So after playing around with the trial lights some more, I'm thinking my issue with the Jenner IIC was really the fact I kept getting Polar Highlands whenever I tried running it. Think it's probably my least favorite map, and that's even when I'm running my dual RAC/5 Marauder that can countersnipe all the Lurmers.
I did one in the Jenner that was Canyons, and that went much better, as I was able to actually break triple digits. Then I did the trial Commando, got over 300 damage, 3 assists, and somehow managed to snipe the damaged legs off a Piranha that thought he was chasing *me* down to finish off, after which I danced with a Timberwolf for about 3 minutes until I lost my mlas, pumped SRMs in the back of a Mad Cat MkII until I ran out, then ran around in the open as laser bait until I was finally cored. Even though we lost, I had so much fun I consider that the last match to end the night on a high note.
Sounds like you are getting the rush of playing a Light in MWO. Welcome to the club.
Finally buckled down and completed Smithon in Battletech (4 crates remaining). The key was sprinting Decker in his Dragon around so he could kill the first ammo carrier without blowing up any crates, and then literally having my Orion and Quickdraw beat down 3 lights in close combat.
Could have probably pulled it off with more crates, but I blew some up too early because I misread the aoe and thought something was in it that really wasn't. At any rate, completed with no injuries and no lost components.
Then I took a milkrun "destroy enemy lance" mission at 1.5 skulls where Behemoth took a (non-lethal) head hit. Sigh.
Yeah, it happens. I just finished the mission that unlocks 5 skull rating missions, and one of the basic 5 skull missions drops you in a martian environment against a hostile lance consisting of heavies and assaults escorting a convoy of heavily armed vehicles (demolishers, PPC carriers, etc.)
Fine.
Of course, it's a Martian environment, and the only cover is right in the middle of the path for the convoy. Hey, it helps, I can live with this.
Oh yes, as soon as you destroy one convoy vehicle, the second lance of heavies and assaults spawns behind you and starts lobbing PPC, LLas, and LRM fire directly towards your unprotected back, catching you out in the open between two hostile heavy lances and the remains of the convoy.
Greaaaat.
Two mechs got cored before I managed to finish that mission. What a mess.
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KayWhat we need...Is a little bit of PANIC.Registered Userregular
Urbanmechs are not lights.
Urbanmechs are tiny goddamned mediums with ridiculous armour and the best one has a police siren.
I run the ML build, it's a delight. Also, in the continuing SRM Arctic Wolf saga, it really feels like I should just shut my mech down until match enters brawl phase, then power back on and start killing fools; sans ECM there's not really anything I can do prior without risking taking unnecessary damage in the process (so many times just a short peek&shoot will remove one of my arms).
Urbanmechs are tiny goddamned mediums with ridiculous armour and the best one has a police siren.
And if you're so inclined, you can be a silly bugger and run silly builds like this. Or, if you weren't so inclined, maybe something a little wubbier.
If you really want a sniper build then replacing that heavy ppc with tripple light PPCs will up the rate of fire and give you an additional ton of free space. So swapping to light ferro you can reduce arm armor, a bit off the head and squeeze in another heatsink.
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Finally buckled down and completed Smithon in Battletech (4 crates remaining). The key was sprinting Decker in his Dragon around so he could kill the first ammo carrier without blowing up any crates, and then literally having my Orion and Quickdraw beat down 3 lights in close combat.
Could have probably pulled it off with more crates, but I blew some up too early because I misread the aoe and thought something was in it that really wasn't. At any rate, completed with no injuries and no lost components.
Then I took a milkrun "destroy enemy lance" mission at 1.5 skulls where Behemoth took a (non-lethal) head hit. Sigh.
I run the ML build, it's a delight. Also, in the continuing SRM Arctic Wolf saga, it really feels like I should just shut my mech down until match enters brawl phase, then power back on and start killing fools; sans ECM there's not really anything I can do prior without risking taking unnecessary damage in the process (so many times just a short peek&shoot will remove one of my arms).
Yep, when it is try hard time I always just hover around the ball of mechs till brawling starts. Well that is if I'm being patient, and let's be honest here. I'm hardly patient when running my lights. But yeah that's when a light truly shines, it is unloading its weapons into the other team and being ignored for the most part. You could be one better by flanking the enemy team, waiting for the brawl and run in coring out mechs from behind. But that is rare and never recommended when there are UAVs involved.
I love my Arctic Cheetah and my Kit Fox. I play the Cheetah less recently and the Fox more, but the Cheetah does more damage. I just need to get better consumables on it, I'm sure i can find some points to spare to unlock that instead. I can probably tweak the build a bit, too, since I've played a ton since i last brought it into the lab- drop some MG ammo for a HS or something now that they buffed MG ammo and I have the nodes. Let me shoot my HML a bit more often.
Urbanmechs are tiny goddamned mediums with ridiculous armour and the best one has a police siren.
And if you're so inclined, you can be a silly bugger and run silly builds like this. Or, if you weren't so inclined, maybe something a little wubbier.
If you really want a sniper build then replacing that heavy ppc with tripple light PPCs will up the rate of fire and give you an additional ton of free space. So swapping to light ferro you can reduce arm armor, a bit off the head and squeeze in another heatsink.
That first one's definitely not a sniper build, I'm far too impatient to run one of those. I run it mostly as a poke and peak mid-range harasser (nobody likes getting smacked with a PPC...heavy or otherwise).
It's not very good, despite having PPC perks and hoopla-woo amounts of velocity.
That's actually why I put them on the Firebrand Jager: it's got all the energy quirks. PPC velocity (20%), cooldown (10%), range (10%), and heat (10%) are all quirked on the Firebrand. This all translates to having about .5s-1s downtime if you're chain-firing the LPPCs.
| Origin/R*SC: Ein7919 | Battle.net: Erlkonig#1448 | XBL: Lexicanum | Steam: Der Erlkönig (the umlaut is important) |
It's just that the only drawback of tripple light PPCs is that they use up more energy hardpoints and they generate slightly more heat compared to a heavy ppc (15 compared to 14.5). However they're also 1 ton lighter and fire 20% faster so moving some stuff around for another double heatsink will compensate for that.
P.S: I think my next mech is going to be PHX-2 with 6xMLs, ECM, 6xJumpjets and a LE280 engine. 45 tons, insane mobility (like 100kph), insane jumping ability, structure quirks all over the place and a +5 Energy range quirk.
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
It's just that the only drawback of tripple light PPCs is that they use up more energy hardpoints and they generate slightly more heat compared to a heavy ppc (15 compared to 14.5). However they're also 1 ton lighter and fire 20% faster so moving some stuff around for another double heatsink will compensate for that.
P.S: I think my next mech is going to be PHX-2 with 6xMLs, ECM, 6xJumpjets and a LE280 engine. 45 tons, insane mobility (like 100kph), insane jumping ability, structure quirks all over the place and a +5 Energy range quirk.
It's definitely a fun one, that's for sure. I wanted a little more brawly potential, so I swapped half of the mediums to medium pulses. You need to be more mindful of the added heat (and which laser fist to use at range), but it's still a really fun build.
| Origin/R*SC: Ein7919 | Battle.net: Erlkonig#1448 | XBL: Lexicanum | Steam: Der Erlkönig (the umlaut is important) |
That looks like my next mech too.
I usually end up taking JJ off most of my mechs, even though my favorites have them...
Got (I think) my first team kill last night, too. River city, my team went down 0-3 almost immediately (someone was saying one or two of the friendlies who died were griefing, they had been in multiple matches and would run up to the enemy and stand still, never shooting) but then went up 4-3. I was trying to face-tank a MADMKII on the island/pier thing between the tall buildings. All the reds looked to be grouped on or below the ramp on the other side, I was about to die, so I dropped my airstrike between us as I fired off an SRM salvo, we both died at the same time. As I went down, I saw a teammate that had gotten behind the Mad Cat somehow. Right where I had dropped the airstrike.
I almost wish I didn't discover that you can not only test drive mechs in the store, but also mess around with their loadout and take that to the testing grounds as well.
I think at least a quarter of my time playing this game as been blowing up mech dummies with crazy builds that I would probably never bring to an actual match unless it meant I get to keep the mech afterwards. Things like twin RAC5 Cata K2s with an XL engine and light PPCs, or an Urbie with a UAC/20, or pretty much anything Griffin (god that mech is "huge" for a medium)
Speaking of Catas, their issue is that nearly all variants have their most important/highest hardpoints in those bunny ear arms that are almost bigger than a Flea, right? I have to keep reminding myself that, because I have a special fondness of all the mechs that showed up in Mechcommander and I kinda want a Lurm boat so Murphy's Law will stop Polar Highlands from being picked so often.
the main thing that sucks about boating a bunch of light PPCs is the ghost heat; if they had less of that or the cap was higher boating a bunch of them might be kinda interesting, but as it is you're almost always better just using regular or heavy ones
it was the smallest on the list but
Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
I almost wish I didn't discover that you can not only test drive mechs in the store, but also mess around with their loadout and take that to the testing grounds as well.
I think at least a quarter of my time playing this game as been blowing up mech dummies with crazy builds that I would probably never bring to an actual match unless it meant I get to keep the mech afterwards. Things like twin RAC5 Cata K2s with an XL engine and light PPCs, or an Urbie with a UAC/20, or pretty much anything Griffin (god that mech is "huge" for a medium)
Speaking of Catas, their issue is that nearly all variants have their most important/highest hardpoints in those bunny ear arms that are almost bigger than a Flea, right? I have to keep reminding myself that, because I have a special fondness of all the mechs that showed up in Mechcommander and I kinda want a Lurm boat so Murphy's Law will stop Polar Highlands from being picked so often.
Yeah the boomboxes on the shoulders or Fleas (I like that comparison) are where most of your weapons are located at. But to be honest, unless you are out by yourself, you can get away with LRMs with MLs in the torso to scare away the lights. If the enemy is close enough to you that means the blob of a team you're with disintegrated and it is a losing battle anyways. Plus nobody criticizes a LRM Catapult much. Now LRM Warhammer is another story....
I almost wish I didn't discover that you can not only test drive mechs in the store, but also mess around with their loadout and take that to the testing grounds as well.
I think at least a quarter of my time playing this game as been blowing up mech dummies with crazy builds that I would probably never bring to an actual match unless it meant I get to keep the mech afterwards. Things like twin RAC5 Cata K2s with an XL engine and light PPCs, or an Urbie with a UAC/20, or pretty much anything Griffin (god that mech is "huge" for a medium)
Speaking of Catas, their issue is that nearly all variants have their most important/highest hardpoints in those bunny ear arms that are almost bigger than a Flea, right? I have to keep reminding myself that, because I have a special fondness of all the mechs that showed up in Mechcommander and I kinda want a Lurm boat so Murphy's Law will stop Polar Highlands from being picked so often.
Yeah the boomboxes on the shoulders or Fleas (I like that comparison) are where most of your weapons are located at. But to be honest, unless you are out by yourself, you can get away with LRMs with MLs in the torso to scare away the lights. If the enemy is close enough to you that means the blob of a team you're with disintegrated and it is a losing battle anyways. Plus nobody criticizes a LRM Catapult much. Now LRM Warhammer is another story....
One of the funny builds I did was a C1 with a larger Light engine and 4x mplas for maximum "get away from me you little rascal!" effect. I know the C4 has more missile hardpoints but I've never come up with a satisfing way to use them all that wasn't basically 2x LRM 20s divided into 4 LRM 10s.
Another that I've thought up was 2 Large pulses, two reg Mlas, and 2 Rocket Launcher 20s to scare the ever loving crap out of the first decently sized mech who gets too close.
the main thing that sucks about boating a bunch of light PPCs is the ghost heat; if they had less of that or the cap was higher boating a bunch of them might be kinda interesting, but as it is you're almost always better just using regular or heavy ones
Equivalent damage using either standards or heavies would still be heavier than running 6 lights, though. Of course, 6 lights will run a little hotter (somewhat mitigated by being able to cram in 3 additional DHS). Sure, you can alpha once without shutting down (you'll spike up to 98% heat in the Firebrand)...but firing off the lights 3 at a time (or chain-fired) is where they sorta shine.
| Origin/R*SC: Ein7919 | Battle.net: Erlkonig#1448 | XBL: Lexicanum | Steam: Der Erlkönig (the umlaut is important) |
I think maybe I just don't like how SRMs play. They're so short range and I am so fragile in said range that they just don't feel like they pack enough punch for the risk. And then half the maps in the game don't even offer enough cover for brawling to happen, I'm just sitting around, watching as our force is getting decimated at twice my weapon range (or trying to flank, getting spotted and getting hunted down by 3 lights).
I dunno, it doesn't seem like very many situations would favor the LPPCs over just running two heavies; you save two tons but even if you use those two tons for heat sinks you don't come out ahead on damage per heat or heat per second. Plus you lose the ability to alpha and in the case of the firebrand, have to use the torso hardpoints.
the only real sweet spot for LPPCs seems like its running three on a light when you absolutely must have the tonnage, but even then, eh
it was the smallest on the list but
Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
Marauder II comes out next week. I know there is a delay before you can buy them with C-Bills, but is there also a delay before you can buy individual mechs, rather than the whole bundle? And if so, how long is it usually?
I dunno, it doesn't seem like very many situations would favor the LPPCs over just running two heavies; you save two tons but even if you use those two tons for heat sinks you don't come out ahead on damage per heat or heat per second. Plus you lose the ability to alpha and in the case of the firebrand, have to use the torso hardpoints.
the only real sweet spot for LPPCs seems like its running three on a light when you absolutely must have the tonnage, but even then, eh
The torso mounts aren't ideal, I'll admit...and if I didn't mention it before, I'll say it now: this is not meant to be ideal loadout. It's meant to be a shits-n-grins fun build for running what amounts to a Rotary-PPC (with proper trigger control). I've tried twin-HPPCs on my Black Knight, and it's just not fun to me. The Hex-LPPC Firebrand? I'm laughing like a madman.
Marauder II comes out next week. I know there is a delay before you can buy them with C-Bills, but is there also a delay before you can buy individual mechs, rather than the whole bundle? And if so, how long is it usually?
As soon as the mech becomes available for MC, you'll be able to buy the individual mechs. Usually it takes, what...two months? If it's not two months, it sure feels like it.
Erlkönig on
| Origin/R*SC: Ein7919 | Battle.net: Erlkonig#1448 | XBL: Lexicanum | Steam: Der Erlkönig (the umlaut is important) |
I think maybe I just don't like how SRMs play. They're so short range and I am so fragile in said range that they just don't feel like they pack enough punch for the risk. And then half the maps in the game don't even offer enough cover for brawling to happen, I'm just sitting around, watching as our force is getting decimated at twice my weapon range (or trying to flank, getting spotted and getting hunted down by 3 lights).
SRM builds really seem to rely on either fast strikers, or tanky brawlers. I've always wanted to try an SRM focused build on the Griffin 2N, but that build is greatly helped by having ECM. And really for me, the only map that seems to actively punish close range builds is Polar Highlands, everything else seems to have high cover areas that the round tends to coalesce on, even if it takes awhile. But I also like to have some sort of long range option on most of my builds, so that helps too.
Marauder II comes out next week. I know there is a delay before you can buy them with C-Bills, but is there also a delay before you can buy individual mechs, rather than the whole bundle? And if so, how long is it usually?
Ahh...found the answer of when, exactly, you'll be able to buy the individual mechs with MC and Cbills:
Q: When will the Marauder II variants be available for purchase in-game with MC or C-Bills?
MC Release Date: August 6th, 2019
C-Bill Release Date: September 3rd, 2019
| Origin/R*SC: Ein7919 | Battle.net: Erlkonig#1448 | XBL: Lexicanum | Steam: Der Erlkönig (the umlaut is important) |
Marauder II comes out next week. I know there is a delay before you can buy them with C-Bills, but is there also a delay before you can buy individual mechs, rather than the whole bundle? And if so, how long is it usually?
Ahh...found the answer of when, exactly, you'll be able to buy the individual mechs with MC and Cbills:
Q: When will the Marauder II variants be available for purchase in-game with MC or C-Bills?
MC Release Date: August 6th, 2019
C-Bill Release Date: September 3rd, 2019
You can brawl on most maps. Alpine is a bit rough depending on engagement location, but you can generally pull it off.
Polar is extremely rough, which is why I'll always vote for Domination (you have the high hills as well as the central objective which can block LOS) if there's any possibility that it will win the map vote. You can sometimes force a brawl in the other modes if your team doesn't rush to engage at I8/I9 as several of the other potential spots have much better cover.
Of course, if your team is hyper aggressive and you have a COR-7A or two on your team be prepared for one hell of a brawl once you get stuck in.
Since the champion was recently released for C-bills, does anyone have any good builds using a LE or STD engine?
So far I've been theorycrafting:
CHP-3N with LE280, MRM30, 6xML and 7 DHSs
CHP-1NB with LE280, 2xRAC2s, 4xML and fairly stripped arms
CHP-1N2 with LE300, 1xAC20, 5xML and almost stripped arms.
CHP-1N2 with LE280, 5xMPL, 2xSRM6+A, 7 DHS and right deadside
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
You can brawl on most maps. Alpine is a bit rough depending on engagement location, but you can generally pull it off.
Polar is extremely rough, which is why I'll always vote for Domination (you have the high hills as well as the central objective which can block LOS) if there's any possibility that it will win the map vote. You can sometimes force a brawl in the other modes if your team doesn't rush to engage at I8/I9 as several of the other potential spots have much better cover.
Of course, if your team is hyper aggressive and you have a COR-7A or two on your team be prepared for one hell of a brawl once you get stuck in.
Polar just pisses me right off. It feels like the only map in the rotation that can completely fuck your build, and round, through no fault of your own. I can't even count how many times I've started that map by realizing no one on my team has ecm or ams. And if you're in a short range mech, get ready to enjoy standing behind a snow drift for an eternity while you wait for someone to push.
Sorry for just being able to make the one match...bro's schedule is highly variable.
Still, if I could only make it for one match, that was a good match to go with:
King Crab tag-team, me in my nightmare AC2 build, him in his twin-AC20 build. Skirmish on HPG Manifold. By the time I climbed to the top of the platform and was able to bring my clamps to bear, we were down 3 - 6 and I was getting nervous. Hit the shutdown override, and leaned into the trigger against all the red triangles in my front torso twisting view. Managed to sandblast damn near everybody's front armor and inappropriately touch the internals on the enemy team. Only managed to kill a poor Trebuchet who thought he could face-tank the withering onslaught of teeny AC shells.
End result: I died! But we also won (12 - 7)! Thankfully, I can live with an 882 damage game where I've racked up 10 assists (and 3 KMDD).
| Origin/R*SC: Ein7919 | Battle.net: Erlkonig#1448 | XBL: Lexicanum | Steam: Der Erlkönig (the umlaut is important) |
You can brawl on most maps. Alpine is a bit rough depending on engagement location, but you can generally pull it off.
Polar is extremely rough, which is why I'll always vote for Domination (you have the high hills as well as the central objective which can block LOS) if there's any possibility that it will win the map vote. You can sometimes force a brawl in the other modes if your team doesn't rush to engage at I8/I9 as several of the other potential spots have much better cover.
Of course, if your team is hyper aggressive and you have a COR-7A or two on your team be prepared for one hell of a brawl once you get stuck in.
Polar just pisses me right off. It feels like the only map in the rotation that can completely fuck your build, and round, through no fault of your own. I can't even count how many times I've started that map by realizing no one on my team has ecm or ams. And if you're in a short range mech, get ready to enjoy standing behind a snow drift for an eternity while you wait for someone to push.
Oh, you'll get no argument from me, I won't even vote for it when I'm running a long range mech. It desperately needs a pass with an eye towards turning it into something other than missile hell.
Was the only match I got to run with a PA member WHO KNEW I WAS THERE!!! I ended up with I think 4 kills in that match. 2AC20s are so beautiful... Only did 500ish damage though. The best moment was killing a Hellbringer who dropped off to the ramps to the basement. Instead of running underneath he decided to see if he could run out and turn the corner to come back up. Shot him in the back and killed him instantly.
@Styrofoam Sammich ignored me in my last match on HPG because that is what he does. I rebuilt my 8SPL Phoenix Hawk with an LFE and got like 5 kills or something like that with 500+ damage. Kept on killing everything I saw. Corsair tried to face tank me and shut down, 8 SPL to the rear and he went up quick. Kodiak tried to run away, took out his ST (no kill). Stalker tried to face tank an Annihilator, I took off his left side and killed him. It was glorious and fun. I forgot how cool the Phoenix Hawks were.
I'm weird since I like Polar. But that's because I'm usually running a light. It is even more fun with the Stealth Pirate's Bane.
On a side note, get a 3 skull battle mission in Battletech, but best I can do with salvage is 2/10.
Drop in with my Orion (brawl), Quickdraw (brawl), Dragon (heavy scout), and Centurion (missile boat). End up against a Black Knight, Grasshopper, Hunchback, and...something else I can't remember, think it was a Wolverine.
Decker in his Dragon takes out the Grasshopper by decapitating it with his AC/10, then I work on mopping everything else up. Get to the salvage screen and there's all 3 pieces of the Grasshopper beckoning to me...but I can only guarantee 2 and unfortunately there's plenty of other salvage staring at me.
Yeah, I didn't get a full Grasshopper tonight. Sigh.
Speaking of King Crab builds, I spotted one in a recent Baradul vid (not one Baradul was running either) that I may have to steal: KGC-000B
Took it out to the testing grounds and it does some ugly pinpoint damage.
(note, this isn't the exact one from the video, I just mirrored the weapon layout and did what I could with the tonnage left over).
Think that is a similar build I used to run with 4UAC5s and 2 MPL or something like that. I think it had an XL back then too. Need to check it out and see about modifying it to be something like this now.
Posts
Sounds like you are getting the rush of playing a Light in MWO. Welcome to the club.
Steam: betsuni7
Yeah, it happens. I just finished the mission that unlocks 5 skull rating missions, and one of the basic 5 skull missions drops you in a martian environment against a hostile lance consisting of heavies and assaults escorting a convoy of heavily armed vehicles (demolishers, PPC carriers, etc.)
Fine.
Of course, it's a Martian environment, and the only cover is right in the middle of the path for the convoy. Hey, it helps, I can live with this.
Oh yes, as soon as you destroy one convoy vehicle, the second lance of heavies and assaults spawns behind you and starts lobbing PPC, LLas, and LRM fire directly towards your unprotected back, catching you out in the open between two hostile heavy lances and the remains of the convoy.
Greaaaat.
Two mechs got cored before I managed to finish that mission. What a mess.
Urbanmechs are tiny goddamned mediums with ridiculous armour and the best one has a police siren.
3DS FCode: 1993-7512-8991
And if you're so inclined, you can be a silly bugger and run silly builds like this. Or, if you weren't so inclined, maybe something a little wubbier.
If you really want a sniper build then replacing that heavy ppc with tripple light PPCs will up the rate of fire and give you an additional ton of free space. So swapping to light ferro you can reduce arm armor, a bit off the head and squeeze in another heatsink.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Behemoth nooooooooooooooooo!
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
Yep, when it is try hard time I always just hover around the ball of mechs till brawling starts. Well that is if I'm being patient, and let's be honest here. I'm hardly patient when running my lights. But yeah that's when a light truly shines, it is unloading its weapons into the other team and being ignored for the most part. You could be one better by flanking the enemy team, waiting for the brawl and run in coring out mechs from behind. But that is rare and never recommended when there are UAVs involved.
Pfft, real K9s run a RAC5 and 2 ML.
Steam: betsuni7
That first one's definitely not a sniper build, I'm far too impatient to run one of those. I run it mostly as a poke and peak mid-range harasser (nobody likes getting smacked with a PPC...heavy or otherwise).
As for Light PPCs, well... I won't even bother with them unless I can jam 6 of the things on a mech.
It's not very good, despite having PPC perks and hoopla-woo amounts of velocity.
3DS FCode: 1993-7512-8991
That's actually why I put them on the Firebrand Jager: it's got all the energy quirks. PPC velocity (20%), cooldown (10%), range (10%), and heat (10%) are all quirked on the Firebrand. This all translates to having about .5s-1s downtime if you're chain-firing the LPPCs.
P.S: I think my next mech is going to be PHX-2 with 6xMLs, ECM, 6xJumpjets and a LE280 engine. 45 tons, insane mobility (like 100kph), insane jumping ability, structure quirks all over the place and a +5 Energy range quirk.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
It's definitely a fun one, that's for sure. I wanted a little more brawly potential, so I swapped half of the mediums to medium pulses. You need to be more mindful of the added heat (and which laser fist to use at range), but it's still a really fun build.
I usually end up taking JJ off most of my mechs, even though my favorites have them...
Got (I think) my first team kill last night, too. River city, my team went down 0-3 almost immediately (someone was saying one or two of the friendlies who died were griefing, they had been in multiple matches and would run up to the enemy and stand still, never shooting) but then went up 4-3. I was trying to face-tank a MADMKII on the island/pier thing between the tall buildings. All the reds looked to be grouped on or below the ramp on the other side, I was about to die, so I dropped my airstrike between us as I fired off an SRM salvo, we both died at the same time. As I went down, I saw a teammate that had gotten behind the Mad Cat somehow. Right where I had dropped the airstrike.
Sorry friend!
I think at least a quarter of my time playing this game as been blowing up mech dummies with crazy builds that I would probably never bring to an actual match unless it meant I get to keep the mech afterwards. Things like twin RAC5 Cata K2s with an XL engine and light PPCs, or an Urbie with a UAC/20, or pretty much anything Griffin (god that mech is "huge" for a medium)
Speaking of Catas, their issue is that nearly all variants have their most important/highest hardpoints in those bunny ear arms that are almost bigger than a Flea, right? I have to keep reminding myself that, because I have a special fondness of all the mechs that showed up in Mechcommander and I kinda want a Lurm boat so Murphy's Law will stop Polar Highlands from being picked so often.
Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
Yeah the boomboxes on the shoulders or Fleas (I like that comparison) are where most of your weapons are located at. But to be honest, unless you are out by yourself, you can get away with LRMs with MLs in the torso to scare away the lights. If the enemy is close enough to you that means the blob of a team you're with disintegrated and it is a losing battle anyways. Plus nobody criticizes a LRM Catapult much. Now LRM Warhammer is another story....
Steam: betsuni7
One of the funny builds I did was a C1 with a larger Light engine and 4x mplas for maximum "get away from me you little rascal!" effect. I know the C4 has more missile hardpoints but I've never come up with a satisfing way to use them all that wasn't basically 2x LRM 20s divided into 4 LRM 10s.
Another that I've thought up was 2 Large pulses, two reg Mlas, and 2 Rocket Launcher 20s to scare the ever loving crap out of the first decently sized mech who gets too close.
Steam: betsuni7
Equivalent damage using either standards or heavies would still be heavier than running 6 lights, though. Of course, 6 lights will run a little hotter (somewhat mitigated by being able to cram in 3 additional DHS). Sure, you can alpha once without shutting down (you'll spike up to 98% heat in the Firebrand)...but firing off the lights 3 at a time (or chain-fired) is where they sorta shine.
the only real sweet spot for LPPCs seems like its running three on a light when you absolutely must have the tonnage, but even then, eh
Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
Marauder II comes out next week. I know there is a delay before you can buy them with C-Bills, but is there also a delay before you can buy individual mechs, rather than the whole bundle? And if so, how long is it usually?
The torso mounts aren't ideal, I'll admit...and if I didn't mention it before, I'll say it now: this is not meant to be ideal loadout. It's meant to be a shits-n-grins fun build for running what amounts to a Rotary-PPC (with proper trigger control). I've tried twin-HPPCs on my Black Knight, and it's just not fun to me. The Hex-LPPC Firebrand? I'm laughing like a madman.
EDIT -
As soon as the mech becomes available for MC, you'll be able to buy the individual mechs. Usually it takes, what...two months? If it's not two months, it sure feels like it.
SRM builds really seem to rely on either fast strikers, or tanky brawlers. I've always wanted to try an SRM focused build on the Griffin 2N, but that build is greatly helped by having ECM. And really for me, the only map that seems to actively punish close range builds is Polar Highlands, everything else seems to have high cover areas that the round tends to coalesce on, even if it takes awhile. But I also like to have some sort of long range option on most of my builds, so that helps too.
Ahh...found the answer of when, exactly, you'll be able to buy the individual mechs with MC and Cbills:
Q: When will the Marauder II variants be available for purchase in-game with MC or C-Bills?
MC Release Date: August 6th, 2019
C-Bill Release Date: September 3rd, 2019
Thanks.
Polar is extremely rough, which is why I'll always vote for Domination (you have the high hills as well as the central objective which can block LOS) if there's any possibility that it will win the map vote. You can sometimes force a brawl in the other modes if your team doesn't rush to engage at I8/I9 as several of the other potential spots have much better cover.
Of course, if your team is hyper aggressive and you have a COR-7A or two on your team be prepared for one hell of a brawl once you get stuck in.
But OOSIK NIGHT!!!!
@Erlkönig
Steam: betsuni7
So far I've been theorycrafting:
CHP-3N with LE280, MRM30, 6xML and 7 DHSs
CHP-1NB with LE280, 2xRAC2s, 4xML and fairly stripped arms
CHP-1N2 with LE300, 1xAC20, 5xML and almost stripped arms.
CHP-1N2 with LE280, 5xMPL, 2xSRM6+A, 7 DHS and right deadside
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Polar just pisses me right off. It feels like the only map in the rotation that can completely fuck your build, and round, through no fault of your own. I can't even count how many times I've started that map by realizing no one on my team has ecm or ams. And if you're in a short range mech, get ready to enjoy standing behind a snow drift for an eternity while you wait for someone to push.
Still, if I could only make it for one match, that was a good match to go with:
King Crab tag-team, me in my nightmare AC2 build, him in his twin-AC20 build. Skirmish on HPG Manifold. By the time I climbed to the top of the platform and was able to bring my clamps to bear, we were down 3 - 6 and I was getting nervous. Hit the shutdown override, and leaned into the trigger against all the red triangles in my front torso twisting view. Managed to sandblast damn near everybody's front armor and inappropriately touch the internals on the enemy team. Only managed to kill a poor Trebuchet who thought he could face-tank the withering onslaught of teeny AC shells.
End result: I died! But we also won (12 - 7)! Thankfully, I can live with an 882 damage game where I've racked up 10 assists (and 3 KMDD).
Boo, I missed it
Oh, you'll get no argument from me, I won't even vote for it when I'm running a long range mech. It desperately needs a pass with an eye towards turning it into something other than missile hell.
@Styrofoam Sammich ignored me in my last match on HPG because that is what he does. I rebuilt my 8SPL Phoenix Hawk with an LFE and got like 5 kills or something like that with 500+ damage. Kept on killing everything I saw. Corsair tried to face tank me and shut down, 8 SPL to the rear and he went up quick. Kodiak tried to run away, took out his ST (no kill). Stalker tried to face tank an Annihilator, I took off his left side and killed him. It was glorious and fun. I forgot how cool the Phoenix Hawks were.
I'm weird since I like Polar. But that's because I'm usually running a light. It is even more fun with the Stealth Pirate's Bane.
Steam: betsuni7
Took it out to the testing grounds and it does some ugly pinpoint damage.
(note, this isn't the exact one from the video, I just mirrored the weapon layout and did what I could with the tonnage left over).
Drop in with my Orion (brawl), Quickdraw (brawl), Dragon (heavy scout), and Centurion (missile boat). End up against a Black Knight, Grasshopper, Hunchback, and...something else I can't remember, think it was a Wolverine.
Decker in his Dragon takes out the Grasshopper by decapitating it with his AC/10, then I work on mopping everything else up. Get to the salvage screen and there's all 3 pieces of the Grasshopper beckoning to me...but I can only guarantee 2 and unfortunately there's plenty of other salvage staring at me.
Yeah, I didn't get a full Grasshopper tonight. Sigh.
Think that is a similar build I used to run with 4UAC5s and 2 MPL or something like that. I think it had an XL back then too. Need to check it out and see about modifying it to be something like this now.
Steam: betsuni7