Of course, with the No-Dachi you could instead punch, losing only 2 points of damage if TSM is engaged but changing your chance of a head-hit from 1/36 to 1/6. Swords kinda under-perform.
Agreed, using that punch location table really makes swords in my opinion almost worse than punching if you have TSM. No doubt the No-Dachi looks cool though. That has to count for something.
Exactly.. 15 tons, 30 tons, 45 tons, 60 tons, 75 tons and 90 tons are the "sweet spots' for hatchet wielders.. BUT if you notice quite a few canon designs totally miss it..
Garhkal, I do see what you are saying, from a strict min/max rules standpoint it makes a lot of sense to only hit a sweet spot. From an actual realistic perspective, not so much. If the Axman weighed an additional 10 tons, sure it would be much more effective with the Hatchet, frankly the additional room would make it that much more effective anyways. But you begin to run into the issue of well hell. A 90 ton Axman would be even more effective right? And now you see where the Berserker comes from. Or at least what might have lead there. Arguably it is the most effective melee focused mech out there, bar none. Ahh... perfection.
Well wait a minute though... you are telling me I can field 3 Axmen for the price of one Berserker? Well then I guess I could have a pair of 1N's to run up and smash your face, and then a single 2N for fire support and face smash support.
A 60 ton Axman would be more restricted in what it could mount for additional weapons (even though the hatchet still does the same damage) So it would lose combat effectiveness, and still cost ballpark of the Axman as currently incarnated.
Logistically I can think of reasons why it makes more sense to have a 65 tonner vs a 60 tonner or 75'er as well. I can readily think of a lot of Steiner (and Davion) designs that use a 260XL engine, same Gyro etc. Cestus, Thunderbolt, Crusader, Jagermech, Bombardier, etc. where as in a 60 ton bracket, there aren't a lot of choices.
Granted the 75 ton bracket would have probably been more ideal, has logistical commonality, etc, but it would cost likely almost 4mil CBills more.
So when you look at it like that, it makes the Appeal of "hitting the sweet spot" less ideal.
