63 replies to this topic

[Willie Sauerland]

focuspark, on 19 January 2013 - 03:14 PM, said:

My problem with ECM is that it affects the entire map as it is today. A mech 2KM away is affected by it because it somehow blocks radar regardless of where the radar is loccated. That's stealth technology, not ECM technology. ECM offers a power reward while requiring no risk on the part of the benefiting player. Instead the ECM 'mech should need to be within 180m of the victims to increase the risk to a level that is balanced with the reward offered.

I agree removing lock-on from SSRM would make them basically just SRM... but that's what they are. They're just SRM with a small bonus. Today the bonus is too large. Why would anyone ever fit SRM2 vs SSRM2? They wouldn't unless they were really uneducated to the differences.

LRM do move too slow. I agree. They should up the travel speed from 200m/s to 500m/s or similar.

LRM should be mostly useless as great ranges against moving targets. There's no reason they should so effective while offer no risk to the attacking 'mech. That's the actual complaint of most people regarding LRM today.

Generally agree with the proposal. However, the quote above is not my experience. We tested this once where we placed an enemy mech outside the 180 bubble and two friendly mechs outside the bubble as well, one in LoS of the target through the bubble and the second with LoS completely outside the bubble. The Mech with LoS going through the bubble was still able to target the mech because the other friendly had LoS.

To me, this is how it should work given the graphic in the BattleTech master rules.

LRMs should not have lock-on capabilities unless being used with TAG (per indirect-fire and semi-guided munitions rules). If no TAG is involved, they are simply dumb fired and should not curve to hit any of their targets moving away from them. SSRMs should be able to be dumb-fired and should require a lock every time they are fired (and not one lock to rule them all).

These are all from the master rules. Why they weren't implemented like this I don't know. If these were fixed, ECM would be fine (I think - though people's mileage would vary).

However, I don't have a problem with your suggestions either. As long as the whining and crying stops, I'll support it.

[focuspark]

I think the reason the devs gave LRM lock on was to enable indirect fire, which I support doing... but it's too accurate and their idea of balanced was adding an even more ****** up mechanic: ECM.

You should further into the thread. Solutions get significantly better as more people contributed.

TLDR:
SSRM should require a targeting laser be applied to the target
LRM should lock on to a location, not a mech
LRM should fast fire when LOS is available, but again no tracking targets
ECM should protect friendlies within the bubble from indirect fire
ECM should prevent enemies within the bubble from sharing targeting data
ECM should do nothing else

[Koshirou]

focuspark, on 13 February 2013 - 03:37 PM, said:

I'd argue that LRMs are too accurate at range. IMO it's better to put their damage back to 2.0, increase their velocity to 500 m/s but only have them attack the location the target was when they launched. Moving targets, at range, very hard to hit. Near or still targets are scrap metal. Yay - LRMs would require some skill again.

Oh and LRM lock on with LOS should be nearly 0 seconds and not be affected by ECM at all.

That would make LRM boats the undisputed kings of the battlefield, just in a different way.

Basically your suggestion would mean that you could direct-fire LRMs at medium ranges (say ~300 meters, with a flight time of about half a second), and do even more massive damage with no possible defense. If you think a 60-point PPC Awesome blast is bad, or even a 90-point SRM-6-Pult blast, what about a 160-point LRM Stalker blast?

Let me try this differently, because I'm relatively new to MWO, but a veteran player of BattleTech, Megamek (and MW2: Mercenaries back in the day):

Why do LRMs need such a massive damage boost? What was the original reasoning behind this?

Edited by Koshirou, 14 February 2013 - 02:37 AM.

[focuspark]

Koshirou, on 14 February 2013 - 02:34 AM, said:

That would make LRM boats the undisputed kings of the battlefield, just in a different way.

Basically your suggestion would mean that you could direct-fire LRMs at medium ranges (say ~300 meters, with a flight time of about half a second), and do even more massive damage with no possible defense. If you think a 60-point PPC Awesome blast is bad, or even a 90-point SRM-6-Pult blast, what about a 160-point LRM Stalker blast?

Let me try this differently, because I'm relatively new to MWO, but a veteran player of BattleTech, Megamek (and MW2: Mercenaries back in the day):

Why do LRMs need such a massive damage boost? What was the original reasoning behind this?

LRM have massive spread and firing that many LRM20 at once would not only shutdown the firing mech but they'd have a good chance of suffering an ammo explosion and toppling over.