21 replies to this topic

[Quicksilver Aberration]

East Indy, on 16 November 2024 - 09:34 AM, said:

• Damage is location-based, so units can be disabled with concentrated fire
  
• Obtainable alpha sizes circumvent this
  
• Players up-ton and developers up-armor to compensate

The "up-armor" has only really happened twice:

• With clans, the introduction of the Clan XL. However this was less about the increased survivability and more about the extra firepower without sacrificing it.
  
• The past several years of mechs slowly getting less fragile due to the increased firepower getting slung around after the heat sink buff in 2018.

So not really sure what cycle you are talking about given it's only somewhat happened twice. Typically it's the large alpha just gets nerfed into the ground.

[1453 R]

East Indy, on 16 November 2024 - 09:34 AM, said:

Why do top-ranked players hide behind rocks and peek all match long?

Because taking damage you don't have to take is for chumps, losers, and T4 casuals. That and I will say - even though I almost never watch any sort of ranked play, I know for a fact they do not hide behind rocks and peek "all match long". Ultracomps are seeking to take and hold advantageous ground; if they don't have a good shot they'll be moving to get a good shot. When I participated in World Comp a few years back (the Night Gyr year, I believe), the few times we actually ran into a competitive team and not "hey let's get a bunch of randos together to meme for prizes", we were pretty quickly overrun by heavy aggression. Compies don't believe in ceding the initiative to the enemy; if you're not getting shot at, it's only because they're moving to find a way to shoot at you even worse.

East Indy, on 16 November 2024 - 09:34 AM, said:

Why are the only units that spend any time out in the open like the Aksum?

An Aksum in the open is the same as anything else in the open - a turkey to get shot at. Lone assault 'Mechs parked in empty space with no cover are Kerensky's favorite punching clowns. Very little makes a more appealing target than a lone overextended assault 'Mech that can be picked off without being able to properly return fire. What a gift the enemy has chosen to give me.

If the Aksum in question is part of a battle line, then it's not really 'in the open'. Its cover is the fire of the six to eight teammates around it laying waste to anything that shows its head, at which point the objective becomes "circumvent the enemy battle line." Man. if only players actually played 'Mechs with the mobility to be able to circumvent enemy battle lines, instead of every match being nine Annihilators, two Fatnirs, and a lone UrbanMech for the memes.

East Indy, on 16 November 2024 - 09:34 AM, said:

Why do players prefer a Warthog to a HBK-4G?

Because APG are the New Hotness and the Warthog is the best at using them. The HBK-4G is one of the oldest 'Mechs in the game, it has been power crept into obsolescence even with its generous Quirkening. Up-armoring and such have little to do with why Punchbacks aren't popular anymore. Frankly, the 4G has never been the signature Hunchbro - even back in the pre-Clans days, the 4SP Shrimp Boat ate its lunch.

Is the Warthog an issue that likely should not have been introduced in its current state? Sure. But even if the Warthog didn't exist at all, that wouldn't make the Punchback good.

East Indy, on 16 November 2024 - 09:34 AM, said:

Follow the logic, man.

You first? Evidence-based decisions. Compies are not passive 'snipers' that refuse to engage the enemy; that's chickendicker Puglandians. Nobody sits out in the open bare-assed without support without paying for it. Old 'Mechs are old, we've all known this for years.