How do you use the mortar?

[Rinne]

I have no idea how to activate the mortar. Does it use ammo? If so where it is sold?

[Dux Aquila]

The description says it's a single-shot weapon. You don't have to worry about ammo - it works the same way as flamers do.
You just pop it on your 'Mech and you can use it in battle whenever. Its button is directly below the other weapons.

[SertanDoom]

Thumper cannon on the Bullshark seems to generate an amazing amount of heat so be careful using the mortar the first few times just in case it generates a similar amount.

[bcasner50]

I thought they were one shot and then empty... I guess that's wrong? Can you use them multiple times?

[wesnef]

Originally posted by bcasner50:

I thought they were one shot and then empty... I guess that's wrong? Can you use them multiple times?

The Thumper on the Bullshark has 2 ammo. Based on the earlier comments in this thread, the basic Mortar just has 1?

[Zloth]

Yeah, the one you can buy is a single shot. The Bullshark lets you shoot twice (though there's a one-round cool down, so you can't shoot twice in a row).

The weapon damage from it is pretty strange. The blast location relative to the target doesn't matter at all. The target is either in the zone and gets damaged or isn't and gets no damage. When damage happens, it seems to hit EVERY piece of armor (except the head) with damage. It's hard to tell how much because numbers all fly out at once but I'm guessing 25-40 damage.

In practice, that hurts the rear armor far more than the rest of the pieces. It will flat out destroy really small targets like Locus and Fleas. It will really hurt mechs in those missions where the enemies have very reduced armor, too. If you've got a mech big enough to field the thing, though, you're probably fighting heavy mechs, which results in your blast scratching a lot of armor but not destroying any of it. Still, if you can't get a clean shot or if there are enough targets, it's worth shooting.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1949502197

[SertanDoom]

Overheat warning does not seem to apply when using the Thumper...First time I used it, I figured "not much heat?" then fired and shutdown. Thought I was imagining that or missed it and shutdown on second use.

[Sentient_Toaster]

Mortar:
https://github.com/caardappel-hbs/bt-dlc-designdata/blob/master/HeavyMetal/data/abilities/AbilityDef_Mortar_MechMortar.json

Thumper:
https://github.com/caardappel-hbs/bt-dlc-designdata/blob/master/HeavyMetal/data/abilities/AbilityDef_Mortar_Thumper.json

The description in both JSON files could be wrong, but it says 10-50 damage (which will be per location, not head). FloatParam2 is 300 for both (range?) while FloatParam1 is 60 for the mortar and 90 for the thumper (radius? heat?).

ACTION: Fire an artillery attack at the target area for 10\u201350 damage per location on units within the blast radius. Has [NumberOfUses] uses per mission.

There's also the "MortarBuildingDamageMultiplier", which defaults to 3, in the combat game constants.

If you're dealing mostly with enemy heavy and assault mechs these damage numbers don't seem terribly impressive for the bulk, weight and extremely limited uses -- but it might be useful for quick base destruction (esp. the "Attack/Defend" mission type, where trashing the enemy base quickly means fewer reinforcement waves to deal with).

[Lack of Stuff]

Originally posted by SquidBob:

Thumper cannon on the Bullshark seems to generate an amazing amount of heat so be careful using the mortar the first few times just in case it generates a similar amount.

There's a bug with the Thumper, when you go to fire it calculates the total heat of ALL your weapons so the heat warning is misleading. You could try disabling your weapons before going to fire and that might give you the correct heat calculation.

[SertanDoom]

Originally posted by Lack of Stuff:

Originally posted by SquidBob:

Thumper cannon on the Bullshark seems to generate an amazing amount of heat so be careful using the mortar the first few times just in case it generates a similar amount.

There's a bug with the Thumper, when you go to fire it calculates the total heat of ALL your weapons so the heat warning is misleading. You could try disabling your weapons before going to fire and that might give you the correct heat calculation.

problem is there was no warning, just fire and shutdown.

[wesnef]

Yeah, the Thumper seems to make a good bit of heat. My MAZ has 9 extra sinks and a 20% exchanger. I'm currently on a desert map. Walking and firing the Thumper built up a small amount on the heat gauge (1/8th, maybe?)

If I walk & fire the rest of the guns (2xUAC5, 2xUAC2, 2xERML), the gained heat is about twice as much.


. . . and I just checked on it's second shot. The heat buildup is the same whether my other guns are turned on or not.

[SertanDoom]

Originally posted by wesnef:

Yeah, the Thumper seems to make a good bit of heat. My MAZ has 9 extra sinks and a 20% exchanger. I'm currently on a desert map. Walking and firing the Thumper built up a small amount on the heat gauge (1/8th, maybe?)

If I walk & fire the rest of the guns (2xUAC5, 2xUAC2, 2xERML), the gained heat is about twice as much.


. . . and I just checked on it's second shot. The heat buildup is the same whether my other guns are turned on or not.

I pulled the ERML, basically had just the auto cannons, and was standing in water the last time I used the Bullshark. Fired a few times on targets then when things lined up, fired/launched the Thumper and would have overheated if the pilot wasn't at max guts. I really don't think that the Bullshark needs a turn based cooldown before firing the Thumper again.

[Big mean bunny]

Careful of the radius though I think it has the potential to destroy the salvage on mechs that have already been KO'd

[Rinne]

Ok i just tried the mortar and it is a pretty disappointing weapon.

[OrbPlaytime]

It might be a good weapon on those contracts where you need to destroy enemy buildings ASAP, but then a multi-target pilot is still probably better with the right mech on those missions.

[terrycpa1972]

It is very situational on how good the mortar is and will vary based on the mission, map and player style. I like them for base defense or very hilly areas so that I can weaken a lance before getting into line of sight.