there have been some ok lances built for even 20 mil involving an awesome but I haven't seen much else that worked. that said in unlimited you see them a bit more often. as far as I know there are no full unlimited pvp turnaments happening yet. the elemenation chamber allows you to field up to two assaults and so far both highlanders and atlas's have been common in lances. I would not say useless but very cramped by the lower cost matches. I gather full assault on assault action is kinda reserved for unlimited fights by design. in iswars you see a lot of doom stacks as they are called in planetary assaults. these are often met with the lighter forces of the planetary garrison, who occasionally win despite tonnage diffrences depending on the players and specific mechs involved. tho I don't think any o the all locust lances ever won at all. in the 20 mil lance I refered to the awesome is there more as a melle monster than a long range combatant, the long guns are just to force the enemy to close to where the awesome can smash them.