Bishop Steiner, on 08 April 2016 - 09:06 AM, said:
Not near as much as predicted.
We already have the Humanoid, able to pack ungodly firepower for weight 75 ton Orion IIC. Gyr will have probably, slightly better hitboxes (though if remotely true to lore art, a either a massive CT du to the R2D2 dome hear, or easy to pop STs) and no real reason to suspect heavy quirks.
So it will have guns. And lack the agility and twist capability of a large engine. And no ability to upgrade to the "sweet spot" between a 325 and 350. People have consistently cried the TBR is over engined, but reality is, that massive engine is a huge component of it's actual success, same as the Stormcrow.
Heh, I tend to agree. People shriek about the Timber Wolf having Too Much Engine…sometimes in the same posts they use to also shriek about the Timber Wolf being far more maneuverable and agile than a ‘Mech of its size has any right to be.
The TBR carries enough weaponry to be a threat, and has enough mobility to get those guns where they need to go. 375 or so is on the top end of non-bonkers Big Engine Ratings; anymuch higher and you start paying a silly premium in tonnage for those extra increments, as Mr. Gargles has very generously demonstrated. The TBR isn’t over-engined; it’s just-right engine, as its top-tier status in TT since its introduction has proven.
The Night Gyr, in my eyes, brings a Whale Lite dual Gauslasers armament at 75t, with much lighter lasers and less ammo/heat sinks. It’ll certainly be a wicked gun platform, but I’m not really sure it’s the whole Coming of Ragnarok that Gunbag players figure it will be. Given how much faster the game has gotten since the 60kph Poptart days, going sub-70 in a heavy ‘Mech is going to leave one vulnerable to being left behind or finding oneself in a bad position, on top of not even beginning to have the speed to pursue wounded targets if it has to.
Trying to win a stand-up mantank fight with a Night Gyr will probably go about as well as trying to win said fight with a Dire Whale (excepting certain assault ‘Mechs), but the Gyr will be a lot easier to isolate and eliminate, or to just ignore while you pick on easier targets and get the numbers edge. Suppose we’ll see at some point! It’d certainly have more game impact than the poor Linebacker, though. No matter how much I like faster-than-they-should-be mediums and heavies, the Linebacker really does take the idea just a bit too far.