Its good to be back after our little layoff, but its been a funny old week or so.
I had to take a break mainly due to other work commitments, namely one of the most abysmally executed office moves it has ever been my misfortune to be involved with.
And that includes, I might add, my original move into the GG offices, which involved having to move Patrick's extremely large collection of... ahem... publications for the discerning gentleman of loose standards and morals, a running battle along corridors against Ron's crusty undies and ferriting out Joel's sentient socks from their various hiding places where they lurked in wait for the unwary passerby.
My personal woes aside, we also had a Faction War announced. Always good to sit on the sidelines and imagine the back-room bartering as clans try to work out who is metaphorically jumping into bed with who and how it will effect their own choice of temporary partners.
And then there's the new weapons and gear hitting the market. Love that gear.
Multi-Gamma grade shields! Love a shield! Can't wait for the Big Boy Delta's, but as a middle-weight specialist, I can see some lighter mech loving in the very near future...
But since we are talking about the larger chaps, up at the top end we have a new cockpit unit that I wanted to have a quick look at.
The 1S1K module. It looks like a big green eyeball, but does much more than freak the kids out.Cost first.... Ferrite and Bioptics are much of a muchness compared to the other offerings, but this is the most expensive cockpit piece out there at 62 Niodes. The question is though, is it worth it?
Precision rating of 7, 9% addition to missile damage output, 6% on lasers and a Fork chance of 3%, and you can only fit it on a 95 or 100 ton chassis.
Well of the 100 ton Chassis, it is 1 of 3 out of the 9 systems on the market that has no penalties, so that is certainly a plus.
95 ton range is a bit different though.... to be honest, unless its a missile boat I was loading this on, I'd probably go crystal as the sensor array is a better piece for its price on a laser mech. And if I really wanted to spend niodes, Haptics or M-Holes give comparable or better precision and that big swing vote towards crit kill that a decent laser system has.
But that little aside... aside... at the very top end, on the understanding we want no penalties, you have the crystal Lingo, which is OK as a cheap stop gap piece on a missile mech. The other choice is the V.I.M. board, and it is the mirror image to the 1S1K, filling in one the rest of the weapon mix that the 1S1K doesn't touch on.
The problem is though, the 1S1K just doesn't... get the juices flowing.
For the tonnage and cost, its just nondescript. You may as well buy a Smilodon and paint it beige...
The problem as I see it, is that the bar has been set really high for the big boys, and the top pilots want a definitive hook they can hang their proverbial hat on. A good freeze, lots of slow.
I mean look at the bar that's been set by the Fext... 9 X damage boost! Top pilots need a decent multiplier to live in that environment, and a 6% damage add just doesn't cut it.
Now don't get me wrong, if I looted one off the battlefield I'd load it on a mech rather than re-sell it for scrap, but by the same token I can't see it ever being on the top of my shopping list either.
Submitted by David McCallum #701548