Rotary AC's - Worth the effort, or an accident waiting to happen?

[Black_Knyght]

Ok, I've played with Rotary AC's three times now, and all they seem to do is JAM!

That said, I thought I'd open up a discussion here on the Merits, or Detriments, of using Rotary AC's. Are they worth their weight in fallen foes, or an accident waiting to take you down at an inopportune moment?

[Red Pins]

Yup.  I gave up the marauder RAC variant because of it.  Its a cruel joke, offering 30 damage but only coming through with 15-20.

[garhkal]

For me their biggest downfall is not thir jamming, which unlike an UAC can get unjammed next turn, but the fact you need 2-3 tons of Ammo to make any real use of them, which is a massive explosion waiting to happen.

[Legion]

In my view, the RAC5 is a fun experiment, it might let you down horribly, but it might deliver for one game and the fun will make up for it.  (not to mention that I allow AP ammo for it, which adds a bit of flavour)  I never use the RAC2, however.  I always prefer an LBX-5 instead: same weight, 1 pt clusters instead of 2 pts, but no jamming, a bit of extra range, and that -1 to hit bonus.

[monbvol]

The best way to keep them from jamming is to not go for the full 6 round burst.  I go for 4 round bursts because you get 1 or more extra bursts that way from a single ton of ammo and jamming odds are not that high.

Yeah they are still quite an investment for what they do but I find them almost adequate.

[False Son]

Can't it be both?

[Sockmonkey]

The best way to keep them from jamming is to not go for the full 6 round burst.  I go for 4 round bursts because you get 1 or more extra bursts that way from a single ton of ammo and jamming odds are not that high.

Yeah they are still quite an investment for what they do but I find them almost adequate.

Yep. I though most people used them like that and just saved the full six for emergencies or when an alpha is likely to down an enemy in one round.

[TigerShark]

They're really just garbage weapons. If you're using BV, they are terrible, as you can only safely fire at single shot without risk of jamming. The fact that they can unjam is moot and meaningless; you have one turn, at minimum, where you cannot move your full speed or fire. You're a sitting duck. And being that the RAC/5 is only a 5/10/15 weapon, you're AWFULLY close to the enemy to not be firing. If they have anything lighter than 70 tons, you're probably getting charged and torn up for your troubles. Add on top of that the unjamming roll, making your unjamming attempt iffy, at best.

It's another instance of Battle Value not accurately accounting for the weapon's true value on the field of battle. If you had the table mixed around and had 1 - 3 shots firing without jamming at all, then you'd actually have something worth taking a look at.

Code: [Select]

# Shots      Target Number
--------------------------
1                  -
2                  -
3                  -
4                  3
5                  3
6                  4


[idea weenie]

How would RAC be affected if you set them up as losing range based on how many shots they fire?  No jamming potential, but the faster you shoot, the less accurate you get.

Essentially:
ROF - S/M/L
1 - 6/12/18
2 - 5/10/15
3 - 4/8/12
4 - 3/6/9
5 - 2/4/6
6 - 1/2/3

No rolling on the cluster chart.  Each shot does 5 pts of damage, and you roll for the up to 6 locations separately.

[garhkal]

Interesting Idea.  Making the range drop the more you fire.  Similar to how Rocket launchers are.

[Liam's Ghost]

I can't help but think of Rotary Cannons as being great fun in the way the Hellbringer is great fun. Make peace with your doom and go nuts.

[Caedis Animus]

I tend to view RAC calibers as direct upgrades to their Ultra counterparts, due to them only being a ton more and, in the case of the Ultra 5-Class, a crit more; The fact you can fire six shots if you want as well as unjam them makes it all the better.

Of course, it's also only useful if you do it right. While unjamming, you had best hope you can get to cover before your enemy gets to you, or have the rest of your lance act as support. I've had a triple-RAC custom unit get left alone when all three guns jammed over the course of two turns, simply because it had a trio of 'mechs standing around it giving it cover, and nobody wanted to deal with that triangle of trouble. I feel like it also gives the weapon the quirk of being more useful in a combined arms environment, where you can sandblast enemy armor and internals when needed, and be defended by the rest of your units when the weapons inevitably jam.

[Nightgaun7]

For whatever reason, ultra autocannons hate me and jam every other shot. But when I roll around with a pair of RAC5's spitting out half a ton of hate a turn, not a problem. I can't actually remember ever having had a RAC jam and I use them quite a bit.

I think they could stand improvement, but they're not awful.

Interesting Idea.  Making the range drop the more you fire.  Similar to how Rocket launchers are.

Another one would be to make them get a bonus on the cluster hit table the fewer shots you fire. Would need to be fine-tuned to make firing more shots worth it over firing fewer.

Yet another that I experimented with was making them work like MASC/Superchargers/etc. where you roll to see if you jam on an increasing scale, and a turn of cool-off resets. Of course, you can just keep slinging lead downrange until you jam, then take that turn to reset and unjam...

[TigerShark]

Of course, you can just keep slinging lead downrange until you jam, then take that turn to reset and unjam...

"Downrange" is 15 hexes. That's a Clan Medium Laser's range and most of their units are, at minimum, 5/8 or faster. You really have to have miraculously dense terrain to be able to hide and make that roll without getting torn up.

[sadlerbw]

I thoroughly enjoy rotaries, and prefer them over the same size ultras for the simple fact that it it possible to unjam them without resorting to house rules. Also, I've watched Predator far too many times and love the mini gun scenes!

 I tend to set mine at either one or five shots per turn. One if I have low odds of hitting or just don't want the jam risk, but most of the time I rock and roll with five shots. Going up to six isn't worth the extra jam risk as far as I can tell. Occasionally I set at three if I am trying to conserve ammo, but never two or four. The way the jam chances work out, there isn't really any penalty for going from two to three shots or four to five, so I always sling the most lead possible for a given jamming bracket.

Much as jamming mechanics annoy me in general, I find the rotary to be a much preferable implementation to the ultra. Thus, I think it is totally worth it. I mean, if it wasn't that great, they would have let us have rotary 10's and 20's!

[Suralin]

Rotaries are fun, but I have bad luck with the guns getting jammed. though nobody has yet been brazen enough to give me the raspberry.

... Actually this conversation gave me an idea for a new custom weapon.

[Scotty]

I can't help but think of Rotary Cannons as being great fun in the way the Hellbringer is great fun. Make peace with your doom and go nuts.

I like you.

Related: you can fit two (Clan) RAC/10s with seven tons of ammo and CASE II.  Or three RAC/2s and four tons of that ammo plus CASE II.

Being able to force a PSR while sandblasting at 25 hexes sounds actually pretty hilarious.

[pensiveswetness]

My wife has two 'mechs (a custom Avatar) and a Shadow Hawk 5D that have shown success with their RAC-5's. Large Lasers and MRM's are good friends (bracket wise) but she had not used all three on the same frame yet.