Matrix Games Forums

Well, obviously you've got armour on your titan. But there's also secondary defensive systems. Some are worth sacrificing those few tones of armour, some aren't, depending on situation.

Which of the defensive systems do you find most useful?

Personally, I love the Damage Control System.

As the Unluckiest ToS player in history, anyone with any form of Meson Gun will merrily perforate all my vital systems with critical hits. This is rather unpleasant.

A D.C.S reduces the chances of my computer, heat regs, life support et all being completely ruined, or at least gives me the chance to undo that damage while I am running about in circles.

Flares have never suceeded in being very useful to me, unless I really can't afford a bigger powerplant.

ECM is nice. Disrupting enemy scans means it's much less likely the enemy can make called shots on my titan. I personally like the 'Threat Meter' or the 'You're f**ked-O-meter' as I merrily refer to it.

Shields have never been particularly useful to me. They overload with monotonous regularity, are too heavy for titans smaller than Heavy titans, and I find if I ever include them with my titan designs, I never end up facing titans with energy weapons. (All in accordance with Murphy's Law)

As such, I believe the DCS is the most vital defensive system for effective pessimistic ToS design...because let's face it: The enemy is going to perforate you, no matter how hard you try, so you might as well just grin and bear it.

I tend to agree. My vote's for the DCS - unless you count hiding as a defense system. Heh heh. If you never got shot, that's the perfect defense.

E.C.M.'s and flares personnaly what crappy titans i design never seem to have the room for shields or DCS and my pilots usually are in the thick of it (with the exclusion of my artillery (artillary?) titans) and just don't have the time to repair (not to mention i blow off all the damage control on every pilot except one (the mechanic))

taren: i agree with the hiding thing but if the enemy is right ontop of you taking 2 chainsaws at ya what good will a dcs (or any defense except armor and jock skill) do? ya gotta hit'em hard and hit'em fast and have a couple longer range guys pounding the ones that aren't in the middle of the fighting and a bunch of meelee/short ranged ones taking it to them with everything they have (ill drive any heat reg into the ground in a matter of seconds )

A DCS has a chance of reducing or NEGATING!! damage.

yeah? and what about against 2 ac 20s and 2 chainsaws? exactly how much of that can it negate with out letting at least 50% through to do a good deal of damage

All that's true, but none of the other defense sytems have any better effect against someone right on top of you.

the dcs only reduces damage if your hit but if your ecm is good enough and if your lucky enough you won't be hit at all and the flares have saved my *** from missles several hundred times and they are much lighter and require lesser in a way of skills to use than the dcs (100 secs to repair a small thing? you gotta be joking!)

100 seconds? WTF?

Even Bone Head (my Bait pilot) manages to do most repairs in under 30 seconds.

Also, there's no way I'd ever want to go toe-to-toe with a CC Titan or a Hunchback with a DCS. Those things are worth their weight in gold in those situations.

Shields do make sense, especially in larger titans that can't jiggle as well. I've piloted Hetzer's 'Widowmaker' design, and know that it would die pretty quickly if it weren't for the buff shields he put into it.

blah blah blah all valid points but i hate wasting time to make repairs mid combat 30 seconds is still 2 or 3 shots at an enemy from every gun except the bigger ones which could disable or kill it sooner which would save you from needing to repair again in the middle of combat against that guy

DCS saved me when I'd heat reg. damaged HEAVY. I was constantly overheating. W/o that DCS my titan will useless.

Shields are nice.Main reson to have them is burning forest, so you can cross it freely.

yeah but what im saying is that every time you use the dcs you can't use your weapon systems which could lead to your jock dieing or the enemy titan blowing away an important piece of equipment (like the dcs itself) where as if your constantly firing you have a chance to kill the enemy first

see what im saying?

It's a personal thing, really.

The best attack is defense and the best defense is attack, I guess =P

I really should get round to reading that copy of 'The Art of War' I have on E-Book. (Anyone else who wants it, go download it here. I don't see why I shuld fork over 20 bucks to Puffin for it :rolleyes: )

A DCS is mainly useful in team games. When your CC titan has taken a pounding and has some system damage that will affect it's performance, then it can run towards the next closest opponent while the Snipers see about finishing off it's current opponent.

That said, I am starting to gain a healthy respect for shields. Lately the AI has decided that it would be really funny to keep forcing engine explosions (I called the shot to the HEAD, the HEEEEAD!) and although my Droid and Cyborg pilots can absorb a hefty dose of radiation without blinking, having my heat bumped up by 100 degrees is far from amusing!

Also, being able to resist forest fires is really useful for a CC titan, I am beginning to realise why many CC titans have a Shield of at least power 1.

Remember, if you suspect a titan is about to go kablooie near you, then SHIELDS UP!

shields are a must have for my cc titans cuz im almost always aiming for the engine to frag as many other nearby titans (friendly or other wise)

and yes i do send some different jocks on suicide missions routinely to do that

Shields are lovely also.
They kill damage from beam weps and negate forest fires.
Protect from engine go booms, too.

But I have to say that there are just as many times that a DCS has saved me from a terrible fate at the merciless hands of a ToS veteran.

And is there anything better than being hit in the CT by an AC20 with 15 pts of armor left, and hearing "damage negated"?

whitefox, how are tou going to fire with HEAVY damaged heat reg.?!
I'd simply ran away and repaired.tThen returned.

P.S.I was on medium and vs me was 2 recons , I don't know how I've managed to ran away.

yes hitting a light in the head with an ac20 with a fcs that fails *BOOM head flies off titan falls to knees then falls on its chest as a smoking wreckage*

Yes, I'll admit that's fun, excessively rare, but fun.

Personally, I prefer when a Crucible gets toe-to-toe with another titan and lets him have it with 4 flamethrowers.

FWOOSH!(x12)

deadassbastard On enemy titan
ENGINE SHUTDOWN

"attempt failed!" WHAM!

Shortly followed by.
BOOM! (ammo explosion) BOOM! BOOM!

After that, it's just a matter of making called shots with the Medium Laser and Chainsaws, but I find it's usually faster to just give him hell with the Chainsaws until the pilot ejects.

I can't believe what I'm reading here. A lot of misconceptions. DCS doesn't prevent *physical* damage, it may prevent *system* damage. That's all. Shields don't *prevent* heat, they *reduce* heat. From burning forests, engine explosions, napalms, flamers.
BTW, 100 secs to repair a system is not unreal, try repairing something with heavy damage. If you haven't noticed, repair time increases with damage level.

that is true and by the time i actually use the dcs the thing is either an inch from blowing up or tottaly destroyed either way i send it right smack dab back into the middle of combat and squeeze the life out of my luck rabbits foot hoping the enemy doesn't blow the arm or leg or whatever off

EDIT: anyone ever notice that rabbits have small claws on the end of there paws? *watches a drip of blood roll down his hand from the rabbits small claws*