Not all weapons are the same. But any weapon is good if it's easy to mount or used for its purpose. If it doesn't require too much ammo, too many tons, or too many heat sinks.
What if we turned some dials? I'd put Medium Lasers and AC/2s at two ends of the spectrum of quality. What if an AC/2 was--pound for pound--as good as a Medium Laser? What if the opposite? I played with some numbers and thought I'd share the results.
Premises:
I used BV/Cost to quantify weapon quality.
BV was calculated by the Weapon Battle Value Calculator at: [url]http://www.heavymetalpro.com/bv_calc.htm
"Cost" was calculated per weapon by adding Tonnage, 1/2 heat, ammo tonnage for 10 shots, and Crits/3
Larger missile systems usually have more BV/Cost.
I kept range brackets in the shape of: Short Range / 2*Short Range / 3*Short Range
I'm not modifying Cost factors (tonnage, crits, heat, and shots/ton).
Classic Introtech Weapons
Name Cost Cost/BV BV/Cost
MedLas 4.3333 0.094202173913043 10.62
PPC 18 0.102272727272727 9.78
LRM20 19.3333 0.106813812154696 9.36
LRM15 14.25 0.104779411764706 9.54
LgLas 13.6667 0.111111382113821 9
LRM5 4.75 0.105555555555556 9.47
LRM10 10.5 0.116666666666667 8.57
SRM6 8.2917 0.140537288135593 7.12
AC20 26.3333 0.147939887640449 6.76
AC10 18.3333 0.149051219512195 6.71
AC5 10.8333 0.154761428571429 6.46
SRM4 5.7333 0.147007692307692 6.8
SmLas 1.8333 0.2037 4.91
SRM2 3.5333 0.168252380952381 5.94
AC2 7.5556 0.204205405405405 4.9
MG 0.8833 0.17666 5.66
Flamer 4.3333 0.722216666666667 1.38
Medium Laser Quality Weapons (11.11 BV/Cost)
Name Min Range Short Range Medium Range Long Range Damage Shots/Ton Actual BV Target BV Cost BV/Cost
AC2 1 8 16 24 4 45 79 80 7.5556 10.4558
AC5 4 6 12 18 9 20 121 115 10.8333 11.1693
AC10 0 5 10 15 13 10 192 195 18.3333 10.4727
AC20 0 4 8 12 24 5 284 280 26.3333 10.7848
MG 0 1 2 3 4 200 10 9 0.8833 11.3212
SmLas 0 2 4 6 3 0 19 19 1.8333 10.3638
MedLas 0 3 6 9 5 0 46 46 4.3333 10.6155
LgLas 0 5 10 15 9 0 139 145 13.6667 10.1707
PPC 5 7 14 21 10 0 190 191 18 10.5556
Flamer 0 2 4 6 7 0 43 46 4.3333 9.9232
LRM5 6 7 14 21 5x1/msl C5 24 45 50 4.75 9.4737
LRM10 6 7 14 21 12x1/msl C5 12 116 111 10.5 11.0476
LRM15 6 7 14 21 18x1/msl C5 8 164 151 14.25 11.5088
LRM20 6 7 14 21 23x1/msl C5 6 219 205 19.3333 11.3276
SRM2 0 3 6 9 3x2/msl C5 50 30 38 3.5333 8.4906
SRM4 0 3 6 9 6x2/msl C5 25 59 61 5.7333 10.2908
SRM6 0 3 6 9 10x2/msl C5 15 93 88 8.2917 11.216
The AC/2's and MGs get doubled damage and most other ACs get a hefty damage buff.
The Flamer operates like two Small Lasers taped together, which tracks.
Missiles get a damage buff to their missiles per shot.
The damage/ton for different weapons changes. Lighter autocannons run in the 180 damage/ton while the AC/20 goes down to about 120. LRMs are all over the place. SRMs actually converge at 300 damage per ton.
AC/2 Quality Weapons (4.9 BV/Cost)
Name Min Range Short Range Medium Range Long Range Damage Shots/Ton Actual BV Target BV Cost BV/Cost
AC2 4 8 16 24 2 45 37 37 7.5556 4.897
AC5 4 6 12 18 4 20 54 53 10.8333 4.9846
AC10 0 5 10 15 7 10 86 90 18.3333 4.6909
AC20 0 3 6 9 15 5 133 129 26.3333 5.0506
MG 0 1 2 3 2 200 5 4 0.8833 5.6606
SmLas 0 1 2 3 3 0 9 9 1.8333 4.9092
MedLas 0 3 6 9 2 0 19 21 4.3333 4.3846
LgLas 0 5 10 15 4 0 62 67 13.6667 4.5366
PPC 3 6 12 18 5 0 88 88 18 4.8889
Flamer 0 2 4 6 3 0 19 21 4.3333 4.3846
LRM5 4 7 14 21 2x1/msl C5 24 23 23 4.75 4.8421
LRM10 4 7 14 21 5x1/msl C5 12 50 51 10.5 4.7619
LRM15 4 7 14 21 7x1/msl C5 8 70 70 14.25 4.9123
LRM20 5 7 14 21 10x1/msl C5 6 96 95 19.3333 4.9655
SRM2 0 2 4 6 3x2/msl C5 50 14 17 3.5333 3.9623
SRM4 0 2 4 6 5x2/msl C5 25 31 28 5.7333 5.407
SRM6 0 2 4 6 7x2/msl C5 15 43 41 8.2917 5.1859
Autocannons which aren't the AC/2 take about 20% off of their damage.
The Flamer still gets better because its BV/Cost was still below the AC/2's.
Energy weapon damage is about halved and the Small Laser does more damage than a Medium Laser now.
LRMs do about half damage. Cutting minimum range a bit help get their BV's close to the target.
It's hard to pare down the damage of an SRM 2, so SRM range was cut down and damage was bumped up.
Haha. But what if weapons had the BV/Cost of Armor? I mean, if you want your game to be fast and dynamic, your offense needs to be cheaper than defense. BattleTech would be greatly improved if it was slicker and faster.
Armor Quality Weapons (40.0 BV/Cost)
Name Min Range Short Range Medium Range Long Range Damage Shots/Ton Actual BV Target BV Cost BV/Ton
Armor 40 40 1 40
AC2 4 13 26 39 11 45 338 332 8.333 40.56
AC5 3 11 22 33 14 20 444 453 11.33 39.17
AC10 2 8 16 24 2x22 20 726 733 18.33 39.6
AC20 1 6 12 18 3x30 15 1058 1013 25.33 41.76
MG 0 1 2 3 15x3 3000 70 73 1.833 38.18
SmLas 0 3 6 9 8 0 74 73 1.833 40.36
MedLas 0 5 10 15 11 0 170 173 4.333 39.23
LgLas 0 9 18 27 16 0 533 547 13.66 39
PPC 6 12 24 36 18 0 718 720 18 39.88
Flamer 0 4 8 12 12 0 178 173 4.333 41.07
LRM5 5 7 14 21 3x7/msl C5 24 212 213 5.333 39.75
LRM10 5 7 14 21 6x7/msl C5 12 425 427 10.66 39.84
LRM15 6 7 14 21 10x7/msl C5 8 630 600 15 42
LRM20 6 7 14 21 12x7/msl C5 6 813 787 19.66 41.33
SRM2 2 4 8 12 3x9/msl C9 50 172 173 4.333 39.69
SRM4 2 4 8 12 5x9/msl C9 25 272 253 6.333 42.94
SRM6 2 4 8 12 7x9/msl C9 16 377 347 8.666 43.5
And some people say ClanTech is overpowered. Does the three-shot AC/30 with the range of a standard PPC seem to be a bit much? Is it bad if an AC/5 is a headcapper? I think it is, but I'm intrigued.
The Death Flamer appeals to me as well. I assume it would still optionally produce 2 heat. I don't see that being an appealing option though.
But hey, maybe it's balanced. Sure, two SRMs to the cockpit end your career of mechwarrioring, but back of the napkin math says SRM ammo now explodes with 1350 and 945 damage per ton. And lasers are the only weapon without a minimum range. Without to-hit bonuses, these weapons usher in the dawn of the Age of Speed.
Realistically
Now, each point of armor doesn't actually count in a game of BattleTech. Assuming an even distribution of hits, about 1/7th of a 'mech's armor is removed before it begins to take structure damage. That the distribution is uneven adds some spice to the game and makes that lower.
If we were to cut BV/Cost to around that level (1/7th of 40), it's in the ballpark of an AC/2. So the game is already tipped in favor of offense (as it should be). Without kicking out swingy weapons.
2 comments:
Why "crits/3"? At introtech, aren't crits basically redundant with tonnage?
What order are the rows in? Sorted by a hidden column?
I thought the tipping point between offense and defense was usually framed as being about how likely weapons were to hit.
Crits for medium lasers, SRMs, and a lot of other equipment are negligible. Once you get to AC/20's and LRM 20's, they're pretty relevant. It's an arbitrary line, but it carries incidental costs none the less.
A key fault of this exercise is that these values can't be equated; that's part of the hook of 'mech design. Turning all these knobs which make 'mechs different.
The first set was sorted by Cost/BV, but then I tweaked equations without resorting. The rest are AC's, then lasers, then LRMs, then SRMs in ascending order. I need to screenshot the tables and paste them instead of letting Blogspot's shit formatting be shit.
It is really hard to equate offense and defense, and as much as I hate it as a strategy, being hard to hit is a factor. BV is based on some assumptions around accuracy and they place weapons on a very low part of the bell curve. When you push those numbers higher up the bell curve, weapon BVs get warped.
That's how I read the numbers anyway.
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