The Warthog does exist - but the strongest build is 14 APGauss. Even so, the Warthog has counters, notably due to its low agility, durability, and speed - as well as its lack of jump jets. It was strong in the recent Solaris tournament, but far from uncontested. And, even though it falls into the Light category, it functions more as a pocket Medium, much like the Urbanmech chassis.
But your own anecdote gives an example of why Flamers are so hard to balance, as long as heat damage is part of their mechanics. You're not generally troubled by flamers. Why? Because you use heat-efficient weapons on your go-to Battlemechs. But players using hotter builds with large up-front heat costs, like HPPCs or Heavy Lasers, might be literally unable to fire without taking significant overheat damage. If his 'mech can also mount ballistics, he can slap on some MGs and devote every scrap of his spare tonnage to heat capacity...then keep you at 90% heat for tactical eternity while he hammers at you with HMGs. The only thing high heat builds can do there is call for their team and try to chain fire their weapons to keep from frying their own internals just trying to play the game.
Consider this: 4.5 heat damage will take a bit to add up, but a flamer build isn't going to approach you and ask for a Batchall - he's going to pick his moment, and if he gets it right... well, a
Kodiak Spirit Bear's skilled-up Heat Capacity with 17 DHS is 61.53 - with "only" 3.74 cooling per second, and he only has enough leftover capacity (at the flamer's maximum 90%) to fire his LB-20X, without cooking internals. If the Flamer 'mech is a
Crael with HMGs, he is in serious trouble. That Crael can exceed his cooling by 5.26 hps, which means that if the Kodiak is doing
absolutely nothing, the Crael will 90% his heat capacity in 11.70 seconds. If he does the smart thing and fires as much as he can before his heat is gone forever, he'll get one alpha plus another round of SRMs before he's at heat cap and restricted to firing his shotgun. If he aims well, his size and firepower should carry the day: there is a reason Flamers aren't meta, after all. But this is not my point - bear with me!
Consider the above scenario, but with a
Gausszilla. That Annihilator will die
laughing at the Crael, and proceed to heatlessly mop the floor with him. But a Stone Crusher, with energy-exclusive hardpoints and slow speed, will be a different matter. Most builds will not have good options.
And that's my point: Flamer effectiveness varies
wildly depending on what kind of build you're targeting. More than any other weapon system in the game; the only reason flamers are not more disruptive than LRMs is their dramatically shorter range and lack of higher-tonnage options. Consider the math I did with the Spirit Bear, but add or subtract one heat damage per second - the time before overheat will be quite different.
Flamers are irritating to fight against for the same reason people hate LRMs: part of their core mechanic it to prevent other players from fighting back. That doesn't mean they couldn't use a balance pass - and it doesn't mean they're only used by the kind of objectively immoral people who vote for Alpine Peaks. But it does make them very difficult to balance, just like LRMs.
Edit: ... well, the post by SockSlayer which I was addressing here seems to have been deleted, but I think it stands on on its own.
Edited by Void Angel, 27 May 2025 - 09:46 PM.
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InnerSphereNews, on 16 May 2025 - 10:50 AM, said:
