36 replies to this topic

[Grimlox]

As of Feb 19th patch. Notes here: https://mwomercs.com/game/patch-notes

In the first quirk, the YLW comes out slightly in favour when it comes to engine receiving a 20 rating increase rather than a 15 for the A and AL. The Cent-D receives no bonus here.

The next quirk is in regards to torso twist which is boosted by 10 for the A and AL. No love for the YLW or D here.
The counterpart to this quirk is the horizontal arm angle reduced by 5 for the A, AL, and D. The A and AL still come out ahead nicely with the torso twist increase, the YLW doesn't get anything and the D actually receives the nerf portion of the quirk without the buff!

The next quirk is turning rate. The A and AL is increased by 10% which is an awesome boost. The YLW gets only 5% and once again the D is left out in the cold. There is no counterpart to this quirk as it's just a straight up buff quirk but there is disparity in amounts.

Lastly we have a quirk that gives an acceleration rate decrease for ALL Cents of 10%. The counterpart to this is a deceleration buff quirk of 10% but only for the A, AL, and D. The YLW gets the nerf portion with no buff. The rest get what I would consider a minor nerf overall as most would agree that acceleration is more desirable than decel.

Now I realize that these quirks are in place to add flavour, but basically I feel they are not being done fairly in the case of the Cents. The YLW and the Cent D are somewhat shafted.

Overall as a Cent D owner you are losing 5 degree horizontal arm movement, losing 10% acceleration, and gaining 10% deceleration. Yes it allows the biggest engine but that is counteracted by the weight required and the Cent D does not have the best hardpoint locations either. It was balanced before but now it was nerfed.

Overall the YLW received a 20 rating engine increase (great if you can fit the weight somehow), 5% turning rate increase (not too shabby), and 10% acceleration nerf. If you aren't using that engine rating then overall this is a nerf to one of the worst hardpoint mechs out there.

The other Cents come out overall with a bit of a much needed buff IMO with their quirks. I guess the Cent D and YLW were just too epic in their current form? Better keep those two variants from topping the charts constantly?

Please discuss.

[Boulangerie]

I agree on the engine rating increase to the YLW not being that great. It's hard to fit much bigger than a 250 STD into it and retain the A/C 20 and 3 tons of ammo along with 2 Medium lasers. I currently have Ferro and Endosteel and have a med laser and med pulse. I like the mech, if only for the arm mounted A/C-20, but wonder why they thought a larger engine size would help balance it with the other CN9's. Their biggest advantage over the YLW is the missile hardpoint capability. I realize that hardpoints are pretty much set in stone, so the YLW will always be able to fit only 3 weapons, and while I love the mech, I don't think these changes improve it.

[Tremendous Upside]

Boulangerie, on 20 February 2013 - 11:13 AM, said:

I agree on the engine rating increase to the YLW not being that great. It's hard to fit much bigger than a 250 STD into it and retain the A/C 20 and 3 tons of ammo along with 2 Medium lasers. I currently have Ferro and Endosteel and have a med laser and med pulse. I like the mech, if only for the arm mounted A/C-20, but wonder why they thought a larger engine size would help balance it with the other CN9's. Their biggest advantage over the YLW is the missile hardpoint capability. I realize that hardpoints are pretty much set in stone, so the YLW will always be able to fit only 3 weapons, and while I love the mech, I don't think these changes improve it.

The engine size change isn't going to help you at all if you're unwilling to run an XL centurion. For those of us that do, it's a pretty awesome (and kind of unexpected) bonus . AC20 running around at 105kph? Yes please!

[NRP]

Other than the increased engine sizes, the changes are subtle. The CN9-D and Wang are still two of the best Centurions imo. Their speed and maneuverability is just insane.

I've put XL275s in my CN9-AL and CN9-A and an XL300 in my Wang because I've found that speed is more important for survivability than a slow STD engine. Man, Centurions are totally fearsome now.

[ryoma]

Actually I found the reduction of arm twist to be a buff.

Before this patch my arm reticule had the problem of going off the visible portion of my hud, now the arm reticule stops at a certain spot and allows finer aiming.

[Grimlox]

NRP, on 20 February 2013 - 11:53 AM, said:

Other than the increased engine sizes, the changes are subtle. The CN9-D and Wang are still two of the best Centurions imo. Their speed and maneuverability is just insane.

I've put XL275s in my CN9-AL and CN9-A and an XL300 in my Wang because I've found that speed is more important for survivability than a slow STD engine. Man, Centurions are totally fearsome now.

I've been looking at these builds with STD 275's. Are you getting enough firepower out of your XL builds to make up for it?

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...181596dbd5942f6

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...def950e992c8dba

I'm considering an XL300 on the Wang though.

Also just because the Wang and the D are two of the best centurions doesn't mean they are stacking up very well against other mechs that they couldn't have used a little more love to make them adn really mediums in general more competitive.

[Nicholas Carlyle]

I'm very tempted to run a CN9AL with max armor, an XL275, 2 LRM 15's with Artemis, 4 tons of Ammo and 2 MPLS (This version has Ferro),

Or a CN9AL with XL275, 2 LRM 15's with Artemis, 5 tons of Ammo, 2 ML, 1 TAG (This version doesn't have Ferro). I had to strip down the legs to 40 points of armor and the arms to 23 for this version. But the arms don't hold anything of value other than the TAG. I may buff the right arm a bit and lower the left more since I do like to keep my TAG.

[Alaskan Nobody]

So your AL is basically one of the new trenchbuckets? -note that this is not meant to be inflamatory

[Stingz]

Nicholas Carlyle, on 20 February 2013 - 01:35 PM, said:

I'm very tempted to run a CN9AL with max armor, an XL275, 2 LRM 15's with Artemis, 4 tons of Ammo and 2 MPLS (This version has Ferro),

Or a CN9AL with XL275, 2 LRM 15's with Artemis, 5 tons of Ammo, 2 ML, 1 TAG (This version doesn't have Ferro). I had to strip down the legs to 40 points of armor and the arms to 23 for this version. But the arms don't hold anything of value other than the TAG. I may buff the right arm a bit and lower the left more since I do like to keep my TAG.

Just get a [Trebuchet], it has twin LRM-15 tubes to spit out all 30 shots at once. Much more viable with XL engines anyways.

[Nicholas Carlyle]

I've been running LRM Boat Cent for a while. It's just with Alpine XL engines suddenly make sense.

I would love to have 30mill cbills to buy 3 Trebs, but I have 3 mastered Cent's and i'd rather just do that. Though trust me I've put together a really nice Treb with 5 jump jets I wish I could do easily.

[Nicholas Carlyle]

One thing i'm having a hard time rationalizing is whether artemis is worthwhile or not.

[Krazy Kat]

The YLW does get a buff from the AC/20 crit buff too.

[Stingz]

Nicholas Carlyle, on 20 February 2013 - 04:47 PM, said:

One thing i'm having a hard time rationalizing is whether artemis is worthwhile or not.

Artemis on LRMs is a major difference. 3-second locks and tighter spread on LOS shots.

[NRP]

Grimlox, on 20 February 2013 - 01:13 PM, said:

Are you getting enough firepower out of your XL builds to make up for it?

My AL build is:

XL275
2 LL
2 ML
2 SRM4 (1T)
Endo
17 DHS

My alpha is 48 and my HE = 1.31. I wish I could mount two LPLs on this thing, but it's either big engine or big lasers.

Your STD275 build looks like it might be as good, albeit shorter range.

[Final Boss]

I run the YLW with an XL 300, ac/20, 2 MPL, and 4 tons of ammo w/ a case (yes, if the torso w/ the ammo gets destroyed, I blow up and die anyways because of the XL engine. But thanks to the buff, there are a lot more machine guns and such out there now, so if my armor is off that portion, the case stops them from crititng my ammo and blowing it up instantly and killing me even faster.).

Running nearly 110 kmh with an ac/20 and 2mpl is great fun....and I top the scoreboards of just about every pug I do, I'd say 9/10 times I'm top 3.....I've even been last mech standing and taken down 4 opponents who weren't already close to dead (one assault 2 med 1 light).

It fits the playstyle I have been trying to make a mech for......almost like a zerg playstyle in SC2 for anyone who plays it....I counter attack, harrass, and hit and run nonstop, I almost never fight in a real direct engagement. See an LRM boat pelting away at your team? Run by and beat on him like mad, until someone else from his team targets you to help, then leave, come back later. See an atlas w/ gauss/ppc sniping? Run by, hit him with everything, circle a building quickly do it again and agian, until he's so frustrated he's only after you....then leave. Or, even better, bait him into your teammates. Any enemy mech out of position, go hit and run. Lights on your assaults? Cake, you are nearly as fast as them, and they will NOT enjoy feeling that ac20 land, and MPL are much easier vs light. Anytime a big fight breaks out, I'm a skirmisher, darting in and out of battle, dealing big chunks of damage and anytime I get targetted I'm out of the fight, only to return a little while later and do it again.

[Stingz]

Final Boss, on 20 February 2013 - 06:42 PM, said:

I run the YLW with an XL 300, ac/20, 2 MPL, and 4 tons of ammo w/ a case (yes, if the torso w/ the ammo gets destroyed, I blow up and die anyways because of the XL engine. But thanks to the buff, there are a lot more machine guns and such out there now, so if my armor is off that portion, the case stops them from crititng my ammo and blowing it up instantly and killing me even faster.).

Store the ammo in the legs then, if they go you're probably already dead.

Case and Inner Sphere XL only go good together when the pilot needs to survive the explosion, or repair costs.

[Wriath]

AL Just replaced the SP as the premier standard engine medium brawler since they can run the same setup but the cn9al has a higher top speed potential.

Edited by Wriath, 21 February 2013 - 12:09 AM.

[One Medic Army]

Wriath, on 21 February 2013 - 12:07 AM, said:

AL Just replaced the SP as the premier standard engine medium brawler since they can run the same setup but the cn9al has a higher top speed potential.

Well, the AL is faster, but it's also larger and only has 4 lasers with only 2 in the arm.
SP is slower, but it's shorter and has 4 arm lasers plus a head laser.

I'd call it a toss-up now, instead of being SP all the way.

[NRP]

I tried Grimlox's STD275 AL build. Yes, it is more survivable. Many times I got both torsos shot off and was still able to zombie a bit. The problem was the MLs. I just don't feel like they do enough damage, so I was forced to get close and use the SRM6s, which lead to my torsos getting shot off. I prefer LLs, or better yet, LPLs. I think I liked the XL build better because I could fight from range a bit easier.

[ChaosKenny]

Before the Quirk I was playing my 9D mostly because of the Greater Engine and the nice speed (But I came in Love with my shotgun LBX + SRM). He was an Awesome Mech and made me Love the Centurion. I buyed an AL (1ERPPC, 1SRM4,1SRM6,2MPL, XL-260 before the Quirk) just for the fun of an PPC. Now after the Quirk I Upgraded the Engine to an XL275 Changed the MPL to ML and was able to put another DBL inside it. Now its even more fun than my 9D. Sure the 9D can still be faster but I just have an XL280 in it to mount enough weapons on it. It feels like I changed my beloved LBX with a beloved ERPPC. I Have two awesome Centurions now =D Lovin it!