Pariah Devalis, on 17 February 2014 - 08:28 AM, said:
I would imagine it is implied. Technically, you could point to any standard engine mech and say it can zombie. It cannot shoot, but it can zombie. That does not mean it should be included in the discussion.
By the challenge mentioned, the definition of the term "Zombie" was with a weapon and still alive. The original reason that this came up was to compare IS Std engines to Clan XL engines in the terms of survivability, and how someone was comparing the Clan XL with the IS Standard for survivability terms.
Going off those lines, we are not aware of how Clan mechs (any of them) hit boxes are going to be, and/or if any of them will have hard to hit CTs. So, with the thought process of "are Std engines more useful/survivable over the Clan XL" in the terms of still being able to deal damage, the answer that was proven correct is the fact that IS Std engines in some already in game mechs are better than even a Clan XL engine would be. This is because of their abilities to Zombie, if not even some mechs to be able to Zombie well (Centurion).
However, as also mentioned by how many of these mechs can zombie "well" with a Std engine, the likelihood of comparing clan XLs to Std engines in terms of survivability isn't too far fetched, as many mechs can zombie, but normally wont get the chance to. And even more mechs are useless as soon as they lose both side torsos. With a Std engine, this can leave you wondering around with no weapons, but alive (not being very effective except to cap or distract). With a clan XL, you would prevent this time of "uselessness" by dieing as soon as both side torsos (CT, or one side torso and the CT) are destroyed, meaning you don't have "uselessness time".
(PS: I've won matches before with my zombie Stalker with no weapons, being next to last one to survive, and win by capping... but it's admittedly a rare event.)
Taking this a step farther, we could then also compare and conclude (strangely enough) that IS XLs are as survivable as Clan XLs, as if we start to look at only mechs that tend to get CT killed before anything else, such as the Dragon, Quickdraw, Catapult, Jenner, Raven, etc. They really only take damage to the CT and gain fewer benefits for having an Std in them...
If you want my honest take, Clan XLs are going to be as "survivable" as IS Std for the most parts in usefulness terms. However, it still is slightly less survivable overall over the Std engine, but much better than the IS XL in game. It's going to prolong a mech's life in most cases. Without having farther information (clan mech hit box locations), we can't determine if this is going to be a large advantage, or no different than what it would feel to have a Std engine (large side torsos, easy to shift damage to them, no CT weapons) or that considered of the IS XL with only a few occasional exceptions (if most clan mechs have large CTs, and rarely lose a side torso before death).
Before we can take every consideration into account for these engine comparisons, we need more information. Namely we need clan mech's hit boxes, as each engine type would benefit certain mechs more than others. (Personally, I'd love to take a Clan XL in my Stalker, as once I lose both sides, I'm useless anyway. But I've have great moments being a long term distraction with a zombie/weaponless Stalker before. I just glare at my targets menacingly then...)
7
