Charlie Pohr, on 03 October 2015 - 12:56 AM, said:
As you can see, I'm generally no fan of Assaults unless they are fairly speedy like the Victor and Banshee. I thought about getting the Atlas but my experience with the Dire Wolf has put me off slow lumbering mechs. Was considering the Stalker somewhat but they might be nerfed in the next balance pass.
Nerfing is irrelevant here- it's hard to get more lumber-y than the Stalker. Thing has a low engine cap, even for an Assault.
Earlier poster regarding the Battlemaster is partly right- they are good at going fast for an Assault. Be careful, though, some of them have rather restrictive torso twist ranges. A friend of mine picked up Battlemasters and immediately regretted it because two of the three he chose had the narrower torso twist and it vastly soured the experience.
In weight category order on other 'mechs that seem like they might be good fits- only Inner Sphere, because that's where most of my piloting experience lies:
Locusts are a lot of fun if you don't mind (or outright enjoy) a perspective that makes you feel like an ankle-biting mosquito. Very zippy, very risky, very entertaining to just wheel around at ludicrous speeds in. Several of them have very nice hardpoint sets (just avoid ballistics) as well.
Blackjacks aren't terribly zippy, but you could- as I have- find a lot of fun in their small profile, narrow front-to-back shape, and broad torso twist. I like my Blackjacks to have Standard engines and jump jets, for durability and maneuverability, despite most people swearing by XLs with either a squillion pulse lasers or an AC/20. Don't try and run a /20 on a BJ without an XL, by the way, it's just barely too heavy a weapon otherwise.
Hunchbacks are an extremely varied lot, while the G and H are fairly similar and the J and SP have the same hardpoint count, they still function quite differently from one another due to hardpoint location. The variety itself makes them fun to try, plus 50 is a good tonnage for flexibility of weapon choice. Also, be aware that if you drive a J or SP and don't mount missiles in the missile hardpoints (probably shouldn't try this with the J, the quirks are very missile-support) you lose the hunch entirely and become a 'Puffchest' instead, which can be entertaining to try.
I'm enjoying the Black Knights quite a bit. I know they're not C-bill available yet, but they're quite easy to run at high speed, and you can play around with the energy hardpoints a remarkable amount. Mixing things up as to what's mounted where and which kind of energy weapons you're using can get you a lot of play- I even have one that mounts single heat sinks (34 of them) just for lulz- and it actually works quite well.
Dragons and Quickdraws are both speedy 60-tonners that you should consider if you like heavier things that still move at a good clip. Dragons are slightly more pigeon-holed, thanks to the giant Volvo hood and ballistic right arm (as well as the very restricted missile hardpoints in the CT), but work well as long-distance skirmishers or ambush brawlers.
Quickdraws are very much more my speed (pun absolutely intended) though, as you can no doubt tell from my pilot name. If you can remember not to stay engaged for very long at a time, the high speed, jump jets, and energy/missile weapon combinations can net you a lot of fun and interesting encounters. QKDs have small side torso hitboxes, so XLs are very safe in them, and the limbs tend to soak a lot of incoming damage- so don't skimp on limb or CT armor (CT is hueg, by the by). I've seen people use them with PPCs as very effective jump snipers, my G with its huge seven jump jets is a kind of hilarious fire-support 'mech via LRMs and ERLLs, and pretty much any Quickdraw makes a very fun skirmish 'mech- jump into/over enemy formations, fade out, and return from a new direction. You'll keep the enemy distracted, and if you time it right, that can secure a win quite nicely.
The Awesome is a surprisingly spry Assault- while it's a little slower than the Victor, it can still move at a good clip with a 300-320 engine, it torso twists like a champ, and there's a pretty good variety in variant nature. Between durability and heat dissipation quirks, it's actually exceptionally fun to ride around in. Some swear by LRMs for any missile hardpoints it mounts, but I have an SRM-24 AWS that is just hilarious..... Anyways, maybe not the most effective thing around, but loads of fun to fool around in, and a lot more useful than they get credit for.
Zeus have a similar effect to the Awesome- not as fast (usually) as the Victor, but still quite spry with a lot of potential. You can deadside very easily with some of them for sword-and-board action, others make good balanced 'mechs, the missile-hardpoint focused ones can have a Fist of Doom (up to 18 SRMs on the right arm), and they're tough like [metaphor fail, retrying] and they're tough like jerky.
There you go, some food for thought.
Happy piloting.
-QKD-CR0
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