The Hamer is a model of Standard Chassis that can be installed on a Mobile Trench.
Description[]
"A Standard Chassis that focuses on Heavy weaponry. Able to carry both a 3-slot weapon and a Heavy Emplacement, the Hamer squeezes every ounce of power out of a Standard-sized Chassis."
Layout[]
Weapon Slots: 3x0
Emplacement Slots: Heavy / Support / Support
Models[]
Mk I[]
Requisite Rank: 5
Store: $1,400
Mission: Port
Armor: 52
Speed: 20
Mk II[]
Requisite Rank: 6
Store: $2,100
Mission: N/A
Armor: 62
Speed: 20
Mk III[]
Requisite Rank: 7
Store: N/A
Mission: Village / Power Plant / Drydock / Volcano
Armor: 75
Speed: 20
Mk IV[]
Requisite Rank: 12
Store: N/A
Mission: Swamp / Settlement
Armor: 155
Speed: 20
Tactical Appraisal[]
The Hamer is perhaps the most interesting chassis in the game.
Constantly teetering between "Obviously Bad" and "Remarkably Niche" the Hamer has a volatile position, if any, in the community.
From an outsider unaware of the balance of weapons in Iron Brigade, the Hamer seems like a viable trade-off from the Honeychurch. You give up a Light turret and pay a little more for said turrets in return for equipping BIG POWERFUL 3-SLOT WEAPONS! They may even compare it to the Woodruff, the other Standard chassis, and claim it gives up a weapon slot but adjusts itself to accomodate BIG POWERFUL 3-SLOT WEAPONS!
These are ill informed but valid appraisals.
For those more aware, weapons in Iron Brigade are renown for their extremely powerful single slot options, and for multi-slot weapons often being extremely undertuned in comparison. It is worth remembering, though, that while this would mean the Hamer is not best off utilizing 3-slot weapons, it can still equip an additional single slot weapon or even utilize some rather effective 2-slot weapons with a single slot add-on, or, indeed, they could simply find it more fun to slap on a 3-slotter.
The intended pay-off of a Hamer is the ability to equip 3-slot weapons while bringing along a heavy emplacement, despite the weapon aspect not actually being very viable the Hamer does surprisingly still find a unique niche all the same. Just one with a lot less 'bite' than the initial design might have assumed.
Looking at what the Hamer loses in its trade-off from the Honeychurch can help illuminate where that potential still lies.
The Hamer loses a Light emplacement, the least valuable category of emplacement. Effectively this trade-off isn't "That Bad", especially in team settings where every single other chassis type is guaranteed to bring at least one, and their utility in a serious setting are "appreciated" but not nearly as valuable as Heavy and Support turrets.
The Hamer also gains a 20% Scrap cost increase over the Honeychurch which is arguably the most costly exchange the chassis is making. This trade-off is indeed bad enough to make the Hamer a "Worse Honeychurch" 9 out of 10 times, but, this cost can be mitigated through proper team synergy, such as utilizing a Scrapper or simply properly abusing Scrap Traps. The fact that the Hamer itself can't bring the Super Shredder Turrets necessary for the latter solution is a minor issue.
The Hamer is also, simply put, slower than a Honeychurch. This is undeniably impactful to a serious run such as Survival, but isn't the end of the world.
The common thread to notice is that the Hamer does very much take hits to its viability in its trade-offs, but most of them can be countered or worked around. The question then becomes, why bother? And for that it's not as exciting an answer.
The fact of the matter is that the Hamer IS a worse Honeychurch, but, in certain loadouts it can offer extremely specific applications that outperform the Honeychurch thanks to its single additional weapon slot.
In most cases a Honeychurch is brought along because it has a Heavy and two Supports. Right off the bat a Hamer can perform this same job, albeit with a lot of drawbacks.
But a weakness of the Honeychurch is the lack of DPS it can reliably put down range. In extremely specific circumstances a Hamer can be considered to help take down an early game Volt Dropper in a unique "Team build" wherein early sniper turrets or a properly equipped DPS Karlsson aren't available. Three Fiestas is more than two. It's as simple as that, but as complex as finding out your team specifically needs that much more damage down line in order to win, but that the drawbacks won't make you lose.
This is well above what a typical appraisal can offer, but suffice to say the Hamer is simultaneously entirely outclassed by the Honeychurch in role, but uniquely capable of surpassing it "sometimes".
As a Standard chassis, the Hamer is undoubtedly more interesting than the Woodruff based on this comparison alone. The Woodruff hardly compares to the Hamer, as the Woodruff is the most Standard build possible in Iron Brigade. The Hamer, meanwhile, doesn't feel like a Standard chassis in the slightest, it plays entirely like an Engineer, hence the prior comparison to its much closer relative the Honeychurch rather than a comparison to the Woodruff.
All to say, the Hamer is in the running for worst chassis in the game if only because, barring the McGarry, every other chassis doesn't directly compare as a "worse X". But it at least finds itself capable of finding success, capable of finding self-sufficiency, and capable of fulfilling unique niches other chassis can not fill in the same way.
Also, it's undeniably interesting to have the option of utilizing an Artillery cannon AND a Mortar Turret on the same build. Viability be scrapped.
Player Notes[]
- The Hamer shares a "Side Grade" quirk with the McGarry and Honeychurch, that being that their version numbers don't match up with the "Pure" chassis like the Karlsson, Woodruff, and Selker. These three "Side Grade" chassis end in Mk IV instead of Mk V, this is purely superfluous as the "Side Grade" chassis stats line up perfectly with the "Pure" alternatives, at the various progression points. IE: the Mk IV Hamer has the same stats as the Mk V Woodruff because both are the final upgrade attained at the same point in the story.
- The Hamer is the only non-engineer chassis capable of fielding a Heavy Emplacement.