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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Xervous" data-source="post: 9755238" data-attributes="member: 6747541">In my recent playtests the side hit rules have both lengthened and shortened games. It was my hope that the increased value of positioning would be a nerf to turrettech but I was surprised when my turrettech lists benefited (I might say disproportionately) from the rule. Running my usual rushdown lists I found it much easier to punish slower lists when they employed bad positioning. TSM kickers (Nightsky 6T) didn’t actually achieve leg destruction that much more often, but the kick-on-punch-table was brutally consistent. Kick on side punch table is a horribly specific scenario that’s not easily set up so I don’t dwell on it much. When shooting into slower 3/5-4/6 mechs the initial damage delivered on approach encouraged me to favor a side, but the layout didn’t always allow me to pursue it as an optimal play. The side arc rule made slower lists even worse for dispersed objectives, but I don’t consider that a significant change because such lists were already winning/losing at initial placement. Jumpy mechs with poke sticks surprised me as most of my expectations were focused around fire supports and knife fights. I ran into one of the packhunter upgrades and it turned out to be not worth shooting at even though the numbers were enticing. FOUR hits with heavy PPC (and a snub) and no loss of function. Left leg (no crit) left arm, pack hunter presents right arc, CT right arm, snub into RT by transfer. I can only imagine how standard fusion jumping poke sticks will be to deal with, plan on testing that soon. With the single fire support anchoring some of the rushdown lists, singular snipers in opposing lists, and generally with the turrettech list I tried, the side arc rules gave some mechs more staying power. The centerpiece of one match was a kingfisher v kingfisher showdown (promoted on by some RP and a mutual desire to see how long they’d last) that was only ended by one taking a gyro hit while the other absorbed engine hits when they were approaching twig status. I recognize most mechs will not remain threatening as long given how few mount a CT cLPL, but the nightstar in a previous match was also surprisingly long lived thanks in no small part to sticking its left side towards me after barely avoiding the right gauss going boom. Turrettech lists already wanted to sit in a clump and my firing line wasn’t really worried about getting its arcs exploited. IS XL mechs still don’t last as long as other engines, but the option for guaranteed side shielding made them more consistent in terms of longevity (so long as they survive a round and get to turn, RIP archer). My biggest concern is tied up in ‘game mode’ selection. Turrettech gets a nerf for dispersed objectives, your typical “and then they blew each other up…” meeting engagements hand TT an advantageous defensive option, and jumpy $#&%! consistently living longer in most cases at no cost to their offensive output. I don’t like to see games decided before minis hit the board, but this side arc stuff looks to polarize TT performance. Though it’s not like there weren’t lists that dominated specific scenarios before, this just calls for some minor adjustments in scenario design.Jump 7+ was already a pain point right? I’ll need to look into those interactions more in the future.</blockquote>

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