5 replies to this topic

[Gunivar]

Does anyone else feel troubled about how much more effective Mechs with more of single types of hardpoints (Cicada and its six energy hardpoints) are than ones with more balanced hardpoints (Centurion, for example) seem to be?

[Wintersdark]

No.

Few hardpoints? Mount larger weapons. Many hardpoints? Mount smaller weapons. It's all good.

Except for the Pretty Baby, that really suffers. Lots of tonnage, very few hardpoints and Ghost Heat screws it.

[Angel of Annihilation]

Gunivar, on 22 August 2013 - 05:21 PM, said:

Does anyone else feel troubled about how much more effective Mechs with more of single types of hardpoints (Cicada and its six energy hardpoints) are than ones with more balanced hardpoints (Centurion, for example) seem to be?

This is not true. What is true is that effectiveness is in the skill of the pilot and it is much easier to manage 6 of the same weapons than 4 different weapons each with varying ranges, cooldowns, lead points, durations, etc. Basically it is easier though not necessarily the most effective loadout.

I am not saying that it can't be the most effective, I am just saying that on the majority of mech, a good mixed loadout with a pilot familiar and skilled with that load out can be just as if not more effective with the mixed loadout.

[aniviron]

Low hardpoint mechs definitely suffer, though not how you seem to think. Mechs with multiple types of hardpoints like the JM6-A, all three Victors, the AS7-D, etc., all see widespread usage, and are very popular for their ability to bring all three kinds of weapons to the field on one platform, which makes them very versatile. It takes a bit of skill to use an autocannon, SRMs, and lasers all at the same time, but a pilot who can will reap the rewards.

Mechs that just have very few hardpoints, however, are pretty much non-starters. Just compare the Awesomes to the Stalkers- the Stalkers are only five tons heavier, but in addition to having a better physical profile in-game, they outclass the Awesomes' hardpoints in every possible way. Even though every kind of Awesome and Stalker is limited to nothing but energy and missile hardpoints (Misery hero mech excluded) the Stalker just gets more hardpoints in better places.

It's especially rough on light mechs that have small numbers of hardpoints like the RVN-4X, which has a total of five- but two of them are ballistics, which means it effectively has three. There isn't enough space to run SRMs or medium lasers, but at the same time, there's not enough tonnage to bring PPCs or LRMs.

The only exceptions to the rule that more hardpoints = better are the mechs that got hit with the ill-conceived boating penalty rolled out in the last month. The HBK-4P, for example, has 9 energy hardpoints, but thanks to PGI's genius balancing team, can only run 6 medium lasers or 2 large lasers. It's only 50 tons, so it doesn't have nearly enough weight cap to take enough PPCs to make use of the number of energy hardpoints it has, but at the same time, there are many mechs that are faster and better armored that can take the same loadout, and without a big hunch to boot.

[Anjian]

Thanks to the recent limits posed on the alphas, mechs with lower hardpoints are more viable now. We are heading towards stuffing fewer, but bigger weapons with a more varied layout.

[Hillslam]

*cough* Atlas continues to get screwed with every "balance" *cough*

Edited by Hillslam, 23 August 2013 - 07:13 AM.