Drum solo (Pregame 2 EA Storage OPEN)

[Catherine Maia Hayes]

"Oh dear, you went straight for the throat there, Goo!" Wrapping her hands around her own neck, Catherine laughs and mimics choking noises for a second.

"How to make that tin can faster without the need of a name change is an exercise in wasted effort. So yeah. Stronger engine is a must. Now that will mean taking out some heavy stuff to allow for that. I think you have to let go of the AC-10. Downgrade or strip it completely. Strip, if you want to up the Jumpjets too and I'd say that is a must. I always advocate for covering multiple engagement ranges, but with this one you just can't. The stupid hatchet takes up so much of the weight, you have to fully commit to it or drop it. Any extra weight left goes into armour."

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

When Cat made to choke herself Mei's eyed went wide and she visibly paled them flushed and looked away.

"Pretty much my thoughts. Would you believe that Butcher actually wants to give it a SECOND axe? I don't know what the hell he is going to do outside of close range, his lance must be really good at protecting him. BUT, I had a crazy idea tell me what you think.

Drop the AC/10 AND one medium laser. Then you add on a tiny little SRM-2 with 1 ton of normal ammo and 1 ton of SMOKE ammo. With that done you can give it a second axe, up it's movement and jump significantly (6/9/6) and add a half ton of armor!"

Mei stopped drumming and had a silly grin on her face, clearly proud and amused with herself.

"I mean, it's still crazy but if what he really wants to go fast with two axes..."

[Catherine Maia Hayes]

"Wait what?" That shocks Catherine enough to make her put both feet back on the ground and focus on Mei-Ling. "Two hatchets? How'd that even work? Did he ask you for advice? Sounds like you did the numbers already. I would advise to keep the ML though. The heat profile should support it and they just do so much. More than one SRM-2 will do. So you can drop the ammo. It is a melee mech. And not a tough one at that. Drop any ammo you can. More armour, or a heatsink."

She ponders for a moment. "Also .. have you heard of Triple Strength Myomer? Stuff's super new and has a gray history, but if Butcher is this obsessed with going double hatchet, he should really consider it. I don't have the slightest clue where we could get our hands on it though, and we most certainly won't get to salvage it on this backwater planet."

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"Yeah I wish that stuff was widely available. I know the SRM is a risk but I thought the smoke missiles could help him if he gets caught out at an awkward range. I kept one of the medium lasers though, would be silly to ditch them both. You might be right though, If he's going full melee an ammo explosion would ruin him."

Mei thought back to Butchers old arena fighting days and the ammo explosion that should have killed him.

"Double hatchet, double medium laser would free up more tonnage for armor making him seriously tanky for a Hatchetman but is two medium lasers enough? It's a crazy exercise to think about but kinda fun."

[Catherine Maia Hayes]

"CASE could help with ammo explosions, but by then you have dedicated so much tonnage to a little gimmick that could just have been more armour instead." Catherine goes on thinking.

"That thing has no range options and that seriously sucks. Two medium lasers as the only range option is not really enough. Any fast enough mech with long range sustain would take him down slowly, so it is a pure Arena build, or something that needs to be a in a lance that can support it."

She pauses to consider what Butcher actually has in his lance. "Blackjack ... Enforcer ... Locust. Yeah, it works, but not the best. Not a single PPC or LRM or anything in the whole lance, only a couple LLs. It would be a gamble, banking everything on the vastly improved speed and jumping. He does have that skittery laser bug in his lance though, so they might coordinate some close quarter takedowns that way ... until one of them gets popped. Which again calls for ... no ammo."

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"Yeah. He was an arena fighter and I think he is still stuck in that life a little. I hate to say it but my Talon would eat him for dinner if he had a two hatchet loadout." She really didn't look pleased at the thought of that.

[Catherine Maia Hayes]

"Unless the terrain is super advantageous for jumping." Catherine cautions. "Your Talon is groundbound."

She pauses briefly to consider herself in a similar situation. "I would also have to be really careful with Dúthracht, if I am facing a Hatchetman that fast. I would have to make sure I am never caught in melee range. Pretty much run and gun, while hoping to do enough damage before he can reach me. Like shooting off both arms."

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"That's pretty much my fighting style. With my speed and an ER-PPC as long as I can keep them away from me I'm golden. Gǔ and I haven't let each other down yet."

[Catherine Maia Hayes]

"I jump to win." Catherine laughs. "Staying mobile and operating at all ranges is the trick. I am really itching to upgrade my Dúthracht with better heatsinks though and then maybe swap out that LL for some pepper. Dunno if I can squeeze an extra version in though. Weight is too tight."

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"I wanna get my hands on a Gauss rifle. Not sure what the hell I'd do with it on Gǔ but I want one... or ten. Maybe get my hands on a Marauder and strap them on it."

[Catherine Maia Hayes]

"A gauss rifle would open up some options. It's a nice weapon, but its just ... its so friggin heavy. And the ammo weighs a ton too. At least it doesn't explode, although the rifle does." She pauses to think about it some more. "I wonder how they'd really do on a Marauder." Then she laughs. "I don't think it's possible to squeeze one into an Urbanmech, even if you forgo all armour."

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"But you would still be stuck in an Urbanmech and that would be terrible. I would honestly rather be in a tank than an Urbanmech."

[Catherine Maia Hayes]

Catherine giggles at that. "That's the point. A big boom stick trashcan is still a trashcan and that one wouldn't even be able to jump."

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"It would surprise a lot of people though. No one would expect an Urbanmech to slag an Archer at that kind of range, people might not even recognize who did it right away. Urbanmechs do get ignored so it could be a big brain move...if you have to use an urbanmech."

Mei jokingly makes a sign against evil.

"So what's your least favorite mech or mechs?"

[Catherine Maia Hayes]

"I don't think you could hide the gauss rifle on an Urbanmech though. The thing would look so absurd, everyone would notice something is weird about it. And firing the thing is not exactly subtle, after which the snail slow trashcan is pretty much a static target. It wouldn't be able to turn around fast enough to save itself against anything."

"Worst mech? After our talk just now? I'd say the CGR-1A1. What a waste of good metal! That one could really use a hatchet, but it still wouldn't save it from the scrap heap."

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"Yeah that thing is pile of shit but I still like the idea, a heavy scout mech is an idea with merit. This may be a hot take but I think the CLNT-2-4T is garbage. Sure, it can just about anything it can see but at what cost? It's easy to break and hard to fix plus it's armament is meh at best. "

[Catherine Maia Hayes]

"For the price of one Charger, you can buy two Clints and still have a hefty stack of C-Bills left." Catherine counters. "And those two will pummel a Charger by death of a thousand plinks."

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"Yeah but the Charger is a faulty realization of a concept, the Clint feels to me like a fault design. I bet if you stripped down a Charger chassis to the bones and did a totally custom build it could be really good. In fact I'm gonna think about that for a bit and write it out so you can give me your opinion I think."

[Catherine Maia Hayes]

"True, you'd have a solid assault mech base. But then again you can do the same for the two Clints and there is a lot you can do with that. Even if you limit yourself to them being identical and their added cost to less than that of a customized Charger. At that point ... why bother with the Charger? Just buy any other old assault mech of the same weight class and use that as a base to work with." The redhead gives a little grin. "Or I could just be mean and counter your Charger with four UM-R60L covering each other. Even cheaper than two Clints, but about useless for anything else."

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"Oh the reason I would bother with the Charger is because I bet you can get them dirt cheap BECUASE they are so hated."