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A couple months back there was a thread about LRM boats and how to use them effectively. I really think PGI read the thread because the quirks for the Archer are spot on.
I don't know how THC-rich a compound you had to smoke to make that statement, but it's patently wrong.
LRM boats need to be mobile, but that's more a matter of "was I not utterly mental and decided 54kph was perfect for my
Catapult"? That's engine rating. Accel/Decel are nice, but if you can't get the top speed decent, who cares? It sure as heck isn't high on the list as to slap 60% boosts on as "essential to lurming".
It's about accuracy first. Missile velocity. Cluster tightness. Those are the gold standard. Then cooldown and heat, because rate of fire. Those get the silver.
The
Hunchback-4J? Good example of how this should work.
LRM 10 COOLDOWN: 15.00 % MISSILE COOLDOWN: 20.00 % MISSILE HEAT GENERATION: -10.00 % MISSILE VELOCITY: 10.00 % LASER DURATION: -15.00 % ACCELERATION RATE: 35.00 % DECELERATION RATE: 35.00 % TURN RATE: 15.00 % TORSO TURN RATE (YAW): 40.00 % ADDITIONAL ARMOR (RT): 12.00 ADDITIONAL STRUCTURE (RT): 12.00
It gets three of the four biggies- velocity, heat gen, cooldown - and the fourth is less a loss because it uses LRM 10s anyway. It gets modest reinforcement of it's launcher section. As missile boats go, it does it right.
Heck, let's compare the
Archers to another missile heavy chassis in the heavy IS class, the
Orion-VA.
BALLISTIC COOLDOWN: 15.00 % BALLISTIC VELOCITY: 15.00 % MISSILE COOLDOWN: 25.00 % MISSILE VELOCITY: 10.00 % MISSILE HEAT GENERATION: -10.00 % ACCELERATION RATE: 35.00 % DECELERATION RATE: 35.00 % TURN RATE: 15.00 % TORSO TURN RATE (YAW): 35.00 % ADDITIONAL STRUCTURE (CT): 23.00 ADDITIONAL STRUCTURE (LT): 16.00 ADDITIONAL STRUCTURE (RT): 16.00 ADDITIONAL STRUCTURE (LA): 12.00 ADDITIONAL STRUCTURE (RA): 12.00 ADDITIONAL STRUCTURE (LL): 16.00 ADDITIONAL STRUCTURE (RL): 16.00
Heck, we even get it all as generic buffs, not even LRMs! 25% cooldown. Velocity, heat gen. Again, three out of four. Given, that holy 4 for 4 grail is limited to really special snowflakes like the
Trebuchet, but even the best
Archer barely gets TWO. And even then, they're LRM specific and inferior to better, prior chassis.
They're actually
inferior at their stated purposes, in durability and firepower alike.