31 replies to this topic

[Roland]

Just map everything to one group. Now you have an alpha strike button.

[Aegis Kleais]

Roland, on 26 May 2012 - 04:41 PM, said:

Just map everything to one group. Now you have an alpha strike button.

As long as each weapon could have more than 1 group assigned to it, this is more than a viable solution for alpha striking.

[Felicitatem Parco]

killenbigbugs, on 26 May 2012 - 08:53 AM, said:

well what i mas meaning by was like a its like a charge up shot say to a certain amount of damage then unleash hell.

The OP was actually asking about whether or not they would implement an Alpha-Strike utility that acts as its own weapons platform - something that simply "gathers up" the energy of all your weapons sytems, overcharges it somehow, condenses it into a single projectile, and then fires it.

Think of MegaMan 3 and the little charge-up thing you can do with the hand blaster.

It's a relic of MechAssault, but unfortunately, they called this kind of mystical charge-up-your-weapons-and-release-a-DragonBallZ-ball-of-energy attack an "Alpha Strike," just the same as you would call a really really good skateboard a "Turbo Skateboard" (there's no air compressor on a skateboard!).

Edited by Prosperity Park, 26 May 2012 - 05:35 PM.

[Aegis Kleais]

Prosperity Park, on 26 May 2012 - 05:10 PM, said:

The OP was actually asking about where or not they would implement an Alpha-Strike utility that acts as its own weapons platform - something that simply "gathers up" the energy of all your weapons sytems, overcharges it somehow, condenses it into a single projectile, and then fires it.

Think of MegaMan 3 and the little charge-up thing you can do with the hand blaster.

It's a relic of MechAssault, but unfortunately, they called this king of mystical charge-up-your-weapons-and-release-a-DragonBallZ-ball-of-energy attack an "Alpha Strike," just the same as you would call a really really good skateboard a "Turbo Skateboard" (there's no air compressor on a skateboard!).

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*Hadoukens you*

[Felicitatem Parco]

YOU WIN

[whiskey tango foxtrot]

my....my

[Foerender]

killenbigbugs, on 26 May 2012 - 09:14 AM, said:

i was look at mechs that would to the most dam with the alpha strike i came up with this http://www.sarna.net...i/Warhammer_IIC

The Nova (Black Hawk) http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Nova was always my fav.
84 max Damage, at 60 Heat, overheats by 32.
Loved jumping behind my friends Atlas and taking him out in one blow.

[Tor Matthews]

killenbigbugs, on 26 May 2012 - 08:53 AM, said:

well what i mas meaning by was like a its like a charge up shot say to a certain amount of damage then unleash hell.

this is a mechwarrior game, not mechassault.

[John Clavell]

Like others have stated. I'm pretty certain you can do this as or right now. The Alpha Strike are not 'acts of desperation' (maybe in some cases), you always want to be able to fire as many weapons as possible, that only makes sense. But the limiting factors are obviously range, to-hit, and heat. It's a balancing factor in table top as well as MechWarrior (to different degrees at least ).

Edited by John Clavell, 27 May 2012 - 12:29 AM.

[SideSt3p]

CoffiNail, on 26 May 2012 - 08:29 AM, said:

Set one of your groups to alpha strike, say group six.

Alpha strike is a fire every weapon.

What he said.

[DireWolf307]

Aegis Kleais, on 26 May 2012 - 04:26 PM, said:

So let me get this right.

If I have a Light with 4 Medium Lasers and enough Heatsinks to be able to fire them indefinitely without ever over-heating.

Firing all of my lasers at once is a "last-ditch effort"?

I'm not sure "Alpha Strike" has anything to do with a level of desperation. It just means you're firing all your weapons at once.

Think about the term as it's used in the books, such as Morgan Kell's fight with Yorinaga Kurita (the so-called "Phantom 'Mech" incident). Kurita was using Alpha Strikes as purely a last ditch effort.

If all you have is 4 Medium Lasers, then no, an "Alpha Strike" isn't a last ditch effort, but you also have a 'mech that's only good at one thing. Generally when the term has been used in lore, it's been used to mean multiple types of weapons being fired at the same time as a "make-or-break" moment when odds are not in one's favor.

Semantics aside, I think anyone who's been involved in Battletech beyond ClickyTech or MechAssault would agree that some sort of "charging up mah lazors, over 9000!!!!" kind of "kill shot" is stupid for MWO.

[Aegis Kleais]

DireWolf307, on 27 May 2012 - 11:53 AM, said:

Think about the term as it's used in the books, such as Morgan Kell's fight with Yorinaga Kurita (the so-called "Phantom 'Mech" incident). Kurita was using Alpha Strikes as purely a last ditch effort.

If all you have is 4 Medium Lasers, then no, an "Alpha Strike" isn't a last ditch effort, but you also have a 'mech that's only good at one thing. Generally when the term has been used in lore, it's been used to mean multiple types of weapons being fired at the same time as a "make-or-break" moment when odds are not in one's favor.

Semantics aside, I think anyone who's been involved in Battletech beyond ClickyTech or MechAssault would agree that some sort of "charging up mah lazors, over 9000!!!!" kind of "kill shot" is stupid for MWO.

If that's the case, I don't care for the term then.

It doesn't epitomize anything other than a last, desperate act and no-brainer course of action for someone to try and get the most damage by firing all weapons before they are erased from existence.

It's turning it into a context-sensitive action rather than just the act of firing all weapons. Novels seem to just endear the act to the reader by glamourizing it, but whether it's a defiant firing of weapons on one's aggressor before you are killed, or the alpha strike that puts down your opponent for good, to me, it's all just the firing of every weapon at once in a grand showcase of power.

Sure a 4ML alpha strike isn't as impressive as a bunch of heavy canons, rifles, LRM salves, etc., but potency didn't really have any discernible difference IMO.