17 replies to this topic

[RiotHero]

Well here's the deal, I have a around 26m c-bills and can't decide on a new mech to buy. I bought a XL255 and that recently renewed my interested in my C1 and C4 Cat. Normally I play mostly my Orion K, Orion V, and Catapult K2.

While trying to decide I noticed a lot of mediums can take some pretty huge engines and the thought of a fast medium sounded pretty good. I'm wondering how do the new Griffin and Wolverine stack up in the mech hierarchy and when do they come out? I'd hate to buy something now and have something better right around the corner. From what I can gather the Shadow hawk seems the be the best medium and about the only one I see played anymore(consistently).

These are the mechs I have:
Jenner D(S)/F
Hunchback G/4P/4SP
Catapult C1/C4/K2
Orion K/V/VA

All of them are mastered and I also have XL255,300,and 350 engines. Having a fast medium sounds like fun also it looks like all the newer mediums have jumpjets and at least one variant that would net me a XL275 for future use. I was also looking at a dragon for similar reasons. I guess I'm trying to convince myself to not break down and buy a boring meta assault mech. I do so well in my Orions and like the idea of playing something different. Plus I would want to master it so I could also make some variant slow and more powerful depending.


Anyway thanks for any advice on what you think is the best mech or just any experience with building a fast medium.

[Tewaz]

The Kintaro is definitely my favorite medium atm. All of the variants can handle up to a 360 engine and have decent hardpoints, KTO-18 being the best. I run mine with an XL340.

Here are my KTO-18 builds I run if you want to check them out.

Centurions and Blackjacks tend to be slower.

The Saber mediums have solid engine caps and will be 55 tonners like the Shadowhawk and Kintaro.

Also there is one Treb, the TBT-3C variant which can handle up to an 390 engine. But sadly the rest are capped at 325.

[Jam the Bam]

Haven't got the wolverine or griffin but the shadowhawk is well worth a run, there are nice varied builds that suit all 3 variants and they are all very effective. Decent speed plus JJ's plus nice hitboxes make this a fun and surprisingly effective mech to play.



The blackjack is also great fun to play, its pretty fragile but its incredibly agile with JJ's, also turns on a dime, and you can run builds with and AC20 .



Mediums are very versatile mechs, definitely my favourite class

[Dagada Moor]

Got Shadowhawks mastered and griffin and wolverines elited. The main question you have to ask yourself is what weapons you like playing with. The hawks all have a ballistic hard point. The griffins are energy and missile One wolverine has a ballistic hard point the rest are energy and missile. The 6k wolverine can have an XL375 and go 121.5. The griffins have the best turn ration. With an XL350 you can turn almost backwards as you move. All are good mechs. Oh yeah only one hawk can have 5 JJ. Griffin and 2 wolverines can have up to 7 if that makes a difference. You can not go wrong with any of them. Look at smurfy's and look over mech specs.

[Tahribator]

Fast medium? You can't beat the Trebuchets. E/M combos are one of the hardest hitting but also the lightest(and hot) combos out there. With Trebuchets you can always go 100+KPH, do respectable damage and be an absolute pest for the other team.

When I'm talking about E/M, I'm talking about ML's/SRM's and SSRM's though. If you expect to stick LRM's on them and be a fast lobber, set your sights towards Shadowhawks or Kintaros. Trebuchets IMO are only good at one thing and that is jumpjet brawling.

Check out this guide for an example http://raksarmory.bl...azy-flying.html

[RiotHero]

Cool thanks for the tips.

The only mechs I have with ballistics are the Hunchback G with the ac20 and my V that has 2xAC5. Oddly my Orion is by far my most successful mech with 2.5 times my average k/d but, I still just don't really like ballistics. I have 2xLRM20 on one cat and LRM15x3 on the other and that's about as much lrms as I want. I think I'll look for something with energy and srm potential. I like lasers,PPC,srms, and ssrms basically in that order.

The only other ballistics I can see adding would be something with a Gauss rifle since I don't have anything with one currently and it plays differently than AC's.

[Bacon_Warrior88]

I would really give the Cicada a Hard look. I know it's seen as a light, but it can play a dual role. I have 3 variants. My favorite is this one. The ECM is a big reason why. Also, the max speed is 151.0. redic. Loads more armor than lights and better heat management. Think about it

[smurfy]http://mwo.smurfy-ne...2b0950e9fdf2185[/smurfy]

[zztophat]

Shadowhawks,

The only thing that can't do is boat energy and that isn't even a downside.

[Victor Morson]

As far as mediums go, I would recommend the Shadow Hawk to anyone; it can mount a very solid engine, has VERY diverse variants, great hard points, etc. It is easily the best medium in the game and it can fill several roles.

However if you are really looking for the best "big engine" medium, that's the Trebuchet 3C. It's as fast as a Jenner (The Cent 9D can also rival this speed) while carrying similar firepower, but is sans jump jets, which is a huge problem. Still, in it's (very small) niche, it wins.

Still again, if you're looking for a good medium that can haul 120ish - not quite Jenner speed mind you - the Shadow Hawk is easily my first recommendation without any reservation.

RiotHero, on 21 January 2014 - 05:38 PM, said:

The only other ballistics I can see adding would be something with a Gauss rifle since I don't have anything with one currently and it plays differently than AC's.

As a side note, the 2D2 Shadow Hawk plays very well with missiles, long and short. The Griffin is slightly more optimal but it's unreleased; plus the 2D2 can do ballistics if you so desire. Good place to start.

[Charons Little Helper]

All three of the new 55 ton phoenix mechs are solid - though the Wolverine 6k is kinda weak. (5 energy / 1 missile - plus no jumpjets) It's the variant that you are forced to level in order to elite/master the other two. (I just elited it last night & immediately sold it.)

The Griffon is the new king of torso twist, while the Wolverine is tied for 2nd with the hunchback.

Both the Griffon & Wolverine have massive shield arms - I very rarely lose a side torso before losing the arm on that side. The Shadowhawk arms aren't bad - but smaller than the other two.

The Shadowhawk's edge over the other two is the torso ballistic hardpoint(s) in every variant - and that it's a bit skinnier. Though one of the Wolverines (6R) has ballistics (both in an arm though - so no AC20).

I've had a ton of success with the Wolverine 7k - http://mwo.smurfy-ne...33b9df97374a4af - maybe I'm nuts, but it seems like SRMs are starting to register better.

Edited by Charons Little Helper, 11 February 2014 - 12:43 PM.

[Terrible Clint]

Tiggo Bitties, on 11 February 2014 - 12:01 PM, said:

I would really give the Cicada a Hard look. I know it's seen as a light, but it can play a dual role. I have 3 variants. My favorite is this one. The ECM is a big reason why. Also, the max speed is 151.0. redic. Loads more armor than lights and better heat management. Think about it

[smurfy]http://mwo.smurfy-ne...2b0950e9fdf2185[/smurfy]

Yes what he said. Currently my favorite fast mech is the CDA-2A. 151.5 kph with speed tweak is a weapon in itself. I regularly do 500 damage with this build using hit and run tactics and blowing out slower mechs' rear torso. Not to mention you can outrun just about anything if things go bad and get across a map in no time. I cackle at LRM boats as they launch volleys at me that land where I was 30 seconds ago. Obviously not some super exciting variety of weapons but medium lasers are a really solid weapon when you think about it. Very fun mech to play.

[Flak Kannon]

Hi Riot.

Shy away from Dragons. They take a special kinda player to master. I have 4 and love them them and hate them....

Define what you want your Medium to do then decide which medium to buy..

The Kintaro's are amazing light hunters.

Centurions are amazing wingmen to Atlas and Highlanders...

Cicadas are just bigger Jenners.. you have Jenners so if you like that style of play, there you go.

You have Hunchbacks, the Centurions play similar but with more agility...

Shadowhawk are current Mediums top dog. They can do it all, and are very hardy like the Centurion.

Trebs, they play like little Stalkers or small Catapults...just a touch faster.



Now if your interested in the LRM meta right now, Catapults are rather fun. Load up any of them with 2x LRM15+artemis plus ancillary weapons... and rain away..


But back to Dragons... very tough to play. Hard role to define in this chassis. The Champion Dragon is closest to what the Dragon does best... long range harass duty. Doesn't really have the speed to disengage from the up engined Victors out there right now if its near the front line, and not durable enough to be there.

2 ERLL and a AC10 is a nice rig, just ca't burst damage. A nice engine to have with Dragons is a 340XL.

My Fang is the single toughest mech to play that I own. Flame is better....I like a challenge, I own most all of the Dragons.

Edited by Flak Kannon, 12 February 2014 - 06:03 PM.

[Johnny Two Legs]

I have Mastered the following chassis
Cicada
Blackjack
Centurion
Hunchback
Griffon
Shadowhawk

The mech with the best stats and most fun to play is the Blackjack BJ-1.
I run it with 2 AC2's and 4ML (for back up only), JJ's, goes at ~87kph with speed tweak. I give it the Seismic Sensor, Advanced Zoom and Target thingy (brings data up quicker) modules.

Hang back with the heavies/assaults, do not be the first to be seen by the enemy, let loose all the AC2 loving you want during the course of the game. Players often ignore you because of how your positioned, a BJ is small and not considered a priority target.
High mounted guns make for great sniping/trolling/jumping just over an atlas and taking a couple shots.
Good torso twisting plus JJ's plus 4ML plus max armour means most singular lights will leave you alone.

For trolling, mount an AC20.

Either way, I love the BJ's. The energy variants I find to be a tougher 'like' - I just dont get them. The ballistic variants are awesome.



J2L

Edited by Johnny Two Legs, 12 February 2014 - 08:03 PM.

[Myoumes]

The problem with engines is that they don't reflect accurately to Tabletop or previous mechwarriors.

You have very severe penalties for taking engines "too small", where too small is defined by PGI. You have huge gains if you choose to take an engine "bigger than standard" for your mech size.

All torso twist and turn speed attributes go up massively, or are nerfed massively, depending on which you choose. This Enshallows gameplay because everyone takes a similar engine to make the most munchkined design. There's no real room for individuality or Pillbox mechs, or anything else. Just shallow MechSpeedBrawler:online.

[Grickshaft]

i play my CN9-D at 130 KPH, Bap, AMS, and just run rampant with 338 armor, light scouts do not anticipate it. a good pilot can dominate in this mech

[Myoumes]

Grickshaft, on 12 February 2014 - 08:34 PM, said:

i play my CN9-D at 130 KPH, Bap, AMS, and just run rampant with 338 armor, light scouts do not anticipate it. a good pilot can dominate in this mech

that has a lot to do with the compound advantages granted by engine size, too.

[RiotHero]

Well, thanks for all the info I ended up with the Shadowhawk and some ideas on what to get next. I'm playing them with similar ballistic based loud outs for now until I can get them all speed tweaked. I didn't want to load up any of them with big engines until I can run them at their fastest. Also once I get them all with the 2x basics I can play around with more weapons that run hot. These things are basically like hunchbacks but with jump jets and faster. If hunchbacks could run xl's safely I probably wouldn't have got these but, I don't regret it at all.

I have cats, orions, and jagers. There is nothing else left in the heavy class that interests me ATM. I also have Victors full elited and there are no other assault that I would want. Having and loving my jenners so much nothing in the light class grabs my eye. So in the end I think I'm going to be ripping through the medium class for the foreseeable future. Even though right now the class is kind of suboptimal it has the only real mechs that look interesting to me and that matters most imo. Having grabbed the Firebrand on the 50% off sale I should have enough cbills to get the wolverines or griffins when they come out.

I'm also considering the BlackJack next. A dual high mounted PPC with jump jets on a medium sounds like fun.

[Grickshaft]

Myoumes, on 12 February 2014 - 08:39 PM, said:

that has a lot to do with the compound advantages granted by engine size, too.

that obviously why i chose that mech... its a special variant.,.. also the treb-3c is kinda the same, and i also go for the best sustained damage i can and just hammer down