64 replies to this topic

[oldradagast]

Water Bear, on 09 October 2015 - 11:45 AM, said:

During the Medium vs. the World championship I was #1 Cicada for 2 out of 3 days and finished third by a margin of probably not even 1%.

The problem you describe is entirely due to the fact that the Cicada is about twice the size of a 35 tonner and probably even larger when compared to a Locust. You cannot dart through the enemy team in a Cicada like you could when you were small.

Be creative with your positioning. Consider darting on top of things (which you can still do well) and outmaneuvering heavier, slower 'mechs.

Yep - Cicadas are BIG for what they are, and their legs and center torsos are incredibly vulnerable. Keep most of the mech behind rocks in a "hull-down" position and shoot from the sides and angles. If anyone really notices you and wants you dead, you're dead, from my limited experiences in the loyalty Cicada.

[3xnihilo]

oldradagast, on 10 October 2015 - 05:58 AM, said:

Yep - Cicadas are BIG for what they are, and their legs and center torsos are incredibly vulnerable. Keep most of the mech behind rocks in a "hull-down" position and shoot from the sides and angles. If anyone really notices you and wants you dead, you're dead, from my limited experiences in the loyalty Cicada.

Absolutely if you are too far from friendlies and that Arctic cheetah decides that you should be dead, you will be dead. I have gotten to where I stick around the big boys a lot if I am running a shorter range build, or I run some erll and stay out of the way and try not to get noticed. I am not great by any means but I have gotten pretty comfortable with the 2A/B. I am thinking the loyalty mech would really like to be an erppc sniper but I haven't gotten around to trying it out yet. So far I have been using 1 LPL and 3 ml with 6 jj.

[roscle]

HERE is my favorite X-5 build. I go pretty in depth with my logic in THIS thread, and I would feel remiss to copy and paste all of it again here(might even be against the rules). 4MPLS, an XL330, and almost max armor. Some might not like that I took armor out of the arms, but I feel like generally people aim for your box like center mass most of the time, and its pretty rare that my arms get blown off, especially since your big gut sticks out much further than your arms do, so using them as shields is especially difficult. The X-5, with this build, has given me the highest damage games in my entire MWO addiction. This build is even more potent with the recent tweak changes, and by potent, I mean downright disgusting.

[3xnihilo]

roscle, on 21 December 2015 - 12:52 PM, said:

HERE is my favorite X-5 build. I go pretty in depth with my logic in THIS thread, and I would feel remiss to copy and paste all of it again here(might even be against the rules). 4MPLS, an XL330, and almost max armor. Some might not like that I took armor out of the arms, but I feel like generally people aim for your box like center mass most of the time, and its pretty rare that my arms get blown off, especially since your big gut sticks out much further than your arms do, so using them as shields is especially difficult. The X-5, with this build, has given me the highest damage games in my entire MWO addiction. This build is even more potent with the recent tweak changes, and by potent, I mean downright disgusting.

Hmm... I don't think I have run into that build before. I was wondering if putting a couple srm6's and ml's would work well now that srms got a little buff.

[roscle]

3xnihilo, on 21 December 2015 - 05:13 PM, said:

Hmm... I don't think I have run into that build before. I was wondering if putting a couple srm6's and ml's would work well now that srms got a little buff.

Perhaps, though you'd have to sacrifice a little speed with a smaller engine, probably a much smaller engine if you really want those 6s. I did try 4MLs and 2 SRM2s after the new tweaks. I do have to admit, those SRMs felt eerily close to ballistics to me, and they're pretty fun to use with such a fast fire time. Had some decent games though, nothing close to 4MPLs, and I'd run out of ammo super quickly since I'm liberal with it, plus die easier. I get greedy with SRMs because their kill/crit potential is so disgusting, and there's only so much greed this mech will allow you to get away with.

My whole thought process behind the MPL vs ML on this mech, I would say, is the way it affects the way you pilot the mech. With MLs, I feel, it forces you to face your target much longer than you really want to, especially with something that can potentially melt/get cored very quickly. With MPLs, you're able to circle and serpentine, peak and prod, very quickly and very efficiently with a minimal "vulnerability" time. I hope that makes sense. This mech is much better suited to guerrilla type warfare than brawling, which I feel the ML/SRM build kind of forces you to do to a certain extent. I mean this is all just personal experience, and according to how I play/view the game which may be skewed. I find it hard to use those MLs to their full damage potential while running at max speed and ducking and diving in and out of combat, so to speak. I just feel that the play style MPLs promote synergizes well with the inherent downfalls of the mech, i.e. glass like qualities when you take full high alphas to the face. It allows you to play in a way that maximizes your survivability or survival potential, which ever way makes more sense.

I hope this isn't nonsensical rambling.