51 replies to this topic

[NineTails]

Bluecricket speaks wisdom.

[Lennex]

I love my Trebuchets and Victors with XL engines, I find the added speed allows me to evade and actually gives me increased survivability. I'm dead anyways if I loose a side torso, just because neither mech has zombie abilities. So I would rather move at 80/100kph and keep alive by sheer speed.

[Koniving]

Bluecricket, on 09 August 2013 - 04:57 AM, said:

• Awesomes can get away with both because they're terrible

Disagree with this. My reasoning:

Spoiler

Awesomes are awesome. They just have to use their arms as intended (big freaking shields) and remain at range or have blinders (flamers!) to keep their enemies unable to focus their fire.

[desan476]

SchwarzerPeter, on 05 June 2013 - 05:25 AM, said:

Bad mechs for XL engines are:
- Atlas: everybody is aiming for the right side where the gun is
- Stalker: the sides are very easy to hit and you cant protect them with you "arms"
- Assault mech in general: almost ever will loose a side before cored
- Jaggermech. although it needs the tonnage the sides are very easy to hit
- Hunchback: the hunch on the side is the priority target here

I´d also add Centurions here because of the "zombie ability". If you put XL engine on Centurion you loose this and you cant kill enemies with "center torso only" mech Also the hitbox for center torso is quite small so most of the damage is done on side torsos and arms

[C E Dwyer]

Victors and awesomes can do well with XL's but be aware of it victor because its nimble for an assault, and awesome because its CT is so big

Other assaults some will say its ok to put xl's in, others are against,i'm in the against cacagory, people that use them in stalkers must snipe and lurm boat, as I allways find a side torso goes before the ct.


Atlas to slow. highlander I find way to sluggish I kept my xl in the Hm and I'm tempted to change as its my fail mech of the chasis oddly the unpopular 733 with a standard is my best.

All my lights run XL's speed is the best defence for a light, a stationary one is killed very quickly in most cases

mediums I run a mix of stds and xl's except the cicada which uses xl's again speed is its best defence and movement

Heavies again a mix though I don't use an xl on the cat which is popular, as I don't see a reason to put an xl on a missile boat, and I still use ppc's on my K2, I won't make gausspaults.

oddly I do well with an xl QD again movement is the key, so jump jets.the day I ran into artic city tunnel and ran jumped my way through half the other team and still managed to get out with my armour still yellow is a moment that will stay longer than the 5 kill, 1000 point games

[Nehkrosis]

The Orion seems to mostly die from CT coring.
I run all mine with XLs.

[MechWarrior5152251]

I have several 1200+ damage games in my 360XL Atlas DDC even before the clan rollout when the Atlas DDC was ALWAYS the priority target. Speed is vital and i would rather have speed than expendable torsos, even with the minor speed gain in a 100 ton chasis (64kph vs 57 kph).

[LordChu001]

I would like to disagree with the Cents being bad XL platforms. The issue is how often you end up being a zombie mech. Most long range shots are targeted on CT, and close in shots shred all parts equally to the point you will not zombie for too long anyway.

The decent speed to weight benefit allows me to load up on max armor, damage making weapons and DHS so I can do some pretty decent drive-bys when things get heated. My cents carry 20+ damage with 1.2+ heat, so I can alpha at least twice before having to turn and run around. But at short range, each alpha has a high chance of connecting, so at "brawling" range, you can stick and move easily, and run from hotspot to hotspot t assist handily.

I rarely zombie my mech (I either get blown to bits early or survive til the end), as I try to use up all of my ammo before that. Staying with the pack gets me quite a bit of focus fire time to do that. My goal is to get close (under 300m) with a lance and start firing. When I run out of ammo, I am in a range and position (close) that most damage will not be focused on STs (so CT would be gone quickly after the STs).

For comparison, with an XL, I can be quicker than a Hunch, SHD and BlackJack, for about the same amount of short range punch (alphas) but run cooler.

However, I'm not a star pilot, I just am able to contribute decently in PUGs (40-80 score range), or at least I think I can.

Just my 2 cents - love the discussion.

[Rear Admiral Tier 6]

Dragoon20005, on 07 June 2013 - 12:45 AM, said:

would using a XL engine in the highlander 733P a bad idea?

yes,since 325 is the engine cap,and you can do pretty much every viable build with STD-engines,except LRM-boating.

[NUJRSYDEVIL]

I run my Cataphract with an XL. It doesn't have good armor so you need to pay special attention to damage prevention.

My Atlas always loses a side torso, would not even try it here.

My Banshee always gets cored, if you need to run an XL on an assault go with the Banshee or Battlemaster.

XL's are mandatory in lights and most mediums.

[NovaFury]

Bear in mind you do give up significant agility, mobility and firepower to bring a standard engine, hitboxes or not. The majority of your survivability will be here, even an assault mech, if exposed for more than a second to the focused fire of an enemy lance will melt, and no lack of side torso vulnerability will save it.

That's not to say I'm advocating you should pack your IS assaults full of XL engines. Just realize what you're giving up.

[Nine-Ball]

It depends on how you utilize your weapon layout.

Standard engine allows you to take advantage of builds that spread their weapons across the body to give it that good old zombie quality to it.

XL engines are intended for builds that group their weapons, usually around the torso (I'm looking at you, Battlemaster 3M) or builds that utilize heavy hitters with little else since any significant loss of weapons generally renders your build useless.

The more speed you have in an Assault, the better. Going 60+ clicks instead of sub-50 makes a huge difference in avoiding and spreading out damage across your body. It also allows you to counterattack and flank to some degree. Standards only make sense if the rest of the team forms up on the Assault lance and provides them adequate coverage and numbers from being overwhelmed by everything else.