31 replies to this topic

[Helbourne]

All of the previous posted weapons are good. When collisions come back a nice hip check knocknig them on their face, followed by a nice alpha strike to the back <KABOOM> no more light mech.

[Monsoon]

My favourites are SRM6, Pulse Lasers and LB-10X. They all can do a great job against light mechs.

[Elizander]

Chris Morris, on 18 March 2013 - 09:47 AM, said:

Just curious what you think. I'm new to mechs and MWO but I would like to build a mech that would do some damage on the Raven 3L swarms, or just specialize in countering lights for the fun of it.

I'd prefer to do it with a Cicada, Hunchback or Catapult (the mechs I have).

Thanks for you input!

Chris

Right now I'm having great success with a relatively fast mech with properly articulated arms or fast enough torso twist and arm-mounted weapons.

4 Medium Pulse Lasers or 2 Large Pulse Lasers or a mix of 2-1 allows me to leg lights in almost all situations that I have run into. My HBKs have 245 Standard Engines except for my 4SP and 4P which run with 260s. Any HBK will be okay with 2 LPL and a 245 with the rest going to heat sinks. Small Laser on the head can help alleviate heat while maintaining pressure.

Some people have been dissing my 4SP with nothing but 4 MPLs, but hey, I'm killing light mechs easily and even winning or close to winning some 2v1 fights or 1v1 fights that turn to 2v1. Sure SRMs are cool, but they are not pinpoint. Your heat is a limited resource so you dedicate it to weapons that can hit legs reliably. Each time you fire your SRMs randomly, you raise your heat, giving you less MPL shots during a fight when chasing down light mechs.

Some people will say AC/20 or similar weapons, but the server authenticated firing delay on my side makes it impossible to use reliably on light mechs.

[RussianWolf]

NRP, on 18 March 2013 - 10:35 AM, said:

5-6 PPC alpha. Never. Gets. Old.

Recently, I hit a Raven in the water on River City with a 5 PPC alpha from my AWS 8Q. He actually rag dolled through the air in a shower of sparks and destruction. I LOL'd hard on that one. It made up for the million times I've been swarmed killed by those little a-holes.

I'm with you. Learn to aim with a PPC and lights become no problem other than cluttering up your heat vision with their singed carcasses.

[Chris Morris]

Thanks so much for all the great feedback! Going to go with SRMs because my aim isn't the greatest. Thanks again for your help.

I will try streaks too, but so many ECM Ravens make me wary of those actually working (and they are my main target for this ).

Edited by Chris Morris, 18 March 2013 - 11:25 AM.

[Vasces Diablo]

Pulse lasers and streaks. (Preferably mounted on an ECM light)

[iminbagdad]

Large pulse lasers. By the time the little ******** realize they are screwed its too late. I build my mechs around hunting lights. Been using trebs with 325xl engine and 2x LPL to chase them. Depending on variant add or subtract lasers and srms

[lordlazarus]

skills

[bloodnor]

As a fanatical 3L pilot who has spend the past week in a dragon i have legged so many with my G-rifle

[LeMans]

Honestly, the majority of my light kills come on mechs equipped with SRM12 (SRM6 x 2) or greater. Let them establish their path (they often run the same circle 2-3 times) and then fire the SRMs where they are about to be or when they are traveling as close to straight at you or parallel to your vector as possible. Especially true if you're not the circled target, as twice in every circle they will be traveling straight (relative to you) for a brief time.

Another aspect of this: if your mech has bay doors, toggle them open ("/") at the start of the fight and they will stay open. This stops the firing delay experienced on mechs like Catapults, Stalkers, and the Cent A9. You lose the protection they afford(~15% dmg reduction to that location from the front), but the benefits can be great in firing accuracy.

In my bigger brawlers, I often drop them in a single shot when they come straight at me over a rise or similar (they didn't expect me) and/or are on a predictable path for 2-3 seconds.

Friendly mechs are the best counter (assuming they pay attention and help), and lasers work much better since state rewind. I also agree that a legging strategy works best for lasers, unless you are good enough to exploit weak armor points on the torso with accurate aiming. Along this line of reasoning, consider the Target Acquisition Module, the faster you know their weak points the faster you can potentially bring them down. (true for any mech) Of course, this requires locking the target, which a large amount of players still seem to avoid for some reason.
As always, YMMV...

Good luck!

Edited by LeMans, 18 March 2013 - 12:17 PM.

[Xmith]

Chris Morris, on 18 March 2013 - 09:47 AM, said:

Just curious what you think. I'm new to mechs and MWO but I would like to build a mech that would do some damage on the Raven 3L swarms, or just specialize in countering lights for the fun of it.

I'd prefer to do it with a Cicada, Hunchback or Catapult (the mechs I have).

Thanks for you input!

Chris

I don't pilot those mechs so I'm not familiar with the loadouts. Use ERPPC (not PPC) and streaks if you can.

[Rustik]

SRMs are super effective, but my target leading isn't all that great. My best weapon is lasers. Specifically lasers in the arms, because even an Atlas can track a light with its arms. Plenty of lights are relatively unfazed by this, but there are also plenty who run scared when they try to run circles around you and still get holes drilled in them.

Also: Don't expose your back. Backing up against a wall can keep them in front of you, though it's not guaranteed. Don't get caught all by yourself. Two assault mechs backed up against opposing walls can shoot a light wherever he goes.