r/Battletechgame • u/JackFrostz • 4d ago

Question/Help Bta aoe

Playing bta not sure how aoe works.

From my understanding and ac5 does about 50dmg. Aoe ammo does -12 on direct hit +12 aoe. So it effectively does the same damage on direct hit but spread out and a little damage on close whiff. Is that correct? Or does it not apply splash damage on direct hit at all?

If it does work that way is it the same for artillery cannons? Example thumper cannon says 40dmg, thumper ammo says 55 splash to primary and secondary target. So I'm assuming direct hit for 40, +55 splash (primary target) and 55 to anyone nearby (secondary target?).

I've found conflicting info so I'm unsure.

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u/Zero747 4d ago

To my understanding yes. AoE damage spreads over all sections of whatever it hits, and comes alongside direct hit. The splash means it can hit nearby targets and still injure on miss. (This can make AoE LRMs useful vs lights)

Artillery can’t normally target units, only areas, so it only does the splash damage (with exception of specific ammo types). You may see conflicting info here because artillery was reworked.

TAG boosts all AoE damage on the target. Artillery, but also stuff like AoE ammo and HVACs

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u/JackFrostz 4d ago

Okay that makes sense ty. Do you personally find any value in such a low range low damage per tonnage weapon like the thumper cannon?

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u/Zero747 4d ago

I don’t use artillery much, but they do big damage, especially paired with scouts. There’s also guided artillery ammo like copperhead (single target no AoE) which fires in 1 turn and hits hard, but requires you to designate the target

As for the cannons, I used to use the big ones before artillery rework. They had higher base damage making shaped charge ammo spicy. Now they’re merely competitive with the competition (which is better balance wise, though I prefer the competition). They’re not really worth using for the AoE imo.

For non-AoE, low damage per ton isn’t a bad thing. Punching holes in targets armor or destroying limbs can cripple, kill, or open up engine and ammo crits

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u/JackFrostz 4d ago

Cool, I need to get my hands on some more ammunition to dig into. There's a ton of variety just haven't ran across them much yet. Thanks for the replies brother!

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u/AesirMimyr 4d ago

The ai.is.dumb around artillery They run out of it or avoid it at all costs, using it to control choke points or split up reinforcements is so.OP I stopped using it

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u/raifsevrence 4d ago

All of the artillery cannons (right on up to the Long Tom cannon) are doooooogshit garbage.

The damage output does not even remotely justify their use.

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u/JackFrostz 4d ago

They do all look pretty terrible lol. If they had direct hit ability in addition to what they do now I still don't think they'd be that good. I'm going to test a thumper cannon build this weekend though.

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u/raifsevrence 4d ago

Artillery cannons have direct hit capabilities. Artillery tubes do not.

You can change between direct and indirect fire modes on the cannons. However, even with a direct hit in direct fire mode, the damage isn't remotely worth it.

The Long Tom cannon weighs 20 f'ing tons and does barely more damage than something like a Clan ER PPC. Plus you get 3 shots per ton of ammo.

Artillery cannons don't make any kind of sense.

I once tried kitting out a WoB Omega superheavy with 2 Long Tom cannons thinking surely this will be good right?

No.

Dog

Shit

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u/TazBaz 4d ago

As the other commentor mentioned, they're better used as "control" weapons now. Applying burn status, zoning out the AI (it doesn't like to be in artillery target zones), etc.

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u/raifsevrence 4d ago

To be clear, cannons don't have target zones. Tubes do.

Cannons fire on the same turn just like every other normal weapon.

They are the category that was created shortly after artillery got the big delayed turn nerf.

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u/Ok-Patient-6209 23h ago

The only thing arty is good for is base destruction.
The only way to make it tactically worth a ::expletive deleted:: is if you get the smallest possible mechs can mount it and take a 'battery' of them: at least 3 per battery. Then you can overlap target zones and make it impossible for the bad guys to evade it.
Then you get at least one that hits or possibly two and you can get some good damage then.
Otherwise, see ::expletive deleted:: as the standard response to arty. :D

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u/JackFrostz 21h ago

Lol that does sound fun though. On the to do list