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It's just awful!


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Poll: The horror! (353 member(s) have cast votes)

Which is the worst Mech ever?

  1. UrbanMech (the trash can) (118 votes [33.43%])

    Percentage of vote: 33.43%

  2. Charger (popgun pretender) (123 votes [34.84%])

    Percentage of vote: 34.84%

  3. Other (please explain) (112 votes [31.73%])

    Percentage of vote: 31.73%

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#141 Brazo Izquierdo de Muerte

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Posted 16 May 2012 - 12:21 AM

ok going out on a limb to talk about one that i dont care for. id have to say other than doing the job it was made for (city defence) id say the annihilator is pretty awful. its big its slow and ALMOST every version of it is eaither no close range firepower or no long range firepower.

the other one id have to say that is pretty bad is the supernova. too much heat not enough sink.

#142 Steamroller Stig

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Posted 16 May 2012 - 04:16 AM

CQC assault mechs

I just call them targets

#143 Jazz30

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Posted 16 May 2012 - 04:24 AM

The fanbase seems to be clearly divided on the "coolness vs. derpness" of the Urbanmech. It's a rather focused design, but I have to give credit; it does what it's supposed to on paper. For my money, the most useless mech is probably the Firestarter. Flamers are a neat concept, but its lack of supporting weaponry makes the FS a huge deficit in most situations.

#144 slade the grey fox

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Posted 16 May 2012 - 04:28 AM

Every Mech has its purpose. You don't send UrbanMechs out into the open and you don't stuff an Archer in a tight quarters city.

If you really want to find a Mech to villify, then find one that has no business on any battlefield at all.

#145 BrokenDog

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Posted 16 May 2012 - 07:07 AM

Urbanmechs and Chargers in BUA are going to cause alot of grief.
That is where they star.
I object to the mechs with more internals than armour!

#146 Dihm

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Posted 16 May 2012 - 09:10 AM

Mad Cat.

#147 GonZo626

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Posted 16 May 2012 - 09:13 AM

bushwacker

#148 Nosforontu

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Posted 16 May 2012 - 10:03 AM

When I used to play TT Battle tech with my friends years ago typically we would be play as a merc unit where the C Bill value of a unit mattered a great deal, Urbies with their 1.6-1.7 Million C-Bill value were a great bargain when you were looking at defending an Urban Environment. Especially when you are looking at body guarding another slow moving unit that is providing indirect fire support for the rest of your forces.

A common city lance that I was fond of as a GM when the players were tasked with hitting the Cappellan cities was 2 Urbies and 2 LRM 20 Carriers for fire support. For about 7 million (the typical price of a non xl 70ton mech or around the average price of an xl equipped 35-40 ton mech) you bring 2 AC 20s and 6 LRM 20s to the battlefield.

That Lance has for example 304 points of armor collectively compared to an Archer of the same eras 208 points has 6 LRM 20s versus the Archers 2 LRM 20s, and collectively you are matching up the Archers 4 MLs versus a pair of AC 20s and you are doing all this for about the same amount of money.

If you look at an Urban Mech in a duel situation or where the numbers on both sides have to be even it tends to do poorly and its a poor choice for a general utility mech but when you are starting to look at using infantry in your mech forces to augment your firepower in relatively static areas Urbies are quick cheap way to stiffen Infantry up at a price that is very competitive with infantry or vehicle choices. When you are looking at budgeting for Battalion and Regimental sized forces (the biggest the players ever got to in the game) those C- Bill Decisions quickly add up.

#149 Melissia

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Posted 16 May 2012 - 12:38 PM

View Postslade the grey fox, on 16 May 2012 - 04:28 AM, said:

If you really want to find a Mech to villify, then find one that has no business on any battlefield at all.
The flea, but as I said, we love it anyway ;)

#150 Paladin1

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Posted 16 May 2012 - 12:39 PM

View PostSleepy Head, on 14 May 2012 - 04:30 PM, said:

MadCat. Not even trolling.

/flamesuit

Wow, talk about balls. I'm not a fan of the MadCat, but my dislike is based more in tactics than in the design's basic unacceptability. And to answer the questions that this statement might bring up, it moves too fast and hasn't got enough staying power for a main-line heavy such as it is. It needs deeper ammo bins and more heat sinks for it to be a true Clan terror. Take a look at a Nova Cat Prime as a good example of what a Clan heavy should look like, and even it's got issues that need addressed.

#151 Paladin1

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Posted 16 May 2012 - 12:42 PM

View Postslade the grey fox, on 16 May 2012 - 04:28 AM, said:

Every Mech has its purpose. You don't send UrbanMechs out into the open and you don't stuff an Archer in a tight quarters city.

If you really want to find a Mech to villify, then find one that has no business on any battlefield at all.

While I agree with you Slade, you and I both know a certain Lyran Archer fanatic who does that very thing and is incredibly successful doing it. I think it's all a matter of how well a pilot knows his design and it's limitations.

#152 Kasiagora

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Posted 16 May 2012 - 07:09 PM

My own least favorite mech is the Mad Cat because in my opinion clan tech broke the game for a while there until IS was allowed to copy it finally so all IS vs Clan games you'd play were one sided, and the Mad Cat was the poster child for this period. But the topic said "worst" mech and the Mad Cat is a damned fine mech. It's too good. And I hate it. ;)
That's why I mentioned the Ostmann mechs, Which still have their own charm. Kinda like the Urbie.

#153 Sleeping Bear

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Posted 16 May 2012 - 07:34 PM

I think that the Charger is a weaker design then the Urbie. The Urbanmech has one great redeeming value that endears it to nearly every TT player out there, IT'S CHEAP. Low cost and b.v. mean for the price of one Arctic Fox, you can rock 3 Urbanmechs. The adorable little Urbie has traditionally been employed with throw away militia in defensive city deployments. It may sound blasphemous, but weight-of-fire does matter in mech battles, and those useless urbies don't seem so crappy when you have 3-to-1 fire superiority with AC10s.

So malign my little Urbie not! The Trashcans shall rise and make you spout new ventilation in your shiny new mechs!

#154 Tincan Nightmare

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Posted 17 May 2012 - 12:49 AM

View PostKip Wilson, on 15 May 2012 - 07:43 PM, said:

Anything Clan. All that stuff is just for the munchkins. i prefer 'mechs with character and the Urbie and Changer have got it in droves. Gimme a 5 sm laser charger with some TSM on it and lets see how much you think it sucks when im running around at 97kph doing 32pt kicks and 15pt laser blasts.

People who criticize the urbie usually expect to take one on in a heavy or assault 'mech. Sure, lets do BV vs BV, your one assault against my 7 urbies. Maybe we should do c-bill vs c-bill. Great, your one heavy vs my 5 urbies. Not to mention there are very few 'mechs that can take on an opponent twice or more its weight and have more than a chance at hades of surviving. That's the Urbie's MO. Who needs speed anyway? Urbies are built for defense. Not to mention my personal variant mounting a sniper artillery piece really has no need for speed :rolleyes:


And with those five sm. lasers, even if you run you will never generate enough heat to activate the TSM to get that 32 point kick, not until the enemy has hit your engine once or twice at least :wacko:.

#155 Tincan Nightmare

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Posted 17 May 2012 - 12:59 AM

The only problem with the Urbanmech and its great 'cost' is that your paying for a machine you can use in only a single environment. If you need it to do anything else besides an urban engagement, then you have to go buy another Mech anyway kinda losing the 'savings' you got from it.

Oh and god I almost forgot the all time worst machine, the Vulcan. Not only does it look like a holocaust survivor it has about the worst weapon loadout ever. The only good thing it carries is the med. laser, otherwise you get the AC/2, MG, and flamer. It probably kicks *** against regular infantry, but it better run from any vehicles and Mechs barring a Stinger or Locust.

Edited by Tincan Nightmare, 17 May 2012 - 01:00 AM.


#156 Owl Cutter

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Posted 17 May 2012 - 02:10 AM

I was gonna mention the Vulcan, but some one else brought up the Jackrabbit... I don't really know about the Vulcan, but it looks useful as an add-on sorta like a Swiss Army knife; at a glance, it looks to me like a Firestarter that trades a little more than half of its weapons for a small anti-air investment. If I ever have to use battlemechs for scouting rather than hovers or VTOLs, I am still not going to try to outfit them for butting heads with 'mechs and tanks, so weapons geared toward other tasks make sense to me, and a lance of Vulcan might be really useful in larger combined-arms games. I find LRM-5 racks more sexy for that role, but it's not the end of the world. (I am more bothered by the MG than the AC/2, since the MG really just looks silly next to the Flamer, while the AC/2 actually does have some unique capability over the alternatives, such as the LRM-5...)

Yes, the Urbie is very specialised. If you're building an army to defend a planet, with mostly units that will just be stationed on round-the-clock readiness around particular points of strategic importance, then specialised units are usually the most cost-effective approach. Garrison-type duty also happens to be where smaller units shine since they can cover more places at once and it doesn't really matter that you can't fit as much oomph in each dropship.

Edited by Owl Cutter, 17 May 2012 - 02:12 AM.


#157 Tincan Nightmare

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Posted 17 May 2012 - 07:56 PM

View PostOwl Cutter, on 17 May 2012 - 02:10 AM, said:

Yes, the Urbie is very specialised. If you're building an army to defend a planet, with mostly units that will just be stationed on round-the-clock readiness around particular points of strategic importance, then specialised units are usually the most cost-effective approach. Garrison-type duty also happens to be where smaller units shine since they can cover more places at once and it doesn't really matter that you can't fit as much oomph in each dropship.


Yah but the point is what if your a unit that performs more than just urban garrison duty? Does it become cost effective then to buy a large number of Urbanmechs at their low cost just so they sit in a hangar when you deploy for a raid or open field engagement? And even in an urban combat setting, its slow speed would still be a handicap, such as beating an enemy to a potential ambush site or catching raiders intent on hitting a target and getting out. The Urbanmech has a good punch for a light Mech due to its AC/10, but it also sacrifices the ability to perform any other duty but defense in urban or some other constricted terrain. And when most Assault Mechs are faster, it may not have the mobility to stop an enemy from reaching its objective even then. And fitting as much oomph in a dropship is critical since you have limited space, you must get the most you can out of that tonnage, not the reverse. Now for some planetary militia tasked with holding a planets cities in an all out invasion, yah the Urbie is a good pick, but probably not a good choice for a mercenary company looking to get varied contracts.

#158 Akaryu

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Posted 17 May 2012 - 08:45 PM

the mauler sure it can dish out some nasty firepower if you let it but it is so easily reduced to a limping helpless mass of broken weapons it aint funny.

Edited by Akaryu, 17 May 2012 - 08:45 PM.


#159 Owl Cutter

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Posted 18 May 2012 - 12:51 AM

Do I need to more strongly emphasis the first sentence in the paragraph you quoted? "The point is," specialised is not necessarily awful. All I was saying about the Urbie is that its niche, while narrow, still exists, and the Urbie is not a particularly poor tool for its role.

There is a place for forces dedicated to defending [particular strategically important sites on] single planets, maintaining constant readiness and including particular assets existing solely for 1) one role in 2) one kind of combat 3) in one specific place. They do not need to fit into dropships, and they not only do not need to stray far on a tactical scale, but at least some large portion _needs to not_ stray far. As for the Urbie not being able to constitute the entirety of such a force on its own, trying to use that as an argument against it is just audaciously blatant Strawman-bashing.

Edited by Owl Cutter, 18 May 2012 - 12:52 AM.


#160 Hayden

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Posted 18 May 2012 - 01:01 AM

anything introduced after the 3040s :)





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