Date check... nope, not my Birthday.
Nor is it Father's Day or any other gift giving festival.
Shipping date on the docket says 6th May, so it's a day or so late for me to automatically assume "It's a Trap!!".
But I feel that my in built wariness is being overridden by... avarice?
I open the box.
It is... a gift. A gift to the foes of all who would conquer Mecha Galaxy.
One does not simply discount such a thing...
For it is... precious... to me...
Nestled in it's packing material is a brand new Plasma Orb.Let's have a quick look at the stats while I wipe the drool off and get the techs to install it on one of my mechs for a quick try out.
Focusing and damage enhancement module based around fire based mechs... very specialised kit. Tonnage range of 55 to 75... cruiserweight class.
That accounts for the reason I was having... a moment.
For a cost of 44 Niodes, 842 Ferrite and 678 Bioptics, it will give you a precision rating of 10, fire damage increase of 9% across the board and a 4% chance of a triple overcharge shot.
Cindron, Inferno and newly minted Poryphorus pilots have just gone weak at the knees.
After a cold shower, I decided to think about this logically. Just because you can see a use for it doesn't make it a must have item. For that we need to compare it with other gear available, and we need to cross check to make sure by fitting it you aren't going to disadvantage yourself when it matters by using one. Look past the shiny... precious... new item and weigh up the odds.
At the top end, your baseline is the Betrus Processor with precision 10 and a crit-kill of 3%. Using the Orb, you gain some precision and lose some crit. The Hawkeye gives the same precision and still gives you crit kill but is geared for other weapons. The Battle A.I. gives a little more precision plus damage multipliers but is reasonably more expensive.
Checking the bottom end of the tonnage range, the crystal Nux Raid has already been surpassed. One of the remaining contenders are Enhanced senses, but they didn't make the grade up at 75 tons. The Sekhmet Siege CPU and the Thermal Analyzer both give comparible fire damage, but that precision goes way down. They are however way cheaper and can be picked up as mission prizes.
And to be honest, after being on the receiving end of one too many defeats at this weight range where dodge is king and precision is the only counter, I've already stripped all Thermal Analyzers from my line.
So the only decision remaining is whether or not this is a nice to have, a want or a need?
On a strict budget, you should still be packing out your cockpit with crystal gear. Looking at each mech, the Poryphorus will get benefit from precision and fire damage, however you need to ignore that 3 x damage as being worth it as it won't stack with anything inherent on the chassis. The Cindron is a different case as it starts getting its own 3 x overcharge at level 56, so at higher levels it has a greater value on that chassis.
The Inferno also has a built in multiplier, but until an upgrade package comes out for this class you probably won't get the full benefit. It's still worth it at this point though.
One final thought. If it had been aimed purely at the three mechs we have outlined, why would they rate it all the way up to 75 tons? Well just have a quick look at some of those mechs... and remember that you don't get another fire mech until the Gigus at 80 tons which most consider to be a rather poor platform.
Sever pilots do get a fire damage boost and they have got the built in damage multiplier. In truth you may be better off with a Hawkeye as your Laser damage is better. Ammonites get better 3 x damage boost, and a few of these could turn it into a creditable stop gap fire mech. Both of course are at that crucial point of using Delta grade shielding which gives them better surviveability in battle. Its worth considering rather than waiting for the Gigus.
But we still haven't answered the question of if its a need or want.... well, lets go back down to the bottom end to answer that.
If you 'want' your Cindron to be able to damn near equal the damage output of an Ignis, you 'need' some of these.
Your call. I'll see you at the equipment store...
Submitted by David McCallum #701548