181 replies to this topic

[LordNothing]

Yeonne Greene, on 26 January 2017 - 12:45 PM, said:

Shockingly, I think weapon stats are a bigger deal than engines. Even in the game we have nkw, ebgines can be somewhat mitigated with weapon selection and piloting ability. Nothing can save you from being unable able to engage at the same distances with comparable firepower or pack that giant, light-weight, high-DPS small laser spam.

Naturally, though, there is a feedback loop.

i think i would level out the hardpoint inflation. many clan mechs can reach the hardpoint limit, but there is not one is mech that can even approach that. even some of the clan battlemechs out hardpoint the is mechs. this will go away when we start getting is omnis, but for now we really need to see more inflation on the is side.

[Quicksilver Aberration]

Koniving, on 30 January 2017 - 12:53 PM, said:

This said, endo steel on both sides is a huge issue... In Battlemech customization rules you couldn't change structure; only in Battlemech design rules (from the factory) could you change structure. So when Clans are changing to endo steel on their Battlemechs it is creating a huge issue for both the IS and Clan Omnimechs.

Most Clan battlemechs have endo to start with, including the KDK-3 and HBK-IIC-A (the strongest Clan battlemechs currently).

Koniving, on 30 January 2017 - 12:53 PM, said:

The engines, while somewhat of an issue, is easily mitigated with the implementation of Critical Hits,

FOR THE LAST TIME, ENGINE BALANCE IS NOT FIXED WITH CRITICAL HITS, AT BEST IT ONLY SOMEWHAT LEVELS THE PLAYING FIELD, BUT IT DOESN'T FIX IT.

Koniving, on 30 January 2017 - 12:53 PM, said:

Heatsinks need some work too. They used to melt and now they don't. Riding high levels of heat in closed beta would produce damage in heatsinks and other componnents.

I don't remember heat sinks ever taking damage in Closed Beta unless you were in override and went past 100%, which currently the same thing can happen.

Edited by Quicksilver Kalasa, 30 January 2017 - 01:08 PM.

[Y E O N N E]

LordNothing, on 30 January 2017 - 12:55 PM, said:

i think i would level out the hardpoint inflation. many clan mechs can reach the hardpoint limit, but there is not one is mech that can even approach that. even some of the clan battlemechs out hardpoint the is mechs. this will go away when we start getting is omnis, but for now we really need to see more inflation on the is side.

It really doesn't go away with IS Omnis. The Raptor and Blackhawk KU, yes, but the rest are pretty starved.

As a general rule of thumb, IS 'Mechs that lean on Energy need more hardpoibts than Clan 'Mechs. What you can do with six on a Clan 'Mech requires eight for the IS. I'd like to see that get addressed across the board.

[PhoenixFire55]

Quicksilver Kalasa, on 30 January 2017 - 12:31 PM, said:

Then maybe you should before making these claims because obviously there is some discrepancies.

No, because EU has plenty of skilled teams. If it works on EU then it potentially can work on NA all the same. The fact that some mechs and strategies are used in one zone and not used in other one isn't making them any better or worse. I have enough data to work with from EU as is.

Quicksilver Kalasa, on 30 January 2017 - 12:31 PM, said:

Splatcat is also easily neutered (the ears stick up higher in comparison to the torso which means they are easy to isolate as well), especially now that it doesn't have all the structure quirks. That said it is still up there on the list of backups for MRBC.

Doesn't matter one bit in a brawl, and as I've said, they aren't any bigger than TBR STs with missiles.

Quicksilver Kalasa, on 30 January 2017 - 12:31 PM, said:

What you are really noticing is the agility difference, but that doesn't make up for the lack of a Clan XL which allows you to play less defensive when cored on a side.

We are back to square one here. I've never had an issue with IS XLs, 99 times out of 100 you lose armor everywhere before you are popped. And please, don't try to persuade me that a clan mech with one ST is any useful, especially considering latest nerfs.

Quicksilver Kalasa, on 30 January 2017 - 12:31 PM, said:

Unreliable how? You are poking with them so that when they jam you are under cover, just like you did when during the UAC40 days (4 UAC10 was more about burst than sustained).

Unreliable as in jams too often and stays jammed for the entire duration of a time it'll take an enemy to focus 1-2 mechs if you try to make a push with em. There are far better weapons for poking, if you are poking with UACs you are doing it wrong (or playing against potatoes).

Quicksilver Kalasa, on 30 January 2017 - 12:31 PM, said:

Good thing the Kodiak has speed, since speed is the reason the Stalker fell out of use even before the Kodiak came along because the Battlemaster was faster.

There is the same 0-5kph difference you pointed out between Warhammer and NightGyr, which is entirely meaningless anyway since we are talking about trades. Battlemaster still beats em all easily in both speed and tankiness.

Quicksilver Kalasa, on 30 January 2017 - 12:31 PM, said:

If they are available, which they probably won't be given the release schedule, that said they don't replace KDK-3s. Honestly 4 ERPPC Warhawks are starting to be used at extreme range even over ERLL Battlemasters thanks to the versatility without loss of effectiveness while the Quad Gauss Kodiak pretty much died with the Gauss max range nerf.

You aren't gonna out-trade ERLLs at extreme range even with ERPPCs on Warhawks, especially on Warhawks given their amazing sleek profile. The only thing they are better at is actually being able to kill of mechs up close compared to ERLLs.

Quicksilver Kalasa, on 30 January 2017 - 12:31 PM, said:

HPG wasn't banned from season 7, and Clan was still dominant there so not really sure what you are talking about, and no, HPG isn't really that brawl oriented (it favors mid to long typically). That said, you still don't seem to understand that brawl is not this magical arena for IS, nor should it be, they should be equally competent at all ranges (just how they fight at those ranges will differ).

They shouldn't be equally competent at anything, but since we don't have "A BattleTech Game" unlike the title says, they've been bandaided to be relatively close at everything. With clanners naturally (albeit nerfed to hell) better at range and IS artificially better up close.

Quicksilver Kalasa, on 30 January 2017 - 12:31 PM, said:

Where did I disagree with the differences in meta? I'm sure there is a difference between NA and Oceanic too, but that doesn't mean that both are equally viable because skill differences play into that as well. We are assuming NA and EU are equally skilled and I would disagree.

There might be a difference in skill between Oceanic and NA/EU but simply because Oceanic doesn't have enough people to form a competitive team. There is however no such skill difference between NA and EU, but of course as typical NA resident minus Mexico you think yourselves better than everyone else.

Quicksilver Kalasa, on 30 January 2017 - 12:31 PM, said:

No I'm not, I'm basing that off of current practices for comp.....the only one who is taking that conclusion out of their butt is you since you are basing your judgements solely off of past experiences with EU teams (since you haven't brought up your own practices as proof of anything, just EU teams former drop decs I'm guessing from season 7).

Practices. Of your team only. Oh please, who is judging based on nothing but his sole experiences now? That can be said about everyone and everything because none of us has actual data.

Quicksilver Kalasa, on 30 January 2017 - 12:31 PM, said:

8 ASRM4 is not something anything else can do, and even then 4 ASRM6 in the torso and 4 SPL is not something anything else can do.

And still gonna suck against pretty much any IS SRM boat of the same-ish tonnage.

Anyway, I'm off, this whole discussion is pointless anyway as we are discussing idiotic bandaided pseudo-balance in a game that has nothing to do with BT anymore instead of proper IS vs clans.

Bombast, on 30 January 2017 - 12:50 PM, said:

And you think 'lol' is the appropriate response?

If you have hard data from another league, that's what you post. Not acronyms and dismissals.

I did. And not only me. But you seem to fail to read the thread you are replying to.

[LordNothing]

Yeonne Greene, on 30 January 2017 - 01:22 PM, said:

It really doesn't go away with IS Omnis. The Raptor and Blackhawk KU, yes, but the rest are pretty starved.

As a general rule of thumb, IS 'Mechs that lean on Energy need more hardpoibts than Clan 'Mechs. What you can do with six on a Clan 'Mech requires eight for the IS. I'd like to see that get addressed across the board.

i dont think you should get both more and better weapons. granted a clan mech that uses all of its energy hard points is going to be overheating a lot but its good enough for the poke-alpha-hide game, which the clan is better at than the is. things would get a little more balanced if we started seeing is mechs that can pack like 12 medium lasers. i might also consider raising the gh threshold to 8 on is medium lasers and medpulse (clans would still have the higher gh free alphas on equivalent weapons).

Edited by LordNothing, 30 January 2017 - 02:04 PM.

[Quicksilver Aberration]

PhoenixFire55, on 30 January 2017 - 01:45 PM, said:

No, because EU has plenty of skilled teams.

There might be a difference in skill between Oceanic and NA/EU but simply because Oceanic doesn't have enough people to form a competitive team. There is however no such skill difference between NA and EU, but of course as typical NA resident minus Mexico you think yourselves better than everyone else.

Having skilled teams is not equivalent to being of equal skill. EON and probably RJF are the only ones that I would say actually contend with NA Div A (well prior to the massive burnout for NA teams). Has nothing to do with being a "typical NA resident" BS rhetoric that you are trying to imply (NA is actually typically worse at FPS compared to other regions when it comes to actual esports). EU doesn't have the same playerbase compared to NA either, just because it is larger than Oceanic doesn't mean it is comparable.

PhoenixFire55, on 30 January 2017 - 01:45 PM, said:

Doesn't matter one bit in a brawl, and as I've said, they aren't any bigger than TBR STs with missiles.

It does matter.....just like it did during the brawl meta way back when. While they may not be bigger than the missile pods on the Timby, the difference is how easy they are to isolate; Timby can torso twist, Catapult can't really do the same thing to hide arms. Not to mention the Splatapult sacrifices something somewhere to compete (either runs XL to be as fast with enough firepower, runs STD to be as survivable, still comes up short). This is also ignoring the power that is the SRMmoner.

PhoenixFire55, on 30 January 2017 - 01:45 PM, said:

We are back to square one here. I've never had an issue with IS XLs, 99 times out of 100 you lose armor everywhere before you are popped.

Good for you? It is a problem or teams wouldn't avoid those types of mechs especially with the return of PPFLD.

PhoenixFire55, on 30 January 2017 - 01:45 PM, said:

And please, don't try to persuade me that a clan mech with one ST is any useful, especially considering latest nerfs.

Night Gyr with a Gauss and ERPPC is still perfectly usable, and still better than dead, so please continue hand waving if you want by all means, it doesn't mean you are right. Also Hunchy IICs are notorious for living long past the time they lost their side torso while still being a threat, that's why they are so strong.

PhoenixFire55, on 30 January 2017 - 01:45 PM, said:

Unreliable as in jams too often and stays jammed for the entire duration of a time it'll take an enemy to focus 1-2 mechs if you try to make a push with em.

That's why you don't push with them.....dakka push kinda died with the Quad 10 Kodiak as far as I can tell.

PhoenixFire55, on 30 January 2017 - 01:45 PM, said:

There is the same 0-5kph difference you pointed out between Warhammer and NightGyr, which is entirely meaningless anyway since we are talking about trades. Battlemaster still beats em all easily in both speed and tankiness.

Battlemaster also doesn't have the competitiveness at the same range, is 10-15 tons heavier and in a different weight class, so the point you are trying to make is somewhat lost.

PhoenixFire55, on 30 January 2017 - 01:45 PM, said:

You aren't gonna out-trade ERLLs at extreme range even with ERPPCs on Warhawks, especially on Warhawks given their amazing sleek profile.

If you haven't been practicing with them sure, but teams have and that's why ERPPCs are replacing ERLL slowly but surely. Don't get me wrong, having one ERLL mech in extreme range trades are nice, but you aren't going to be able to deal with ERPPC Warhawks, Night Gyrs, and Hunchbacks IICs all spraying PPFLD everywhere if you overload on ERLL. I honestly wasn't sure about it at first either but after having played with both the Warhawk and Awesome in preparation for the new league and new season I can confirm that ERPPCs > ERLLs currently.

PhoenixFire55, on 30 January 2017 - 01:45 PM, said:

They shouldn't be equally competent at anything

Why exactly, the game is boring if we make this a rock paper scissors esque game with regards to range (IS can only brawl, Clans can only range, which actually runs against the ethos of both). You can spew "Battletech game" all you want, but there is more to Battletech than stupid TT stats.

PhoenixFire55, on 30 January 2017 - 01:45 PM, said:

Practices. Of your team only.

No, that includes scrims, but please keep assuming, you know what they say about that.

PhoenixFire55, on 30 January 2017 - 01:45 PM, said:

And still gonna suck against pretty much any IS SRM boat of the same-ish tonnage.

We shall see; actually we won't because those pods are paywalled and thus not valid for comp play, but still.....

Edited by Quicksilver Kalasa, 30 January 2017 - 02:04 PM.

[Mcgral18]

PhoenixFire55, on 30 January 2017 - 12:10 PM, said:

Not really, no. SplatCat is better IMO, mostly because it isn't plagued by useless clan SRMs. Very tanky as well, and ears aren't any bigger than TBR's missile STs.

This triggered me, because of the misinformation...
I went and spent 5 minutes in Blender to show you how wrong you are

Clams are Red, Spheroid are Green


Dem worthless, 1.5 ton less SRM+A launchers.

[Bombast]

PhoenixFire55, on 30 January 2017 - 01:46 PM, said:

I did. And not only me. But you seem to fail to read the thread you are replying to.

I just went through the thread again. No stats were provided by you, or anyone else, on the other league activity. Only people 'saying' whats good there, no hard numbers that I can find.

Of course, I just realized I didn't provide anything either, for which I apologize. I had the links, just forgot to post them.

Here's a half minute spreadsheet I was logging stuff on as I checked...

https://docs.google....dit?usp=sharing

EDIT: I wouldn't trust the variants I scribbled in, though. For some reason, the mech board on the stream gets a bit wonky, and the lets go i and out.

And here's the Twitch stream I was pulling the mechs from, though I cannot find the shortcuts at the moment.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/105055090

Edited by Bombast, 30 January 2017 - 02:12 PM.

[Quicksilver Aberration]

Bombast, on 30 January 2017 - 02:09 PM, said:

I just went through the thread again. No stats were provided by you, or anyone else, on the other league activity. Only people 'saying' whats good there, no hard numbers that I can find.

Of course, I just realized I didn't provide anything either, for which I apologize. I had the links, just forgot to post them.

Here's a half minute spreadsheet I was logging stuff on as I checked...

https://docs.google....dit?usp=sharing

EDIT: I wouldn't trust the variants I scribbled in, though. For some reason, the mech board on the stream gets a bit wonky, and the lets go i and out.

And here's the Twitch stream I was pulling the mechs from, though I cannot find the shortcuts at the moment.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/105055090

I think someone had done a more in-depth look at the variants used throughout the tournament, and a similar finding was reached, though MRBC season 7 would be the best thing to look at both Div A for EU and NA. I may look at that out of curiosity tonight.

Edited by Quicksilver Kalasa, 30 January 2017 - 02:18 PM.

[Lykaon]

Andi Nagasia, on 26 January 2017 - 12:33 PM, said:

their are many Topics popping up about Balance,
but one has to Ask what is the Most Important,

so if you had to Choose one Balance Item,
what would it be? what would you Choose?

• Balance is Good Right now?
  
• Engines Balance(STD/XL/C-XL)?
  
• Upgrade Balance(Endo/Ferro)?
  
• Heat Sink Balance?(SH/DHS/C-DHS)
  
• Weapon Stats Balance(Dam/Cycle/Crit/Ton)?

What do you feel is most Important Right now?

(feeling Balance is in a Good Place is also a Justifiable Answer)

=(Poll)=

Thoughts, Comments, Concerns?
Thanks,

Edit-

Since each of the factors listed contribute to balance issues how can any one be issolated?

If for example my I.S. heavy mech can fit an XL engine and endo steel but for the same crit spaces my clan mech gets XL engine endo ferro and another DHS (that is "paid" for from the ferro weight savings) and on top of this the clan engine doesn't kill my mech outright when a side torso is blow off....Several factors are coming together to create advantages.

Then we look at the clan weapon options and find that I get more gun for the tonnage and crit slots this also adds to potential advantages.


Let's look at mech construction.

Clan mech with endo,ferro and XL engine and 2 external DHS has used 22 crit slots of an available 49 (assuming no hand actuators) leaving 27 open crit slots to fit weapons (that are generally smaller and lighter)

I.S. mech attempting the same...endo,ferro,XL engine 2 external Dubs...well that's coming in at 40 crit slots used of 49 leaving only 9 slots to fit the larger heavier I.S. weapon payload.

All factors contribute together.

[Bombast]

Quicksilver Kalasa, on 30 January 2017 - 02:17 PM, said:

I think someone had done a more in-depth look at the variants used throughout the tournament, and a similar finding was reached, though MRBC season 7 would be the best thing to look at both Div A for EU and NA. I may look at that out of curiosity tonight.

If you find anything of interest, I'd love to see it.

[Quicksilver Aberration]

Alright, here is what I have so far, takes longer now to get this info since they took down all the screenshots already, so had to look at the end of videos to get this far: https://docs.google....dit?usp=sharing

That is the top 2 teams matches against each other from both NA/EU (so it is only 2 of the 10 matches for only the top 2 of the 6 units in that division), honestly it was a pain to get that info so I'm probably just going to leave it at that, but I doubt the trend would be any different. If you couldn't tell, at best, Clan and IS are taken evenly, but more often than not more Clan is taken than IS in both EU and NA. It is interesting to note the EmP seems to sway towards Clan more often than not while EoN sways the other way.

Edited by Quicksilver Kalasa, 30 January 2017 - 06:03 PM.

[Y E O N N E]

Quicksilver Kalasa, on 30 January 2017 - 12:45 PM, said:

Sure, but most of the competitive ones got upscaled and/or nerfs:

• Mauler, received a massive nerf to ballistic velocity, I think it lost something else on top of that but was minor or irrelevant. - YG: THe other nerf was a reduction from +25% ballistic range to +15%.
  
• Black Knight, nerfed and upscaled (despite having already dropped out of the meta before that)
  
• Banshee, lost some of the few quirks it had
  
• Warhammer, I believe it received minor nerfs, I think heat gen, was also upscale -
  
• Oxide, upscaled a large amount
  
• Spider, upscaled
  
• Locust, I don't believe it got nerfed initially, but it did get nerfed not too long after that - YG: It did not get nerfed with the rescale, but PGI did hammer the entire line after potatoes complained about it, including variants that were almost never seen in the game like the 1M and 3V. The loss of laser duration quirks was a huge blow to this chassis, especially the 1M, and the loss of the extra armor for the missile brawlers makes getting ammo in way more risky than it used to be.
  
• Catapult, shrunk but also lost a lot of its structure quirks shortly after resulting in still being mostly irrelevant. - YG: PGI forgot why they added a bunch of structure to the arms on the CPLT, especially the A1. The A1 now gets its arms blown off with the same reckless abandon it did before quirks entered the game.
  
• Blackjack, upscaled a small amount, nothing really else happened. YG: also lost most of its structure quirks (it's even lower now than before the uber buff), most of its agility quirks and most of its torso twist quirks, to say nothing of the reduction in pure offensive capacity for the BJ-1X. The BJ-3 received several tweaks, including nerfs to the heat gen reduction and rate of fire for PPCs.
  
• Grasshopper, upscaled
  
• YG: Firestarter, upscaled

The only buff ended up being the Battlemaster getting shrunk a bit (well, the 2C was buffed, the 1G and something else received a quirk nerf on top of the rescale). While on the Clan side the Timber got shortened a bit, Kodiak got a hitbox and quirk adjustment (not that it really changed anything), Jenner IIC was nerfed but Cheetah left unchanged (lost its leg structure quirks shortly after though I believe, still best light). Then the Clans got the Marauder IIC (brutal 85 tonner), Night Gyr, and Huntsman (which is a nice HBK-IIC fallback).

Added comments for clarification.

[Deathlike]

Quicksilver Kalasa, on 30 January 2017 - 06:03 PM, said:

Alright, here is what I have so far, takes longer now to get this info since they took down all the screenshots already, so had to look at the end of videos to get this far: https://docs.google....dit?usp=sharing

That is the top 2 teams matches against each other from both NA/EU (so it is only 2 of the 10 matches for only the top 2 of the 6 units in that division), honestly it was a pain to get that info so I'm probably just going to leave it at that, but I doubt the trend would be any different. If you couldn't tell, at best, Clan and IS are taken evenly, but more often than not more Clan is taken than IS in both EU and NA. It is interesting to note the EmP seems to sway towards Clan more often than not while EoN sways the other way.

Well, Clans have more durability, despite people mis-whining about the side torso loss effect.

If I had to hazard a guess... there is something probably used in the IS (I would have to actually watch the stuff to really know) that the Clans can't quite replicate (probably some level of quirkage involved).

It's hard to know the details unless you had some sort of inside track to the methodology.

[Koniving]

Quicksilver Kalasa, on 30 January 2017 - 01:05 PM, said:

Most Clan battlemechs have endo to start with, including the KDK-3 and HBK-IIC-A (the strongest Clan battlemechs currently).


FOR THE LAST TIME, ENGINE BALANCE IS NOT FIXED WITH CRITICAL HITS, AT BEST IT ONLY SOMEWHAT LEVELS THE PLAYING FIELD, BUT IT DOESN'T FIX IT.


I don't remember heat sinks ever taking damage in Closed Beta unless you were in override and went past 100%, which currently the same thing can happen.

Actually most don't. Many do. Most do not. Just like many 3040+ IS techs come with end. Not most, but enough to make them different and sought after.

How would you fix the engine difference. It is an engine difference. The only way to fix it is make them identical. Leveling the playing field is the definition of balance.

Back in closed beta override did nothing but start you up faster. Before January 2013 if you went X past 100 you blew up instantly. This was usually ammo related.

Paul himself told me (rodent days put it together) that if you went past 80% heat your equipment started taking damage in the decimals at random, ramping up to whole numbersif you got over 95%.
Problem is (not for me) it exclusively targeted components such as weapons ammo heatsinks equipment (including gyro, engine...those super unfair repair bills? That's where they came from). Believe the rate was X damage /second spent >80%

Youtube void default fang vs custom fang it is my first match after override did a non-shutdown function and first time playing after the big change. From then on ammo explosions were rare and alpha strikes became the norm.

Edited by Koniving, 30 January 2017 - 06:43 PM.

[Y E O N N E]

Y'know, the issue I take with this whole back and forth is that, for one party, it's predicated on the assumption that NA does not know how to brawl and has not adapted to it. This is false. NA knows how to brawl just fine and has adapted to it so well that they can shut it down 100%. Canyon is a potentially brawly map, Mining is a potentially brawly map, and it doesn't matter at all because power positioning wins. EON was demolished when they tried to brawl-rush at the end in MWOWC. And before anybody yaps about MWOWC being based on a client from last May, nothing in the game has changed to make brawling more viable than it was back then. Zilch. All of the 'Mechs that were the best brawlers then are still the best brawlers now, but there are even more potent overwatch options today to make brawling even more difficult.

NA knows brawling. It's been tested ad infinitum and dismissed as an inferior option through a greater amount of trials than EU or OCE, and that's why OCE never even stood a chance in MWOWC and it's also why EU was slightly behind the curve: more matches played in NA has already shown that brawling loses when good marksmanship is on the field.

[Deathlike]

Yeonne Greene, on 30 January 2017 - 06:58 PM, said:

Y'know, the issue I take with this whole back and forth is that, for one party, it's predicated on the assumption that NA does not know how to brawl and has not adapted to it. This is false. NA knows how to brawl just fine and has adapted to it so well that they can shut it down 100%. Canyon is a potentially brawly map, Mining is a potentially brawly map, and it doesn't matter at all because power positioning wins. EON was demolished when they tried to brawl-rush at the end in MWOWC. And before anybody yaps about MWOWC being based on a client from last May, nothing in the game has changed to make brawling more viable than it was back then. Zilch. All of the 'Mechs that were the best brawlers then are still the best brawlers now, but there are even more potent overwatch options today to make brawling even more difficult.

NA knows brawling. It's been tested ad infinitum and dismissed as an inferior option through a greater amount of trials than EU or OCE, and that's why OCE never even stood a chance in MWOWC and it's also why EU was slightly behind the curve: more matches played in NA has already shown that brawling loses when good marksmanship is on the field.

The only way brawling is truly successful is when you don't anticipate it.

The problem is that if you have superior battlefield awareness, this is usually very preventable.

Closing speed requires time, and when you don't have it as the opfor, you're screwed... and it's also true in reverse.

Edited by Deathlike, 30 January 2017 - 07:06 PM.

[Quicksilver Aberration]

Koniving, on 30 January 2017 - 06:42 PM, said:

Actually most don't. Many do. Most do not.

But are those in game? No

Out of the 29 Clan battlemech variants currently in game, 2 lack endo. The Supernova would bring that to 3/35.

Koniving, on 30 January 2017 - 06:42 PM, said:

How would you fix the engine difference. It is an engine difference. The only way to fix it is make them identical. Leveling the playing field is the definition of balance.

Incorrect, leveling the playing field DOES NOT mean sameness. That said, if there is no other way, I would take making them identical over making one strictly inferior on top of strictly inferior weapons.

Deathlike, on 30 January 2017 - 07:06 PM, said:

The only way brawling is truly successful is when you don't anticipate it.

That's not necessarily true, but it really tends to either rely on the opponent miscalculating how much distance they needed to stop a push or making a positional mistake making them more susceptible being overrun.

[Deathlike]

Quicksilver Kalasa, on 30 January 2017 - 07:20 PM, said:

That's not necessarily true, but it really tends to either rely on the opponent miscalculating how much distance they needed to stop a push or making a positional mistake making them more susceptible being overrun.

Well, there is some counterplay involved (it's never as simple on the surface).

It's just that you never see this at the PUG/group queue level, so it's harder to grasp/interpret for many that don't experience it regularly.

[Tiantara]

Andi Nagasia, on 30 January 2017 - 11:13 AM, said:

we have to ask our selves is the KDK dominating because its a Clan mech or is it because of its Mounts?
if you put a MAL(4UAC5 +4ML(STD325) vs a KDK(4UAC5 +4ML(STD365) both going the same speed,
which mech would win in a fire fight?

- Depends of pilots skill. Mauler have better shield and closer mounted guns. In same time KDK have no armor quirks and weaker center torso compensated by longer ML range. After change KDK become a bit hotter... but both mech have unreliable UAC (After changing jamming mechanic it's more like dice game - are you jammed or you not).
Well... I can take down mauler on KDK as well as KDK with mauler but by cost of loosing both arms. Also there high chance to get ammo explosion on Mauler, KDK a bit more protected from that.
Sad that I spend all premium time - that would be interesting to test again (I have both of that great mech)