Difference between revisions of "Weapons"

Revision as of 03:56, 21 March 2020

This is a quick reference for all ground-based Weapons currently in the game, as well as relevant statistics. For statistics pertaining to weapons carried by air assets, see Air Weapons. Weapons are divided into three classes: ballistic, missile, and energy.

About Damage

The raw damage values displayed in the weapon stat tables aren't the actual damage in-game. There are multiple reasons for this and some unknowns which should be taken into account before comparing any weapon to another, especially between categories.

The Damage column is the theoretical maximum direct-hit damage to a single component, ignoring the effectiveness of the associated damage type against the particular target. Effectiveness and actual total damage done can be affected by the following:

• Multiple-launch missile weapons, especially the LRMs, tend to be somewhat inaccurate and miss the target with some missiles even when at optimal range and the target is a large, stationary Mech, therefore not inflicting 100% of its potential.

• Weapons that fire multiple shots in a volley or that fire rapidly may suffer from damage being spread across multiple components (or missing entirely with some portion of the shots), making it more difficult to land a killing blow.

• Some weapons may offer splash damage that can damage multiple components (or even multiple Mechs) at once. Splash damage will damage everything within its radius, with the center of the effect being more damaging, and the edge inflicting little to no damage. Components are damaged independently, so an Uller hit in the shoulder with an AC20 may suffer the full damage from the AC20 (modified by the damage type effectiveness against mechs), and suffer additional partial AC20 damage to the head, center torso, back, and/or arm, depending on how close these components are to the center of the explosion. Thus, especially in the case of weapons with large splash radiuses, the sum total damage done can much larger than the listed (maximum single-component) damage. As a result of this, hitting a vehicle on the edge between components may do more total damage than hitting the center of a single component, where it would be further away from other components, thereby reducing the extra splash damage.

Some weapons' (e.g. HGauss) damage seems to "spread" to the center torso. The relation between assumed damage and real damage is unknown; It seems to be higher, but this still needs to be confirmed.

Finally, a table cannot hope to convey all aspects of a weapon's performance; The best way to evaluate a weapon's worth is to test it in action.

Ballistic Weapons

Many ballistic weapons can be fired with effect at targets more distant than their listed range, but accuracy and/or damage will suffer. When firing Standard, Ultra, Hyper-Velocity or Rotary AutoCannon family weapons near or beyond their listed range, it may be necessary to take shot drop into consideration. The Long Tom Artillery is the extreme member of the ballistic weapons family and fires a long-range, relatively slow-moving, arcing shot.

Many of the ballistic weapons will overheat in continuous firing (represented in-game as a bar under the weapon name on the weapons display). If the weapon happens to overheat, it will become unusable for a short time (3s-10s depending of the weapon), after which it will be fully cooled and usable again. In most cases overheating the weapon is unwanted because the normal cooling rate is a faster way to cool the weapon, excepion being Hyper-Assault Gauss Rifles, which are intended (and more effective) to shoot until overheat is reached.

A note on damage dropoff: The base damage is modified by the damage type before subtracting the lossage for distance. Significantly, this has the effect of giving kinetic- and light kinetic-type weapons increased effective range against air assets than against ground assets, since the damage type modifier against air assets is much higher.

Missile Weapons

Of the missile weapons, only MRMs and and standard SRMs cannot lock onto a target.

The minimum range listed in the tables refers to the distance the missiles have to travel before they are armed and ready to explode. Missiles that hit before traveling the listed distance will just bounce of their target dealing no damage. LRMs, ELRMs and especially Arrow IVs have another feature retricting the minimum range, the high arc their missiles make after exiting their launcher. This range is roughly 200m for LRMs, 300m for ELRMs and 500m for Arrow IV, but it can vary a little depending on torso elevation and height differences between attacker and target.

Clan SRMs are identical to their IS counterparts, and Clan LRMs deal the same damage as their IS cousins, but instead of arcing, they fly straight at a target.

Note that the Frag damage type is highly ineffective against vehicles.

Energy Weapons

One advantage of all Energy weapons is that they do not need ammunition, which enables longer effective operating times in many circumstances (no APC near the frontlines, long way to nearest friendly hangar). Main downside of energy weapons is the increased heat buildup that threatens the well-being of heat sinks and the asset itself.

Most laser weapons offer high pinpoint damage without ammunition travel time (hitscan) which can effectively melt chosen part of enemy armor in hands of capable pilot.

Note that laser damage displayed in the table below is the maximum damage possible. This assumes that the laser in question has been focused on a target for the full length of its beam duration. Also note that firing Pulse Lasers (but not X-Pulse Lasers) will occasionally fire an extra pulse. This is a known feature.

Flame damage type doesn't really do damage against ground assets, but if you can manage to hit an air unit with a Flamer, it will do decent damage.

See Also

• Air Weapons