Bishop Steiner, on 22 December 2014 - 08:58 AM, said:
I'm a Battletech guy, a lore guy, first. It's why I play this franchise over any other game (save MarioKart, lol).
So, I get where the difference lies, supposedly. Clan Mechs are produced for rapid battlefield deployment and weapon diversity. (They are generally less capable as specialists, in lore, but far more versatile because of this). They are part of a very spartan military mindset, and not owned by the pilot. (except in the absolute rarest of instances) That a significant modification to the internals or armor would not be allowed, and would screw logistics (an omni slot built around a stock standard skeleton might not interface properly with a bulkier, jury rigged endo steel one...if there was even a way for a clan warrior to get a pimp my mech custom chassis).
And that mix of not being owned, having no Mech customizing support structure, along with the technical and logistical hurdles, are why no clan omni (and tbh, in lore, no clan Battlemech) gets swappable endo, ferro, or engines. That customization actually jeopardizes the Clan's logistics, and is thus, wasteful.
But then again, outside of Solaris Customization shops, no IS mechs swapped Internal Structures in lore, either, as that is the bloody skeleton of the mech. The time and cost involved to engineer a custom one off, simply is not a worthwhile tradeoff. It would cost as much as a whole new mech.
So that's the lore side.
Perhaps, instead of looking at it "On Paper" as you are, consider it from a more abstract viewpoint. You said, parenthetically, "They are generally less capable as specialists, in lore, but far more versatile because of this"
Quirks make mech's specialists. Ignoring the buttons on the mechlab, getting the clan mechs reasonably balanced between themselves requires either ES/FF or heavy quirks on mechs without them. Heavy quirks make those Clan mechs specialists, and destroys their versatility. It un-Omnimechs the Omnimechs even more.
ES/FF allow Clans to feel they way they should in practice, rather than look the way they should on paper.
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Much as I wish it were otherwise, we are talking a FPS version of the game that has already had to take significantliberties with "lore" to work. And atm, as you say, the Clan Omnis not only are just a straight downgrade, that even ridiculous quirks would just bandaid over the real issue.....
But it makes balancing the clans near impossible, as Clan Omnis are pure "feast or famine". You have Upper tier, the Unholy Trinity, and you get the Lower Tier, everything else. There really is no true middle tier.
So currently, blance buffs just keep the Rich that much richer, and Nerfs just make the poor, poorer. And quirks are really just (for the most part) Mech Welfare, covering up the real issues. Limited "stock" quirks to make a mostly balanced tech level, like IS Battlemechs, make some sense as it gives flavor. But the instances where they have used it to try to cover for horrible hit boxes, hardpoints, etc, tend to give those very narrow, very cheezy builds like the 3 ER PPC Thunderbolts.
That ain't balance. That ain't chassis diversity. And in the world of clan omnis, where the gap between haves and have not sis even wider, and more stringently segregated, it will be even worse.
The reality is that many of these mechs they simply cannot fix the hitboxes. People here on the forums like to say "Well, just fix the hitboxes!" as if that can somehow change how the mech's geometry, which is based on artwork made in a game system where appearance was irrelevant. There are a lot of chassis that are bad because of how they look, and that's not really fixable now. Likewise with hardpoints in a good many cases; it just is what it is.
Not to say that the quirk situation in many cases can't be improved. it absolutely is Mech Welfare, though... But I don't have a better solution.
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Exactly. Until the Clan mechs are much closer together, there's no hope of balancing IS vs. Clans.
People often think, in these discussions, that I just want Clan's to be more powerful because "I'm a dirty clanner!" This isn't the case. As I said earlier, I'd be right for a heavy speed penalty on XL side torso destruction, as an example - a severe clan-wide nerf, one that would have substantial impact on CW. But before you can do that, you need to get the mechs closer together.
The same factor prevents fixing Clan Autocannons, which are flat out horrible. Sure, they're lighter.... but given IS always have Endosteel, and so many clan mechs don't, you've got a situation where a Summoner for example equipping a Clan Autocannon is basically paying IS tonnage for it (as it has far less tonnage available due to lack of ES), but getting a garbage autocannon for that tonnage.
Can't just buff the Clan Autocannons, though, without making the ES/FF clan mechs absurdly good with them. Any weapon/faction wide changes will cause severe collateral damage and balance issues until the Clan mechs are closer together.























