54 replies to this topic

[FuzzyNova]

I have kept up with some of the newer mechs that were released like the Cyclops and Night Gyr and bought the standard packs for them. Im impatient and money really isn't a problem. I work alot. So I'm wondering which mech I should purchase if any.

The Linebacker looks interesting because of its size and speed and isn't it a clan mech? If I'm not mistaken...and I'm a clan kind of sucker. The Huntman on the other hand looks really cool too. Any suggestions? I am gojng to get one of them but only one. I need a new mech to my collection. What do ya think?

-Nathaniel Johns
0900 Urban Tactical Joint Operations
Ghost Bear Loyalist

[Angel of Annihilation]

For me that is a tough call because they both seem to be suffering an identity crisis. The Huntsman is a medium that tries to be a heavy and fails and the Linebacker is a Heavy that really tries hard to be a light mech.

In general, I really want to like the Huntsman and on paper it is everything anyone could want in a 50 ton medium mech but in game it suffers from being very fragile with a huge CT hitbox that seems to catch everything fired at it, plus it handles like a bog standard heavy mech in terms of agility and speed. I think it would be a great mech with some of the same agility quirks that the Linebacker enjoys plus a little love applied to the CT in the form of armor quirks or maybe a hit box redesign. Great JJs though. The mech can be effective as is, as long as you don't let yourself ever get drawn into a fight where you actually have to go toe-to-toe with the enemy and play it in a fashion that does everything in your power to hide its CT.

Others seem to love the Huntsman so I will leave you with that.

As far as the Linebacker, I like it so far. It is very fast and agile and is tanky however it can sort of lack firepower and I find the builds to generally feel or be very asymetric with hard points scattered all over the mech. It does have some good, high hard points though and its arms aren't too far below the cockpit so nothing really wrong with the hard points except they feel scattered. Also what I mean by asymetric is I generally find myself mounting 3-4 different weapon across the mech, maybe dropping a ER PPC in one arm, 2 ER ML in the other, 3 ER SL in a one torso and a SRM6 in another torso or some crazy config like that. Mech seems solid though I do miss not having JJs however even if you could mount them on a Linebacker, it would actually break the mech due to lack of tonnage.

Overall I would say the Huntsman is about 3 to 3.5 stars out of 5 and the Linebacker is 4 stars out of 5.

[Spheroid]

@Viktor. People keep saying the Huntsman is fragile. I am not seeing it on the battlefield. Per suggestion I am shooting for that CT and the durability seems no worse than its peers in medium weight class.

Unless that weakness emerges I am going back to legging.

[Jackal Noble]

Linebacker is the new flavor, and is durable little turbo dog that really challenges you to try to come up with a half-way decent loadout with it's limited tonnage available. Two or more backers working in concert are a force to be reckoned with tho.

Huntsman is aesthetically better looking imo, carries ~9 more tons of weaponry than the backer, has great hitboxes for rolling damage (just be wary of the CT), can jump and has decent top speed, just slogs a little in the accel/decel department.

[Andi Nagasia]

peronally i feel the Huntsman is a stable platform, its alot like the HBK-2C but as an OmniMech,
it has several great builds and can do great things assuming the pilot has some Trigger Discipline,

it does:
8Energy= 2PPC(HighMount) +6SPL +DHS well,
8Missile= 4SRM4 + 4SRM6 well,
2Ballistic=2UAC10(HighMount) some Arm Armor Striping but does Well,
-
Any HBK or CN9 Build,

if you Treat if like a 81kph HBK-2C and you do well in that then you will do well in the Huntsman,


i cant comment on the LineBacker as i dont have one,

[STEF_]

Viktor Drake, on 18 November 2016 - 07:00 AM, said:

Overall I would say the Huntsman is about 3 to 3.5 stars out of 5 and the Linebacker is 4 stars out of 5.

Huntsman is currently tier 2.
Linebacker seems very fun, tho...

[L1f3H4ck]

I don't own a Huntsman, but the Linebacker is the surprise of the year for me. It doesn't look that great on paper, but it melts faces. As for builds, go nuts. Gauss +4 Meds, UAC20 +5 Smalls, 4 ASRM6 + 2 Meds, 6 SRM4.... You see, a Linebakcker is like a box of chocolates.

[Y E O N N E]

I don't understand the surprise at the Linebacker.

Does the Storm Crow melt faces? Yes? Why wouldn't a 'Mech that is a better-armored Storm Crow also melt faces?

Derp.

[Gas Guzzler]

I'm honestly surprised I enjoy playing the Linebacker as much as I do. My favorite build is torso mounted cLPLs and cERMLs, 18 DHS, TC1. It's pretty hot though, luckily it can reposition pretty easily. You do need the Redline or the reinforcements to make that build though.

[Y E O N N E]

Now that we have a Heavy that blatantly dances on its toes with the best of them, can I have the agility back for my Marauders? Kthnxpgi.

[FupDup]

Yeonne Greene, on 18 November 2016 - 09:18 AM, said:

Now that we have a Heavy that blatantly dances on its toes with the best of them, can I have the agility back for my Marauders? Kthnxpgi.

No. PGI gotta sell dem Linebacker packs.

[Pariah Devalis]

Vik unfairly thrashes the HMN because it isn't a ballerina, and he prefers fast mechs, but for what the Huntsman is, it does very well. The LBK, on the other hand, is a ballerina, being extremely fast and agile. Different strokes for different folks.

LBK looks (but I do not own one, so all I can do is report based on fighting them) like a fun mech, but one that directly trades firepower for mobility. Linebacker is not trading so much that it loses too much threat potential, however. They appear to be decent enough mechs, like what the Dragon should have been, carrying moderate firepower but exceptional speed. The HMN goes the other way and trades speed for firepower. Although, that said, it doesn't trade much speed, considering the other current Clan 50-ton platforms move around the same pace, with better "ups" than the Hunchback. It gains a heavy mech's podspace, however, and can be built as a ballistics platform, missile platform, or (energy/ballistics/missile) hybrid, in ways even some Clan heavies cannot quite accomplish.

If the LBK's problem is podspace, the HMN's primary problem is a slightly too large CT. Given that is a problem easily fixed or reduced in severity with a hitbox adjustment or minor armor quirks for the HMN, and given it's a mech that I routinely break 700 damage games with in a T1 matchmaking environment (meaning more that I do need to deal with enemy metamechs constantly), whereas the LBK is forever stuck with that 16 tons of podspace, there is room for future improvement to the HMN, while the LBK is what it is. Both mechs are such polar opposites, though.

Basically, what stokes your engine? Disproportionate firepower and extreme loadout flexibility, or disproportionate speed and reasonably high tankiness? Because that is the real issue, here. If the first is your cup of tea, go HMN. If the second, LBK. Simple as that.

Edited by Pariah Devalis, 18 November 2016 - 10:09 AM.

[Gas Guzzler]

I think my problem with the Huntsman and why I'm not super crazy about it is that I don't have the reinforcements or the hero, so I miss out on the fun missile builds.

[Pariah Devalis]

Gas Guzzler, on 18 November 2016 - 10:10 AM, said:

I think my problem with the Huntsman and why I'm not super crazy about it is that I don't have the reinforcements or the hero, so I miss out on the fun missile builds.

Yup, the reinforcement packs do open up some nice advantages. The second 2E side torso and the second B side torso. Lets you do some crazy stuff. Pakhet isn't bad, either, but more of a CW Scouting platform, since it is a hair too slow and short ranged to pull off being a striker in public matches. 4-5 SPLas and 4 ASRM6 in scouting mode can be devastating, however. Those jump jets give it a distinct advantage in a brawl.

Edited by Pariah Devalis, 18 November 2016 - 10:12 AM.

[TercieI]

The HMN is OK, but in a lot of ways is just a somewhat less-good HBK-IIC. Ain't no thing like the LBK. People keep calling it a bigger SCR, but it's more distinct than that. I didn't PO but early buzz made me pick them up. It is stupid fun. I vote LBK.

Edited by TercieI, 18 November 2016 - 10:13 AM.

[Gas Guzzler]

Pariah Devalis, on 18 November 2016 - 10:11 AM, said:

Yup, the reinforcement packs do open up some nice advantages. The second 2E side torso and the second B side torso. Lets you do some crazy stuff. Pakhet isn't bad, either, but more of a CW Scouting platform, since it is a hair too slow and short ranged to pull off being a striker in public matches. 4-5 SPLas and 4 ASRM6 in scouting mode can be devastating, however. Those jump jets give it a distinct advantage in a brawl.

Yeah, looking forward to the C-bill release for those other omni-pods... and I'll probably get the Pakhet at some point. I'm just putting it off.

[Jackal Noble]

Gas Guzzler, on 18 November 2016 - 09:13 AM, said:

I'm honestly surprised I enjoy playing the Linebacker as much as I do. My favorite build is torso mounted cLPLs and cERMLs, 18 DHS, TC1. It's pretty hot though, luckily it can reposition pretty easily. You do need the Redline or the reinforcements to make that build though.

so what you mean is 1 C-LPL, and 4-5 C-er meds.

[Pariah Devalis]

Gas Guzzler, on 18 November 2016 - 10:13 AM, said:

Yeah, looking forward to the C-bill release for those other omni-pods... and I'll probably get the Pakhet at some point. I'm just putting it off.

See, I'm of two minds about the HMN popularity option. On one hand, I absolutely click with the machine. I really do hunt larger mechs with the thing. It regularly pulls the weight of mechs heavier than itself, so I know the platform is fine. The mech is good, and it would be a shame if it isn't used more often.

On the other hand... it is a Nova Cat/Diamond Shark mech. The fewer people using said chassis, the more lore friendly it becomes, and the more surprise factor/special snowflakeish the mech becomes on the battlefield, plus it is lore correct for a Nova Cat to be piloting one. It would be nice if only a handful of good HMN pilots were out there using a mech that by no stretch of the imagination is a bad one. It isn't even "meh." It does very well when utilized appropriately.

So, torn. Solid mech, worthy of my praise, but one which I would rather not see inundate the queues. :\

Edited by Pariah Devalis, 18 November 2016 - 10:22 AM.

[Gas Guzzler]

Pariah Devalis, on 18 November 2016 - 10:21 AM, said:

See, I'm of two minds about the HMN popularity option. On one hand, I absolutely click with the machine. I really do hunt larger mechs with the thing. It regularly pulls the weight of mechs heavier than itself, so I know the platform is fine. The mech is good, and it would be a shame if it isn't used more often.

On the other hand... it is a Nova Cat/Diamond Shark mech. The fewer people using said chassis, the more lore friendly it becomes, and the more surprise factor/special snowflakeish the mech becomes on the battlefield, plus it is lore correct for a Nova Cat to be piloting one. It would be nice if only a handful of good HMN pilots were out there using a mech that by no stretch of the imagination is a bad one. It isn't even "meh." It does very well when utilized appropriately.

So, torn. Solid mech, worthy of my praise, but one which I would rather not see inundate the queues. :\

Well in that case, I'll buy huntsman pack gift codes for my entire unit

[Jackal Noble]

Honestly the fanfare for both the huntsman and linebacker have been fairly low despite mostly positive reviews for both chassis'.
It's almost as tho a 100 ton bear shaped mech just ruined it for any other releases this year lol.
And I'm in the same boat as Pariah, I'm ok with the newer/ capable mechs not gaining a lot of immediate traction.