154 replies to this topic

[Dasein]

So someone can explain me why HBKs and CN9-A, CN9-AL all has 200 stock engines, but hunchies has limit 260 rating as rules suggest, But centurions have 275 maximum rating?

Maximum-Engine power rating for mediums is 1.3*stock engine rating

[Bagheera]

Inyc, on 06 April 2013 - 09:57 AM, said:

But its not. 100 Kph means you can't be carrouselled by the raven. You can just stand still and rotate at the same speed as he circles you while constantly shooting him. If you drop your speed too much, you cannot do this. 100 Kph also allows you to dance around any heavy and assault and make much better use of cover. Again, more speed is not a weakness (up to the point where you drop down on weapon quality per hard point, but neither the Treb nor Cent need to do this).

This, mostly. To a point, more speed is a benefit to a medium. After that point one does give up too much of something else. The 100kph threshold is a little conservative for my taste, though.

Trying to "keep up with a Raven" in a medium (outside a Cicada) is sacrificing too much for the speed, but the 105-113 range can be the sweet spot for "fast medium" builds. Player is more key than mech, so YMMV and all that. I'm not very good at the slow game, and I'm absolute crap in an assault. To each their own.

Plenty of configs that pack a solid punch at that speed, and makes flanking the flights through terrain virtrually effortless. There's no point in trying to match their speed and chase them outright, you just need to be fast enough get good LOS on them as they speed around.

You can't afford to skimp on armor in a medium either; especially now that HSR is helping people hit higher speed targets.

More on topic:

(@Vermaxx - we might disagree on speed for mediums, but we're basically on the same page regarding the HBK)

As long as they leave torso twist and arm articulation alone, there will be folks who can make a Hunchie work. Frankly, if they bumped the Hunchie speed I'm afraid they would want to nerf those two things, which are the Hunchie's greatest strength, imo.

I might do well in my 4G (few people expect to see an 89kph AC20) most of the time, but that's not a build for everyone. Maybe the hardpoint layout is wonky, or maybe you can't really put more than 3 lasers on it and keep a big freaking gun anyway, so it's moot. IMO few things are more satisfying than that "spit my last breath at thee" kill from the head laser when you've gone full zombie. 4SP and 4P are, arguably, as capable as anything else out there, and we should probably wait and see what they have in mind for the Hunchback "quirk" before rendering final judgement on the chassis as a whole. However, the speed of the Hunch is fine. Other mediums do fast better, and the 4sp/4p can wreck shop with a standard 260.

Dasein, on 06 April 2013 - 01:58 PM, said:

So someone can explain me why HBKs and CN9-A, CN9-AL all has 200 stock engines, but hunchies has limit 260 rating as rules suggest, But centurions have 275 maximum rating?

Maximum-Engine power rating for mediums is 1.3*stock engine rating

It got an engine size buff as it's "quirk"

Edited by Bagheera, 06 April 2013 - 02:16 PM.

[SkyCake]

No it doesn't... hunch 4g is the best medium in my opinion

[Bogus]

Increasing the max armor on the hunch seems like a relatively reasonable thing, though as someone else pointed up this is symptomatic of a general problem with torsos going out too easily due to our magical and definitely not tabletop-canon ability to actually hit the thing that we're aiming at. Double armor is good but not enough IMO, but rather than triple/quad/whatever armor it would be fun to increase the max so people can sacrifice other stuff like speed for torso protection.

[Vermaxx]

Sometimes I'm glad PGI pays almost no attention to the forums.

[Rayah]

The only help the Hunchbacks need is a centered reticule.

[Inyc]

Rayzor, on 06 April 2013 - 04:40 PM, said:

The only help the Hunchbacks need is a centered reticule.

That's not so much a hunchy thing as a general convergence issue that affects some mech more than others.

Vermaxx, on 06 April 2013 - 04:21 PM, said:

Sometimes I'm glad PGI pays almost no attention to the forums.

So what would you have their "quirks" be then, if not thing to slightly lessen the massive drawback of the hunch?

[Vermaxx]

The same thing all the other ones do - give some bonus/downgrade I don't even notice.

[Rayah]

Inyc, on 06 April 2013 - 04:52 PM, said:

That's not so much a hunchy thing as a general convergence issue that affects some mech more than others.

http://mwomercs.com/...est-short-clip/

That is NOT a simple convergence issue. The reticule on the Hunchbacks is completely off, if it effects other mechs then it's near unnoticeable, but this makes any long-range Hunchback build a bad idea.

Edited by Rayzor, 06 April 2013 - 04:58 PM.

[Inyc]

Vermaxx, on 06 April 2013 - 04:54 PM, said:

The same thing all the other ones do - give some bonus/downgrade I don't even notice.

The quirks to the Cent were amazingly noticeable... The stopping one especially. Going from 100kph to 0 in a meter is amazing for keeping your target in between you and his allies. The engine buff was also pretty good, though for me mostly because it let me fit an extra heat sink into my build.

[Nexus Omega]

Inyc, on 06 April 2013 - 08:51 AM, said:

90 meter's is "I die or you die, no one is getting out" range.

HAHAHA Love it

[Vermaxx]

Then let's give it a throttle acceleration boost, on par with the Centurion's stopping power. Everyone knows Hunchback players get into the fight while Centi players check their brakes.

[Sears]

I quite like the 4G. Yeah you can get to the top of the board, saying that though there's heavies that can do it's job better than it. And it's an easier time going about it.

Be interesting to see what quirks they will get. I figure increased acceleration, stopping and torso twist speed. As for the Hunch you could give it a crit reduction modifier, so that the gun is slighter harder to knockout.


If we see tonnage limits, mediums will make a lot more sense.

[xxx WreckinBallRaj xxx]

Here's my 4G Build
0 Armor, Endo Steel
XL 255
2LL
23 tons of ammo for various guns, almost all of which is in C/RT/LT/H, except the last 2 boxes which couldn't fit there and had to go to arms. Still haven't figured out what to do with the last 2 tons of weight though, as my slots are full and a 260 would only consume another .5. I don't know how I can cram anymore ammo into this thing without downgrading the lasers and having more leftover weight. It's currently a 48/50 build.

The sad part is that I still outdamage people for the match before blowing up like a powder keg. Mission accomplished?

Edited by Bluten, 06 April 2013 - 05:19 PM.

[Smk]

The hunchback is in a pretty bad place right now thanks to the centurion. It gets beat out in pretty much every meaningful way. Only the SP measures up and it still falls behind thanks to being slower. The other variants will always have their hunches blown off and the majority of their firepower removed. I would like to see some form of balance where the hunchback is wanted for a reason other than its venerable status.

[tenderloving]

The Hunchback is fine. The problem is that there are no weight restrictions.

The Hunchback brings a lot of firepower to the table for a 50 ton mech, which is why it is slower. Unfortunately the way things are set up right now there is no reason not to bring a 70 ton mech or 100 ton mech if you can.

[Lokust Davion]

since the hunchies dont have the speed nor jumpjet capability and has very vulnerable side torso, it should have an owl neck similar to catapult to level the playing field.

this buff is especially needed for the 4G.

Edited by Lokust Davion, 06 April 2013 - 06:06 PM.

[Urdnot Mau]

My HBK-4SP do just fine. Just need to take extra caution. But you'll do fine with any mech if you take caution. The medium mechs are special because they are not fast enough to escape too many shots or tough enough to take too much damage. Just gotta learn how to play it... It takes time to get used to them and learn best tactics. You gotta get trashed lots of times and go to the next match.

Edited by Urdnot Mau, 06 April 2013 - 07:19 PM.

[jay35]

Hunchies are stout little mechs. They are one of the hardest medium mechs to take down, short of a particularly well-piloted zombie-able centurion.

[Elizander]

I don't think Hunchbacks need to go faster. They could use some serious upgrade in up/down torso movement. I do think that since they rely a lot on torso weapons that any hunchback with a huge hunch should be compensated with a wider range of motion so that they can hit at more elevations. They were designed to use the big guns on the torso so it'd be silly to not let them use them at a wider arc of fire compared to other mechs.

Edited by Elizander, 06 April 2013 - 08:07 PM.