30 replies to this topic

[greywolf79]

I have mastered a Medium design, mastered an assault design, almost done a heavy design, working on 2nd assault design, and I want to do something with a light design. Though I am not "new", I still consider myself a noob to gaming. I have limited capabilities and need to play to those limitations. What I am looking for is this -

Fast (over 90kph - preferably over 110)
Jump (I might drop the jump to 1-2 jets but I want the ability to put at least 4+, maybe not all 3 need this but the model with ECM must jump)
energy weapons (I prefer them, they are hotter but have no ammo dependancy and also have no big explosions when I am hot)
AMS (nice but not required)
ECM (at least 1 of the designs in the light class has to have this along with the jump)
Can fire everything in 2 groups (I do not want ERPPC and Med. Lasers and LRMs - this needs 3 groups - but Med. Lasers and LRMs or Med. Lasers and ERPPC etc are fine)

Would be nice -
Missiles with energy weapons
Good armor (for its size)
Not overly expensive

[Tim East]

Well, I was going to recommend the Locust until you said ECM. Since you want ECM+jump, you kind of have to pick the Spider. Commando has ECM, no jump, and Firestarter and Jenner have jump, no ECM. Raven can have one or the other depending on variant, but not both at the same time. Could always kit yourself out in a Kit Fox I guess. Locust has neither, but it has style, and that's good enough for me.

Apart from the ECM requirement, Jenners seem to fit your wishlist pretty nicely, since they go fast, jump, carry a mix of beams and missiles, and kind of are all around very good.

[greywolf79]

I can get 2 Jenners (due to sale prices) or any of the KitFox models... I just want to find something that will allow me to use my style and be as good as I am able to be. I have never used ECM, but it seems to be needed for play these days. I am tired of being obliterated by missile fire, being slow, and either being ammo dependant (LRM/ballistic) and not being able to fight... So I am trying to get the best bang for my in game buck is all. I guess the ECM is a bit more or less not required - but it is definately a want... But I have looked at the kitfox - I might just drop the c-bills on those.

Or would you recommend a medium that is capable of moving very fast and fits the above criteria (clan/inner sphere)?

[Gangnail]

Jenner's are the way to go (IMHO) , start off by trying out the Jenner F champion trial mech that is available right now. see if you like the feel of the chassis before you buy one. Also the Spider and Firestarter have trial mechs available. Radar Deprivation Module is a must. Move from cover to cover and remember your not an atlas (i.e. you can't stand and brawl it out). Good luck to you in your quest for the next mech

[Kai Harper]

I would suggest either a Spider - it has the ECM, jump and lasers, though no missiles - or the Commando, personally. The Jenner's a very good little unit though, and it has the weapon groupings you prefer, but as has been stated: No ECM.
If you want a medium that's that fast and has 3 of the 4 criteria you mentioned, aim for a Shadow Hawk, or a Trebuchet. I know that Trebs can go 100+ (as mine does, with LL, MLx2, and SSRM x6), and I believe Shadow Hawks can, as well. I haven't started my project on those yet, but I think I've seen them being quite zippy. I dare say though, if you take a Shadow Hawk, you're wasting one of the best aspects of the chassis: High-mounted torso cannon on a 'Mech that can jump. That's just my opinion. =)

*EDIT*: I forgot about the Griffin for the missile/energy/JJ combo.

Edited by Kai Harper, 23 August 2014 - 12:56 PM.

[Tim East]

Well, I've been having a ridiculous amount of fun in the trial Kintaro, which I tried out on a whim today, but I can tell you that I nearly never take LRM fire in my Locust. I have it at max speed, but even before that LRMs had a hard time catching me. Basically, so long as you break contact, you can generally evade missiles that have to travel any significant distance. Gangnail is quite right about radar dep mod; it's the thing I'm trying to grind out over the course of this special, since the bonus C-bills will let me buy one and have a little change left. Main thing to remember in a light is to never stand still, ever. Don't do that, and you'll be fine, or at least as fine as any light can be.

[Ace Selin]

Id go kitfox if you like lrms, ams,ecm,lasers, the kitfox is so much fun, and lrms without the minimum range limiter are the best. the kitfox can be any mech you want It to be

Edited by Ace Selin, 23 August 2014 - 01:15 PM.

[Ertur]

Spider or Jenner. Spider meets your specs, since Jenner has no ECM. Be aware: the SDR-5V is a hard grind to master, it only does 12 damage, max. The 5K is fun, on the other hand, and the 5D (the ECM one) is deadly.

ECM is nice, but it isn't an insta-win bit of kit.

[Ruccus]

Not sure if Inner Sphere is a requirement, but if you can afford them I'm having fun this weekend skilling up my Kitfoxes.

They are slow for a light with a 97kph (107 with tweak) speed, but the C left arm allows for both ECM and up to three AMS, and the S torsos add jump jets. The D right arm has two missile hardpoints and the S right arm has one missile and one energy hardpoint.

[juxstapo]

Yeh, ECM is handy dandy... but no longer an utter requirement.

Spider: Meets your specs, not the highest damage dealing chassis in the weight class, but definitely among the fastest and serious fun.

Jenner: My favorite light. No ECM, but a jumpy, fast, armed-to-the-teeth... with a glass torso.

Firestarter: Eh, what can I say? It's fast, jumpy, durable, gotta lotta guns. I'm not about to get into the debate though. But the Corsairs have replaced my beloved Jenner in the competition drop decks with this thing due to superior hitboxes

[Chadamir Fitzkrieg]

The Jenner is a solid choice, good firepower and if you manage your heat you'll do great work with it.

I, personally, play the Commando 1B. Granted, no jump jets, no ECM, but hey! Armed with a Large Laser and two mediums and I run at a solid 167.5 KPH, nothing is that fast and able to carry that much firepower. There is an ECM variant, but like most Commandos, it's more SRM focused. Great for support and light hunting.

EDIT: It's also worth making a notice that the 1B can also carry a Narc and 3x mediums and still run 167.5 KPH

Edited by Chadamir Fitzkrieg, 24 August 2014 - 12:23 AM.

[Escef]

Asking for ECM really limits your options to Commandos (no jets on any of them), Spiders, Ravens, and the Kit Fox. And the Kit Fix doesn't really give you that light experience, it's more like a very fragile medium.

Ignoring ECM for a moment, Jenners and Firestarters are really good. Fast, high end of the weight class, lots of lasers, and if secondary weapons are a thing for you, the D and K Jenners are missile capable, and the H and Ember Firestarters can carry ballistics (usually just used for MGs, but I run an AC5 on my H).

[Tim East]

Chadamir Fitzkrieg, on 24 August 2014 - 12:22 AM, said:

The Jenner is a solid choice, good firepower and if you manage your heat you'll do great work with it.

I, personally, play the Commando 1B. Granted, no jump jets, no ECM, but hey! Armed with a Large Laser and two mediums and I run at a solid 167.5 KPH, nothing is that fast and able to carry that much firepower. There is an ECM variant, but like most Commandos, it's more SRM focused. Great for support and light hunting.

EDIT: It's also worth making a notice that the 1B can also carry a Narc and 3x mediums and still run 167.5 KPH

SRM Commandos were good BEFORE the SRM fix. Haven't tried them since, since I sold my 3A, but I imagine they're even more unfair than before.

[Kai Harper]

Tim East, on 24 August 2014 - 09:57 AM, said:

SRM Commandos were good BEFORE the SRM fix. Haven't tried them since, since I sold my 3A, but I imagine they're even more unfair than before.

I use my COM-2D with SSRM6 and a Tag - I'm not getting as high scores as I was previously, but then again I don't think I'm as reckless as I used to be, either. HEAPS of fun, though a little on the slow side at only 139 tweak'd.

[Tim East]

The 3A was like the 12 gauge of mechs. I used to drive up next to some poor shlub, and unload two 6-packs of SRM and 2 sets of MPL into his back all the time. It was...kind of unsporting.

[Eldane]

I'll add my vote for the Kit Fox...it's really versatile, able to do anything from boat LRMs(4 lrm 5's is tons of fun) or SRMs, to be a full on support mech with ecm, ams, 3 ermed lasers(nothing to scoff at) jj's and machine guns!

Edited by Eldane, 24 August 2014 - 01:56 PM.

[greywolf79]

I guess ECM can be put into more of a "good to have" area... I do like the idea of having it though. The kit fox only has 1 variant with Jump if I read that correctly, I like jump enough that I would want to include jump on at least 2 variants - but I can run without jump on 1 of them... I have been looking into the kit fox and jenners a lot. I am debating using a medium instead - the clan Nova. It has jump on all 3 variants, and a lot of energy slots. I did not notice ECM - so may rethink for a kitfox depending on how the next few days go. I am saving right now, I have the c-bills for 1 kit fox, or 2-3 jenners (8+ mil c-bills right now) depending on sales. Just trying to decide what will allow me to enjoy the game the most - which means not getting wasted EVERY match while either racking up lots of kills or at least helping to get lots of kills - I like supporting my team.

[Bigbacon]

go locust.... 1E or 3M

[Ruccus]

greywolf79, on 24 August 2014 - 03:37 PM, said:

The kit fox only has 1 variant with Jump if I read that correctly, I like jump enough that I would want to include jump on at least 2 variants - but I can run without jump on 1 of them... I have been looking into the kit fox and jenners a lot.

The jump is attributed to the S torso (and legs, but the torso also adds a ballistic hardpoint) - you can swap the omnipods between mechs to give you jump capability. If you want jump on a Prime, just strip the torsos off the S and put them in the Prime. Here's a jumping Kitfox D build using the S torsos, C right arm, and Prime left arm.

Edited by Ruccus, 24 August 2014 - 04:03 PM.

[Heydiddly]

greywolf79, on 24 August 2014 - 03:37 PM, said:

I guess ECM can be put into more of a "good to have" area... I do like the idea of having it though. The kit fox only has 1 variant with Jump if I read that correctly, I like jump enough that I would want to include jump on at least 2 variants - but I can run without jump on 1 of them... I have been looking into the kit fox and jenners a lot. I am debating using a medium instead - the clan Nova. It has jump on all 3 variants, and a lot of energy slots. I did not notice ECM - so may rethink for a kitfox depending on how the next few days go. I am saving right now, I have the c-bills for 1 kit fox, or 2-3 jenners (8+ mil c-bills right now) depending on sales. Just trying to decide what will allow me to enjoy the game the most - which means not getting wasted EVERY match while either racking up lots of kills or at least helping to get lots of kills - I like supporting my team.

On the Kitfox, you can swap out the legs and torsos that come with a variant and replace them with the KFX-S equivalent that grants JJs, so really all variants can jump.

Also when you are working out what you can afford, it's important to bear in mind that the costs don't stop at buying the mech, upgrades can often cost more than the mech itself! For example, a Jenner costs about 3.5m cbills if memory serves, but the XL300 engine you will likely want to put in it costs about 5m! Then Endosteel costs 350k, and Ferro armour costs about 175k. Clan mechs like the Kitfox come pre-upgraded with engines, Endo, FF etc., so their base cost is closer to what you will actually pay (and is why their base cost is so much higher than an IS mech of the same weight).