>Yes, it did speed the game up. In two ways – we could resolve side arc hit locations a lot faster (everyone I played with has memorized the front table), and mechs were dying a lot faster than they usually do.
>Liberty has been unbearably smug about being completely and totally right about this being a terrible change. I cannot overstate how deleterious this is to the health of the game. Mechs bluntly do not die from anything other than side arc shots if both players are aware of how much these rules concentrate damage and attempt to take advantage of them. Cutting the number of practical, non-head hit locations on a mech from 8 down to 4 funnels damage into not nearly enough of a mech, and leads, as mentioned, to games where dead mechs have light-no damage on one side and a completely cored opposite side.
>XL engines, even Clan ones, become instant death and very nearly enough to push mechs out of the meta, bearing in mind that standard engines are already vastly superior in most ways. These changes also make the advantage from winning initiative even better, because you can position to just kill the enemy with a reactive movement.
Hmm