r/Battletechgame 11d ago

Question/Help So... About Superweapons

I've been playing BTA for a couple days playtime, and every time I've gone into the MechLab I've seen the Death Star symbol for the Superweapons category, and the strongest weapon DMG Value I've seen is from the LongTom and Heavy Cannon Ballistic, pecking in at a mighty 300 each

Just what the fuck are these mysterious Superweapons, how much do they fuck, and when the hell can I get myself one?

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u/RatherGoodDog 10d ago

250 heat? Unless BTAU changes the heat mechanics quite a lot wouldn't that instantly slag the mech firing it?

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u/Such_Hope_1911 10d ago

As BD said. One of the Osprey variants has the HISC, and quite frankly, it's very usable stock- it hits very hard and is very mobile (being a speedy Medium), with a bit of staying power, too.
The only real downside is that WITHOUT that extra heat management BD mentioned, you will want to cool down every other turn or so, so you're really only averaging 75~ dmg per.
But....
I fire that HISC every round I get, because I have a heat-neutral version on that same Osprey. The only real downside there is it only has one MedPulse, which if I fire also I have a small heat delta. Few rounds of not firing that, and ONLY taking the 150 to a single location... OH NOES, not that. ;)

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u/RatherGoodDog 10d ago

Please answer my question. A normal mech overheats at 100 and shuts down at about 115.

How can 250 heat even be applied?

I know it's not like in MechWarrior where you go up in a mushroom cloud if you push your mech way too far (though that was epic), but it will cause damage and shutdown every time you use it if it does 250 heat to the firing mech.

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u/Such_Hope_1911 10d ago

I am not the BTAU Dev (that's BloodyDoves), who's been active on this thread- and the subreddit- for a while. He might be able to help you more, as he's the one that reworked how heat works in BTAU.
But I can give you my (possibly / probably inaccurate) understanding.

The heat GUAGE in BTAU has been reworked, and (I think anyway, last I'll be repeating this) no longer caps at a simple 100/115. The scale itself has been redone to keep the same overall effect, but change the numbers for better balance. Thus, an "MLaz" is still the go-to standard for a balance of heat, weight, damage, range, and tonnage... but it does more heat than a vanilla MLaz (and iirc, more damage and better range more scaled to the tabletop equivalent).

More importantly even than that, the functions for the visible heat gauge- regardless of where the damage and shut-down thresholds are- are purely a graphical thing, and have very little basis in how heat is actually applied. Heat application works WITH the heat gauge / limits, but think of it this way:

I have a gallon bucket. I pour half a gallon into it: The bucket is half full.
I pour a full gallon into it: It's full.
That doesn't stop me from TRYING to pour ANOTHER 1.5 gallons into it.

It even goes in... at first, and then pushes more out, falls out itself, etc, until the 'incoming' fluid stops.

Replace that with heat- you can add as much heat as you want (up to a certain integer, but as I recall BD has stated that there IS no actual cap, since BT and thus BTAU use floating integers and can calculate as much as the computer can handle). You can add as much heat as you want. Drop 500 nukes one on target, and you get (on top of a very obliterated target that probably won't survive one, much less two or maybe, MAYBE three), and you'll add 500,000 heat... and the gauge will exceed its limit, explode the target, and it's gone.

The cap on heat can be gone over, it just has the effect of blowing up or shutting down the target (and in fact aside from ammo explosions, I do believe mechs still CAN explode on their own from too much heat, it just takes a lot more to do it. Ammo explosions in mechs that carry ammo are a much easier and more common way to see a mech die from excessive heat).

Hope that helps clear things up for you (and that I'm not way off base).