SuperFunkTron, on 24 August 2017 - 08:36 AM, said:
Granted, the Black Lanner is essentially the middle ground between those two with both speed and fire power while having a little more armor but comes in at 15 tons heavier than the other 2. I may be wrong here but it seems like it will play like a flightless Shadowcat (real irony with the animal names here) with a better speed tweak. When examining the other 2 mechs more closely, the Phantom provides novelty in its extreme speed and ecm while providing good hard point diversity. The Pouncer would be, as has been pointed out many times, like a heavier Adder in a way, but would provide add jump jets and provide a variety of builds that would play well stock. Out of those 3 mechs, the Pouncer would make the most sense to me because of its solid mobility and the powerful punch it would provide at its weight +/- 10 tons, which is one of the major short comings of clans in that weight range. I could also understand the Arctic Wolf being the reason the Phantom an Pouncer get knocked out of the running.
Several reasons:
A: clans only have one 55 tonner right now. Need more.
B: the Black Lanner is a popular vote in public polls and PGI watches those polls.
C: the Pouncer and Phantom are both 40-ton mechs. Clans already have the Viper and we're getting the Arctic Wolf coming up, so I don't think they would do another 40-tonner so soon.
D: they are probably sticking to Civil War era production mechs for the time-being. And probably not a 50-tonner because those are kinda saturated at the moment. So our options are limited to Black Lanner, Stooping Hawk, Shadow Hawk IIC, Grendel, and Goshawk. (unless PGI goes for a mech lacking in variants, like the Rabid Coyote, Pinion, Great Wyrm)