Making Mechs interesting

Mechs need to be interesting. They are boring. They...

#1 Need roles. This doesn't have to be riot/raider/assault, they just need things/units they are good at, and things units/they are bad at.

#2 Need activable special abilities.

Lets go through the units 1 by 1.

Ultimatum:
OK?

Scorpion:
Sort of works but I don't like the cloak. It should be about dealing lots of forward damage but capable of being out-manouvered (pop goes the weasel style). The tail stun should be to allow it to re-position its forward guns (It's non-activable DPS is probably too high?). Seriously needs as small a turn in place angle as possible, because its accel is fine and you need to be able to explicitly set it's heading.

Dante:
The missile salvo doesn't really feel like a 'decision' here because it basically has the same DPS, and even if it has a higher alpha-strike it is kinda buggy and misses a lot. Gear it towards riot. Make its activable just spew missiles in every direction (mostly for visual effect) that explode into a Firewalker style napalm ball focused on the Dante. Can be used to cover its retreat (for repairs etc) or as a point-blank Krow-style nuke attack.

Catapault:
Give it sustained fire over time by default. Give it a Salvo mode that shoots a lot of rockets that spread over a larger area but have a higher total DPS than the salvo. Cons: The activable weapon cannot be used to snipe things, which is mostly how you use activables.

Bantha:
Gear it towards anti-heavy (IE, can be swarmed slightly easier). Make the rockets activable salvo only, EMP. Fires 6 catapault-like EMP rockets (new model has 6). For EMP'ing single static or stationary targets, tight groups, raping shields. Lower the DPS and rate of fire on the hand weapons, so it is worse vs raiders.

Jugglenaut:
Anti-unit. Give it heatrays? Give it an activable that picks up everything around it (including buildings) and flings them at the targeted area. Can be used to launch your units, ofc (probably mostly jumpers).

Detriment:
I like the Gauss. Not a big fan of the ear-lasers or the rockets. Can probably afford to just be a beast, but can we make it cooler.

Argue with my premise, argue with my proposals, or propose your own batshit solutions here. Even if there are cool activable abilities that don't fit any current unit, mechs should be the most interesting and weird stuff in the game IMO.

Jugglenaut should have a long range jump ability and heatrays.

Catapult should get tremor style sustained fire

Scorpion cloak is fine

Without turning the cata into "just a better artillery", you could make it work slightly differently.

Keep its DPS and rough inaccuracy, but drastically increase it's shot velocity. To the point where if it launches against its max range, it hits within about 2 seconds. Give its rockets nice contrails and make them more straight and less wandering (but have a muzzle inaccuracy so it works out the same)

Basically, the Catapult now becomes a threat weapon. DPS is not great like other artillery units, but it can be used for emergency counter artillery.

Are the mech models big enough?

SupCom Experimentals are pretty much over-the-top. The biggest ZK mechs are only kinda-near-the-top, at best. Impressive, yes, but not OMG WTF IS THAT impressive.

Bigger is better, right?

scorp needs moar lazor power

Jseah violates sacred quantum rule of ZK:
nerf weakness, buff strength..
(otherwise all units gravitate towards boring average over time)..


Imo super units dont have to have roles. They just need cool looking weapons. Multiple weapon systems etc. I will build them just for lulz if they look cool.

Licho's idea for the juggernaut is where the fun is at.

Yes, most the mech models are too small.

the grizzly model is much too big.

the goliath and crabbe could be bigger.

the felon, sam site, rogue and a bunch of units could be smaller.

I'm not a big fan of tons of activatables as either the AI won't use them or uses them wrong. I'm all in favor of lots of heavy micro but sometimes you just need to leave a group of units unattended for a short period of time...

Give catapult personal cloak, like com. It will greatly increase its survival. Or more HP. Because it is good unit but can be very easily destroyed by bombers/guships.