The Khan of Clan Pouncing Kitten expresses his thanks for the valuable input you have provided. The frontline clusters of our touman shall soon reflect this advice. Your name and deeds shall be scribed in the Remembrance, and... Stravag! That must wait - we see the Red Dot! This dezgra foe shall not escape us again...
I find joy not in optimizing the mechs, but in how wild the situations can be on the battlefield and how a 'shitty' mech suddenly pulls out stuff. The tournaments I have played usually give me random mechs from a pool of choices and you have to make them work. You learn a lot from those situations and discover hidden gems you would have never wanted to play otherwise.
LPL is the best weapon in the game - 100% agree. I once outfitted a Dire Wolf with 6 LPL and the heatsinks to handle the heat - my fav little death machine
@@robkitchen5344 thats just nasty - love it 🙂 Group i played with had an unwritten rule that we didnt combine pulse and TC for custom builds...too cheesy according to some of the guys
I think that FASA gave the clanners so much rear armor and pulse lasers due to cheesy tactics, like Savannah Masters and Locust swarms. They knew that the clans would be outnumbered in a game, and designed accordingly.
@@99zxk According to Sarna, Elementals were first deployed in 2868. The first omnimech was the Coyotl in 2854, so while elementals don't predate the concept of the omnimech itself, they certainly predate most of chassis.
@CC-vp1on the armor might, but what about the tactics involving their transport by mechs? Rules wise, elementals can attach to any omni, which would include those built before the battle armor. Without considering rules, it's easy enough to weld handles to an older mech, which should also apply to any mech.
@@99zxk Once again according to Sarna: the ubiquitous Elemental battle armor is based off Clan Goliath Scorpion's "Water Elemental Mining Suit", which is from 2842, and predates Omnimechs, though it wasn't intended as a battlefield weapon. A second idea is that since the SLDF had power armor in the Nighthawk Mk. XXI, Omnimechs may have been designed with the idea of power armor, though this very unlikely, as there is no real evidence of its use on a large scale. Alternatively, and this is my belief, the few omnimechs that predate elementals were retrofit or redesigned to be able to carry elementals after the latter's introduction became a core component to the touman of every clan.
Obviously the Stormcrow is an absolutely solid machine, and a terror on the battlefield. But I'll always love the Nova, as one of the very first 'mechs you pilot in MechWarrior 2. Even with its horrendous lack of torso twisting in that game, it was always fun.
Stormcrow D won me a Bloodname Tourney at my local club back in the day . 16 players , we could choose any variant and then 1v1 increasing heavier mechs
I believe the reason the nova has that thick rear armor has to do with its quirks- originally it had no torso twist and the mirrored guns were to allow it to basically shoot behind itself as it ran by the enemy, leading to a lot of situations where it could be badly flanked
The Viper/Dragonfly is my absolute favorite medium mech. Don't underestimate the power of having an 8MP jumping mech on the team. Also, AMS is mostly useless? My friends would absolutely LOVE to play you. You never forget your first thunderbolting...
Okay, full disclosure. Big time Nova pilot and fan. I have piloted the Prime against much larger foes, and it's come out on top. I do understand your reticence about fielding it due to heat, so I offer these options: - The Nova S. It has 6 Medium Pulse Lasers, though, again, not enough heat sinks. It does mean that your jump has less effect on your accuracy though, and if the heat dance gets too much, it has 4 Machine Guns to tear at a mech's back armor. - The Nova H. If you want damage, 10 Heavy Medium Lasers is the way to go. Yes, the Heavy Medium Laser has a penalty of 1 to hit, but for a base 1832 BV, you have room to improve your pilot. You can fire 5 of those HMLs and stay heat neutral, delivering 50 possible points of damage. If you need to go, well, Nova, and fire all 10, you'll definitely shut down, but whatever is in front of you will NOT be there anymore. And there's zero ammo to blow up. The Dragonfly is another favorite, but I find it under-powered weapon wise outside of one. The "I" . Again, a Heavy Medium Laser platform with 3 of them, but it also has a Targeting Computer to compensate. So the 1580 BV is a steal for an 8/12/8. I don't think the Prime is anywhere near the best fighter. It would spend more time evading the "I" than engaging it.
He was not talking about the later variants just the ones from 3050 so nothing with heavy lasers is included and in 3050 no pulse laser nova. Back on topic I despise the viper 3050 loadouts all of them are under gunned and the clans low numbers reduce the advantage of the vipers fantastic movement it just gets cut apart if it closes because there is alweas some one to cover your jump behind. The nova is kinda hit our miss never had much luck with it unless some one does something stupid against it like walking into short range of it but the 12 er med lasers on it stop all but the most insane players from doing things that foolish. It isbworth shutting down to get a kill but only if you can get a to hit number of 6bor less otherwise you are likely to not kill your target and die when you are shut down. Other nova variants are fine but not as much if a detternt the nova is like a more mobile hunch back it scares people and even if it never fully uses it's fire power it is doing it's job making people rspect it's alfa ablity. Ice ferret is fine on average I acyaly like the verrint with the er ppc it litterly could kill any mech hit by that if it hits the head and is fast you have to respect that. The storm crow is just a strught up death dealing machine most of the variants can fight and beat every is mech of the era with contemptuous ease. Oddly enough the ultra ac20 is my least favorite as it is the only one that does not have a stright up range advantage though the A is also a bit questionable but the medium pulse lasers are so good they kinda make up for only having 1 lrm 20 at range the other varrients prime c and d are all great though i think the stormcrow d is a waste better mechs for missile spam but it works great despite it not being at it's best in this role. The prime and c are both just nightmares to face
You should come up with a rating scale to judge the mechs against each other. Armor, mobility, Role fulfillment, etc. For inspiration, take a look at Doug DeMuro and his Doug score. yes i know its about cars but his rating system is pretty good and his channel really took off after he started using it. It also gives these kinds of comparisons some consistency across the videos.
I’m not really a Battletech player but I love me some Viper shenanigans in MWO. Get the one with the JJ quirks and then max the crap out of the skill nodes for JJs and speed, then crap loads of ERSLs… can’t got wrong
The CI era medium Omnis are solid, with the Fenris being the odd man out. Prime, B and D configs are good, with A and C...not so much. My preferred fix for the Fenris would've been to drop it to 7/11 to massively expand its pod space and go from there.
Always had a soft spot for the little Fenris. Especially the D. It's good on campaigns, it can work decently as a light hunter, backstabber, or just an annoying tickle monster that's hard to hit, and well armored as well. It's got a high BV, think that's the only reason it's a an uncomment mech.
The prime varrient is where it is at for me on the ice ferret erppc dance at range and take pot shots slowing it down any would ruin that role all the other 3050 varrients accept mabay the d are meh the lack of jump jets is what makes me hesitant on the d otherwise it is solid.
I would argue that 20 isn't as big of a deal with Clan tech. Gauss is more common, ER PPCs deal 15 and mediums deal 7. It does still matter, just not as much as it does with IS tech.
The armor Layout. was designed to fight other clan meçhs In trials of acquisition and refusal and so forth..t initially, Almost all these mechs were designed before the Wolf dragons.mission to scout the Innerspere Show these mechs were constantly getting on backs of other mechß And you'll need more armor there if you dwant to survive.
The Ultra AC/5 is a great 'upgrade' gun for cheapo IS 40 tonners and 60 bullet hoses... But 'keeping the cost down' sorta feels like it's defeating the purpose of clan mechs, for sure.
@@elithradril Very powerful chassis. You could make some outrageously good custom configurations. Most of the canon configurations are good but not good BV deals compared with the dragonfly prime and C.
Thanks for the reply. Your videos are very helpful. I'm mostly in my battletech honeymoon phase where I don't know what I'm doing. For now, I just use whatever looks the coolest and force my friends to play with me.
I think the reason Clan mediums have so much armor on the rear torsos is because they're trying to armor against at least one good hit from an ER medium laser.
I oddly like the Viper and Nova from 3050. Even though the Viper really doesn't carry any weapons in any of the configurations, it is blindingly fast. The Nova is a good jack of all trades, it's got to configuration that can do everything. if you want raw fire power to nova, take the A, two ppcs 😎.
Stormcrow is a mech i've smoked on every Game i've had against it. Its also a cursed mech in our local community, it always seems to die horribly, like hamsters
I know that this video is very specific: clan omni mediums from TRO 3050. But for my money, c-bills or BV, I'd rather have the clan medium battlemechs. The IIC classic medium trio, and the Vapor Eagle. Might not be as varied, but I prefer the look of them over the medium omnis
I remember when the clans came out. It was quickly adopted by people who could never win up until that point. To this day I only play Succession Wars because the worst munchkins were the only ones to play space nazis. I will never see them as anything other than the last bastion of weak players.
Clan ritualistic warfare and battle doctrine at the time leaned their mech development and production towards favouring solid medium mech designs by complete accident by the result of their attitude towards war in the century leading up to the IS invasion. Meanwhile their Light and Assault mechs suffered because of it, being constantly designed to in an attempt to meet niche philosophical interpretations of their rigid dogmatic minimalist approach to warfare. The clans simply did not broach warfare in the same manner as the Inner Sphere did, both before the exodus and after, so struggled to marry the concept of grand strategy to their ritualised minimalist warfare style based on value systems. What use is a scout when the clans simply dropship in 2kms out from the objective with a Star, face a force of equal strength which they informed prior to landing that they want to take this objective, engage in a duel then whoever wins then peacefully claims the objective for their clan? That is how the clans operated, part of it being betting with doing so with less and less tonnage, so there was high competition for developing min/maxed and OP mediums. The only reason they defeated the IS so effectively early on was a combination of circumstances with the Combine, Commonwealth and the new League state all suffering war exhaustion and superior technology combined with superior designs. When FASA game designers designed the clans mechs in the early 90s, they did so intentionally with incorporating the nature of the clans major flaw into their mech list as a way to balance their overwhelming superiority verses IS mechs to keep the game fun for IS verse clan matches. Clans having bad lights was by design on purpose (in fact they are so bad that the designers of Mechwarrior 2 decided to use IIC Jenners because they are ironically better). The whole clan lights and Assaults getting good in later time periods is a direct result of clan fans in the hobby during the Wizkidz era.
Of course the Stormcrow comes out on top. The tiny gabby hands simply have less room for victory to slip through.
The correct answer is "Nova" or "Stormcrow". Nova because cool and funny factor, Stormcrow because it's just straight up amazing.
Only 3050 clan mech better than the Stormcrow is the Timber Wolf
@@thestinkydwarf you can even make an argument that the Stormcrow is better than a Wolf.
I dunno, the Mad Dog A is pretty nasty with Clan ERPPC headcapping and a million SRMs.
The Khan of Clan Pouncing Kitten expresses his thanks for the valuable input you have provided. The frontline clusters of our touman shall soon reflect this advice. Your name and deeds shall be scribed in the Remembrance, and... Stravag! That must wait - we see the Red Dot! This dezgra foe shall not escape us again...
these were my mechwarrior 2 jam waaaaaay back in the 90s
Timestamps:
1:41 Fenris / Ice Ferret
6:15 Black Hawk / Nova
10:11 Dragonfly / Viper
14:03 Ryoken / Stormcrow
Some of my absolute clan favourites. The Dragonfly moves like a Spider and hits like IS heavy. Whats not to love!
I find joy not in optimizing the mechs, but in how wild the situations can be on the battlefield and how a 'shitty' mech suddenly pulls out stuff. The tournaments I have played usually give me random mechs from a pool of choices and you have to make them work. You learn a lot from those situations and discover hidden gems you would have never wanted to play otherwise.
@@Alvenrik1 Preconstructed scenario books are good for that too!
I had a hornet take down a flashman one time. It was the best use of terrain and keeping an enemy out of range I ever had on the tabletop.
That actually sounds like more fun than sending in an optimized lance. Clan Stanky Skunk deals with what it has.
LPL is the best weapon in the game - 100% agree. I once outfitted a Dire Wolf with 6 LPL and the heatsinks to handle the heat - my fav little death machine
@@thestinkydwarf Brutal! The A is already a monster with three
I went with a targeting computer instead of the 6th LPL
@@robkitchen5344 thats just nasty - love it 🙂
Group i played with had an unwritten rule that we didnt combine pulse and TC for custom builds...too cheesy according to some of the guys
I enjoy all of Trailblazer videos
I think that FASA gave the clanners so much rear armor and pulse lasers due to cheesy tactics, like Savannah Masters and Locust swarms. They knew that the clans would be outnumbered in a game, and designed accordingly.
@@99zxk I think the proliferation of elementals would be a good lore reason as to why
@mathewkelly9968 this could be, but do elementals have a more recent year than most of the omnis?
@@99zxk According to Sarna, Elementals were first deployed in 2868. The first omnimech was the Coyotl in 2854, so while elementals don't predate the concept of the omnimech itself, they certainly predate most of chassis.
@CC-vp1on the armor might, but what about the tactics involving their transport by mechs? Rules wise, elementals can attach to any omni, which would include those built before the battle armor. Without considering rules, it's easy enough to weld handles to an older mech, which should also apply to any mech.
@@99zxk Once again according to Sarna: the ubiquitous Elemental battle armor is based off Clan Goliath Scorpion's "Water Elemental Mining Suit", which is from 2842, and predates Omnimechs, though it wasn't intended as a battlefield weapon.
A second idea is that since the SLDF had power armor in the Nighthawk Mk. XXI, Omnimechs may have been designed with the idea of power armor, though this very unlikely, as there is no real evidence of its use on a large scale.
Alternatively, and this is my belief, the few omnimechs that predate elementals were retrofit or redesigned to be able to carry elementals after the latter's introduction became a core component to the touman of every clan.
Black hawk with chem lasers is the GOAT lol
@@TheManyVoicesVA Or the heavy laser one!
@@TrailblazerBT I think its between the raw damage of the chem lasers and the pulse laser variants that are the best.
Obviously the Stormcrow is an absolutely solid machine, and a terror on the battlefield. But I'll always love the Nova, as one of the very first 'mechs you pilot in MechWarrior 2. Even with its horrendous lack of torso twisting in that game, it was always fun.
I know I probably said this in a earlier video, but I would like to hear a rating/tier list of all of the IIC mechs.
@@Arnuld15Governator Not sure if you did! Good idea though. Might take a couple months for me to get to it given the other videos in my queue
Stormcrow D won me a Bloodname Tourney at my local club back in the day . 16 players , we could choose any variant and then 1v1 increasing heavier mechs
Fenris is basically a fast centurion. Probably my favorite mech for the clans at 3050
Clan Hazy Ocelot thanks you for your insight, freebirth.
I believe the reason the nova has that thick rear armor has to do with its quirks- originally it had no torso twist and the mirrored guns were to allow it to basically shoot behind itself as it ran by the enemy, leading to a lot of situations where it could be badly flanked
The Viper/Dragonfly is my absolute favorite medium mech. Don't underestimate the power of having an 8MP jumping mech on the team.
Also, AMS is mostly useless? My friends would absolutely LOVE to play you. You never forget your first thunderbolting...
Stormcrow A is my favourite mech. Its absolutely killer at all ranges.
Fenris/Ice Ferret is the Clan Cicada. Clan tech takes a bad mech archetype and makes it average.
I do use the Stormcrow and Viper a lot in my clan forces, always a blast.
Okay, full disclosure. Big time Nova pilot and fan. I have piloted the Prime against much larger foes, and it's come out on top. I do understand your reticence about fielding it due to heat, so I offer these options:
- The Nova S. It has 6 Medium Pulse Lasers, though, again, not enough heat sinks. It does mean that your jump has less effect on your accuracy though, and if the heat dance gets too much, it has 4 Machine Guns to tear at a mech's back armor.
- The Nova H. If you want damage, 10 Heavy Medium Lasers is the way to go. Yes, the Heavy Medium Laser has a penalty of 1 to hit, but for a base 1832 BV, you have room to improve your pilot. You can fire 5 of those HMLs and stay heat neutral, delivering 50 possible points of damage. If you need to go, well, Nova, and fire all 10, you'll definitely shut down, but whatever is in front of you will NOT be there anymore. And there's zero ammo to blow up.
The Dragonfly is another favorite, but I find it under-powered weapon wise outside of one. The "I" . Again, a Heavy Medium Laser platform with 3 of them, but it also has a Targeting Computer to compensate. So the 1580 BV is a steal for an 8/12/8. I don't think the Prime is anywhere near the best fighter. It would spend more time evading the "I" than engaging it.
He was not talking about the later variants just the ones from 3050 so nothing with heavy lasers is included and in 3050 no pulse laser nova. Back on topic I despise the viper 3050 loadouts all of them are under gunned and the clans low numbers reduce the advantage of the vipers fantastic movement it just gets cut apart if it closes because there is alweas some one to cover your jump behind. The nova is kinda hit our miss never had much luck with it unless some one does something stupid against it like walking into short range of it but the 12 er med lasers on it stop all but the most insane players from doing things that foolish. It isbworth shutting down to get a kill but only if you can get a to hit number of 6bor less otherwise you are likely to not kill your target and die when you are shut down. Other nova variants are fine but not as much if a detternt the nova is like a more mobile hunch back it scares people and even if it never fully uses it's fire power it is doing it's job making people rspect it's alfa ablity. Ice ferret is fine on average I acyaly like the verrint with the er ppc it litterly could kill any mech hit by that if it hits the head and is fast you have to respect that. The storm crow is just a strught up death dealing machine most of the variants can fight and beat every is mech of the era with contemptuous ease. Oddly enough the ultra ac20 is my least favorite as it is the only one that does not have a stright up range advantage though the A is also a bit questionable but the medium pulse lasers are so good they kinda make up for only having 1 lrm 20 at range the other varrients prime c and d are all great though i think the stormcrow d is a waste better mechs for missile spam but it works great despite it not being at it's best in this role. The prime and c are both just nightmares to face
MOOOOAAAR
Man I love internal parts diagrams of mechs.
You should come up with a rating scale to judge the mechs against each other. Armor, mobility, Role fulfillment, etc. For inspiration, take a look at Doug DeMuro and his Doug score. yes i know its about cars but his rating system is pretty good and his channel really took off after he started using it. It also gives these kinds of comparisons some consistency across the videos.
Look forward to a heavy video
The Viper I is in the later eras and has served me very well as a BA transport and hunter of mechs. Run in, drop Elementals, and then go raise hell.
I’m not really a Battletech player but I love me some Viper shenanigans in MWO. Get the one with the JJ quirks and then max the crap out of the skill nodes for JJs and speed, then crap loads of ERSLs… can’t got wrong
yes please do the IlClan ear varients
The CI era medium Omnis are solid, with the Fenris being the odd man out. Prime, B and D configs are good, with A and C...not so much.
My preferred fix for the Fenris would've been to drop it to 7/11 to massively expand its pod space and go from there.
@@jochenwenzel8878 Yeah I once made a custom like that, think I called it the Coal Ferret
Always had a soft spot for the little Fenris. Especially the D. It's good on campaigns, it can work decently as a light hunter, backstabber, or just an annoying tickle monster that's hard to hit, and well armored as well. It's got a high BV, think that's the only reason it's a an uncomment mech.
The prime varrient is where it is at for me on the ice ferret erppc dance at range and take pot shots slowing it down any would ruin that role all the other 3050 varrients accept mabay the d are meh the lack of jump jets is what makes me hesitant on the d otherwise it is solid.
I would argue that 20 isn't as big of a deal with Clan tech. Gauss is more common, ER PPCs deal 15 and mediums deal 7. It does still matter, just not as much as it does with IS tech.
The armor Layout. was designed to fight other clan meçhs In trials of acquisition and refusal and so forth..t initially, Almost all these mechs were designed before the Wolf dragons.mission to scout the Innerspere Show these mechs were constantly getting on backs of other mechß
And you'll need more armor there if you dwant to survive.
The Ultra AC/5 is a great 'upgrade' gun for cheapo IS 40 tonners and 60 bullet hoses... But 'keeping the cost down' sorta feels like it's defeating the purpose of clan mechs, for sure.
Comparing your ratings to Goonhammer has been quite interesting.
What do you think of the Mongrel? Asking because you get it in the clan invasion box. To me it seems like a solid choice. Like a beefier dragonfly.
@@elithradril Very powerful chassis. You could make some outrageously good custom configurations. Most of the canon configurations are good but not good BV deals compared with the dragonfly prime and C.
@@elithradril For that reason you rarely seem to see it in competitive games.
Thanks for the reply. Your videos are very helpful. I'm mostly in my battletech honeymoon phase where I don't know what I'm doing. For now, I just use whatever looks the coolest and force my friends to play with me.
The lack of a MPL Nova variant is baffling
Makes u wonder if they thought it would be too powerful and unbalance the game
@@thestinkydwarfrunning around with 8 medium pulse lasers with a reasonable heat curve would indeed be scary
The nova S is right there?????
@@hollyone75 ah but you can rock 8 MPLs and its a much much later configuration.
@@spencerjones841 the S is 6 mpls and is a cannon 3050 mech like it’s super close to 8 and is the dead beginning of the clan invasion
I think the reason Clan mediums have so much armor on the rear torsos is because they're trying to armor against at least one good hit from an ER medium laser.
I oddly like the Viper and Nova from 3050. Even though the Viper really doesn't carry any weapons in any of the configurations, it is blindingly fast. The Nova is a good jack of all trades, it's got to configuration that can do everything. if you want raw fire power to nova, take the A, two ppcs 😎.
Stormcrow is a mech i've smoked on every Game i've had against it. Its also a cursed mech in our local community, it always seems to die horribly, like hamsters
What’s about Nova S and Stormcrow P? They aren’t good enough for their BVs?
@@АрчерЛис Only rating the configurations available in 3050. Those are both great!
The Viper and Stormcrow are leagues ahead of the Ice Ferret and Nova , I'd rate those 2 a grade down but otherwise agree
I know that this video is very specific: clan omni mediums from TRO 3050. But for my money, c-bills or BV, I'd rather have the clan medium battlemechs. The IIC classic medium trio, and the Vapor Eagle. Might not be as varied, but I prefer the look of them over the medium omnis
It took so long for the IS to have good medium mechs. They had one or two, but nothing compared to the clans....even if the clans blow goats
No Shadowcat?
I'm only doing the ones from the actual TRO '50 here... someday!
So much BV for all of them...
I remember when the clans came out. It was quickly adopted by people who could never win up until that point. To this day I only play Succession Wars because the worst munchkins were the only ones to play space nazis. I will never see them as anything other than the last bastion of weak players.
More
@@andresabourin2423 Light mechs should be out Aug 9!
Clan ritualistic warfare and battle doctrine at the time leaned their mech development and production towards favouring solid medium mech designs by complete accident by the result of their attitude towards war in the century leading up to the IS invasion. Meanwhile their Light and Assault mechs suffered because of it, being constantly designed to in an attempt to meet niche philosophical interpretations of their rigid dogmatic minimalist approach to warfare. The clans simply did not broach warfare in the same manner as the Inner Sphere did, both before the exodus and after, so struggled to marry the concept of grand strategy to their ritualised minimalist warfare style based on value systems. What use is a scout when the clans simply dropship in 2kms out from the objective with a Star, face a force of equal strength which they informed prior to landing that they want to take this objective, engage in a duel then whoever wins then peacefully claims the objective for their clan? That is how the clans operated, part of it being betting with doing so with less and less tonnage, so there was high competition for developing min/maxed and OP mediums. The only reason they defeated the IS so effectively early on was a combination of circumstances with the Combine, Commonwealth and the new League state all suffering war exhaustion and superior technology combined with superior designs. When FASA game designers designed the clans mechs in the early 90s, they did so intentionally with incorporating the nature of the clans major flaw into their mech list as a way to balance their overwhelming superiority verses IS mechs to keep the game fun for IS verse clan matches. Clans having bad lights was by design on purpose (in fact they are so bad that the designers of Mechwarrior 2 decided to use IIC Jenners because they are ironically better). The whole clan lights and Assaults getting good in later time periods is a direct result of clan fans in the hobby during the Wizkidz era.