Ammo-consumption perks

[8wayz]

This is a topic I have been pondering in a while and it kind of baffles me why Long War (both 1 and 2) have been always about extremes.
As part of the Gunner nerf in patch 1.3 the ammo-cost of a few perks has been upped, notably of Demolition, Hail of Bullets and Saturation FIre.

However, this had a detrimental effect on the whole roster, not only Gunners.

Having both abilities at 5 ammo was done to limit their use once per magazine reload ( since the max ammo a cannon can have is 8), thus limiting your mobility, as one action will have to used for reloading.

One part of the issue is that these abilities already have a high cooldown (from 4 to 6 turns depending on the perk). So they do not really need the ammo restriction to make them less flexible. The ammo restriction first hurts the main role of a gunner - Suppression. If you first use a 5-ammo perk and then on next turn have to move and Suppress, you have a very, very limited Suppression. You get 1 reaction shot (2 ammo for the ability + 1 for the shot) for single target Suppression and no shots for Area Suppression. And this is with Elite magazine. With lower or no upgrades you have no (!) choice but to reload.

Another part of the issue is AWC perks on other classes. If you get a 5-ammo perk on class without a Cannon (all of the rest) you almost can not use it in the first place without an Elite magazine. Case in point - one of my Shinobis had Hail of Bullets as its 3rd Offensive Ability. I said great, that could be handy to make him into an improvised Sniper. But to even fire up the ability you will need an Elite magazine - 2 SMG capacity + 3 from the magazine.

Needless to say, those upgrades are few and far between, and once you get one, you will probably put on a cannon instead of a SMG.

Now, to make those perks useful to not just a stationary machinegunner but anyone who would like to play with them, I suggest that their ammo consumption be dropped to 4 at the least. Thus a Gunner with an Elite magazine can use an ability, then suppress and have 1 or 2 shots before reloading. Or use 2 such abilities in a row. Or a non-gunner with some upgrades can take them without needing hard to get weapon parts.

In particular I am more in favor of lowering them to 2 (Demolition), 3 (Hail of Bullets) and 4 (Saturation Fire) and keeping their cooldown timers as is. This will make them a lot more flexible and provide for a more diverse squad setup both in terms of perks and equipment.

What was your experience using these high-ammo abilities since patch 1.3 ?

[Steelflame]

Well, in patch 1.5, which just dropped 2 days ago, they just got a drop on the ammo cost anyway.

- Reduce ammo costs of HoB, Demolition, SatFire to 4.

So they already have looked at it. And I def don't think they should be so low as to be easily usable by any class with no restriction just because they got the skill in the AWC either.