11 replies to this topic

[Sable Dove]

Short term: Remove ECM from the Raven 3L and Commando 2D, and give it to the Spider 5K and Spider 5V instead. That way, every light mech has either streaks, or counter-streaks, and none has both. Except the Atlas D-DC, which isn't as important because it's a big, slow target.

ECM still needs a nerf, but this would at least be a step towards dethroning the King and Queen of lights. The 3L and 2D would still be annoying, but could actually be killed for a change. The Spiders (5V and 5K), as the only light mechs currently without streaks, would get ECM to counter streaks.

I'm in favour of an ECM nerf, but it should still counter streaks. Make them dumbfire-only, at least.

Longterm: make lasers hitscan, because it makes sense. Lasers become light-killers; ballistics, heavy killers. Guided missiles get a slight nerf (to go with the ECM nerf), and become decent anti-everything.

I'm only talking from a game-design perspective; seeking to make the game more enjoyable and balanced; I'm not really qualified to judge the faithfulness to canon, but I'm really more concerned with a fun game than a true-to-canon game.

[Accused]

They could reduce the range of ecm, make ams far more effective, reduce the damage done by ssrms, make lrms los only, increase Tag duration, fix the netcode, bring back collisions, etc.

Etc, etc, etc.

[Kaijin]

Sable Dove, on 21 January 2013 - 03:46 PM, said:

Short term: Remove ECM from the Raven 3L and Commando 2D, and give it to the Spider 5K and Spider 5V instead.

No need for that. If PGI would just take ECM off of the mechs with missile hardpoints, it'd be a huge improvement. Both the Raven and the Commando have such variants. The Jenner too.

Sable Dove, on 21 January 2013 - 03:46 PM, said:

I'm only talking from a game-design perspective; seeking to make the game more enjoyable and balanced; I'm not really qualified to judge the faithfulness to canon, but I'm really more concerned with a fun game than a true-to-canon game.

While PGI seems quite happy to play fast and loose with the canon, there are some things they simply cannot do unless they want to be tarred and feathered. One of those things is not having at least one Raven variant with ECM. It is the iconic ECM mech for the MW franchise.

[One Medic Army]

The Raven 3L carries ECM in the stock variant.
Can't remove ECM from it.

[Budor]

ECM carriers in disrupt mode cannot achieve locks with guided weapons (LRM/SSRM).

Edited by Budor, 21 January 2013 - 04:07 PM.

[Sable Dove]

Budor, on 21 January 2013 - 04:06 PM, said:

ECM carriers in disrupt mode cannot achieve locks with guided weapons (LRM/SSRM).

Yeah, that's another good one. It'd still be nice to have ECM on all the Spiders, since without streaks or ECM, they're faily underpowered as far as lights go.

[Five oh Five Squat]

Budor, on 21 January 2013 - 04:06 PM, said:

ECM carriers in disrupt mode cannot achieve locks with guided weapons (LRM/SSRM).

They'd have to let you dumb fire them then, though people would just macro around that to go to Counter, and flip back soon as the missiles fire.

[Green Mamba]

You do realize they could completely remove ECM from the game and Streak builds will STILL be automatically hitting and doing massive damage for their Weight/ammo/heat tradeoff compared to other weapons and STREAKCATS will be the most OP mech again

Edited by Green Mamba, 21 January 2013 - 04:27 PM.

[Cyclonite]

ECM + Streaks flat out shouldn't be allowed together on the same mech. Individually they are powerful but together they are game breaking.

[Kaijin]

Green Mamba, on 21 January 2013 - 04:26 PM, said:

You do realize they could completely remove ECM from the game and Streak builds will STILL be automatically hitting and doing massive damage for their Weight/ammo/heat tradeoff compared to other weapons and STREAKCATS will be the most OP mech again

Not so sure about that. In this age of ECM, many Splatapult pilots have honed their craft, and would give the Streakapult pilots a run for their money.

Edited by Kaijin, 21 January 2013 - 04:31 PM.

[Budor]

Five oh Five Squat, on 21 January 2013 - 04:23 PM, said:

They'd have to let you dumb fire them then.

Why would they have to do that? Either youre a ECM carrier or you use lock-on weapons, its a decision. People would macro around it but theyd still have to drop to counter mode to actually start locking. Stuff could be adjusted further through increasing the cd on disrupt/counter mode-switching.

Im fine with ECM, actually like how it changed the game. But streaks on ecm lights with the current netcode are just silly...esp. for people that like to pilot other light variants.

A shitload of work went into adding variants to the game that are non-functional due to the 3L, 2D and laughable machine guns.

Edited by Budor, 21 January 2013 - 04:49 PM.

[TVMA Doc]

Accused, on 21 January 2013 - 03:50 PM, said:

They could reduce the range of ecm, make ams far more effective, reduce the damage done by ssrms, make lrms los only, increase Tag duration, fix the netcode, bring back collisions, etc.

Etc, etc, etc.

Even just removing the fog of war effect from ECM would go a long way. I typically find it far more annoying to have no tactical information (especially location of friendly units) when near ECM than I find it annoying that there's a problem firing missiles. It is far too easy to be expecting that raven to come back around only to alpha a team mate that you didn't know was behind you or think that you're just about to kill that enemy running away-only to run straight into his 7 friends that you should have known about because they are visible to the rest of your squad.