7 replies to this topic

[ShinigamiRin]

I noticed something a bit strange while windowshopping for awesomes, and i'm a bit surprised i haven't seen more about this here on the forums. It's a simple matter, WHY does the 9M have 4 hardpoints mounted center torso? With even a normal engine, there are still only 2 free slots, as there is no such thing atm as a compact gyro which would free up the other 2 slots.

I suppose some might answer "it's to encourage tactical planning in builds" or something similar, an either/or proposition. In which case i will point out that that falls under the heading of "Omni Mech". Which an Awesome is not. Leaving game mechanics aside, it would be a physical impossibility to have 4 weapon mounts in a 2 crit slot location. So what, as they say, is the deal? Oversight, Intentional, irrational? Whatever the case this weirdness leaves the 9M with only 7 effectively functional hardpoints, which is why im sighting this under game balance, and id like to hear from someone as to WHY this was done and if it's planned for a fix. Or if someone on the design team wanted this as a way to sneak in semi-omni functionality or what.

[Deathlike]

I'm not an Awesome pilot, so I can't really explain to you why.

If you look at the mech comparatively speaking, it's on par with the other Awesomes in hardpoints.... assuming you are counting them differently.

4 energy, 1 missile, 2 shared (energy or missile, in the CT). 7 total hardpoints.. on par with the rest of the other Awesomes (PB has 6, which is OK by "hero mech" designs, plus it has the 400 engine option).

So, you have the option of going 2 med lasers, or 2 ssrm2, 2 srm4, or some hybrid of laser+missile 1-slot weapons.

This is a brawler mech, and is usually designed as such (1-slot weapons are short ranged).

It is obviously "impossible" to use the entirety of the hardpoints of the 9M's CT, but it's "diverse" enough to allow you some alternative combinations (however limited they are), for that mech.

Edited by Deathlike, 14 April 2013 - 12:34 PM.

[ShinigamiRin]

Right, i understand the effect and appreciate your reply, but i guess what i really meant to say wasnt clear. 4 hardpoints in a 2 crit slot location would obviously give you this sort of tactical flexibility in terms of choice, however it simply did not ever exist and is physically impossible. This is why omni-tech was considered to be such a massive advantage. What i don't understand is why pgi chose to imitate omni-capability before clan arrival, on a mech that Never had any omni capacity at all. Kinda like they were itching for a Black Knight or something.

[Deathlike]

I'm not sure it was ever meant to be an "omni-point" slot...

IMO, it was simply meant to be a versatile option for a limited section that would not need to be rebalanced. If such a hardpoint configuration were on a torso or arm, most people would use them as the hardpoints that they are... here with 2 slots available, it's a "you can do almost whatever you want here" w/o having to see that many repercussions of that decision.

[ShinigamiRin]

Right again, thats an exact descriprion of omni tech. Which is what im sayin.

Edited by ShinigamiRin, 14 April 2013 - 01:10 PM.

[Deathlike]

They "may" have an omni slot when the clans arrive... but that's many months away. It would probably be used and abused a lot more.

[Durant Carlyle]

The canon 9M build has a missile launcher and a laser in the center torso. It makes sense that there would be hardpoints for both. PGI simply put two hardpoints of each there.

You're making a mountain out of an ant hill.

Technically, all of the hardpoints on any 'Mech in this game are semi-Omni. Evidence? You can take the Machine Guns out of a K2 Catapult and put in Gauss Rifles. If that's not at least part Omni, I don't know what is.

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By the way, we have already seen what Omni points will look like through a bugged Mech Lab screen somebody took a screenshot of. IIRC, it was a normal 'Mech that listed "0/8 Omni" under Hardpoint Slots in the Loadout screen. That means it has eight slots available for any type of weapon. You could put eight medium lasers there, or four medium lasers and four machine guns or eight SRM2s or whatever. I haven't seen the screenshot in a long while though.

[Heisenbug]

Durant Carlyle, on 14 April 2013 - 03:06 PM, said:

You're making a mountain out of an ant hill.

It's not omni, and there's a limited range of things that can be done in that space. Srm4x2 is my favorite config at the moment, which coupled with the left arm launcher makes for a nice short-range punch. On an elite 9m you can get enough heat dissipation to keep rolling regular PPC's; the center torso srm's are critical to that config's short range dmg output... anywho, nothing omni about it...