I'm primarily a medium pilot, with Hunchies and Stormcrows, and the Grasshopper is the first heavy that I have approached with a serious mindset (ie I intend to master the chassis). After a day of playing with it, it occurs to me that the Grasshopper is like a medium in that it requires a good team to be most effective. It does not 'carry', but give it proper backup so that the enemy doesn't get into your flanks and it can tear some stuff up really hard. If the team sucks though, you're well and properly hosed.
I'm running the 4H at the moment with an XL330, two LPL in the high torso mounts, a LL in the center torso mount, and medium lasers is the low torso mounts and arms. Every other slot is stuffed full of DHS. Anyhow, to illustrate my point, earlier today I had a skirmish on Viridian. The team knew where it was going (hard against the cliffs with the water to our far left), covered our flanks, and focus fired. I racked up four kills, multiple assists and components destroyed, and got the creeping death achievement. The game ended with only three mechs on our team alive, but I had done almost 650 damage - not bad for the first day I've played a Hopper, and first day I've played a heavy seriously.
Just now I had a skirmish on Viridian - same starting location, but the team was all over the place: going in circles, AFK, bunching up, and recoiling violently at the first hint of enemy contact. Predictably I ended up getting sniped to death via side torso destruction while trying to get some sort of organized push to happen. This is what I mean about the mech being just as team-dependent as a medium.
I think that the chassis is pretty nifty overall though. I finished out all my basic skills on the 4H today, and I think that despite the higher fragility the GHR definitely benefits from an XL engine. Without the XL I would end up with less firepower on the 4H than I have on my HBK-4P(C), due to weight issues.
Also, this mech likes to shield with its forearms 'up', like a boxer, and torso twisting is a must. The only way to do those things quickly enough is with an engine rating greater than 315 IMO. And that's not even mentioning the just atrocious overall speed with the stock engine; 64 kph is fine for assaults because they have the armor and firepower to counteract their lack of mobility. The Hopper does not - several times before upgrading the engine I got literally left behind by the team, so I missed the action and they were down a heavy when they needed the firepower.
I had some real initial misgivings about this mech when I was running the stock engine, and then got even more concerned when I got several side torsos ripped off. I was thinking that if the side torsos were that fragile I would be screwed with an XL. But the inverse turned out to be true: I lose side torsos much, much less often with an XL because I can twist and arm-shield effectively, and so the overall survivability goes up even though on paper the durability would seem to go down.
The TL;DR is that this thing requires a team that works together, but it punches people in the nuts seemingly above its weight class when the team does cooperate. Also that XL is life, not death - movement and twist speed are required IMO to be at all effective, and plus the XL allows a stupid amount of lasers (this is a good thing).
Cheers then to other GHR pilots!
Edited by grendeldog, 13 April 2015 - 07:36 PM.
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