Perks Discussion: Improved Melta Charge

[Mirage Knight]

We have a gun that can insta-kill at CC range, and now there's a perk to make it fire FASTER?

How about just having the perk extend the firing range a little? Even grenades out-range Melta Guns o.O

[Jaimas]

Completely in agreement.

Ignoring for a moment that IMC unlocks from the madness that is Multi-Kill unlocks, IMC is a huge issue.

Meltaguns in SPESS are a high-risk/high-reward weapon - their aiming is somewhat chonky, their range is poor, and they have a huge lag between shots, so you're vulnerable if you whiff a blast - all these are the price you pay for using a weapon with the level of destructive force the Meltagun has. The problem is that Improved Melta Charge removes about half the risk. It allows rapid follow-up shots, which functionally tuns the gun into an "I win" button at close range, effectively guaranteeing that the Stormbolter and non-Kraken Bolter don't have a snowball's chance in hell against it. Survival becomes a crapshoot as you struggle desperately to get out of range each time the user fires, which due to IMC, just won't happen - they will manage to tag you with a shot due to their ability make quick follow-up shots. It makes the Meltagun simply too powerful.

I'm all for it providing a range boost instead, however, provided the extended-range damage falloff is adjusted accordingly.

[Gorb]

Ignoring for a moment that IMC unlocks from the madness that is Multi-Kill unlocks, IMC is a huge issue.

Pretty sure that it doesn't. As in, 100% sure that it doesn't. The IMC challenge is for killing-sprees, the Extended Magazine (or whatever it's called for the Melta) is to do with multi-kills.

r.e. comparisons to other weapons - Storm Bolters have excessive functionality at range (where Meltaguns don't), and also benefit immensely from the perks you can unlock. As for comparing an unperked Bolter with an perked Meltagun . . . is that really a fair comparison by any stretch of the imagination?

If the Meltagun is so powerful, it would be the weapon of choice for most people (given how easy it is - I agree - to land a killshot when within a certain distance) - however it is overshadowed by plenty of other choices, including the Storm Bolter with Rapid Reload and/or Improved Twin-Link, and the Bolter with Kraken Bolts.

[Jaimas]

It's not as big an issue as say, lascannon spam, but yes, it's an issue, since it completely wrecks the Stormbolter at what should be its "power range," and turns the non-Kraken bolter into a non-issue.

[Gorb]

Again, the weapons you are comparing the Meltagun to have a range that far outclasses the Meltagun, especially when perked. The Meltagun has a higher damage. The Bolter and Storm Bolter have a longer range.

What exactly are you trying to compare here?

[Demonic Spoon]

Jaimas, the Storm Bolter, if used properly, is actually very good out to a surprisingly high range, whereas the meltagun becomes completely ineffectual past a certain very short range. The only range that the melta outperforms the storm bolter is almost point blank...

And if you compare apples to apples (stormbolter with improved twin link vs improved melta charge meltagun) the stormbolter gets even better at the close-mid range where the meltagun is still useless.

[Jaimas]

Actually, having labbed it, it's less of a problem than I initially thought. However, I have found that it leads into another issue, which leads to another thread.