I wouldn't say it is useless and easy to kill even with the suggested crits. Problems doesn't lie on tanks versus more powerful stuff, which should have enough fire power to kill one. However the less powerful assets have no way to damage one to the point it is noticeable. Mind you, many assault mechs have 6k arms or less, which is less than the side armour of Demos, Morrgus, that is without the hull touched. Damaging an arm on top tier assaults to point of near destruction is very possible with good aim and stealth even with starting mechs. Mind you, the Demo is cheaper than most heavies and many mediums too.
You're just counting the armor in the arms. Tally up the armor from all the torso sections, legs, head, weapon pods and suddenly mechs are looking SIGNIFICANTLY better. You have to come to terms with the fact that one of the advantages of tanks is that their armor is distributed amongst fewer sections than a mech.
So you can arm a mech but can't "arm" a tank? So what.
In MWLL, Mechs are very stable firing platforms, have FAR fewer issues with terrain (when was the last time you saw a mech stuck on a stump or flipped upside down?) and are far more agile. When was the last time you saw a mech spin come to a full stop and spin 180 degrees because a 12 inch rock was blocking its path?
Tanks are old and reliable, and they act appropriately on the battlefield. No frills blocks'o armor that trundle to the fight an unleash pain from their simple turret. They're less advanced than mechs, and consequently there are fewer things that can go wrong.
I'd say the vast majority of the tanks are pretty well balanced.
My thoughts on specific tanks.
1: I'd like the see partisan variants that are allowed to "grow up" to their heavy class weight. (they're 80 tons like the demo). We can live without them now, but IS will eventually need a "big" AA tank once things eventually go puretech.
2: I think the demolisher's performance vs mechs is fine, but I would be ok with a price increase (it wouldn't take much to knock the lbx20 variant into the next salary bracket)
3: Huit....I still think a variant that replaces the prime's UAC5's with LBX10's and the 4 UAC2's with a pair of LBX5's (an equal tonnage swap...in cbt rules at least) would be a superior AA tank given the short window of engagement presented by skilled pilots.
4: Morrigu. These things are deadly.....and at this price point they better be deadly.
5: Epona pursuit tank.....still waiting
