Alena Ventrallis
Intara Direct Action
Caldari State
2495
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Posted - 2015.01.29 14:18:00 -
[1] - Quote
So it seems to me that the HMG still is unbalanced. The changes to HMG heat buildup haven't really seemed to stem the tide of heavy spam, at least in my experience. I think heat isn't the issue. So I have an idea that could help with balance: spooling up.
Now I know you said you are not a fan of spool times, but here's my idea: the RR has a binary spool up. while its charging, nothing happens; once it's fully charged, it fires at 100% capability. In essence, it's on/off. You are either charging and nothing is happening, or you have finished charging and your firing. Nothing in between. So how about we have the HMG have gradual spooling. In essence, the HMG would fire slowly at first, then "spool up" to paper ROF over a certain amount of time. So while the HMG spools, it has much lower DPS than normal, because the barrels aren't rotating as fast, and they need time to build up speed. This has several effects:
1. HMG DPS isn't frontloaded. You no longer have 700-800 DPS ready to go at any given moment. You must now build up to that devastating DPS, meaning a heavy must manage his spooling in addition to his heat, lest he be caught offguard with inadequate DPS. Pre-firing is possible, but that eats into your magazine supply much like the LR.
2. It does not nerf the HMG's potential DPS in any way. It only adds a buildup to that DPS with a modified spool up.
3. It allows suits other than scouts to get the drop on a heavy. No more will a heavy be able to turn and blap whatever is attacking him in the blink of an eye.
4. It better follows the laws of physics (yeah yeah, its a game) Barrels shouldn't be able to accelerate instantly like that, and if they can for whatever lore reason then the Minmatar seem to have some Jovian-level tech on their hands.
5. It allows another way to tweak HMGs besides heat buildup by increasing/decreasing the spool up time.
Now to the numbers: Spool time from 0% ROF to 100% ROF should take about 1-1.5 seconds. Some wiggle room in wither direction based on feedback. Heat buildup from what I understand is still per second instead of per shot, so heat buildup should be reduced such that once you hit 100% ROF it takes the same amount of time to overheat as it does now. Starting ROF (ROF in the first instant you pull the trigger) should be about 200-400 RPM.
A thought demonstration of how this would work: Let's assume starting ROF at 250 RPM, 1.5 second spool time. Once you pull the trigger, initial ROF would be 250 RPM. Over the course of 1.5 seconds, the ROF would build up to the normal 2400 ROF. Heat buildup would be reduced to add in this spool up time to the normal overheat (ie: if the normal overheat is 5 seconds, the new overheat is 6.5 seconds.) This is assuming we still are using heat per second instead of per shot.
Listen to my muscle memory
Contemplate what I've been clinging to
Forty-six and two ahead of me
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