106 replies to this topic

[Kousagi]

Have to agree with Iron Booger. They have not changes UAC5's at all since closed beta. You do know they use to fire exactly the same as now, but they didn't have jam in the game. No one counted them as OP, and not many people used 2 UAC5's. They were still a powerful setup though, if your target let you hit them, but most people knew how to not get cored by ballistic weapons.

Now we have the exact same UAC5's from closed beta, but with jamming... So I guess the jamming makes them OP now? I'm confused on that one.

[Valaska]

TheUnderking, on 20 November 2012 - 02:27 PM, said:

The jamming percentage seems to have gone down as well. However, I only played 3 games so I can't confirm that.

Its pretty random mate, I actually played a match where the damn thing jammed 10 times in a row.

[Megahard]

Kousagi, on 22 November 2012 - 05:50 AM, said:

Have to agree with Iron Booger. They have not changes UAC5's at all since closed beta. You do know they use to fire exactly the same as now, but they didn't have jam in the game. No one counted them as OP, and not many people used 2 UAC5's. They were still a powerful setup though, if your target let you hit them, but most people knew how to not get cored by ballistic weapons.

Now we have the exact same UAC5's from closed beta, but with jamming... So I guess the jamming makes them OP now? I'm confused on that one.

Exactly this.

Nothing but the unjam has changed.

It's a fad right now and people seem to be too dumb to figure out a counter. (Hint, LRMs and fast mechs to target). There's obvious ways to beat UAC5s and we do it all the time in my group and laugh at these guys thinking they will roll.

I tried running the, but when I jammed on my first shot and at critical brawls I dropped them. Not reliable.

Edited by Microsoft, 22 November 2012 - 06:20 AM.

[MustrumRidcully]

Actually, some suggest something else has changed ,something that is simply not represented in the stats, e.g. the way the double shot affects the cooldown. But I am not sure whether that is true or not, since it's too long since I used the UAC.

The Ultra AC/5 definitely was already very strong before the jamming was added, but usage of it went down considerably since most people simply don't use macros and the unjam mechanism was to ardeous. Now that we have mechs that can equip Dual Ultras, Dual ACs we may see a new rise of them and their power can truely manifest itself.

[Artgathan]

I've run into a lot of mechs toting UAC5s now that they auto unjam. I think the automatic unjam is a solid mechanic (I never used the UAC5 previously because I couldn't hope to unjam it while in a firefight) and I've got no complaints about it.

However, the rapid ROF coupled with the extreme knockaround caused by impacts from the UAC5 make it almost impossible to fight against. Mechs that boast two of these are especially bad because there is literally no break between the rounds to realign your aim. On top of that, they deal a huge amount of damage in a short amount of time, allowing them to destroy heavy and assault mechs in a matter of seconds.

I think either the ROF, the Damage or the shake caused by their impact needs to be tweaked, because the current mix makes them a little bit too powerful.

[PL Harpoon]

They also waste ammunition like hell, and jam pretty often. Not to mention the convergence problems.

[Red squirrel]

Artgathan, on 22 November 2012 - 09:59 AM, said:

I've run into a lot of mechs toting UAC5s now that they auto unjam. I think the automatic unjam is a solid mechanic (I never used the UAC5 previously because I couldn't hope to unjam it while in a firefight) and I've got no complaints about it.

However, the rapid ROF coupled with the extreme knockaround caused by impacts from the UAC5 make it almost impossible to fight against. Mechs that boast two of these are especially bad because there is literally no break between the rounds to realign your aim. On top of that, they deal a huge amount of damage in a short amount of time, allowing them to destroy heavy and assault mechs in a matter of seconds.

I think either the ROF, the Damage or the shake caused by their impact needs to be tweaked, because the current mix makes them a little bit too powerful.

My opinion:

1) Reduce shake drastically. This should be what an AC/20 hit does to you. (If you look at real world physics just from speed and mass the impact of the AC20 should be 5 to 10 times stronger than an AC2)

2) Keep the automatic unjam - but the duration it substantially longer.
I think it is a good system if you have one UAC5 as your primary weapon. Once it is jammed every second counts.
But in my 2xUAC5 builds (or 2AC5 + 2UAC5 Phract) I really do not care about jamming.
For the time beeing I just keep hitting with one and it feels like no punishment at all.

Gauss: 3.75 DPS
UAC5: 9.09 DPS Some jamming might drop it to 7-8 DPS - still twice as much DPS as the next strongest weapon.

PL Harpoon, on 22 November 2012 - 10:04 AM, said:

They also waste ammunition like hell, and jam pretty often. Not to mention the convergence problems.

I guess everything was fine until the 4 Ballistic HP mech came round the corner.

[Tickdoff Tank]

El Death Smurf, on 20 November 2012 - 03:23 PM, said:

2 yes... but not 3 or 4. no mech has 4 balistic hardpoints except the cataphract-4x. but seeing as they are ALL in the arms, no such luck. at best you could fit 2 Uac/5 and 2 AC/5 1 in each arm. (lower arm actuators)
just wait till the Jagermechs to hit the scene, THEN complain about 3 or 4 UAC/5.

p.s. with the increased DPS you also have to worry about HPS now that there is NO time to allow for cool off if you go full auto.

Actually, one of the Cicada variants has 4 ballistic slots, but they cant mount that many UACs anyway.

[Doomie77]

I ran a uac5 cat before jamming went in, during the manual unjam time, and now. The new unjam system is basically like having a macro that you don't even have to think about. With a macro you at least have to hit the unjam macro button. So I'd say just make unjam a manual input, 1 button, done. Make it something you at least have to be watchful of.

As for the dps boost, I THOUGHT something was off when I logged in post patch, made a 4X with 2 uac5, and fired them. It seemed fast but people were telling me I was seeing things. I hope they dont lower the speed or tweak the jamming too bad - just put it back to the way it was speed wise, cooldown wise.

Edited by Doomie77, 22 November 2012 - 10:34 AM.

[Iram Dei]

While I normally do not start qq forums, I think this is an overarching issue that has become very pertinent recently. In Tabletop, battletech games, and every other decent representation of the series, the UAC is supposed to be a BETTER version of the AC. ER lasers better than normals etc etc. If PGI continues to nerf weapons that are inherently supposed to be better than their predecessors, not only will people lose interest, but the game will break.

If nerfs like this keep up, Clan and inner sphere techh might as well be the same, and Omnimechs might as well be useless.

Finally, if your going to nerf the UAC/5 slightly decrease its fire rate, dont make it a non skill based weapon. As it stands using the UAC is entirely luck based, and that sort system discourages truely competetive play.

Ohh and this has been a longstanding issue, but what team composition can beat an 8 streak cat sync drop? NONE. And that is broken. Streak Cats go 80 85 kph, do not have to aim, and when streaks are properly chain fired, the pilot getting rocked CANNOT SEE, not cockpit rock, but BLINDED. They can 1v1 any mech in the game and win (pilots of equal skill) that is also broken. Streaks were fine before buff/ bug fix, why did you rebuff them?

Just my 2 cents.

Edited by I like to meow, 22 November 2012 - 11:57 AM.

[geck0 icaza]

I like to meow, on 22 November 2012 - 11:27 AM, said:

the UAC is supposed to be a BETTER version of the AC.

Finally, if your going to nerf the UAC/5 slightly decrease its fire rate, dont make it a non skill based weapon. As it stands using the UAC is entirely luck based, and that sort system discourages truely competetive play.

Just my 2 cents.

I agree with the first point. The UAC is suppose to be better but at the cost of heat, ammo, and the chance of jamming. Which is all represented in the game. But they generally double tap, not just fire faster.

On the second point, I completely disagree. There is a massive jump in UAC usage because the jam time isn't long enough, and the DPS on them is ridiculous. Point to fact every config that had a gauss on it typically has a UAC now. The damage is bad enough, but the rocking makes it worse.

So being better is one thing, but being the best is whole other story. Which is currently their place in ballistics. And no weapon should be a gimmie weapon.

PS: can you provide a link to where they said they are nerfing UAC's?

[TheUnderking]

They nerved said they were. However someone has checked the XML files and the jamming coefficient went from 0.1 to 0.25. Aka the guns jam 25% of the time now.

[Zolthar]

Well the jam risk only happens if you shortcut the recycle sequence.

So use the UAC5 like a normal AC5, and shortcut only when needed.

But I agree that 25% might be a bit too much, 15-20% would be ok in my opinion. We'll see with the usage.

[Indoorsman]

So now that the annoying jam mechanic is out this is a fun weapon right? Seems like the hassle got removed but so did the fun. It jamming after 1-2 seconds kinda sucks. The downside of the Ultra AC5 is that you can't take advantage of the "Ultra" part.

If it's going to jam so much, can we at least get a way to toggle double fire off so that we can auto-single fire? Cause in order to avoid jams like a pro, you have to currently just watch the cooldown bar and fire, cooldown bar and fire. I have more important things to do than look @ the cooldown bar to avoid jams.

So either it should jam less or let us toggle single shot mode.

[Jacob Side]

i'm using a dual ultra ac5 build and with playing 12-14 games last night i had maybe 3-4 jams with sending a constant stream of shells.

[Gif]

If you have more important things to do then to look at the cool down bar, you should stop using the UAC5 and switch to the AC5 where you can hold down the button to your hearts content.

This is meant to be a more advanced weapon for advanced pilots. Situational, with slight advantages and disadvantages over regular ACs.

Dont like it dont use. It's fine where it's at.

[Splitpin]

Isn't 25% the TT chance of jamming ?

[MagicHamsta]

Hello Indoorsman, look at the AC5, now back to the UAC5. Sadly, AC5 isn't Ultra. But if he stopped jamming the UAC5 can be an UAC20. Look down, back up, where are you? You're in river city with the UAC5 your AC5 could never be. What's in your hand, back at me. I have it, it's the skills to the game you love. Look again, the UAC5 is now diamonds.

Also just because you can't taken advantage of the "Ultra" part doesn't mean others can't & giving it an easy mode firing would make AC5s obsolete.
(.-.)

Edited by MagicHamsta, 22 November 2012 - 12:55 PM.

[Stingz]

I definitely prefer the UAC/5 just because of 1.1 recycle time, double-tap is a nice extra for that little extra damage to kill.

Upping the jam chance already happened (10 > 25%), now up the amount of time jammed, 2-5 seconds is a very short time compared to the DPS you get when firing.

Edited by Stingz, 22 November 2012 - 01:14 PM.

[no coast punk]

If I were king of the world I would make UAC's like this:

If you hold down the fire button, the refire rate is identical to a regular AC/5.

If you release the fire button and tap between shots, you get the 2x fire rate with chance of jamming.