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Engines? My Wife Doesn't Understand...


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#1 FEK315

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Posted 27 November 2020 - 06:14 AM

Can you all help me explain to my wife with as few meta explanations as possible why there are three different types of engines in MWO.

She wants to explain my MWO habit to her friends and family at the Christmas dinner table. We tried this at the Thanksgiving dinner table but I was chewing with my mouth open on turkey that was 3 years old...Posted Image

Using the most direct description can you answer the following questions about the XL, Clan XL, Light and Standard engines as they pertain to MWO 2020.


1. Can you give 3 advantages and 3 disadvantages to each engine ?

2. When would you use each engine? Example- one is faster but more vulnerable. Another frees up weapon slots, another takes more heat sinks....

3. Can you list 2 build scenarios for each?

4. Can you suggest your most used engine and why you picked it?[/color]

Thank you in advance. FEK315...OUT!

Edited by FEK315, 27 November 2020 - 06:17 AM.


#2 Lieutenant Hedgehog

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Posted 27 November 2020 - 08:35 AM

Standard Engines are the default engine, they are the heaviest but also use the least amount of critical slots. Mechs which use standard engines often use other tech, like Endo-Steel Structure and Ferro-Fibrous Armor, to save tonnage. Because a standard engine uses the least critical slots, it has a great survivability advantage over other engines, at the expense of free tonnage.

By contrast, an XL engine frees up massive amounts of tonnage. XL Engines are ideal for maximizing the amount of firepower and armor you can fit onto a Mech. Unfortunately, Inner Sphere XL Engines take up 3 critical spaces in each side torso. Not only does this limit the amount of space to mount equipment, it makes a Mech extremely vulnerable. Destruction of a side torso will destroy the mech.

Clan XL take up only 2 side torso slots, and as such are vastly superior. Clan tech is generally superior, that's kind of their place in the universe, the dangerous, advanced race. They can only be used on Clan mechs, and in MWO Clan mechs often have a 'fixed' structure which prevent you from changing which engine is equipped.

Inner Sphere Light Engines are a great compromise to an XL, and my preferred engine type. They take only 2 side torso slots, and offer a modest tonnage improvement over Standard engines. They are the better blend of survivability and weight advantage, in my opinion. I will often take a standard IS Mech variant and upgrade the Standard Engine to a Light, because it allows me to add better weaponry without worrying about my mechs' survival.

Edited by Lieutenant Hedgehog, 27 November 2020 - 08:37 AM.


#3 Lieutenant Hedgehog

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Posted 27 November 2020 - 08:54 AM

So, it's a question of trade offs.

If you are looking to maximize a mechs capabilities, an XL or Light engine is the way to go.

Faster engines weigh more, so to get maximum speed you usually need an XL or Light engine.

More weaponry requires more tonnage, so you usually want to swap a Standard Engine for an XL or a Light, so you can fit more weapons.

If critical space becomes an issue more than tonnage, a Light Engine may be preferable to an XL. For example, if speed and tonnage are not an issue and you want to fit something like a Gauss rifle in a side torso, you might opt for a Standard or Light engine.

You may find that an XL engine makes your mech too vulnerable and easy to kill, in which case you may sacrifice some extra tonnage in favor of the survivability of a Light Engine or Standard Engine.

Light and XL engines are also very expensive, so you may opt to use Endo-Steel or Ferro-Fibrous to save tonnage, rather than incur the cost of a new engine (which is often nearly the same price as an entire new Mech)

As for sample builds,

I have a Black Knight and Supernova which use standard engines, which free up tonnage for weapons with endo-steel. Because of critical space limitations, mounting a different style engine is either impossible, or not worth the cost (minor improvement for extreme cost)

Most of my mechs use Light Engines. I generally am an IS Player. I often switch a Standard engine for a Light Engine of the same rating. Occasionally I can even fit a slightly faster engine. These let me upgrade to better weapons, but I can still survive the loss of a side torso and keep on fighting. So I can take a standard variant, upgrade to a faster light engine, add AMS, add armor, upgrade the weapons (like change a standard AC5 to a Rotary AC5), and now I basically have an improved, upgraded version of the stock variant.

I will have to look at my Mech Bay for an example of an IS XL build I use. One scenario where it makes sense is in a Light mech, where your survivability and available tonnage is already so low, that the extra weight makes more of a difference than the extra vulnerability. Or at the other extreme, an Assault mech. An XL engine could free up so much space that you can create the kind of ultimate firepower meta build that just erases other mechs off the map. And because Assaults have so much armor, the extra vulnerability of a large engine is a little less of a concern.

Edited by Lieutenant Hedgehog, 27 November 2020 - 09:05 AM.


#4 CFC Conky

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Posted 27 November 2020 - 10:02 AM

In a nutshell...

Wanna go fast? XL

Wanna be tanky? STD

A little of both? LFE

Good hunting,
CFC Conky

#5 FEK315

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Posted 27 November 2020 - 06:06 PM

Thank you so much!
I can work with these, to night she is going to play as I coach !
YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!!!
Oh and she says thank you Posted Image

#6 Horseman

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Posted 28 November 2020 - 12:49 AM

View PostFEK315, on 27 November 2020 - 06:14 AM, said:

1. Can you give 3 advantages and 3 disadvantages to each engine ?

IS XL - lightest option for IS mechs (half the tonnage of a STD engine), but bulkiest (3 slots in side torsos), is the most vulnerable (lose a side torso = DIE) and also the most expensive.
STD - the cheapest, most compact option (no slots in sides) with no penalty for losing a side torso but also the heaviest.
LFE - the intermediate ground for IS mechs. Lighter than STD but heavier than XL (75% tonnage of an STD engine) Takes more slots in side torsos than STD but less than IS XL (2 each). If you lose a side torso, your mech will suffer a penalty to its heat capacity and heat dissipation, which may be crippling for an energy boat.
Clan XL - The lighter option for Clan mechs, tonnage savings of an IS XL with the downsides of an IS LFE basically.

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2. When would you use each engine? Example- one is faster but more vulnerable. Another frees up weapon slots, another takes more heat sinks....
If your engine is lighter you can use that tonnage either for more payload or to install a bigger engine, but speed is a function of the ratio of engine rating to your tonnage (16.2 KPH for every equivalent of your tonnage in rating) rather than engine type.
The number of heat sinks is a straight function of engine size (1 per every 25 points in rating).

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4. Can you suggest your most used engine and why you picked it?
Probably LFE300 or LFE325. I'm mostly using engines in 25 steps and this fits in a lot of IS heavy and assault mechs.

Edited by Horseman, 28 November 2020 - 01:02 AM.






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