How long would it take to kill a SH Mech with max armor and Armored everything compared to 2 Heavy Mechs?
I feel like we've been over that already.
Yep:
https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=69355.msg1610498#msg1610498So, yeah, short form: the tonnage the Sh loses to the engine compared to its 2 opponents, plus the other tonnages it loses means those 2 Mechs will have significantly mroe throw weight. Especially when you insist the SH has to be further punished by having armored crits.
Then we add that -1 penalty the SH gets (a truly brutal nega-trait)
Then we add that the SH can't have access to certain armor and internal types (but the regular Mechs could)
And the only plausible outcome is the SH loses 100% of the time, save lucky shots. Sure, one of the other 2 Mechs is also dead. But the SH's negative attributes completely nullify its potential advantages, with plenty of negativity left over.
All of which ignores the rather significant advantage of being faster than it and just not giving it any targets at all, making the SH strategically as valuable as a pillbox. Only a problem when you feel like it, and then best resolved with artillery fire of bombing runs.
That gives the SH Tripod an advantage. Not a big one but still one.
An irrelevant one, compared to what it has to overcome to be competitive.
Super Heavies are a dead end unless the rules change. IE making one with Mimetic armor would drastically increase their utility.