7 replies to this topic

[Koe]

I have played Mechwarrior for a long time now, and one of my favorite things to do is load up a couple Long Tom cannons on an Atlas and go ballistic (no pun intended). As this is a Mechwarrior game, I find it... odd, at the very least, that this weapon hasn't been included.

Is it slated to be introduced at a later time? If not, please consider implementing it - while it's certainly a destructive weapon, it also takes a lot of skill to be used effectively, as it is essentially an artillery piece.

Also, I assume this is true because of the Factions tab in the menu, but will it eventually be possible to join a permanent group of teammates, instead of getting shoved with whoever? My biggest gripe with the game (aside from my abysmal upload time) is that, unless a couple people with headsets pull the team together, a pickup group will often be steamrolled.

I have already gotten grief for running in the face of battle - piloting a little Raven, might I add - when five other mechs were breathing down my neck. Just having a team you're familiar with would greatly increase survivability

[Ewigan]

Well ehm... you seriously want to mount an artillery, that is usually carried by train, on your atlas?
i mean yeah, from the rulebooks it was possible, but come one man....

[Strum Wealh]

Koe, on 03 December 2012 - 10:26 PM, said:

I have played Mechwarrior for a long time now, and one of my favorite things to do is load up a couple Long Tom cannons on an Atlas and go ballistic (no pun intended). As this is a Mechwarrior game, I find it... odd, at the very least, that this weapon hasn't been included.

Is it slated to be introduced at a later time? If not, please consider implementing it - while it's certainly a destructive weapon, it also takes a lot of skill to be used effectively, as it is essentially an artillery piece.

Unlike MW4 (and more like MW2 and MW3), MWO uses the "critical spaces" system seen in the original BattleTech game.
The Long Tom Artillery Cannon weighs 20 tons and consumes 15 critical spaces.
(By contrast, the bigger Long Tom Artillery Piece weighs 30 tons and consumes 30 critical spaces.)

BattleMechs have only 8 to 10 open critical spaces in each arm (depending on whether Lower Arm Actuators and/or Hand Actuators are present) and 9 to 12 open critical spaces in each side-torso (depending on whether one is using a Standard or XL Engine); there are only two open critical spaces in each leg and the center-torso, and only a single open critical space in the head.
Unless MWO implements the ability to split an item's critical spaces across locations, no 'Mech would be able to mount either version of the Long Tom.

Koe, on 03 December 2012 - 10:26 PM, said:

Also, I assume this is true because of the Factions tab in the menu, but will it eventually be possible to join a permanent group of teammates, instead of getting shoved with whoever? My biggest gripe with the game (aside from my abysmal upload time) is that, unless a couple people with headsets pull the team together, a pickup group will often be steamrolled.

I have already gotten grief for running in the face of battle - piloting a little Raven, might I add - when five other mechs were breathing down my neck. Just having a team you're familiar with would greatly increase survivability.

Relatively little has been said about Community Warfare (the element of the game revolving around the Factions and how much of the in-game may each holds, the roles of Mercenary Corporations and Lone Wolves, and so on) since the publishing of Dev Blog 01 (posted around this time last year) and the associated Q&A session.
If you have or can get access to issue #233 of PC Gamer (with MWO art on the cover), there would be a bit more information concerning CW there.
Elements of CW, such as the matchmaking system and support for company-vs-company (12 vs 12) matches, are still being worked on.

There are also subfora for each Faction under "Faction Talk" where one can look for recruiting efforts by groups of players affiliated with a given faction.
There is also a subforum (including a section dedicated to recruiting efforts) for mercenary groups under "Merc Corps".
The Clans also have their own subforum.

As far as getting grief...
Some people seem to believe that everyone should have an Insanity Wolf mentality:

Others will even actively betray you by reporting your location to the opposing team (a practice the Moderators have taken to calling "birddogging", after the signature behavior of pointing dogs) in order to have the match end more quickly.

Quote

This is a reminder that betraying teammate locations to the EN (‘birddogging’) is a form of greifing and is in violation of the Community Guidelines. Please avoid this behavior in the future, thank you!

Report those that do to:
support@mwomercs.com

If you're actively participating in the match and you're the last one left as a lone Raven against 5+ opponents, there aren't likely to be a lot of options available.
Do what you can (within reason), and hope that you've chosen the best of what options there are.
(And, if necessary, find new teammates...)

[Koe]

Well... huh. Like I said, I have experience in Mechwarrior, not Battletech. I don't have a concept of critical spaces, I just slap crap in for different ideas I have. And it was possible to stick a Long Tom in the assault mechs in the M4 series - I've never even played M3.

Well, thanks for the comments. Insanity Wolf mentality, huh? I prefer to cut my losses.

[Asmosis]

I only tried long tom once in MW4, and for a brief time. It was quite unwieldy to have an arc i think on it, with the speeds in MWO im not sure it really has a place unless we get stationary targets like drop ship missions.

(imagine if the current base cap was a "destroy the DS" on each side. no more hanging back on defense!)

[Tuku]

I think that if implamented Long Tom could be an amzing weapon. Imagine you are standing off in the distance and your spotters see the enemy team rolling up the water toward the center of the ship on forest coloney .....that point is known to you so you swing your crosshairs around and aim so that the round will land just behind the enemy ship....your spotter calls that they are getting close and you wait a couple ticks and then boom....lose the round and let it fly . They walk into a wall of pain but because of the boxes they have to move relatively close togeather . ANother round loosed BOOM and then your team moves in to mop up the chaos.

[FrostCollar]

Well, there is precedent for battlemechs that carry artillery cannons, even if they are smaller than the Long Tom. I think adding some proper artillery like the Sniper or the Arrow IV missile could make indirect fire much more interesting than the choice to lob LRMs or not to lob LRMs.

Still, since such weapons would not be terribly effective at brawling with, you'd need some effective teamplay. They would be tough to balance as well. So although I invite such options, they would take a lot of work.

Edited by FrostCollar, 04 December 2012 - 06:32 AM.

[Deadoon]

I would love to mount the thumper or sniper artillery cannons(the short barrel easily mech mountable ones) on my atlas and use it as a fire support mech launching direct fire explosive shells to disorient entire groups of enemies.

http://www.sarna.net...rtillery_Cannon 10 slots, like a ac/20 but weighs a ton more.
http://www.sarna.net.../Thumper_Cannon 7 slots like a gauss rifle but weighs only 10 tons.

Both of these weapons do minimal actual damage, but give them a 50-60 meter explosion area dealing their respective damages on impact and the area of effect outside that and they could easily be worth it for special builds.


And if they ever make the heat system closer to TT I would love to be able to mount the binary laser cannon, 1 more heat than a erppc and weighs 2 tons more but 20% more damage and no minimum range.

Edited by Deadoon, 04 December 2012 - 06:48 AM.