419 replies to this topic

[Pihb]

Serapth, on 25 February 2013 - 11:44 AM, said:

NERF ECM so it only works in a 200m bubble and the worlds a better place.

Then these same people would be back here complaining about LRM's.

[Paula Fry]

scumbag Steves Mech of choise........

[Leimrey]

PGI said that it's fair and balanced, therefore it is. Just shoot the ears, brah.

[SpartanFiredog317]

it is not the Splatcat, Streakcat, Guasscat, or Lazercat.... it is just the Catapult. No other Mech in the game has the combination of speed, hardpoints, and torsotwist.... that make boating weapons so powerful. The closest would be the Stalker, and its unbelievably slow and can only twist a fraction of what a Catapult can. ....What they need to do is crackdown on the engine rating of all catapults, and reduce the twist by about half..... or put in more ballistic mechs with good tonnage and hardpoints.... if I could fit 2 AC 20s or 4x UAC5's on any of my cataphracts... no 'Cat would I fear.

[Caviel]

Suki, on 25 February 2013 - 01:50 PM, said:

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

Must be playing with new Atlas pilots. Most brawling Atlases I see go 60-64 kph because they run 325-350 rated engines and have Speed Tweak unlocked. Even with your example that's 72-100kph and still an incorrect exaggeration, would you like to borrow my calculator?

Khobai, on 25 February 2013 - 01:58 PM, said:

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.

All depends on your position in the furball too. As more large scale maps like Alpine are released, the problem will sort itself out as splatcats become less viable/effective on 50% of the maps.

[Daggett]

TheGunBunny, on 25 February 2013 - 02:08 PM, said:

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...

The point is not that there are no mechs that are equally strong as a splatcat in close-combat.

The Splatcat is the most dangerous close-combat mech. But this alone does not make it OP. For instance there is nothing more dangerous than an LRM boat or 6PPC stalker when you are in the open. The latter one even kills you when simply peeking over a ridge.

In their optimum range, they as well as the splatcat are kings and there is no problem with mechs that excel in one area.

Those mechs are highly specialized and have severe weaknesses. The splatcat has it's huge center torso everyone is firing at and even bigger arms. The PPC Stalker is dead close range because of minimum range.

This being said other less specialized mechs will also kill 1-2 guys before they go down. They simply do not need to get that close and risk being focused down.

Give me a huchback-4P/4SP or any stalker. I will deal the same (and often more) damage with it than the average splatcat pilot.
The only difference is that the splatcat kills so fast that it feels frustrating for the killed guy. But it feels equally frustrating to get 1-shotted in your XL-Side torso by the 6PPC Stalker.

The point is this:
Sure it is more easy to achieve a kill with the splatcat than it is with most other mechs. BUT because you have to go very close you take a much higher risk to get focused.
In my more versatile builds i need more time to kill someone. But i can do it from distance and in cover which protects me way longer than the usual splatcat. So i live much longer and have a sustained damage output which brings me in the same regions as a splatcat. It simply takes longer

So being able to one-shot someone alone does not make the splatcat OP.

In my opinion the problem on the splatcat is that it is too fast and agile. Imagine it could only run 60 kph and has less torso twist/speed, then suddendly all mediums have a chance to escape while the big armored heavies and Assaults do have quite a good chance to kill it before they die themselves. And it would limit the splatcats ability to sneak behind other mechs.

But apart from that there is no problem that a fragile burst-mech with serious damage like the splatcat exists. What probably simply lacks is a bit more weakness.

Oh, and i also have an answer to your initial question.
Ever played a Cataphract-4X with 4xAC5 or 2xAC5 + 2xUAC5?
They core everything within seconds but can also do so from quite a distance.

If you want to and are able to aim a bit you can kill someone in close combat nearly as fast as the splatcat.
I even killed several splatcats with this baby. It is probably the second best burst-damage dealer.
The guys i see driving this as well as myself rarely die without killing 1-3 mechs beforehand.

But what prevents him to be recognized as equally dangerous as the splatcat is is low speed and agility.
Make it faster and it will probably seed the same fear as the splattapult...

Edited by Daggett, 25 February 2013 - 02:57 PM.

[ownka]

For the longest time, I whined and whined and whined about the balance of things like the splatcat and 6 ppc stalker, ECM in general ETC. Then, I decided the most effective way to flood the forums with people complaining about something, is to be part of the problem. If the problem gets bad enough, PGI will have to fix it. I am now the happy owner of a splatcat and a raven 3L. They are boringly easy to win in.

However, half the problem with splatcats is not the mech, it is the fact that our maps are tiny. Our engagement distances are tiny. Our ability to coordinate with teammates ingame is nonexistant. The splatcat is not the problem, it is the natural result of other mistakes this game has made. If it wasn't the splatcat, it would just be the srm stalker. If it wasn't that it would be the brawling DDC. On and on. The mech isnt unbalanced, the game itself is.

Edited by ownka, 25 February 2013 - 03:00 PM.

[The Cheese]

Bhael Fire, on 25 February 2013 - 11:35 AM, said:

You'd think people would learn to stay further than 50 meters from them at all times.

Which would be easy if they weren't so fast. Or tough. And it would probably help if they couldn't fly.

The "stay away from them" argument is probably the worst one people can throw regarding this particular gripe, considering how all of the maps bar one have multiple ways of getting right up in people's faces without being exposed to long range fire.

Granted, we'll see less of them if we get more big open maps. Splatapults on Alpine are hilariously gimped.

[batesman]

Cairbre, on 25 February 2013 - 11:32 AM, said:

This too, is Battletech. Believe it or not, the Splatcat is not the worst case scenario- behold!

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/SRM_Carrier

60 SRMs, in a tiny little truck. It could hide behind have a building, or in a small trench, and disintegrate its target.

I just like that you used "behold" in a post.

[Larth]

Hardest part about the splat cat is knowing how to get in close. I dislike using an Atlas or another assault to walk me to the enemy, soooo sllooooowww. However, with no ecm, nobody to hide behind, I still manage to sneak up many a mech. Even going so far as to walk up and park my mech's nose on their rear bumper (so I can read the bumper sticker without my glasses that says "If you can read this...."). Sometimes the trick is running from cover to cover and powering down for a couple seconds, other times it's just made up on the fly. Second hardest part is getting to that one mech without exposing yourself to other mechs. Sometimes I feel like a leopard, tiger, lion or something stalking. Mech torso twists, duck behind cover and power down. Mech looks away, power up and sneak sneak sneak. Normallty lose my ears after I've engaged. Running beagle and the sensor module helps if they have ecm. Funniest damn thing when you sneak up on a DDC Atlas...and they get all surprised. I can just imagine them saying, "I have ecm, how the heck did a Catapult sneak up on me." Oh and I've been running this build since about September.

As for the splatcat, I'm not a long range fan. In most battletech board games, I usually replace the lrms with srms (no matter the variant). The kitty I play is semi based off of that. I figured I played the srm6 version long enough, so I modified mine to the TT version I use: 4xSRM4+artemis and 2xMedium Lasers. Plus the Beagle, cuz on a heavy woods/forest map, Beagle is really nice. Been contemplating about shaving 4 tons off somehow and the jump jets to my MWO version. Hmmm maybe my version doesn't count as a splatcat. Oh just imagine if we had mrm's....

[The Warspite]

If you own a Cat-A1, why wouldn't you fit it out with SRMs?

I have one and it's not my best mech, it's actually one of my worst. Just shoot the cockpit from range (if you can) and he'll drop fast. Two alpha's from a Death's Knell will drop a Catapult if it hits the head.

[Davers]

What to do with the poor A1? It only has missile slots. If you take LRMs you get called a noob for using no skill weapons. If you use streaks you get called a no skilled noob by everything without ECM, and anything with ECM cackles madly while killing you. Use SRMs and you are using a cheese build and everyone hates you. Run a mixed load out and you won't be able to compete with all the other specialized builds out there (and most people do specialize their mech).

Everyone is just mad they can't put 6 SRM6 on their Atlases.

[DocBach]

I saw a build last night that had 3 LRM-15s and 3 SRM-6's. I don't know how they did it, but it was pretty brutal.

[Xeanth]

Bhael Fire, on 25 February 2013 - 11:35 AM, said:

God I wish people would stop whining about splats. Seriously.

You'd think people would learn to stay further than 50 meters from them at all times.

And yet, I have seen you post comments whining about 3L ravens and ECM...lol

Edited by Xeanth, 25 February 2013 - 03:33 PM.

[Kiiyor]

I prefer rolling in a stalker with 5 six packs and 5 mlas. Guilty pleasure indeed.

[Franchi]

So I decided to check if I was just good cause of the A1, drooped in a Centurion,



I like how it never occurs to you QQers that you are getting outplayed.

Edited by Franchi, 25 February 2013 - 03:49 PM.

[Davers]

Franchi, on 25 February 2013 - 03:48 PM, said:

So I decided to check if I was just good cause of the A1, drooped in a Centurion,



I like how it never occurs to you QQers that you are getting outplayed.

Not sure how you piloting a mech with 3 SRM6 and doing well means that 6 SRM6 is balanced. Seems you are trying to make a point that SRMs are broken.

Pretty sure no one saves screenshots from the matches they sucked in.

[Peg Leg Pete]

My big issue with them is that because of ECM, people don't even look and just focus fire my poor C1 directly into the ground.

[Davers]

Peg Leg Pete, on 25 February 2013 - 04:04 PM, said:

My big issue with them is that because of ECM, people don't even look and just focus fire my poor C1 directly into the ground.

People should look for the Catapult's doors. Open=SRMs, closed=LRMs/streaks.

[Royalewithcheese]

Davers, on 25 February 2013 - 03:25 PM, said:

Everyone is just mad they can't put 6 SRM6 on their Atlases.

I just see it as my atlas being half a splatcat and half a AC20pult