20 replies to this topic

[Angel of Annihilation]

Now that community warfare is right around the corner and everyone is discussing the 240 ton drop limit, I got started thinking that unlike the IS which has by comparison, a truly massive selection of mechs of all weight classes, the Clan Faction players only have 13 total to chose from, many of which are pretty subpar (Summoner, Adder, Nova, etc).

This means that there are very few options available to any Clanner who wants to come up with a solid 240 ton drop ship.

For example, Our one good assault is 100 tons which precludes taking more than one of them. The Timberwolf is a great mech but at 75 tons each, your devoting a heck of alot of weight to bringing more than one, enough that you might be forced to bring really sub-optimal Clan mechs as part of your drop. Hellbringer might be nice and at 65 tons with ECM it will probably be a good filler on the Drop shp. Stormcrow is a nice 55 tonner that will fit will into your drop but since it doesn't have JJs it is going to have limited usefulness at times and honestly only the Kit Fox is going to be worth taking for a light, even if we include the Wave 2 mechs. Fenris might be ok at 40 tons but I think it is just going to be too limited on firepower to really fit into competitive play plus its lack of JJs is going to hurt its versatility as fast striker/psuedo-light.

So that being the case, I am wondering what the plan is for future Clan mechs. Honestly we need to double the number of available clan mechs ASAP to really get parity for CW.

[Hoax415]

Smart money for the next clan wave:
Kingfisher(A90)
Ebon Jaguar(H60)
Viper(M40)
Arctic Cheetah(L30)

The Kingfisher and Viper are basically locks. The clan roster needs mechs of those two tonnage values, the Viper is super extra triple lock because its the last of the super common non-MASC clan mechs from the original invasion TRO that all our other clan mechs come from. The Arctic Cheetah could be the Fire Falcon or something else that's a guess. Sadly there is no 20t Clan omni that isn't a MASC critter as far as I know.

As for the Ebon Jaguar aka Cauldron Born. That's a showpiece mech. It has lots of appeal from past games and will boost sales and excitement about a pack like that so it makes sense it would make an appearance before the timeline is moved to around 3052/55 to open up some additional omni options.

Edited by Hoax415, 16 October 2014 - 10:44 AM.

[Voivode]

I hear you, though I think you're severely underselling both the Nova and the Warhawk. It would be useful for the clans to have every weight "slot" filled. So they need an assault at 90 and 95 tons, a 40 ton medium, and a 20 ton light.

EDIT: On the other hand, the clans were always trying to "bid" low before a fight, so you could view the limited drop decks as "immersion"

Edited by Voivode, 16 October 2014 - 10:51 AM.

[Russ Bullock]

beyond the wave 2 mechs - I am sure we will start gathering thoughts very soon.

[verybad]

Urbanmech IIC FTW!!!

[Angel of Annihilation]

Russ Bullock, on 16 October 2014 - 10:58 AM, said:

beyond the wave 2 mechs - I am sure we will start gathering thoughts very soon.

Well my vote is for:

Assault - Executioner (Ditch MASC for all I care)
Heavy - Ebon Jaguar
Medium - Shadow Cat
Light - Arctic Cheetah

Give me those four and you have a guaranteed package sale on your hands.

P.S. Really appreciate that your back on the forums again Russ and actively responding/taking part in discussions.

Edited by Viktor Drake, 16 October 2014 - 11:19 AM.

[Mcgral18]

Viktor Drake, on 16 October 2014 - 11:18 AM, said:

Well my vote is for:

Assault - Executioner (Ditch MASC for all I care)
Heavy - Ebon Jaguar
Medium - Shadow Cat
Light - Arctic Cheetah

Give me those four and you have a guaranteed package sale on your hands.

P.S. Really appreciate that your back on the forums again Russ and actively responding/taking part in discussions.

Viper for the Med.

A 40 ton Ember will be nice, and no MASC issues. 8 JJs could be fun.

[DasaDevil]

Turkina:

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Turkina

[Hardin4188]

We definitely need the Shadow Cat.

[FupDup]

DasaDevil, on 16 October 2014 - 12:03 PM, said:

Turkina:

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Turkina

The Jive Turkina is basically a Dire Whale with less pod space and the same speed. Well, at least it gets 3 hardwired JJs, because JJs are so useful on assault mechs amirite...

Edited by FupDup, 16 October 2014 - 12:50 PM.

[Hoax415]

DasaDevil, on 16 October 2014 - 12:03 PM, said:

Turkina:

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Turkina

Is certainly an alternative to the KingFisher but 90t is more useful for drop deck purposes to 95t and I don't see either as having much bigger name recognition. If we ever see a Kingfisher vs Turkina assault mech poll... Well you'll know what's up.

As for the mediums. Its Viper > Shadow Cat 100%. Clans need a 40t, doesn't have to mess with MASC, fits in with the rest of the initial invasion clan mechs better..

But clan players can rejoin in thinking that PGI will have to figure out something for MASC:

Clan 5, MASC edition
Executioner(A95)
Woodsman(H75)
Shadow Cat(M45)
Fire Moth(L20)

Look at that. That would sell so hard. So so hard.

Potential pack 3 polls:
Kingfisher vs Turkina
Linebacker vs Cauldron Born
Fire Falcon vs Arctic Cheetah

Edited by Hoax415, 16 October 2014 - 12:53 PM.

[KhanCipher]

Viktor Drake, on 16 October 2014 - 10:40 AM, said:

This means that there are very few options available to any Clanner who wants to come up with a solid 240 ton drop ship.

any clanner worth his salt in CW will only take any combination of the Fast Ferret, Stormbro, MagicJesusBoxBringer, Timber God, and maybe a Whale if defending. Honestly it's starting to look like 1/1/1/1 might've been the better deal, but no everyone wanted "muh immersion".

[Kiiyor]

NOVA CAT. I don't care that it's slow and the timeline is wrong. I'm imagining that enemy mechs would shut down and just bask in the awesome looking but-probably-too-wide majesty of it's Alexafied stupendousness.

[Ultimax]

Russ Bullock, on 16 October 2014 - 10:58 AM, said:

beyond the wave 2 mechs - I am sure we will start gathering thoughts very soon.

Find some workaround for the MASC issue, anything, Please.

Then release the Executioner.

[Angel of Annihilation]

Mcgral18, on 16 October 2014 - 11:23 AM, said:

Viper for the Med.

A 40 ton Ember will be nice, and no MASC issues. 8 JJs could be fun.

Only problem I have with the Viper is it means it would likely replace the Shadow Cat and I want the Shadow Cat 100x more than I want a 40 ton Ember. I mean 16 tons of pod space on the Shadow Cat, 8.5 tons on the Viper. Sure the Viper is faster but 8.5 tons of firepower and DHS just isn't enough to be a competitive medium and if they added the Arctic Cheetah we would already have an even better, fast, jump capable light to compete against Firestarters and Jenners. Also the Shadow Cat looks cooler

Ultimatum X, on 16 October 2014 - 03:57 PM, said:

Find some workaround for the MASC issue, anything, Please.

Then release the Executioner.

Just leave it the hell out. I mean that is the easiest work around there is. Also in most cases, I would rather have extra tonnage for weapons and DHS than a short duration turbo boost anyway.

Edited by Viktor Drake, 16 October 2014 - 04:10 PM.

[SaltBeef]

Viper before Shadowcat

Viper is a 150kph ember style medium.

Shadowcat is not until mid 3050's timeline.

[Malcolm Vordermark]

Ultimatum X, on 16 October 2014 - 03:57 PM, said:

Find some workaround for the MASC issue, anything, Please.

Then release the Executioner.

I wonder, would anyone be opposed to MASC getting the command console treatment until they figure it out if the alternative is no mechs with MASC until they figure it out?

[Sable]

Blood Asp - Assault
Cauldron Born - Heavy
Shadow Cat - Medium
some other chicken walker - Light

They could call it the chicken walker clan pack since they all have the reverse legs. and it would be the first pack i'd actually want all of them.

[Dorion]

I second the motion for the Blood Asp assault mech. Please.

[Scratx]

I think MASC is something that shouldn't be seen as a blocking item. Yeah, I am aware of the speed limit on the engine at the moment... but that doesn't necessarily have to be raised in order to get MASC in.

Honestly, one idea that just occurred to me is to simply not allow MASC to let a mech go any faster than the top engine rating of the chassis. So, if an 80 tonner has 350 rating max in one variant and all others are lower, for example, that's how fast MASC can carry you, tops. You'd need a 270 rating engine minimum to, with MASC, hit that speed (in bursts).

It might be an interesting way of dealing with this, with potential quirks allowing MASC to exceed the top engine rating for particular chassis. It would also be a natural way of limiting, for example, the Locust to 170kph. It's not designed to use MASC from the start so naturally you can't make it go faster than X! The mech just won't do it!

Etc.

This would allow us to have our MASC-enabled mechs that don't break the game engine. Still won't save the Fire Moth, for example, but we'd be able to have the Shadow Cat and Gladiator, for example, and a lot of IS mechs would have the option to slap MASC in for extra mobility, always handy against the Clans.


Anyway, that's my two cents. I am 100% sure this isn't even in question before the new year so *shrugs* but I needed to throw this out here before I forgot it.