8 replies to this topic

[Mazzyplz]

Preamble:

i have been playing the game since the stalker was brand new, which seems like a while ago. i quickly mastered a bunch of awesome models and made progress on these builds for some time until i felt there was nothing to improve upon. some are expensive, some are cheap; but i'll just lay out some design philosophies that were included here:

-multiple range weapons
-no LRM
-no SSRM
-no Locks, of any kind.
-use all the hardpoints
-at least 1 ER weapon in each build (multirange!)
-try not to shave too much off the legs!
-heat efficiency around 1.0 and whereabouts is usually good
(depending on the grouping and individual weapons)
-maximize damage per heat to the razors edge.

just how i like to build and play my mechs, with good results nonetheless. the screen caps of boards were all taken in the past 4 days, so these builds are up to date/ fully updated to the latest patch!


words on the awesome mech:
this mech is very weak for an assault mech, feels like a helicopter in a tank game.
massive damage but isn't good at getting hit. you should understand that and
also understand the quirks that may be a liability or an asset, such as the torso
dimensions or the arm.
your role with this chassis overall is to be the vanguard, and king of the hill.
you stay on the highground with your guns deterring anybody that dares poke his head
and shaking enemy mechs off your friendlies' tails!
you can take a big step back and play base sniper and still fulfill this role, or you could cover your team advance just 20 meters on the back but still the role is similar. to control the open ground with threats of long and mid range punishment.
once you know this you will better understand the difference between the builds i'll post here.





without further ado:


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//AWS 9M. extended range agressor.

9m aggressor => 4.5 star (great mech - not noob friendly)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...e3d255be65f9db0
aggresive fire support


weapon grouping> (6 groups)
#1 ER PPC
#2 ER PPC
#3 ppc
#4 medlas
#5 2xMedpulse
#6 SRM4


now it's important i talk about weapon groupings with this mech design because it's based on 6 weapon groups meant to be fired independently. all of roughly equal heat distribution so it's easy to get a pace down and race through the groups so by pacing your shots you can run a semi continuous stream of 6 different key presses.

the main guns of the rig are the PPC. of which there are 2 ER varieties and 1 standard.
at mid to long ranges these should be shot in close succession, however at close ranges
the pilot should switch to using the ER ppc sparingly, and relying on
auxiliary weapon systems.

the auxiliary weapon systems are as follows: 1 medium laser on the head rig, to track and
spray at mid to close ranges. 2 Medium Pulse lasers, which should be shot in unison to
maximize potential. 1 SRM4 which should be used to strip armor on big lumbering targets
such as another assault mech.

you can run this mech as zombie too, which isn't nearly as useful as operating 100%
but retains the torso weapons which is great, and the head as well.
the quirks of this mech are close range which isn't well suited for (though it can manage)
and quick light mechs, which the rig is a bit ill suited for as well- but the med and medpulse
lasers should become the tool of choice for those enemies.




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//alternative build: AWS 9m. sniper/skirmisher [Retired since SRM nerf] (suffered the most from missile nerfs)

9m skirmisher => 4.0 star (good mech - not noob friendly - used to be 4.5 great until srm nerf 40%)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...037d4338c590a98
hit and run guerrilla.


great sniper, also a good skirmisher, makes a bait and switch perfectly with the ppc and missile combo, but can't stay and brawl a long fight, so it's best to do hit and run aided by team mates. sadly since missile nerfs it lost a lot of punch with those 3srm4.
Using more (bigger) missile racks isn't worth it in the narc tubes sadly. you're not able
to hit a light with the last ones at all if you use more and mess with the heat.

best when supporting friendly units. not staying long to brawl.
the lack of lasers does take away some flexibility, something to keep in mind.
again, the standard engine works with the torso hardpoints, in this case missiles which make it a great zombie mech, even better than the agresor build when not running out of ammo.


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//AWS 8R. sniper/brawler mix.

8r sniper-brawler => 5 star (beastmech - advanced)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...c36c373fd0db308
bait and switch ambusher

this setup only uses 4 weapon groups, and thus it is friendlier and more robust at close ranges.
2 ER PPCs make the first 2 groups, these should be shot in unison at long ranges to make sure you do mostly localized damage. but keep the firing groups apart too for best heat management.
the rest of the weapons are all for close range brawling; 4xSRM6 and 1 Medpulse Laser on the head. make sure to pepper the medpulse laser when waiting for the heat to lower.

fire all missiles at once for the last group, should be 24 in all. artemis equipped.

the trick with this rig is to snipe for half the match and then pick the right moment to switch
gears into a brawler to help the push or defense as needed. this is the hardest part of playing this mech.
if switching roles at a bad time could seal your fate or at a good time save the entire team.
good at wittling the enemy down with keepaway tactics too, since once they reach you past the wall of PPC fire,
they will find about those four missile racks.

this mech can hold it's own against light mechs too, blows them apart. (as well as any other weight class)

biggest XL engine in store, STD engine is a waste with this build because without either sidetorso mech is severely crippled. and the savings on weight make up for more damage.

don't try and switch med pulse laser for medium laser or it will lose brawling potential.





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//AWS 8T. heavy support.


8t bouncer => 4.5 star (great mech - user friendliness puts it on 4.5 instead of 4.0)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...e5d9c106c66a11f
heavy mid[&multi] range fire support


this one is a laser boat. though it can only poke and jab at long ranges with an ER large laser, and hot maps impact how laser heat piles up so beware.
this is one of the builds that concentrates the most damage at a single range, with the large
pulse lasers at 800 meters.

pilot should put the ER large laser in the arm that he's more comfortable with, in my case the left arm for quick long range jabs behind cover.
i should mention this because i had to switch it back and forth between each arm until i was comfortable with what would be my long range poking arm.

the main gun of this build are 3 Largepulse lasers. pilot should try to chain fire these large pulse lasers to conserve heat. even if that means chain firing quickly.


for close ranges you do get an srm10 (12 is un needed due to the hit-rate/spread and runs too hot) but these should be used if cornered and to get out of tight spots. you can hit smaller mechs with them but if used well the lasers tend to hit where wanted even on light mechs(leg) or can focus down a cockpit well.

a med laser on the head rounds it up, i like to use this med laser as a replacement for the ER large laser at
mid to short ranges, or fire all 5 lasers in unison if alphaing; when lots of heat to spare.

med laser can also replace any of the other lasers if your arm should fall off, which isn't likely.
taking a wingman with this mech is recommended too because of the handicap at sniping and the attention drawn to the laser weaponry. focusing individual components also gets the most benefits from this build since the weapons are hitscan.

lack of AMS means you aren't as good at hunting down boats as with the other builds, but since this is a more balanced meant to play as a team mech and not such a sniper lone wolf like the other builds, you can benefit from friendly ams as well.
as of mid-may patch, revised for included AMS !
you can use Ferro Fibrous to save a buck
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...15cc212a92b2c78

ferro fibrous saves some money over endo steel and ends up working great, no endo is needed IMO.





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Modules:
i don't use any. equip the one which you liked most.
consumables can be used but it's best to get to know how to manage heat without them at all.
IMO, even though these rigs run hot you can see they do great when managed, the heat curve is just right in all of them so that instantly powering back up won't damage internals in your first try ever.
edit: may 21st patch: take seismic sensor every time, and your choice of whatever else you can fit


Elite/Master:

all i have to say here is that even though on the hottest maps these builds are fully playable,
you will be powering back up a bit. from auto heat shutdowns.
the best unlock i can recommend beyond basic is the quick powerup elite skill.


Stats:

these 3 are the only mechs i own (will get an 8Q in the near future as well) i thought i'd post the individual mech stats for my account just in case it helps anyone. (i was hoping to get my 8T stats higher but i'm not that good with laser boats as w/ ppc)


note the 8T has a lower Kill/Death ratio but higher Win/Loss ratio than the 9m, idk.. i'll let you make your own judgement on that!
BTW i am strictly a pug player, only about 25 of these 900 or so matches i was on teamspeak, so pretty much never.

Edited by Mazzyplz, 25 May 2013 - 04:48 AM.

[Rushin Roulette]

I have this Awsome which you could try out. it works well if you have trigger discipline and dont Alpha every time (or you will quickly overheat with the LP lasers). Its great for brawling and close/mid range fighting.

You could of course swap out the large pulse lasers for regular or ER Large lasers, but I found they tempt me to try and snipe too much which leads to me taking too much damage before the main damage weapons can be used. Apart from that it also frees up 4 tons with only 6 free slots left over. Adding 2 more heatsinks is good, but I dont like to have a mech with 2 tons left over and adding 4 more tons of SRM ammo is kind of pointless because I never ran out of amunition yet.

AWS-8T brawler

Edited by Rushin Roulette, 02 May 2013 - 03:56 AM.

[Mazzyplz]

hey man nice build, i think it could do a lot of damage on the smaller maps with a nice cooling on that rig; the only problem i see with it is that you can put that same loadout you have on a heavy c1 catapult:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...10ef30466ae03c9

i like to put all the biggest guns that will fit in my hardpoints so that i can benefit from driving an assault mech best, to win against the stalkers! and intimidate smaller mechs into backing down is important IMO.
i don't know, i just think that way as a mech technician god knows i'm not the best of players


but i digress;

the whole point of this thread is that maps are only going to get bigger, the metagame is changing, and i assure you these are better thought builds than just going for 6 large lasers on 8q, a 9m that relies on med lasers (like a hunchback!) or something like that, the ability to put fire down range makes it great for suppresive fire until you reach where you're heading, no more dead time where you're not dealing damage. and having different tools in your belt doesn't mean you compromise the close ranges, because all of these weapons work at close range too - from the ER ppc (no min range) to the large pulse lasers, and no locks means no ECM troubles, no missile min range.

Edited by Mazzyplz, 03 May 2013 - 09:10 AM.

[NRP]

Mazzy please, your 9M build is too hot.

[Kiiyor]

Some very nice builds there, if you are patient with heat discipline, which I am most certainly am not. I really like that 8R, but would probably switch out for vanilla PPCs or LLs.

My current fave, The PAINBOW got me to second place in the Awesome category in the recent assault tourney.

I do love me some ERPPCs, but they just run too hot for my liking - over a protracted battle your DPS plummets. With 3, you can alpha like crazy and core most high alpha builds in short order if you concentrate on your gunnery. If you are facing off with an ERPPC toting enemy, you will almost always win (well, if you're in range that is). The 3 MLAS helps you protect yourself at range and are a good deterrent for light mechs. If they bug out, once they're over 90m away, they're cactus.

I do often put one ERPPC in the arm, as it can be very helpful if you land on a map like alpine or tourmaline, but find that most engagements end up in vanilla PPC range at any rate.

I've also had success with THIS, but it takes a bit more patience to master, as you have to switch your points of aim between the PPCs and LLs, meaning you have to spend more time facing the enemy dead on where they are able to ogle your nice, fat CT with explosions.

[Mazzyplz]

hey guys! thx for the input, much appreciated!

gratz on the placement for the tourny, Kiiyor!! must have been a hell of a weekend with the whole current endurance style of the championships on MWO
the build with the 3 med las you posted was my first one! it's pretty solid and i ran it for a while before i switched to the 3xsrm4 (check 2nd build on OP/ the alternate 9m build i posted) instead of the 3xmedlas hehehe, but that was before the SRM nerf, right now you're probably right on the money with that, i bet the 3medlas version is better than the 3srm4 version now, i'll have to try it out again!!


i do love me some ERPPC though, need it not just for snipes but to deal with these guys

if you can keep strategic cover at mid distance with the awesome and not be a big slow fragile target you have my respect. i for one need the extra range because in my hands the awesome feels pretty damn weak for it's category


NRP:
hey man nice to see u around always good when we run a match as well

yea that build is pretty difficult to control (the most difficult out of the ones i posted), but i just played it again just now and got 3 kills with 600+ dmg.
i did shutdown like 4 times in the match but it wasn't that bad just 1 or 2 laser hits before i immediately power back on and twist around. the ERPPC will shut u down fast so it's often a matter of just shooting lasers for a little bit (and/or the standard ppc too)
i know it won't work for everyone but i think with some patience it's pretty good.
at any rate i'm just posting a starting point that can be used, you're welcome to modify it or post an alternate build here

this guide is by no means the final word on anything; the title is just to compete with the other post:
"the ultimate awesome guide" which i found as a title rather pretentious

Edited by Mazzyplz, 09 May 2013 - 09:26 PM.

[NRP]

I think you're on my Friends list. I'm gonna try to go on an MWO bender this weekend, so I keep an eye out for you.

[Mazzyplz]

Update: added figures for each mech on my stats list in OP. thought it might be helpful for somebody out there.

i'd like to work on a gameplay video but my vid card gets so hot with running the game alone, it's not even funny. i seriously try not to play more than 3 matches in a row because when i touch my CPU the vidcard is hot enough to fry an egg.
so probably won't do a gameplay vid after all.


NRP:
hey man i added u like 2 days ago but haven't seen u around. we did play before but out of luck i guess since we've only been in contact through the forums thus far and not the game client.
lookin forward to run with more awesome pilots, usually works out great


EDIT:
now i understand why you guys think the build is so hot. it has just recently come to my attention that most people don't use the numbers on keyboard to manage their groups, and as such maybe 6 weapon groups is too much. i'm sorry i posted a build with 6 weapon groups, i just find it not that hard from my point of view, might want to keep that in mind.

Edited by Mazzyplz, 19 May 2013 - 02:29 PM.

[Mazzyplz]

revised weapon groups for 8T:

group 1: ER Large Laser > bind to keyboard number you don't usually press. use only for snipe (so no accidental presses)
group 2: Grouped 3 Large Pulse Lasers > bind to mouse 1 (left click)
group 3: Medium Laser > bind to mouse 2 (right click)
group 4: Grouped SRM4+SRM6 > bind to spacebar (let it rip when time is right)

there you go, improved grouping for players who can't handle more than 4 groups!

you could also try a macro for the 9m build, should work great at close ranges

edit: revised the OP with updated AMS 8T version.

revised about modules as well.

Edited by Mazzyplz, 25 May 2013 - 04:45 AM.