14 replies to this topic

[Tahribator]

Back to the old trusty

Have you ever had weird thoughts such as "I wonder how would this mech perform with this ridiculous engine?". Recently, I've been thinking about this question myself and I took upon myself to explore the viability of the least used of them all, the XL400. For this article I focused on the Banshee and tried to answer the question, "Is it workable?".

I believe this reads much better on my blog thanks to much better formatting options, so I'm just going to post the link. Enjoy!

http://raksarmory.bl...00-banshee.html

Edited by Tahribator, 18 July 2014 - 05:07 AM.

[Sproiet]

Great article Tahri, I'm glad you took it upon yourself to investigate more about the viability of XL/STD400 engines on that 95 tonner assault mech and didn't just leave it at the 8 ML boat that runs fast.

I'm really glad that my simple suggestion brought out this whole article and allowed you to tinker around with the banshees. Makes me want one too!

[Vimeous]

Read it, appreciated it.
Great work.

[beerandasmoke]

The responsiveness of that thing with the 400 was amazing. I have a banshee and though i dont have a 400 i do have a 380 laying around. Might try this for the lulz. Great job man.

[Tahribator]

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

[Cold Cash]

Good read. might try a similiar energy build on my battlemaster.

[Escef]

I've been saying for some time that the 400XL on a Battlemaster produces evil results. After speed tweak it goes 83.9 kph. I rigged my 1G(P) with near max armor (shy 14 points, about 16 tons of armor), endo, LL in the right arm, 2xERLL, 4xML. Before they added the hand actuator to the right arm I had 22 double sinks, now I have 21 and an AMS with a half a ton of ammo. The thing is more fun than it has any right to be. I recently picked up (but have not yet played) a BLR-3M that I rigged with 400XL, endo, 21 double sinks, 2xML on the right arm, 2xERLL, and 4xMPL. After my experiences with the 1G, I have good expectations for the 3M.

While you can't get the same speed out of a Banshee, you do get more intimidation factor, and you can't just discount that. People have expectations of Banshees, even before targeting them, and I'm sure that works in your favor. The Battlemaster, not so much, the most common one is the 1S rigged as an LRM boat (which it is great at), so people don't expect it to brawl, or move, or... well, much of anything outside of IDF support.

Edited by Escef, 20 July 2014 - 05:42 PM.

[Artgathan]

Does the extra weight of the 400 really justify the extra ~2 KPH you get out of it? An XL 390 weighs 3.5 tons less and gives almost the same level of responsiveness. Similarly, an XL380 saves 6 tons of weight at the cost of ~4 KPH.

Personally I'm not see a huge return on investment at these engine sizes.

[MasterBLB]

@Artgathan
Perhaps the advantage of the 400 engine over 390 is not 2 KPH more,but 6 internal heatsink slots.

[IraqiWalker]

Tahribator, on 18 July 2014 - 05:06 AM, said:

Back to the old trusty

That was an enjoyable read, and now I want to get my hands on those banshees and an XL 400. The 3S seems like my kind of mech. Where it's one bolt from god after another, keeping everyone's heads down while my team closes into brawling range.

I would love to add those builds to my library, I will give you credit of course should someone ask for an xl400 build.

[VirtualSmitty]

Good read for sure. Banshees are my favorite ride currently, decided to try a few builds with the XL400. Results were mostly mixed, I couldn't for the life of me get the wubshee to work but I had excellent success with a dual lpl/AC10/ASRM6/dual ML La Malinche build.

[OuttaAmmo NoWai]

Your research is admirable, and I have tried stuff like this before the clans dropped.

Unfortunately, now that stuff like the Mad Cat is out, there's clan heavies that have more firepower than you, are faster than you, and are more durable than you. Banshee doesn't get any love :/

[IraqiWalker]

OuttaAmmo NoWai, on 21 July 2014 - 12:48 PM, said:

Your research is admirable, and I have tried stuff like this before the clans dropped.

Unfortunately, now that stuff like the Mad Cat is out, there's clan heavies that have more firepower than you, are faster than you, and are more durable than you. Banshee doesn't get any love :/

I could agree on some of the points, but the T-Wolf ginormous CT still makes it squishier than most IS heavies.

[Artgathan]

MasterBLB, on 20 July 2014 - 09:47 PM, said:

@Artgathan
Perhaps the advantage of the 400 engine over 390 is not 2 KPH more,but 6 internal heatsink slots.

Perhaps, but even then you're essentially paying 3.5 tons for 1 extra internal heatsink (the XL390 has 5 internal slots). I fiddled around with the XL400 Pulse Laser build, and by dropping to an XL380 without Endo Steel, I was able to fit an extra DHS and ton of AMS ammo.

I suppose on this build it sort of makes sense as the huge number of DHS makes space an issue. In fact, the XL Engine makes crit space on all of these builds a hugely limiting factor.

[Escef]

Artgathan, on 22 July 2014 - 09:48 AM, said:

I suppose on this build it sort of makes sense as the huge number of DHS makes space an issue. In fact, the XL Engine makes crit space on all of these builds a hugely limiting factor.

And without the XL tonnage is an even bigger limiter. Or one could go with a smaller standard engine, and then speed becomes a factor in play, though not for the building process.