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[peve]

I wont explain basic consepts here to those who dont know them, this is quick and dirty list of suggestions for the devs. Take it or leave it.

1. arms & torso convergence
You should be able to lock them together or use arms faster than torso.

2. general weapon convergence
Both lasers and ballistics need to adjust on x&y based on distance of the target and the mount point of the weapon. Moreso, ballistics need to take gravity into account to hit target at certain distance.

If the mech doesnt have a targeting computer, I would either make convergence distances hard-coded at mech lab, or make them adjustable during the game manually (at 50 or 100m steps, maybe).

They could be adjustable only at mech lab, maybe default being 50-75% of the max distance of the weapon, but freely adjustable for different maps. Brawlers would adjust them short, snipers long. You get the point.

Or, they could be adjusted on the fly so that every weapon would converge at one distance that the pilot chooses at that point of the game. This would require real skill and would create a need for targeting computers.

3. Targeting computers
Once installed, it could behave either as an automatic convergence adjuster for every weapon, based on the target selected in the radar OR it could adjust automatically based on the stuff under reticle. So, it would automatically adjust ballistics also in y direction for every shot.

Well how about that! Very nice "use the force" -style options for manual firing for those who go for max damage. It also makes ballistics a bit harder to use without a computer, so they could fire at faster rates to create difference to weapon classes (lasers easier to aim, ballistics more devastating). Also, using ECM, IFF jammer etc. would create a situation where even a targeting computer might misfunction, since you cannot get a decent lock to the scout, and you would be forced to fire with manual setting, thus being unable to consentrate your fire to only one hit location. Stuff like that.

[peve]

Here is some background to this suggestion.

There has been a lot discussions on the forum about targeting computers and their functions. I feel that MW3-style system just is not enough (show lead indicator based on target speed, this varies by the weapon type btw.). Sarna explanation of targeting computers is a bit different than my suggestion, but vague enough to give room for other possibilities than auto-aim / reticle stabilizer.

Using convergence like this is not a showstopper to anyone. Lasers already have burn time, you dont always hit the location you want to. Since TT rules are what many people want in some way, this system would be in line with them in a believable way. There would be a real reason to use a heavy targeting computer (1 ton for every 4 tons of weapons it controls), but there would be weight reason to leave one out also.