18 replies to this topic

[Chryckan]

or dual UAC5 or AC10 or AC20.... You get the picture.

I like piloting medium mechs but I feel I should try my hand at some other weight classes. Plus I'd like to start building a deck I can use for faction warfare.

Therefore I'm looking for a heavy or assault mech to master next.

I have three criteria that the new mech need to fill for me to consider it.

1. It need to be heavy or assault IS mech .

Tbh, if I could take a clan mech this would be no brainer. I'd just take the EBJ and be done with it since it perfectly fits all other requirements I have on a new mech. However, since I'd like a deck that I can use in FW sometime in the future and all my medium and lights are IS it has to be an IS mech.

2. One variant should be able to rock dual ( or quad) ballistics with a calibre of AC5 or above.

I love my dual AC2 BJ-1. Plonking away with those cannons is really fun. I'd like for my next mech to allow me to do the same but with a bit more omph to the impacts. Cept no gauss. I suck at using gauss.

3. You should be able to make three completely different builds from the three variants needed to master it.

So basically the opposite of a Crab. I don't particularly have any preferences of types of builds (besides that one need rock ballistics and that I rather not have a lurm boat if it's avoidable). As long as I don't have to elite three carbon copies I'm happy.

3.5. I don't plan to spend real money so if a variant needs to be a hero or special mech to fulfil the above criteria I'm not interested. Also no Jaegers.


Now I'm hoping you people can give me some sound advice to help me pick one. Because the tricky bit isn't finding a mech matches these requirement but that there are at least 9 IS mechs that do.
At the moment at the top of the list are the warhammer, mauler, rifleman, orion and the mauler. But since I'm no expert on heavies and assaults I'm willing to bet there are things I've missed about these and other mechs I've overlooked.

Just realize one thing I should add.

It would be very helpful and interesting to know how XL friendly a chassi is and/or if its better to run STD or XL engines with a particular mech.

Edited by Chryckan, 22 July 2016 - 08:08 AM.

[TercieI]

Warhammer. One variant can run dual ballistics and the three CB variants all offer different options, all good to very good. And, once you fall in love with the chassis, you can buy a Black Widow and run quad ballistics.

[Spheroid]

Riflemen are very cheap ballistic platforms with good quirks. They are probably too fragile for serious faction play work but it is a suggestion. They have good build variety between variants.

The new smaller Dragon-1Ns have excellent ballistic cooldown quirks, best in the game still I think. The other Dragons don't really offer anything though.

On the assault side the Battlemasters can run dual arm ballistics quite well and they can run an extremely wide range of other builds. You should consider them.

Edited by Spheroid, 22 July 2016 - 07:49 AM.

[invernomuto]

Spheroid, on 22 July 2016 - 07:49 AM, said:

On the assault side the Battlemasters can run dual arm ballistics quite well and they can run an extremely wide range of other builds. You should consider them.

There is also the Mauler mx90 for quad ballistic but I do not know if it's still worth it since the latest quirk pass.

[Chryckan]

TercieI, on 22 July 2016 - 05:47 AM, said:

Warhammer. One variant can run dual ballistics and the three CB variants all offer different options, all good to very good. And, once you fall in love with the chassis, you can buy a Black Widow and run quad ballistics.

Yeah, the hammer is right at the top of my list. Curious, how is it with XL engines or is it better to run it with STD engines?

[TercieI]

Chryckan, on 22 July 2016 - 08:09 AM, said:

Yeah, the hammer is right at the top of my list. Curious, how is it with XL engines or is it better to run it with STD engines?

Mine all run/ran XLs without issue. IMO, it's almost always worth bigger engine/more guns these days. You spread damage enough better and hit enough harder that an XL actually makes you more survivable.

Note: I've only run the 6D since the embiggening and haven't played them since Tuesday's quirk changes.

Edited by TercieI, 22 July 2016 - 08:43 AM.

[SirSoggyDog]

I know ballistics are appealing, but if your talking about faction warfare it's better to think of ballistics as a complement to laser vomit and not as the other way around. Twin large caliber ballistic builds (AC/10s and above) are generally going to lack the level of alpha damage needed for CW.

That being said, as per every "rule" there are exceptions. Most people in my unit (NSPI) run 5xAC/5 maulers, and the mech puts out obscene amounts of damage in the proper circumstances. I've seen really good numbers from 3xUAC/5 JMG-DDs, but they dissolve like wet tissue paper when fired upon. The King Crab is a ballistic king, but 100 tons tends to be prohibitively heavy. Whammers and Catapult K2s can rock dual AC/10s, and while they're not ideal faction play mechs they can get the job done in less competitive games. The BNC-3E works pretty well with 3xAC/5 too.

As an aside: I strongly suggest not bringing an AC/2 BJ into faction play, as it requires far too much face-time and puts out far to little alpha damage.

[Chryckan]

My dual AC2 BJ is fun, especially when you make Atlases and dire whales dive back in cover even though their armour barely gets hurt. But it isn't exactly effective.

You have a point that I should consider what work in faction play too. So at least one variant should be viable. Though I'm not that concerned with getting the most meta or competitive mechs out there. I rather have something that's fun and I do well in than something the top the leader boards in tier 1.

[SirSoggyDog]

I agree entirely with the "laughter before leaderboards" concept. (I have an AC/2 BJ too, and it is as hilarious as it is ineffectual).

The fact that your open to using another variant of the chassis in FP opens up a lot more possibilities. The BLR is one of the best FP mechs and has a funny ballistic version. While not necessarily a ballistic boat, the AWS can PPC boat like no other, and it's PPCs are pretty functionally similar to high velocity AC/10s.

There's been a lot of good suggestions (I personally haven't used the Whammy, but I think it's a good bet) the only thing I really have to say is steer clear of the HGN, Victor, and Dragon, as their ballistic hardpoints generally do not merit their otherwise lackluster chassis.

[Chryckan]

Been looking at the BLR. Even tried it a bit as it is currently a trial mech. And I really like its aesthetics.
But there are sooo many different variants. And the only one with 3 ballistic hard points can't use all of them for calibres above AC2. (Looks really mental with 3 guns though.)

So at the moment I'm more into the Mauler or Banshee for no other reason that there are fewer of them.

[Omniseed]

TercieI, on 22 July 2016 - 08:41 AM, said:

Mine all run/ran XLs without issue. IMO, it's almost always worth bigger engine/more guns these days. You spread damage enough better and hit enough harder that an XL actually makes you more survivable.

Note: I've only run the 6D since the embiggening and haven't played them since Tuesday's quirk changes.

How about now that you've had some time to try them out again?

I just picked up the Warhammer pack to get that Stalker, I'm struggling to make them as gun-heavy as I'd like with the standard engines.

The Black Widow, on the other hand, feels perfect to play with, but I don't want it to turn out to be a glass potato.

[Old-dirty B]

Stalker misery with an AC20 and dual ppc's - pinpoint 40 alpha: http://mwo.smurfy-ne...25678615f2fce69

Edit1: overlooked you didn't want to spend real money - consider the stalker 3f with quad ppc's: http://mwo.smurfy-ne...8685cb6112e8689

Edit2: Consider the catapult k2, it allows dual ac5 and dual ppc (other variants are intersteting as well, such as the splatcat)

Edited by B3R3ND, 14 August 2016 - 03:49 AM.

[Steel Raven]

Marauder, 3R can rock 3X AC/5, 2X LB-10X or Ultra AC/5s, 5M like wise can sport duel ACs.

Warhammer can also back Duel AC though many builds require a XL engine

Got the Banshee 3E on a whim, the 3X AC/5 build is fun (though slow as hell) but the Mauler and King Crab are much more purpose built for Dakka,

[Count Zero 74]

Shadowhawk 2H, that sweet 25% ballistic cooldown quirk

[Neput Z34]

First of all, lets not dismiss Ballistics / DPS mechs out of FP. They have their uses on hot maps , Sulferous and Vertic for example.

Here are some other variants that people have not mentioned:


Here is a lesser know Shasowhawk SHD-5M variant with those sweet, albeit specific UAC-5 quirks.

Wolverine WVR-6R with 2 AC5s is better know as "baby Dragon N1"

The "standard bearer" for the UAC boats aka Jagger JM6-DD

Also a long forgotten Cataphract CTF-3D or CTF-4X are capable of serious "Dakka" but a hampered by low slung arms.

[Omniseed]

I rock a 4xAC/2 Jagermech and Warhammer sometimes,either are fun enough, but maybe better as dual AC/5/10/UAC/5 builds.

The Jager is actually really fun to run four little cannon on.

[Kael Posavatz]

Mauler

in reverse order

3) completely different builds. the Mauler gives you energy-centric (MAL-2P), ballistic centric (MAL-90X if you want to run five AC-5, otherwise the MAL-1R), and missile-centric (MAL-2P) systems.

2) Quad ballistics, AC-5 or better.The Warhammer is a good choice, but the only one that does quad ballistics well is the Widow (if real money isn't a problem, you may want to look here). The Cataphract is okay, but most of the good builds look the same, and the 4X mounts its ballistics very low so this is a wash. King Crab is a possibility, but most of the builds either look the same or aren't very good, also the Mauler is more tonnage-friendly for FW.

If you are willing to compromise on the ballistics some, you might look at the Banshee of which there are many good-to-great builds. I'd steer clear of the Victor/Highlanders at the moment, but one of the Battlemasters has three ballistics in an arm if you want to dakka trip-AC2 and can do the corner-peek and torso-twist effectively.

2.5) Sorry to hear that you don't like the Jaegers, they've been my go-to IS ballistic-centric mech for several years now and I've always found them fun. I would recommend avoiding the Riflemen. It is hard to really ballistic-boat with them, and in many ways they are underperforming Jaegers.

1) Mauler is an Assault mech so...

[ExplodedZombie]

Chryckan, on 23 July 2016 - 08:55 AM, said:

Been looking at the BLR. Even tried it a bit as it is currently a trial mech. And I really like its aesthetics.
But there are sooo many different variants. And the only one with 3 ballistic hard points can't use all of them for calibres above AC2. (Looks really mental with 3 guns though.)

So at the moment I'm more into the Mauler or Banshee for no other reason that there are fewer of them.

I'm fairly certain I used to run the 3-ballistic BLR with an 2-AC5, AC2. It was pretty good but way too ammo dependent.

[Kaptain]

Cataphracts. The jumping one with twin ballistics is fun. There is an ECM variant, a mask variant and one that can mount 5 lasers and a ballistic. Lots of variety there.

Maulers are also a great support platform. Twin Ultras, Twin LRM10s and 6 medium lasers is fun. Or quad AC5s and some lasers.

Edited by Kaptain, 29 August 2016 - 09:25 AM.