Gas Guzzler, on 17 April 2016 - 10:46 AM, said:
Alright, I know that you guys are not too excited about the current assault Omnimech options, and I had some thoughts about them that I wanted to share, as I think it would be a shame to not include them in game.
For starters, the Kingfisher.
The Kingfisher is a 90 ton Omni-mech with a locked in STD360 Engine and 17 DHS. As such, it has a total pod space of only 24 tons, which is outclassed by several heavy mechs. For this reason, much of the playerbase doesn't want to bother with it, as it is essentially an Executioner without JJs or MASC.
The Kingfisher was regarded as a mech that was extremely difficult to destroy in lore and table top, so to reflect that in MWO, it could be the Clan's "tank" assault mech (they currently don't have any mechs that are considered excessively durable). Taking that theme, if the Kingisher was given significant agility and structure quirks like 40% Accel/Decel, 10-20% torso twist speed, 10-20% turn rate, ~20 CT structure, ~15 RT/LT structure, ~12 Arm/Leg structure, this mech would be a pretty difficult to kill mech, which helps make up for its lack of firepower, MASC, and Jump Jets.
Additionally, the artwork and miniatures suggest high hardpoints on the shoulders, which is another thing that makes this mech interesting, if you focus on giving it higher hardpoints, then it doesn't have to show as much of itself to fire, making it more difficult to kill.
Lastly, weapon quirks. The mech cannot really boat autocannons, so a UAC jam quirk would help the use of single ACs, as would ballistic velocity. Additionally, this mech cannot really get around using lasers, so if it got a ~10% laser duration quirk, it would help its tankiness as it wouldn't have to stare as much.
Stretch goal: ECM. The F variant has ECM on its CT, which would obviously give this mech something other Clan assaults don't have. It would require that its HAG30 be replaced by a Gauss with an extra ton of ammo though. The A and D Kingfisher variants are so similar, and neither really add any hardpoints beyond what other variants already cover, so with the 5-mech per pack plan (plus hero), if the A or D was replaced by the F it would work out, and would definitely give this mech instant appeal.
Next available option is the Turkina. This mech is regarded as an "inferior Dire Wolf". It is 95 tons and moves at 52 kph, with ~42 tons of podspace and JJs. I don't have as much to say about this mech, and it has significant podspace so weapon quirks would likely be out of the question, but if this mech had better torso twist range than the Dire (like ~90 degrees instead of 60), and some minor agility quirks, it could have a place in game, as while it has less firepower than the Dire, and worse hardpoints, it would at least be able to twist further and be less clumsy. The other obvious reason is that it is a staple Clan Jade Falcon assault mech. There currently are not any Clan Jade Falcon assault mechs in game.
Anyway, I just wanted to share my thoughts as I don't want these mechs to get left behind. I definitely think they would both add to the game and are worth releasing.
*IF* The Kingfisher had ECM, you could get me on board.
Turkina might be a nice mech if it had more torso mobility than the DW.
As for the linebacker...being suggested...
Why would you legitimately bring something that has less free tonnage than the HBR with ECM for the same tonnage cost? The HBR does not even have endo/ferro...
For grins and giggles...
here is a HBR mounting 2 LPL + 4 ERML with a total of 24 tons of weapons and DHS including internal engine DHS.
If you notice, even the HBR can bring another 4 tons of DHS to help that build become a legitimately viable option...like
this.
The reality is, the linebacker will be a poor mech for trading in comparison to the HBR, especially considering the ability of the HBR to side peek and hill poke. The linebacker will also run significantly hotter by comparison as well.
The best option for the Linebacker would look like
this, or
this...and maybe
this. The only option that would include LPLs at all, would look like
this...which, unsurprisingly, is exactly the build you see on the SCR with the same weight for tonnage, better side profile, and likely better peeking mounts.
In other words, there is really not a reason to want a SCR speed mech 10 tons heavier, it gives up too much firepower and heat efficiency to get there.
IMO, not worth it. If you cannot do it at 90 kph....then doing 10 more kph is not going to break that situation open into something game changing.