General Taskeen, on 08 January 2013 - 09:56 PM, said:
LB-X "cluster" needs something
A. Either give it the proper flak-burst effect (round explodes in proximity to a target, burst of pellets spread over smaller area's), although this might be problematic coding with netcode
B. Give a far reduced spread so all pellets hit at the caliber's given effective range over smaller area's (all pellets spreading roughly across side torso's and center at effective range)
C. A possible damage per pellet increase, 1.2 to 1.5, something like how other past MW titles balanced it or current. Going with 1.5, that would LB 2-X at 3 damage, LB 5-X at 7.5, LB 10-X at 15, LB 20-X at 30. Or start with a high damage per pellet for the lowest caliber (1.5 ; 2-X ; 3 Damage) - (1.4 ; 5-X ; 7 damage) - (1.3 ; 10-X ; 13 Damage) - (1.2 ; 20-X ; 24 Damage) ... just something.
A.) LB-X ACs have always fired their cluster rounds as
shotshells, never what you're calling "
flak rounds" (which are more properly named "
Shrapnel shells", after inventor
Henry Shrapnel).
Strum Wealh, on 19 December 2012 - 03:44 PM, said:
The "shotgun" implementation is actually the correct, canonical implementation.
LB-X ACs were always described as "BattleMech-scale shotguns", with the cluster munitions being consistently represented as
shotshell rounds (which fragment immediately upon leaving the weapon's barrel) rather than proximity-detonation "
Shrapnel shell" rounds (the latter of which most people tend to refer to as "flak rounds" and/or confuse with actual
canister shot rounds (which, as it happens and somewhat ironically, operate in a manner closer to shotshells than Shrapnel shells)).
LB-X ACs are also specifically described as smoothbore weapons (
TechManual, pg. 207; "These materials, coupled with a smooth-bore, multi-munition feed mechanism, make the LB more expensive than standard autocannons."), a descriptor that is used in such a way as to indicate contrast with other AC types... and one which is significant specifically because
rifled barrels are generally unsuitable for firing shotshells, an issue that would not exist with Shrapnel shells.
Additionally, the CBT Master Rules (Revised Edition, #10984) specifically states (on page 132), "The LB-X autocannon can fire cluster munitions, which act like an anti-BattleMech shotgun in combat. When fired, the ammunition fragments into several smaller sub-munitions."
The description indicates that the cluster munitions fragment "when fired", as opposed to "when the shell is within X meters of the target", further supporting the "cluster rounds as shotshells" LB-X model.
So: TT/canon LB-X cluster ammo was always intended to be a shotshell and is consistently described in a manner indicating such, rather than being a Shrapnel shell.
Also, "
Flak" is the name given to one of the special munitions used by Standard ACs, which are similar to the LB-X cluster runds only in that it is a cloud of smaller munitions that ultimately strikes the target.
B.) Tightening the (static) spread could work, as could having an automatic adjustable choke that modifies the spread based on the distance to the selected target.
(
Apparently,
adjustable chokes for shotguns have been around since at least the 1920s and at least
some of them can also handle slugs as well as shotshells, an ability that seems to vary from manufacturer to manufacturer; given that the LB-X is quite expensive, made of materials that can only be properly created/refined in microgravity conditions, and are mounted on bipedal walking tanks powered by portable and self-contained fusion reactors, assuming that some form of adjustable choke is built into the design doesn't seem too far-fetched.)
C.) FWIW, I do agree with your proposal for an increase in per-submunition damage to 1.5.
Edited by Strum Wealh, 09 January 2013 - 07:57 AM.
4
