Oppi, on 04 June 2012 - 06:44 AM, said:
There's a huge difference between a working prototype in a lab and a factory actually producing the stuff for every merc out there to buy. By the time the Clans invaded the Sphere, there were no military units actually using this stuff in any significant scale. (I'll personally shoot the first guy to say "Wolf's Dragoons" ... )
__________________________________
Fluff lesson ahead :
When Phelan Kell was adopted into the Clan Wolf warrior caste and first got to pilot an omni mech, he assumed a laser failure because he'd never seen a pulse laser before. And that was after attending the renowned Nagelring military academy and serving with the Kell Hounds - one of the most famous merc units of the Inner Sphere.
__________________________________
So could you guys please stop to assume that you will be playing one of the maybe 30 people in the Sphere that always got early access to all the fancy toys the NAIS had just reinvented ?
Almost
all of the mechs in the 3050TRO feature some lostech. I realize the 3050TRO features all "new" designs, but that is a far cry from saying they weren't being produced in factories by 3049. It was definitely VERY rare back in 3039, but by 3049, almost all lostech was back in production at some capacity and available on market (understandably at a premium cost). You are assuming an awful lot that just because Phelan had never seen a pulse laser therefore no one (who could afford them) in the IS had them. Wasn't that one of his first real assignments? They were hunting pirates... I doubt the periphery would have them in 3049 to be sure. Personally, if given the choice, I always picked a medium laser over the pulse version anyway. IS pulse laser tech kinda sucked in 3050.
2 Hunchbacks > 1 Atlas; no contest. 2 Hunchbacks give you roughly double the shortrange firepower of an Atlas for the same amount of tonnage and armor (collectively speaking). However, that is assuming matches will be setup in such a way where a larger group of lighter mechs could face a smaller group of heavier mechs. This whole "which is better; atlas or hunchback" discussion is interesting, but ultimately fruitless until we know more about how matchmaking will work, drop weight limits, possibility of Battle Value, etc.
Edited by MagnusEffect, 04 June 2012 - 02:14 PM.