Sludig
Buzzfeed Editor
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I would disagree. In what way are they inefficient. No where near say a medium laser due to 1ton:25. But for the most part LRM's are 8 or more dmg/ton. AC's come in under that, other laser weapons tend to follow around there or below. SRM's are certainly king dmg/ton over the LRM and of course quite popular. But a bit harsher on heat too. The issue with saying ok medium laser boat it is.....
1: Most mechs don't fit more than 4 laser slots, except for laser boats like the grasshopper. In some other mechwarrior games where you had very loose restrictions that indeed was the best thing was loading up on a shit ton of weaker but "efficient" weapons. In MWO you tend to see this too a little bit.
2: While a couple added with leftover to most builds is great for a little boosted damage, when you start boating them, you really have to start thinking about 2-3 heatsinks weight as part of the weight of those weapons because otherwise you are running a 2 turn alpha to overheat.
Especially with skills, LRM's are just the most versatile. No or next to no penalty for firing close, or out of line of sight. You say only good for knockdown, and that's great, and not just for salvage. Called LRM barrages are great for blowing shoulders and legs in one -2 turns taking an enemy out of the fight or crippling them. Because of the multiple hits, I have a lot better time getting ammo explosions. (Likewise I'm getting so many headshots spamming 6x MG's at things on top of the destroying components like crazy) Once they are down they are yours with a called shot whether that is to capture or just finish killing via a CT shot. They are more reliable in that while yes you always get a couple misses, you even at low hit % are getting damage in, vs say an autocannon and you are rolling a big gamble. Yeah you might get 2 40% hits, but likewise, might get jacked missing 2 85%'s.
My build is a tossup between 3 short rangers and lrm or 2lrm 2 bruisers. I dont even use sensor lock almost ever anymore except to allow lrm fire, usually I shoot at up to 3 evasion like normal, anything higher and find other targets or reserve until you can punch it once to take that away. (Usually even if you can't melee, many mechs have low unsteady thresholds so just a couple volleys from srm/lrm and they are unsteady losing their evasion and ripe for the taking.
Where LRM's suck, as well as many weapons, I think is when you don't specialize. I see a lot of folk mixing fairly high laser builds with a token ac or ppc, or couple lrms. Like most games when min/max comes into play, specialists usually have the advantage. Throwing a few stability damage from multiple mechs isn't efficient. However in practice, I don't see a focused on damage build all that more effective. LRM and SRM will more predictably perform vs flashy PPC/big AC/etc can be so sporadic, and usually very high heat to gain.....? Needing more face time with enemies? The -1 to hit from ppc? Mine also run with max front armor, so I'm not really losing much in durability. Take a lrm 15 instead of a 20 isn't so bad of a tradeoff.
I actually am sick of LRM's, think they are boring, etc. But like you'll read on other forums, they are pretty much a must have tool if not outright better in any way. Even if it's much more exciting the one round you get a dual AC/20 assault to multitarget double headshot 2 mechs. It's just a bigger gamble with those weapons.
1: Most mechs don't fit more than 4 laser slots, except for laser boats like the grasshopper. In some other mechwarrior games where you had very loose restrictions that indeed was the best thing was loading up on a shit ton of weaker but "efficient" weapons. In MWO you tend to see this too a little bit.
2: While a couple added with leftover to most builds is great for a little boosted damage, when you start boating them, you really have to start thinking about 2-3 heatsinks weight as part of the weight of those weapons because otherwise you are running a 2 turn alpha to overheat.
Especially with skills, LRM's are just the most versatile. No or next to no penalty for firing close, or out of line of sight. You say only good for knockdown, and that's great, and not just for salvage. Called LRM barrages are great for blowing shoulders and legs in one -2 turns taking an enemy out of the fight or crippling them. Because of the multiple hits, I have a lot better time getting ammo explosions. (Likewise I'm getting so many headshots spamming 6x MG's at things on top of the destroying components like crazy) Once they are down they are yours with a called shot whether that is to capture or just finish killing via a CT shot. They are more reliable in that while yes you always get a couple misses, you even at low hit % are getting damage in, vs say an autocannon and you are rolling a big gamble. Yeah you might get 2 40% hits, but likewise, might get jacked missing 2 85%'s.
My build is a tossup between 3 short rangers and lrm or 2lrm 2 bruisers. I dont even use sensor lock almost ever anymore except to allow lrm fire, usually I shoot at up to 3 evasion like normal, anything higher and find other targets or reserve until you can punch it once to take that away. (Usually even if you can't melee, many mechs have low unsteady thresholds so just a couple volleys from srm/lrm and they are unsteady losing their evasion and ripe for the taking.
Where LRM's suck, as well as many weapons, I think is when you don't specialize. I see a lot of folk mixing fairly high laser builds with a token ac or ppc, or couple lrms. Like most games when min/max comes into play, specialists usually have the advantage. Throwing a few stability damage from multiple mechs isn't efficient. However in practice, I don't see a focused on damage build all that more effective. LRM and SRM will more predictably perform vs flashy PPC/big AC/etc can be so sporadic, and usually very high heat to gain.....? Needing more face time with enemies? The -1 to hit from ppc? Mine also run with max front armor, so I'm not really losing much in durability. Take a lrm 15 instead of a 20 isn't so bad of a tradeoff.
I actually am sick of LRM's, think they are boring, etc. But like you'll read on other forums, they are pretty much a must have tool if not outright better in any way. Even if it's much more exciting the one round you get a dual AC/20 assault to multitarget double headshot 2 mechs. It's just a bigger gamble with those weapons.
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