Can Anyone tell me why Jacob Bannson costs more than Katana Tormark? Both have the same stats for Pioloting and Targeting, but Bannson has a defensive penalty while Tormark has a defese Bonus.

Bannson pilots an Assault class mech. Tormark pilots Light. All the Assault class pilots are fairly expensive (around 50 points).

A bonus to attack on an Assault mech is more valuable than a similar one for a light - you are likely to land more damage and last longer to dish it out. If the DV hadn't been negative on Bannson, the cost would have been through the roof.

If not through some ungodly act of luck, Bannson would always trounce Katana - her machine looks a lot worse than his if they trade shots.

Because Bannson can kill Katana Tormark in 1 shot with pulse?

Also, its because of Dial length. On a light mech your gonna get 8ish useable clicks on which the equipment can go - an an assault mech your gonna get over 12 - maybe even as many as 15 depending on the mech.