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The Phoenix Package is a great deal, but keep in mind that at the moment the Battlemaster just plain outright s*cks! It is in the eyes of many skilled players the worst Assault Mech of all times. It has interesting hardpoints, but the variants, the allocation of hardpoints, the hit box, everything is just broken with this thing. So, if you do not like to wait until PGI fixes the Battlemaster, and you can live with one less Hero Mech, go for a smaller package.
I seriously don't know what you are talking about.
IMO, the BM is one of the *best* assaults out there.
I'll admit that I didn't think much of the BMs when I was still running standard engines and hadn't elited them. At that point, they felt like you were steering a cruise-ship: Slow, sluggish and unresponsive. But once a TS-buddy suggested to go XL, I completely changed my mind about them.
Just throw a big XL-engine (360+) in there and it'll transform into a completely different animal. I'd go as far as saying that with a 360+ it almost feels like a medium at times.. well not quite, but it's close.
You'll be able to take up position way ahead of any other Mech in its weightclass, you'll be able to quickly get out of and back into cover, you'll be able to dodge missiles... you'll even be able to handle lights almost on your own, since it's not just raw speed that the XL will improve but overall handling/responsiveness as well.
You also have some of the best energy-mounting-points of any assault - second only to the Stalker I'd say. Since all your lasers are up there on cockpit level, there's no need to expose your entire Mech to be able to shoot stuff.
And if you're worried about survivability: I usually die to CT-hits or the occasional cockpit-shot. I very rarely get side-torso-killed. My stats seem to back me up here: Out of the 40 Mechs I own, one of the BMs (1D) has the best K/D-ratio - 2.06 with 70 kills/34 deaths and 66 matches played in it.
S.
Edited by 1Sascha, 25 November 2013 - 01:01 AM.