76 replies to this topic

[Canis Black]

WAAAGH WAGON, on 25 April 2024 - 05:50 PM, said:

For me HAWK-KU is a very strange mech.
The build on 2AC-2 (+T2 comp) is beautiful! It's just like 2 RAC5 with no heat, jam and with instant fire. It's beautiful.
And 14 eML variants also play well for me.

But.
I look at the HAWK-KU and then I look at the CRT-6T. I think there is some mystery here.
I look at the left arm with 2 missile slots, and then I look at the right arm and I don't see the same arm on the other side...

Is this a good mech? Yes.
Is it a weird mech? Yes.
Do I like it? The version with the ballistic slots is definitely yes! It's something unique. But otherwise, the clan nova in my opinion provides just more variety in terms of build options. Much like some of the spheroid analogs...

Worth noting that there are still three unreleased variants with the associated torso and opposite arm omnipods. Not sure what we're going to see yet, but looking at the Sarna.net page on the Blackhawk-KU I think there's at least one variant that will have side torso omnipods granting at least one AMS slot each allowing for dual AMS builds.

[Big-G]

I for one love the BHKU... it's a brilliant laser knife fighter...

[Al_Bundy]

Unfortunately, this Mech has an XL engine, which is really suboptimal in connection with the weapons, which are designed more for close combat.

You can't take Ferro armor or replace the engine, which is really a massive handicap.

Let's hope that PGI will at some point realize that the IS XL engines really need to be redesigned.

So did you have fun with that part?
Yes, as long as you get close enough and the team members can distract the opponent so that you can apply DMG "unnoticed", in "open" combat ... the part is broken faster than you think ... side torso is gone, it is actually already a death sentence

translated by google

[Al_Bundy]

For me the best variant that I have “found” so far is:
2x Light AC5 (2-3 tons of ammunition, thanks to Quirks 3 tons are 1200 rounds)
2x Medium Pulse Lasers

plus of course appropriate skills...especially cooldown, so that you can get LAC10 fire "permanently".

[Poseidolon]

SB Gauss isn't getting the ammo quirk that it's supposed to be getting.
Only magshot and machine guns were excluded, yes?

[Cheeks Akimbo]

I'm running it with a single Uac 20 and two tons of ammo
Most of my matches in it have been around 700 damage and minimum 1 kill

[crazytimes]

I want to buy it... But I'm waiting for the next patch notes to see if there's a nerf to quirks incoming before I commit.

[martian]

crazytimes, on 27 April 2024 - 01:21 PM, said:

I want to buy it... But I'm waiting for the next patch notes to see if there's a nerf to quirks incoming before I commit.

Do not worry about it: The nerf will come "after" you buy the 'Mech.

[Void Angel]

Thus it falls to you never to buy the BHKU, so that the nerf will never happen. Take one for the team - fight for the Inner Sphere!

[Canis Black]

I'm curious does anyone know if they've said anything about when, or if, they'll be making faction color schemes available for the Blackhawk-KU?

I'm actually willing to drop some MC to paint mine up as a Davion mech.

[Void Angel]

Hmm... I haven't heard anything, but I don't follow the podcasts much, either.

[Solomon Birch]

Slapping the Dragon on it made me buy the Black Hawk. And the Li Dok To.

[Arkhangel]

Only suboptimal if you're a tool who doesn't know how to maneuver and armor angle. This thing isn't meant to sit still.

Lobster in Leggins, on 24 April 2024 - 04:11 PM, said:

finally an accurate review of the mech, carriying my 20$ to my dealer now instead

Accurate that the guy's a horrible pilot.

This isn't a mech you Leeroy in like an idiot with. Nor one you should turret with. You have to use it tactically. And if it is used that way, it's incredibly strong. Just like any other IS XL'd mech who used the weight savings to bump the engine up, or significantly increase the firepower. I've been running an XL in my Centurion for probably close to a decade. And because I actually know how to Armor Angling and Maneuver, the vast majority of times it dies is to be CT cored. That or it took an entire lance surrounding me.

The mech ain't the problem here.

Edited by Arkhangel, 28 April 2024 - 06:16 PM.

[KursedVixen]

Noishkel Hauptman, on 23 April 2024 - 01:42 PM, said:

I heard some chatter on a live stream (can't recall where) that there was some consideration about making this mech immune to destruction when you loose a side torso. Is this the case, or was it just wishful thinking on who said it.

wishful thinking will never happen. if it does that means clan Xls don't get any disadvantage from losing a side torso.

Arkhangel, on 28 April 2024 - 06:07 PM, said:

Only suboptimal if you're a tool who doesn't know how to maneuver and armor angle. This thing isn't meant to sit still.


Accurate that the guy's a horrible pilot.

This isn't a mech you Leeroy in like an idiot with. Nor one you should turret with. You have to use it tactically. And if it is used that way, it's incredibly strong. Just like any other IS XL'd mech who used the weight savings to bump the engine up, or significantly increase the firepower. I've been running an XL in my Centurion for probably close to a decade. And because I actually know how to Armor Angling and Maneuver, the vast majority of times it dies is to be CT cored. That or it took an entire lance surrounding me.

The mech ain't the problem here.

omni's can't change engines or armor or structure. Blackhawk KU is IS omni first one ever so fixed components like armor structure and engine along wiht jump jets.

Edited by KursedVixen, 28 April 2024 - 11:43 PM.

[Canis Black]

Arkhangel, on 28 April 2024 - 06:07 PM, said:

Only suboptimal if you're a tool who doesn't know how to maneuver and armor angle. This thing isn't meant to sit still.


Accurate that the guy's a horrible pilot.

This isn't a mech you Leeroy in like an idiot with. Nor one you should turret with. You have to use it tactically. And if it is used that way, it's incredibly strong. Just like any other IS XL'd mech who used the weight savings to bump the engine up, or significantly increase the firepower. I've been running an XL in my Centurion for probably close to a decade. And because I actually know how to Armor Angling and Maneuver, the vast majority of times it dies is to be CT cored. That or it took an entire lance surrounding me.

The mech ain't the problem here.

I'm not even that good a pilot and even I've figured that out. You move, you shoot, and you scoot with the Blackhawk. I've been playing with it almost exclusively since the day it came out and I've actually died to overheating more than I have to enemy action but just about every time the enemy's taken me out it's been because I got surrounded and overwhelmed or I had next to no armor and all my internals were in the red before someone got a lucky shot.

I admit I "cheat" by taking all the survival skills even/especially the ones that reduce the incoming critical chance, but not even that would save me if I played the Blackhawk like it was a lumbering assault or even a standard heavy like the Marauder or Orion.

[Void Angel]

Er, survival nodes are required for anyone in the know. If you don't take those nodes, it's a strong indicator that you lack competence. =)

[Tarl Cabot]

Arkhangel, on 28 April 2024 - 06:07 PM, said:

Only suboptimal if you're a tool who doesn't know how to maneuver and armor angle. This thing isn't meant to sit still.


Accurate that the guy's a horrible pilot.

This isn't a mech you Leeroy in like an idiot with. Nor one you should turret with. You have to use it tactically. And if it is used that way, it's incredibly strong. Just like any other IS XL'd mech who used the weight savings to bump the engine up, or significantly increase the firepower. I've been running an XL in my Centurion for probably close to a decade. And because I actually know how to Armor Angling and Maneuver, the vast majority of times it dies is to be CT cored. That or it took an entire lance surrounding me.

The mech ain't the problem here.

You may be able to maneuver and angle, but only to soak up damage, not put out the damage to actually help your team. The seasons Jarls (last recorded Nov 2023 and players do not show up on the tracker until they have played at least 10 QP games), you are barely averaging an overall 186 MS, thus likely putting you in Tier 4, if that.

• Centurion is a humanoid mech, with large arms for shields vs the BH-KU, a chicken walker
  
• Though no Hitbox Localization for it, it is essentially a Nova with additional pod space added to it to add some more volume.
  
• Based on that info, its ST is more viable to be hit, it essentially 3 CT instead of 1 CT or 2 ST to kill.
  
• If what I am able to view, it has, by default, overall 80 pts CT vs 70 pts (63 + 7) ST with some IS points

When the XL came out, the fun part (sadly) was calling out XL check by aiming and destroying a ST. And destroying a ST to remove a mech also meant fewer mechs on the battlefield (both sides). Most players learned to torso twist to spread damage but to have the XL die to the loss of the first ST instead of both ST or CT or 1st ST then CT does not it equivalent to the other engines. Even back when XL went live, the game did not have the type of damage output the game has today. Ghost Heat went live around July 2013, essentially eliminating the 6PPC Stalker


https://mwomercs.com...cale-the-maths/

But once the Clans went live in mid 2014, a few times PGI had brought up normalizing the XL with the cXL/LFE, where it would not die on the last of the first ST, but that never came to be. On an interesting note, when Clans went live, other than dying after the lost of both ST, there were initially no heat/movement penalties. Heat penalty for cXL was added first, at 20% the movement penalty for same 20% months later then finally upped it to 40%. The next update would remove the heat capacity lost from the top of the Heat Scale instead of from the bottom. People who rode that heat line starting to explode!!

Just saying, by reworking the LFE and both XL versions and allowing all to survive the loss of that 1st ST, while not redlining the Heat Scale, different and lower penalties could be applied to both the LFE and cXL.

Edited by Tarl Cabot, 29 April 2024 - 05:59 PM.