03-18-2017, 12:03 AM
(03-17-2017, 10:01 PM)Surge Wrote: In battletech rockets are usually a cheap, low-tech option to add a bunch of punching power to relatively small mechs. They never really had any place in the kind of mass conflict that MWO depicts. I disagree that lights will like them because, as you said, there are no MFBs. Lights will want that tonnage for lasers more than for rocket pods, but the ability to pack a 20 point alpha for 1.5t will be somewhat tempting, especially for larger mechs that can spare tonnage more easily.
Heat-generating missiles already exist in battletech in the form of inferno SRMs, no need for rocket launchers to carry them, SRMs are even the better carrier for it. Past a point of burying somebody in infernos you're just layering more jelly over an already thick coating of it, and you aren't heating the mech up anymore than you already were, so the volume of fire a rocket launcher puts out is just wasted potential. I also can't help but feel infernos would be slightly gimped in MWO now that I've seen a mech in TT get heated up so much its ammo literally cooked off inside of it.
Some good points, I agree on most, but didn't really want to spend the time typing up every point. However I didn't fully agree on the point of the inferno rockets which were IS answer to inferno SRMs. The point I made about the inferno rockets is that they tend to have a longer lasting effect. Think 2-3x the effect of the others. During which the mech is not cooling at all. All heat sinks and the mech's own cooling propensity are reduced to zero during that time. Larger warheads allows for a different and more volatile or longer lasting thermal mix. Though I feel all of these things would be ignored by MWO anyways.
Even if they do the exact same thing as SRM infernos, they have great range over SRMs giving an advantage all the same. Matching closer with MRMs or LRMs as far as range. Think American MRLS system from the afghani war. 40 rockets used as artillery before long or non existent reloads back at the field base. Able to destroy entire compounds with a single volley. They were added with that ideal to battle-tech.
of course the primary strategy on larger mechs would be to stock your arms with rockets and your CT with your other weapons where able. Since you are mostly going to be using your arms as a shield to your body anyways. I mean. They're cheap and already ran out of ammo stripping the assault's left leg or coring a pesky medium. What use are they when they're out of ammo other than as a body shield? Replaceable, effective for their weight, generally high damage. What's not to like if you can actually hit your shots?