151 replies to this topic

[KinLuu]

With the right build the HM is a terror. It is basically a cross between a CTF-3D and an AS7-RS. And while it has not enough speed for effective horizontal+vertical poptarding, the JJs help a lot with positioning. And you can always do the simple vertical only poptarding.

It is hard to tell how the other Highlander variants will do, because they will suffer from the missile balancing in the same way the Atlas did. But I feel that the Highlander has the potential to become my new favorite, succeeding the Atlas.

[One Medic Army]

paladin yst, on 03 April 2013 - 08:48 PM, said:

Glad they added this junk mech to the game, easier for me to determine the outcome of the game in the very beginning, if my team gets 3 or more of these, I can save my effort and surf the web

Note how the side with 3 HM won, despite being down 2 and the other team having 4 assault mechs.

Edited by One Medic Army, 03 April 2013 - 09:08 PM.

[BoPop]

got my atlas D his module slot tonight killing these pink boomboxes!

was sweet.

aim for the legs on them as well as the core cuz all that jump jetting hurts 'em. seems pretty easy to blow off their arms and torsos too. not too much success with head-shots, but i'm a crappy aim.

[Bishop Steiner]

Kinda surprised they don't come with poodle skirts......(or and urbanmech instead of a poodle....)

[Brilig]

Bishop Steiner, on 03 April 2013 - 10:22 PM, said:

Kinda surprised they don't come with poodle skirts......(or and urbanmech instead of a poodle....)

I don't know if jump jets and a skirt would work well together. : )

[Kiiyor]

Lil Cthulhu, on 03 April 2013 - 04:19 PM, said:

two large lasers and two UAC5s, your move.

Hey! That's the same super secret load out as my bangin' double d Yagerbomb!

[Steinar Bergstol]

Bishop Steiner, on 03 April 2013 - 02:57 PM, said:

@Kurita Guard

Did yours come with matching panties to get in a twist?
(gotta love people who are OH SO SERIOUS about their stompy robots)

@ Shazarad
Pre. I haven't been on much the last 6 weeks, been diving in Mexico, so only have access thru my laptop and Starbucks WiFi. Haven't barely touched my primary account because of that. Been playing a new free account instead, using trial mechs. This morning I didn't have to share bandwidth with anyone and actually had double digit FPS..... and 2 of my whopping 4 kills today were Heavy Metals. In a trial Centurion.

And idk if I will get a Highlander bro. Thought I would like the Stalker, too slow. Never drive Atlases anymore. If I can't break 70 kph, don't really plan to drive it (with the exception being an Urbanmech). More power to anyone who does like em tho. At least as long as they got a sense if humor.

@Megasa..... Cheers! People who can laugh, especially at themselves are welcome anytime!

You don't like Stalkers? You don't drive Atlases? You don't like the Highlander? No assaults, Bishop? Are you sure you're Lyran?

Maybe you're actually a Drac at heart and yearn to pilot a Dragon. That must be it, right? Admit it to yourself, you dream of flying the dragon banner in your cockpit! It's okay, we Draconians understand the desire to be like us.

[Hayashi]

I might let you know after Friday's hofix. The blackscreening is making it impossible to have any opinion on it at the moment.

[John MatriX82]

The kill music is awesome and totally fun.. besides this no thanks I'll wait for vanilla ones, I'm more of a brawler, this hero looks to be better at poptarting given the high energized left arm.

With hero mech customization colors, and once I've enjoyed the vanilla ones.. oh well I'll see to get it if I see it in the offers

[One Medic Army]

John MatriX82, on 03 April 2013 - 11:52 PM, said:

The kill music is awesome and totally fun.. besides this no thanks I'll wait for vanilla ones, I'm more of a brawler, this hero looks to be better at poptarting given the high energized left arm.

With hero mech customization colors, and once I've enjoyed the vanilla ones.. oh well I'll see to get it if I see it in the offers

Actually, I imagine the normal variants will be favored for poptarting.
Torso energy is better for mounting PPCs, and arm energy is better for brawling.
Not to mention if any of the normal ones get more than 2 energy slots in the torso they'll immediately supplant the hero for poptarting just for being able to carry more than 2 PPCs.

[Mechrophilia]

I aim just right of center mass

Things get broke

[Ralgas]

4 matches, and i'm 8 for 2 with a 3-1 w/l. The fact i'm not sharing everyone's lag issues may be a factor though

Edit: realization, i haven't played assaults since they started tracking elo stats I'm starting all over with the newbs

Edited by Ralgas, 04 April 2013 - 12:46 AM.

[Malora Sidewinder]

Highlander seems very fine, actually. lot of versatility in terms of firepower, and therefore roles it can fill, but jumpjets weigh quite a bit, and the hardpoints are goofy.

they do have decent firepower, and the armor is, i believe, second only to the atlas... which means the thing can take a decent beating.

it may not brawl like a stalker or an atlas, but it does long range quite well, and if designed and piloted properly can definitely hold it's own in a brawl. i'd say better than the awesome, but not quite as good as the stalker or atlas.

all in all, 8/10 on this one, PGI. the mech itself may not be gamebreaking, but it does what it was designed to do extremely well.

[Ralgas]

Malora Sidewinder, on 04 April 2013 - 12:16 AM, said:

all in all, 8/10 on this one, PGI. the mech itself may not be gamebreaking, but it does what it was designed to do extremely well.

We'll see what the other variant bring 1st, still hoping we don't see the 3ppc/gauss poptart yet. I tossed the jj's and the xl for a 300 std and i'm rather happy as a long range target/sniper (although i haven't hit a hexappc/Llas boat yet)

[John MatriX82]

One Medic Army, on 03 April 2013 - 11:56 PM, said:

Actually, I imagine the normal variants will be favored for poptarting.
Torso energy is better for mounting PPCs, and arm energy is better for brawling.
Not to mention if any of the normal ones get more than 2 energy slots in the torso they'll immediately supplant the hero for poptarting just for being able to carry more than 2 PPCs.

Hmm the HM can already do 3 PPC and Gauss effectively, having those in the arms allows you to place shots a tad better than a hybrid solution with GR on the arm and ppcs in the RT like the vanilla ones will be.

Plus, on the hero when you plan to pop up you can risk to mount a XL engine, they'll all go for your CT. Brawl with a Heavy Metal and your LT goes off taking away 85% of your firepower.

A Vanilla 732 in brawl can potentially do GR, multiple SRMs (many more than the Rhonda can) and get a triple ML or LL+ dual ML for brawling, otputting DPSs unknown to any short range DDC and counting to the GR to shoot farther; brawler DDCs (meaning x3 ASRM6 + AC 20 + 2ML) can only dream for that.

[One Medic Army]

John MatriX82, on 04 April 2013 - 12:29 AM, said:

Hmm the HM can already do 3 PPC and Gauss effectively, having those in the arms allows you to place shots a tad better than a hybrid solution with GR on the arm and ppcs in the RT like the vanilla ones will be.

No it can't. It can't fit more than 2 PPCs due to lack of crit slots in the arm.
Not to mention that having the energy slots and gauss both on the right side on the normal highlanders gives better convergence.

Quote

Plus, on the hero when you plan to pop up you can risk to mount a XL engine, they'll all go for your CT. Brawl with a Heavy Metal and your LT goes off taking away 85% of your firepower.

I can guarantee you that in my heavy metal, brawling constantly, I rarely lose my LT, and anytime I do my CT is already minus armor and about to blow.

Quote

A Vanilla 732 in brawl can potentially do GR, multiple SRMs (many more than the Rhonda can) and get a triple ML or LL+ dual ML for brawling, otputting DPSs unknown to any short range DDC and counting to the GR to shoot farther; brawler DDCs (meaning x3 ASRM6 + AC 20 + 2ML) can only dream for that.

Other highlanders have minimum hardpoints of:
RA: 1 (usually ballistic, though one has a PPC) Expect 1-2 hardpoints
RT: 2 (medium lasers, the variant with 3ML isn't among those to be released). Expect 2-3 hardpoints
LT: 1 (LRM rack) Expect 1-2 hardpoints.
LA: 1 (SRM rack) Expect 1-2 hardpoints.
Being most generous I could possibly see it ending up with 2 ballistic, 3 energy, and 3 missile.
I expect us to see hardpoints more like 1B/3E/3M; 2B/2E/3M; 2B/3E/2M; 3B/2E/2M (or 7 total hardpoints, maybe 8)
The hero has 2 ballistic, 3 energy, and 2 missile.
It's really not that large of a difference, and SRM6s aren't the be-all end-all of brawling anymore.

Edited by One Medic Army, 04 April 2013 - 12:38 AM.

[Kiiyor]

John MatriX82, on 04 April 2013 - 12:29 AM, said:

Hmm the HM can already do 3 PPC and Gauss effectively, having those in the arms allows you to place shots a tad better than a hybrid solution with GR on the arm and ppcs in the RT like the vanilla ones will be.

Plus, on the hero when you plan to pop up you can risk to mount a XL engine, they'll all go for your CT. Brawl with a Heavy Metal and your LT goes off taking away 85% of your firepower.

A Vanilla 732 in brawl can potentially do GR, multiple SRMs (many more than the Rhonda can) and get a triple ML Ior LL+ dual ML for brawling, otputting DPSs unknown to any short range DDC and counting to the GR to shoot farther; brawler DDCs (meaning x3 ASRM6 + AC 20 + 2ML) can only dream for that.

You could totally get 3 ppcs in there, if it weren't for that pesky hand actuator. 3ll is pretty beastly though.

[John MatriX82]

One Medic Army, on 04 April 2013 - 12:37 AM, said:

No it can't. It can't fit more than 2 PPCs due to lack of crit slots in the arm.
Not to mention that having the energy slots and gauss both on the right side on the normal highlanders gives better convergence.

Kiiyor, on 04 April 2013 - 12:39 AM, said:

You could totally get 3 ppcs in there, if it weren't for that pesky hand actuator. 3ll is pretty beastly though.

Yep you're right, not owning it I thought it was possible but it can't be. And thinking about this later on it would have meant to have one arm with lower arm and the other without.. kinda hard yep.

One Medic Army, on 04 April 2013 - 12:37 AM, said:

I can guarantee you that in my heavy metal, brawling constantly, I rarely lose my LT, and anytime I do my CT is already minus armor and about to blow.

I have a good friend piloting one and he ensures the same, XL can be safer than other assaults (the CT is wider than that of the atlases), but still I've blown off many LTs when they came closer and often I've sported a nice XL in there. It's a matter of time, in few days most of the player base will learn the hitboxes better.

One Medic Army, on 04 April 2013 - 12:37 AM, said:

Other highlanders have minimum hardpoints of:
RA: 1 (usually ballistic, though one has a PPC) Expect 1-2 hardpoints
RT: 2 (medium lasers, the variant with 3ML isn't among those to be released). Expect 2-3 hardpoints
LT: 1 (LRM rack) Expect 1-2 hardpoints.
LA: 1 (SRM rack) Expect 1-2 hardpoints.
Being most generous I could possibly see it ending up with 2 ballistic, 3 energy, and 3 missile.
I expect us to see hardpoints more like 1B/3E/3M; 2B/2E/3M; 2B/3E/2M; 3B/2E/2M (or 7 total hardpoints, maybe 8)
The hero has 2 ballistic, 3 energy, and 2 missile.
It's really not that large of a difference, and SRM6s aren't the be-all end-all of brawling anymore.

I'd really like to know the variants list, many of the others look to potentially have 1/2B (RA), couple of E in the RT, and several missile hardpoints split in the LT and LA, therefore you can do a mix of several srms good for brawling.

Edited by John MatriX82, 04 April 2013 - 01:00 AM.

[Duckwalk]

Im enjoying mine. Thank you founders MC.

Gauss with 40 rounds and 3LLs while rocking a 1.40ish heat efficiency is pretty devastating when combined with max armor and 2-3 JJ (enough to shoot over teammates while focus firing, get enough height to spread damage to legs while brawling, minor poptarting for consistent damage down field while lacking direct line of sight)

Currently sitting at 26wins/5losses with 52kills/7deaths.

Damage per game is prolly between 600-900 a game (lower when I aim better as most kills are a result of the 42 point alpha on fast refresh available at both long and short range).

My take on it so far anyway. Hope that helps anyone sitting on the fence.

[Chavette]

One Medic Army, on 03 April 2013 - 09:05 PM, said:

Note how the side with 3 HM won, despite being down 2 and the other team having 4 assault mechs.

Haters gon' hate