Well, I can safely say that AA is much improved with the changes. Unfortunately, once you have a Huit up, a lot of ASF pilots tend to stop flying. Non-Huit AA is usable. Bascially, it's acceptable for shooting at smaller ASF's. They do not defend themselves very well against ground threats, however.
The Huit Prime works great against non-Shiva ASF's, but I really haven't had a good opportunity to fire at a Shiva yet. I would imagine that it does acceptable damage, given the damage it does to ground assets. The Huit can, more or less, defend itself against ground threats. I still find myself questioning why it's so slow, and overheats so quickly under boost. It has trouble maneuvering, and difficulty fighting its way up any hill that you don't hit at "top" speed. You can take a few hits, but you're definitely not going anywhere if someone rolls up on you in a brawler mech.
It also seems that if you take an engine hit, the top speed isn't reduced. So it's essentially so slow because it has engine damage right out of the hangar? Just seems a little off to have the speed so much lower than a Demolisher, which weighs more, carries large weapons, and has much heavier armor than the Huit. I got bumped by a mech last night on Sandblasted, which sent me rolling backward down a dune. I couldn't stop. Had to roll all the way to the bottom, then climb up under boost. Seems worse than it should be, even if it's meant to be slow.
From a combat perspective, it's quite good once you get it into a good position. But 33k/h, and only a few seconds of boost time before overheat? Ouch.
