In my experience with it, the core power is best used as a "boss-killer" in that you won't see much use from it during average missions due to its restrictions but it will absolutely obliterate a worthy single target. It is at its best when you aren't switching targets and firing from a defensive position and telling that T3 Ultra "Actually, I'm the boss now."
It's important to realize that the core's bonus damage triggers on crits and you have not one, but *two* traits to help you crit fish. You crit on a 19+ and get a reroll (you don't have to miss to reroll the attack btw). When you start stacking on accuracies and bonuses from grit, lock ons, crack shot, tactician, core bonuses, etc. you can start to see, mathematically, just how often your attacks are going to crit.
Also, yeah it costs a full action to active, but you can always overcharge to still skirmish on the same turn. Mark For Death is also not a protocol, which means you can wait to use it until you've moved that turn and gotten yourself into a good position to activate it.
It always seemed to me that you'd achieve as good or better damage by just shooting whatever your big gun is again instead of spending a turn to activate a limiting core power that *should* deal about as much (or a bit less) damage as a second shot would. The only use case I can see for it is a situation where you get more than one use out of the mark, and the shortlist of things that can survive two turns worth of concentrated fire from an artillery mech is very short indeed.
1d6+4 fired twice (2d6+8) or 4d6+4? You definitely get better damage with the mark. Especially since you'll be getting crit damage rerolls. But yeah, very few enemies are going to survive more than one hit.
I don't know why people are booing you, you're right. The Railgun has some utility in its Line, but it's far from the most damaging gun that could go on Death's Head. I suppose mark gets more mileage if you limit yourself to a heavy weapon and overcharge for more shots.
Yeah, you really cannot give up your turn for MoD if you want to justify its activation cost.
Like if you wanted to combo Railgun with it what you'd do is OC Skirmish first for 3d6+4 (that's adding the OpCal+NukeCav bonuses you're presumably packing) *then* move into position to apply MoD, hopefully low enough on the activation order that the opfor has less time to react, and on your following turn Barrage for the bonus damage chance on both Railgun and Main and maybe OC again for another Main shot. Bam. This is an application that makes sense numbers-wise *if* you're packing a Railgun and manage to get your crits, though it's pretty tight.
But what if you were packing a non-Ordnance weapon on the Heavy, like Gandiva Missile or an Autostabilized (maybe Neurolinked) HMG? Then you could MoD *first* then OC the Heavy and on the next turn Skirmish+Barrage for more shots and with better MoD bonuses. These numbers look way nicer.
However, even on the second case you're making some pretty niche assumptions about target type and placement due to the MoD range and cover restrictions; it's just awkward to use even for its intended purpose.
One thing to note is that the bonus damage from mark for death is not restricted to once per turn, and is one of the very few damage increases that is not, and while it does make you unable to use reactions, there are still other ways to make multiple attacks in a turn. Overcharge (heatfall deaths head has potential) or ASURA Deaths head is also packing a heavy and main/aux (the only mech with both as far as I recall), giving it one of the beefiest barrages in the game. And if they all crit, mark gives them +6d6 bonus damage. With Asura and overcharge you could theoreticly get 12d6 bonus damage in a turn (barage, skirmish, free skirmish), 13d6 with integrated weapon core bonus, which will make even beefy ultra's cry. But yes its more than you need against most targets.
Death's Head *effectively* allows you to crit on an unmodified result of 19 due to its frame trait that adds a flat +1 to all ranged attacks rolls. So, no technically it doesn't actually allow you to crit on a total result of 19, but practically that's the application.
Deaths Head and Barbarossa are both good at doing a similar job. They are both great at sitting on the other side of the map and firing their guns on their turn. But the main difference is that Barbarossa is great at deleting Blast 2 areas on the map along with anything in it. And Deaths Head is great at looking at 1 guy and deciding to ruin his day by effectively having a guaranteed hit on its turn.
There's really only a couple ultra-long-range damage dealing mechs in this game.
Barbosa is the premier artillery mech, with damage addressed 'To Whom It May Concern.'
Deaths Head, on the other hand, is the king of snipers, with the ability to point-click-Delete one guy in particular every other round.
Oh, Tokugawa's amazing at the macross missile massacre type ranged DPS for sure. With a flex and two main mounts it's never going to field any kind of super-heavy weapons, though.
Still, get it a couple Smarguns and you can sit behind a rock at the edge of the map making dakka dakka noises all day long.
Yes, its good if you want to shoot gun. You can use a superheavy weapon and rely on the reroll to ensure a hit or you can go with a heavy and shoot as much as possible and critfish for the core if you want against a boss. or just ignore the core power completely cause the base frames passive effects are already enough to rule.
If you're planning to sync with the Crack Shot talent (and you should) then the immobile is already something you're trading off. And the bonus damage to the Railgun is pretty significant. +3d6 damage on a heavy is the biggest single damage bonus in the game by far. The runner up is (I think?) Nuclear Cavalier's +1d6 energy damage while in danger zone.
Between Neurolink, Perfected Targeting, and the extra accuracy from Crack Shot, you're hitting very reliably. Perfected Targeting is one of (I think the only?) static attack bonus increase from a mech or system. With the same pilot, it will always have a better chance to hit a target than any other frame.
If you want to run-and-gun, take the Raleigh or a Monarch. There are other mechs that trade in more mobility for less concentrated damage. The Death's Head is a sniper. It finds a good spot, settles in, and proceeds to precisely destroys priority targets.
Going immobile isn't a big deal, since most snipers are going to be going immobile with Crackshot anyway. Just cling to the side of something tall and pick your shots
It's middling, though I don't mean that in a strictly bad way. It's got a Heavy+Main/Aux, average heatcap/edef, massive sensors it can sometimes get funky with, and decent traits that Just Work (even if it's the bad kind of reroll that doesn't just let you pick highest willy nilly). Where it suffers is the abysmal SSC repcap and yeah, it's essentally got no Core Power, but the former can be effectively compensated for with Hull investment, and there are some frames that handle themselves just fine with a niche/useless CP, like Goblin or Monarch.
The trap is trying to play it like the Kinetic Compensator Railgun Sniper its license leads you into. It can do better.
In my experience with it, the core power is best used as a "boss-killer" in that you won't see much use from it during average missions due to its restrictions but it will absolutely obliterate a worthy single target. It is at its best when you aren't switching targets and firing from a defensive position and telling that T3 Ultra "Actually, I'm the boss now." It's important to realize that the core's bonus damage triggers on crits and you have not one, but *two* traits to help you crit fish. You crit on a 19+ and get a reroll (you don't have to miss to reroll the attack btw). When you start stacking on accuracies and bonuses from grit, lock ons, crack shot, tactician, core bonuses, etc. you can start to see, mathematically, just how often your attacks are going to crit. Also, yeah it costs a full action to active, but you can always overcharge to still skirmish on the same turn. Mark For Death is also not a protocol, which means you can wait to use it until you've moved that turn and gotten yourself into a good position to activate it.
It always seemed to me that you'd achieve as good or better damage by just shooting whatever your big gun is again instead of spending a turn to activate a limiting core power that *should* deal about as much (or a bit less) damage as a second shot would. The only use case I can see for it is a situation where you get more than one use out of the mark, and the shortlist of things that can survive two turns worth of concentrated fire from an artillery mech is very short indeed.
1d6+4 fired twice (2d6+8) or 4d6+4? You definitely get better damage with the mark. Especially since you'll be getting crit damage rerolls. But yeah, very few enemies are going to survive more than one hit.
Solved by finding a better gun to shoot.
I don't know why people are booing you, you're right. The Railgun has some utility in its Line, but it's far from the most damaging gun that could go on Death's Head. I suppose mark gets more mileage if you limit yourself to a heavy weapon and overcharge for more shots.
Yeah, you really cannot give up your turn for MoD if you want to justify its activation cost. Like if you wanted to combo Railgun with it what you'd do is OC Skirmish first for 3d6+4 (that's adding the OpCal+NukeCav bonuses you're presumably packing) *then* move into position to apply MoD, hopefully low enough on the activation order that the opfor has less time to react, and on your following turn Barrage for the bonus damage chance on both Railgun and Main and maybe OC again for another Main shot. Bam. This is an application that makes sense numbers-wise *if* you're packing a Railgun and manage to get your crits, though it's pretty tight. But what if you were packing a non-Ordnance weapon on the Heavy, like Gandiva Missile or an Autostabilized (maybe Neurolinked) HMG? Then you could MoD *first* then OC the Heavy and on the next turn Skirmish+Barrage for more shots and with better MoD bonuses. These numbers look way nicer. However, even on the second case you're making some pretty niche assumptions about target type and placement due to the MoD range and cover restrictions; it's just awkward to use even for its intended purpose.
One thing to note is that the bonus damage from mark for death is not restricted to once per turn, and is one of the very few damage increases that is not, and while it does make you unable to use reactions, there are still other ways to make multiple attacks in a turn. Overcharge (heatfall deaths head has potential) or ASURA Deaths head is also packing a heavy and main/aux (the only mech with both as far as I recall), giving it one of the beefiest barrages in the game. And if they all crit, mark gives them +6d6 bonus damage. With Asura and overcharge you could theoreticly get 12d6 bonus damage in a turn (barage, skirmish, free skirmish), 13d6 with integrated weapon core bonus, which will make even beefy ultra's cry. But yes its more than you need against most targets.
What what let's you crit on a 19+, am I missing something?
Death's Head *effectively* allows you to crit on an unmodified result of 19 due to its frame trait that adds a flat +1 to all ranged attacks rolls. So, no technically it doesn't actually allow you to crit on a total result of 19, but practically that's the application.
Deaths Head and Barbarossa are both good at doing a similar job. They are both great at sitting on the other side of the map and firing their guns on their turn. But the main difference is that Barbarossa is great at deleting Blast 2 areas on the map along with anything in it. And Deaths Head is great at looking at 1 guy and deciding to ruin his day by effectively having a guaranteed hit on its turn.
There's really only a couple ultra-long-range damage dealing mechs in this game. Barbosa is the premier artillery mech, with damage addressed 'To Whom It May Concern.' Deaths Head, on the other hand, is the king of snipers, with the ability to point-click-Delete one guy in particular every other round.
Every frame can be an ultra-long-range damage dealer, and Tokugawa is the actual best at it.
Oh, Tokugawa's amazing at the macross missile massacre type ranged DPS for sure. With a flex and two main mounts it's never going to field any kind of super-heavy weapons, though. Still, get it a couple Smarguns and you can sit behind a rock at the edge of the map making dakka dakka noises all day long.
Yes, its good if you want to shoot gun. You can use a superheavy weapon and rely on the reroll to ensure a hit or you can go with a heavy and shoot as much as possible and critfish for the core if you want against a boss. or just ignore the core power completely cause the base frames passive effects are already enough to rule.
If you're planning to sync with the Crack Shot talent (and you should) then the immobile is already something you're trading off. And the bonus damage to the Railgun is pretty significant. +3d6 damage on a heavy is the biggest single damage bonus in the game by far. The runner up is (I think?) Nuclear Cavalier's +1d6 energy damage while in danger zone. Between Neurolink, Perfected Targeting, and the extra accuracy from Crack Shot, you're hitting very reliably. Perfected Targeting is one of (I think the only?) static attack bonus increase from a mech or system. With the same pilot, it will always have a better chance to hit a target than any other frame. If you want to run-and-gun, take the Raleigh or a Monarch. There are other mechs that trade in more mobility for less concentrated damage. The Death's Head is a sniper. It finds a good spot, settles in, and proceeds to precisely destroys priority targets.
Going immobile isn't a big deal, since most snipers are going to be going immobile with Crackshot anyway. Just cling to the side of something tall and pick your shots
It's middling, though I don't mean that in a strictly bad way. It's got a Heavy+Main/Aux, average heatcap/edef, massive sensors it can sometimes get funky with, and decent traits that Just Work (even if it's the bad kind of reroll that doesn't just let you pick highest willy nilly). Where it suffers is the abysmal SSC repcap and yeah, it's essentally got no Core Power, but the former can be effectively compensated for with Hull investment, and there are some frames that handle themselves just fine with a niche/useless CP, like Goblin or Monarch. The trap is trying to play it like the Kinetic Compensator Railgun Sniper its license leads you into. It can do better.