419 replies to this topic

[Flapdrol]

The splatcat is probably the most dangerous heavy mech, might even be the most dangerous mech in all the classes.

It's probably OP but they're not perfect, they run hot as hell for one. I wouldn't mind a nerf to them though (torso twist or speed or something, maybe even to srm's or ammo/ton or something) but there are more pressing balance issues in pug games, in 8 mans gamebalance is never a problem because every team will be exploiting every advantage they can get.

[lordlazarus]

team work focused fire and mobility the three things you need to kill them quickly . cmon apart from a hunchies shoulder theres no bigger target in the game than kitt's ear holes

[Irvine]

splatcats are only scary if they are sneaky...in the open somehow the ears go poof!

Oh and I remember when normal SRMs were called "skilled" weapons.

[Erasus Magnus]

DocBach, on 25 February 2013 - 12:02 PM, said:

it's actually a lot harder than it looks.... you have to aim and deal with randomized missile spread, work with your team to not get singled out, manage heat and ammo. also deal with long range guys you can't touch out past 270 meters EXACTLY

erm..no. sorry. splatcats are the most easy to use and get kills with weapon system i have tried yet, despite of the ssrm cat.
to a point that i decided to not play them anymore.
put 4 srm6 and 2srm4 in it, put the biggest engine in it, 6 tons of ammo and wreak havoc! with this built you do not overheat so much, yet you have to stick with one big buddy you can hide behind. even in pugs this works like a charm because you hide behind things and most of the games develop into relentless brawls anways, so you just have to be a little patient.
and with a splacat running 86kph, there is no escape, unless you are a 151kph light.

the biggest dangers to me when i was in my a1, were lights (especially the 3l...gosh i hate 3ls so much!) and pug allies taunting the enemies into a long range slugfest in the open on alpine peaks.

[Suki]

lordlazarus, on 25 February 2013 - 01:22 PM, said:

team work focused fire and mobility the three things you need to kill them quickly . cmon apart from a hunchies shoulder theres no bigger target in the game than kitt's ear holes

the *** of my buddies D-DC is really big too. I'm his winman and getting behind him always wonder - damn, what a huge..... behind!!!!

[Suki]

Irvine, on 25 February 2013 - 01:25 PM, said:

splatcats are only scary if they are sneaky...in the open somehow the ears go poof!

Oh and I remember when normal SRMs were called "skilled" weapons.

it was before streak nerf, when streakecatas killed them all. After almost all streakcatas became splatcatas the whining threads became tripple the size of the streak ones.

[Zeh]

I'm not the best MWO player, but I'm definitely in the top 20% or so, (74% WR), and I've only ragequit twice in this game. After dying to a splatcat, and after dying to a splatcat.

The second time was unavoidable too. In a Stalker, two mechs came up behind with ECM, engaged two straggling PUGs. I turned to help the PUGs who cried for help but didn't mention it was a splatcat, and they were dead before I could target anything. (They were also out of visual, with the boat in the way).

Once I had visuals, the splatcat and his ECM raven friend was ~350m away and moving towards me at 1.5x my max speed. I managed to strip the armor and ALMOST take off one ear before both my side torsos went.

So there were several ways I could have survived/won:

1. If the PUGs had stayed with the group.
2. If the PUGs identified the threat (They still would have died, but I probably would have ran to our group instead of helping)
3. It was ANYTHING but a splatcat. I would be able to kill a wounded Atlas + wounded Raven. Hell, at full health with my loadout, I'm confident I can kill any two non-cheese mechs that are notably damaged.

BUT, because it was a splatcat, unless I had perfect aim, I was dead. If I had PERFECT aim and didn't miss ANYTHING (I did miss a couple shots while trying not to die immediately), I might have gotten an entire side torso before I died. Not a chance I could have gotten both ears or his CT.

Just sayin'... Splatcats make ANYONE better than the best brawlers.

[Sedant]

Garfuncle, on 25 February 2013 - 11:24 AM, said:

The problem with cheese, primarily the splatcat, is that it kills the fun of the game. Forget good aim, concentrating fire with teammates, managing laser and ballistic, heat and ammo...

Nope! Just grab a 'Cat, fill it to the brim with SRMs and kill everything but assaults in two salvos. The problem isn't even with these builds getting multiple kills. Even if they trade kills, it still has a broader effect. The problem is being on the receiving side and being taken taken out near instantly to something you can't possibly defend yourself from on most maps before being gibbed. This is simply not fun. It's frustrating, grating, and utterly annoying. You can desperatly alpha strike, torso twist, and run for cover, but the mindless, fun-ripping Splatcat will simply kamakaze right into you and strip off armor and weapons in one move.

I like Mech Warrior due to the prolonged battle, squeezing every amount of skill, aim, and armor from your mech before going down. This is NOT Call of Duty where can die instantly from a tiny amount of fire. Splatcats don't feel like Mechwarrior. They don't feel right to fight, kill, be killed by, or even be used in the game. It's just not fun. And that's what we have here...

Splatcats should be renamed: "Killed the Fun in MWO Cats."

Also people on this forum are apparently incapable of reading comprehension. It's not about killing, being killed by them. It's about how their playstyle is rubbish game design. Read.

Your crying bloody murder about splatcats, what about 5 SRM6, 3LLAS, 2MLAS Stalker 5M builds, that do considerably more damage and can one shot an Awesome. What about those? You say you like squeezing every ounce of skill out of the games, what about the skill it takes to understand a A1 is headed your way and you need to reposition or your gonna have a headache. Splatcats are only annoying if you let them be, stick with friendlies engage them where everyone's gonna be able to bring them down quickly and keep outta they're 80-125m sweet spot. If your off doing a lone commando act by yourself and run into one then its usually not ending well for you.

[Caviel]

Suki, on 25 February 2013 - 01:07 PM, said:

It can run double speed of atlas ore stalker. Better kill it first than chase all the map after.

No Catapult can move 120 kph, sorry.

Irvine, on 25 February 2013 - 01:25 PM, said:

splatcats are only scary if they are sneaky...in the open somehow the ears go poof!

So very much this. The greatest weakness of the Splatcat is that they are a one-trick pony with the max 270m range on their launchers. Very effective up close, zero effect (Other than target relaying) from a distance. Take the ears off, or hit the giant cockpit hitbox and the problem goes away. Fast firing ballistics rattle the pilot around enough that they can't shoot straight within range. Even better with the builds that strip armor off the legs, always worth a quick test to see if it's a Splatcat on toothpicks.

Might be more OP in the general PUG environment when you can't coordinate at least one or two mechs to have a loadout to counter them...

[Tasluk]

Garfuncle, on 25 February 2013 - 11:24 AM, said:

The problem with cheese, primarily the splatcat, is that it kills the fun of the game. Forget good aim, concentrating fire with teammates, managing laser and ballistic, heat and ammo...

Nope! Just grab a 'Cat, fill it to the brim with SRMs and kill everything but assaults in two salvos. The problem isn't even with these builds getting multiple kills. Even if they trade kills, it still has a broader effect. The problem is being on the receiving side and being taken taken out near instantly to something you can't possibly defend yourself from on most maps before being gibbed. This is simply not fun. It's frustrating, grating, and utterly annoying. You can desperatly alpha strike, torso twist, and run for cover, but the mindless, fun-ripping Splatcat will simply kamakaze right into you and strip off armor and weapons in one move.

I like Mech Warrior due to the prolonged battle, squeezing every amount of skill, aim, and armor from your mech before going down. This is NOT Call of Duty where can die instantly from a tiny amount of fire. Splatcats don't feel like Mechwarrior. They don't feel right to fight, kill, be killed by, or even be used in the game. It's just not fun. And that's what we have here...

Splatcats should be renamed: "Killed the Fun in MWO Cats."

Also people on this forum are apparently incapable of reading comprehension. It's not about killing, being killed by them. It's about how their playstyle is rubbish game design. Read.

If they add a strategic element to the game such as planetary bids of conquest with a limited number of resupplies between drops then you would quickly see these mechs die out as they will quickly run out of ammo.

but since thats not likely to happen....

[Suki]

Caviel, on 25 February 2013 - 01:42 PM, said:

No Catapult can move 120 kph, sorry.

omg You're Smart one. Most Atlases I see are 36-50km/h. Good splat cata is 78-83km/h. Try Your calculator.

[silentD11]

Tasluk, on 25 February 2013 - 01:49 PM, said:

If they add a strategic element to the game such as planetary bids of conquest with a limited number of resupplies between drops then you would quickly see these mechs die out as they will quickly run out of ammo.

but since thats not likely to happen....

We actually did have repair/rearm costs at one point. They went away, but it's not out of the question they could come back.

[Mechteric]

I'm going to guess that at some point the Catapult will get its "quirk" pass like we got for the Centurion and Awesome already. I'm hoping they'll seriously consider bringing in its torso twist angle by a good margin, that would at least make it less effective at brawling since the mech wasn't really designed for that anyway. It doesn't need to be as low as the Stalker, but at least in that direction.

Edited by CapperDeluxe, 25 February 2013 - 01:55 PM.

[Dagger6T6]

actually I actively seek out SRM A1s... and I call the target to the rest of the team so they can focus fire. I generally go after other Catapults I see anyways, just because I want spare parts for my own Catapult, but especially A1s since they seem to be giving all the C4 Catapults a bad wrap.

I think every so called "cheese build" has a counter of some sort, or some way tactically that it can be dealt with, so sounds like it's still fun to me.

[Khobai]

Quote

So very much this. The greatest weakness of the Splatcat is that they are a one-trick pony with the max 270m range on their launchers

Yeah but on the vast majority of maps, most fighting takes place at 270m or less. So its not really a weakness. Alpine is the only real map were range on weapons truly matters.

[Franchi]

Dagger6T6, on 25 February 2013 - 01:54 PM, said:

actually I actively seek out SRM A1s... and I call the target to the rest of the team so they can focus fire. I generally go after other Catapults I see anyways, just because I want spare parts for my own Catapult, but especially A1s since they seem to be giving all the C4 Catapults a bad wrap.

I think every so called "cheese build" has a counter of some sort, or some way tactically that it can be dealt with, so sounds like it's still fun to me.

I play a C4, when i get bored of the A1, but seriously people cried about LRM's then about streaks now its SRM's I think they just need to L2P.

[Grimlox]

I think the damage per ton on SRM's is too high. This leads to A1's being able to pack a lot of firepower into their heavy frame and still have enough tonnage leftover for speed that is too high.

The Alpine map is a great start and as long as more maps start moving that direction then I think that will help balance out the A1's effectiveness.

What really annoys me though is how easy it is to top the charts by using an A1 even if you don't get any kills. The damage is really easy to come by in SRM's and it inflates the scores of the player IMO. Try getting that kind of damage with anything other than missiles. You need to work your butt off for a 1K+ match with no SRM's or LRM's.

[TheGunBunny]

Daggett, on 25 February 2013 - 01:19 PM, said:

As a driver of a mastered SplatCat with over 200K excess XP i would like to add a few things:

First, driving one is by far no easy mode. Sure if you suicide rush into the enemy you will most probably kill one or maybe even two of them before they focus you down. That's strong but not yet OP, i do more damage with any hunchback than those guys.

Please name a mech that can rush into the enemy and kill one or two mech before they are destroyed. Your arguement is useless after that statement...

[Khobai]

I feel SRM damage needs to be lowered and their range needs to be increased.

SRMs are the only weapon in MWO that didn't get their tabletop range increased. Even LRMs get to shoot 1000m instead of the 630m they should shoot. All energy weapons get double range. Ballistics get triple range.

Edited by Khobai, 25 February 2013 - 02:10 PM.

[GuardDogg]

Those Cats have missle racks. What else can you do with em?