PPC vs Large laser..

[Diomedes]

So I know the difference between them in Battletech and MWO.. The differences and advantages of them in those games are quite clear.. Here? With a lack of cover, large laser seems far better unless you are sniping at extremely long ranges.. Do ppc's incur a accuracy penalty to enemy mech AI?

[Velkhana's Summer]

Think about it like this, if the enemy is moving behind cover or you are, your laser duration might not get its full effect, also your laser damage will always be spread unless AI and their aimbot lol, still PPCS are better on the AI for the first reason. They shoot and are reloading before the laser's duration is up to, this leads to great dps if you can handle the heat. As for the effect on enemy accuracy I would assume so.

[[VI] Benjamin Zuriel]

I don't think so, the only thing I've seen PPC's cause is the mechs pilot interface to glitch out and spread damage to various parts of the mechs armour, but that's when I've been shot by it. I've hit plenty of mechs with PPC's and it didn't seem to adjust their accuracy at all really.

Also if you're running AI lance mates never give them, mechs that are fitted with PPC's. Due to the splash damage PPC's do, I had a Warhammer go critical due to the AI firing PPC's at close range or into the terrain he walked behind. PPC's + AI = Dead Lance Mate.

In the terms of advantages between PPC's and Large lasers, I think someone else could explain it better then me.

[letir]

PPC isn't worth so much heat. For the same tonnage you can load Large Chem Laser with two tons of ammunnition, which will last you for entire mission and way easer to manage.

[Snake Bit]

sounds like the ppc needs a readjustment. What's the verdict on burst lasers? Are bursts worth it or should you go for chem laser at every opportunity.

[fefnir3284]

Large Laser all the way. The PPC is too slow, too hot and weights too much. I love the Large Laser Short Bursts. I used PPCs once and it sucked, now all slots are Large Laser Short Bursts 4 or 5 pips

[Don Montega]

A single PPC hit on the engine pods can down an IGOR VTOL, or bust a light/medium tank at long range. Where the LLas still has to wait for the target to close in to even work, the ppc already terminated the threat.
Also a single LLas isn't sufficient to kill most stuff, a single PPC is.

It is click and fire, has no laser duration and allows to twist to distribute damage you take.
Lasers always are a staredown weapon, where your torso will be damaged quickly.
An edge case are SB Lasers, the burn duration is short, comparable to burstfire AC and allows to twist a bit, while also being cooler and dealing less damage.

Chem Lasers might be cooler, but they have the same long burn as regulars, take up additional tonnage for ammo and deal less dmg. IMO go SB or no lasers at all.

IMO the ppc hit is only an effect on the ui, but i also haven't tested ECM either.
I think both could work the same, as a debuff reducing enemy accuracy, but i have no data on that.

Edit: Being under ECM for the player is the same UI behaviour as if a PPC hit close to you, or an electric building/part blew up.
The tooltip on ECM says it reduces enemy radar range and accuracy, aswell as increase LRM spread and inhibit SSRM tracking.
I figure the ppc field is the same, but only short duration.

To my experience however, running fast and changing the course often helps more to prevent being hit, than to trust on a potential mechanic that isn't documented anywhere to my knowledge.

Try it out, preferably in a low difficulty rating mission with a Griffin for example.

This is the beauty of MW5 as singleplayer: You do you ;)

[Silamon]

I like the ppcs, more because I like the visual effect of firing a ball of plasma at a target more than shooting a small blue beam at them than because they are super effective though.

They do have nice range. I run 2 on my warhammer and they do well enough. I like being able to knock Igors down while they are still far off like Don mentioned, those things can hurt if they get close.

[Bones Johnson]

PCC's weigh more, but they fire faster, do more damage and have significantly better range. PPC's are straight better in terms of damage over large lasers, but they weigh a bit more and take up a bit more heat.

I haven't gotten a load of big mechs yet, but they work pretty well on light/mediums with maybe only one large energy slot where heat just isn't a concern.

Originally posted by The Cat:

sounds like the ppc needs a readjustment. What's the verdict on burst lasers? Are bursts worth it or should you go for chem laser at every opportunity.

From the stats of short burst, they seem pretty good. Higher DPS than regular lasers. Though chem lasers might be just the go to for bigger mechs so you can sustain your laser vomit.

[Commisar Jon Fuklaw]

LL/ERLL for swatting flies/stomping tanks. Also excellent for demolition work.
LPL/ERLPL for maximum DPS vs fast or otherwise hard to hit targets. Also great for burning out your heatsinks.
PPC's for pretending you have a gauss rifle before you have a gauss rifle.
Chem LL's for when you want to have to worry about ammo for every weapon type. Alternatively, for those times you can't afford 4000 C-Bills for some single heatsinks.

[Silamon]

Originally posted by Commisar Jon Fuklaw:

LL/ERLL for swatting flies/stomping tanks. Also excellent for demolition work.
LPL/ERLPL for maximum DPS vs fast or otherwise hard to hit targets. Also great for burning out your heatsinks.
PPC's for pretending you have a gauss rifle before you have a gauss rifle.
Chem LL's for when you want to have to worry about ammo for every weapon type. Alternatively, for those times you can't afford 4000 C-Bills for some single heatsinks.

Large Chem lasers are actually very good. They deal nearly as much damage as a large laser but have significantly less heat build up. Try them on something like a black knight. 3 large chem lasers can be fired on cooldown for a good while, even with only single heatsinks. Compared to standard lasers you will be overheating after a couple shots with singles.

[DragynDance]

Actually, in my experience AI lancemates do grea twith PPC's, sniping mechs across the map, and basically making sure vtols don't even exist in your game. Make sure you do AI loadouts with weapons of similiar ranges. IF you put close range weapons on your AI mech with ppc's, it's going to get into close range so it can fire all it's weapons. Run an LRM boat with PPC's and it will sit back and snipe highly effectively.

[Commisar Jon Fuklaw]

Originally posted by Silamon:

snip

See, the thing is that primitive lasers are actually really good for low level missions. They're not so good in higher difficulty missions where you need to get closer to optimal lance compositions and mech loadouts.

What ends up happening is that you end up having to go all in on primitives and their ammo - which is not sufficient for a lot of high level missions - or all in on regular lasers and heatsinks - which require more skill - or you end up with a frankenmech sacrifices far too much survivability to be viable anyways.

It's even worse outside of the "big" dedicated laser/PPC platforms (MAD-3R, WHM-4D and 4R, BLK-XX-KNT, MAD-4A, etc.), where you already have to consider ammo and heat generation for the non-energy weapons. For the above mentioned energy platforms, the problem with primitive lasers is the lack of battlefield longevity needed to take down the company of heavy/assault mechs (and support) that 80+ difficult missions frequently throw at you.

For example, an ANH-1A with standard ML's is viable, while one with primitive ML's is much less so. Even though the medium lasers are "backup" weapons, they are there to lessen the strain on the Annihilator's ammunition reserves and to allow for more armor than, say, replacing them with MPL's. Replacing them with primitive lasers necessitates adding in most of the extra weight of MPL's but with none of the benefits (increased ROF, increased pinpoint damage). For the same reason, I'd not use primitives in the Atlas, Stalker, Highlander, or any other heavy/assault built around a balanced loadout.

[Diomedes]

Originally posted by CMA VI Benjamin Zuriel:

I don't think so, the only thing I've seen PPC's cause is the mechs pilot interface to glitch out and spread damage to various parts of the mechs armour, but that's when I've been shot by it. I've hit plenty of mechs with PPC's and it didn't seem to adjust their accuracy at all really.

Also if you're running AI lance mates never give them, mechs that are fitted with PPC's. Due to the splash damage PPC's do, I had a Warhammer go critical due to the AI firing PPC's at close range or into the terrain he walked behind. PPC's + AI = Dead Lance Mate.

In the terms of advantages between PPC's and Large lasers, I think someone else could explain it better then me.

This is the first I heard the ppc's in this game doing splash damage.. I haven't noticed it in my game at all.. I know Clan ER ppc's and snub ppc's do splash in MWO, but not in this game.. If they did it would be worth it.
PPC's in MWO for instance have advantage of pop tarting and getting behind cover.. Cover doesn't really exist in this game, any where to the level you need it to matter like in MWO. Though I don't think that's a bad thing, MWO (though I enjoy it) I find it incredibly odd that you will have 100 ton war machines literally huddling behind cover as if they are infantry at any chance they get.
And it being a stare down weapon vs a pop shot to me is trivial in this game imo.. MWO it matters, because of people using massive alpha strikes of front load damage with builds..
That doesn't exist in this game, not only does AI not do massive alpha strikes, but most load outs are more battletech lore friendly.. Meaning your not going to run into a mech with 4 or 5 srm6's to front load into your face... Nor are you going to have massive dakka mechs armed with 2 uac5's and 2 uac10's unloading on you.

[Commisar Jon Fuklaw]

Originally posted by Diomedes:

snip

PPC's don't do splash damage in this. They only ever did splash damage in MWLL and (maybe, been a fair few years since I played it without just running a Jenner the whole game) MW2:M.

PPC's do mess with the HUD if they impact within 90m of a mech, however. It's unknown if this has any effect on the (usually) piss poor accuracy of the AI, and it's not likely to be known unless someone digs around in the game files (I'd do it just out of curiosity, if I didn't have to deal with Epic to get the UDK).

[Diomedes]

Originally posted by Commisar Jon Fuklaw:

Originally posted by Diomedes:

snip

PPC's don't do splash damage in this. They only ever did splash damage in MWLL and (maybe, been a fair few years since I played it without just running a Jenner the whole game) MW2:M.

PPC's do mess with the HUD if they impact within 90m of a mech, however. It's unknown if this has any effect on the (usually) piss poor accuracy of the AI, and it's not likely to be known unless someone digs around in the game files (I'd do it just out of curiosity, if I didn't have to deal with Epic to get the UDK).

Yeah I wish the game was clearer in the functions of weapons.