TOP 3 - Worst weapons

Sir Rechet · Post by **Sir Rechet** » Fri Feb 07, 2003 5:00 pm

Ahh, sorry about that LRM/SRM confusion. Of course if I DO have empty slots (and necessary weight allowance) that won't house even the LRM6 rack, then it'd make a rather perfect spot for a SRM4/SRM8 rack instead. I just prefer to use LRMs in Heavies and Assaults, which means that I'll be using 6 or 7 LRM racks, leaving no room for SRMs, period. If I'm using 6 LRM racks, the "extra" body part gets all those fancy equipment installed instead.

About mesons: If I remember correctly, there was a discussion some time ago about mesons only having a CHANCE for internal damage, but it might have been just a bug report or something. Thanks for the update, though.

Nevertheless, since even the lightest titans have quite a few structural points in ALL body parts (head excluded, naturally), using LMG/HMG to take them out is going to take ages. By the time you finally manage to bring down something via internal damage, you would have completely destroyed the body part using something like AC7 instead. (I did prove this once, remember?) Plus, any damage done to the external armor (by other titans in your team, for example) would be considered "wasted" since you're only trying to bring down the internals.

A suggestion: Should LMG damage be upped to 3+3 and HMG up to 5+5, 'cause then they'd be free from this "but you could just use an ordinary cannon instead" dilemma?

Thorgrim · Post by **Thorgrim** » Fri Feb 07, 2003 6:04 pm

Originally posted by Sir Rechet
About mesons: If I remember correctly, there was a discussion some time ago about mesons only having a CHANCE for internal damage, but it might have been just a bug report or something. Thanks for the update, though.

Nevertheless, since even the lightest titans have quite a few structural points in ALL body parts (head excluded, naturally), using LMG/HMG to take them out is going to take ages. By the time you finally manage to bring down something via internal damage, you would have completely destroyed the body part using something like AC7 instead. (I did prove this once, remember?) Plus, any damage done to the external armor (by other titans in your team, for example) would be considered "wasted" since you're only trying to bring down the internals.

A suggestion: Should LMG damage be upped to 3+3 and HMG up to 5+5, 'cause then they'd be free from this "but you could just use an ordinary cannon instead" dilemma?

Nope, just someone that made the same mistake you did

Nope, I don't remember, but you must have made some calculation errors, cause that's not what I got. As for struct, take a look at the IS pts evolution from recon to assault class. Mesons are more effective against larger titans when used this way. But it never takes ages.
Damage is never wasted. Nothing assures you you'll get all the called shots home. And you can target different titans with the mesons.

Nope. No dilemma as far as I'm concerned.

tarendelcymir · Post by **tarendelcymir** » Fri Feb 07, 2003 8:05 pm

I'd have to agree with Iceman. The HMG would be way too unbalanced if it did 5 external and 5 internal damage, along with the chance for component damage.

Thorgrim · Post by **Thorgrim** » Fri Feb 07, 2003 8:23 pm

5 or 6 HMG hits would kill most titans. 5 or 6 AC7 hits barely penetrate armor. That wouldn't be balanced at all.
Note that a HMG does *6* (six) damage total, not 3. That's almost as much as an AC7, plus the special effect, and the fact that generally structure is thinner than armor. So the HMG is actually (generally) better in that aspect. Same for the LMG/AC4 (no range considerations included).

Sir Rechet · Post by **Sir Rechet** » Fri Feb 07, 2003 9:42 pm

OK, OK, I agree with you guys.

Other than for range considerations, both meson guns lose very little in their statistics as compared to AC4/AC7. A bit harder to hit, a bit slower reload, a bit more heat, but I suppose it's well balanced when you consider that you'll also SAVE one slot of space and one full tonne of weight and GAIN the added chance for crits. HMG's lower damage is compensated by making this added chance even bigger.

Besides, what I didn't consider was that even if your other titans attack the same titan as your meson gunner, when the external armor is gone, pretty soon the whole body part will be as well since the internals have already been damaged. *slaps self*

*Starts to think about replacing those AC4s/AC7s in titans that were supposed to act as close combat titans*

jzpops · Post by **jzpops** » Sat Feb 08, 2003 1:42 am

I didn't know that about Meson guns. I may have to mount some on one of my titans, now. HMG's, anyway... the LMG's still seem too light to mount on an assault titan.

tarendelcymir · Post by **tarendelcymir** » Sat Feb 08, 2003 2:45 am

Getting hit with several HMG and/or LMG shots can put a severe crimp on your titan's functionality. It's not something to laughed off, especially if it gets your ammo and causes a nice explosion.

LarkinVB · Post by **LarkinVB** » Sat Feb 08, 2003 2:49 am

Mesons are a gamble. Just fought a battle with 2 HMG and 2 LMG and didn't score any valuable crit. Another time I won a net duel with a HMGs damaging first heat regs, than engine.

A nice addition to this game i the new E.M. pulser. From enemy shutdown to nothing ..... all is possible.

tarendelcymir · Post by **tarendelcymir** » Sat Feb 08, 2003 2:53 am

Originally posted by LarkinVB
Mesons are a gamble. Just fought a battle with 2 HMG and 2 LMG and didn't score any valuable crit. Another time I won a net duel with a HMGs damaging first heat regs, than engine.

A nice addition to this game i the new E.M. pulser. From enemy shutdown to nothing ..... all is possible.

It's definitely a gamble, but if you get that critical, it's all worth it. I really like the idea of the E.M. pulser, too. Can't wait to see it in action.

Sir Rechet · Post by **Sir Rechet** » Mon Feb 10, 2003 4:50 pm

I suppose the worst thing about Meson guns is their reliance on luck. By the laws of Murphy, they'll never work quite the way they're supposed to when you're using them, but your enemies will sure as hell score a crit to your heat reg/engine/ammunition in the first three shots. I've had this happen so many times that it's no longer funny.

I guess I've told you guys before, but one thing that I value the most when choosing weapons is the amount of damage one can expect to cause on the enemies with RELIABILITY. I'm sorry to inform, but I just decided to dismiss half of my team (all those dismissed were at least regulars with their Energy weapon skill developed) b/c the energy weapons really DO svck big time due to shields, whileas there's NOTHING to stop the brute force of cannons/UNguided missiles..

LarkinVB · Post by **LarkinVB** » Mon Feb 10, 2003 5:13 pm

Dismissed all energy jocks ? My team still has 1/3 in energy titans and it works really well. Rarely all enemies have shields. I pick those which don't and enjoy the long range sniping capabilty of my plasmas or the devastating power of my tesla. Liting woods with cannons is also very hard to do. I always use burning woods and smoke screens to my advantage. Currently my favorite design is an assault with plasma, large laser, gauss and AC12 and all necessary stuff to protect it. Sure, Ripley, my jock is a WS ace and can handle it well.

Sir Rechet · Post by **Sir Rechet** » Mon Feb 10, 2003 7:09 pm

I didn't dismiss ALL of my energy jocks, I still have one remaining. I just noticed one is enough to take care of all the titans that happen NOT to have shields, the others were rather redundant unless I wanted to keep wasting my PG/LL shots in vain.

However, as scoring a shield hit also heats the target up, there was a number of times in which I managed to use my concentrated energy weapon fire to shut down enemies, thus disabling their shields for a while as well.

It just doesn't pay off fast enough, especially since the targeted titan stops shooting at you in trying to cool off, making your efforts at shutting it down even harder.

GROND · Post by **GROND** » Tue Feb 11, 2003 4:13 am

1st: If you design an assault without a shield you deserve what I'll do to you :p

2nd: If you don't fear SRMs I have a Titan I'd like to introduce you to. It's called the Abnegator (5 srm8s/3 srm4s/LL).

MGs and SLs are to limited to be useful except circumstancially. But remember, what doesn't work in an assault design may work wonderfully well in a lighter titan.

tarendelcymir · Post by **tarendelcymir** » Tue Feb 11, 2003 9:52 pm

Originally posted by GROND
1st: If you design an assault without a shield you deserve what I'll do to you :p

2nd: If you don't fear SRMs I have a Titan I'd like to introduce you to. It's called the Abnegator (5 srm8s/3 srm4s/LL).

MGs and SLs are to limited to be useful except circumstancially. But remember, what doesn't work in an assault design may work wonderfully well in a lighter titan.

And what he'll do to you is shoot your bloody head off.

I've got a nice titan with a bunch of SRMs, too. I think I called it Sandstorm or Sandpaper or something like that. One volley generally wiped out a recon or cippled a light titan. In duels against other assaults, it performed extremely well, too. All that was necessary was to get close, using the same tactics a CC titan would use.