22 replies to this topic

[Husker Dude]

Sort of a related question, but when are the Trial Mechs getting rotated?
One of the biggest challenges that playing IS has in CW is the preponderance of ECM Hellbringers. I'm sure many dedicated Clan pilots already own one and wouldn't need to rely on a Trial to fill out their drop decks, but even then there's a free option to bring another ECM heavy against the other team.

Sure, the IS Trials include an ECM Raven, but that's not going to stack up against a Heavy, and most organized IS drops I've done have had a lot of coordination to make sure there were enough ECM mechs, particularly for first drop, while it seems like there are at least two Hellbringers on each lance every wave.

[DustySkunk]

Husker Dude, on 04 June 2015 - 08:41 AM, said:

Sort of a related question, but when are the Trial Mechs getting rotated?
One of the biggest challenges that playing IS has in CW is the preponderance of ECM Hellbringers. I'm sure many dedicated Clan pilots already own one and wouldn't need to rely on a Trial to fill out their drop decks, but even then there's a free option to bring another ECM heavy against the other team.

Sure, the IS Trials include an ECM Raven, but that's not going to stack up against a Heavy, and most organized IS drops I've done have had a lot of coordination to make sure there were enough ECM mechs, particularly for first drop, while it seems like there are at least two Hellbringers on each lance every wave.

I'm not sure when the trials will be rotated at this point but I just wanted to point out that ECM on the IS side of things is a little scarce if you are looking to go toe-to-toe with HBRs in an ECM capable mech. There is the AS7-DDC, the Pirate's Bane (hero Locust) and the CTF-0XP. It's possible that the DDC will be a trial (although I doubt it), but highly unlikely we'll see the 0XP as it is currently not available for C-Bills. I think it's likely that the RVN-3L is all we can expect for a trial ECM capable mech for some time to come.

If you're still bringing trials to CW I wouldn't worry about being responsible for countering ECM. I applaud your willingness to want to contribute to the team but you will be an even greater asset once you can fill out an entire drop deck without relying on trials.

When you get to that point, you don't necessarily need to bring an ECM capable mech to counter ECM. There are other hard counters to ECM to use, such as BAP (will counter ECM at extremely close range), TAG (line of sight up to 750 meters) and UAVs (will counter in their detection radius). Finally there is the old Mk 1 Eyeball. Use this in conjunction with good communication and you have all the ECM in the world countered.

Edited by DustySkunk, 04 June 2015 - 08:59 AM.

[Husker Dude]

Yeah, I didn't think the DDC would be an appropriate counter to the Hellbringer, especially with the lowered tonnage limit.

My point wasn't that I actually wanted a comparable IS mech with ECM, but I think that the Clans not having automatic heavy ECM mechs will make things a bit better balanced for CW matches. Like, it means that LRMs aren't viable at all on the IS side, while still being at least an option for Clans.
Sure, there are ways to counter ECM, but they require being close enough to NARC (with IS NARC range being much less than Clan) or pop up a UAV, or maintain line of sight with TAG. If you're setting up on defense (probably the only time you'd want to even attempt LRM usage on CW), there's almost no chance that you'll be able to hold a lock on a Clan attack, while it's likely you can against IS.

Also, I'm not dropping with Trial mechs, fortunately I've got a wide enough variety to do CW with my own, but especially given how much more expensive Clan mechs are to buy, I'm sure there are plenty of pilots supplementing their owned mechs with Trials and I'd wager any that do are choosing the Hellbringer.