Banshee worthwhile early on?

[kriszhao]

I'd say go for the Banshee. It's a terrible assault mech all things considered, but still one hell of a brawler if you can get into punching range. And that's what you should try to do.

I used one as a tank lol put Jump Jets on it with Bulwark, Jump for the evasion pips, then squat down in a forest and sponge the other lances damage

 

[ntw]

LOL - 30 responses and 40 different opinions

personally I'd say go with your gut instinct. If you think you need a tank then grab it, if you're worried about cashflow in the future then don't bother.

 

[Takoita]

Regardless of anything else, Banshee can work as a bigger, meaner Hunchback. Both variants roughly correspond between these mechs, with similar strengths and issues, except that Banshee is by no means insufficiently armored for its generally slow speed.

So if you don't have either an opportunity or desire to try out the lulz super melee build, don't sweat it, Banshee can work well anyway. There is always a use for a tough mech that can take a beating.

 

[Edmon]

The bottomline is that the Banshee is still an assault mech.

Unlike the truly bottom tier 'mechs (like the Cicada, Locust, Dragon and Quickdraw), it can serve as an excellent tank and it can punch like an angry god. It's massive engine gives it the ability to smack someone silly at a pretty solid distance. Fit +melee damage / stab damage arm mods, full armour and support weapons (small lasers are my perference) and watch it punch a hole in someone.

Is it as good as a top tier heavy or any of the other assaults? No, obviously not.

But it will comfortably eat any light or medium for breakfast, with a side of heavy and/or assault if you get a side punch in and rip their arms and weapons off.

I would take it, but the decision as always is yours.

 

[XTRMNTR2K]

I used one as a tank lol put Jump Jets on it with Bulwark, Jump for the evasion pips, then squat down in a forest and sponge the other lances damage

Absolutely! There's no reason why that wouldn't work.


Come to think of it, after beating the campaign once I think I even got a Banshee early on during my second or third campaign attempt. And if I remember it correctly, I used it for the specific mission OP was asking about - to hilarious effect. Definitely made that mission a whole lot easier.

 

[Pherdnut]

Regardless of anything else, Banshee can work as a bigger, meaner Hunchback. Both variants roughly correspond between these mechs, with similar strengths and issues, except that Banshee is by no means insufficiently armored for its generally slow speed.

So if you don't have either an opportunity or desire to try out the lulz super melee build, don't sweat it, Banshee can work well anyway. There is always a use for a tough mech that can take a beating.

It actually has the same move and JJ capacity as a hunchback. It can jump for 5 evade.

I used one as a tank lol put Jump Jets on it with Bulwark, Jump for the evasion pips, then squat down in a forest and sponge the other lances damage

It's great at that. Especially with +3 defense gyros. I once managed to get attacked by two assault mechs at once while trying to be clever. My 3M tanked all of their fire at a choke point with some obstacles while my other mechs fired from behind. I lethal or pilot-killed 7/8 of their mechs. The Banshee came out with a minor ding to structure on one of its arms. The rest of the team came out clean. I only put sLasers and a couple mLasers on mine.

I think it's actually a great mech in the right circumstances. I just wouldn't throw 4 mill at it when there's still Argo improvements to be made.

Also, the Cyclops Z and Q have the same mobility stats and just a smidge less max armor. It's hard not to put the Z into that role now, given the initiative boost.

 

[Drasius]

If there's ever a time to run a Banshee, it's when your only heavy choices are a Dragon or Quickdraw. This will be one of the very few times that the Banshee will be an upgrade, and if you're still facing down mostly mediums with the very occassional lighter heavy (and you probably are if you've not done Smithon yet), then the relatively poor free tonnage won't be quite so apparant and the slight speed boost means it'll keep up with the slow mediums like your Centurions, Hunchies, Enforcers, Hatchetmen and the like.

For 4 million, I'd say it'd be a rather solid investment to be able to bully stuff this early. Plus you'll be able to leg almost anything you look at if you don't core it, so it'll make getting another upgrade even easier too.

 

[Woozywyvern]

Thanks again for all the replies folks. I have managed to get a Jagermech since last posting, and did the Smithon mission (Although I got fairly banged up in that one). Upon deciding to get the Banshee, the parts had gone from the shop but I have since found 2 more and just waiting on the 3rd. It will be my first assault so I thought, 'what the hell.'

 

[Camicon Dachass]

If there's ever a time to run a Banshee, it's when your only heavy choices are a Dragon or Quickdraw. This will be one of the very few times that the Banshee will be an upgrade, and if you're still facing down mostly mediums with the very occassional lighter heavy (and you probably are if you've not done Smithon yet), then the relatively poor free tonnage won't be quite so apparant and the slight speed boost means it'll keep up with the slow mediums like your Centurions, Hunchies, Enforcers, Hatchetmen and the like.

For 4 million, I'd say it'd be a rather solid investment to be able to bully stuff this early. Plus you'll be able to leg almost anything you look at if you don't core it, so it'll make getting another upgrade even easier too.

I gotta say, running a BNC-3E to draw fire away from the rest of my lance is really useful, even though I've got a bunch of different Heavies (and an Awesome) to choose from. It's saved me lost limbs and expensive repairs more than once during my career run. Really fun to use when ambushing convoys, just sprint in and start stomping the vees to death while the rest of my lance mops up the escort.

 

[Drasius]

Thanks again for all the replies folks. I have managed to get a Jagermech since last posting, and did the Smithon mission (Although I got fairly banged up in that one). Upon deciding to get the Banshee, the parts had gone from the shop but I have since found 2 more and just waiting on the 3rd. It will be my first assault so I thought, 'what the hell.'

I just started a new campaign, and before I've even done Axylus, Bam! There's a whole BNC-3E in the store at Bellerophon. Shame it's 12.8 million C-Bills and I've only got 1/10th of that, it'd be beyond busted to get one this early.

 

[ronhatch]

Thanks again for all the replies folks. I have managed to get a Jagermech since last posting, and did the Smithon mission (Although I got fairly banged up in that one). Upon deciding to get the Banshee, the parts had gone from the shop but I have since found 2 more and just waiting on the 3rd. It will be my first assault so I thought, 'what the hell.'

Yeah, any planet controlled by the Directorate is treated as entirely different from the planet with the same name controlled by the Restoration. So everything in the shops gets re-rolled.

I made the mistake once of wanting something in the shop and hoping to get my friendly Restoration discount... then when it wasn't there after the mission I realized why. It's a good thing to keep in mind.