5 replies to this topic

[An Ax Murderer]

Many of the other 'Mechs have quriks to set the variants apart from one another, some moreso than others. What I am proposing is adding some sort of quirk to the hunchback. Many people have thrown around the idea of the bigger engine cap (raising it from 260 to 275*), and I think that is a brilliant idea in some ways, for some variants.

*- Maybe the reasoning behind this is the hunchback has an increased torso twist?

Here is what I'm suggesting for each of the different variants

HBK-4SP

- Raise the engine cap from 260 to 275. This will put it on par with the Centurion-AL.

HBK-4P

- Add one module slot (giving it three when mastered)

I don't think an engine rating boost would help this mech as much as an extra module would. I wasn't around for Closed Beta, but apparently the 4P was OP because it was too fast.

HBK- 4G, 4H, 4J

- I've read other posts suggesting that for the hunchbacked Hunchies, they should have an XL engine that only fits in the CT, and the LT, (Excluding the 4P). This sounds like a good idea, and shouldn't cause too many problems.

The only drawback I can see would be if it freed up too much tonnage, and unbalanced the variant. A STD 260 weighs 19.5 tons, and an XL 260 weighs only 13. This is a 6.5 ton difference, giving enough room to upgrade some lasers, or add more heat sinks. You might restrict the use of endo to offset this?

If for some reason the above won't work, there are a few options.

First, you could allow a higher armor rating on the hunches. For example, removing 5 armor from the legs, and putting it into the hunch. (Extra 5 or 10 armor available in hunch?)

Or:

HBK-4G- Lower heat generation from autocannons. (10-15%?)
HBK-4H- Reduced recycle time for AC? (10-15% maybe? This would shave off about 1/2 sec)
HBK-4J- Reduced lock on time for LRMs (10-15% less?) Or, adding missle doors on the hunch to protect the weapons.


I understand that the quirks can't all be good, and there has to be some drawbacks as well, but I can't think of any off the top of my head, so I'll leave that up to the Devs to decide.

All of these are just ideas, and the numbers and percents are just there as an estimate. (All other quirks seem to be 10% boost to this, -15% to that, so on.)

Lots of question marks here because I want to hear your thoughts, and because all of the numbers are flexible.

[Deathlike]

I'm only going to address a specific point... because I don't necessarily agree with these quirks.

An Ax Murderer, on 12 May 2013 - 11:07 AM, said:

HBK-4P

- Add one module slot (giving it three when mastered)

I don't think an engine rating boost would help this mech as much as an extra module would. I wasn't around for Closed Beta, but apparently the 4P was OP because it was too fast.

Ever wondered why the Jenner-F has one module slot? Did you know that the Cicada-2A used to have 1 module slot? All Stalkers have one module slot.

The answer is simple, and the Hunchback-4P is the same way. They are all energy boats. For whatever the reason, they get 1 module slot and frankly it's fine. You're not going to convince anyone to give the power hunchy another module slot by default.

[An Ax Murderer]

I don't know whats up with that, frankly. They really need some quirk to set them apart from the other mediums, because they are starting to look like the red-headed step child in some ways.

[Asmudius Heng]

Most mechs should have a quirk IMO to give them some character.

Also quirks can be negatives not positives - it adds another level that PGI can use to balance mechs because right now some variants are garbage.

[An Ax Murderer]

I mentioned that some perks should be negative, otherwise it wouldn't exactly be fair.. we'll see if they do anything...

[aniviron]

I love my HBKs, and they really do need some work done to make them viable. But I don't feel like overhauling BT rules just to make HBK a bit better is worth it, in regards to engine placement. 4SP engine rating idea is fine; I think it's a bit silly to restrict the other HBK engine sizes because the 9slas swayback was op once upon a time. Since then the following have changed:
-slaser increased heat
-HSR means 130kph mechs are no longer unhittable
-long range weapons like PPC are now viable, meaning most fights don't happen at <200m
-maps are now huge, making a 90m effective range a laughably bad proposition.

Given those changes, I don't think the slaser swayback is ever going to be the terror it once was.