Well, following on from my last little rant we have some new crystal gear to look at... and at first glance, its not half bad.
Now one of the bugbears I have always endured, especially with the higher tonnage equipment, is that it becomes adulterated away from its main purpose.
We lost pure dodge from crystal equipment at 80 tons and high accuracy tops out at 95.
It would have been nice to have a high accuracy piece for the 100 tonners, but alas we are disappointed in that respect.
But that aside, lets see what we do have.
For 94 Crystal, 2090 Bioptics and 1155 Ferrite you get a Precision Rating 4, 3% chance of double damage and a 3% power increase to both Laser and Fire damage. Most importantly (and this was certainly an issue with early release high tonnage equipment) no penalties.
But the proof is in the pudding, and to taste said pudding we need to compare it with the other delectable crystal goodies on offer.
Now we can't really compare this piece at 95 tons as the Sensor array gives us a whopping 10 precision. But at 100 tons, you don't get Crystal based precision higher than 6, so its certainly within shouting distance although not the best.
Perhaps the best way to view this piece is not to try and work out what it is good at, but what it is not bad at.
Of the 6 crystal pieces on offer, 3 have penalties whether they be vulnerabilities to specific weapon types or (horror of horrors!) a penalty to speed on already glacial mechs.
Of the 3 remaining, the Thermal Autopilot is more geared toward an ice mech with its freeze ability and the Lingo is an obvious Missile mech piece.
So logically with a double damage boost and fire and laser damage increase, this piece can serve equally well on a Fext or Notos, enhancing the main weapon type while giving them a slightly better backup type.
For what it does, it's not half bad and I can certainly see some of the big boys getting some hasty cockpit refits before the next war to give them something a bit more suitable or to get rid of some of those annoying penalties.
But oh what I would give for a 100 ton Straight 8... no bells, now whistles, no penalties... just 8 precision so we can hit something without needing to spend niodes on it... ah well, I can dream.
Submitted by David McCallum #701548