149 replies to this topic

[Gorbash]

So I'm looking around and there are plenty of people who have a favorite mech, and a lot of those are one of a handful of classes, lets hear from those of you who love a particular mech or two that dont get much love for various reason. Why do you think it's worth piloting? What are the good aspects that detractors tend to gloss over? Why do you think it should be included in MWO?

I'll kick this off with my personal choice for a scout/command mech, the Hussar.
I barely hear good things about it, jokes abound regarding it's paper thin armor, but in the hands of a skilled pilot, it has some great advantages.
First off, for a 30 ton mech, it has the kind of speed expected of a 20 ton, thanks to a massive engine (GM270-A) and that light armor, it zips around with the mobility needed to scout fast and skip between cover to avoid taking hits from the bigger boys on the field. The sensor and communications package is primo in the star league era, sadly it takes a step down when you start replacing the old components with whats made after the fall, but even then it has a package capable of detailed and long range scouting. According to the lore: "Its excellent communications gear allowed the Hussar to operated deep behind enemy lines, able to report not only enemy movements but also jam their communications and listen in on transmissions between enemy 'Mechs from as far away as thirty-five kilometers."
In the lore it's considered popular, but in the games it never got much use from players. Table top games saw some use since the sensor package could actually make some difference but in the PC games it just didnt have any point.
Another point that a lot of people put it down for was the fact it has only 1 gun, but that gun was a large laser on a turret mount, meaning you had a 360 rotation and better range than almost any other comparable mech. Properly used, a hussar was not just a scout, once you lead your heavies in and they engage the enemy, you are free to either hunt down and use your range advantage to murder the enemy scout, or if he is gone, you actually have the firepower to come in from behind, using your speed to stay out of weapons lock, and peg the legs and soft back armor of the bigger mechs currently engaged with your own heavies.

And thats just a standard model. Taking varients into it opens up a whole mess of awesome stuff, from the ComStar "clanbuster" 400D varient, with it's ER Large Laser stripped from the chassis and the engine dropped to a smaller XL model to make room for the LBX-Autocannon/10. (woo cluster rounds!)

To the HSR-950-D -built on a standard frame and the equipment is stripped out. It is replaced with two ER medium lasers and a snub nose PPC. This variant has the most armor of any Hussar variant thanks to its use of a Heavy Ferro-Fibrous weave.

So yeah, versatile, fast, and though lightly armored, fairly powerful for it's weight class if you put it together right. I've had a soft spot for this mech for a long time.

So thats my pick, and why I think it's worth playing, and I would be absolutely thrilled to see the Hussar and it's variants make it into the game.
So what else is out there? Lets hear your somewhat less than popular choices and what you think makes them worth piloting!

[Woodstock]

Cyclops

Jagermech

Any of those **** ugly ost mechs

A whole raft of mediums ... e.g.

Trebuchet ... enforcer ... whitworth ... vindicator

[Stormdragon]

The Sunder....I have kicked so much *** because they underestimated the Sunder.

Edited by Stormdragon, 07 June 2012 - 11:12 AM.

[S3dition]

Bushwacker. Fast, low profile, good hard point diversity. It can be a long range ambusher or close up brawler.

[SirBlackhOle]

I would love to see a bushy in this game....fav all time mech!

[Puzzlez]

Catapult

[Bjarnulf]

@woodstock: the Vindicator is a really fine Mech i think. ok, not for me... but a player loves this dmn ugly thing XD
@topic: one of my fav light was the FFL-4A Firefly.
(but my love belongs to my first mechs a Hunchback and a Centurion)

[Cold3y3s]

SirBlackhOle, on 07 June 2012 - 11:13 AM, said:

I would love to see a bushy in this game....fav all time mech!

Have to agree but its about 4 years away.

Tellerium, on 07 June 2012 - 11:15 AM, said:

Catapult

He said under appreciated, not one everyone uses.

I don't really have an under-appreciated fav, how strange...

Edited by Hawk3y394, 07 June 2012 - 11:27 AM.

[Murphy7]

Have to continue the Vindicator love. Great fun in the TT game, nice flavor for House Liao.

Big, big fan of the Valkyrie. Slow for a light, but nice reach with the LRM 10.

The Rifleman was an easy look but hard design to love, especially if something presents itself to you five or three hexes distant, you see a flashing alpha strike button and poor impulse control. You could go from cool to 16 on the heat scale in one moment of poor judgement, and that with paper thin armor.

[Stormeris]

Scorpion and Goliath are extremely underappreciated

[Gorbash]

Im hearing your choices, but give us some info guys, WHY do these mechs deserve recognition, what makes them good? what makes them unpopular? why would you chose it over more popular mecha of the same weight class and role?

[Bjarnulf]

Stormeris, on 07 June 2012 - 11:53 AM, said:

Scorpion and Goliath are extremely underappreciated

I would NEVER allow one of my Gamer allow to pilot a quad Mech...never again...too dangerous...
but as an enemys....

Thorn and mercury are fine Mechs too...but less seen in field...

Edt.: sorry Gorbash...
ok..lets begin.
the Firefly: i like it coause it is a really good scout esp. in combine with medum mechs in a lance. and so few Gamer knows how to go against this little thing
Vindicator,well I think my Gamer loves it so much cause its kinda..err..lets say fire and forget like.

hmm but i have to add: in our Rounds most of the named Mechs are really common in use...

Edited by Bjarnulf, 07 June 2012 - 12:13 PM.

[frostfly]

Quickdraw, the varient that drops everything and adds MLs and some armor is a great fast brawler.

RIfleman, yes it's popular, but it's not a very good mech...except the C varient that drops the LLs and AC5s for a pair of AC10s. murderous.

Blackjack. Unpopular in cannon, and very slow for it's weight class, drop the ACs for LL (cannon varient) and it's a great jumping city brawler.

[Spleenslitta]

Firebee. In it's primary configuration it has good armor for it's size, jump jets, decent firepower and speed.
It looks really cool on Sarna- http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Firebee

If you take a look here-
Ask The Devs 5 - Answers!

-you'll see that not all mech variants will be able to mount jump jet's.
For the Commando that's a disaster since the variant COM-7B with jump jets won't be released till after the Word of Blake launch their Jihad.
They start the Jihad in 3067 from what i've understood. Who knows when the COM-7B will be released if ever.

The Firebee is like a bigger and meaner version of the Commando with jumpjets, more armor and firepower. And i think it beats the Commando when it comes to coolness and good looks...By a lot.
If you put it into the mechlab you can enhance the Firebee's abilities beyond your wildest dreams since it doesn't even have any Endo, Ferro Fiber or XL engine to start with.

[Tadakuma]

I'm going to put the humble Banshee-3E up as an under appreciated mech.

People complain that it has the firepower of a medium mech (which is true) but forget that it has unbelievable armour (second best in the base game) and really generous heat curve,

I've seen this thing take down Atlases, Stalkers, Victors and Warhammers, alot of the classic and popular designs from the game. However I see more people willing to pilot a Cyclops (a terrible mech in my opinion) then the Banshee. I will admit that without melee attacks it doesn't make the cut but this is a really under appreciated mech by any definition.

I also put the base Black Jack forward as another undervalued mech, yes the AC2s are a bit under whelming, but good armour, jump jets and 4 medium lasers make this a brilliant close range brawler. In fact in a short range fight the Blackjack is throwing out more damage then a Centurion or Enforcer and is a fairly tough fight for either of them.

By contrast the Vindicator (which get's a lot of love) is an underwhelming mech. Yes it has a PPC but the rest of it's weapons lack focus. A Med laser, Sm Laser and LRM 5 is a really under whelming selection. It's not a long range sniper, it's not a close range brawler and it lacks the even damage curve of a generalist. I think the Panther is an infinitely better mech, a PPC for doing the damage and SRM 4 to finish the job is a wonderful combo.

My final candidate for undervalued designs is a clan design the Blood Kite. In my opinion the most disgustingly min/maxed weapon in the clan Arsenal.

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Blood_Kite
This beast has enough armour to make an Awesome jealous, 3 Clan ER Lg Lasers, 3 LRM 15s, 3 SRM 4s, Jump jets and no XL engine with clan CASE to round out the mix. I'll back this against a Nova Cat, Blood Asp or Savage Coyote any day of the week and yet I've never seen anybody else advocate this mech apart from myself.

[trycksh0t]

I have the strangest feeling of deja vu....I think there was a thread just like this not too long ago.

Anyway, the Templar and Cestus get my vote. Both are fantastic designs within their weight classes, easily able to hold their own in any engagement, and yet hardly ever get mentioned.

[Gorbash]

Bjarnulf, on 07 June 2012 - 12:05 PM, said:

I would NEVER allow one of my Gamer allow to pilot a quad Mech...never again...too dangerous...
but as an enemys....

Thorn and mercury are fine Mechs too...but less seen in field...

Edt.: sorry Gorbash...
ok..lets begin.
the Firefly: i like it coause it is a really good scout esp. in combine with medum mechs in a lance. and so few Gamer knows how to go against this little thing
Vindicator,well I think my Gamer loves it so much cause its kinda..err..lets say fire and forget like.

hmm but i have to add: in our Rounds most of the named Mechs are really common in use...

Thanks for the detail update. I gotta agree, in my TT games the named mechs seem to get all the love, but I once threw a pack of Vindicators at them from behind and they lost out pretty hard and ended up retreating. Thats why you dont take nothing but assault mechs into a base raid

frostfly, on 07 June 2012 - 12:06 PM, said:

Quickdraw, the varient that drops everything and adds MLs and some armor is a great fast brawler.

RIfleman, yes it's popular, but it's not a very good mech...except the C varient that drops the LLs and AC5s for a pair of AC10s. murderous.

Blackjack. Unpopular in cannon, and very slow for it's weight class, drop the ACs for LL (cannon varient) and it's a great jumping city brawler.

Im gonna agree with you on the C varient choice in rifleman, I just dont think it's all that great standard, undeserving of its popularity, but the C varient just makes it a hard hitting bastich and still quick on it's feet.

Spleenslitta, on 07 June 2012 - 12:14 PM, said:

Firebee. In it's primary configuration it has good armor for it's size, jump jets, decent firepower and speed.
It looks really cool on Sarna- http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Firebee

If you take a look here-
Ask The Devs 5 - Answers!

-you'll see that not all mech variants will be able to mount jump jet's.
For the Commando that's a disaster since the variant COM-7B with jump jets won't be released till after the Word of Blake launch their Jihad.
They start the Jihad in 3067 from what i've understood. Who knows when the COM-7B will be released if ever.

The Firebee is like a bigger and meaner version of the Commando with jumpjets, more armor and firepower. And i think it beats the Commando when it comes to coolness and good looks...By a lot.
If you put it into the mechlab you can enhance the Firebee's abilities beyond your wildest dreams since it doesn't even have any Endo, Ferro Fiber or XL engine to start with.

I also like the firebee but I seriously doubt we will see the COM-7B, it came out around the same time as my belovedHSR-950-D during the Jihad episode. Considering they have made the date much earlier in game, and stated that it was going to be a day to day time matchup from the start, it would be quite some time.......... Anyone know if they still intend to make in game time match real world time passage? If thats still true...... we wont see very many variants or clan weapons..... :/

trycksh0t, on 07 June 2012 - 12:41 PM, said:

I have the strangest feeling of deja vu....I think there was a thread just like this not too long ago.

Anyway, the Templar and Cestus get my vote. Both are fantastic designs within their weight classes, easily able to hold their own in any engagement, and yet hardly ever get mentioned.

Not sure, I didnt spot a thread like this myself, but it is entirely possible I just missed it, there is pages and pages of old threads back there >.>
And on your choice of the Cestus, I gotta agree there, while a bit slow, that heavy armor and double heat sinks makes it a mech made to last through a long encounter. And for shorter matches, I'm a big fan of the 7A variant, with those lbx auto 20s, streak srms, and medium lasers, its just hell at short to medium range, absolutely peels the armor off. And of course if you need to fill a long range support roll, the 6Z with dual PPC is a lot less able to cope with things alone, but damn it hits hard from range, just gotta watch that heat, that model is strictly set up to assist in taking down assault class mechs from range or to pop smaller mechs that try to sneak up behind your own assaults.

[KBone]

Flashman:

75 tons, 3 large lasers, 5 medium lasers, AMS and flamer, 15 double heatsinks 54kph/86kph, 13.5T armor, no ammo, no ammo explosion. I suspect nobody likes it because it is an uninspired cosmetic design, very much like an oversized Ost series, but truly pwns the battlefield. IMHO, it needs only to be upgraded w/ ER Large Lasers and jump jets to truly rock.

Edited by KBone, 07 June 2012 - 04:58 PM.

[Kazzamo]

Urbanmech. Some people love the egg with legs but in general nobody seems to take it seriously.

[KBone]

Kazzamo, on 07 June 2012 - 05:02 PM, said:

Urbanmech. Some people love the egg with legs but in general nobody seems to take it seriously.

that's because it only has 1 purpose - to DIE!!