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[Deathlike]

A classic:


Don't forget to refer to my older post about the Mist Lynx, found here (feel free to skip for the TL;DR crowd):
http://mwomercs.com/...ost__p__3943003


I'm spending a bit of time trying to get the Mist Lynx "working" for me under different circumstances and builds. While this hasn't been truly successful (people had been complaining that I was taking a Mist Lynx, which says all you need to know about this mech), I felt that the Mist Lynx after the current set of quirks were closer to where they needed to be, and yet at the same time... gone backwards (the old 1 step forward, 2 steps back cliche is in effect).

So... I'm sure it's been said before... but "why bother discussing the Mist Lynx again?"

My answer is simple... it shouldn't have achieved Spider-level crapness, but it has since its debut... and while I don't ever expect it to be Meta or superior at any level... I feel like that the crushing of every Mist Lynx-Prime trial user is a series of hidden tears that are legitimate reminders of how bad a Mist Lynx can be (and just stock builds in general).

So... let me name (or reiterate) 3 aspects of the Mist Lynx that hamper it...

1) Locked into doom (omnipod rules):

I like a mech building challenge, but so many things work against the Mist Lynx. Starting with the low tonnage with nearly max armor, you can only work 6.5 tons of equipment (7 tons if you shave off areas - making you even more vulnerable). This is really bad... and when you compare this to the alternatives... you'd be surprised.

Jenner-F (6 meds, 14 DHS): 10 tons of weapons, equipment, before factoring in engine+JJs

Spider-5V (1 LPL): 7 tons of weapons, with at least a 250+XL engine and other stuff.

So it's worth asking the question... where does all the tonnage go?

3 tons of JJs (6 JJs locked in)
1 ton for the locked Clan Active Probe

This is effectively 4 tons (more like 3, since a pair of JJs is what most people would need) that would be actually comparable to another Clan Mech that isn't so great... the Ice Ferret with 9 tons (with max armor) and an overly sized engine (at least it has 2 built in DHS).

While you can some more serviceable builds that don't require significant tonnage...


2) Sub 250 engines hurt you a lot:

The speed of the mech isn't the greatest issue, but when you're barely faster a Cicada with a 280XL (which most of those builds tend to run like 3LL, 2 PPC, etc.)... that is the least of your problems. Heat is your root problem.

"Trudubs" is a concept floated about where the 10 HS in the engines are double heat sinks (+2 capacity and +.2 dissipation per trudub)... particularly when the engine is 250 or greater. Any time an engine is sub-250, you need to fill them in with the "Poordub" heatsinks that gain far less (+1.4 capacity and +.14 dissipation per poordub). The Locust truly knows the meaning, and if you look at their quirks, they tend to have "energy heat generation" quirks because of it... since the amount of cooling is compromised with the rules, and thus would not ever properly compete with the likes of a Panther that barely use the 250 engine rule.

When you take a look at the series of quirks this time, anything that is not an ER laser is screwed... which means pulse laser (and ERPPCs, for those of you that are bold/crazy) got the raw end of the stick.

The thing about the ER Small is that its duration is (slightly) LONGER than the classic IS Med laser. This isn't entirely bad, but can be undesirable. Pulse lasers (particularly Clan Medium Pulse or even Clan Small Pulse) are better for the Mist Lynx in the sense that less facetime is required to push damage on a target... while sacrificing tonnage (a totally limited resource on the Mist Lynx). The current quirks ONLY favor one type of weapon, and for a mech that is already behind the 8-ball on basic heat cooling... well, this is problematic.

The facetime issue is critical for a different reason altogether...


3) The arms melt like butter:

I've played and shot Mist Lynxes enough times to remember that they become completely useless faster than a Streakboat vs Lights. It's just that bad.

While the Mist Lynx did get some armor buffs (quirked twice no less), it's way too easy to shoot off, due to being overly large (literally, not hard to miss, though they aren't Awesome-sized fortunately).

I'm kind of convinced that the arms need to be reinforced like the Hunchy's Hunch or the Catapult-A1's ears... since all of the weapons are housed there.

Most other mechs don't suffer from this...and while technically the Kitfox is another candidate...you have torso MGs (although, I'm tickled by that idea). Even the Summoner and Gargoyle suffers from this to a degree. Those mechs don't need as much help... but the Mist Lynx... it needs all the help it can get.


Now... having explained all of this... how do we fix the Mist Lynx? 3 ideas...


1) "Flexible Locked Hardpoints":

I used this idea before in previous posts, but it's really a simple concept.

It doesn't seem entirely fair where a Warhawk has a Left Torso that can't do anything but just "store DHS". It makes the mech far more vulnerable than it needs to be. HOWEVER, the # of DHS has to be "locked in" to the mech, so that we can't just shed components that we don't like.

So for equipment, you should be able to move around locked equipment on the mech (WITH THE EXCEPTION OF FERRO AND ENDO CRITS) so that you have more options to hide/protect equipment that is necessary.

For instance, the crits on the legs of the Mist Lynx are totally useless. Putting ammo in there is a generally bad thing for Lights (the acceleration of being legged) and you can't fit DHS in there. So, if we put JJs in there, moved from the torso sections into the leg (just a max of 2 total), we can actually make space in the Left Torso of the mech... where it used to be strictly on the Right Torso.

If we wanted to move the DHS to better locations (like, say the arms), we could.

It's the kind of idea that would slightly indirectly improve the Nova or Summoner... where just swapping the JJs for DHS would allow for their feet to cool in water, instead of requiring them to be fully submersed.

If we wanted to move that Clan Active Probe around (instead of it being locked in the head), we could.

As long as the locked equipment are still accounted for in total (Nova will still have the min 14 DHS), this is sufficient.

Just remember that NO Ferro or Endo crits can be moved... just the equipment. This allows for effective mech building are greater options for other mechs.


2) Improve heat generation bonuses and have actual pulse laser quirks:

The greatest negative from the current series of quirks is simply how pulse lasers "got the shaft". While the same was applied to the Nova, the hardpoints are actually better on the Nova than they are on the Mist Lynx (it's a still a nerf for the Nova, but it's not that as significant).

What should have been considered is a bonus structure like this for the Mist Lynx:

MLX-C Right Arm - 5% heat generation, 2.5% ER Laser heat generation

While this still favors the ER laser series of weapons, NON-ER weapons are not compromised. Oftentimes this arm is used in conjunction with the ECM arm (MLX-C Left Arm), so the likelihood of this quirk to be useful is obvious, but it doesn't break anything else.

The other Energy based arms should get a general/generic 2.5% heat generation quirk with a slight bonus to something else (cooldown, ER Laser specific stuff, whatever) with one exception.

The MLX-B Left Arm IS very important. While the MLX-C Right Arm is crucial, not everyone will want to run with the ECM arm, and there should be viable choices. Of course, we can't actually use the same quirks the MLX-C Right Arm has... since that would make it the domiannt choice.

So... how do we make it useful, but not stupidly good?

MLX-B Left Arm - 5% heat generation, 10% ER Laser duration, 10% Pulse Laser range

The quirk is simple, but it buffs both weapon types, which is why it is more practical. Pulse Laser range is important (there's no practical reason to run a Clan Large Pulse Laser on this arm while losing the ECM option) and ER Laser duration... particularly for the Clan ER Small is large. 10% makes it the same as the IS Medium Laser (and obviously this buffs the Clan ER Med, but those are stupidly hot with a "compromised mech" because of its engine).

I'm sure there are better options, but heat generation is important.

The MLX-B's Right Arm needs a heat generation quirk for missiles... as missiles are a contributing factor even at this level... even 5% is sufficient here (the stock build is looking to burn itself up anyways).


3) Buff the ****ing arms:

I've been running an obvious theme about the mech, and if that isn't obvious.. I don't know what to tell you.

I don't know how much more armor they need, but they need to be reinforced to the level of a 50-tonner's arms (like a Centurion or Trebuchet - WITH those additional quirks). That is how durable they honestly need to be.

The scaling/design is so bored, they have to be adjusted like that. I don't know how to say it better. Even a 15% damage reduction for both arms would be incredible, but apparently it has to be like that.


There are other strange quirks that exist... like comparing the MLX-B's side torsos to the other MLX side torsos (+2 armor difference? Are you serious?). So, that does need to be changed (+5 armor difference should be like the minimum)


A generic +5% Speed boost would also help the mech out. The new speed would be 130.4kph after speed tweak (119.1 kph w/o speed tweak). This is not game breaking, but should allow it to not feel like a crippled Light mech.

Hopefully with all this massive tweaking/quirking, that it would make the Mist Lynx a more than capable mech. I know there are other debates to be had (like, making the first 10 DHS trudubs, but I doubt that would happen), but these are scenarios that make the omnipod system more fair and realistic for all that are involved.

Speaking as a Light pilot... I wish all these quirks weren't needed, but changes honestly need to be made in order for this particular mech to not be mocked in the same way the Spider-5V has been for a long time. The Spider-5V can't be helped (you'd have to literally add another energy hardpoint on it, which is something PGI is unlikely/unwilling to do due to various reasons), but the Mist Lynx can.. and we don't have to lock this mech into complete and total obscurity and be target practice for the masses.


Maybe someday all mechs will be treated the same... all usable, and not a handicap (or require a significant skill ceiling to be effective) to the team. If we could only rescale things...

[Mcgral18]

I honestly think the only way to REALLY help these mechs (without Uberquirking them) is to relax their construction.


MWO doesn't follow TT construction rules very well. Engines are completely free, with arbitrary limits, as opposed to tonnage*movement points that TT follows.

The Mist Lynx could be greatly improved even if it had to follow TT rules; 25 engine size per change (which is good, because the TrueDub thing) as opposed to, say, Mr Gargles with the 320 or 400 (who would be best with an XL375, impossible in TT)


The most important thing I believe should happen is removing the hardwired AP (and the Badders Flamer). It's simply a bad move.
It gives it an extra DHS...since it actually requires 12 DHS to match the 10 TrueDubs on a 250 engined FS9.
That's how bad the PoorDubs affect it, since it only has 7.


In a perfect world, it could follow TT construction, removing the AP and 2 JJs, and putting all that into the engine, along with maxing armour.

It would move to a 225 XL or a 250 XL, 9 or 10 TrueDubs.

With 4 JJs, the 225XL allows for 6 tons of pod space (nearly identical to what it has now) while moving ~166 Kph
With the same 4 JJs, a 250XL allows for 4.5ton of pod space (or 5 JJs for nearly identical jumping and 4 tons even) while moving an impressive 178 Kph.


You know, those sound like pretty good robots...which the Myth Lynx can never be.



I found the structure buffs to be very nice, and 4 ERMLs allow for decent firepower, but even with 13 DHS it's too damn hot, thanks to losing a full TrueDub in dissipation (or the two PoorDubs) because of the small engine.


Two most important buffs at this point (without really touching quirks) would be the PoorDub issue (along with all sub 250 engined robots, Lolcust, Urbie, BJ, etc...) and the removal of the AP (allowing for another DHS, or a TC1 mounted in the head).