24 replies to this topic

[ropanock]

Today i found out i could jam two AC/10's on my Cataphract 4X and i'm wondering should i switch or stay with my four AC/2's?

[Mavairo]

I like AC10s a whooole lot more than AC2. Everyone hypes up how ''high'' ac2 dps is. But it's honestly Crap. On Pure Paper, sure 4 AC2s will do the most dps out of everything in the game (barely over 4 seconds. 32 damage vs 2 guass shots at 30) The thing is, that's assuming every round hits the exact same point of armor, every time, and that you have a full 4 seconds worth of cycling time.

Usually you don't.

AC10 is alot more bursty and a whole load more reliable than AC2s are.

[Puppeteerxerxes]

I won't get into overanalyzing - I haven't had time to DPS research. I bought a Yen-lo, have tried ac 20, gauss and now ac10. I get twice as many kills with it, it does great damage, and recycles fast enough that if you spot a critical area (red ct etc.) you can get it within a second. I just can't seem to do justice to ac2's. Also the 10s don't seem to overheat as much.

[PANZERBUNNY]

Eventually learn how to use the AC 2's.

You aren't going toe to toe with other mechs, but if you're smart you can panic your opponents with mass fire and hamper their movements, divert their advances.

You can blunt advances with all that dakka.

Experiment with you have extra resources to try out bizarre finesse builds.

[Flying Blind]

do not rely on something that is out of your control, such as your opponent panicking. that may work most of the time but as soon as you get an opponent who is confident enough to step out, shoot you and twist around to spread your shots before firing again you are in trouble. the longer there are people playing the game the greater chances are people will figure it out or figure out some other and more effective technique and use that on you. trust your own actions and build your mech to maximize them.

get the AC10s (or 4 AC 5s if you want the same alpha strike more often)

[Wizard Steve]

I love all the large calibre auto-cannons, the AC/20, the AC/10 and the LB 10-X AC. I don't tend to use the smaller calibre ones at all but that's just because they don't suit my play style.

Suck it and see.

[MadPanda]

ropanock, on 07 December 2012 - 08:02 PM, said:

Today i found out i could jam two AC/10's on my Cataphract 4X and i'm wondering should i switch or stay with my four AC/2's?

I'll let you on a secret, you can mount two gauss rifles on the 4X. Mind blown? But don't tell anyone! Shshhhh....

[Socket7]

I find it hard to lead properly when firing an AC10. The AC-2 is much easier to hit your target with because of less need to lead, but I find myself scoring hit after hit on a person and they just don't get hurt that much.

I've got 2 UAC5s in my Hunchback, and they seem to be a good compromise between the ease of aiming that the AC-2 has, and the brute force of the AC-10. The UAC-5 can actually do MORE damage over time then an AC-10. The UAC-5 can get 2 single shots off in the time it takes the AC-10 to fire once, and if you're lucky, you can get off as many as 4 (but you stand a 25% chance of a jam on shots taken while the UAC-5 is in cooldown)

Showing my work.
AC-10 Damage= 10 Cooldown= 2.5 DPS= 4.00
UAC-5 Damage= 5 Cooldown= 1.1 DPS=4.55 (This does NOT account for double tapping.)

Even when single tapping, the UAC-5 does more DPS, weighs less, generates less heat, takes up fewer critical slots, has better range, higher projectile speed, and you get more ammo per ton. On top of all that, you can supersize your damage for the low price of a 25% chance of jamming.

UAC-5. Whats not to love?

Edited by Socket7, 08 December 2012 - 12:31 AM.

[Stingz]

MadPanda, on 07 December 2012 - 11:57 PM, said:

I'll let you on a secret, you can mount two gauss rifles on the 4X. Mind blown? But don't tell anyone! Shshhhh....

Now that Gauss explodes horribly, the Stock -4x build is ok with some changes.

[Loqgar]

AC/10 has become one of my favorite weapons these days, definitely worth giving a try.

[25TR0NK4U]

Just switch to the two AC10s... Mavairo is right and just something to think about: If you hit your ac10s once you deal 20 damage to ONE spot. But if you shoot 3 times with your ac2s you will certainly hit different spots and won't be able to take your enemy down.

[Jaroth Corbett]

Keep in mind that the a low number means higher range at the cost of lower damage. An AC2 is NOT a brawling weapon. Not even 4 AC2s. You take a mech with 4 AC2s alone against someone with an AC20 & let them get in range & see what happens. Sure you can fire off a lot of shots quickly, but for the most, you will be rocking them. A disciplined player will gut you with 2 or 3 good AC20 shots.

If you mount AC2s, you should be a harasser staying well back on the battlefield plugging away at engaged/distracted, shutdown or LRM boat mechs.

[Ryebear]

A big thing to consider is how critical hits work. Each item has 10 hp total. Each critical slot it takes in a location is another chance that item will be hit.

Crits are like 25% chance to do 1x weapon damage to item, 14% chance to do 2x weapon damage to item, or 3% chance to do 3x weapon damage to item as long as the location you are hitting has no armor left.

With AC/10 if you hit a location without armor, that means you have a 42% chance to destroy a component. With an AC/5 that chance drops to 17% with AC/2 you will need to score several crits to break anything.

That said, taking up 1 critical spot, an AC/2 almost never gets destroyed whereas an AC/10 with 7? slots is much more likely to get destroyed.

[Wrenchfarm]

Buddy of mine keeps 2 AC10s and 4 MLAS on his Phract and consistently scores 400+ damage a round with it. Very cool weapons.

[Ryft]

Jaroth Winson, on 08 December 2012 - 11:14 AM, said:

Keep in mind that the a low number means higher range at the cost of lower damage. An AC2 is NOT a brawling weapon. Not even 4 AC2s. You take a mech with 4 AC2s alone against someone with an AC20 & let them get in range & see what happens. Sure you can fire off a lot of shots quickly, but for the most, you will be rocking them. A disciplined player will gut you with 2 or 3 good AC20 shots.

If you mount AC2s, you should be a harasser staying well back on the battlefield plugging away at engaged/distracted, shutdown or LRM boat mechs.

How do you figure?

Max DPS on a single AC2 is 4, which is actually the same as an AC10. An AC20 scores a 5 DPS. That means max DPS on *4* AC2 is 16, which is considerable.

If all that shaking causes you to miss even one AC20 shot, your DPS just fell through the floor. The AC20 is great if you can get the drop on someone and take them out with your first shot or two, but a quad AC2 setup can put a hurting on someone just the same. You just have to use it almost like a cross between an AC and a laser, with consistent targeting to one mech location.

On top of that, you need to either remove additional limbs or score separate criticals to take out each AC2 that a mech might mount, which is a nice buffer for someone in a brawl that likes to use multiple ballistics.

[Stingz]

Ryft, on 08 December 2012 - 06:48 PM, said:

If all that shaking causes you to miss even one AC20 shot, your DPS just fell through the floor.

Lock-on, aim at center of red box, that's how I figured out how to ignore shake. The screen shakes, your aim doesn't.

The AC/20 user can make use of cover, and speed. AC/2 needs sustained fire to keep DPS up.

Edited by Stingz, 09 December 2012 - 07:18 PM.

[Pkunk]

I don't really think one's a lot better than the other. They play a bit differently. I have a 4X with quad ac/2's, and a 3D with 2ac/10. I tend to play the 4X a bit more agressive since I don't need to worry as much about missing shots. On both mechs I get similar scores.

I do feel that dual ac/10 scares people a bit faster then ac/2's.

[ropanock]

So far i like using dual AC/10's but is there any reason to use a LB 10-X AC?

[merz]

ropanock, on 09 December 2012 - 02:47 PM, said:

but is there any reason to use a LB 10-X AC?

well, yes and no.. LBX is a great weapon for a close support mech that can be utterly devastating at close range against an already-damaged opponent, particularly if you are agile and don't have the luxury of most precise aim. the same 10 damage is spread out in flechettes that can multiply the chance of a critical hit.. But a single lbx10 is quite terrible against armour.. the only real, viable brawler sort of setup i've seen that can utilise this weapon well is a 3xlbx10 ilya m. ..unfortunately i haven't had much experience with it since i'm not yet in the habit of paying real money for stuff in games.

[LordDante]

i just love the ac/20 on my Wang
20 points of damage with pinpoint acuracy

Flank kill win ... easy !