While its easy from going uber among friends, when there is something big at stake I doubt anyone would hold any punches unless they have the utmost confidence in their capabilities. Also, dominating playstyles are an unintentional result of From's meddling and poor understanding of the gaming mechanics they have created.
When From created the Battle Arena tournament back in 2004 for NX in japan, almost all of the preliminary winning contestants entered in the LHT92, A2 quad legs (noticeably with no back weapons, they were used for turning and their armor), or a COUGAR2/DINGO2, all of which equipped the CICADA2 head. Core parts varied a bit with the E2, and SELENA for most designs. Weapons were either MG arms/dual GLLs/LX/dual WYRMs/SPARTOI/SIREN2 (in case someone used ECMs. Also, I'm pretty sure they banned the M2s in the process and may have banned others, but I'm not too sure) all of them running on either the FUDOH or LOTUS with the GULL and the RAGORA (sometimes ANANDA, but that was a rare case). Of course it was understandable since there was something huge at stake since it was a nationwide tournament, and only natural that people put their best foot forward (meaning that all the designs almost looked alike with all the best parts strapped on in one way or another). The big winner though: Mangetsu's hover (The AC looks sexy too BTW
, he beat Imori with this design).
CICADA (Or was it the CICADA2? anyway its tuned for vs. ECM)
SELENA
CETUS
WALRUS2
D2 (I think, could be another FCS though)
FUDOH
RAGORA
(possibly MEDUSAs or ECMs)
JIREN
SIREN2 (For the vs. ECM stat like the CICADA's)
MV
Tunes prolly all went to cooling and VS ECM for the head.
No one held back with their part selection, but the one who came up on top was an unexpected surprise especially because other configurations were deemed superior to Mangetsu's hover. It didn't have the Dual WYRMs or MG arms (Though I think they got banned midway through the tournament because of overuse I suppose?) but are non the less competitive. In the case of RR though, I think we all stray away from trying to dominate an opposition with the absolute best parts in the game. For the most part, I think finding more creative ways to beat opponents will be a greater deciding factor, and a much more satisfying surprise for both contestants than having people run in expected top-tier ACs.
In my case, I usually go for #3 as well in
Kanon's list, do good and look good while doing it. The point of the whole thread though was from the perspective of a competitive AC environment where only the effectiveness of ACs are considered. Dominant playstyles were derived from which AC parts were used, which were more often than the top-tier parts in the game. If there was something big at stake, I'm sure that people will run an ugly AC if it means winning a lot of money. Of course, there will be some who would rather do it with performance and style in mind such as Mangetsu and our very own Dave, and succeed in the process.
I have a question though. The absolute measure of skill between two participants is to isolate all variables not related to skill right? So if everyone ran the absolute same "best/borken" design in a tournament, the one coming on top will definitely be considered the most skillful in piloting a particular design of the bunch and prolly the best pilot. This is derived from 3 things: First is the supremacy of a borken design over all other design configurations possible. Second is the supremacy of the pilot over everyone else. Finally third, which is the supremacy of both pilot and machine over everyone else. Theoretically by achieving the 3rd, one should be able to beat everything that stands in its way, no mater who the pilot is and what ever design they use (assuming that there is no greater pilot and more borken AC than that while removing the map equation from the factors). Just to illustrate, what if both
Imori and
Mangetsu ran the same absolute best AC in the game (For example, AA with the KSAW mids and the GT00s), would the outcome be any different? Of course, we can't say for sure since there are various specialties regarding to AC design. It may be possible to push a design beyond its perceived limit by a skillful pilot that is more specialized in a certain leg type like
Twin-Skies and his quad (I don't think he ever used any other leg type...) or how borken a particular AC is
.
Admittedly, I can imagine this thing won't exactly be fun and ruins a lot more things than just the excitement of playing the game and competition. Part of the fun in competitions is the uncertainty of the victor.