l0rDn0o8sKiLlZ
06/06/19 04:21 AM
73.216.131.208
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Rough specs [I'll flesh them out later... maybe]
This is my idea for homebrew equipment to unjam Ultra Autocannons in the field, like RACs. Suggest for balancing are welcome, fluff recommendations doubly so.
1 Ton / 1 Crit per Ultra Autocannon equipped.eed
Using this device means you can't fire that Ultra Autocannon on that turn. Each Ultra Autocannon must have it's own device. Each Unjammer occupies a crit in the same location as it's Ultra Autocannon. Using the device expends three shots, due to the fact that it cycles the Autocannon in question as part of the firing process; one shell to account for the jammed round, two for the "reset". Critting this device renders the Ultra Autocannon unable to fire as well as destroying it.
An Improved version might have 2 tons and 2 crits per Autocanon equipped, and when critted once, is damaged and renders the Ultra Autocannon as a regular one, albeit only able to fire Ultra Autocannon ammunition. The second crit destroys it and renders the gun non-functional.
I was thinking it would work construction wise by having it as a "if you mount it on one, you mount it on all." Not needing special ammo, but needing to be designed into the ammo feeds, thus it's an all or nothing equipment. It could not be pod mounted for the purposes of OmniMechs.
Any thoughts on this homebrew equipment? Tweaks, suggestions? I might flesh this out later, but I would appreciate some suggested costs / tech levels / availability. For availability I imagine it could be a piece of equipment heavily affiliated with Davion for the Inner Sphere. The Clans could have the improved version with 2 tons per cannon, but only 1 crit and a better standard one with 1 ton per cannon, but no extra crits.
"Woad Raider, kill things today."
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Retry
06/06/19 11:52 AM
64.189.130.11
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If you're exclusively talking about balancing, you could have either of these as 0-ton, 0-crit equipment and it'd still be perfectly balanced since UACs are kind of not great in the first place, with UAC-20s and maybe the -10 as a notable exception.
The idea of additional equipment to upgrade things like Autocannons is a good one, but this one may be overbalanced, considering you lose 3 rounds to unjam and gain a weight penalty unlike the Rotaries.
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l0rDn0o8sKiLlZ
06/06/19 01:10 PM
73.216.131.208
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Perhaps a house rule instead?
"A player may choose to unjam their Ultra AutoCannon instead of firing it during their firing phase, but loses 3 rounds of ammo to do so."
"Woad Raider, kill things today."
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ghostrider
06/06/19 01:46 PM
66.74.60.165
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Three rounds is over half a ton of ac 20 ammo.
But there is a need to be able to unjam an ultra. The loss of a turn or two isn't that bad. The game rules would allow players to know the ac is out for a short while, but when you think of it in the warriors view, the enemy shouldn't know what is up.
Also, 2 turns isn't bad, as that was one of the original crits for vehicles.
Main weapon hit/no fire for 2 turns. The crew 'fixes' it.
I can see 2 rounds, as the canon jams when using the 2 shot mode. So clearing that from the breech would make sense. Though it might be better to just incorporate it into the unit itself, which goes along the lines of needing to be in the same location as the canon using it.
So maybe an upgrade for the ultra might be better. Added weight and crit might work, or put it down as an improvement that negates some weight loss.
It would work well as a house rule. Could be good for a full change as well. Just need to adjust it accordingly.
If funds are used, it may cost like .5 times the canon cost.
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Retry
06/06/19 02:02 PM
64.189.130.11
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A house rule is how I approached it. I just did it how RACs did it, personally.
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l0rDn0o8sKiLlZ
06/06/19 02:17 PM
73.216.131.208
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@ghostrider
--- I was thinking of doing only a two shot penalty, but what you said about the Ultra AC/20 is actually why I wanted it to be three. The Ultra AC/20 is unique in that it can put two 20 point hits down range per turn, and with better range than an AC/20 if I'm not terribly mistaken. That makes it, as Retry pointed out, one of the better Ultra AutoCannons. Arguably the three shot rule being over half the ammo of an Ultra AC/20 is good for balancing it, as it allows you to not have useless ammo in your bins waiting to explode, but gimps an Ultra AC/20 with that has only two or three tons worth of rounds allocated to it.
@Retry
--- I think the Ultra AC/5 and the Ultra AC/2 have a place, personally. The Ultra AC/2 can't use special munitions like the AC/2 and Light AC/2, nor can it use the special cluster rounds that make the LB 2-X AC such a great flyswatter. However, I see the Ultra AC/2 as a very niche sniper weapon, good on huge maps where that pair of two damage hits can be thrown from outside most other weapons range. Still, I'd agree it's useless outside of that VERY specific niche, and even then a Light Gauss Rifle is arguably better in that role; particularly since the LGR does more damage per ton of ammo than a regular Gauss Rifle, at the expense of less damage per shot.
--- The Ultra AC/5 on the other hand is nice for it's range and low heat threshold. The weapons system plus two tons of ammo only weighs as much as an LB 10-X AC on it's own, while it's range is comparable to the Inner Sphere ER PPC, but with WAY less heat. It's an interesting weapon for when you want a long range weapon, but you really want that heat for other weapons. An Ultra AC/5 with four ER Medium Lasers will run you fifteen tons with ammo, while an ER PPC and four ER Medium Lasers will provide the same damage with a similar range profile, but for more heat. The Ultra AC/5 setup has 22 heat in Ultra mode, while the ER PPC setup runs at 35 heat. That's seven tons of heat sinks, pushing the ER PPC setup to eighteen tons versus the fifteen for the Ultra AC/5 setup.
--- So that's my half-baked defense of my ***backwards logic with regards to the Ultra AC/2 being not useless and the Ultra AC/5 being not a bad weapon. Yeah, I ignored the ammo dependency and jam chance, that is just the price you for the three extra tons of weight you save. Two and a Half if you include CASE, two if you opt for CASE II. This is just my humble opinion, mind you, I am by no means a guru.
Edited for Language, Censortron doesn't think butt-backwards is a curse... apparently. >.>
"Woad Raider, kill things today."
Edited by l0rDn0o8sKiLlZ (06/06/19 02:19 PM)
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Wick
06/06/19 10:55 PM
45.43.104.179
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>>> "A player may choose to unjam their Ultra AutoCannon instead of firing it during their firing phase, but loses 3 rounds of ammo to do so."
I think this is the way to go rather than equipment, but rather lose two turns than any ammo shots. I don't see why a jam should cost you anything but the shot that jammed it, but takes time to unjam. You can still move around and fire other weapons, you just cant fire that weapon while its unjamming. This is especially promising for tanks that rely on one single big gun, as there's few mechs of the same mold. Those 3050/3060-era Vedette's are basically a single mobile UAC/5 or RAC/5, and a jam totally knocks them out of the fight. If they can drive around and not get shot for two turns and get their cannon back in working order, they resume being capable units.
I would pay tonnage or critical space for a MASC damage resetter though.
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ghostrider
06/07/19 01:12 PM
66.74.60.165
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The dump ammo option would be used if you have a weapon that can't be fired, yet have ammo for it, so that solves that worry. Granted, the rules say all ammo in that specific location need to be dumped at the same time, but risk management is the key here.
I remember seeing somewhere, that they suggested the mechwarrior be allowed to unjam a canon, but that puts them outside the mech to actually manually work the breech mechanism. I want to say it was an adventure pack, but I do see why. It would require two turns if I recall it correctly.
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csadn
06/10/19 03:35 AM
50.53.22.4
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Up here, we use a Gunnery-skill roll, with the TH mod for overheating (while heat is really useful for removing jammed nuts and screws, it's also likely to cause Important Gun Parts to warp). It doesn't seem to cause a problem.
CF
Oregon: The "Outworlds Alliance" of the United States of America
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AmaroqStarwind
12/30/19 05:32 PM
8.6.112.65
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This idea has potential. I think an Inner Sphere version could add no weight but still occupy a critical space, but a Clan version could occupy no additional space.
Unjammers would also be helpful when using Caseless munitions in conventional Autocannons, or on other ballistic weapons (and chemical lasers) if you have the Ammunition Feed Problem negative Design Quirk.
Discord: Amaroq the Kitsune#1092
Telegram: @Lycanphoenix
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