Jump to content

Alright So Lets Continue


31 replies to this topic

#1 Flaming oblivion

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • The 1 Percent
  • 1,293 posts

Posted 23 April 2014 - 06:20 AM

alright so I got my orions mastered and I'm thinking of my next mech. I have my heavy so its time to test myself in another weight class.

Now since lights and my play style, And the fact mediums aren't really good at anything IMHO I've ruled those to out.


So that leaves me with assaults, Now I'm leaning towards the atlas/stalker (that's not to say I wont wind up buying something else) I want something that can handle missiles which would indicate stalker thus why i'm leaning that way.

However the stalker cant effectively counter one of the biggest problems with this game atm (ecm) that alone is bringing the atlas back into contention for me . The speed of the 2 does bother me somewhat I would probably lose weapons/ equip and put a larger std in or take the xl plunge I've been so reluctant to do.


Thoughts?

#2 Modo44

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Bad Company
  • 3,559 posts

Posted 23 April 2014 - 06:24 AM

Just buy a Victor, starting with the 9S. Put 2xUAC5+2xPPC or 2xPPC+Gauss on it, and go shred. It is the strongest mech in the game at the moment, by a mile in many cases.

Edited by Modo44, 23 April 2014 - 06:25 AM.


#3 AlmightyAeng

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Bad Company
  • Bad Company
  • 3,905 posts

Posted 23 April 2014 - 06:43 AM

There's only one assault with ecm, and that's the DDC. They're still absolutely killable by any other assault (even the Awesome).

Stalkers and Atlases are both fun...Stalkers are excellent 'charge straight at them' mechs due to their small frontal hitboxes, or missileboats, but suffer from losing side torsos when shot from, suprise, the sides. XL's in those are generally a no-no.

Atlases and XL's are ALSO a no-no, because everyone's first shot is aimed at your right torso, housing your big ballistics. If you like torso-twisting and brawling, Atlases are great...and the DDC sneaking up behind people and then unloading is PRICELESS.

You can't go wrong with either, or, like Modo said, invest in a Victor and join the meta. Different strokes for different folks...I've got them all and enjoy playing each :P

Edited by Ghost Badger, 23 April 2014 - 06:44 AM.


#4 Flaming oblivion

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • The 1 Percent
  • 1,293 posts

Posted 23 April 2014 - 06:54 AM

I don't think I'm all that but a meta build for me is a no no, I want to feel like my skill got me the win and huge damage not broken exploits.

And I want others to feel the same anyone who looks at the meta uses are all thinking the same thing it bothers me mostly because we all know its true.

Not to dismiss your point or say someone is wrong to use a meta build, Just that I wont because I know what everyone else is thinking and believe it to be true.

The point about Xl's i'll take on-board I've avoided them thus far since I feel in something that cant get above 100 kph your in trouble because that xl is limiting your survivability .

However realistically 60 kph elited is as slow as I'm prepared to go ideally 70 kph and that feels like it would be extremely heavy to achieve with a STD in most assaults. I don't want a victor when I first started I tried the trial victor , I hated absolutely everything about it, Its the only assault I've flat out ruled out.

Edited by Flaming oblivion, 23 April 2014 - 06:57 AM.


#5 AlmightyAeng

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Bad Company
  • Bad Company
  • 3,905 posts

Posted 23 April 2014 - 06:58 AM

View PostFlaming oblivion, on 23 April 2014 - 06:54 AM, said:

I don't think I'm all that but a meta build for me is a no no, I want to feel like my skill got me the win and huge damage not broken exploits.

And I want others to feel the same anyone who looks at the meta uses are all thinking the same thing it bothers me mostly because we all know its true.

Not to dismiss your point or say someone is wrong to use a meta build, Just that I wont because I know what everyone else is thinking and believe it to be true.

The point about Xl's i'll take on-board I've avoided them thus far since I feel in something that cant get above 100 kph your in trouble because that xl is limiting your survivability .

However realistically 60 kph elited is as slow as I'm prepared to go ideally 70 kph and that feels like it would be extremely heavy to achieve with a STD in most assaults. I don't want a victor when I first started I tried the trial victor , I hated absolutely everything about it, Its the only assault I've flat out ruled out.


In that case, don't go under a 325 for the Atlas (57.3 kph with speed tweak). I run quite a few of mine with a 350...makes for excellent torso twist speed.

The Stalker? I run plenty just fine with a STD 300.

Meta is just a different skillset...people succeed and fail with them just like any other build.

Edited by Ghost Badger, 23 April 2014 - 06:58 AM.


#6 Modo44

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Bad Company
  • 3,559 posts

Posted 23 April 2014 - 07:01 AM

View PostFlaming oblivion, on 23 April 2014 - 06:54 AM, said:

I don't think I'm all that but a meta build for me is a no no, I want to feel like my skill got me the win and huge damage not broken exploits.

So take the meta. Utilizing it properly takes serious skill, as evidenced by various "Victor bad now" and "meta not working" threads.

#7 CMetz

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Ace Of Spades
  • Ace Of Spades
  • 289 posts
  • LocationCortlandt Manor, NY

Posted 23 April 2014 - 07:02 AM

Be careful, since one of your top priorities is mobility. The victor is the most mobile of all assaults. My suggestion (and you knew this was coming since you've played with me a good amount) is to go with Battlemasters. There are now 5 variants to choose from and 2 of them are strong missile builds. Any mech can counter ECM using TAG and Beagle Active Probe. Also, Battlemasters are rather XL friendly, rather inexpensive as far as assaults go, and can take some punishment. My recommendations for you are to go with the BLR-1S, BLR-3S and BLR-1G for your 3 variants. As always, I'm definitely available if you want to talk mech builds.

#8 Malcolm Vordermark

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 2,520 posts

Posted 23 April 2014 - 07:03 AM

Meta mechs do not take advantage of an exploit they simply destroy targets in the most efficient manner while using jump jets to get shots that would other wise be impossible and to expose themselves for only a brief time. It just takes all the advantages you can find and puts them together.

That being said, you do not have to go PPC+AC5s, they run other builds well too.

The Atlas and Banshee almost always get targeted first so keep that in mind. Stalkers are tough to kill but have trouble defending their sides. Battlemasters are better at defending. Havent seen many Highlanders lately and I havent played mine recently either.

Don't get an Awesome.

As a general rule, do not run XL in your assault mech. I think only the Victor has good enough hitboxes and speed for them.

The Battlemaster is my usual ride of choice. Only real weakness I've encountered is people that are good shots can peg that cockpit pretty easy.

Edited by Rouken, 23 April 2014 - 07:05 AM.


#9 AlmightyAeng

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Bad Company
  • Bad Company
  • 3,905 posts

Posted 23 April 2014 - 07:04 AM

View PostRouken, on 23 April 2014 - 07:03 AM, said:

As a general rule, do not run XL in your assault mech. I think only the Victor has good enough hitboxes and speed for them.


HGN-733C does okay with one, since it loads up a single side with weapons and can use its twisting, JJ and bigass empty shield arm to block return fire.

Granted, that's very pilot dependent.

Edited by Ghost Badger, 23 April 2014 - 07:05 AM.


#10 Rogue Jedi

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Overlord
  • Overlord
  • 4,908 posts
  • LocationSuffolk, England

Posted 23 April 2014 - 07:05 AM

The Battlemaster looks to fit your criterior, there is a version with plenty of LRM potential, the engine they come with has them doing 65/71 KPH, most varients can carry LRMs Balistics and Beam wepons.

If you liked the Orion, the Atlas is basicly just a larger slower verson of that, the Atlas is my faverate assult but I prefer light mechs in general, so may not be the best persion to give advice.

#11 The Basilisk

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • The Mercenary
  • The Mercenary
  • 3,269 posts
  • LocationFrankfurt a.M.

Posted 23 April 2014 - 07:25 AM

View PostModo44, on 23 April 2014 - 06:24 AM, said:

Just buy a Victor, starting with the 9S. Put 2xUAC5+2xPPC or 2xPPC+Gauss on it, and go shred. It is the strongest mech in the game at the moment, by a mile in many cases.


No......just no to that setup.
Or at least state it would be the strongest mech IF your ping were far below hundred and you encounter the hit reg and hsr on a good day and IF you manage to not get swarmed by a lance of lights and IF you get not abandoned by your team and if .....
The list is a good mile long. Standart PPC may work well in the low ping wonderland where you sit right on the server but normaly hands of standart PPC its just bugged or at least desynced from its animation or something.

ACs still work fine despite the nerf. Gauss work fine if you get used to the awkward mechanic. You may also want to take some streaks with you on the VIC to scare of lights.
AC20 and SRM6 work well enough for close in fighting.

The Battlemaster does ok at hill sniping dual ER PPCs or as tripple AC dakka build and does pretty well as missle boat and its side torsos arent to vulnerable as well. An other good side on this mech is its pretty decent speed for an assault. Its Weakness is its limited torso twisting.

Edited by The Basilisk, 23 April 2014 - 07:43 AM.


#12 FlipOver

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Bad Company
  • 1,135 posts
  • LocationIsland Continent of Galicia, Poznan

Posted 23 April 2014 - 07:26 AM

If you've placed this question before the movement nerfing patch of the Victor, then my answer would be a simple: "Get a VTR!"

But now, I need to ask if you are a meta-player (PPC and other long range weapons, peaking in and out of cover just trying to get your fix of kills each match) or are you a regular player?

This is because if you are looking for meta, then the VTR and HGN (Highlander) are the more suited using JJs to jump-snipe around. But in a close combat situation, they are too slow to fight back effectively.
Although the Stalker and Atlas are both the slowest to move, they are also the most armored ones, so even if they are slow, they can take a beating and respond to aggression with a hefty punch.

Between these 2, usually the Atlas gets most of the enemies attention as the Stalker is relegated to second place in the priorities list (this depends on a bunch of thing but in general it's how I've seen it work).

I do advise you, assaults are slow moving, so you should expect that from any of them nowadays.

To finish my thoughts, at the present moment, I opt not to buy any 'mech. Mostly because with the thrill-seeking adventure of balancing the game, PGI will eventually change some of the key aspects of some 'mechs, so why buy something that works fine just for 2-4-8 weeks and then be rendered almost useless (unless for poptarting) as one of the last patches did to VTR?

Ultimately it's up to you, just hope my post is in anyway helpful.

PS - The Basilisk is right! If you want to be an effective meta-mechwarrior your ping needs to be low.

#13 Shatterpoint

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPip
  • The Hammer
  • The Hammer
  • 358 posts

Posted 23 April 2014 - 07:28 AM

I'm mainly an Awesome pilot, probably wouldn't recommend it as your first assault though..it's nowhere near as forgiving as the others.

Battlemaster feels like a nice all rounder, it's not as fluid as the Awesome but not as rigid as the other assaults are..it's big and takes a beating but still spins and swingshots fairly well.

#14 AlmightyAeng

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Bad Company
  • Bad Company
  • 3,905 posts

Posted 23 April 2014 - 07:29 AM

View PostThe Basilisk, on 23 April 2014 - 07:25 AM, said:


No......just no.
Or at least state it would be the strongest mech IF your ping were far below hundred and you encounter the hit reg and hsr on a good day and IF you manage to not get swarmed by a lance of lights and IF you get not abandoned by your team and if .....
The list is a good mile long so just say. NO


As a North American player whose ping is often below 100, seldom above 150 and rarely in small spikes insanely above 500, I find poor hit reg and hsr with the PPC/AC meta almost non-existent for me.

I find that being swarmed by lights is only a problem if you miss your shot on them as they come in...having the aim to strip the armor off a leg while they're between 90m and 200m is usually enough for them to say "Oh crap!" and run away again.

Being abandoned by my team isn't an issue...if you're on the flank to take sneak shots you should be aware of where your team is. I usually run in the middle of mine, taking the shots I find. A group is good protection...be situationally aware.

I don't always run Metaman (my Dragonslayer with 2 PPC/2 AC5) but when I do it's damned effective. *shrug*

Edited by Ghost Badger, 23 April 2014 - 07:30 AM.


#15 Amsro

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Overlord
  • Overlord
  • 3,377 posts
  • LocationCharging my Gauss Rifle

Posted 23 April 2014 - 07:50 AM

Atlas, Highlander, Victor, Battlemaster. I have all 4 and can recommend all 4. The Victor being the worst for LRM's but the fastest assault.

They can all wreck face, if you like your Orions the Atlas is a bigger version of it.

Highlanders can Jump but that is 2 tons per jet, and you need 3 at least.

Battlemasters give you lots of energy options while mixing in Missiles and Ballistics on different variants.

Good luck in the lumbering mech class!

Edited by Amsro, 23 April 2014 - 07:48 PM.


#16 Wildstreak

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Civil Servant
  • Civil Servant
  • 5,154 posts

Posted 23 April 2014 - 08:00 AM

Based on your statement you want Missiles, any of the following.
Awesome
Stalker
Battlemaster

NOT THE ATLAS. While I have seen people run LRM Atlas, this usually harms the team it is on more than helps.

Despite drawbacks, Awesomes, especially the 8R, 8T and 8V can handle missiles. When I ran them, they were best when running LRM15s combined with LLs.
8T, 2ALRM15s, 2LLs
8V (before Ghost Heat), ARLM15, 3LLs
8R probably 2ALRM15s, 2LLs; some like to cram 4ALRM15s but I have done this, you only get 3MLs for protection and that doesn't help plus you cannot run a 300 engine that is a must.
I found LRM15s & LLs to complement each other well. No Indirect fire, you use all weapons at range for fighting keeping targets beyond 400m or so, minimizes how much your profile affects damage you take. All Awesomes allow fitting a TAG in the head slot for self-TAGging and you will have plenty of room for a BAP as well.
You could do variations on this combo, example LRM10s & PPCs.
Awesome can get good speed compared to some Assaults and has the best torso twist range of any except the Hero Banshee.

Stalker is the well known multi-range Mech, I would pack LRM10s plus a variety of close range weapons for multi-range operations, the one allowing 20 tube launchers would get LRM20s.

I forget which one but one of the Battlemasters is known for an LRM platform. One of the Highlanders has also been used for Missiles.

TAG counters ECM, one of the reasons you should have one mandatory on any LRM platform.

All my launcher sizes are based on number of tubes allowed.

#17 Redshift2k5

    Welcoming Committee

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Stone Cold
  • Stone Cold
  • 11,975 posts
  • LocationNewfoundland

Posted 23 April 2014 - 08:00 AM

Don't forget that 3/3/3/3 is coming soon, so unless you plan on playing 12-mans in the private match feature (or even using premium private to play with more custom rulesets) Medium mechs will have a place in the game (because every team will have to have three of them)

Of course if you don't play in a group you can still always queu as any weight class, but you may want to plan on buying a Medium at some point.

#18 CG Chicken Kn

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Bridesmaid
  • Bridesmaid
  • 1,138 posts
  • LocationSt. Catharines, Ontario

Posted 23 April 2014 - 08:19 AM

View PostFlaming oblivion, on 23 April 2014 - 06:20 AM, said:

alright so I got my orions mastered and I'm thinking of my next mech. I have my heavy so its time to test myself in another weight class.

Now since lights and my play style, And the fact mediums aren't really good at anything IMHO I've ruled those to out.


Thoughts?


Have at the assaults if big and slow is your thing.

But mediums not good at anything? I think they are (can be) good at everything, depending on load out.

My Shadowhawk 2D2 consistenlty places in the top three on damage and kills in pretty much every match I play it in.
325 XL so 105 kph speed tweaked, Two LRM 5's two streak 2's, artemis'd for fast lock ons, and the option of going 4 x srm w/e, two med lasers for something not ammo dependant, and an empty ballistic that can go up to an AC20 with some mech lab work, or ac2/5 sniper build, or....

You get the idea. And it has a big advantage in getting back to base/caps if needed, and is fast enough to shoo away lights harrassing my assaults, if not outright kill them before geting too over extended away from my group.

It is very nearly the perfect mech for all maps and team make ups.

Your mileage may vary. But never ever think, "oh that enemy is just a medium, I will get to him in a minute"
It will not end well for you.

#19 Buckminster

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • Elite Founder
  • 1,577 posts
  • LocationBaltimore, MD

Posted 23 April 2014 - 08:20 AM

View PostFlaming oblivion, on 23 April 2014 - 06:20 AM, said:

Now since lights and my play style, And the fact mediums aren't really good at anything IMHO I've ruled those to out.

I dunno, I think you should try a light or a medium.

My three favorite mechs to date are the Catapult, Jagermech and Thunderbolt - I'm a heavy mech guy to the core. That being said, I like to get out in a smaller mech every so often. Rather than playing a variation on the same theme, it forces you to think outside the box. You can't just duke it out anymore.

Medium mechs can generally carry just as much firepower as a heavy, and with a lot more maneuverability to match. You can take a Griffin -3M and slap on an LRM 30, TAG and jump jets, and you'll have a mobile striker that is far more effective than the "make it rain" LRM boats. So don't rule them out.

#20 The Dreaded Baron B Killer

    Member

  • PipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 353 posts

Posted 23 April 2014 - 08:37 AM

View PostGhost Badger, on 23 April 2014 - 06:43 AM, said:

There's only one assault with ecm, and that's the DDC. They're still absolutely killable by any other assault (even the Awesome).

Stalkers and Atlases are both fun...Stalkers are excellent 'charge straight at them' mechs due to their small frontal hitboxes, or missileboats, but suffer from losing side torsos when shot from, suprise, the sides. XL's in those are generally a no-no.

Atlases and XL's are ALSO a no-no, because everyone's first shot is aimed at your right torso, housing your big ballistics. If you like torso-twisting and brawling, Atlases are great...and the DDC sneaking up behind people and then unloading is PRICELESS.

You can't go wrong with either, or, like Modo said, invest in a Victor and join the meta. Different strokes for different folks...I've got them all and enjoy playing each :)


Jaeger seems very capable of taking down an Atlas too, as I've experienced on many an occasion... lol





1 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users