LRMs: no Artillery anymore?

[Spooky]

The recent patch changed the way LRMs behave. Amongst other changes, they can arc down to much closer targets now, which is a much needed change of course.

However, it seems they now always arc down to the enemy directly, after they reached their apex. This kind of negates the artillery behavior of LRMs now, as originally envisioned by the devs. Now it's only useful to let them fly over a small hill in front of you. Previously the LRMs went up to their apex, flew in a path parallel to the ground and then arced down to the enemy from above, when they came within a certain range of the enemy.

Was this also an intentional change?

[AXEL]

Well they now have more of a ballistic trajectory, which from what I gathered from the books is how they were supposed to work. I actually dumb fire them more now then I ever have.

[Wolfcat9]

Same here. I dumb fire far more than I ever did before.  I don't think it's due to any flight differences though.  I figure that since there is no warning that someone has fired LRMs at you, you will not move and the LRMS will hit. It's good against people who sit in one place a lot.

[=KoS= Tripod]

I dumbfire under 300 meters because it takes ages to lock (assuming you didn't lock before they got that close) and it's not too hard to hit with them at that range while crouching to get a lock can ruin your day

[Toth]

To be honest this is still a work in progress. Some hasty changes went in that weren't the best way to fix the problem. Better fixes will be coming in the future, the core nature of the missile is not meant to change. That isn't to say the LRM line isn't improving, and this should give you the general idea.

[Flyingdebris]

i love the way LRMs work now.  those extra 150m of viable combat space make a massive world of difference

[=KoS= Tripod]

i love the way LRMs work now.  those extra 150m of viable combat space make a massive world of difference

this

I'd still like smaller ones to lock on faster than bigger ones (so non-boats can actually use them without having to stop and crouch all the time) but you can't always get what you want

[Nitro_R]

i love the way LRMs work now.  those extra 150m of viable combat space make a massive world of difference

this

I'd still like smaller ones to lock on faster than bigger ones (so non-boats can actually use them without having to stop and crouch all the time) but you can't always get what you want

I agree, the smaller LRM5 should have a faster lock-on so you can get multiple shots off before your target gets to cover.

[Cloak and Dagger]

All LRMs should have the same lock on time.

If a variant has problems with the small LRMs being useless, that's because the LRMs are functioning incorrectly, not because they need a straight buff to fix the dev's mistakes.

Or, of course, the mech just has a crappy loadout to begin with.

[sleepysheep]

All LRMs should have the same lock on time.

If a variant has problems with the small LRMs being useless, that's because the LRMs are functioning incorrectly, not because they need a straight buff to fix the dev's mistakes.

Or, of course, the mech just has a crappy loadout to begin with.

Well most mechs that have LRMS as secondary weapon are crappy loadouts because of the LRMS.

I agree they should have a faster locktime the smaller they are. Not a huge difference compaired to what they are currently mind you. But just enough so you could actually use them at mid range.

[=CJW= Zweistein000 (W)]

To be honest this is still a work in progress. Some hasty changes went in that weren't the best way to fix the problem. Better fixes will be coming in the future, the core nature of the missile is not meant to change. That isn't to say the LRM line isn't improving, and this should give you the general idea.

Clan non-artillery direct-fire LRM's 

[xInVicTuSx]

I've never been able to use them as artillery anyways, they've always always always found some piece of land to hit first.

[General_Armchair]

Why use lrms as artillery when you can use clan arrow IV's?

[DFDelta]

Because my Bushwacker C does not mount any of those unfortunately.

[Arghy]

I always loved hugging enemy mechs and dumb firing my LRM's but this time their actually arcing back and hitting stuff which surprised me.