In CBT there were two classifications. The weight class (Light, medium, heavy, assault) used to define its role and the battle value, used to define its points value.

Think about it for a moment. Manufacturer produces a Crimson Hawk, a Light 'Mech. "Oh that's going to Ezekiel Crow, better call this one an Assault 'Mech" and then a Zeus "Oh I know this is 80 tons but Joel Nguyen is a hopeless pilot so it'll be classified as a medium."

There were light 'Mechs with a higher PV than heavies in CBT. Didn't make them heavy. It did mean that if you fielded them your opponent could field that heavy plus something else. However the pilot had to be good at Lights to pilot it, not Heavies.

It boils down to how you get the most out of your chassis. Put a Light pilot in a Heavy and you get a below-par heavy. Put a skilled Light pilot in his 'Mech of choice and you have a Light that can outperform Mr Average in any medium.

Otherwise you get Crimson Hawks classified in every class and how dumb is that?

My big beef is more in terms of damage. I don't care if they call a locust an assault mech and claim that an atlas is battle armor, as long as the dial makes sense. Light mechs take way too much damage to kill in this game. 1 PPC shot should core a locust.

Yeah, but if you want that, you'd better give the Locust a 23 defense and the Atlas a 16, because it is way easier to hit a slow moving target that is the size of Texas than a little puny guy who is running the speed of sound. I don't care if you give my Locust 3 clicks of life....just make him hard to hit like he should be.

But then you gotta give the Atlas a dial the size of Gibraltar.

See, that's where people take small looks and decide that the game is over.

Atlas average - 17 clicks in dial, starting 23 defense, speed of 6, attack of 10, points - 290

Locust average - 9 clicks in dial, starting 17 defense, speed of 12, attack of 10, points - 120

And if you want to further generalize:

Light - 9 clicks in dial, starting 18 defense, speed of 10, attack of 9, points 100 - 140
Medium - 11 clicks in dial, starting 20 defense, speed of 8, attack of 9, points 150 - 180
Heavy - 14 clicks in dial, starting 21 defense, speed of 7, attack of 10, points 170 - 240
Assault - 15 clicks in dial, starting 22 defense, speed of 6, attack of 10, points 250 - 300

Most of the weight classes have "aberrations" Ezekiel Crow is a good example. A medium Mech at 290? Well, he's got a bit longer dial than most mediums, and some heavy's, and has a ton more equipment than most heavy's. So, while I think 290 is a bit high, I can see it going in the right direction. For Crow's dial, should he be Blade standard of 150, with all that AP, HdA, and ECM? Then add in the Command?

Remember that the dial and stats give a unit it's "base cost" Then that cost is ratcheded up for every stat point upgrade, for every range and arc upgrade, for every attack quantity upgrade, and for every SE of every click on the dial. And some of those SE's are more costly than others.

I'm a firm believer that the "WK Formula" isn't followed tightly. I think the formula ballparks the final cost, and the designer "hand tweaks" things from there. Otherwise you never get Chas Kearns' and Cacey Duncan's costs that close.

Good points, Xyberbratt. I agree.

I asked Draddog about the 'Mech's classification - he stated that it's a 'Light' 'Mech, and the pilot is rated for Light 'Mechs. The image in the article is most likely from a mock up or rough draft.

The Crimson Hawk and its pilot will also not be Unique-ranked - meaning you can have multiples of it in play.

As usuall Xyber i agree with you. They wouldn't have a set in concrete system for costing units else you wouldn't have these broken units that send people to buying boosters in a frenzied attempt to have the "best" units. How in heck is the DF Donar worth 8 points less than the SC one? Was it deliberate - probably. Did they sell more boosters due to people saying "gee, I'd be the biggest billy bad-### power gamer if I had that unit"? sure.

OK, lets give locusts 4 clicks of life, then lets cost them at 40 points otherwise nobody will take them. All of a sudden armies of 11 Locusts take to the field and peoples brains start exploding. Lets make the locust really hard to hit instead - now we have to have units with high attacks otherwise the locust will be broken, only now people will abuse this ultra high attack unit in some way.

It's a basic rule of the universe that every action has a reaction. Before you start saying how it'd be more realistic to do "X", think of all the subsequent changes that would follow doing "X". Then all the changes they'd invoke in turn. It's a narrow wonky tight-rope is game design. For, as I've said, this is a game - not an encyclopaedia. And it's also called MW:DA / MW:AoD. Not BattleTech. Sorry if you don't think it's as good, but it's what you've got.

P.S.
I don't mean to be rude, but if you think it suxxors this much and you could do better, go and design your own game or melt all your pieces in a bonfire. I don't care. Just move on and leave us who actually still get a thrill out of this game to continue enjoying it. Stop being the person who sits around at the party loudly complaining about the music/people/weather/whatever and ruins everyone elses fun.

Yes, they shouldn't have a rock solid system that cacluates everything to precise detail, but it should be close.

There are quite a few things that just don't make sense. The Donars don't fall into that category though. 52 - 60? That 8 points get eaten quite easily by the difference in range.

But when you look at Sandra Sung, how does she qualify for her points? Sure, her Mech is in the right weight range for her points. Sure it has the typical dial. But it has some very serious difference from Declan Devalis, and only a 10 point difference. A MUCH worse heat dial. Only 2 clicks with SE's, both HdA. Lower stats in both Attack and Defense. Do the faction abilities really add that much to the unit, to make up for all of that, and the lack of 5 clicks of Pulse?

And, if that's the case, take into account Joyna "Jab" Simms and Greg Vederman. 253 vs. 269. 16 point difference. Yet, all Simms has is 8 clicks of Jump Jets, 2 of Alpha Strike, and 2 of SU Alpha Strike. Vede has 5 of HdA, 7 of HvA, 2 of IT, 2 of SU IT, and 5 of Camoflage. Simms makes 4 heat rolls, Vede makes 3, but one is critical. They are both primary 2 targets at 0/10, both one target secondary, but Simms is 0/8 while Vede is 0/14. Vede has the faction abilities. Simms has no repair markers. So how is it they are 16 points different? Neither one of them get the big faction ability, by the way, Vede and Sandra Sung aren't elites. (Green and Vet, respectively)

I think it's mostly whim.

I'm just disappointed WK didn't have light mechs with higher defenses from the very beginning. I know HeroClix works defense values based on speed (Ant Man and the like). I just see AoD as an opportunity for them to change things around, but they are trying to make it compatible (which I appreciate) with the old system. I understand you can't just go and change things, I just wish the system had been built the other way.

The problem is thier dial is really too short to be able to explain the toughness of an Atlas with a deep dial. Then again that would make the DasherIIcs have 3 click dials. 2.25 tons of armor = Death from any kinda weapon.
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Babi Mac