Any of you have experience getting MW4 Venegance, Black Knight or Mercenaries working on Win7?
Had a hankering and now I'm waist deep in DirecDraw glide wrappers and I'm not happy.
I took a stab at this last year (MW4 Vengeance, IIRC), and got it working on Win7. I don't remember any specific weirdnesses, though, so I'm not much help.
Any of you have experience getting MW4 Venegance, Black Knight or Mercenaries working on Win7?
Had a hankering and now I'm waist deep in DirecDraw glide wrappers and I'm not happy.
I took a stab at this last year (MW4 Vengeance, IIRC), and got it working on Win7. I don't remember any specific weirdnesses, though, so I'm not much help.
Are you guys trying to install via disk or via the MekTek-supplied free download? Because I remember the MekTek download worked just fine in Windows 7
| Origin/R*SC: Ein7919 | Battle.net: Erlkonig#1448 | XBL: Lexicanum | Steam: Der Erlkönig (the umlaut is important) |
Any of you have experience getting MW4 Venegance, Black Knight or Mercenaries working on Win7?
Had a hankering and now I'm waist deep in DirecDraw glide wrappers and I'm not happy.
I took a stab at this last year (MW4 Vengeance, IIRC), and got it working on Win7. I don't remember any specific weirdnesses, though, so I'm not much help.
Are you guys trying to install via disk or via the MekTek-supplied free download? Because I remember the MekTek download worked just fine in Windows 7
Disk. Apparently MekTek no longer supply nor support the download.
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SpectrumArcher of InfernoChaldea Rec RoomRegistered Userregular
What is the current state of NARC/TAG play? I had a couple rounds in the 3L where I basicly just got up on a decent hill and spotted stuff, all the while thinking "If I had a TAG up here, and maybe extended targeting..." - is that a thing or am I just wishing more depth into the game that no one really utilizes?
ALSO, up to 30mil C-bills! Must purchase mech! >.> I keep eyeballing the Firestarter, Cheetah, and Locust. Are the MGs worth a damn in MWO? Nigh-useless on armor, I know, but do they make up for it in brutal structure damage, or is it one of those *DOUBLE DAMAGE TO STRUCTURE!! = 2 damage cause they only do 1 damage anyway* situations?
ALSO also... "But Spoon! Why are you wasting time with normal lights when you could rock the Jenner IIC?" Should I just goose-it and buy the J-IIC and go all splatterpunk? I feel like if I can utilize the Trial cheetah, I shouldn't have too much hassle getting in position with the LOLRAGE-Rocket machine.
"Hey, want a Skull Servent? He's Evil." XFIRE:redspo0n (Yep, Zero in there) XBL: Pinkspo0n
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SpectrumArcher of InfernoChaldea Rec RoomRegistered Userregular
What is the current state of NARC/TAG play? I had a couple rounds in the 3L where I basicly just got up on a decent hill and spotted stuff, all the while thinking "If I had a TAG up here, and maybe extended targeting..." - is that a thing or am I just wishing more depth into the game that no one really utilizes?
ALSO, up to 30mil C-bills! Must purchase mech! >.> I keep eyeballing the Firestarter, Cheetah, and Locust. Are the MGs worth a damn in MWO? Nigh-useless on armor, I know, but do they make up for it in brutal structure damage, or is it one of those *DOUBLE DAMAGE TO STRUCTURE!! = 2 damage cause they only do 1 damage anyway* situations?
ALSO also... "But Spoon! Why are you wasting time with normal lights when you could rock the Jenner IIC?" Should I just goose-it and buy the J-IIC and go all splatterpunk? I feel like if I can utilize the Trial cheetah, I shouldn't have too much hassle getting in position with the LOLRAGE-Rocket machine.
Any LRM boat should be carrying their own tag. IS NARC is pretty shitty and not worth it unless you're being weird and you're a Heavy or an Assault with an extra launcher carrying but I still wouldn't do it.
MGs are pretty bad outside of the one time you get lucky every 10 matches or so.
I'm just trying out the Firestarter now and I have no idea how this thing is supposed to be a Tier 1 mech. Then again, every time I see an enemy Firestarter it is incredibly durable whereas I'm blowing up super fast any time I even approach combat, so I'm probably doing something wrong. The +range Locusts are actually hilarious for shooting and scooting and can be reasonably effective, the -3S and -3M are pretty bad though.
The thing that puts me off the Firestarter is it looks like everything is firing from the waistline. Not that lights are especially tall to begin with, but that feels like I'm asking for extra exposure I don't need
"Hey, want a Skull Servent? He's Evil." XFIRE:redspo0n (Yep, Zero in there) XBL: Pinkspo0n
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SpectrumArcher of InfernoChaldea Rec RoomRegistered Userregular
The thing that puts me off the Firestarter is it looks like everything is firing from the waistline. Not that lights are especially tall to begin with, but that feels like I'm asking for extra exposure I don't need
Firestarters are not what you want to pick if you wanted a Light that can hill hump IMHO. Urbanmechs are great for that, Locusts can kind of do it, Ravens are good at it.
I do good work with the Trial Cheetah, up close and speedy - but even then the ST hardpoints are up on it's shoulders. Just feels 'better'. Probably being too nit-picky though. I kinda want a Wolverine for the opposite reason - all them lasers in the arm for better pointability... So.. yeah, I guess I just want a light mech, with heavy weapons, in a super-speedy chassis, where all the weapons are mounted high, on actuated arms. You know.. the all-in-one badass mech. =p I say to you good people, is that so much to ask?!
"Hey, want a Skull Servent? He's Evil." XFIRE:redspo0n (Yep, Zero in there) XBL: Pinkspo0n
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SpectrumArcher of InfernoChaldea Rec RoomRegistered Userregular
I do good work with the Trial Cheetah, up close and speedy - but even then the ST hardpoints are up on it's shoulders. Just feels 'better'. Probably being too nit-picky though. I kinda want a Wolverine for the opposite reason - all them lasers in the arm for better pointability... So.. yeah, I guess I just want a light mech, with heavy weapons, in a super-speedy chassis, where all the weapons are mounted high, on actuated arms. You know.. the all-in-one badass mech. =p I say to you good people, is that so much to ask?!
Yeah, that's basically a Cheetah. Speed of a light, weapon load of a big medium or a light heavy, decent weapon mounts, ECM, and all the durability of an assault.
My personal recommendation is the Jenner IIc line for speed and firepower. But to be honest, the Artic Cheetah is probably the most beginner friendly since it has an overall package that is really good. Arm based weapons, high side torso hardpoints, missile hardpoints (if you want to try them out), fast, durable, ECM (that helps new players by being invisible), clantech, Clan XL engine, and jump jets. The Locusts will always be there and are cheap enough to buy and master them all and sadly (I can't believe I'm saying this) but they really don't earn a lot of money for you compared to the others on your list. The Firestarter is a good IS mech, but again nothing compared to the Artic Cheetah.
Edit: Ok, so the more I think about it. I actually pilot my Jenner IIc mechs more than my Arctic Cheetahs these days since they let me play Lego with them more than my AC's. But then again I have all of them and the cbills to tweak them to my heart's desire. To me, it is the perfect balance of fun in this game. No quirks so I can build what I feel like, no omnipod restrictions, clan tech, and speed. But again, the stock engine they come with is super fast which I like. Just be prepared that you'll have to slap on a bunch of armor when you get them.
I think it really depends on what you're trying to do with your light. In pug drops at low tiers (4,5) I think that the Jenner II-C with the 6 SRM6 is probably the best, as you flank and get a couple of solo kills before people figure out what's going on.
In mid and high tiers (1, 2, 3), the Arctic Cheetah is better due to ECM and lower "threat index". Jenner II-C's are a priority target due to the high alpha. I'm Tier 3, and find I do better most of the time in my AC than my JIIC.
CW favors the AC for the same reasons as the mid and high tiers above.
Also, you should consider the cost. An AC runs what, $6.5M? And it's ready to go out of the box in one variant, the others will run $1M or less to omnipod and weaponize as desired. So total for 3 will be around $20.5M.
The JIIC's are at $7M each, and you'll want a slightly lower engine (265 to 300 XL) depending on desired weapon loadout. So that's another 5-$6M in an engine. And at least another $1M for weapons (6x SRM6 are almost a million). The other two variants can be run basically stock with increase armor and losing a heat sink, but they aren't the ones you really care about anyway. So total for 3 will be around $28-29M.
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SkwigelfPassed out in a cloud of farts and cigarette smoke.Registered Userregular
Or, if you're Mr Moneybags, you can buy the iic Jenner pack from the store and get the 6 missile slot Jenner with the c-bill bonus(and two other Jenners+cockpit stuff and a clan colour pack)
Or, if you're Mr Moneybags, you can buy the iic Jenner pack from the store and get the 6 missile slot Jenner with the c-bill bonus(and two other Jenners+cockpit stuff and a clan colour pack)
It is just the 3 variations for $20. The other stuff was for early adopters.
What is the current state of NARC/TAG play? I had a couple rounds in the 3L where I basicly just got up on a decent hill and spotted stuff, all the while thinking "If I had a TAG up here, and maybe extended targeting..." - is that a thing or am I just wishing more depth into the game that no one really utilizes?
ALSO, up to 30mil C-bills! Must purchase mech! >.> I keep eyeballing the Firestarter, Cheetah, and Locust. Are the MGs worth a damn in MWO? Nigh-useless on armor, I know, but do they make up for it in brutal structure damage, or is it one of those *DOUBLE DAMAGE TO STRUCTURE!! = 2 damage cause they only do 1 damage anyway* situations?
ALSO also... "But Spoon! Why are you wasting time with normal lights when you could rock the Jenner IIC?" Should I just goose-it and buy the J-IIC and go all splatterpunk? I feel like if I can utilize the Trial cheetah, I shouldn't have too much hassle getting in position with the LOLRAGE-Rocket machine.
Any LRM boat should be carrying their own tag. IS NARC is pretty shitty and not worth it unless you're being weird and you're a Heavy or an Assault with an extra launcher carrying but I still wouldn't do it.
MGs are pretty bad outside of the one time you get lucky every 10 matches or so.
I'm just trying out the Firestarter now and I have no idea how this thing is supposed to be a Tier 1 mech. Then again, every time I see an enemy Firestarter it is incredibly durable whereas I'm blowing up super fast any time I even approach combat, so I'm probably doing something wrong. The +range Locusts are actually hilarious for shooting and scooting and can be reasonably effective, the -3S and -3M are pretty bad though.
IS narc isn't worth it unless you supporting a dedicated lance of LRMers because the NARC launcher is obscenely heavy for a light mech. Which means you need a dedicated LRM lance for to support to make up the imbalance.
You could mount it on a something bigger, but they don't have the speed or maneuverability of a, say, raven, to keep them safe and make the most of it.
to boil it down
got 2+ Mechs with LRMs to bring the rain? Sacrifice your own damage and bring a narc, preferably on ECM light, and have the narc and UAV modules.
Running solo? Never, never have a narc. might be amazing 1 in 10 rounds, but those other 9 will be miserable.
When I want to lrm, I bring my missile boat Timberwolf which has its own NARC. Hull down, plant NARC, back off and let it rain. If anyone else benefits from it, then that's gravy. Made possible by half weight clan equipment and clan XL engines. Such balance.
Note that NARCs are pretty terrible for trying to receive credit in a supporting role because the game only rewards you for using NARCs if a friendly scores the killing blow with indirect fire.
When I want to lrm, I bring my missile boat Timberwolf which has its own NARC. Hull down, plant NARC, back off and let it rain. If anyone else benefits from it, then that's gravy. Made possible by half weight clan equipment and clan XL engines. Such balance.
Note that NARCs are pretty terrible for trying to receive credit in a supporting role because the game only rewards you for using NARCs if a friendly scores the killing blow with indirect fire.
Or, if you're Mr Moneybags, you can buy the iic Jenner pack from the store and get the 6 missile slot Jenner with the c-bill bonus(and two other Jenners+cockpit stuff and a clan colour pack)
It is just the 3 variations for $20. The other stuff was for early adopters.
The way It's described in the store is $20 gets you 3 Jenners, one of which has the c-bill bonus, and the early adopter bonus included a 4th variant of whichever mech(s) you bought.
Jenner IIC Chassis: 1 Special ‘Origins’ Variant (JR7-IIC [O]) featuring a unique pattern and a 30% C-Bill Boost, plus 2 Standard Variants (JR7-IIC-2 and JR7-IIC-3)
When I want to lrm, I bring my missile boat Timberwolf which has its own NARC. Hull down, plant NARC, back off and let it rain. If anyone else benefits from it, then that's gravy. Made possible by half weight clan equipment and clan XL engines. Such balance.
Note that NARCs are pretty terrible for trying to receive credit in a supporting role because the game only rewards you for using NARCs if a friendly scores the killing blow with indirect fire.
When I want to lrm, I bring my missile boat Timberwolf which has its own NARC. Hull down, plant NARC, back off and let it rain. If anyone else benefits from it, then that's gravy. Made possible by half weight clan equipment and clan XL engines. Such balance.
Note that NARCs are pretty terrible for trying to receive credit in a supporting role because the game only rewards you for using NARCs if a friendly scores the killing blow with indirect fire.
Or, if you're Mr Moneybags, you can buy the iic Jenner pack from the store and get the 6 missile slot Jenner with the c-bill bonus(and two other Jenners+cockpit stuff and a clan colour pack)
It is just the 3 variations for $20. The other stuff was for early adopters.
The way It's described in the store is $20 gets you 3 Jenners, one of which has the c-bill bonus, and the early adopter bonus included a 4th variant of whichever mech(s) you bought.
Jenner IIC Chassis: 1 Special ‘Origins’ Variant (JR7-IIC [O]) featuring a unique pattern and a 30% C-Bill Boost, plus 2 Standard Variants (JR7-IIC-2 and JR7-IIC-3)
Ok, I read that completely wrong thought the early adopters got everything below that line. So there is no cockpit goodies with them, but yeah you get the faction pack at least. The 4th variant is actually the JR7-IIC-A which has a different configuration than the others (6 energy build).
When I want to lrm, I bring my missile boat Timberwolf which has its own NARC. Hull down, plant NARC, back off and let it rain. If anyone else benefits from it, then that's gravy. Made possible by half weight clan equipment and clan XL engines. Such balance.
Note that NARCs are pretty terrible for trying to receive credit in a supporting role because the game only rewards you for using NARCs if a friendly scores the killing blow with indirect fire.
I don't like that build. I run my TW with 4x LRM 15, 9 tons of ammo, BAP, and Tag. I get my own targets, have near instant-lock, am not bothered by ECM under 750M. It's glorious.
When I want to lrm, I bring my missile boat Timberwolf which has its own NARC. Hull down, plant NARC, back off and let it rain. If anyone else benefits from it, then that's gravy. Made possible by half weight clan equipment and clan XL engines. Such balance.
Note that NARCs are pretty terrible for trying to receive credit in a supporting role because the game only rewards you for using NARCs if a friendly scores the killing blow with indirect fire.
I don't like that build. I run my TW with 4x LRM 15, 9 tons of ammo, BAP, and Tag. I get my own targets, have near instant-lock, am not bothered by ECM under 750M. It's glorious.
I use pugs as my close in weapons. 87 kph means I always have a few near.
Pugs are unreliable.
One moment you're surrounded by teammates, plinking shots off at any enemy that dares show their face, next moment all your ShieldBots™ are dead and it's just you vs 4 or 5 enemy mechs and you're left wondering how things went so wrong, shaking your metal appendages at the cold sky, cursing the names of whatever commander dispatched you to this backwater planet with such worthless teammates, who are now bitching in chat about how terrible you are even though THEY'RE the ones that are dead because they stood out in the open and got themselves perished while you hid behind some rocks and scored a few kills and component destructions and wound up in the top 3 in score on your team.
In my opinion those who run only LRM builds really expect the rest of the team to carry them and I feel like it is a waste of a slot. In group runs though it is perfectly acceptable since that is when you usually have a light/medium spotter for the LRM boat which to me is good tactics.
So I rebuilt my 4AC2/2SL Hunchback IIc to the 4MG/2ERLL build that @Nips posted last thread. It does more work and damage than my wimpy 4AC2 build and even keeps people under cover. Also rebuilt my three Timber Wolves to have one as an LRM/MPL build, 1 almost completely stock with 4SSRM6 and MPLs, and the third 4SRM6/MPL/ERML build.
It's just dumb to take literally only LRMs. You can spare two tons for a couple medium lasers. I mean do whatever in a group if everyone is on board, but solo dropping, you will have times where a light is trying to crawl up your butt and nobody is helping you. A couple lasers might not give you the punch to really smack down a harasser, but you don't have to make it a complete cakewalk for them.
I've also seen all-LRM boats with pristine armor and no ammo at the end of the match get knocked out by the last two shambling wrecks with cherry-red torsos on the enemy team. Don't be that guy!
I use pugs as my close in weapons. 87 kph means I always have a few near.
For the rest of us still playing in the IS you should pretty much have something with an optimal outside 300m to start with. Oh shit, rant incoming. Buckle up, it's Nonoffensive's State of the Inner Sphere...
Lasers
Unquirked Medium lasers are ok with a Range Module, but not great. You rarely have the speed to dictate range, so design around long range weapons because (surprise!) they still work at 0m. 500m is ideal but weapons like the Large Laser are just heavy enough you get screwed on your loadout, but don't bring enough damage or flexibility. The Large Pulse Laser is king with decent range, superior damage, and beam duration short enough to challenge Cheetahs and other lights at short range all for just 2 extra tons.
SRMs
SRMs and the like are good at short range, but not good enough to make up for all the opportunities you lost by not having a more flexible weapon system. The four tons needed for an SRM6+A (not to mention ammo) could be 4 Medium Lasers with 20 damage, 2 Medium Pulse Lasers with more focused 12 damage, or one of the aforementioned Large Lasers. Plus, having longer range allows you to save weight on massive engines needed to actually achieve positioning that allow you to use the SRMs in the first place. They're still too hot to use as a backup for your lasers, so two SRM6's worth of weight is still easily worth an AC5 instead. Disagree if you must, but I've never been satisfied with the performance of SRMs when I use them.
Basically, in my opinion, mechs like the Zeus etc can't afford to be swiss army knifes with bracketed range weapons because IS equipment doesn't allow it. This means if you don't have long range weapons, Clan mechs will just pick you apart at range with superior weapons and speed. If you do manage to get inside brawling range, SRMs don't provide enough focused damage to make up for the effort it took to get in range without insane quirks. This doesn't really apply to Public Queue matches so much (outside Alpine/Polar/Forest Colony), but I like to have mechs that I can take over to CW as is. Mediums and Lights are kind of fast enough to kind of work around this limitation, but probably need an XL to do so.
LRMs
LRMs are the king of unfocused damage and poor long range performance. Not only do they weigh more for less damage they can't contest Clans at range because the 300-600m band you want to use them at is prime ERML and CLPL range. If you do make the space for an LRM15 or 20, you're going to waste missiles with even more damage spread than an SRM6 even without Artemis.
Ballistics
What weapons actually got better since last November? Well, thanks to PGI's range nerfageddon, ER Larges / Large Lasers are total garbage. Gauss Rifles got rekt'd. Medium Pulse Lasers have ghost heat now, which is great. The big winner is the AC2 imo, which is now a lighter, less heat efficient alternative to the AC5. Mechs like the Shadowhawk 2H, Jagermech S, Marauder 3R, Rifleman 3N?, Blackjack 1 are all nice AC2 snipers now. Clanners love getting a face full of dakka from 1000m. Oh hello firing line of CERL snipers? Is sitting on top of that hill relaxing? Well, not anymore! With twice the velocity of an AC5, the AC2 combines the long range harassment of a Gauss Rifle with the DPS of a LPL. I've picked off weak Stormcrows from 1500m with the BJ-1's AC2's. Required accessories: Advanced Zoom module.
One thing I do wish PGI would do is raise all ballistic ammo quantities to offer 200 damage per ton like an AC10, and then lower the cooldown of the AC10 to 2s and then LBX10 to 1.75s. Anytime I've tried an AC10, I end up going to an AC20 instead. I don't see any reason for a weapon that weighs two tons less than an AC20 to do less DPS. The AC20 could probably use a slight increase in velocity, maybe a slightly increased chance to crit, oh yeah, and like 30 internal hp so it can't get one shot by Gauss Rifles or Clan ER PPCs.
PPCs
Oh yeah, these things are still in the game right? Well, I guess I can say something about them like, ummm, don't use them? I still believe the original nerf was too large. Either heat or velocity should have been nerfed, but not both. If I was PGI, I would lower the PPC's heat back to 7-8 and increase the ER PPC's velocity back to 2000m/s. They should probably just make all the quirks generic PPC quirks too with some of the insane velocity bonuses turned down a bit.
+1
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SpectrumArcher of InfernoChaldea Rec RoomRegistered Userregular
It's just dumb to take literally only LRMs. You can spare two tons for a couple medium lasers. I mean do whatever in a group if everyone is on board, but solo dropping, you will have times where a light is trying to crawl up your butt and nobody is helping you. A couple lasers might not give you the punch to really smack down a harasser, but you don't have to make it a complete cakewalk for them.
I've also seen all-LRM boats with pristine armor and no ammo at the end of the match get knocked out by the last two shambling wrecks with cherry-red torsos on the enemy team. Don't be that guy!
The solution to that is to carry more ammo.
My SHD-2D2 carries 1890 rounds of LRM.
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NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
It's just dumb to take literally only LRMs. You can spare two tons for a couple medium lasers. I mean do whatever in a group if everyone is on board, but solo dropping, you will have times where a light is trying to crawl up your butt and nobody is helping you. A couple lasers might not give you the punch to really smack down a harasser, but you don't have to make it a complete cakewalk for them.
I've also seen all-LRM boats with pristine armor and no ammo at the end of the match get knocked out by the last two shambling wrecks with cherry-red torsos on the enemy team. Don't be that guy!
The solution to that is to carry more ammo.
My SHD-2D2 carries 1890 rounds of LRM.
Yeah, once you get north of 50 salvos for your launchers, there's a real strong likelihood that the match will be over (one way or another) before you've blown your whole load.
Posts
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
JR7-IIC
Had a hankering and now I'm waist deep in DirecDraw glide wrappers and I'm not happy.
Never thought I would say it about the Orion, but they don't make 'em like they used to?
Re: LRM spread - I stand corrected.
One thing I do miss about R&R was there was a reason not to take XLs and DHS...
I took a stab at this last year (MW4 Vengeance, IIRC), and got it working on Win7. I don't remember any specific weirdnesses, though, so I'm not much help.
Are you guys trying to install via disk or via the MekTek-supplied free download? Because I remember the MekTek download worked just fine in Windows 7
Disk. Apparently MekTek no longer supply nor support the download.
Hey Nips, the target callout list you have in the OP is too hard to use. We found a better one to replace it with!
My 3LPL CRB-27L is amazing.
I literally just run around spewing dubstep at people until they're dead.
I was inspired by the LRM Jenner IIC Posted earlier.
ALSO, up to 30mil C-bills! Must purchase mech! >.> I keep eyeballing the Firestarter, Cheetah, and Locust. Are the MGs worth a damn in MWO? Nigh-useless on armor, I know, but do they make up for it in brutal structure damage, or is it one of those *DOUBLE DAMAGE TO STRUCTURE!! = 2 damage cause they only do 1 damage anyway* situations?
ALSO also... "But Spoon! Why are you wasting time with normal lights when you could rock the Jenner IIC?" Should I just goose-it and buy the J-IIC and go all splatterpunk? I feel like if I can utilize the Trial cheetah, I shouldn't have too much hassle getting in position with the LOLRAGE-Rocket machine.
XFIRE:redspo0n (Yep, Zero in there) XBL: Pinkspo0n
Any LRM boat should be carrying their own tag. IS NARC is pretty shitty and not worth it unless you're being weird and you're a Heavy or an Assault with an extra launcher carrying but I still wouldn't do it.
MGs are pretty bad outside of the one time you get lucky every 10 matches or so.
I'm just trying out the Firestarter now and I have no idea how this thing is supposed to be a Tier 1 mech. Then again, every time I see an enemy Firestarter it is incredibly durable whereas I'm blowing up super fast any time I even approach combat, so I'm probably doing something wrong. The +range Locusts are actually hilarious for shooting and scooting and can be reasonably effective, the -3S and -3M are pretty bad though.
XFIRE:redspo0n (Yep, Zero in there) XBL: Pinkspo0n
XFIRE:redspo0n (Yep, Zero in there) XBL: Pinkspo0n
Yeah, that's basically a Cheetah. Speed of a light, weapon load of a big medium or a light heavy, decent weapon mounts, ECM, and all the durability of an assault.
Edit: Ok, so the more I think about it. I actually pilot my Jenner IIc mechs more than my Arctic Cheetahs these days since they let me play Lego with them more than my AC's. But then again I have all of them and the cbills to tweak them to my heart's desire. To me, it is the perfect balance of fun in this game. No quirks so I can build what I feel like, no omnipod restrictions, clan tech, and speed. But again, the stock engine they come with is super fast which I like. Just be prepared that you'll have to slap on a bunch of armor when you get them.
Steam: betsuni7
In mid and high tiers (1, 2, 3), the Arctic Cheetah is better due to ECM and lower "threat index". Jenner II-C's are a priority target due to the high alpha. I'm Tier 3, and find I do better most of the time in my AC than my JIIC.
CW favors the AC for the same reasons as the mid and high tiers above.
Also, you should consider the cost. An AC runs what, $6.5M? And it's ready to go out of the box in one variant, the others will run $1M or less to omnipod and weaponize as desired. So total for 3 will be around $20.5M.
The JIIC's are at $7M each, and you'll want a slightly lower engine (265 to 300 XL) depending on desired weapon loadout. So that's another 5-$6M in an engine. And at least another $1M for weapons (6x SRM6 are almost a million). The other two variants can be run basically stock with increase armor and losing a heat sink, but they aren't the ones you really care about anyway. So total for 3 will be around $28-29M.
It is just the 3 variations for $20. The other stuff was for early adopters.
Steam: betsuni7
IS narc isn't worth it unless you supporting a dedicated lance of LRMers because the NARC launcher is obscenely heavy for a light mech. Which means you need a dedicated LRM lance for to support to make up the imbalance.
You could mount it on a something bigger, but they don't have the speed or maneuverability of a, say, raven, to keep them safe and make the most of it.
to boil it down
got 2+ Mechs with LRMs to bring the rain? Sacrifice your own damage and bring a narc, preferably on ECM light, and have the narc and UAV modules.
Running solo? Never, never have a narc. might be amazing 1 in 10 rounds, but those other 9 will be miserable.
Note that NARCs are pretty terrible for trying to receive credit in a supporting role because the game only rewards you for using NARCs if a friendly scores the killing blow with indirect fire.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
TBR-D 4xLRM10 5xERSL My LRM boat Timber.
The way It's described in the store is $20 gets you 3 Jenners, one of which has the c-bill bonus, and the early adopter bonus included a 4th variant of whichever mech(s) you bought.
https://mwomercs.com/origins
why stop there?
TBR-C
Because I chainfire the LRMs and I like having a few extra heatsinks so I can baykkake motherfuckers for longer. Also jumpjets for maneuverability.
Yours definitely has a bigger punch per button mash, though. I might convert my SRM Timber to that build..
Speaking of Clan LRMs.
Heres a good visual representation of them.
Ok, I read that completely wrong thought the early adopters got everything below that line. So there is no cockpit goodies with them, but yeah you get the faction pack at least. The 4th variant is actually the JR7-IIC-A which has a different configuration than the others (6 energy build).
Steam: betsuni7
I don't like that build. I run my TW with 4x LRM 15, 9 tons of ammo, BAP, and Tag. I get my own targets, have near instant-lock, am not bothered by ECM under 750M. It's glorious.
I don't like having no close in weapons.
Pugs are unreliable.
One moment you're surrounded by teammates, plinking shots off at any enemy that dares show their face, next moment all your ShieldBots™ are dead and it's just you vs 4 or 5 enemy mechs and you're left wondering how things went so wrong, shaking your metal appendages at the cold sky, cursing the names of whatever commander dispatched you to this backwater planet with such worthless teammates, who are now bitching in chat about how terrible you are even though THEY'RE the ones that are dead because they stood out in the open and got themselves perished while you hid behind some rocks and scored a few kills and component destructions and wound up in the top 3 in score on your team.
This is just a theoretical situation, mind you.
Not at all based on personal experience.
So I rebuilt my 4AC2/2SL Hunchback IIc to the 4MG/2ERLL build that @Nips posted last thread. It does more work and damage than my wimpy 4AC2 build and even keeps people under cover. Also rebuilt my three Timber Wolves to have one as an LRM/MPL build, 1 almost completely stock with 4SSRM6 and MPLs, and the third 4SRM6/MPL/ERML build.
Steam: betsuni7
I've also seen all-LRM boats with pristine armor and no ammo at the end of the match get knocked out by the last two shambling wrecks with cherry-red torsos on the enemy team. Don't be that guy!
For the rest of us still playing in the IS you should pretty much have something with an optimal outside 300m to start with. Oh shit, rant incoming. Buckle up, it's Nonoffensive's State of the Inner Sphere...
Lasers
Unquirked Medium lasers are ok with a Range Module, but not great. You rarely have the speed to dictate range, so design around long range weapons because (surprise!) they still work at 0m. 500m is ideal but weapons like the Large Laser are just heavy enough you get screwed on your loadout, but don't bring enough damage or flexibility. The Large Pulse Laser is king with decent range, superior damage, and beam duration short enough to challenge Cheetahs and other lights at short range all for just 2 extra tons.
SRMs
SRMs and the like are good at short range, but not good enough to make up for all the opportunities you lost by not having a more flexible weapon system. The four tons needed for an SRM6+A (not to mention ammo) could be 4 Medium Lasers with 20 damage, 2 Medium Pulse Lasers with more focused 12 damage, or one of the aforementioned Large Lasers. Plus, having longer range allows you to save weight on massive engines needed to actually achieve positioning that allow you to use the SRMs in the first place. They're still too hot to use as a backup for your lasers, so two SRM6's worth of weight is still easily worth an AC5 instead. Disagree if you must, but I've never been satisfied with the performance of SRMs when I use them.
Basically, in my opinion, mechs like the Zeus etc can't afford to be swiss army knifes with bracketed range weapons because IS equipment doesn't allow it. This means if you don't have long range weapons, Clan mechs will just pick you apart at range with superior weapons and speed. If you do manage to get inside brawling range, SRMs don't provide enough focused damage to make up for the effort it took to get in range without insane quirks. This doesn't really apply to Public Queue matches so much (outside Alpine/Polar/Forest Colony), but I like to have mechs that I can take over to CW as is. Mediums and Lights are kind of fast enough to kind of work around this limitation, but probably need an XL to do so.
LRMs
LRMs are the king of unfocused damage and poor long range performance. Not only do they weigh more for less damage they can't contest Clans at range because the 300-600m band you want to use them at is prime ERML and CLPL range. If you do make the space for an LRM15 or 20, you're going to waste missiles with even more damage spread than an SRM6 even without Artemis.
Ballistics
What weapons actually got better since last November? Well, thanks to PGI's range nerfageddon, ER Larges / Large Lasers are total garbage. Gauss Rifles got rekt'd. Medium Pulse Lasers have ghost heat now, which is great. The big winner is the AC2 imo, which is now a lighter, less heat efficient alternative to the AC5. Mechs like the Shadowhawk 2H, Jagermech S, Marauder 3R, Rifleman 3N?, Blackjack 1 are all nice AC2 snipers now. Clanners love getting a face full of dakka from 1000m. Oh hello firing line of CERL snipers? Is sitting on top of that hill relaxing? Well, not anymore! With twice the velocity of an AC5, the AC2 combines the long range harassment of a Gauss Rifle with the DPS of a LPL. I've picked off weak Stormcrows from 1500m with the BJ-1's AC2's. Required accessories: Advanced Zoom module.
One thing I do wish PGI would do is raise all ballistic ammo quantities to offer 200 damage per ton like an AC10, and then lower the cooldown of the AC10 to 2s and then LBX10 to 1.75s. Anytime I've tried an AC10, I end up going to an AC20 instead. I don't see any reason for a weapon that weighs two tons less than an AC20 to do less DPS. The AC20 could probably use a slight increase in velocity, maybe a slightly increased chance to crit, oh yeah, and like 30 internal hp so it can't get one shot by Gauss Rifles or Clan ER PPCs.
PPCs
Oh yeah, these things are still in the game right? Well, I guess I can say something about them like, ummm, don't use them? I still believe the original nerf was too large. Either heat or velocity should have been nerfed, but not both. If I was PGI, I would lower the PPC's heat back to 7-8 and increase the ER PPC's velocity back to 2000m/s. They should probably just make all the quirks generic PPC quirks too with some of the insane velocity bonuses turned down a bit.
The solution to that is to carry more ammo.
My SHD-2D2 carries 1890 rounds of LRM.
Yeah, once you get north of 50 salvos for your launchers, there's a real strong likelihood that the match will be over (one way or another) before you've blown your whole load.