Now before equipment is installed I'm looking at +54% laser damage, 3X damage 10%, Crit - Kill 10%, Fork 20%, Trample Shield 40%, Laser shield 25%, Trample 10%,Auto repair 5, Precision 5, Projectile damage +15%, Wide Fork 8%, 2X damage 10%, and a dodge of 2. That's a pretty hefty laundry list of mecha abilities that can be made better by filling in the equipment slots.
I have 6 Cockpit slots, 6 Chassis slots, 5 Engine slots, 4 Shield slots, and 42 weapon slots available to me. This mecha gives you some room to play with. It allows you plenty of room to dial in your precision rating, gives decent dodge slots with the Chassis, and if you do it right with engines you can eek out every last bit of speed. The shields aren't a complete set so you're down one slot. But careful selection can net you decent protection overall.
Now what does this mecha excel at? Laser damage hands down is its primary weapon ability. Yes, it has bonuses to projectile as well but at nowhere near the percentages that are for laser damage. Of course as with most mechas you can set it up how you like for weapons systems and go to town with it. However this is telling you right off the bat it is a monster with lasers, and it has a Crit - Kill ability that can be capitalized on with proper equipment set up. This mecha is perfect for the Crit - Kill club group of lasers I am so fond of. The Blue Dragon, Cherenkov Ray, and the Archfiend respectively.
So you get a small laundry list of abilities, some nice starting weapons, decent weapon and equipment slots, and it is fairly fast on the draw for using laser and being 90 tons. Sure it'll cost you a bit in resources to get a hold of one, but truth be told they are well worth it. To me about the only thing that ruins this mecha is all the stupid limits on lasers and equipment at the higher levels/ ranges. If you have more than a handful of these you'll notice as you go on outfitting and equipping them, that well they are slowly declining in performance.
Why? Because after a time you get locked out of the good weapons and gear and have to make due with the vulnerable, slow you down, give you problems gear. So be smart keep a many of these as you like but be forewarned after a time gear and equipment gets scarce and your Regis variants will start to decline the further away they get from the original purchase. Yes they can handle niode and crystal gear/weapons just fine. It's just that let's be honest here niode gear gives you more overall which makes it more appetizing for this mecha model.
The same can be said for the weapons systems honestly. So the mecha itself is great. Equipment slots are all right there, weapon slots likewise accessible, it's just the dumb limits on the gear, and some of the limitations on the weapons themselves as far as slowing you down or leaving you vulnerable that totally suck. Especially when you're limited on shield slots from the get go to cover your ass with. But if worked right, with a careful selection of weapons and gear these things become Crit - Kill monsters. That almost makes the rest of the BS worthwhile trying to outfit more than a couple at a time.
Submitted by Pat Willis#224534