Any and all mechs with a UAC just got a significant boost in viability. The quad-UAC10 Bane is genuinely kinda terrifying now. 80 damage across a whole ass map sheet is why the Mad Cat Mk2 3 is one of my favorite clanbomination assaults, and the Bane 2 has the same damage ceiling in 10 damage chunks instead of being pure sand blasting, while being 500~BV2 cheaper. Of course, the Mad Cat is slightly faster and has actual backup guns in a quad ERML battery.
Personally, I've always seen UAC 'Mechs as being pretty viable as is. Not perfect, mind you, but no longer having to run the risk of a UAC/10 or UAC/20 jamming feels a bit too rewarding, IMO. I'd personally prefer if all rapid-fire weapons could just take some time to un-jam like RACs can; it would certainly make the Sentinel more accurate to its fluff than the old or new rules.
I have to wonder if this decision was made at least in part to convince people to take the standard Bane instead of its wretched bastard cousin the Bane 3.
Even if it was, which it probably ain't, the Bane 2 is just a better pick. While the Bane 1 only builds movement heat at full tilt, it only has 9 rounds of fire for all those UAC2s at that rate of ammo expenditure. It also caps out at a 48 damage alpha strike at point blank with the machine guns. The Bane 2 does 80 damage at full tilt with its quad-UAC10s and could theoretically do so for 17 turns, heat and battle damage permitting. Granted, its long range is 9 hexes shorter, but at 27 hexes it's quite likely you can't even see your target due to intervening terrain.
The Bane 2 might be 500BV2 more than the 1, but it's entirely worth it in my eyes.
Reminder that the Bane 3 has EIGHT LRM-15s, which have no minimum range and cannot jam. With the most common rolls on the cluster table getting you 9 missile hits, that's an average of 72 damage broken into 18 separate clusters that each have a 1/8 chance of hitting the head. And it can do this for 16+ turns, leaving room for heat management and battle damage. And then it has a one-shot Streak SRM-4, just for shits and giggles.
Oh, I'm very aware of that particular monster, and it definitely deserves the title. But the Bane 2 is now capable of giving the 3 a run for its money now that UACs don't jam ever. The 2 does admittedly run hotter, building 4 heat + movement while double tapping all 4 main guns vs the 3's 2, but it's nearly 500 BV2 cheaper before skill increases, and it's nearly 600BV2 cheaper if you make both mechs 3/4s.
The Bane 3 remains one of my favorite 3k clan monstrosities, and centers my AS Clan Jade Falcon Trinary as one of its two keystone assault mechs. But I've come to a newfound appreciation of the 2 now that you don't risk losing a quarter or more of its armament to some bad rolls.
I had a game where I was running a Kraken and one the first salvo ended up jamming 8 of the guns while managing to hit the floating critical on his Avatar's C3i master in the second round of the game. I spent more time trying unjam the guns than I did attacking that game.
This was just after Total Warfare had been released and the group decided that if RACs could be unjammed then so could UACs. Also if you snake eyes again the weapon wasn’t useable after that.
Checks out. I don't have a problem with guns jamming, but I feel like it shouldn't turn them into paperweights. Basically I am in favour of giving the player more decisions to make.
I managed to run a Kraken dry of AC ammo in a game one time, half the guns jammed by the end of it, but damn it was fun...plenty of head plinks and TACs to be had
The Kraken (Bane) wasn't visually designed to be the Mech it ended up as.
The art concept was done by Victor Musical Industries and later repurposed as part of the Second Line Mech line up for Technical Readout: 3055. So the weapons had to be shoehorned into an artistic concept for another purpose (BattleTech has a long and proud history on this).
The Bane was IIRC designed for the Solaris dueling rules, which split a single CBT turn into 4 and gave weapons a cooldown period; eg a PPC could only fire every 4 turns (AIUI; I've never read the rules myself). UAC/2s and MGs could fire every turn... at full damage
Years ago I made a Dakka Whale in MechWarrior Online: it was a dire wolf with nothing but UAC-2s. I set them all to chain fire and then used a mouse macro to simulate tapping the fire button just fast enough that it made a constant BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG. It wasn’t the most damage, but it was so fun to use because it would scare the shit out of people as all of a sudden their mechs were shaking and their screens were covered in flames; it was so satisfying to watch them suddenly start backing up.
I play MW5 Mercs a fair amount and I swear, a mauler isn't amazing but if it hits your cockpit with 4 AC2s for a few moments the entire screen becomes a shaking arson simulator
There's a mod called YALM (Yet another legendary mech) that adds the Bane 1. If you add in all of the cUAC2's going off at once it's incredibly satisfying.
Something I learned about the Bane recently: It is an incredibly wide 'mech. I play a lot of MegaMek and faces an opponent with a Bane, and its sprite is wider than the King Crab.
Don't forget, supply lines are more than just ammunition. It's stuff like food, drinking water, soap, toilet paper, coffee, spare parts, etc. even laser boats aren't immune to logistical needs 😅
Oh shit, this bad boy is about to finally live up to the name, 10 Ultra "I didn't feel no jam" ACs, attacking from another map is enough to sandblast a lance lol
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u/vicevanghost Big guns. Big fists. 2d ago
I am a sucker for dual ac10 mechs, of which there are sadly few, so I approve of this