there to ballance out the advantages that long range weapons had on accuracy at extended ranges to allow players to close in, negate this advantages and turn a battle in their favor. It worked extremely well considering longer range weapons were vastly easier to hit with compared to shorter ranged weapons, but doesn't quite work in MWO since range just isn't really an issue. You're either 1000 meters out lobbing LoLRMs or you're in your opponents face with medium lasers and small lasers. The maps are set up for this. The view distance is set up for this. The hard points are set up for this. Even the heat system seems to be set up for this.

An actual fix for the gauss would be to potentially make other long range weapons viable through heat changes or accuracy changes or both. Perhaps a targeting module that places a point of aim reticle on a target when you lock it. Make that point of aim be highly accurate are range, but give it greater variance up close depending one the relative minimum range of the weapon.

Edited by Lawler, 02 November 2012 - 02:45 AM.

[PestProblem]

instead of nerfing the gauss why not just lower the recycle time of the ac20 and 10 class autocannons? The ppc is an energy weapon and weighs less than most ballistic weapons to begin with so i dont get the comparison and as it is the weapon doesnt even use ammo. Where is the comparison to an energy weapon coming from in the first place? Keep balancing issues to specific weapon types only. The gauss is supposed to be a more advanced ballistic weapon. It is supposed to somewhat bridge the gap between energy and ballistic weapons.

[Cloon]

Why do things have to make sense in the Battletech world? Most of the weapon limitations don't make sense, who cares?

Balance is more important.