Posted 04 October 2015 - 09:49 AM
A huge majority of stomps have little to do with PSR or the matchmaker. They are a product of the nature of battletech. I'll let Grayson Death Carlyle explain it:
"Even comparing BattleMech weights did not always indicate which side had the best chance to win. There was a concept, known as “CLG” among MechWarriors. The letters stood for “Combat Loss Groupings,” and it referred to the fact that in 'Mech combat, 'Mechs of a single unit often received critical levels of damage at about the same time. For example, a twelve-Mech company might get into a firelight and battle for an eternity, in combat terms—as much as three or four minutes—and while they would take hits, none would appear seriously damaged.
Then, several more minutes into the battle, a 'Mech would be knocked out of action. Almost immediately, another would be lost, then one or two more. Within the space of thirty seconds, half the combat strength of the company would be gone. This was because it took a set space of time for even light 'Mechs to accumulate enough damage to threaten them, and it was likely that several 'Mechs in the unit would be brought to the same point in about the same time. Further, once some 'Mechs had been lost to one side, the enemy could concentrate more weapons on fewer targets, accelerating the rate of damage among the survivors. Grayson had heard one story of a company entering combat, fighting valiantly for five minutes without losses, then falling apart within thirty seconds." - The Price of Glory
Watch for it, I see it time and time again when people are playing smart (i.e. not standing still and face tanking 6+ enemies), you'll fight for 3 to 5 minutes, then 2 to 4 mechs will drop quickly and it's over (yes you can turn it around, but only if the other team took significant damage). This game replicates this very well. Damaged mechs need to pull back and let fresher mechs take the hits. This is why standing still fails so often, you need to pull back the damages mechs (into the second line) to extend your effective combat time. It is easier to do when advancing, mechs that are more heavily damaged can simply slow down allowing fresher mechs to move to the front (which is why pure LRM boats are disliked, you've effectively removed your armor from your team). Sure one or two fools can blindly charge the enemy or break away from the pack and get themselves killed, that is a loss that cannot be recovered, but more often than not rolls happen because damaged mechs reach critical levels and don't get them selves into the second line.
Sure there are some tweaks I would like to see to PSR and the matchmaker, but rolls will always happen in this game.