The Birdeater, on 11 December 2012 - 09:13 AM, said:
Back to the Banshee one more time. The primary BNC-3E is really underpowered, but well amored and really fast for an 95 ton IS mech. I tryed to rebuild it with my Founder-Atlas as best i could and it was...a "challenge" to play with it, but it isn't impossible to play successfully! I wonder if they would implement the BNC-3E variant. Is it worth?
Well, the
Banshee is fairly common, and actually has plenty of canon pre-3049 variants:
BNC-3E (2475) - x1 Small Laser, x1 PPC, x1 AC-5
BNC-3M (2579) - x1 Small Laser, x2 Medium Lasers, x2 PPCs
BNC-3Q (2915) - x1 Small Laser, x1 AC-20
BNC-3S (3026) - x2 Small Lasers, x4 Medium Lasers, x2 PPCs, x1 SRM-6, x1 AC-10
BNC-3MC (3037) - x1 Small Laser, x1 PPC, x1 AC-10
BNC-5S (
3048 or
3053, depending on source) - x2 Small Lasers, x4 Medium Lasers, x2 ER-PPCs, x1 SRM-6, x1 Gauss Rifle
Potential Hero 'Mech:
BNC-3S "Reinsblatt" (3029) - x2 Small Lasers, x4 Medium Lasers, x1 Large Laser, x1 LRM-10, x1 AC-10, x1 Hatchet
On the one hand, given that other common and less-commonly-used-in-the-video-games 'Mechs like the
Trebuchet,
Cicada,
Cataphract, and
Spider are being included, the
Banshee is as good a candidate as any.
Additionally, the
Banshee would fill the 95-ton slot and, in the case of the -3S, its hardpoint layout would be significantly different from that of the
Atlas:
-- 8 energy hardpoints (x1 HD, x1 CT, x1 LA, x5 RT)
-- 1 ballistic hardpoint (LT)
-- 1 missile hardpoint (RT)
And for the -5S:
-- 8 energy hardpoints (x1 HD, x1 CT, x2 LA, x3 RT, x1 LT)
-- 1 ballistic hardpoint (LT)
-- 1 missile hardpoint (RA)
On the other hand, the number of variants that would be viable in terms of gameplay potentially becomes smaller:
-- the -3E and -3MC are essentially "the same 'Mech",
-- all but the -3M could be easily made into the -3Q, and
-- each of the -3S and -5S could be easily made into each of the -3E and -3Q.
This leaves the -3M, -3S, -5S, and the "Reinsblatt" as those that cannot be exactly replicated with each other.
Another issue with the
Banshee, especially anything not the -3S or -5S, is its relatively heavy dependence on melee as a primary means of offense - with "advanced melee" not slated to become available until Solaris is implemented (if at all), several variants of the
Banshee (especially the "Reinsblatt") would lose a key part of their capabilities.
Your thoughts?
Edited by Strum Wealh, 11 December 2012 - 05:03 PM.