There's been a horrible mistake - Mortars don't bounce

I'm really surprised at how much I was affected by discovering the mortars don't bounce any more. In the few seconds it took me to confirm it, the fun hissed out of me and I meandered around the map like a deflated balloon for the rest of the match, slump-shouldered and shooting at my toes, unable to shake my blues. For the first time in three weeks (discounting that weekend in Vegas, of course) I am not chomping at the bit to dive back into a game.

Why did it hit me so hard?

I guess because I main the mortar, and I feel like a good bank shot was that extra spice - a bit of pizazz and style that you could use against all the other players who like to just put the pixels on the other pixels and push the button. A challenge: to dance at the cusp of direct and indirect fire and then cut and switch weapons when least expected! To outthink, rather than outplay. (And to spam from that ridge on Steel Peel! Oh, that glorious round glass wall, like a top shelf open bar!)

I'll definitely go and give it a try and see if I can shake the feeling. It is, after all, a first reaction. This might even be a buff to the mortar - at first glance it seems like it's more effective at the close range, where you used to have to be very careful, and now you can just shoot at their feet. But I really doubt the new direct-fire mortar will feel as fun... It's more like all the others now... put the pixels on the pixels and... sigh... click the button.

You'd sure brighten my day by saying it was a bug and not a feature!

Was it secretly OP? I always did feel like it was underrated by the vets because they formed their opinion of the mortar on a gamepad. Thing is sick.

How do you "main" the mortar exactly? It is not a substitute to the minigun no matter how you look at it. It is for Snipers, turrets, and bots. Minigun is necessary, no exceptions. Just trying to help out.

But honestly, I don't recall Mortars ever bouncing was this something added to the PC version after being ported?

Yeah, I'm confused. Grenade launcher bounces, mortars don't. Although I haven't played the PC version much so I may be missing something.

They don't do this in the xbox version correct? I seriously don't think they ever bounced. I could be missing something that I definitely should know... :shock:

Definitely not.

Then color me confused captain...

I think it only happened if you fired them into a wall really close to you

Wow!! Everybody I ask is like, "gee I don't know. Mortars? Bouncing? Never heard of it!"

But believe me... they sure as hell did. I have footage!

Goose my man, I thank you for trying to talk me out of my ridiculous ways, I know you're trying to help me. I constantly reevaluate my preference for the mortar over the minigun, because every single player out there thinks it's totally obvious that the chain is the main weapon of the gunner, and the mortar is for certain long-range shelling of very specific targets only.

But let me turn that around on you...

If you don't even know that the mortar bounced....

What else don't you know about it?

Try this:

Grab gunner with gold speed, silver RoF, bronze armor. Play 5 games with nothing but mortar and see what you think. You might be surprised.

Fight from far enough away that the mortar hits post-split, though, and don't be a pro hunter like you might with the mini. Push a lane from that backed up position your first two games, and then the last three, rush their base and take out turrets.

I coulda swore I saw them bounce on the 360.....
Maybe I'm insane?

Mortar can easily become the main weapon on some maps while the minigun takes a back seat as last means of defense in close combat situations. Can't say anything about the bouncing yet because in every game the Gunner quota was already full. Which leaves me with the standard Support build... :x

I believe the only way mortars bounce is by banking them off of walls very close to you. They will not bounce once they have traveled a short distance. At least, that's what I remember being the case on both 360 and PC. I'll test when I get off work if we don't have this definitively resolved.

Yeah they bounced on the PC verison before, it was awkward is all I can say.

Mortars do bounce on both versions. They cannot be split to bounce.

Why would you waste an endorsement slot on speed? If you're even remotely competent you'll pick up 3 speed boosts after a couple of kills and have speed plus whatever endorsement you selected in its place.

Mortars will bounce up until they split, maybe even shorter on the xbox

they don't bounce anymore, unless they changed it back sometime today

I think it's like this:

If the travel distance is less than x, and the mortar hits a wall or ceiling, then it bounces. If it hits the ground, it sort of stops and sits there, then explodes after a moment.

If the mortar travels more than y, then it splits.

If the mortar's first contact is with a "target" ie player/turret/etc, it will immediately explode no matter what the distance.

I could be wrong, but I belive that x<y, meaning there were 3 zones of mortar fire:
Close: can bounce
Mid: cannot bounce, still hasn't split
Long: cannot bounce, has split.

x was pretty short, so if you primarily used mortars for long-range shelling, it's understandable that you never even knew about this property of the weapon.

y, on the other hand, is vital for every mortar user to know: targets at range >= y take triple damage, targets <= y take single damage. (Not experimentally verified!! In fact early tests vs moneyball showed this not to be the case, but vs players/turrets I think it is.)

This means [y + a tiny bit] is the optimal distance to shell an enemy player at: if you hit, they take a direct-hit triple damage, which is the absolute max dmg you can deal, and is quite a shock if you have never experienced it. Closer, and your damage drops enormously; longer and you're not likely to hit with all 3, altho at this point your spread makes it more like an effective zone spam.

However, this is all pre-release.

Starting last night, my tests show that the mortar explodes instantly on any impact no matter what distance traveled or wall/ceiling/floor, regardless of upgrade level.

The best bouncing there was in the game was standing on the ridge of steel peel, using the gradual circular curve of the enemy moneyball wall to direct bank shots into the choke directly underneath you. If you haven't tried that, you have missed something!

Good point, my setup is not for everyone. If you're testing the mortar for curiosity, nevermind the gold speed.

I run the gold speed for other reasons, which are on the surface unrelated to the mortar, but on a deeper level they both come together to complement my overall strategy.

The short answer is that I think staying alive is overrated and have no intention of doing it long enough to make use of three speed pickups.

It is a drag though... speed pickups (aka an extra gold endorsement slot), juice bar, money from kill streaks... I lose it all!

Anyway, yeah, don't bother with the gold speed. Bad suggestion.