38 replies to this topic

[Silvverr]

Title says it all really.

Just wondering

[WANTED]

Speed!!! Maneuverability, and some firepower( My Yen lo )

[Fox With A Shotgun]

Some mediums are great. Here's a few reasons why:

- Lower weight mediums still handle like light mechs, with better weight and armor. This is if you like piloting lights.
- Higher weight mediums have almost the armor and durability of light heavies, with better handling.
- They're cheap(er) than heavies. STD engined mediums are cheaper than XL lights to outfit.

[Dragoon20005]

a good configured Clan Med like the Stromcrow with dual ER larges and LBX AC10 packs a wallope to heavies

and also painful to assaults

good for poping out and take snipe shots

then then get behind cover

[PeeWrinkle]

I don't just like mediums. I love this weight class, it is by far my favorite. For me the main reason is they allow me to play varying type so of play styles. Do I want to be fast, do I want to be tanky for my weight, do I want to be a class cannon, etc!

1. Playing a light mech equivalent with more armor (Cicada, and Ice Ferret on the Clan side). I like mediums here because they are slightly slower than the fasted IS lights, and for me that is a good because I have trouble controlling my maneuverability above 150 KPH.
2. Many are XL friendly allowing you to fit Heavy and even Assault type of weapon load outs on them with much greater speed and maneuverability.
3. Many builds can be very tanking if you use a STD engine and still have decent fire power. Many of the 45 and 50 Ton chassis fit in this category.
4. Their size profile (most of the chassis, but not all) makes them harder to hit.

Ironically I would say they are a happy medium! You know a balance between speed, firepower, maneuverability, and armor.

[jper4]

mediums are your jack of all trades mech. you won't be the fastest, or the most agile or have the most firepower, but you can be second fastest, second most agile and pack more of a punch in general than the lights that can do better than you in the first two categories. more std engine friendly than the other mechs.

plus barring certain ones, most people don't consider the medium to be the primary threat and so they'll shoot at that lumbering atlas instead of you- and if they do decide to swat that overly large mosquito then the atlas has all that nice rear armor to shoot at.

most importantly for me, the lights are a bit too quick for me and the heavies/assaults are too clunky and slow reacting. mediums lets me get enough speed to flank and run from the bigger things and armored enough to twist and dodge to survive the faster lights with still having decent firepower to throw back at them. also the only weight class that gives you a zombie stick mode in several variants- I enjoy my hunchies when i'm running around with a head ML chasing after something with much more firepower because they will almost always decide to kill the stick with "just one more shot" and ignore the still fully weaponed mech next to you which has won a match or two along the way for me.

[DrnkJawa]

Tanar, on 16 November 2015 - 05:50 AM, said:

Pretty much what he said

Jack of all trades, masters of none who make people go "Um where did weapons go?"
And some 50 and 55 tonners can have main weapons so high up that you dont even need to expose your mech when peeping over a small mountain to give them a nice facefull of damage

Signed: the person who doesnt bother driving anything over 50 tons

[DA BAWSS]

I love mediums because their speed is just right. 75-100 Kph allows you to avoid a fair ammount of return fire and get to key areas/flank on the double, but they arent so fast that its difficult to trade shots. Their armour is meh, but combined with the speed and the hitboxes of certain Mediums, they can outlast most heavy mechs.

[Dakkaface]

They've got speed, a good chunk of firepower, and are often ignored for more priority targets like Heavies and Assaults. And as a side benefit, they have a much reduced use in the queue, so you have shorter wait times.

[The Lost Boy]

I love my Cicada 2B. Its a heavy locust. 40 tons, 5 med pulse, xl 300, great on heat. I can go 133kph. Im in the upper city on River City, then seconds later im on the beach by the citadel, one of my teammates asked "how did you get here so fast?". I can scout, flank, harass, wolfpack with the lights, shoot big guys in the back, front, side, pop a UAV, run away cool off and do it again. There is a medium for every role. LRM, sniper, brawler, scout, light hunter. Some of the best Mechs in this game are mediums. Wolverine, Shadowhawk(yes they are still beasts tho seldom seen much any more) , Cicada, Blackjack, Centurion, Enforcer, can all put up big numbers in the right hands. Often any of these will outperform a 100 ton assault. People talk about wolfpacks of lights, but Mediums can do it too, and leave lots of dead mechs in thier wake.

[ABalazs]

- Cheap. I can buy an IS one with 5-6 million with DHS.
- Fast enough to catch a circling light, even with medium-sized engines I can afford.
- Tough enough to survive one or two alpha from heavier mechs.
- Can carry serious firepower.
- With that mobility, less important to use OP clan weaponry.
- I don't enjoy lights, but everything else is too much grind for a casual like me, so what else?

[Johny Rocket]

This I can speak to with some authority, Ive Elited every IS Medium and a few Clan Meds to.

Mediums are the workhorse for all of the reasons stated above. Basically the best multitaskers in the game, but the door is left open for some seriously dangerous specialists builds as well. Example, the 2 nastiest IS Lurmers in the game are Meds, KTO18 and HBK4J. The tube count isn't terribly impressive but the speed lets them work positioning like none of the Fatties can. Stalker sends a wad your way you just hide behind a rock, these guys will flank wide around your rock.

A lot of Light builds are to situational, you rarely find this on a Med. Fast enough to scout and flank but more than enough firepower and armor to hold your own.

Some people consider the Obsession with Meds a Mental Illness. Careful or you might end up one of these guys laughing maniacally, drooling on yourself waiting for a match to start.
http://mwomercs.com/...m-mech-syndrom/
http://mwomercs.com/...-support-group/

[Shalune]

Because its the highest mobility 'maxed' firepower in the game.

Until you get to 95-100 tons, the highest capable firepower for a given tonnage moves only slightly after 50 tons (whereas it skyrockets from 25-50). The most noticable benefit after that (aside from obvious armor) is in range and sometimes heat.

So they make the ideal support mechs, flankers, and skirmishers. The need to constantly reevaluate your positioning makes it very appealing to me. I am particularly partial to close range rush builds. The only ones I've found outside medium that give this same feling are Gargoyle, Executioner, TDR-5SS, and SRM Mad Dogs.

[Vermaxx]

I bought heavily into hunchback because I founded, because there were several, and because ORIGINALLY taking a medium meant the other team had to match one more medium, and I generally played smarter. After that it kind of snowballed into owning almost every Hunchback.

At this point I would say focusing on heavies is better for the game. It will always find enough mediums to fill out a pug match, and faction play works on total weight. If you're doing team deathmatch I guess three people HAVE to be medium, but you'll probably find three people who want to, or three people with a clan mech that is almost as good as a heavy.

[Kalamity27]

WANTED, on 15 November 2015 - 07:38 PM, said:

Speed!!! Maneuverability, and some firepower

[DrnkJawa]

Because no other class can pop up at 80kph, invade, flank and ac20 the heavys in the back getting away with it.

[TripleEhBeef]

The thing I like the most about mediums is that they can react to changing situations better than every other mech. Getting flanked? A medium can pivot over and engage the flankers with enough firepower to keep them occupied, enough armour to hold out until help arrives, and enough speed to make good use of cover, shore up a firing line, or withdraw to a better position if needed. A heavy or assault would be too slow, and a light would get splattered.

Also, most meds are tougher than they look since you can spread damage and sacrifice components very well in most of them. Once you get that part down, it's hilarious how much damage you can withstand in a weight class generally held to be an "easy kill".

[Void Angel]

Medium Battlemechs fulfill a fun role on the battlefield - they're backup, either for your Lights or for your Heavy and Assault chassis. I shall explain:

A fast Medium can use its superior firepower and toughness to survive encounters that would kill a Light, and to beat true Lights away from the main force, or off your heavies/assaults. They're not as agile and/or fast as a true light, but they're much tougher and can typically mount at least as much firepower even with top speeds - a textbook example would be the Classic Cicada Light Hunter.

A slower Medium, on the other hand, can still be faster than your typical Assault or Heavy, yet still mount significant firepower. These builds allow you to engage alongside your Heavies/Assaults as an adjunct to their firepower - a tactic I like to call The Hunchbuddy. Whenever your Big does something, the Hunchbuddy is with him: if he pokes around cover and takes return fire, the Hunchbuddy pokes with (and just after) him to add his firepower to the Big. If someone else is poking at the Big, the Hunchbuddy punishes them by smacking their nose with his own guns - and if the Big goes for a hard engage, the Hunchbuddy leaves cover and goes right in with him, moving past him once they hit brawling range and angling for flanking shots against the enemy team. All this serves to place the enemy on the horns of a dilemma: do they ignore the Hunchbuddy to kill the much bigger (and tougher) threat that the Big represents, or do they focus on the Hunchbuddy (who will immediately take cover or hide behind the Big) and try to take him down while the Big is ripping them a new smile - often from a different direction? It's a ton of fun if you can find Bigs who know how to play their chassis instead of cowering in a puddle of fear and shame. But, I digress.

Of course, you don't have to be dedicated to either of these in a good Medium build, which really highlights the attribute that makes both of these tactics stand out: flexibility. My Shadowhawk Build is a wonderfully flexible build with jump jets for mobility, enough firepower to hurt when I hit people, and enough agility to chase away Lights. It's a wonderful chassis to play, and really showcases why I love Mediums.

Edited by Void Angel, 04 January 2016 - 12:44 PM.

[Rando Slim]

Theres just a really wide variety of them and not that many people drive them so you get matches faster. I flip back and forth though on how good they actually are. They are either the best or worst of all worlds. My team mates always take the heavy slots first so Im stuck with them. I think for IS side, mediums are usually good but on the Clan side Heavies really are better because they have a disporportionate gain in firepower and armor without sacrificing much speed compared to a clan medium. Stromcrows and Ice Ferrets are the only decent clan mediums. IS heavies lose a lot of speed compared to IS mediums.

[Johny Rocket]

Void Angel, on 27 December 2015 - 04:13 PM, said:

Medium Battlemechs fulfill a fun role on the battlefield - they're bakup, either for your Lights or for your Heavy and Assault chassis. I shall explain:

A fast Medium can use its superior firepower and toughness to survive encounters that would kill a Light, and to beat true Lights away from the main force, or off your heavies/assaults. They're not as agile and/or fast as a true light, but they're much tougher and can typically mount at least as much firepower even with top speeds - a textbook example would be the Classic Cicada Light Hunter.

A slower Medium, on the other hand, can still be faster than your typical Assault or Heavy, yet still mount significant firepower. These builds allow you to engage alongside your Heavies/Assaults as an adjunct to their firepower - a tactic I like to call The Hunchbuddy. Whenever your Big does something, the Hunchbuddy is with him: if he pokes around cover and takes return fire, the Hunchbuddy pokes with (and just after) him to add his firepower to the Big. If someone else is poking at the Big, the Hunchbuddy punishes them by smacking their nose with his own guns - and if the Big goes for a hard engage, the Hunchbuddy leaves cover and goes right in with him, moving past him once they hit brawling range and angling for flanking shots against the enemy team. All this serves to place the enemy on the horns of a dilemma: do they ignore the Hunchbuddy to kill the much bigger (and tougher) threat that the Big represents, or do they focus on the Hunchbuddy (who will immediately take cover or hide behind the Big) and try to take him down while the Big is ripping them a new smile - often from a different direction? It's a ton of fun if you can find Bigs who know how to play their chassis instead of cowering in a puddle of fear and shame. But, I digress.

Of course, you don't have to be dedicated to either of these in a good Medium build, which really highlights the attribute that makes both of these tactics stand out: flexibility. My Shadowhawk Build is a wonderfully flexible build with jump jets for mobility, enough firepower to hurt when I hit people, and enough agility to chase away Lights. It's a wonderful chassis to play, and really showcases why I love Mediums.

Hunchbuddy is a cool name for it. Ive had the idea of setting up a 4 man ambush crew basically using your Hunchbuddy X2. Cool we have a name for it but didn't plan on using a Hunchie.

A Dakka+rockets King Crab. A 4 ml ewar PB. KTO 18 1 lrm10, 2 ml, 4 srm6(thats me I call that build the special sauce) a Shadow Hawk with an AC5, 2 srm6, 2 mpl and jj.
The builds are just for example but the mechs have a good symmetry together, specially the Hunchbuddies having their longer range on opposite sides, hence no Hunchie.

Th PB scouts ahead, peeks corners with seismic. Keeps us hidden while we move.
We will set up an ambush at a choke point. The fatty stands to the side of the hole at point blank the buddies flank to where they can see around /over the cover but close enough to come right back and set up a 3 way on the hole. The PB runs out and makes a pest of himself and we all stand real still. When our guy runs back the buddies shoot at the enemy before he hits the hole making him want to go thru even faster for cover and Boom.

When we get caught we just hit whats left head on pretty well as you described. except the PB would protect the KC's back. Basically Carnage Inc
Its actually a really old Calvary tactic still used by armor units today.

EDIT: Just got to find 3 guys crazy as me.

Edited by Tractor Joe, 29 December 2015 - 05:50 PM.