18% called headshots is just too much...

[Rodrigo]

I may be speaking for me, but since i got the gauss rifle, or an ac20/ac10+'s for that matter, i can get any mech i want in any battle by just conserving it and going for 18% called shots, sure it does required called shot mastery at some point, but since every cockpit has the same health / armor value, this is an easy way to grab mechs around or just finish off even atlases and king crabs with no major hassle, just stay in that 40% cover and keep trying, often the 3rd-4th try will destroy the cockpit, and its not rare to hit on the first attempt either

IMO, either structure on bigger mechs cockpits should be stronger or called shot peaks at 10%, that nearly 20% just require a little bit of patience to land on every battle...

just my 2 cents.

[Sentient_Toaster]

It's actually 35% now if you're using the correct mech (MAD-3R... well, any mech if you're abusing a certain bug and willing to sacrifice a MAD-3R and pilot for the lance command module).

[Rodrigo]

Originally posted by Sentient_Toaster:

It's actually 35% now if you're using the correct mech (MAD-3R... well, any mech if you're abusing a certain bug and willing to sacrifice a MAD-3R and pilot for the lance command module).

and I were having this ez mode with just a highlander + random schmuck with called mastery? i certainly want a marauder now lol.

speaking of wich, i bought a gauss rifle at store waaaaay before i got the highlander, should have just mastered tactics earlier.

[Dimitrius]

ну и что тебе не нравиться в шансе 18%? Мародер вообще 35% стреляет, только по игре 18% шотов больше выбило мехов, чем 35%, и здесь большой вопрос

[Mudpony]

It is just called shots in general, really. Once you get mastery, it's silly. Need a mech dead? Blast its center torso and done. With an assault mech, it is more consistent than head shotting. Less salvage, though.

[wesnef]

It was also a bit less of an issue when there were less/smaller Big Guns in the game.

When you only had one Gauss Rifle (the one you got from the Campaign 732B, with no + variants), there were no UAC's with big bonuses, 60+dmg energy weapons were rare, etc. . . you needed 2 or 3 "18%" rolls to succeed in order to blow that head off.


(That said, I've found that putting the 'parts needed' up to 4 makes a big difference. A single headshot won't get you that mech you want.)

[Mudpony]

Originally posted by wesnef:

(That said, I've found that putting the 'parts needed' up to 4 makes a big difference. A single headshot won't get you that mech you want.)

And as far as overall salvage goes, there's a lot to be said to trashing most of an enemy mech. Sure, it means you only get 1 part per mech, but without all the junk cluttering up the salvage pool, you get a lot more mech parts through the random bit. Works quite well when facing lots of baddies. But if you blast the head on everything, well, then that Hunchback adds 8 MLs and a bunch of heatsinks, that stupid Spider adds 8 JJs, and so on. And since weapons are weighted the same as parts, the more of them you take out of the pool, the better.

[Rodrigo]

Originally posted by Mudpony:

Originally posted by wesnef:

(That said, I've found that putting the 'parts needed' up to 4 makes a big difference. A single headshot won't get you that mech you want.)

And as far as overall salvage goes, there's a lot to be said to trashing most of an enemy mech. Sure, it means you only get 1 part per mech, but without all the junk cluttering up the salvage pool, you get a lot more mech parts through the random bit. Works quite well when facing lots of baddies. But if you blast the head on everything, well, then that Hunchback adds 8 MLs and a bunch of heatsinks, that stupid Spider adds 8 JJs, and so on. And since weapons are weighted the same as parts, the more of them you take out of the pool, the better.

true in fact, but for mech farming... its just insane... I didnt even knew about the mad tact bonus, guess what, i already got a mad and it does makes what is borderline broken, truly broken, ive added 2x gauss +2 tons of ammo, thats all, the headshoting is just straightforwardly broken, it may harm the pool a little but lets say i want a mech out of the way already or want it, uhhh, it feels wrong.

Originally posted by Mudpony:

It is just called shots in general, really. Once you get mastery, it's silly. Need a mech dead? Blast its center torso and done. With an assault mech, it is more consistent than head shotting. Less salvage, though.

i kinda disagree, smaller mechs you can blast off the torso but a decent and up medium mech should still survive, after all its just 61 armor + structure combined for the head, CT? well, some 80+ ish armor plus structure on mediums, heavies being way more... headshots is the same for all, i really think this should be 'tweaked', yet i'll just personally refrain from using this 'easy' OTP.

[Mudpony]

The thing is, when you've got an assault mech, trashing an opponent's torso is nothing. You've just got so much fire power, and a ~75% chance to hit said torso. My Bull Shark M3, which is set up with Snubs, SRMs, LB-2Xs, and an LRM-15, all weapons that are not ideal for called shots, will put any heavy mech down in one called shot to the center torso, at a far higher rate than my Marauders can put them down with head shots. Heck, a decent portion of the time, if it is flanking, it doesn't even need a called shot to put a heavy down. And with called shots, it can put down assaults often enough as well.

Of course, the marauders get more salvage, which I want from the juicy biggest mechs, and can do it at longer range. And it's fun to see the enemy's head explode. So the Marauders get to try for head shots most of the time. Mads with Ultra 2++s and some ML/ER-MLs are fun :)

But anyway, head shots are flashy, and if you only have a few weapons, yeah, they can do what torso shots cannot, some of the time. But a lot of the time, you're also better off targeting elsewhere. A right (the PPC/LRM-10 griffin, the ML Hunchback) or left (the AC-20 Hunchback) torso is often a good choice. You'll more consistently get results, often remove half the enemy mech's firepower now, and that mech is going to die quickly after that, due to so much more damage winding up going to the center torso. And if you go for the center torso, even if you don't finish it off, other mechs with things like SRMs, Snubs, or the like will finish the job. Especially if the enemy has ammo in the CT. But with a head shot, well, you can't rely on others to finish the job.

And all that said, suffice it to say, yeah, Called Shots are OP. Because in addition to those high percentage chance, you also get a big boost to hit, and you push back your target's initiative by 1. Those two things alone often make Called Shots worth doing. When I did a balance pass mod before, I nerfed Called Shots, and when I make a new balance mod this time around, I'll do it again.

[Exarch_Alpha]

That´s discussed a lot but I have yet to see a decent SOLUTION post.

[Axeface]

I think called shot and called shot mastery should be nerfed by about 8% across the board.

[OrbPlaytime]

Considering people complain they miss at 80% in general, it is kinda ironic some are now commenting precision shot 18% is some sort of guaranteed lethal head shot with just 2 70+dmg wpns.
IMO its more of a pattern breaker when it hits the 30s, but if someone wants to field Marauders they should, and in book lore they were meant to be scary *shrug* - although IMO it should only have 1 AC hardpoint in the game with its quirks.

If it bothers players enough you can edit file TraitDefCalledShotMaster under >data>abilities>traits.
The numbers are not linear so changing the float integer to say 10 takes it to around 40%.
Meaning small changes might be only slightly noticable from what it currently is in your game.
Changing the number I suggest restarting the game and also a new contract to test.
Anyway works for me (just tested it).

The other alternative which is how I play; limit your pilots to being able to only go past 5 skill points in the two trees they choose their level 5 abilities in; so would be something like as an example 5/5/10/10 end game.
This will reduce number of mech warriors in the lance that have calledshot mastery/decent gunnery % aim/high guts-higher heat thereshold/high sprint-dodge/etc.

I think a weakness of the game is having a mech warrior at 10/10/10/10 IMO, but it is great the game lets you play as you want; the lower tree choice concept falls flat on its face though with some of the flashpoints, although with the new weapons could be doable.

The other option is to edit morale to be lower per round or increase the cost of precision shot.

A bigger game breaker are UACs (the other new weapons to a lesser extent) IMO and ease of access to high rarity items/weapons/mechs in shops, but then you do not have to use them.

[OrbPlaytime]

The other alternative is to only target head once it is knocked down.
If the % was at 10-15% I doubt it makes sense to even try a precision shot at the head with most mechs, so why not leave as is and accept the higher chance and use head shot only when the mech is knocked down.

[Drive2xs]

Marauder with four large lasers with damage and accuracy bonuses = Profit!

[Hyndis]

I don't use called shots because of how overly powerful they are. I can core out a 100t assault mech in a single alpha strike to CE with only a Thunderbolt.

Once you reach a threshold of firepower to blow through CT armor and structure its game over. Called shots are an instant kill on anything, and I think this goes against the spirit of the game. Whats the challenge when you can instant kill anything at will? And when doing a one hit kill you often get back enough morale to do another called shot, chaining them one after another to wipe out any number of opponents in a single attack. Its just too easy.

I refuse to use called shots for this reason.

[The Pollie]

I generally only use called shots to blast legs off 'Mechs for salvage. Using them for headshots gets overpowered in a damn hurry.