Gauss mechanics change and their affect on builds

This. I've come around and started liking the charge a little bit. It adds an extra layer of uniqueness and gameplay mechanics to the GRs and pretty well ensures that you have to get better with them or use a different weapon. The cooldown time feels incredibly long now, though. It definitely needs a .5 - .75s cooldown reduction to counter the charge time.


Edit:Grammar

 

I concur.

 

Sad thing is I am already hearing people shift from whining about ERPPCs and Gauss to the UAC5 and AC20...sigh.

Hopefully they will tune the Gauss and ERPPC now once they get some data back. Fired a singled ERPPC yesterday on Terra Therma and my heat went to 33% after a single shot. There are ALPHAS that do less heat than this thing does. Lets put that into perspective...

4x SRM-6 = 16 heat and 48 Damage
1x ERPPC = 15 heat and 10 Damage....

 

Max range, ammo usage, travel time?
And pin point vs. spread damage

 

it was just an analogy to illustrate the amount of heat generated not an advertisement for SRM-6s sigh...

 

I noticed that now i like going after the 2 ERPPC + Gauss builds, be it a Cataphract, a Victor or a highlander.. I know that they can't fire often, I know they have to time the Gauss properly (so at close range they will probably miss) i know they will shutdown and deal internal damage or simply fire less often. They have become easy prey basically. I don't fear them in my spider.

JJ heat + 2xERPPC heat = death

 

MechAssault doesn't count, but that's because it's so stylistically different from the Mechwarrior titles. It's not just because I dislike it (though that is a contributing factor).

 

I'm not sure how its different. Im curious what makes you say this. Im just saying that this could be used as evidence as to why a gauss doesnt need to charge and a PPC does in the actual game lore. There have been topics on this before and what came out of it, from the info provided, is that any reason to make a gauss charge is strictly out of theories and not fact. Real world machines that could fire/operate a Gauss would not require a charge.

 

Not quite sure I agree with that statement about the Gauss not needing to charge. The Gauss gets its juice from electricity. This juice needs to be harnessed (capacitor) then released very quickly. The problem is that the capacitor would need to recharge after each shot before you could shoot again. As voltage is applied to a capacitor it outputs nothing until voltage is removed. The capacitor then releases its stored energy, often quite slowly but it is possible to do it virtually instantaneously. So in fact their theory is perfectly sound. You charge the capacitor for .75 seconds, release its energy/fire, reset and then repeat.

I DO agree with you, however, that a bolt of plasma would work almost the same way. You would need to store the energy then release it instantaneously so why they can insta fire a PPC and not a Guass is anyone's guess but I suggest we not bring it up to the devs.

 

This isnt entirely true. Lets apply it to real life scenarios. A lightbulb requires energy and when it isnt supplied enough it dims and when supplied too much it breaks. There is a steady stream of "mostly" constant energy that is required to maintain it for any worthwhile lasting bulb. There are also many lightbulbs that require capacitors to operate. These are typically seen lighting a football field or Tennis match. In what scenario is a bulb or any electric equipment useful if it doesnt work consistently? Even the tanks that use a lightning beam as a weapon similar to the Godzilla movies do not require charging. The power supplied to it is sufficient enough to keep it operating. Massive scientific research equipment like the Hadron Collider in Switzerland only over power their equipment to do certain experiments but do not require charging to do so then return to normal operating conditions.

Energy is a constantly flowing source and cannot be created or destroyed, this is physics law.

Either the capacitor has the power to fire the gauss cannon or it doesnt. There shouldnt be a middle ground that requires charging. We're not talking about a wind up headlamp or flashlight here.

The only situation that would require charging is if the gauss was operating off of a battery. Batteries store energy and eventually run out but can be recharged. Items that use batteries do not require charging unless the battery itself needs charging. For example: Vehicles

 

Sorry bud again I have to disagree with ya there. Capacitors DO need charging and in most circuits are used as DC Blockers and AC/DC converters simply because they charge and then discharge at a set rate (AC Charges the capacitor when the sinewave is in the positive and the capacitor discharges at a set rate when it is in the AC sine wave is negative if it has a route). The only way to get the instantaneous discharge of the amount of electricity necessary for a gauss rifle to work is to use capacitors or a lightning bolt. A DC circuit using the kind of power that is required would arc when a switch was thrown (the millisecond between when the switch is closed and it is fully open the arc would happen) and blow out the circuit so you need a buffer and that's where the capacitor comes in. Lasers of military grade use exactly the same principle. You can weld a capacitor to metal once it is charged simply by shorting its contacts to it because all that stored current is instantly discharged in one giant zap. But the only way to get that charge on the capacitor is to charge it.

-The only situation that would require charging is if the gauss was operating off of a battery. Batteries store energy and eventually run out but can be recharged. Items that use batteries do not require charging unless the battery itself needs charging. For example: Vehicles

The only way a Gauss could work would BE off a battery (capacitor) for the reasons I said above. The minute a switch was thrown, assuming a switch could even be built to contain the amount of amps required for something like a Gauss rifle in the first place it would blow the entire circuit. So instead of switching the current directly you would have to do it indirectly.

Power Source into switch into capacitor (which has the ability to discharge the current instantly) into weapon. Weapon works.

MASSIVE power source into switch into weapon. Weapon and everything else blows into a million pieces when the switch arcs in the millisecond it takes to fully close the circuit.

-Either the capacitor has the power to fire the gauss cannon or it doesnt. There shouldnt be a middle ground that requires charging. We're not talking about a wind up headlamp or flashlight here.-

Actually that is exactly how a survival (no battery) flashlight works. When you shake the flashlight it causes a magnet to pass through a coil which creates an alternating current which then charges a capacitor (1 of several) that provides the current necessary to illuminate the bulb. Otherwise a lightbulb using AC current would dim and brighten dim and brighten but by having the capacitors in series eventually you get DC which creates a nice steady beam.

Also current flows, voltage just manifests wherever there is a load.

 

When I first started using the new gauss mechanic, I thought it was no big deal. I was able to adapt to it fairly quickly and thought it would become routine. Instead I found that it seemed increasingly clunky and downright annoying. I removed the weapon entirely from all my mechs that I use for more than a match or two in a row.

My biggest issue with it is that I don't even use the gauss/PPC combo! they aimed the change at those builds and ironically screwed diverse builds worse. The PPC is still a fire-and-forget weapon so all they have to worry about is the gauss. If you use the gauss with multiple large lasers for example, you have to worry about ghost heat or fire them individually, maintaining steady accuracy the entire time, plus deal with the gauss mechanic, and with any other weapons your using. It still works but it becomes so frustrating I want to punch a kitten. On the mechs I tend to use repeatedly for a few hours it had to go, I'd rather have fun and not perform as well than keep the gauss and hate playing the game.

 

I only just tried the new gauss mechanic yesterday. I feel like it's working pretty well. I actually find the weapon more fun to use now than it used to. It feels like something different now. I like the idea of weapons having different identities. When everything is "click to fire" it gets a little boring.

I'll take the gauss charge + hugely increased (nearly doubled) projectile velocity anyday over the old slow rounds. It feels like a long-range sniper weapon now, which is how it should feel. But then again, I never ran the LOLALPHASTRIKEWTFBBQPWND!! builds like apparently everyone else on mechspecs did, so this change doesn't hurt my playstyle. Just a little less of one thing (ease of use) for a little more of another thing (projectile velocity).

Anyone still pouting over this balancing change is just being dramatic.

 

What are you tryin to say? hear:

 

While I mostly agree, I feel if it now has the longest cooldown of any weapon in the game (4.75) on top of the charging/misfire over 1.25 seconds penalty, I feel they should have given it the max Projectile Speed. 2000MPS. Make it a snipe only weapon and give it a full second charge that enemies can see on the paper doll. (highlight Gauss yellow for charging, green for ready)

 

From patch notes:

Gauss projectile speed increased from 1200m/s up to 2000m/s, internal health increased to 5 (up from 3).

Interesting idea about the guass charge outline on the paper doll. For now, though, as a general rule, if I see a gauss rifle in their weapons matrix I just assume it's charging. People are already becoming proficient with it at shorter ranges.

 

Lol! Oh... For some reason, I was thinking they only bumped it to 1500. IIIIIII'm an idiot.

I rarely use Gauss, so, it hasn't effected me too much. I'm more miffed about the 15 heat on an ERPPC... More heat than damage is brutal.

 

I think you mixed up the PPC and gauss. From the patch notes:

PPC/ERPPC projectile speed slowed to 1500m/s down from 2000m/s.

The heat increase stings. I only run PPCs on a haldful of mechs. Primarily on my CPLT-K2 (ER PPC x2, LLas x2, use it as long range fire support). The heat isn't unmanagable, but it's high enough now to make me consider replacing the ERs with regular PPCs. I say move the heat on ER PPCs back down to 13 (from 15) and put in a minimum range (180m, double that of regular PPCs). I think it would solve most people's gripes about the weapon. Well, except the whiny one-button kill guys. Ahem. Okay, I'll stop taking shots at the gauss + PPC x2 builds now. Sorry, lol

 

In my opinion, UACs are much less skillful right now than PPCs ever were at any point.

Anyways the irony in all of it is that PGI took a year to return to square 1 regarding PPC design and balance. That's cool, I guess, but it shouldn't take a year. 90m = 0 dmg on regular PPCs is overkill as well; that's fucking retarded, straight up. I could go into the details if someone dare ask the obvious reasons why it's dumb.

Gauss, meh, I never even liked Gauss to begin with, personally, so w/e. I like the new mechanic it is fun and more skillful, but I'm not going to be using it much anymore, cuz I never used it much to begin with except in the past 2 months after the ghost heat thing started.

ERPPCs, meh, I dunno, they're too hot right now and they were too hot before, but if you like to sit in the back and be one of 'those ppl' then they're still fine. In other words I think they're a more forgiving but ultimately less powerful version than the PPC, kinda abstract, might need to clarify this if pressed.

Anyways, point of this post was to say all the kids using UAC spam right now are garbage. ^^

 

We need a macro to do this on a button:
*Press button

*release button

Someone do this and I am happy.