BATTLETECH: The AC5 Autocannon

#Battletech has a lot of weapon systems that sometimes forgotten or overlooked. This one is hardly unknown however, to anyone who plays #SuccessionWars, as it's the most common #Autocannon that you will really see, ever.

We're talking rules mostly today, but we're going to be covering the #AC5 in all the glory it deserves. Controversial, but not nearly as controversial as the #AC2, let's talk about its drawbacks, and virtues.

*This video is NOT covering the Ultra-AC5, or the Rotary AC5.*

*Note, the image of this is not an actual AC5, just used to represent it.

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[EvillBob]

What I love about the Battletech setting is the march of technology: the autocannon replaces the rifle, the gauss rifle replaces the autocannon, the Succession Wars happen and everyone's back to autocannons, then the gauss rifle replaces the autocannon. The AC5 is a very viable weapon that fills a niche until double heat sinks and light gauss rifles become available.

[typhoon]

I feel the ultra ac5 is where this category really starts to shine alot more. But that's a different beast.

[nbfishie]

I sometimes infer that a lot of the 3025 era weapons were balanced (questionably) around how they perform at the margins, i.e., when a mech has already fully saturated its heat sinks. A PPC would cost 17 tons to be heat neutral (7T + 10T heat sinks), a large laser would cost 13 tons (5T + 8T heat sinks), an AC/5 10 tons (8T + 1T heat sink + 1T ammo), and a medium laser would be 4 tons (1T + 3T heat sinks). If you look at it on that kind of scale, the balance almost makes sense.

It’s “lighter” than a PPC or Large Laser as a package if you consider the heat sinks required to make those weapons heat neutral.

That said, I feel like this kind of balance breaks down when you consider mechs have 10 “free” engine heat sinks, so a PPC or Large Laser is ALMOST always better, UNLESS your mech runs hot, or doesn’t have the spare tonnage for heat sinks, in which case you could make a decent argument for an AC/5. Since it gives similar range performance for far less heat.

[GliderBane]

By itself the AC5 is meh, but when you team one with a PPC or LRMs, it shines. It's negligible heat generation really is a huge asset when your mech is cooking and you still want to throw something at a damaged foe.

[halldak]

If I recall correctly the AC/5 was the FIRST Autocannon to be designed and perfected, with all other variants being offshoots and mutations on the core concept the AC/5 provided

[connorriggs]

Every man and his dog may have an AC 5 but there is definitely a reason for that it’s effective weapon that runs cold and cost effective with plentiful ammo making it a great weapon for your more financial restricted factions like a certain band of corsairs in the periphery

[rmcdudmk]

Wether it's standard, Light, LB, Ultra, or Rotary I love me some AC 5. 🎉

[guitarhausdoesntknowwhatac]

See now we're getting into something viable for AC's; the Damage is still somewhat light but it can still reach out and pimp smack folks at range and has enough ammo that it won't run out in short order like larger AC's and still not have too much left in the tank in the event of a hull breach (and god forbid the dreaded internal ammo explosion).

Certainly decent prior to the discovery of lostech.

Also (come to think of it), the AC5 gets a shot in the arm in later generations thanks to the advent of sub munitions.

[Ripster]

ACs of all classes have there uses, specially when your playing in 3025 Era. Heat Management becomes a real thing. Becoming an immobile target that can barely hit shit is an extreme danger.

[EricDaMAJ]

The bread and butter of ‘Mech weapons. It pairs nicely with Large/Medium Lasers where the two can alternate fires to maintain constant damage output, stay cool and offset recoil. And it’s a wonderful addition to any Alpha strike.

[everyonethinksyoureadeathm]

The AC5 is a weapon when you want to prioritize range and survivability. Sure ammo explosions might happen but removing 2 Heat Sinks for an additional ton of armor and ammo is a good trade off. Even moreso when you can increase the speed of your mech.

An AC5 paired with 3 medium lasers in chain fire gives you pin point damage from long to mid-range.

[robertb]

It may literally include the Rheinmetall RH-120 in its weight class, but the AC/5 is really the Ma Deuce of the Battletech universe. Not spectacular super-science, but reliable enough that you want to bolt one on everything.

[Furyer]

That image is kind of how imagine an AC5 variant - I can totally see a succession wars model being a ww2 style oerlikon 40mm with a fast clip loader and fat barrel cooling jacket. Roaring out 5 shells in half a second and spending the next 9.5 seconds desperately sucking heat out of the barrel and slamming another 5 shells into the feeder.

[steveharrison]

The AC/5 is a nice weapon. The weight is certainly a problem, but the ability to spool out so many long ranged, relatively accurate, relatively damaging shots for no real heat makes it a yeoman’s weapon. I like it. Not everything has to be the best at this or that - there needs to be a middle-tier; something that can hammer away without the enemy noticing because they’re worried about this PPC or that AC/20. It’s still dangerous, given the size of it, and I can appreciate that. It has its place.

[patrickkenyon]

I like cannons.
The thump and crunch is just satisfying.
You don't have to fill your Mech with a dozen heat sinks.
Sure, ammo can explode, but overheat shutdown can kill you too.
Range is good. Damage is decent.
I just don't enjoy large lasers and PPCs as much.

[johannesbowers]

As an actual user of military ordinance I can see the merit in both sides of the argument for what constitutes The weapon family "autocannon".
Between the 20 mm Vulcan, 25 mm Bushmaster, 30 mm Avenger, 40 mm Bofors for rapid fire, or Ordinance more applicable to the history of main battle tank guns from the 60 mm, 88 mm, 100-105 mm, and 120 mm single shot cannon, There is quite a lot to choose from when depicting "autocannon" weapon fire.

Realistically I lean more towards the lower caliber weapons, separating the fire type into single shot, 3 round burst, short burst, and long burst (2, 5, 10, 20). That realistically solves the ammo storage problem, And the scaling down of shots per ton as the damage is increased. Also, Ultra and LBX autocannons then become features of Rate of fire, and target tracking.

While I would give my and your left nut to witness at 8 barrel 120 mm road Gatling/Vulcan/Avenger-style rotating auto cannon Rip loose a stream of fire like a C-RAM on ALL the steroids, It just would not be possible without ammo storage on par with the extra dimensional space in a TARDIS.

[osogitzgraymane]

I come from a starsiege/heavy gear/armored core background when it comes to stomp robots and mechs. One thing I learned from them was that when a weapon seems weak on its own? It's what it's paired with that matters alot. From the mech to the other hard mounted weapons you carry.

But in starsiege and armored core, energy weapons are their own damage type and armors have ballistic and energy resistance values

[phillipmorel]

Its also energy independent, giving ICE vehicals a long range direct fire weppon for low cost, which was crittical in the fusion engine depleated sucessor state armies durning the later sucession wars.

[cavalryscout]

The AC/5 is a great weapon for skirmishers, okay for a little extra ranged punch on a mech which already has heat problems, and a horrible waste of weight if used on the wrong mech.

It's odd because so much of the AC/5's efficiency depends on the size of the mech's engine. The AC/5 would be bad on mechs like the Centurion or Enforcer, because those mechs have small engines, so they have plenty of tonnage to devote to an AC/10, heatsinks, ammo, etc. The AC/5 would be bad on a Phoenix Hawk, because that mech has a huge engine, and you'd need to strip off so much armor to replace the large laser with an AC/5 that you'd basically just be creating a more expensive Clint. On the Wolverine though, the AC/5 is great because the engine is heavy enough that you couldn't mount something with more punch, but light enough that you can still carry heavy armor, a couple more weapons, and enough heatsinks to jump and fire everything for 4 rounds before heat becomes an issue.

That niche is what makes it a skirmisher gun. It works well on 40-65 ton mechs with a high movement speed, and that type of mech makes a good skirmisher since they can also mount enough armor to jump around the flanks while juggernauts are pounding each other in the center. Skirmishers need to be able to wreck light mechs (which the AC/5 can do), plink heavy and assault mechs from a safe distance, and sustain fire for an entire battle.

The AC/5 is also a good secondary gun on very heavy mechs (70+ tons) with average speed, as long as they have something punchier for their primary armament. It's the sort of gun that can be fired every single round and keep the damage output up while the primary guns are rested for heat. It tends to work best on mechs that run hot, where you'd follow some cycle of overheating and cooling off.

[salahal-din]

I run 2 MAD 3R with stock loadout in MWO. I love the AC5 in the soulder, and off course, some Dragon. Kurita pilot here 🤩
Thanks for this video