Uziel And "mobile Harassment Niche" Madness.
#1
Posted 13 December 2017 - 05:07 AM
But now I did read, and this particular sentence is.... to put it plainly, complete nonsense.
Well, to be honest, more of insanity.
Uziel's design just does not allow to fulfill such role correctly, and we have to wonder if such 'niche' should be fulfilled in the first place.
1. So what is mobile harassment niche? WTF is this in the first place?
One problem is there is really no solid definition for 'mobile harassment niche'? I can conjure that PGI probably meant 'durr hurr long-range poking', the fact that Uziel got weird and useless 10% range quirks.
Well, first time that came to my mind when I saw 'mobile harassment niche' was... light mechs. They are actually mobile, excellent harassment mechs. Light mechs are....
1) Far more mobile.
2) Far smaller than Uziel.
3) with most of them actually have defensive quirks and offensive quirks.
And they are good at that. And of course, on top of all three, light mechs also can cover "long-range poking" really well. Even classic Raven with ERLL is still workable thanks to high-mount hardpoints and a properly placed cockpit view.
'mobile harassment niche' is not even really niche when there are entire mech weight class almost dedicated to this role.
And then we add mechs like Cicada and other mechs like Hunche and Shadow Hawk, one must realize Uziel actually has TONS of competition here. No matter how much PGI can increase its mobility, Uziel is still a medium mech and cannot match those agile light mechs in the first place. Only advantages Uziel has are...
1) More weight for more weapons.
2) More durability due to increased armor... oh wait.
Do you see the problem here? there are SO MANY mechs that can do mobile harassment so well that this area is so crowded. Uziel with such weak quirks and horrid physical aspects just cannot compete against well-established favorites.
Then how about long-range poking only?
2. Long-Range Poking is dominated by Clan mechs.
What's the merit of having Uziel as long-range poking, when IS tech just does not give the mech edge against Clan mechs? Even with 10% range boost, Clan mechs are going to outrange Uziel with no problems. I mean unless the mech has godlike hardpoint locations like Battlemaster, there is little reason to pick Uziel over any jump-capable Clan medium mechs.
And speaking of Long-Range Poking, does physical shape of Uziel fit for such fight?
3. Terrible shape for long-range fight.
Uziel has several flaws.
1) The mech is really, really wide, thus having serious convergence issue. Not so much problem for short-medium range, but for long range it is getting hard to properly damage mechs that are moving. Really troublesome for PPC.
2) Cockpit is located on the center of the mech, which means Uziel suffers Stormcrow Problem; the enemy sees you before you see them. Terrible for hill-hopping.
3) Hardpoints are relatively placed high, but they are all over the places. This makes convergence issue EVEN worse, and severely cripples the mech's ability of corner poking, as if wide nature of Uziel was not enough for crippling that ability.
4) Because the legs are really thin and long, thanks to so called "volumatric scaling", Uziel is quite fat. It's huge, wide, suffers very same problem that mechs like Awesome suffers.
High-mounted hardpoints are definitely strong, but they are mostly negated by terrible cockpit placement. One of the reasons why Rifleman is better for long-range, poking fight than Jagermech.
All of those flaws would be somewhat solved by quirks, if 'mobile harassment niche' was actually 'niche' and not many mechs cover this role. But even in IS side we have excellent mechs like Shadow Hawk, Enforcer or Hunchback if we give up jumpjet for mediums alone.
There are properly quirked mechs like even Vindicator 1AA would be far better PPC poptart than Uziel ever hopes to be, because Vindicator actually has enough armor to survive incoming fire from poptarting.
4. Uziel is suffering "support fire light mech" problem.
I cannot stop thinking about mechs like Adder, Kitfox and Cougar when I look at Uziel. Uziel is really oversized support fire light mech. Just like Cougar Uziel can carry a lot of weapons, but the size is too huge and the agility is not enough to save the mech from having low-armor / bad hitboxes.
If Uziel was a Clan mech, the solution would be quite easy. I could just slap the biggest XL engine so the Uzeil can move as fast as light mechs. Problem solved. Except I cannot do that because Uziel is an IS mech, and with such physical shape XL engine is out of question. And even if I equip XL engine, the sheer weight of IS weapons mean I am not also allowed to put many weapons if I put the biggest engine on this particular mech. So the speed is basically out of question.
PGI is doing absolute best to not apply defensive quirks on Uziel, but I am also absolutely confident that this mech will be forever trash, so called "It's a TRAP" mech for newbies until the mech gets massive defensive quirks that even Bushwacker would jealously look at.
#2
Posted 13 December 2017 - 05:10 AM
Skirmisher.
#3
Posted 13 December 2017 - 05:34 AM
#5
Posted 13 December 2017 - 05:37 AM
CK16, on 13 December 2017 - 05:34 AM, said:
1) It's Clan mech, with Clan tech.
2) It's quite fast.
3) Cockpit is placed on much saner location (read : top of the mech)
4) It's quite small.
Shadow Cat actually lacks hardpoints a bit, but Clan weaponary covers that problem. Convergence is definitely issue... as long as you are trying to use both arms. But usually just two PPCs on one arm and nearby side torso is more than enough (or ERLLs, or two Heavy Large lasers) which lessens the convergence issue.
Edited by The Lighthouse, 13 December 2017 - 05:38 AM.
#6
Posted 13 December 2017 - 05:46 AM
The Lighthouse, on 13 December 2017 - 05:37 AM, said:
1) It's Clan mech, with Clan tech.
2) It's quite fast.
3) Cockpit is placed on much saner location (read : top of the mech)
4) It's quite small.
Shadow Cat actually lacks hardpoints a bit, but Clan weaponary covers that problem. Convergence is definitely issue... as long as you are trying to use both arms. But usually just two PPCs on one arm and nearby side torso is more than enough (or ERLLs, or two Heavy Large lasers) which lessens the convergence issue.
True. But the tech gap is not that large of an issue really. (In a 1 v 1 a Shadowcat and Uziel are pretty even IMO). I was just saying the play style is very much the same. A play style that not everyone can handle though. Same for the Thanatos, it is simular to the Summoner I would say, and sometimes a difficult mech to play right, but is possible though do well consistently if you know how to run it.
#7
Posted 13 December 2017 - 06:43 AM
#8
Posted 13 December 2017 - 06:50 AM
tker 669, on 13 December 2017 - 06:43 AM, said:
IMHO? Because some players refuse to play a mech to its strengths in a playstyle outside of their traditional style. They want a mech to be able to copy paste a loadout into it and prefer the same or better then the prior chassis. Like you said Jump Jets for mobility and GTFO from line of fire, but how many players load up on Jump jets? How many just take 1 or 2 instead of the 3+ usually found on all jumping mechs? That right there should say what they expect of the mech if they do not pay attention to its jump capacity and ignore it all together.
#9
Posted 13 December 2017 - 07:22 AM
#10
Posted 13 December 2017 - 08:08 AM
#11
Posted 13 December 2017 - 08:33 AM
What ever niche it's apart of it can't even do it that well, there's lighter more durable mechs with better firepower to fill the roll better.
If PGI won't give it's ST more durability then make it to a glass cannon with more offensive quirks.
#12
Posted 13 December 2017 - 08:40 AM
#14
Posted 13 December 2017 - 09:01 AM
Anyone know for sure?
#15
Posted 13 December 2017 - 09:38 AM
We already have the Centurion, Crab, Enforcer, Hunchback, and Trebuchet setup with various levels of brawling, whether it be MPL boating, large AC with lasers, or SRM spam. Uziel is different in that it gets super good mobility for peeking, poptarting, and mid-long range builds.
Just fit the thing with dual ERPPC or dual HPPC, some jump jets, an XL engine, and as many jump jets as you can fit and just don't get hit.
#16
Posted 13 December 2017 - 11:20 AM
#17
Posted 13 December 2017 - 11:20 AM
Though I do have to LOL at the Uziel and Shadowcat being even comment. The SHC will SRM-bomb the Uziel and that will be the end of it.
#18
Posted 13 December 2017 - 11:26 AM
#19
Posted 13 December 2017 - 11:42 AM
And finally. Bring it lower to the ground! It's too damn tall. It looks like an Independence Day alien reject. We should have that low to the ground loping predator look. Not an awkward gangly creature that would probably fall over rather easily.
#20
Posted 13 December 2017 - 12:06 PM
Yeonne Greene, on 13 December 2017 - 11:20 AM, said:
Though I do have to LOL at the Uziel and Shadowcat being even comment. The SHC will SRM-bomb the Uziel and that will be the end of it.
I can't remember the last time I have seen a SCH with SRMs. They seem to carry lasers or ppc
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