References:
Introduction
When a Commander looks at his Mechs and how to outfit them, having a Precision as high as possible to hit the opponents, and a Dodge as high as possible to avoid being hit should have very high priorities,
For some who are unfamiliar with the research recently republished, done by Ben Rail and Feng Jiang in 3287 (reference 1), it ment looking for the Mechs who had the best combination of inherent Precision and Dodge coupled with many slots for equipment to enhance them and top equipment to fill the slots.
For instance, the 90 ton Antithesis will after being fully upgraded at level 140 have base Dodge and Precision of 47 and 6 slots for both Chassis and Cockpits. Buying the top Niode equipment available in the shops (Torsion Helix who gives 19 Dodge and 1 Precision and Haptic Interface who boost Precision by 13) we get a Mech who have Dodge of 161 and Precision of 131.
Pretty impressive, huh?
But as the research show, you have just wasted Niodes.
Any Mech who have Precision of 96 (or higher) will hit any opposing mech 19 times out of 20, no matter whether that Mech have a Dodge of 0, 70 (max effective) or 161.
As the top working Precision is 96, there is no need to enhance it past that point either.
So how, one might ask, does this affect Mechbuilding?
Optimization
To answer that question you have to take a look at the Mechs.
The only light Mech that is possibly affected by this is the Novum. Fully developed it have a base Dodge of 24 and 3 slots for Chassis. Using the Hip Hopper Hips (Dodge 14) we get to a Dodge of 66. If you in addition have a full HG and the Dodge bonus for leveling, the Dodge can get as high as 72.
Among the medium Mechs the only Mech who can pass the limits is the Fides. Four Chassis slots is available and Unitam Actuators (Dodge 16, speed 2) can get the base Dodge to 64.
Then you get to the heavy Mechs, The Megazome and Bishop have 6 Chassis Slots and the Krampus, Dilophos and Rook have 5. Enough to get past max Dodge on the Crystal Chassis Frictionless Bearing (Dodge 13) who gives base Dodges before HG and Bonus of 65 and 78.
Going into the huge Mech class. The Frigis, Skriag and Torrent have 7 Chassis, the Gigus and the Harrell 6, Dreadnought 5. Using the Crystal Chassis Trilerian Sprockets (11 Dodge) will give those who have 6 or more slots a Dodge over 70 (assuming HG is filled).
Among the BFMs we find many Mechs who can break the limits. Dodge can be broken by most using top Niode or even Crystal Equipment (Magnus being the exception) . The Regis, Antithesis, Boreas, Apatotron, Notos, Reaper and Humbaba can also exceed the max Precision.
When it comes to the Ultraheavy Mechs (UFM), so far the Equipment for sale isn't able to push the limits.
Of course, the Niode Equipment might have other features that makes them desirable.
But for a Commander that wants the most bang for the Niodes it is clear that for most Mechs past 65 tons Niode Chasis is not necessary.
For the BFMs you might in addition reduce the expidenture of the best Mechs when it comes to Cockpits.
The Regis, Antithesis, Boreas Apatotron, Notos Reaper and Humbaba can, as mentioned above, achieve Precision above 96.
Using some Crystal Cockpits like the Sensor Array (Precision 10) and perhaps the Eye Spy (Precision 6) or even the Neural Stabilizer and Thermal Autopilot (Precision 5) for both, can save Niodes and still let you have a Precision of 96.
Of course, to get the Precision and Dodge mentioned, you need to have the Mechs fully developed. Until you have achieved that goal, the Precision and Dodge attainable will be lower. While the Mechs develop, the top Niode gear will give the best performance from the Mechs.
Another detail to consider is the relative merit of Dodge and Precision.
As shown, there are Mechs who at full potential will hit all opponents, no matter their Dodge almost every time they fire.
But until they reach that potential, a high Dodge on the target will generate more misses. For Mechs of lower tonnage, especially until they are fully developed, a high Dodge is an effective way of letting opponents miss them.
If you are a low tonnage specialist, a high Dodge will still be crucial, as the opposing Mechs cant get the Precision needed for a sure-kill (unless you skimp on the Dodge)
As the Mechs grow towards their full potential and Precision rises, the odds of a hit grows. The more developed the Mechs are, and in general the higher tonnage they have, will make a hit vs similar Mechs more likely.
This does not however imply Dodge is worthless even for BFMs at higher levels. A high Dodge might still turn what would otherwise be a 96% hit probability into for example a mere 85% (what Precision the attacking Mech have).
If your Dodge is 70 (including the passive dodge and all boosts) the opponents hit probability will be the same as his Precision (unless it is above 96, in which case it will be 96) So a high Dodge is worthwhile unless the opponent have only top Mechs with 96 Precision in his formation.
About Honuor Guard.
Having a full HG will for many give both a boost to damage and a Dodge bonus.
Having 12 friends in the HG will give a bonus Dodge of 6, having 25 friends will give the maximum Dodge bonus of 8.
To have these bonuses is crucial, especially for those Mechs not fully developed and of low tonnage.
For instance.
In a Red Ant fight between two commanders who have piloting licence 25, and have fully developed their Red Ants but haven't spent any Niode on Equipment. The Ants have room for two Cockpits, the best Precision is from the Cup Holders (Precision 4) so the Mechs have Precision 8. One Commander (A) does have a full HG, The other (B) have none.
Commander A's Mechs will hit the opposing Mechs 78% of the time, while Commander B's Mechs only will hit 70% of the time. The additional 41% damage A's Mechs inflict on the opponents will only hasten the victory.
To sum up.
Where a Commander who have a full (41 Mech) formation of BFMs before might have spent around 64,000 Niodes to get the best possible Niode equipment for the Mechs, now he can shave off perhaps as much as a third of this amount by a judicious use of Crystal gear and still have the maximum effective Dodge and Precision.
Now, whether the manufacturers (including the craftsmen) have decided to put a limit on the Mechs performance (which at a later date might be raised or eliminated), or whether the current maximum is what is possible to achieve is unclear. But the maximum values have been raised at least once before. Could be it was because of technical breakthroughs, and such breakthroughs might happen again.
(By Sten Hugo Hiller - 627184)
