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So i did bite a little on the clans getting an al-carte madcat (which atm are still the best 3 heavies in my stable). mad cat is nice you know really customizable. works with alot of builds that would be suicide in other heavies.
but overall i think the main reason it does so well are the very balanced and even distribution of hard points, JJ+speed+amazing twist rate+endo+ff (plx notice it lacks nothing and is the apex of clan tech). As others have said its simply very strong on all points of the power triangle. (health,speed,firepower).
stormcrow is much the same simply having very good hitboxes, good customizability, very good speed and firepower for its weight. again it hits those three points very well and like the TW the ryoken is widely considered the best mech in its class.
but we all know that, I just wanted to clarify exactly WHY the TW and SC seem so much better then other clan mechs. but just remember that our measure of good/bad is based around this power triangle idea (health,speed,firepower)
Dire wolf has high health and firepower with paltry speed overall it seems to suffer from ghost heat more then most with having to boat so many weapons. Most Daishi pilots know what it really is tho a turret with really big guns and legs that should always be moving to the most advantageous position to support the team and to never be caught alone. But I do feel as tho the DW and KC are roughly on par when played well.
Warhawk has decent speed, high health, and decent firepower but isnt really "very good" in any of those categories and as a result it often seem sub-par to many IS assaults that can push one aspect of that power triangle much higher than the Masakari. On paper the Warhawk should be like a TW so well balanced in every way its just better. but on the battle field it ends up kinda lack-luster as a result of wasted internals (could use endo badly) and also suffers as an assault when it comes to weapon selection. not exactly like but similar to how awesomes suffer from poor weapons to use with low slung hard points and the expectation for assaults to bring the big guns.
Gargoyle has really good speed for an assault and also good health but for an assault it has paltry firepower its almost the exact opposite of a DW. and on paper looks like a decent blitz mech but put simply it also suffers from ghost heat because all it can use are lots of small energy weapons and maybe 1 big gun. Id like to say something redeeming about the Man O' War but i never fear them and rarely do i die from them. even in med mechs ive been known to chase a gargoyle down and scrap his mech. just feels like it got hit with the ugly stick bad. It also suffers from this assault mech with no endo problem having FAR MORE INTERNALS THAN ANY MECH IVE EVER SEEN WASTED. but enough about that.
Thor has good speed, good health and kinda mediocre firepower. Mostly again the summoner lacks that endo but more than most it really really needs endo. it has few hardpoints which means it must make the most of them but it also lacks the free weight to carry hardly any big guns. and im getting tired of stuffing 5x srms in any clan mech IDK what to do with its freaking stupid. Inflated hardpoints and endo would solve all of the thors problems and you wouldn't have to quirk the #($*# out of it either.
hellbringer has good speed fair health (nothing steller) and good firepower for its size +ecm. the hellbringer again looks like a paper tiger with well balanced stats all around. on the battelfied i find it extremely fragile and a bit like the gargoyle in terms of weapons selection. either a bunch of small energy weapons with one big gun, or just plain laser vomit. it doesnt really "need" endo but it also doesnt really compete with IS mechs. its roughly a phract with the clan weight savings but even then i think most phracts will walk all over a loki and not just because of the quirkening. overall the hellbringer could use endo to sling bigger guns than laser vomit.
Mad dog, isnt very mad. the Vulture has decent speed for its weight, really high firepower potential, and im gonna say "meh" on health. its side torsos go faster then an atlas's ac20 in a brawl and you get focused like your a TW which means you dont usually live long once your targeted. it suffers like the gargoyle of mostly wasted internal space. it can have a higher potential alpha then a timberwolf but anything other then lrms are unrealistic because of its fragility. and as a whole lrms are kinda lackluster the mad dog must use some kind of missle weapon to use its hard points and its bad in a brawl meaning its success/failure move with the tides of lrm nerfs/buffs. which does bring me to a specific point. endo/jj or not the mad dog will always be at best a second rate mech because of how LRMS work in this game.
nova my poor nova which i hear has been dubbed the "nopeva". just want to say even tho i love this mech i think its kinda hopeless. the nova is actually kinda lack-luster on speed for such a small mech, has tremendous firepower but also is very frail and easy to put down/disable. nova needs to not get hit by ghost heat. endo/ff or not it just sucks because it uses so maaaaaaaaaaaaany 1 crit slot lasers. and i personaly just think its unfair to the Black Hawk and that balance with ghost heat will never work with mechs that have 12+ energy hard points.
sadly i dont play clan lights but i hear they have similair problems of wasted internal space or annoying hardwired components that are unnecessary.
i guess the big point i wanted to make overall (PGI are you listening? points finger!) is that since no other clan mech is allowed to be strong in all three areas of the power triangle no matter how much you nerf/quirk/ghost heat its never going to be balanced until crappy clan mechs can at least get things like endo or to remove hardwired heatsinks in builds that dont need them
TL:DR I like to remember that simple solutions are best and the easiest to implement. easiest to balance around est.
The exact reason why the TW and SC are better simply because they BOTH have ENDO+FF and perfect profiles otherwise.
I dont mind that IS mechs seem more or less "pointed" but really PGI is just encouraging boating at this point. I would have never stuck 4LPL on my thud if quirks didnt make it work.
I dont want to see clan mechs devovle into that state where they either get crappy general quirks as a token effort or they get extremely pointed quirks that make them a one trick pony but "viable".
I would prefer a more TT solution IE the ability to add/remove endo/ FF and hardwired components from clan mechs and i dont care if its 10 times more expensive then IS cuz im only going to be doing it once.
Edited by Mellifluer, 08 April 2015 - 12:25 AM.
