Saturday 29 June 2013

MechWarrior: Online - Battlemaster Build Speculation

Image courtesy of mwomercs.com

I have just 3 words to say about the Battlemaster... OH MY GOD!!! Seriously, OH MY GOD!!! I LOVE EEEET!!! I literally stayed up till 3am just so I could see the artwork. I wasn't disappointment. For me; the Battlemaster may lack its iconic (gigantic, easy to hit) domed head and the pistol style PPC, but it still totally captures the look of the Battlemaster.

The head is very much still a dome, but more angular, making it more inline with the other MW:O BattleMechs. The shoulders also look very similar to the reseen artwork as well. Hell this whole redesign pays homage to both the unseen and reseen Battlemasters.

I also really love the changes. The under-slung PPC looks really good; it matches and fits the Mech as a whole. The Medium Laser array is no longer a "V" shape, but I really love the new way it's set out.

Anyway, I hope the in-game model of this Mech isn't as fat as the (ironically not awesome) Awesome. That would really cause all of Project Phoenix to be a complete flop. Some of these redesigns look a little bit on the large end of size. Hopefully they'll be scaled correctly though.

If you take a very close look at the Project Phoenix Battlemaster, the Centre Torso appears to be very thin. This is also apparent in all the other Project Phoenix BattleMechs. This could very well be a new set of BattleMechs designed to be as survivable as the Centurion. Which can very well change the Meta.
Project Phoenix is a go! The Unseen are back! After all these years, they are back! Back with a vengeance! Welcome to the battlefield; Locust, Shadow Hawk, Thunderbolt and Battlemaster!
The Battlemaster has a very similar Hardpoint loadout to the Thunderbolt, they also both look similar, yet very, very different (could explain why I love both so much). Anyway, the Battlemaster had 10 Hardpoints in total. It has 7 Energy Hardpoints (3 per Torso and 1 in the Right Arm), 1 Missile Hardpoint in the Left Torso and 2 Ballistic Hardpoints in the Left Arm.

Those 7 Energy Hardpoints clearly scream "CHEESE", but hey, a true BattleTech and Battlemaster fan will clearly know, that that Medium Laser array, will always be a Medium Laser array. That Right Arm Energy Hardpoint, will always be a PPC of some kind.

This is my planned build for my Phoenix Battlemaster BLR-1G < MechLab Link

My mentality of the Battlemaster, is that it must remain a Battlemaster as best as possible. I have to somehow retain that Right Arm PPC and the Medium Laser array. So all I did was upgrade that PPC to an ERPPC. This however gave me major heat issues. Least I think it did.

But anyway, this build idea, is just an upgrade of the stock Battlemaster. It has a much higher defense and speed, but lacks firepower. Hell the way I see it, the Battlemaster appears to be like the Victor, in that it's just a "Heavy" Heavy BattleMech. High chance it'll play exactly like a Heavy, but classified as an assault. See, the Battlemaster can't have the best of 3 worlds. It must choose 2 of 3; Armour, Speed or Firepower.

I chose Armour and Speed; since I would imagine the Battlemaster would be quite large (hopefully it'll be scaled properly). Also, an Assault BattleMech moving at approximately 74kph is a pretty scary thought!

Again, I seriously wish it was was October 15. I really want to pilot the Battlemaster!!

Image courtesy of mwomercs.com/phoenix

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