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I don't know why PGI thinks the capacity to take larger XL engines on IS mechs compared to clan omnis is a huge factor-- the Inner Sphere equipment is so damn heavy that you end up taking a smaller XL engine anyway! Many Inner Sphere mechs are plagued with low engine caps as well, so I absolutely fail to see why this justifies a lack of buffs to the IS XL. As for the "massive boost to firepower--" THAT FIREPOWER OFTEN FAILS TO MEET CLAN FIREPOWER ANYWAY. Indeed, to even come close to clan firepower, MOST IS MECHS HAVE TO TAKE AN XL ANYWAY TO BE COMPETITIVE
Here's a fact for you: IS XL can't lose a side torso. A clan XL can. With the damage transfer mechanic in play, that means a clan mech can use its dead side as a shield to protect their CT from 60% of incoming damage-- and that's in addition to being able to use their other side torso's armor. This is why we saw almost exclusively clan heavies and assaults within the World tournament-- they are extremely durable, carry better payloads, and have better equiment all around, and the STD engine for IS can't even come close to the level of firepower needed to compete with clan.
Most structure bonuses and armor bonuses fail to make up for that and this is why clan mechs are at the top of every weight class-- they pack better equipment, faster speeds on average, higher alpha strikes, better heat sink boating, better range, and the clan XL gives them momumental durability that puts the IS XL to absolute shame.
And to sum it up: IS Engine takes 2 more slots than the clan counterpart! Many weapon combinations are not possible within the same side torso with an XL, such as dual AC10, dual UAC5, AC/20-- and even if they were possible to slot in they would not be viable options on anything under 85 tons because IS equipment is monumentally heavy in comparison. Ammo and heat sink limitations would make it so.
Here's a news flash, too-- a marauder 3R is commonly fitted with a gauss rifle and 2 ER PPCs, and barely enough heat sinks to be cool enough to sustain for more than a couple volleys. An XL is absolutely out of the question because of the side torso death-- so the mech will be FAR slower than a timber wolf with the same loadout.
Spoiler
But wait! You can fit the same armament of a gauss and 2 PPCs on a hunchback IIC, have enough DHS to stay heat neutral, and have plenty of ammo, for 25 tons less! In addition, that mech will have the benefits of the cXL engine! And that's not even the optimal build that utilizes all of its high mounts!
As for this little tidbit.....
Warhammer Design Notes: The Warhammer consistently performs beyond other 'Mechs within its weight class, on both the Clan and IS side.
The XL requirement to make a competitive Warhammer loadout is already punching holes in that reasoning-- and what the heck is the Warhammer competing against?
The IS heavies are made up of garbage, garbage, and more garbage, with only a select few viable chassis-- and within those chassis only a select few variants are actually good.
The dragon, quickdraw, archer, orion, and cataphract are absolute trash after nerfs, rescales, and bad geometry, and many of these have never been good choices to begin with. These mechs offer no competition to the warhammer-- NO S*** THEY'RE GOING TO BE OUTPERFORMED!
For the remaining heavies-- the rifleman and jagermech suffer from their tonnage limitations and their high mounts do not save them from extremely fragile XL reliance, lack of tonnage for bigger guns, and inability to take both endo steel and ferro fibrous armor for most of their builds. Indeed, these mechs are outclassed by the summoner and even the hunchback IIC-- it is downright sad that a clan medium can outright outclass an Inner Sphere heavy like that.
The black knight, marauder, thunderbolt, and grasshopper have huge profiles compared to the warhammer-- the sheer amount of surface area to hit on these mechs makes the warhammer a no-brainer choice over these mechs.
But the fact of the matter it is incredibly stupid to nerf the warhammer rather than buff the underperforming heavies. It won't fix the faction imbalance and will only exaggerate it further.
As for the warhammer outperforming the night gyr and timber wolf and even the summoner? LOL! Proof, please! There's no way in hell that any comp player and decent player is going to buy into that bulls*** without facts!
Regardless, it is disappointing that PGI truly believes that there is no tech imbalance and that they think quirks are going to magically fix bad chassis-- and historically, any IS chassis that even came close to clan levels in performance has been nerfed, hard. AC5 cooldown dragon had to expose itself almost entirely because of its mounts and only has 60 tons of armor and structure-- but that warranted a nerf. Black knight and blackjack dared to have the kind of durability you can see on a clan mech? Nerf. Thunderbolt dared to have an XL PPC gimmick build that gave the CERPPC a run for its money? Nerf!
Meh. End rant.
Edited by Snazzy Dragon, 23 January 2017 - 11:11 PM.
