alpha strike tagged posts

Heat Penalty Explained Simply (with Optimal Weapons Table)

MWO Heat Penalties Comprehensive Guide

A few patches ago, a heat penalty system was introduced to Mechwarrior Online. It generates ghost heat, if a pilot fires a certain amount of the same type of weapons at the same time. The problem is: there is no explanation for this mechanic in the game. You will have to read through a lot of forum entries and do a crap-ton of calculations and experimentation to figure out, how many of which weapons can be used. This guide will provide you with a simple table from which you can see immediately if your desired weapon group is a good idea or not. At the end of this post will be a list with other resources, links, and references which you can read if you want to go more in-depth.

Heat Penalty Easy Table

The following table provides a clean and easy overview of how many weapons you can fire at the same time. The symbols will give you an idea about the heat penalties without overwhelming you with numbers and formulas. Here is how you read the table:

MWO Green Weapon Group - Heat PenaltyNo heat penalty – A green tick means that you can fire this many weapons without any penalty.

 

MWO Yellow Weapon Group - Heat PenaltyLow heat penalty – A yellow plus means, that there is already a ghost heat penalty when firing this many weapons. If your build is reasonably heat efficient, you can use this many weapons in special cases. However, you will sacrifice additional heat generation for more fire power. Experiment with these amounts of weapons and if you find yourself running too hot, remove the weapon.

MWO Red Weapon Group - Heat PenaltyExtreme heat penalty / Have to use Chain fire - A red cross means that you should never ever fire this many weapons of that group at once. If you do, you will generate so much heat that the additional weapon is not worth firing at all. If you still want to use that many weapons, be sure to wait .5 seconds before firing the next one. Setting such weapon groups to chain fire (default hotkey BACKSPACE) can greatly help while playing. If you click a chain fire group once, it will only fire the currently outlined weapon. Wait .5 seconds and then click again. This way, you won’t have to deal with a lot of unnecessary weapon groups. Dual AC/20 builds are an example for this.

Linked Groups – All weapons in a linked group will share their maximum alpha heat penalty. If you fire a mixture of weapons from a group (for example PPCs and ER PPCs) at the same time, you will still receive a heat penalty. In such a case, sum up all weapons and look at the icons in the group’s row for reference. For example, if you use 2 ER Large Lasers and 2 Large Lasers, check the 4th entry of LRG LS Linked Group.

Weapons which do not appear in the table have no alpha strike heat penalty and can thus be used at will in any amount.

 MWO Heat Penalty Easy Table mwo-builds.net

Examples from the Table

2x SRM2 + 2x SRM4 – SRM2s and SRM4s are not in a linked group. 2x SRM2 is green, and 2xSRM4 is green, as well. No heat penalty when firing these 4 weapons at the same time.

2x Large Laser + 1x Large Pulse Laser – Large Lasers and Large Pulse Lasers are in a linked group. In total 2+1=3 weapons. Look at the 3rd entry for Large Laser Linked Group: orange. It could work out, but is not recommended.

Interesting Links, Resources, and References

If you want to check out the mechanics and actual numbers on a more in-depth level, you might want to have a look at the following resources.


Get Connected!

If you know of an excellent build, resource, or guide, submit it and maybe it will be featured on mwo-builds.net and seen by thousands of players. You can submit builds by sending us an e-mail, post it in the official looking-for-builds thread, or send us a private message via the official forums. You can also submit guides and builds via Facebook or Twitter (see below). Join hundreds of other Mechwarrior enthusiasts and like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Receive the latest guides and the best MWO builds directly to your favourite social platform!

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Alpha Strike, Fire Power, and DPS Explained

What is Alpha Strike, Fire Power, and Damage Per Second?

This guide will explain the important difference between fire power and damage per second. There are a lot of misconceptions about these terms. Many people consider only one of many values or give them no thought at all. The truth, in my humble opinion, is that different weapons excel at different jobs. Somehow, all these three terms refer to the damage of a Mech. On the other hand, their importance is often distorted by players, and they are mixed up frequently. The following short explanations will shed some light on the confusion.

mwo-catapault-epl-502

Alpha Strike

An Alpha Strike in Mechwarrior Online is the act of firing all your weapons at the same time. Since the matches in MWO favoured (and in part still favours) bursty builds, this term became very popular. If all weapons on a Mech are very similar, it makes sense to fire them in one huge Alpha Strike. Those builds play very boringly, but can be insanely effective. Popular examples include the Splat-Cat (Catapult stuffed with SRMs) or PPC boats.

Fire Power

This term is one of the stats shown in the in-game mechlab. The number is the theoretical maximum damage dealt by an Alpha Strike with his Mech. Theoretical, because there are several things you have to consider when analyzing this value: If the Mech was weapons with different effective ranges, you won’t be able to fire all of them at the same time. If the chassis has weapons with very different aiming mechanisms, then you probably won’t hit all your weapons on the same target in the same salvo (for example, Lasers need you to stay on target; a Gauss Rifle requires the pilot to lead but hit only one bullet). In addition, the fire power value does not take into consideration how heat efficient a build is or how much ammo is available for all weapons.
Fire Power alone does not make for a very good indicator of how good a build really is. However, if most weapons (or all of the most powerful ones) have similar ranges, than fire power can be an indicator of how bursty a build is. For random PUG games, it is nice to have at least some burst potential. Numbers will change with patches, but at the moment the following rough outline can help with judging these numbers:

  • 0-30  No relevant burst potential. Probably a lighter Mech with a very sane armament.
  • 30-50  Some burst potential. Many builds, which are not centered around powerful Alpha Strikes, will probably be in this range.
  • 50-60  Above the average firepower. Usually found on Heavy and Assault Mechs. A well placed hit will cause serious problems.
  • 60+  Insane burst potential. Splat-Cats, Assault SRM+AC/20 brawlers and outdated PPC boats fall into this category. One direct hit and you are toast!

Fire Power Explained

Damage Per Second (DPS) and Sustained DPS

Most people think that they understand what damage per second is and what exactly it means. In my experience as a gamer, this is only partially true...

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MWO Patch Notes July 30th Summary – New Map, more Heat Penalties and Seismic Nerf

Click here for August 20th Patch Notes <

MWO Patch Notes July 30th Summary/TLDR

New MWO Map: Terra Therma

If you don’t have the time to read through all the extensive patch notes or simply prefer a more condensed style, here are the MWO July 30th patch notes’ most important points:

  • New Map: Terra Therma (check out video below)
  • Seismic Sensor ranges nerfed to 180m/250m (down from 200m/400m)
  • ERPPCs and PPCs are now treated as a group when calculating heat penalties. They will share their max alpha limit.
  • Same goes for the following groups: LRM20+LRM15+LRM10, LL+ERLL+LPL, and SRM6+SRM4.
  • Small area-of-effect buffs to Artillery and Air Strike consumables.
  • Various performance improvements and bug fixes.

If you would like to learn more about the ghost heat, check out this guide: MWO Heat Penalty System explained without formulas

Terra Therma Map Reveal Video

Terra Therma is the newest addition to the Mechwarrior Online map pool. It features vast valleys of black rock and glowing lava flows. The map has a relative high environmental heat level (the video suggests a heat level even slightly higher than Caustic Valley). There are also some bridges and a central installation which should make for interesting battles.

Trouble watching the video? Click here.


Get Connected!

If you know of an excellent build, resource, or guide, submit it and maybe it will be featured on mwo-builds.net and seen by thousands of players. You can submit builds by sending us an e-mail, post it in the official looking-for-builds thread, or send us a private message via the official forums. You can also submit guides and builds via Facebook or Twitter (see below). Join hundreds of other Mechwarrior enthusiasts and like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Receive the latest guides and the best MWO builds directly to your favourite social platform!

Official Original Patch Notes

Source

Open Beta Update #22

Upcoming Patch – Tuesday July 30th @ 10AM – 1PM PDT

Patch Number: 1.2.233

Change Log

UPDATE

Greetings, MechWarriors.

What is this? A third patch in July? Madness!

First off, we want to acknowledge the amazing work the community is doing with the Sarah Jenner! We knew you were a caring community but these results are exceeding our expectations and for that we truly thank you.

It’s summer and things are heating up around here with the release of our latest map Terra Therma. Lava is hot! So read the Patch notes for a full description...

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