I think that firing throug one's own rear arc should be penalized in some way (as it seems that having a 360° arc has a really small cost in point terms).
At least a +1 penalty to hit should be given (like in old CBT)! After all, a 360° arc of fire states you have weapons pointed to your rear, like the old Atlas did. That's why I believe that fire coming through someone's rear arc should be like indirect fire: damage should be reduced to a maximum of 2 points (it's absurd to me that mr. Bekker can shot through his back for 6 clicks of damage! has it an ac/20 mounted backwards??)

Maybe it has 360° torso twist?

The thing is that you're right - and more importantly, 'Mechs like the Atlas should have 360° arcs.

Imho only Quads should have been gifted a 360° arc, because of their turret mounted weapons. But that's what we have...

Well, if a unit with rear-mounted weapons has a 180° torso twist, then it has 360° firing arc, since it can turn sufficiently to cover every angle.

Suskis-
No +1 penalty occured in BT for firing from arm-mounted weapons during a torso twist. I could easily twist ANY 'mech with an arm weapon to fire in the rear arc.

True, but, as I said before, it's ipossible to have the same weapon mounted forward and backwards! rear damage should be lower (or at lest it should be more difficult to score a hit)

For the level of detail that's already been established for MWDA, I think that the rules are adequate as they stand for this situation.

In short, I'd say leave it be.

It amazes me how people continue to try to make Mechs weaker... :rolleyes:

Actually it's possible. This was covered in the Battletech Master Rules (eg, mechs with no hands and lower arm actuators can twist their arm mounted weapons into their rear arc). This rule covered mechs like Riflemen, Jagermechs, and clan Galahad/Glass Spider mechs.

Ever had your last Sabutai aerofighter blown into snailsnot by the rear facing pulse laser of a Galahad? I have......not a good feeling :p

Madcat D had 1 or 2 SRM launchers mounted backwards.

True, rear mounted weapons were treated as normal weapons just facing into the rear arc. One CBT game we played had an Archer with an arse mounted MRM-20. Why? We still have no idea but it nailed a lot of us as we tried to close in.

Mabye it just spits fire out of it's metal ### alright buddy?

Wasn't the original idea to make 'Mechs MORE powerful by having more of them have a wider arc?

Technically you can reach your rear arc with an arm each either way. Combined with rear-firing weapons, that gives enough excuse for some mechs to have a 360 arc.

On another note... omnifighters scare me. So much firepower... :shakes:

to Prydefalcon: A Bashkir omnifighter? so much much firepower? C'mon now!!! oh wait......you meant something like a Visigoth....heh :grin:

to Cmd. Sterling: It wouldn't have been so bad if my bud hadn't started referring to the MRM as his Fart cannon and keep on yelling "SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!!!" in an Al Pacino voice. Critical hits and high rolls every time he said it. My customized 95-ton omni died of embarrassment after taking a shot to the head (it was the only hit it got but it killed it nonetheless), another bud ended up with a chestful of MRMs and got critically hit in his reactor (bye bye Summoner :p). by the time we got done with the game (a week later....see MWDA does have a time advantage over CBT :grin: ) The archer was missing an arm while the rest of us were either dead, missing major portions of our torsos, or committing seppuku due to the embarrassment to losing to a "fart cannon". Omnis 0, Archer 4 (the last guy got nailed by a Stuka......painfully [read: inferno bombs followed by a strafing run])