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Our group entered our usual discussion regarding OP this, balance that when we started discussing the Pros and Cons of an XL engine on the new Catapult Hero: Cheshire (I know it is called ‘Jester’, but COME ON)
Anyway, something dawned on me: What is the benefit of increasing the tonnage of mechs? Obviously, more armor, more guns, higher level of badassery. What is the cost? You are a bigger target at a slower speed.
But ok, seriously, from a stats point of view, how did PGI balance the benefits / drawbacks in MWO?
Now let me get this out of my system – Battletech Table Top is by no means a balanced system. We’re not even going to reference it here, so don’t comment on it, ok?
OK.
So, let us start off by looking at the specs for all of the chassis. I’ll be evaluating only one variant and exclude all of the hero mechs. These models were chosen at random (sort-off)
The first thing I did was to get the listed information on the chassis weight and Max Armour Values.
Note that, all of the mechs that share a weight class has the exact same amount of max armor.
This forms part of our first assumption: Inter weight class stats are kept the same. In other words, mechs that weigh the same, share a lot of common stats.
Looking at the data, we see that there is a growth of max armor values as you traverse through the weight classes. Here are a few graphs:
MAX ARMOR
Ok, wow, nice linear growth of max armor values. OK, there are a few kinks, but it seems ok ?
Wrong. Let us break it down further
ARMOR/TON
Ok, for each ton that your mech weighs, how much armor can we throw on there?
Immediately we see the graph is all over the place. Lights can fit the most armor/ton which is fine in my mind. It is supposed to be like that, the cost of throwing on more steel plates increases as you add more and more. The cost being tonnage. You need a bigger mech and at some point to add just 1 armor plate, you have to design a mech that is 5 tons heavier than the previous mech.
But our graph reflects a few irregularities. Look at the 20/25 ton interval:
a locust has a worse armor/ton ratio than the commando.
Look again at the 35/40 ton intervals: A Cicada has a ration than a Jenner or Raven.
Notice the 60 – 75 intervals: Look how sharply the ratio declines over just 3 weight classes.
And then finally, the small but steady growth over the assault mech chassis.
According to me, this ratio should be a constant, steady decline.
ARMOUR GAIN
Armour gain is the amount of armor gained because you built a mech 5tons heavier.
Again, this chart shows us something is wrong with the amount of armor given to each weight class:
60 – 70 ton mechs are given less armor than other mechs. The 35 ton bracket also gets less armor.
INTERLUDE
By now you've realized that not all of the weight classes are treated as equal. And that is fair.
But then, why is it that a Raven and a Jenner gets exactly the same amount of armor points to spend. Same holds true for the mechs weighing in at 65 tons: Catapult, Jagermech and Thunderbolt. They are, after all, completely different in design, shape, size etc. The only common ground they share is their weight on a scale. For the purpose of this post, I’d like to keep my assumption that all mechs, across weight classes, should be kept equal.
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Ok, now we go one further: What is the amount of available fitting space on a mech? For the sake of sanity, these numbers are AFTER we've fitting MAX armor, but no Engine or any other equipment. I repeat: NO fittings except max armor values.
OK, overall it seems like each weight index is getting a nice, linear increase in the free weight (space) we get to load stuff in. Looking at the amount of free tonnage we gain as we move along the weight classes, it becomes apparent that Cataphracts get the most boost to fitting space. I mean, look at it.
And then finally, how much free space do we get per ton in weight?
Wait, I know this graph. It’s the inverse of the Armour/Ton graph. Yep. PGI decided that we are going to make some weight classes fit less armor, but in return we’ll give them additional weight free to fit stuff in. It is obvious that by not allowing a weight class to exceed a certain armor threshold, there will be more space available when you fit to MAX armor.
This doesn't really tell us anything new, except that there is a discrepancy in the amount of armor one would expect to fit on a mech. There is no benefit is applying a maximum that is under par with what one would expect. A Raven doesn’t benefit from having a lower armor cap imposed, it just removes the ability to fit a tankier build.
Remember, mechs of other weight classes do not HAVE to fit max armor. They are allowed to pick if they want more armor and less equipment.
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Let us have a look at the speed of various mechs.
I fitted each mech with a Standard 200 Engine, except the locust. So ignore it.
Again you will note that mechs that share a weight class have the same speed when outfitted with the same engine. No difference in how fast a Thunderbolt can move VS a Catapult.
Looking at the chart, we see that light mechs get the most benefit out of engines.
Medium mechs are the worse off in terms of how engine size influences their movement speed.
One would expect to see a linear graph, such as the red one. Keep in mind, top speed. We are ignoring acceleration. Engines have less of an impact on medium / heavy mechs than the impact on Assault / Lights.
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CONCLUSION:
Make your own.
My conclusion is that it is going to be a whole lot longer before MWO can be considered a balanced game.
I think PGI should re-balance mechs so that even though two mechs weigh the same, the perform differently.
The current system leads towards specialization of certain mechs in certain weight classes.
I had fun messing around in excel and writing this post. And a little part hopes that this post will bring awareness to certain unbalanced aspects of MWO.
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TL;DR
Game needs balancing and stuff.
Discuss the topic of inter weight balancing issues with me.
