LRMs vs Heads

[Harmattan Assassin]

One of the moderators posted a description of how Missiles view headshots. It was:

If an LRM strikes the head with the first missile, then no other missile from that volley will strike the head.
If an LRM misses the head with the first missile, then no missile from that volley will strike the head.

Since seeing that, I've zoomed in on my mechs and enemy mechs as they took LRM fire (as I suspected that this wasn't true). This is what i've found.

It is true that if the first missile of a volley strikes the head, no other missile from that volley will hit the head.
However, if the first missile does not hit the head, each additional missile DOES have a chance of hitting the head, but once a single missile does hit the head, then all others will not.

I've seen heads get hit in the middle of the volley, I've seen them hit by the last missile in a volley. So basically, an LRM20 (from my observations) does in fact get 20 chances for a headshot (but once a headshot is obtained all other missiles will avoid the head).

This explains why there have been so many head hits from LRMs. It isn't 1% of every volley fired hitting the head, it's 1% of every missile fired that's likely to hit the head (with a max of 1 hit per volley).

I now have a new record - received 6 head hits in a single fight, luckily they were divided between 3 of my mechs so the pilots survived. A main force of 1 SRM Carrier Tank, 1 LRM Carrier Tank, and Trebuchet and a Dragon (with LRMs) firing from outside line of sight (not sure how the SRMs were firing from farther than I could see, but that is what happened). while I was dealing with the Reinforcement lance (because of course the reinforcements were encountered before the main force was even seen lol ).

Anyway, if my observations listed above aren't the way it is supposed to work, then please pass this along to the Dev's to check out, but for the past 6 hrs I've watched just about every LRM volley fired so see where each missile hits and when, and this has been what I saw.

 

[Wingstorm]

Oh hells, this would explain why head injuries are so common.

 

[Malek Deneith]

Are you sure those were head hits from a single volley from a single weapon? Because shooting LRM15 vs shooting 3*LRM5 would still look like a single volley, more or less, but the later would actually get three rolls for the head hit, which could give impression of a head hit mid-volley.

 

[Zugs]

This means head hits are less than one percent of shots.... so we now have proof the head hits are less than one percent of shots that are successful hits. Its fine. please can we stop crying on this subject.

 

[Ri0Rdian]

Isn't it just the case of Game rolling for head hit, success and then randomly assigning the visual heat hit to any of the missiles? Technically what you see is not important, just what the game calculates. Well, at least that is the way games using dice rolls usually roll with

 

[Klausewitz]

Absolutly in line with the lore.

 

[Xavori]

What you're seeing isn't a single volley. What you are seeing is why you want to equip 4 LRM5's rather than 1 LRM20 if you have the hardpoints for it.

This is actually true of every weapon in the game (although maybe ballistics would be a bit trixy given that the tonnage would get ridiculous quickly). The more different weapons you fire, the greater the chance one of them will hit the cockpit.

 

[Siven80]

What you're seeing isn't a single volley. What you are seeing is why you want to equip 4 LRM5's rather than 1 LRM20 if you have the hardpoints for it.

This is actually true of every weapon in the game (although maybe ballistics would be a bit trixy given that the tonnage would get ridiculous quickly). The more different weapons you fire, the greater the chance one of them will hit the cockpit.

Oh, so its chance per system.

Interesting.

 

[Klausewitz]

What you're seeing isn't a single volley. What you are seeing is why you want to equip 4 LRM5's rather than 1 LRM20 if you have the hardpoints for it.

This is actually true of every weapon in the game (although maybe ballistics would be a bit trixy given that the tonnage would get ridiculous quickly). The more different weapons you fire, the greater the chance one of them will hit the cockpit.

I am not sure about that.
Have you ever seen more than one headshot per round?
My theory at the moment is that more projectiles are desirable, since each projectile has a chance of causing a headshot, but that once a headshot has been achieved no additional headshot can be achieved.
You might get additional pilot damage (side torso damage, toppling the mech) but I don't think there is a chance of more than one hit on the head per round.

 

[DanDanikov]

I've noticed LRM strikes on the head seem to be awfully common. In fact, hugely disproportionate compared to normal head hits and annoying due to the automatic pilot injury it incurs. Having a full 2-lance rotation of 8 pilots seems necessary with LRMs as they currently are, I'm talking 2-3 injuries a mission even on 1 skull missions.

However that's just my anecdotal experience so I can't be sure. But I would appreciate someone triple-checking to make sure nothing is awry.

 

[Xavori]

I am not sure about that.
Have you ever seen more than one headshot per round?
My theory at the moment is that more projectiles are desirable, since each projectile has a chance of causing a headshot, but that once a headshot has been achieved no additional headshot can be achieved.
You might get additional pilot damage (side torso damage, toppling the mech) but I don't think there is a chance of more than one hit on the head per round.

I'm 100% sure of it as I've done it.

One of the very bestest headshot mechs in the game is the Firestarter because you can pile small and medium lasers on the thing. And then you run away to cool down

 

[Flying Dice]

Good, I knew that claim was bullshit. Thanks for giving independent confirmation, I've seen the exact same thing.

 

[HonorKnight]

Misunderstanding: You can only get one pilot injury from head hits (not only one head hit) per round per attacker. That said, if you were doing a firestarter trying to get head hits, you should do machine guns not small lasers, for 5 times the chances of hitting the head per MG.

 

[Odession]

I can also confirm this seems to be the case from the giving side. I don't seem to take a lot of head hits either though. Must be doin' it right. xD

Maxed out its 18 or 20% headshot chance on a called shot, although theres probably an upper limit - an lrm 20 does manage to miss the head entirely too often for it to be per missile. Its far more reliable than 1 in 5, they may treat lrm 20 as firing 4 lrm 5s in the code - l could see that happening and it seems about right to me.

 

[kvetcha]

Good, I knew that claim was bullshit. Thanks for giving independent confirmation, I've seen the exact same thing.

Claim = the devs explicitly stating that’s how the system works?

 

[HBS_Eck]

Misunderstanding: You can only get one pilot injury from head hits (not only one head hit) per round per attacker. That said, if you were doing a firestarter trying to get head hits, you should do machine guns not small lasers, for 5 times the chances of hitting the head per MG.

Agreed on both points. If you hit the head 3 times, blow off the left torso, and blow out the right torso with an ammo crit all in one volley of fire. That's still only going to be one pilot injury.

You can get two pilot injuries in a single volley if you cause a pilot injury from the weapon fire or melee attack and knock the target over. One for the attack, and one for the falling down.

 

[Xavori]

Misunderstanding: You can only get one pilot injury from head hits (not only one head hit) per round per attacker. That said, if you were doing a firestarter trying to get head hits, you should do machine guns not small lasers, for 5 times the chances of hitting the head per MG.

No. You get one per weapon. MG's don't get 5 chances for a headshot. They get one. See the dev post above.

Agreed on both points. If you hit the head 3 times, blow off the left torso, and blow out the right torso with an ammo crit all in one volley of fire. That's still only going to be one pilot injury.

You can get two pilot injuries in a single volley if you cause a pilot injury from the weapon fire or melee attack and knock the target over. One for the attack, and one for the falling down.

Uh. You can get as many pilot injuries as you can get various injury types. So a head shot, side torso removal, ammo explosion, and knockdown would be 4 injuries and kill most pilots.

As a side note, stick ammo in your feet, not side torsos

 

[HonorKnight]

@Xavori Thats a dev you’re talking to and telling them they’re wrong, and also telling me that I’m wrong about the thing they just confirmed as correct. Take a step back and reconsider what you’re saying, it doesn’t make sense.

Edit: i’m referring to HBS_Eck; his post didn't have the black background only because the Devs have multiple buttons they can click to submit posts either as a normal user or as a dev, and for whatever reason he pushed the normal user post button

 

[Searry]

I hope this gets fixed. Headshots are ridiculous in this game.

 

[Harmattan Assassin]

What you're seeing isn't a single volley. What you are seeing is why you want to equip 4 LRM5's rather than 1 LRM20 if you have the hardpoints for it.

This is actually true of every weapon in the game (although maybe ballistics would be a bit trixy given that the tonnage would get ridiculous quickly). The more different weapons you fire, the greater the chance one of them will hit the cockpit.

It is easy to see if the incoming missiles are from separate (smaller) launchers as there is a space between each grouping. You can also tell what is being fired at you, by simply looking to see what each of the enemy mechs are armed with. Give me some credit, of course I was watching for that.