One of the things I find most interesting thinking about with the impending launch module is the impact upon which mechs and builds might get resurrected to appear again on the battlefield. With the current state, heavier is just flat out better so teams all consist of heavies, assaults, and fat light mechs. In addition, certain builds (er ppcs and erllas cicada and raven builds) have basically made allege other builds go extinct because these are exceptionally good against all the fatties. I'd think builds will have to be overhauled for the new game environment. Anyways, what mechs do you think will shine now that teams will be lighter and weight matched? I personally think the commando might fare quit well as it can hunt the mechs directly above and below it in tonnage quite effectively. Also, quickdraws might do well if they are competing more with dragons than with cataphracts for spots on the team.
12 man drop decks? 3x Victor/Highlander (poptart) 3x Cataphract 3D (poptart with STD engines) 3x Shadowhawk (poptart) 3x Ravens for the ECM and ERLLas *or* 2x Ravens 1x Jenner or something
Only classes are matched not tonnage. So it is ok to use the heaviest powerhouse of each class. Changes will not be as big as you think. If anything this would favor the high tonnage mech even more. A dragon will is a heavy just as much as a thunderbolt. Guess which one is more powerful? Same goes for a commando vs a Raven3L or a firestarter (jenner might still stay cause it is that cool). Most medium you see would be the 55 tons ones by the time. Also I think if I remember right getting 3/3/3/3 is the ideal match. It does not have to be that way from what I remember. It only means that the classes of the two sides would match. So yeah if you get 4 heavies on your side then the red team is going to get 4 heavies. If everyone is playing heavy then instead of 3/3/3/3 you are still going to get a bunch of heavies on the field instead of everyone going "cannot find match"
It comes after class but tonnage will be matched too. (February launch module update) I think it will change at least a few things. For example I won't be the lighter mech in my Dragon anymore... But I don't think it will change what the good builds are.
Yeah, the tonnage matching is the key point here. That is what is going to make a world of difference! Also, it *is* a hard cap on what the drop deck will be - they are forcing 3 mechs of each class with no wiggle room. Russ Bullock (at least I think it was him) in his interview with No Guts No Galaxy said that in their internal tests the total team tonnage for 3/3/3/3 was within 20 tons 95% of the time. Hopefully that's the reality and not just smoke and mirrors! I'm super excited for this as it will make mech design count much more importantly than mech tonnage. Now we're going to be looking at the most efficient mech per ton, not just the most effective mech per class. And I do think that this will have a significant impact on builds, but we'll have to wait and see how it plays out. The builds have gravitated towards what is best to countering the current meta, but the game state is about to change significantly. Taking the ECM cicada with dual PPCs is great against fatties, but if it's now up against 6 lighter/faster mechs on the enemy team every time then it's going to have more problems as they are not only harder to hit but can get up in its business much more effectively. We might actually see *gasp* Ravens with streaks in them again!
Don't think it is a hard cap for 3/3/3/3. They did mention that if a certain class is not found they will swap in another that is abundant. But yeah this will elliminate stupid situations like an all assault team facing a bunch of mediums and other similar things. They are running a business afterall, and will not piss off everyone. If everyone is found "cannot find match" just cause there is not enough medium pilots around then it is not a good thing. In the current system there is no sign like "more medium pilot wanted" to get people to know what class is needed at a time. That, and it is not likely they will force people to use a certain class.
