19 replies to this topic

[Karl Marlow]

So, aside from the pretty, is there any new possibilities added to the game with the new Escalation mechs? Is there anything there we couldnt do before?

Having been playing with the Javelin the last several weeks I'm not seeing much point to the Osiris.

The Nightstar has a Jump Jet and an ECM variant in the 95 ton category. I also don't believe the Banshees can mount anything other than Lasers. So that's different.

The Arctic Wolf brings an ECM pod to the 40 ton bracket and also brings Battlemechs to the clan 40 ton bracket.

The Nova Cat I'm having a harder time comparing. Right now I think all we have in the Clan 70 tons is the Summoner. As most of the Nova Cats don't jump maybe it will have a more flexible loadout?

[Nesutizale]

From the looks of it I would say that the Nightstar has a good hardpoint placement. Same goes for the Artic Wolf. Not so sure about the NovaCat but it seams to be ok.
Don't know about the Osiris...might be good but then I am not playing lights anyway.

I think I will wait for Kanajashis "Should you buy" videos. Most of the time I agree with his opinions.

For me the NightStar and NovaCat are the two mechs I would buy if I had money for games to spare atm.

PS:
Are we getting a Omni and Battlemech version with the Artic Wolf ?

Edited by Nesutizale, 03 June 2017 - 02:10 AM.

[TELEFORCE]

I'm planning on pre-ordering the Nova Cat. I've been waiting for the ability to spam six LRM-15s, or six of any of my favorite missile launcher, for that matter! Yes, I have a thing for Clan pocket assault omnimechs.

Nesutizale, on 03 June 2017 - 02:08 AM, said:

PS:
Are we getting a Omni and Battlemech version with the Artic Wolf ?

I'm not sure of this myself as they both existed in lore, but looked different. The omnimech version of the Arctic Wolf looked like the one featured in MechWarrior 4, while the battlemech version looks like the concept art.

[TheArisen]

Nesutizale, on 03 June 2017 - 02:08 AM, said:

From the looks of it I would say that the Nightstar has a good hardpoint placement. Same goes for the Artic Wolf. Not so sure about the NovaCat but it seams to be ok.
Don't know about the Osiris...might be good but then I am not playing lights anyway.

I think I will wait for Kanajashis "Should you buy" videos. Most of the time I agree with his opinions.

For me the NightStar and NovaCat are the two mechs I would buy if I had money for games to spare atm.

PS:
Are we getting a Omni and Battlemech version with the Artic Wolf ?

The Nightstar will be a powerhouse, I think that's pretty easy to see.

The Arctic Wolf comes with BOTH omni and battlemech variants, 3 each.

[SmokedJag]

Nightstar is much, much more practical for most things than the Annihilator or King Crab, the other big guns. It's faster with better arms. Plus as noted the Banshee and Battlemaster are energy-only. It's also a very different ECM carrier than an Atlas or Cyclops. Overall it's power creepy but people knew it would be good. Big Question: Are those actuators fixed?

Arctic Wolf besides the BattleMech/OmniMech mix is a large tube missile boat with ECM (on the Omnis). But 40-ton Clan BattleMech in and of itself is intriguing. Big Question: How are ATMs?

Nova Cat is a second Clan 70 tonner that's energy focused (and also has a huge rack missile boat variant, default LRM 90 - kek). Summoner flies, this one has the better hardpoint configuration. Nova Cat will need heat quirks to be viable in most of those loadouts. Big Question: How are Heavy Lasers and this thing's heat quirks?

Edited by SmokedJag, 03 June 2017 - 04:40 AM.

[Imperius]

TheArisen, on 03 June 2017 - 04:33 AM, said:

The Nightstar will be a powerhouse, I think that's pretty easy to see.

The Arctic Wolf comes with BOTH omni and battlemech variants, 3 each.

In October I will look for you on the battlefield with my Mad Cat MK II. Watch your cockpit it shall be a glorious battle!

[TheArisen]

SmokedJag, on 03 June 2017 - 04:39 AM, said:

Nightstar is much, much more practical for most things than the Annihilator or King Crab, the other big guns. It's faster with better arms. Plus as noted the Banshee and Battlemaster are energy-only. It's also a very different ECM carrier than an Atlas or Cyclops. Overall it's power creepy but people knew it would be good. Big Question: Are those actuators fixed?

Arctic Wolf besides the BattleMech/OmniMech mix is a large tube missile boat with ECM (on the Omnis). But 40-ton Clan BattleMech in and of itself is intriguing. Big Question: How are ATMs?

Nova Cat is a second Clan 70 tonner that's energy focused (and also has a huge rack missile boat variant, default LRM 90 - kek). Summoner flies, this one has the better hardpoint configuration. Nova Cat will need heat quirks to be viable in most of those loadouts. Big Question: How are Heavy Lasers and this thing's heat quirks?

The Nightstar's JJ variant has neither LAA nor hands. Also, the best Banshee & Battlemasters are energy boats but they do have ballistic/missile options. The 9P can mount quad Rac5s no problem

Imperius, on 03 June 2017 - 04:41 AM, said:

In October I will look for you on the battlefield with my Mad Cat MK II. Watch your cockpit it shall be a glorious battle!

Dude I would totally be down for a dual! Nightstar versus Mad Cat MKii

[Athom83]

SmokedJag, on 03 June 2017 - 04:39 AM, said:

Plus as noted the Banshee and Battlemaster are energy-only.

Um... do you not notice the Balisics (3E) or All-round (3S) variants of the Banshee? Or the Missile variants of the Battlemaster (1S, Hellslinger, 2C)?

[TELEFORCE]

SmokedJag, on 03 June 2017 - 04:39 AM, said:

Nova Cat is a second Clan 70 tonner that's energy focused (and also has a huge rack missile boat variant, default LRM 90 - kek). Summoner flies, this one has the better hardpoint configuration. Nova Cat will need heat quirks to be viable in most of those loadouts. Big Question: How are Heavy Lasers and this thing's heat quirks?

The Nova Cat can also boat ballistics. With the B and D arm pods, it has a total of four ballistic hard points. The 'mech has 38 tons of pod space to play with with the stock armor, and can mount jump jet pods in the side torsos.

[Pariah Devalis]

Nova Cat provides a good (as in a solid, well rounded, flexible) 70-ton option. I really doubt it will need quirks, though if it got some, mobility would probably benefit it the most. It is easily comparable to the Night Gyr, in that both come with 38 tons of pod space in a 70ish kph heavy platform. However, the NTG is forced to deal with tons of locked crit slots. The Nova Cat isn't.

NCT has standard armor and optional jump jets, which means it starts with extra crit slots over the Night Gyr. This means you have the room to socket the DHS you need to function as an energy boat. 30 DHS is entirely possible on it. It also can pack a theoretically higher missile payload, due to having 6 missile hardpoints to the Gyr's maximum of 5. Meanwhile, the C and D variants provide ballistic arm options, leading to up to 4 ballistic mounts. However, the Night Gyr has a better spread of physical ballistic hardpoint locations, in greater numbers, meaning it should edge out the NCT in dakka. For energy, missiles, or a hybrid build that may or may not include ballistics, however, the Nova Cat should be a better platform.

It's also an omni, so all can jump. Depends on if you want to give up ST energy mounts or not.

Edited by Pariah Devalis, 03 June 2017 - 06:12 AM.

[Weeny Machine]

TELEFORCE, on 03 June 2017 - 02:34 AM, said:

I'm planning on pre-ordering the Nova Cat. I've been waiting for the ability to spam six LRM-15s, or six of any of my favorite missile launcher, for that matter! Yes, I have a thing for Clan pocket assault omnimechs.



I'm not sure of this myself as they both existed in lore, but looked different. The omnimech version of the Arctic Wolf looked like the one featured in MechWarrior 4, while the battlemech version looks like the concept art.

Could be nasty with the ATMs

[SmokedJag]

TELEFORCE, on 03 June 2017 - 04:55 AM, said:

The Nova Cat can also boat ballistics. With the B and D arm pods, it has a total of four ballistic hard points. The 'mech has 38 tons of pod space to play with with the stock armor, and can mount jump jet pods in the side torsos.

I just realized that the way PGI distributed the locked stuff, the Nova Cat can actually mount 2xLBX20 with those mixed arms. It doesn't have ferro and the endo spots aren't locked there either. And it will still have tonnage for ammo or other weapons. That's interesting...besides the Hunchback IIC can anything smaller than 85 tons fit that at all?

Athom83, on 03 June 2017 - 04:47 AM, said:

Um... do you not notice the Balisics (3E) or All-round (3S) variants of the Banshee? Or the Missile variants of the Battlemaster (1S, Hellslinger, 2C)?

You're right, I just have a twitch reflex to what Banshee and Battlemaster carry after playing on Clan side in Tukayyid. Nightstar would still be distinct from them in carrying multiple big ballistics.

Edited by SmokedJag, 03 June 2017 - 06:41 AM.

[Karl Marlow]

I never see a Ballistics Banshee. I do see Missile Battlemasters from time to time.

The Nightstar does look interesting. It's an oversized Maradaer looking at the Art. It comes with alot of XL engines that would likely need to be traded down.and the ECM one is in the reinforcements window. hmm.

As I only buy IS mechs the only other mech I would be tempted to buy is the Osiris but judging from the response so far it doesn't look like it really brings anything special. Any Osiris love out there?

[Mcgral18]

SmokedJag, on 03 June 2017 - 04:39 AM, said:

Nightstar is much, much more practical for most things than the Annihilator or King Crab, the other big guns. It's faster with better arms. Plus as noted the Banshee and Battlemaster are energy-only. It's also a very different ECM carrier than an Atlas or Cyclops. Overall it's power creepy but people knew it would be good. Big Question: Are those actuators fixed?

Not entirely true
Banshee and BM both have ballistic options, but they're all in the same location (3 arm BM, 4 ST Banshee)

So, at best the Banshee is 3 RAC2 w/ LFE or XL, while the NightStar can do Quad RAC5 (10 tons of ammo @xl350, LFE must be closer to ~300)

They'll be much better Dakka carriers, because of the separated mounts. This isn't Clam Dakka, isACs are big.

[Ultimax]

Pariah Devalis, on 03 June 2017 - 06:12 AM, said:

Nova Cat provides a good (as in a solid, well rounded, flexible) 70-ton option. I really doubt it will need quirks, though if it got some, mobility would probably benefit it the most. It is easily comparable to the Night Gyr, in that both come with 38 tons of pod space in a 70ish kph heavy platform. However, the NTG is forced to deal with tons of locked crit slots. The Nova Cat isn't.

NCT has standard armor and optional jump jets, which means it starts with extra crit slots over the Night Gyr. This means you have the room to socket the DHS you need to function as an energy boat. 30 DHS is entirely possible on it. It also can pack a theoretically higher missile payload, due to having 6 missile hardpoints to the Gyr's maximum of 5. Meanwhile, the C and D variants provide ballistic arm options, leading to up to 4 ballistic mounts. However, the Night Gyr has a better spread of physical ballistic hardpoint locations, in greater numbers, meaning it should edge out the NCT in dakka. For energy, missiles, or a hybrid build that may or may not include ballistics, however, the Nova Cat should be a better platform.

It's also an omni, so all can jump. Depends on if you want to give up ST energy mounts or not.

You forgot to add that PGI will likely soon nerf-hammer the hell out of Night Gyrs now that, conveniently, there is a pre-pay almost identical alternative to buy.

[Angel of Annihilation]

Karl Marlow, on 03 June 2017 - 01:16 AM, said:

So, aside from the pretty, is there any new possibilities added to the game with the new Escalation mechs? Is there anything there we couldnt do before?

Having been playing with the Javelin the last several weeks I'm not seeing much point to the Osiris.

The Nightstar has a Jump Jet and an ECM variant in the 95 ton category. I also don't believe the Banshees can mount anything other than Lasers. So that's different.

The Arctic Wolf brings an ECM pod to the 40 ton bracket and also brings Battlemechs to the clan 40 ton bracket.

The Nova Cat I'm having a harder time comparing. Right now I think all we have in the Clan 70 tons is the Summoner. As most of the Nova Cats don't jump maybe it will have a more flexible loadout?

What alot of people seem to forget it that there is a whole heck of alot more to a mech than its hardpoints and weight.

What the Nightstar brings is great geometry which will likely provide it with good hit boxes and high mounted hardpoints. Think Marauder IIC but bigger and with all cockpit level weapons mounts. It won't go as fast but it should be just as tanky without having to expose as much of itself as the Marauder IIC does. To be honest there is a very good likelyhood it might end up being the best IS Assault mech to date, that is unless PGI gives it the Direwhale treatment as far as agility goes.

As far as the rest, I am not too sure.

The Arctic Wolf is kind of interesting because it isn't going to fit into any real stereotype. If you go Omni with it, your getting a slow 40 tonner that can either jump well or use ECM but not really both (3 JJ isn't enough to jump well). If you go battlemech, to go for extra speed, then you have fixed hardpoints and no ECM which has its own issues. It is also missile heavy so I can't think of anything really to compare it to except maybe a smaller Kintaro which isn't a good comparison at all.

The Osiris is going to offer another bird mech that can run fast and carry quite a bit of weapons. It is going to be a solid light but its lack of ECM will hold it back and I am not sure there aren't as good or better options.

The Nova Cat doesn't add much at all in my opinion other than it being a popular mech that alot of people are interested in. Most of its hardpoints are in its arms which are kind of low slung and it has a super wide torso with easily distinguishable Hitbots that just scream "Shoot me" Builds will be similar to the Night Gyr so I expect it to have similar mobility or lack there of.

Edited by Viktor Drake, 03 June 2017 - 01:42 PM.

[Alan Davion]

Athom83, on 03 June 2017 - 04:47 AM, said:

Um... do you not notice the Balisics (3E) or All-round (3S) variants of the Banshee? Or the Missile variants of the Battlemaster (1S, Hellslinger, 2C)?

Don't forget La Malinche.

[MischiefSC]

Imperius, on 03 June 2017 - 04:41 AM, said:

In October I will look for you on the battlefield with my Mad Cat MK II. Watch your cockpit it shall be a glorious battle!

Ordered both.

Because my new motto is "MadCat MKII in the streets, Nightstar in the sheets".

Edited by MischiefSC, 03 June 2017 - 01:49 PM.

[TheArisen]

MischiefSC, on 03 June 2017 - 01:48 PM, said:

Ordered both.

Because my new motto is "MadCat MKII in the streets, Nightstar in the sheets".

Haha that's awesome. If I had more money I'd have done that.

[WrathOfDeadguy]

Meh. None of these are even in my top 20.

The Osiris has a bunch of high mounts, which is new for an IS 30-tonner. It looks like it's gonna be mostly CT, though.

Arctic Wolf is interesting because it's the first 'Mech in-game with both Battlemech and Omnimech variants... it'll be funny to see the confused posts after it comes out.

Nova Cat is... yeah, it's sort of iconic, I guess, but it's a gunbag Clan heavy and that just isn't anything to look up from the paper for these days.

Nightstar... yup, it's an assault. Woohoo? Nice art, but I'm just not feelin' it.

Would have been nice if this pack had one Clan and one IS heavy, since the last one had Clan light, IS med, IS assault, Clan assault... this one could have been IS light, Clan med, IS heavy, Clan heavy. Or something. Maybe something 60 tons that's got all high mounts, long smexy legs, and a name that starts with A. Followed by an R. Then a G, a U, and an S.