The Wakelord, on 03 July 2014 - 06:35 AM, said:
This is great thanks.
The conclusions I draw from this (and gameplay) seem to be:
- Clan lasers are OP. Yes, in theory balanced, but in a medium mech I usually get 300-400 in a game. When I'm playing my Nova I've gotten over 1,000 twice (previous high score was 620). I'm not a great gamer by any means, so my max damage can be doubled, then a skilled player should be able to do much better. Afterall, isn't everyone saying clans require skill to play?
- IS ballistics are generally superior for their single hit (I miss so often due to mech going into cover etc while using the spray). & lower cooldown Clan ballistics can be useful in that
some damage can be applied when spraying for a light, etc.
- Clan LRM are more scary when you get hit by them (and you can get hit with LOTS of them), but with cover and/or AMS they are less scary than IS. So each is balanced with pro/con to me.
- IS SRM are generally better, unless you are playing a lighter mech where tonnage makes a huge deal (ie: kitfox & commander), where clan SRM are suddenly awesome.
- Clan SSRM is very mixed due to massive cooldown (7 sec) making it terrible for brawling, and the lock-on requirement making it hard for cover fighitng.
Overall, I die quicker and do more damage as a Clan mech, but I survive a heck of a lot longer in IS mechs. Both are great fun, but I only play on the lighter half of the weight balance.
Totally disagree about Clan Lasers except maybe the C-ER ML. Aside from that one, all of them seem inferior to IS variants in practical gameplay.
The reason people will typically see more damage on a clan mech is due to the spread of damage. Nothing gets concentrated but you sure as hell will strip off armor all over the enemy mechs which inflates your damage numbers. However, stripping armor off every single surface of the enemy mech doesn't mean diddly squat if you can't concentrate that damage and core him and put him out of the fight.
People have to look beyond the spreadsheets and numbers and actually evaluate what actually happens during a match. This means in order for someone to evaluate Clan mechs and weapons, you have to actually use clan mechs and weapons. After using them, sure your going find some outstanding examples and builds just like yo do with IS mechs, but overall, they don't stand out as being more effective overall than IS mechs.