MAM Launchers can be charged but do no extra damage

[Scoob]

Hi, <br />
<br />
I've noticed that the MAM launchers (on my Yokohama in this case) can be charged (trigger held down) but this does not do any extra damage. Being an ammo-based weapon this doesn't seem quite...

[Sam Redstone]

I can tell you that making MAMLs a chargeable weapon was deliberate, because it was discussed in the testing process. However, I'm not a dev, so as to whether or not it should be doing more damage,...

[Scoob]

Hi, <br />
<br />
Ok, that's cool, thanks for your reply. <br />
<br />
On a related note; if they are intended to do additional damage, should they not also use more ammo for a charged shot? I noticed that each gun...

[Roger L.S. Griffiths]

Charging can not use more ammo, but it can use more energy. It should be noted that the in-game reported energy usage for ammo based weapons is totally misleading. The engine does in fact obey the energy usage values as specified in the TBullets file (where the charging characteristics are also specified).

[Roger L.S. Griffiths]

I just had a look in TBullets and the charging characteristics indicate that MAML should do double damage (7.8k/21k) and consume double energy (340) after 2.75s of charging.

[Sam Redstone]

That's a good point... are you charging them up for the full 2.75 seconds, Scoob? And how are you measuring their damage output? Perhaps it's working correctly, and it's just hard to tell.

If the entry in tbullets is right, I can't see how it could be wrong in-game, unless there's something hardcoded behind the scenes with ammo-based weapons making their damage always the same.... ?

[Tarrasque]

Are you getting a different bullet graphic when you shoot the charged up ones? There is a difference between the two.

[Scoob]

Hi all, <br />
<br />
Yes, I charge them until they reached maximum and fired themselves - I'm not releasing the trigger before full charge. <br />
<br />
I tested the damage on a large, unarmed ship - one of the...

[Sam Redstone]

Hmmm... when I charge them up, I see a different graphic. They're a little bigger and shinier looking, and maybe seem to spin faster? Anyway, I can see a difference. Haven't done any damage tests...

[Yaotzin]

They're definitely bigger/brighter for me too. Seemed to do about double damage too when I was shooting a poor defenseless Darius. Those ships should probably have more protection...going to have fun boarding them when I can find some marines :p

[Scoob]

Hi,

Hmm, I'll test again, maybe I was a little too fatigued (too much playing) and failed to notice the subtle difference in size and brightness of the shots. Damage did appear to be the same regardless of charging though. I'll do some more scientific tests later with my target on a monitor so I can see the exact shield % value & how much it gets reduced by. I have a station (depot) of my own now so that will assist my testing.

Cheers,

Scoob.

[Sam Redstone]

Don't forget to go under Advanced -> Rename the depot to "Practice Dummy" for the duration of the tests. :D Poor little depot, it doesn't know what's coming...

I still haven't looked at this yet. Hopefully I'll be able to do some tests tonight, too, and we can compare notes. Thanks!

[Scoob]

Hi, <br />
<br />
Lol, yeah. <br />
<br />
You know, concentrating really hard and carefully checking the damage done I think maybe it's me being daft. I do see a very slight difference in the look of &quot;charged&quot; bullets,...

[Sam Redstone]

Here are my results firing on a station with 8x MAMLs: <br />
<br />
Uncharged: 88 MJ shield damage <br />
Charged: 250 MJ shield damage <br />
<br />
... almost 3x as much damage! MAMLs are definitely meaner in XTC... you...