18 replies to this topic

[Angel of Annihilation]

Here is my review of the Huntsman. Despite my general negativity about the Huntsman I try to be objective.

Firepower: 4 of 5.

The Huntsman can mount 24 tons of weapons and equipment, nearly half its total weight. This allows he Huntman to mount near heavy mech levels of firepower. I docked a star because the Huntsman doesn't seem to handle energy builds very well. This is due to several factors including location of fixed criticals, location and amount of JJ mounted and Both Endo and Ferro being mounted thus reducing the amount of criticals available for mounting DHS to keep an energy build cool. Also if you attempt to use smaller energy weapons like ER SL and ER ML to reduce the amount of critical slots used for weapons, you tend to find yourself with alot of extra weight and no room to use that weight.

Hard Point Option and Locations: 5 of 5.

Top marks here. There is pretty much any possible combination of type of hard point and locations that you could want though you will have to purchase the Reinforcement Pack and the Hero if you want many of them. Still even the basic package overs alot of options.

Armor: 3 of 5.

The Huntsman side torsos are surprisingly resilliant and no one really expected this plus they plus the arms tend to shield the mech very well. This allows a skilfull pilot to torso twist and spread damage fairly well. However there are issues with its Center Torso hitbox and the Huntsman seems to take an extraordinary amount of damage to this area, damage that can't be fully mitigated by torso twisting. There is even some rumor of a CT bug going around and I have had at least one match were a dual PPC strike to my front CT has actually destroyed my rear CT armor and nearly cored me out so there might be some truth to this rumor.

Ground Agility and Speed: 3 of 5.

The Huntsman can reach a top speed of 87.1 kph with speed tweak which happens to match with with the majority of Clan heavy mechs such as the Timberwolf, Hellbringer, Cauldron Born and Mad Dog. This means that in general you kind of feel more like your piloting a heavy mech than a medium. This is not to say that the mobility is bad rather just pointing out that the profile is that of a heavy mech not a medium and thus in my opinion justifies the 2 star dock in score.

Jump Jets: 5 of 5.

This mech has excellent JJ capability with plenty of thrust, height and distance available to it. This does tend to make up for some of the lack in agility and speed and one should absolutely consider this when evaluating the mech as a whole.

Cockpit View: 1 of 5.

Personally I find the cockpit view to be on the bad side. When zoomed out, the upper strut of the cockpit tends to take up the top the the screen and I tend to want to duck to look out of my cockpit and get a full view. This not only severly limits your verfical veiw but also make it somewhat hard to see what is going around you in the battlefield. Additionally this scrunched cockpit tends to make it very annoying to mount cockpit items as they tend to clutter the view and make things feel even more scrunched. The mounting location for warhorns for example is generally kind of centered on the strut that compresses your view and half the horn hangs down into your face. Generally I find the cockpit design to be horrible.

Heat Management: 3 of 5.

As I mentioned in other parts of my review, this mech can mount a ton of weapons but suffers from lack of available critical space in which to mount weapons and the heatsinks required to cool them. In general this leads to a mech and build that tend to run toward the hotter side of things. Its not a critical issue but the fact that it is kind of hard to put together a solid build that isn't are the razor edge of being too hot costs this mech a few stars in my book.

Shape and Size: 4 of 5.

Overall the geometry and size seems to be pretty decent. The CT is an issue as I mentioned but I think that is more to do with issues with the hitbox and/or a bug than the actually shape and geometry of the mech. It is a farily narrow and compact mech with very little that sticks out when doing the peek plus the torso mounted weapons are located at or above the cockpit making it able to hull down extremely well. Further the arms are actually kind of tucked up under the armpits which means it is relatively easy to clear the arm weapons over obstacles in order to fire and you can do this fairly well without having to expose a huge amount of your mech. The 1 star dock I have to admit comes from the CT. While as I mentioned the main issue with the isn't its shape, it does still have design flaws. It is still fairly wide and the way the neck area is angled forward around the head does tend to expose the CT to alot more firepower than a better design would allow.

Overal: 3.5 of 5.

This may seem a bit on the low side but the current issue with the CT is pretty huge in my book. If this gets corrected and the CT stops being so squishy, over this mech could hit 4 or even 4.5 stars with no other alterations.

In general I find the firepower to be very good and you really can't complain about the hardpoint options at all. The agile and speed of the mech leave a bit to be desired but its not bad enough to cause a sever handicap not when you have such excellent JJ capability to offset the speed and agility. Heat is a bit of an issue with this mech but not enough that you can't overcome it with just a tiny bit of fire discipline. I do wish they could do something about the cockpit so that that strut was pushed back and up out of the line of sight and I wish they would move the warhorn mounting points somewhere less distracting. It is pretty bad and while not a deal breaker, it definitely takes away from the enjoyability of the mech.

Anyway. I hope this helps anyone who is trying to decide if the Huntsman is a good choice for you. Also if you own and are running Huntsman mechs right now, feel free to comment if you disagree with anything I said.

[Dr Wubs]

Ground agility should be a 2, especially if the cockpit is rated 1.

When I'm in one of these, I'm cursing the speed, not the cockpit.

[Pariah Devalis]

With a 100 FOV, I find it has wonderful visibility, personally. Are you using the stock 60? 'cause that's awful for situational awareness purposes.

[Angel of Annihilation]

Dr Wubs, on 23 October 2016 - 10:04 AM, said:

Ground agility should be a 2, especially if the cockpit is rated 1.

When I'm in one of these, I'm cursing the speed, not the cockpit.

As I mentioned I am trying to be objective and I have to look at other Clan Mediums when doing this. The Nova as the same overall speed though it does have a small movement profile combined with a ton of agility quirks to counter the small engine and lower speed. Stormcrow is faster and more agile but mounts a 330XL engine so that is to be expected. The Hunchback IIC on the other hand can't mount a much bigger engine than the Huntsman can and has the same movement profile. Overall this puts the Huntsman kind of in the middle of the pack and since the speed and agility aren't exactly bad I have to give it an above average score in this area.

Now could the agility be better? Yes. In fact agility buffs are on my "How to make the Huntsman the perfect mech" wishlist but it isn't a requirement for this mech to be a good all around mech (ie powerful but not OP).

[Angel of Annihilation]

Pariah Devalis, on 23 October 2016 - 10:22 AM, said:

With a 100 FOV, I find it has wonderful visibility, personally. Are you using the stock 60? 'cause that's awful for situational awareness purposes.

No I tend to use a bit higher than stock but have tried changing the FOV to various setting for the Huntsman and find that the higher setting tend to make things worse in the Huntsman. At 100 for example the Strut is near dead center in my field of view and adding war horns at this 100 FOV is even more distracting than them hanging down in my face a bit.

[JadePanther]

Too early for any real review.. Please wait until the hunt the huntsman event is over and give it another look then.. Measuring its current performance is being hampered by the fact that mechs will cross heaven and hell to focus on and kill you.. Once the bullseye is off and it gets treated like every other mech out there its performance will be much better..

[Angel of Annihilation]

JadePanther, on 23 October 2016 - 11:45 AM, said:

Too early for any real review.. Please wait until the hunt the huntsman event is over and give it another look then.. Measuring its current performance is being hampered by the fact that mechs will cross heaven and hell to focus on and kill you.. Once the bullseye is off and it gets treated like every other mech out there its performance will be much better..

Unfortunately the Hunt the Huntsman event does tend to reduce the survival time of your average Huntsman but that still doesn't change its general characteristics. Notice I didn't comment on stats, damage or even overall survivability, rather I just talked about the general characteristics of the mech.

Also being the bullseye actually is a good thing for a review like this because it really tests the mech at its limits of endurance. For example, while under normal circumstances you might not quite be under the same duration of duress you might be at now, there will always be situations in normal gameplay where you will find yourself out of position and taking fire from 2,3 or even more mechs and how well you can stand up to the sort of pounding is a good indicating of your general "tankiness". You might only find yourself in this situation once every 5-10 matches in normal gamplay, however with the event going on, you find yourself in this situation virtually every match. Best way to look at this event is it being a great stress test for the Huntsman that exposes all its strengths and flaws in a very short period of time.

However I am going to reiterate again. The event isn't going to change the characteristics of the mech. If it gets cored easily now, it is going to get cored easily after the event. If it is sluggish now, it is going to be sluggish after the event. If it has good firepower now, it is going to have good firepower after the even. If the Cockpit sucks now, it is going to suck after the event. I could go on but I think everyone gets the idea.

[Jackal Noble]

Ya the syndrome you're describing seems to be a protruding center torso, which is pretty common in a lot of clan mechs(and a few IS ones), maybe contributes to overall balance, maybe resultant of the physical characteristics of the design.
Let's see there's the Ebon Jaguar, Night Gyr(this thing is a center torso), Warhawk, Cyclops, Kodiak, oh and the Viper. Add Huntsman to the pile.

However, the huntsman has some amazing shoulders that allow you to really roll that dmg.

I really like it and find that it has some unique offerings. I am stringently avoiding boating srms at this point and enjoying the stock pods+quirks.The jjs are decent, but without the Nova's agility the Huntsman is not as maneuverable, just barely so. Still those moments where you almost clear a ledge and then fall 4-6 stories to the ground kinda suck.

Edited by JackalBeast, 23 October 2016 - 12:51 PM.

[Pariah Devalis]

Taking the HMN into Scouting Mode, this thing... is a beast. It turns a few heads when you can look at an enemy Griffin and, with a sneer, smack the enemy mech out of existence like the hand of an unmerciful, vengeful god. People have been turning the mech into a pinata in quickplay so much that they expect the mech to be a secondary threat. As long as they keep doing that in Scouting, I will continue to unload 32 SRMs into people's poop shoots for those delicious one hit KOs.

Edited by Pariah Devalis, 23 October 2016 - 01:03 PM.

[Angel of Annihilation]

JackalBeast, on 23 October 2016 - 12:46 PM, said:

Ya the syndrome you're describing seems to be a protruding center torso, which is pretty common in a lot of clan mechs(and a few IS ones), maybe contributes to overall balance, maybe resultant of the physical characteristics of the design. Let's see there's the Ebon Jaguar, Night Gyr(this thing is a center torso), Warhawk, Cyclops, Kodiak, oh and the Viper. Add Huntsman to the pile. However, the huntsman has some amazing shoulders that allow you to really roll that dmg. I really like it and find that it has some unique offerings. I am stringently avoiding boating srms at this point and enjoying the stock pods+quirks.The jjs are decent, but without the Nova's agility the Huntsman is not as maneuverable, just barely so. Still those moments where you almost clear a ledge and then fall 4-6 stories to the ground kinda suck.

I don't actually think the issue is the protruding CT because it honestly don't protrude that much . It is however wide I am not sure exactly how wide the CT hit box is or how much of the area around the heat is actually CT and how much is ST. That slant forward on the area around the head is probably one the the biggest issues as it just catches fire and is the perfect angle for taking LRMs at a 90 degree angle. I have a feeling that most of this area is CT with very little being ST and this might explain why it takes so much CT damage. Also I do honestly feel like there might be a bug. There have been just too many times where I am a near full CT and next thing I know, after what feels like a single shot, I am down, complete cored out. Also as I mentioned there was at least one match where I was completely fresh, took 2 PPCs to the chest and looked to see my rear armor blown out and me almost cored. Some how, some way he managed to hit my rear torso from the front and that screems bug to me. I kind of wonder if it isn't something like we had on the Hellbringer when it originally came out that is registering rear armor even though you can hit it from the front. Hell maybe that fin registers as back armor and hitting it causes you to get cored from the rear but who knows.

[Jackal Noble]

I think that rear armor bug is more of a ppc component spread issue more than anything.
And yes I was alluding to that, I'm really curious where the STs end and CT begins as the STs are really resilient. I will lose arms or get cored way more often than lose a side torso. Which is the thing, maybe play it up as a strength. And lrms are kind of IN right now for some reason or another,hell I've been playing them a lot on huntsman, and rarely do normally(Prolly more to do with event to avoid attention lol.)

But yes I have noticed with its slower acceleration/decel + more susceptible center torso, lrms have a good effect on it.
A great hard counter is obviously cover.

[Angel of Annihilation]

JackalBeast, on 23 October 2016 - 01:25 PM, said:

I think that rear armor bug is more of a ppc component spread issue more than anything. And yes I was alluding to that, I'm really curious where the STs end and CT begins as the STs are really resilient. I will lose arms or get cored way more often than lose a side torso. Which is the thing, maybe play it up as a strength. And lrms are kind of IN right now for some reason or another,hell I've been playing them a lot on huntsman, and rarely do normally(Prolly more to do with event to avoid attention lol.) But yes I have noticed with its slower acceleration/decel + more susceptible center torso, lrms have a good effect on it. A great hard counter is obviously cover.

Oh yeah the STs are a strength and I do use them as an advantage as much as possible but I would prefer a more balanced distribution of damage where my ST takes a bit more damage and my CT a bit less. Yes you would lose the STs a bit more often but your in a Clan mech so losing a ST doesn't put you out of the fight. Losing your CT does though.

I have been kind of hoping someone would have actually tested and posted the hitboxes by now. Usually when hitboxes are in question, someone with better resources than me actually does testing and posts a front, back and sides image with the Hitboxes outlined but surprisingly I haven't seen any such pictures or posts yet.

[Bishop Steiner]

Dr Wubs, on 23 October 2016 - 10:04 AM, said:

Ground agility should be a 2, especially if the cockpit is rated 1.

When I'm in one of these, I'm cursing the speed, not the cockpit.

My Nova feels more nimble... but on paper is the same...what's up with that? (and all my Heavies except the Night Gyr feel more agile)

[Angel of Annihilation]

Bishop Steiner, on 23 October 2016 - 01:43 PM, said:

My Nova feels more nimble... but on paper is the same...what's up with that? (and all my Heavies except the Night Gyr feel more agile)

Surprised you don't know why this is Bishop.

First, the Nova has a "Small" movement profile while the Huntsman has a "Medium", second the Nova is quirked to hell and back with agility quirks that increase its acceleration and turn speed.

[Bishop Steiner]

Viktor Drake, on 23 October 2016 - 02:01 PM, said:

Surprised you don't know why this is Bishop.

First, the Nova has a "Small" movement profile while the Huntsman has a "Medium", second the Nova is quirked to hell and back with agility quirks that increase its acceleration and turn speed.

Don't be, as I haven't bothered to check details on mechs in over 6 months. I just don't give enough a damn to look. Still don't explain why my MDD and TBR also feel more agile (SMN I know is uberquirked on the mobility side... and actually feels a bout like a Medium should... which is good since it also only has the firepower of one....pity it weighs 70 tons)

[invernomuto]

Viktor Drake, on 23 October 2016 - 02:01 PM, said:

Surprised you don't know why this is Bishop.

First, the Nova has a "Small" movement profile while the Huntsman has a "Medium", second the Nova is quirked to hell and back with agility quirks that increase its acceleration and turn speed.

Where do you see the "movement profile" you're talking about?

[Aramuside]

Curious as to the focus on the cockpit as I've had no problem at all with visibility but then I don't play with cockpit width at all so mine is plain vanilla.

I find the hard point locations great but that CT is laughable. I've taken front CT damage from a light firing at my rear before which probably didn't impress them but my CT was already red so.....!

My main irritation with the mechs is strangely not mentioned above unless I'm going blind... just having one of the P and PA pods is extremely frustrating forcing you to run some setups you've deliberately degraded due to having to work with worse omnipods. For example I just have one primary SRM boat atm as I use the PA omnipods on my Pakhet ( 4 ASRM 6 / 3 SPL). I would love to try some of the other SRM setups but I am not utterly rebuilding my mechs every match as I level them....

[Angel of Annihilation]

invernomuto, on 30 October 2016 - 07:08 AM, said:

Where do you see the "movement profile" you're talking about?

PGI introduced movement Archetypes quite a while back and as far as I know they aren't displayed in game, however they are in the data files. If you go to Smufy's and click on the Torso/Arm section for the mech, it will bring up a window with general movement profiles and weapons arcs. At the very top it will say "Movement Archetype" and list "Tiny, Small, Medium, Large and Huge". This represents the ability of the mech to climb slopes without losing speed. The smaller the Archetype, the larger the incline it can climb without losing speed.

Aramuside, on 30 October 2016 - 07:22 AM, said:

Curious as to the focus on the cockpit as I've had no problem at all with visibility but then I don't play with cockpit width at all so mine is plain vanilla. I find the hard point locations great but that CT is laughable. I've taken front CT damage from a light firing at my rear before which probably didn't impress them but my CT was already red so.....! My main irritation with the mechs is strangely not mentioned above unless I'm going blind... just having one of the P and PA pods is extremely frustrating forcing you to run some setups you've deliberately degraded due to having to work with worse omnipods. For example I just have one primary SRM boat atm as I use the PA omnipods on my Pakhet ( 4 ASRM 6 / 3 SPL). I would love to try some of the other SRM setups but I am not utterly rebuilding my mechs every match as I level them....

I think with the Cockpit everyone is going to have a different experience. The issue I have with the cockpit is the location and size of the visable upper double strut at the top of the cockpit. You have two struts there, one of which is rather thick. Taken together they tend to occlude about 20% of the top of the screen at 60 or even 70 FoV (I generally run 70 myself). Then when you go with a higher FoV, say 100, you end up with those struts being just above the center of your view. To me this is very distracting. At 70 FoV which is what I like to run, I feel like I have to duck to look under those struts and the cockpit feels skrunched. At 100 FoV they are near my center view and become distracting. If someone isn't sensitive to this, they might not even notice.

As far as the Pods, I didn't really review the mech from the perspective of not buying able to buy additional reinforcement and/or hero mech pods and use them on all variants because it is just something that all Omnimechs have to deal with and has been the subject of many a debate. This however has nothing really to do with the review of the mech.

Edited by Viktor Drake, 30 October 2016 - 09:54 AM.

[Burke IV]

Imagine you got a pair of half moon spectacles on