evilauthor, on 24 August 2017 - 08:47 PM, said:
I can see Quads being popular as sniping platforms, but utterly suck in close combat because they can't torso twist (side straddling and whole mech turning is no substitute) and low profile doesn't help that much when your profile is bigger than the enemies' crosshairs pointed at you.
Not to mention that some of the bigger quads are going to stand taller than some of the lighter bipedal mechs anyway!
Completely correct, and this experience is reflected in other games. In War Robots, there are two quad mechs, the Fujin and the Raijin. The Raijin is basically used as a sniper and the Fujin a long range homing missile platform. Their large profiles means low survivability, hence the Raijin comes with a physical shield and the Fujin an energy force field. But since Battletech does not have technology canon for either, that would be an issue. A quad mech would have an enormous top down profile that would certainly take a lot of damage from LRMs and air strikes.
When players are allowed to completely bolt on to create entirely custom mechs for battles, something that Chromehounds did, the optimal shape is something like a Raptor, or for better words, something that would look like a giant Raven. Least frontal profile and least surface area as possible for the smallest hit boxes for the size.
Edited by Anjian, 24 August 2017 - 09:40 PM.