Posted 07 May 2016 - 09:47 PM
Someone (not on this forum) stated that the reason we can't stick two lasers on the right arm of a Hellbringer is because of the games "Cannon Flavor". The "Cannon Flavor" says Omni Mechs (called OMNI Mech meaning ALL MECH) are interchangeable hard parts and customization 'hard points'.
The books may have never expressed a Hellbringer with two lasers in its right arm because they would only express the most common variants. However, just as the IS players are able to swap PPCs for Lasers on their IS Mechs (which is very un-cannon in a lot of ways... The IS Mechs were more rigid, but then you did have some custom Mechs like the Hero Mechs) Clanners are able to customize their Mechs and to a greater degree.
More over, right now they give the Clan's 3 variants on some mechs, and then we're able to mix-and-match to get a decent build, while they give the IS a ton of varients that pretty much equal out to any combo a Clan Mech can make. They are essentially restricting build choices for the clans, where they shouldn't!
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Now, in terms of raw firepower, I can slap a lot of lasers onto a Nova, or a lot of ballistic weapons onto a Dire Wolf and put out a lot of damage. I can also put out a lot of damage on a storm crow, or on a Ebon Jaguar, or any Mech really. Being able to stick an additional laser onto the right arm of a Hellbringer isn't about extra damage for me... Extra damage comes at the cost of something else, armor or heat, or both. The Battletech Universe is very good at making players pay in some form or another for more damage.
So, if I were able to put an additional laser onto the right arm of the Hellbringer, I would either have to lose the small laser in the head, drop some armor, drop some heat sink or ammo, or something. Its not like adding that extra laser spot in the arm suddenly makes the Hellbringer some unstoppable killing machine (although that's our goal as players with every Mech, right?)
Part of the reason I want the extra right laser is actually for ascetics. Its very ugly having that empty spot there, where there clearly should be a weapon. - The more piratical reason is the one I mentioned before, its for Anti-Light-Mech. If I'm in close combat with a medium and up, the head mount laser is actually perfect. However, light Mechs tend to move very quickly and I need the freedom of the arms to track and shoot them. In a Faction Warfare game, people tend to be more organized, and I love them, but in a Quick Match its always pure chaos... and that's fine in many other games... But in a quick match, you really have to be able to hold your own. While some can be said that I've been in Invasions where my teams mates were terrible and our line (if you could call it a line) melted under the enemy, in a Quick Match you have to be able to hold your own against anything. I need the small lasers to help me if I start getting attacked by lights.
Even in Faction Warfare, if I'm the one who hangs off in back to watch an approach, if I'm the guy who has to watch Beta Gate while the rest of the team is on Alpha Gate, I may need those small lasers in my arms to fend off an enemy light.
There are A LOT of good reasons why a Hellbringer should be able to place a 2nd small laser in its right arm, and I really can't see any good argument against it. Not balance, because the balance is in the tonnage/heat/armor cost, and there are already Novas that can strip the armor off any Mech in a single alpha. Not Cannon, because by the background story an Omni Mech would be able to. Not Art, because the art needed has already been created and is already in the game. Not that there isn't a variant (back to cannon really) without two lasers in the right arm, because the books wouldn't publish an infinity of variants, they'd run out of paper. Its an Omni Mech, here's a few standard varients for quick play and ideas, they're Omni Mechs make what you want!
Look, you want to say every Summon Chassis is built with Jump Jets, I think its dumb but that's actually more acceptable! You want to say that a targeting computer or ECM is locked to a chassis, that would actually make more sense! You want to say that they only have Endo Steel or Ferros Fiber and we can't switch between the two, or that the Hellbringer only has standard armor and we can't change it to Ferros Fiber... Ok, I can buy that! Because it would be hard to have interchangable parts if they parts came with different types of armor or internal structures. We lose flexability there. You want to say that there are fixed Armor Slots and Fixed Internal Structure slots that we can't move, OK, FINE! I can buy all that. Don't you dare say it doesn't make sense that for me to be able to strap a 2nd laser onto a Hellbringer's Right Arm. I'm not even asking for Six Lasers like a Storm Crow, although I bet the Clan's mechanics could figure that out very quickly.
There should never be a 'dead spot' in the artwork, and if there's a right arm a mech that can do it, then there should a left arm for the mech that can do it... with maybe the exception of the Summoner, that's such a strange Mech, its left and right arms are all weird. If there's a left arm that can do it, then there should be a right arm that can do it. The Clan mechs should be able to have symmetry for the most part. The Summoner really would be the only ******* Omni Mech I can see, all the rest were build pretty symmetrical.
They are Omni Mechs! Not IS, rigid, out-of-the-factory-all-the-same-mechs.
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This isn't even something that changes the balance of the game! Why should I have to fight so hard for this!?
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