Weapons Arrays

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    I was thinking that being able to group different and distinct weapons together. Something very similar to the way different weapons could be grouped in Battletech/Mechwarrior. Where each weapon system is distinct but could be, through the HUD or master computer be linked into arrays.

    This is already possible with logic use, but lacks the ability to aim/lockon other than point the entire ship at the target. What I envision is not, being able to change weapons arrays on the fly, but the ability to group similar distinct and different weapons together.

    Thoughts?
     

    jayman38

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    I have also seen other players interested in being able to link groups of turrets together, so that they concentrate fire on a single target.

    We not only want the ability to "group fire" (fire all weapons in a group at once), but also "burst fire" (fire each weapon in a group, one after another with a single trigger pull), and "chain fire" (fire one weapon in the group, and then auto-switch to the next weapon in the group ready to fire). Not to mention the infamous Mechwarrior "Alpha Strike" (firing all weapons at once, regardless of group).

    Grouping would be an excellent way to use those extra hotbars in the ship.

    As always, it would help if we could name individual weapon computers, and also that the weapons would be sorted in some predictable way (such as alphabetically by name), when assigning hotbar slots, so you know exactly which weapon is going into which slot.

    To make "grouping" work, I think it should be a simple matter of being able to assign more than one computer to a single hotbar slot. Then you could put weapons 1, 2, and 3 into one slot, then put weapons 4, 5, and 6 into the next slot. Presto! Instant grouping, similar to multislots in build mode.

    It would also be nice as I mentioned above, to be able to put the same weapon into multiple slots, and select which slot does which multi-weapon firing behavior (group fire vs. burst fire vs. chain fire) So you could put weapon 1 into its own hotbar slot for individual firing. Then place it along with weapons 2 and 3 into another slot for group fire. Then place it in a third slot with weapons 2 and 3 for chain fire.

    Finally, it would help to be able to label each slot. That way, using the example given in the paragraph above, you could label the first slot "weapon 1 fire", the second "group 1 fire", and the third "group 1 chain". Or whatever label makes sense to you.
     

    Lecic

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    With the way the game is currently balanced, multigroups would be overpowered for a variety of reasons.

    First of all, it lets you bypass the 10%/2.5% power cost increase per output. This exists to discourage multiple outputs, which are better due to damage dropoff and point defense. Until the damage models are changed, this cannot be implemented.

    We not only want the ability to "group fire" (fire all weapons in a group at once), but also "burst fire" (fire each weapon in a group, one after another with a single trigger pull), and "chain fire" (fire one weapon in the group, and then auto-switch to the next weapon in the group ready to fire). Not to mention the infamous Mechwarrior "Alpha Strike" (firing all weapons at once, regardless of group).
    Other problems start to appear once you have a burst/chain fire. Primarily, no one will ever be using low reload single shot cannon or beam ever again, and fast reload missiles will vanish as well. Why would you use cannon/cannon or cannon when you could set up 40 or 10 smaller cannon/beams for the same RoF and damage but with double the range and velocity? Why would you use beam/cannon or beam over beam/cannon for the same reason? Why would you use missile/0% beam when you could use 3 missile/beam for the same reason?
     

    jayman38

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    With the way the game is currently balanced, multigroups would be overpowered for a variety of reasons.

    First of all, it lets you bypass the 10%/2.5% power cost increase per output. This exists to discourage multiple outputs, which are better due to damage dropoff and point defense. Until the damage models are changed, this cannot be implemented.



    Other problems start to appear once you have a burst/chain fire. Primarily, no one will ever be using low reload single shot cannon or beam ever again, and fast reload missiles will vanish as well. Why would you use cannon/cannon or cannon when you could set up 40 or 10 smaller cannon/beams for the same RoF and damage but with double the range and velocity? Why would you use beam/cannon or beam over beam/cannon for the same reason? Why would you use missile/0% beam when you could use 3 missile/beam for the same reason?
    I never said we could not add penalties for multiple weapons in a group. Good catch. Add power penalty to each grouped system for each additional system added to the group. Now grouping has the same penalties as waffleboarding.
     
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