03-30-2008, 10:43 AM
I think lifting the strict bans and putting up a gentleman's consensus on parts instead is a step in the right direction, for all the reasons already outlined.
The combinations Tim mentioned are indeed scary though. Dual H3s on a light? ECM pods on a hover? These are game-breaking ACs which might kill all the fun we're trying to foster - because it's not fun to lose in the first 30 seconds of a fight because you got locked down by heat; because it's not fun to be unable to shoot back at your opponent while he's raining down destruction on you; because it's not fun to not even have a fighting chance - the pitfalls are numerous. However, because there's that element of some part combinations being broken beyond measure I do think we'll all steer clear of that. At least I hope so. We've already gone through 3 PACTs, most of us already know what can be understood as cheap: our present rules are full of them.
I'm just worried that the new blood (if they enter) won't be as knowledgeable in the nuances of (top) tiered parts though. They might go into the tournament with a win-at-all-costs attitude, and brandish in our faces an AC equipped accordingly. From my experience people coming from solely fighting the AI already know what parts are good (Lemur2, Dingo2, TP, etc, etc), but rarely have an inkling of the notion of cheapness. So what's to stop them from disregarding our gentleman's agreement?
But hey, if someone wins the PACT with a broken AC, we'll call him on that haha. If he doesn't, then he gets praise. Personally, I think the fear of being branded as an el-cheapo is enough for most of the older members because we all meet personally. The new guys might not take it as much in stride though.
Basically, that's just a caveat to the whole idea, but I'm actually for it.
The combinations Tim mentioned are indeed scary though. Dual H3s on a light? ECM pods on a hover? These are game-breaking ACs which might kill all the fun we're trying to foster - because it's not fun to lose in the first 30 seconds of a fight because you got locked down by heat; because it's not fun to be unable to shoot back at your opponent while he's raining down destruction on you; because it's not fun to not even have a fighting chance - the pitfalls are numerous. However, because there's that element of some part combinations being broken beyond measure I do think we'll all steer clear of that. At least I hope so. We've already gone through 3 PACTs, most of us already know what can be understood as cheap: our present rules are full of them.
I'm just worried that the new blood (if they enter) won't be as knowledgeable in the nuances of (top) tiered parts though. They might go into the tournament with a win-at-all-costs attitude, and brandish in our faces an AC equipped accordingly. From my experience people coming from solely fighting the AI already know what parts are good (Lemur2, Dingo2, TP, etc, etc), but rarely have an inkling of the notion of cheapness. So what's to stop them from disregarding our gentleman's agreement?
But hey, if someone wins the PACT with a broken AC, we'll call him on that haha. If he doesn't, then he gets praise. Personally, I think the fear of being branded as an el-cheapo is enough for most of the older members because we all meet personally. The new guys might not take it as much in stride though.
Basically, that's just a caveat to the whole idea, but I'm actually for it.
"Let's fight... like gentlemen." - Dudley, SF3