18 replies to this topic

[UrsusMorologus]

I'm looking for an IS chassis that I can use for near-line fire-support. Jager seems very flexible, can do high-alpha builds, snipers, even a LRM boat. Cataphract also seems good, and Catapult has a couple of good options (but not many). Looking for opinions and experience. Thanks

[Reignfire]

Jager. Its hard to use but its one of the best fire support IS.That being said i know they are nasty but die quick. I am an Orion pilot my self. Orion is a mini atlas. . Cataphract is mean but hard to use and the 3D is the best one. Thuds i love but most people do not. That being said the thud is pretty bad ass and reasonably xl safe.Catapults do not see much action these days but they are nasty. Best heavy LRM boat imo.

Edited by Reignfire, 27 September 2014 - 09:27 AM.

[Voivode]

These are all heavies, and are good choices as far as fire support heavies for the IS.

If you're looking for fire support for other classes I can suggest these mechs.

ASSAULT:

Awesome - A lot of negative hype around this guy, don't believe it. Excellent fire support mech. Great maneuverability for an assault. Mech quirks give you bonuses to cooling, particularly with energy weapons.

Stalker - More durable than the Awesome but maneuvers like a freighter. Plenty of high mounted hardpoints for minimum exposure.

MEDIUM:

Shadowhawk - Pretty versatile mech, not quite as good up close as the Wolverine and Griffin, lends itself to a fire support role in that light.

Trebuchet - Excellent IS medium LRM platform. Low mounted hardpoints on most models make it a poorer choice for direct fire builds.

Cicada - Small and fast, capable of running some great fire support builds. High mounted hard points are a plus.

LIGHTS:

Raven - Particularly the 4X and 2X models. Capped at 140 KPH they play a little more like a Cicada than a light.

[SethAbercromby]

Stalker can be used as a mix of Jager and Catapult. It's got a good mix of energy and missile hardpoints that are very well-positioned. My personal config on the 5S looks like this:
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...79bc8bc1da354d6

It requires quite a few weapon groups (I'm running 5), but has a lot of potential as a second line fire supporter that can operate in any situation and strike at any range. It's pretty difficult to play well with this config but it can be immensely beneficial in a team effort with a large group.

[UrsusMorologus]

Stalker only has the one Hero with ballistic hard-points. Seems kind of limited?

[IraqiWalker]

I would add the BLR-1S to the list of assaults that can do that.

The problem is that the other BLRs are not good for FSU duty.

BLR-1S Hellfire

This one will rain hell on your targets for a looooong time. If you're purely chain firing the LRMs, you will almost never over heat. Especially with double basics. You can downgrade the 2 LRM 15s to LRM 10s, but honestly that puts you at LRM 40 per alpha, which is the level expected of a heavy mech performing that duty. Assault LRM boats should be throwing LRM 50+

Remember though, the BLR-1S (Possibly the best assault LRM boat in the game) is the only variant of the BLRs that is a top line LRM mech.

UrsusMorologus, on 27 September 2014 - 09:40 AM, said:

Stalker only has the one Hero with ballistic hard-points. Seems kind of limited?

Not when you slap a Gauss Rifle in it for long range support, or a big honkin' AC for whatever range you want.

[Darwins Dog]

UrsusMorologus, on 27 September 2014 - 09:40 AM, said:

Stalker only has the one Hero with ballistic hard-points. Seems kind of limited?

If you are looking specifically for ballistic fire support, then the Jager is your mech. SHD is also a good option for a faster hit-and-run style play.

[UrsusMorologus]

Yeah looks that way. I didnt notice earlier only Jager and Cataphract can even slot 4x ballistic (as an outlier). The CTF-4X has smaller engine restriction which makes it slower. Cataphract doesnt have a heavy torpedo loadout option either. Jager is really the only choice for an artillery mech.

[Escef]

IraqiWalker, on 27 September 2014 - 09:42 AM, said:

BLR-1S Hellfire

I'd recommend cutting a ton or 2 of ammo for more heat sinks. I run 13 doubles with ALRM50 and 9 tons of ammo, and heat sometimes cuts into my RoF. With only 12 doubles there's a very good chance that you'll never use up all your ammo simply because of your heat burden limiting your ability to spend those massive ammo stores you have.

EDIT: Try THIS.

Edited by Escef, 28 September 2014 - 04:38 AM.

[Bront]

UrsusMorologus, on 27 September 2014 - 09:40 AM, said:

Stalker only has the one Hero with ballistic hard-points. Seems kind of limited?

You don't need balistics to be a fire support mech, you jut need weapons with reach. You can mount lots of PPCs, LLs (in any flavor) and LRMs with ease on stalkers. One of my favorite stalker builds is the 5S fire support build (2 LL or ERLL, 2 LRM10+A, 2 LRM5+A, TAG, 2 AMS). It has great firepower at long range as it approaches the battlefield, has the reach to provide mid-range direct fire support as well as LRM support, can TAG for itself, and provides AMS cover to the team. It's the only mech I regret selling, and I've since fitted that build on my 3F, shifting the armor around a bit and mounting 2 MLs as well for close in defense since I can't mount the AMS and have a better torso twist. 500+ damage is effortless, it's not helpless in the back lines or in a brawl, and it provides direct and indirect fire support.

The 5M can also do direct fire support or indirect fire support pretty well. You can adapt the above build to the 5M with an extra LRM5 due to the hardpoints, though likely at the cost of a heat sink and a ton of ammo. (Need to make up the 2 ton shortage removing the AMS and ammo still leaves), but the 5M can mount 3 LLs and have one in the torso for zombie builds (though honestly, Zombie Stalker is usually torn up enough it's not worth much, so don't build just for that).

Misery is a deady mech still with the Balistic. Gauss + 3LL/ERLL is deadly at range if you can manage it well, AC20+LLs is great for more up close brawling, but even AC10+LLs is flexible. I'm getting one next time it's on sale.

[Barkem Squirrel]

The BLR-1S is good in about any combination 4 LRM 10's, 4 LRM 15's, 2 LRM 15 & 2 LRM 10, and 2 LRM 15 & 2 LRM 5.

This is 40 or 50 missiles in one volley. (note 4 LRM 15's with have the two 10 tube launchers fire 5 missiles each 0.5 seconds after the initial volley)

With LRM 10's & LRM 15's there is the issue of ghost heat for volley fire, but with chain fire that is not a concern.

My BLR-1S runs with 2 Artemis LRM 15's, 2 Artemis LRM 5's/with 11 tons of LRM ammo, TAG, BAP, 3 ML's, AMS/with 1 ton of AMS ammo, 15 DHS, XL 300 engine. Note some times I use 10 tons of LRMs and 2 tons of AMS ammo.

Now I can drop 3 DHS and two tons of LRM ammo for an XL 340, for an increase of about 10 kph. Then if I want two artemis LRM10's I can remove the two artemis LRM 5's, 4 DHS and two tons of LRM ammo for that.

This give me some flexibility, but if you will be firing indirect you do not need artemis. TAG may be a good item to have for those instances where you have line of sight. One thing about my build is how long it can constantly fire with a max sustained DPS of 5.96 and 40% heat efficiency on smurfy. About the only thing that beats it is Escef's build, but with a TAG.

Now for a support mech, that is close to the line. Many can cover that role. Mediums might be the better place to look. Shadowhawks can load up on AC's or LRMs. Griffins you can fire at people directly behind you with 180+ range of motion with the arms. You can also fit one LRM 15, one LRM 10 and two LRM 5's on one for an interesting mix of reload times that will fire one volley of 35, then fire 10, 10, and 15 as you hold down the fire button, like chain fire or you can just fire vollies by just pushing down the button again. There are the kintaros, trenchbuckets, wolverines (7m), shadow hawks, griffins and even the centurions that work in an LRM support role. Some can add Auto cannon support as well. Another is running a few LRM 5's with two ERLL's. Poke with the lasers and use the LRMs to back them off.

one other thing. tube count for each missile hard point on IS mechs. Use a stalker with 2 LRM 15's in the arms and 2 LRM 10s in the torso will produce something scary. On Chain fire there will be almost a constant stream of missiles. So fire 10, .5 seconds later, another 5, .5 seconds later another 10, .5 seconds later 5, .5 seconds later 6, .5 seconds later 4, .5 seconds later 6, .5 seconds later 4. This is 3.5 seconds for 50 missiles to fire with a reload of 4.25 seconds for the first LRM 15. that means .75 seconds after the last missile hits it starts all over again. This is the same profile as the Catapult A1 firing 6 LRM 5's. This will ensure more LRM rage/nerf'em comments on the forums.

The BLR-1S can pull the same thing off with 2 lRM 20's and two LRM 15's, with an XL 260 with 8 tons of LRM ammo, BAP and 4 ML's.

Remember that tube counts and the size of launchers makes a difference on how you fire either as a volley fire or chain fire.

[Brody319]

Catapult is fantastic. C1 with 4 mediums and LRMs is a fun build and gives you options. K2 is the beauty of the group imo. 2 ER large lasers, 2 Large lasers, and 2 machine guns can provide excellent fire support, can melt the enemy's armor away like butter. Don't play the A1. the lack of lasers makes it too iffy to use. C4 is okay, might be able to squeeze in 2 ppcs and some LRMs.

[John Mechlane]

UrsusMorologus, on 27 September 2014 - 03:49 PM, said:

Yeah looks that way. I didnt notice earlier only Jager and Cataphract can even slot 4x ballistic (as an outlier). The CTF-4X has smaller engine restriction which makes it slower. Cataphract doesnt have a heavy torpedo loadout option either. Jager is really the only choice for an artillery mech.

The cataphract may be slower, but it's also 5 tons heavier. You can mount quad AC2s on it with full armor and enough ammo to take out most of the enemy team. (You need an XL engine of course)
Don't worry about the heat penalty on those AC2s, when they are fired together, it's practically non-existent. Just don't stagger fire them!

This build is perfect for direct fire suppression, but it's also a killing machine if you manage to dakka the target for a few seconds - if he's stupid enough to stay in the line of fire. (we're talkin about an effective DPS of 11)

In comparison with the Jager, the biggest draawback is the low mounted ballistic hardpoint. You won't be able to peak out from behind hills, and keep the low profile the Jager does. You have to put yourself out there...

Edited by JaniTheWeedman, 01 October 2014 - 07:14 AM.

[Rear Admiral Tier 6]

jagermech with maximum dakka or stalker with er large lasers

[William Slayer]

I really enjoy my Catapults. The C4 and C1 are able to move well with the group, twist and hit a target at a sharp angle, and carry tons of LRM's. I can pull down 6-8 assists each game easy, with and average of 400 dmg.

[TerminatorII]

Awesome is king of IS LRM imo. 4x LRM 15+Artemis and 1600 rounds with 2 ML's. it has to be XL's so you dont want to get near the front until you are one of the last alive, but can do disgusting damage.

[Katotonic]

Are you specifically looking at Heavy direct fire support? You have only mentioned heavies but there are other options! Banshee 3E is a Jagermech on steroids. It is possibly the highest straight DPS mech the IS has. The 3E has its limitations (no arm weaps and 4 ballistics all in one side torso) but for putting lead and energy down-field I have not found its equal. The other downside to the 3E is that the other variants are not anything special. They aren't bad, matter of fact they are pretty decent, but the various Jager variants are all pretty good so it is a balance. One mech that shines or a few that shine almost as bright but not quite there.

[Rhaegor]

Jagermech or Cataphract

[Elizander]

UrsusMorologus, on 27 September 2014 - 09:16 AM, said:

I'm looking for an IS chassis that I can use for near-line fire-support. Jager seems very flexible, can do high-alpha builds, snipers, even a LRM boat. Cataphract also seems good, and Catapult has a couple of good options (but not many). Looking for opinions and experience. Thanks

Jager has high mounts which is good. The phract has some trouble with low slung arms. Jagers are more diverse because they can do missiles while the Cataphracts can't do that part very well. If you go Jager though you pass up on the Phract 3D which has JJs, something all Jagers don't have.