38 replies to this topic

[Spheroid]

You are wrong to discount the Stalker.

[zraven7]

Spheroid, on 15 May 2013 - 10:26 AM, said:

You are wrong to discount the Stalker.

I don't think he's discounting the Stalker, but simply isn't interested. It really is an entirely different breed from the other Assaults currently available,

[Appogee]

zraven7, on 15 May 2013 - 07:03 AM, said:

(S)imple answer, the Highlander is more mobile, and the Atlas is more durable. The big thing here is, of course, the JJs. Because of the JJ turn, you are much more mobile than the Atlas. You can spin easier to keep up with lights, and you can hop up onto ledges and cliffs that the Atlas would have to walk around.

The Atlas, however, is simply durable as heck, equips 10 more tons of goodies, and has an ECM model.

The Highlander will take more skill to pilot, the Atlas will take more strategy. Pretty much, decide if you want to plan your movements and attack carefully, before the combat, or whether you prefer to act in the moment and on the fly. If the former, Atlas. The Latter, Highlander.

This.

[Koniving]

JC Daxion, on 15 May 2013 - 10:15 AM, said:

i just tried that highlander trial mech... I must say that thing was slower than a turtle.. Are all assaults this slow?? I was having trouble killing a single catapult this last game.. (it got me..) I know if i was in one of my HBK's i could of killed it.. Took me like a year to get to the spot everyone was fighting..



*edit,, really the only other mech i played was that trial dragon.. it felt kinda similar to the hunchback sorta. this whole assault thing is making me think i'm going to be a total noobie again. thing even twists slower.. I felt like i was in slow motion
do the modified assaults really wake up?

Fastest assaults currently with exception to the Awesome 9M and Pretty Baby, are about the speed of the Hunchback's default speed.

Yes, they are slow. They do twist faster with perks, larger engines and such.

[Xoxim SC]

I would personally wait to see what the final assault mech will be.

[JC Daxion]

Spheroid, on 15 May 2013 - 10:26 AM, said:

You are wrong to discount the Stalker.

I'm not discounting it.. It just doesn't have ballistics and that is something i want in my first assault mech..

Koniving, on 15 May 2013 - 02:35 PM, said:

Fastest assaults currently with exception to the Awesome 9M and Pretty Baby, are about the speed of the Hunchback's default speed.

Yes, they are slow. They do twist faster with perks, larger engines and such.

does this mean pretty baby, and the 9m are faster? or slower?


So i will have to be adding a new engine to the cost too? that trial highlander i felt like strapping it to a turtle might increase the speed two fold.. I played 2 or three matches cause i felt completely useless.. I guess the Plus side of things trying that mech, i realized i'm not that bad of a HBK pilot..

Todd Lightbringer, on 15 May 2013 - 04:31 PM, said:

I would personally wait to see what the final assault mech will be.

another one is coming? any idea when?

Edited by JC Daxion, 15 May 2013 - 06:13 PM.

[Dude42]

I'd imagine they'll keep releasing mechs for a while, how else you gonna keep people playing and buying mech bays?

[Koniving]

JC Daxion, on 15 May 2013 - 06:12 PM, said:

does this mean pretty baby, and the 9m are faster? or slower?

The Awesomes typically have an engine cap at the 300 rating.
The 9M has a higher rating, offhand I can't recall if it's 360 or 380. Think it's 380. The Pretty Baby can carry up to a 400 rated engine. Given that these engines and the Awesome's weight combine to be much faster than other assault mechs, this makes the 9M and Pretty Baby variants the fastest assaults currently available in the game. The Pretty Baby ventures easily in the high 80s with speed tweak. Specifically 89.1 kph.

The next fastest assault is the Heavy Metal with a 330 rated engine at 65.3 kph, beating the third fastest by only 0.3 kph. The stalker runs at 65.0 kph top speed. Finally the Atlas runs at 64.2 kph top speed.

Not much faster than a stock Hunchback, eh? The only ones to truly go much faster are the 9M and the Pretty Baby.

Spoiler

So fast it can dodge your missiles!


Pity that it can never be truly built for a true brawling rig. But it can come close.


I had to slow down to not overtake this guy. Even the air burns in my wake.


My Pretty Baby.
Shots by Lordred.

Edited by Koniving, 15 May 2013 - 06:34 PM.

[LegoPirate]

A highlander with an xl300 or 325 is easily the most heavily armed assault mech at ~60+ kph speeds. The atlas is much more durable at the expense of less maneuverability and less firepower. Really depends on your playstyle. I'm a jump sniper so the 732 is my go to mech right now, but I have a brawler 733c that I enjoy much more then my atlas ddc

[Just wanna play]

i would just like to add in imo JJs can make a highlander take A LOT of punisment because it can cause damage to go to your heavily armored legs and other places while slower atlases just sit there while people simply shoot the ct
jj turn also help your spread it across your torsos and arms preventing people from focusing their damage to much
overall highlanders are very good at causing damage to spread all over them


imo highlander is a bit more of a brawler (higher mobility, missiles and ballistics on the arms, also some variants have a torso twist speed boost) while atlas is just a heavy hitter at any range but not quite optimized for any

highlander is like an assault centurion with jumpjets, try the trial to see if you like it (i would like to point out the trial is quite lacking for a highlander, can be made better fairly easily, trial isnt very optimized so take it with a pinch of salt)

[Xoxim SC]

Don't have the slightest idea when, but we should be getting one more. They need to hurry the hell up and announce it, and speed things up. They're slower than molasses on a freezing January morning.

[Just wanna play]

Todd Lightbringer, on 15 May 2013 - 07:16 PM, said:

They're slower than molasses on a freezing January morning.

lol so pretty much they aren't moving

at least they have the black jack mech coming this month (i frankly dont know anything about it except its 45 tons and stock all variants are REALLY hot)

Edited by Just wanna play, 15 May 2013 - 07:25 PM.

[JC Daxion]

What engine are you stuffing into these things to make um move faster? I'm curious how much more cash i'm gonna need.. to get one of these things set up.

[John MatriX82]

zraven7, on 15 May 2013 - 10:39 AM, said:

I don't think he's discounting the Stalker, but simply isn't interested. It really is an entirely different breed from the other Assaults currently available,

For sure it is, but they are roughly the cheaper ones. Neither of the three can mostly live with the respective default engines, Highlanders need ENDO (and a 300 std at minimum, but you may want a big XL 325 in them), Atlases can stay also with the default 300, but soon you'll want 325/350+ENDO; all of them require DHS upgrade, but Stalkers virtually need only DHS upgrade and either a STD 275/280 or a 300.
This of course when talking about outfitting them properly from the start.. the problem is that to be competitive with around exp'd mechs, this is a matter that should be always taken into consideration.

So roughly proper configured stalkers should stay from 1.5 to 3 mln cbills less than Highlanders and Atlases (this considering also weapons). If you multiply the savings for 2 further variants to buy (to master/elite them) and the respective start price points you can save much money going with stalkers.

Anyway it's always a matter of what the OP wants. Stalkers are the "rude" ones, lots of weapons, lots of heat, avg resistance; highlanders are quite mobile assaults, they can poptart or have an height advantage when brawling (getting out from the reach of Atlases AC 20's), but they are quite asymmetrical, and usually an halved stalker is much more dangerous than an highlander that has lost the RT; Atlases are moving apartment blocks, can soak up much damage when tanking properly with the arms, but with the current meta they suffer both the direct fire Stalkers and the Highlander poptarts, even the brawler ones due to their JJs.

Later on I've never seen me employing my Atlases over either Stalkers or Highlanders so my advice would fall in either of these two, mainly stalkers if the cbill factor is to be accounted.

Not only but besides the 3F that should be the first Stalker to buy (and to keep thanks to its 90 degrees torso twist), the second variant should be the 5M due to its hardpoints (and it comes with DHS already) this one should be kept as well; the third variant to exp can be either 4N or 3H (and you can get rid of it once you're done without looking back). So virtually you can save up one mechbay getting rid of the third stalker or even two, keeping only the 3F.

Atlases.. oh well, besides the K that's useless, I'd keep D, D-DC and RS (these are the ones I own). The same can be said for the Landers, 3 variants are worth (always imho of course) to be kept, 732 for being the supreme poptarter, 733 for being a nice balance for brawling and poptarting, 733C for the arm-mounted AC 20 and its brawling capability, 733P for being a nice all energy poptarter or laser+srm brawler as other stalkers but with jj capability.

[Joseph Mallan]

Highlander if you want more mobility(Jump), Alas if you want a bit more armor.

[sarkun]

This really comes down to Jump Jets - if you want them - get Highlander - but know that they come at 2 tons EACH, so be prepared to sacrifice serious amounts of firepower for them. If JJs are kinda meh for you, go for Atlai.

If you don't have stockpiles of big engines and big weapons, outfitting them is going to cost you lots of cash after initial purchase, so plan for that.

If you want some weird fast Assaults, you have to go Awesome, the 9M or Pretty Baby can go absurdly fast for an Assault. They don't have much else going for them though.

[James DeGriz]

Sticking in another vote for the Highlander, with or without JJs. I own and have mastered all the variants but the 733, and I absolutely love them (especially the 732 and HM). It's interesting you mention the HBK, because I always imagine my HGNs as the HBKs bigger brother (and I'm a big Hunchie fan too!).

I have an AS7-D, but find it too ponderously slow for the way I like to play; the HGN just feels more nimble, even if the straight line speeds are very similar. Additionally, in an Atlas it's such a recognisable profile you're always going to be the primary target for the opposing team. The HGN can bring similar levels of fire power, but the psychological aspect appears to have a lesser effect (at least from personal experience).

I've also tried both Awesomes (an 8R, 8Q and 9M) and a Stalker (4N), but couldn't really get on with either of them.

[JC Daxion]

ok.. one more question here.. How important are the elite/master box upgrades on assaults? they did help out my HBK's a decent amount.. for instance heat in my 4sp, once i hit master i really don't worry about heat in them any more.. Gosh.. i wish i just had 6 more bays!! this would not be an issue..

*crosses fingers for MC sale, and bay sale...



*edit, Just noticed these XL engines in the 300+ range are over 5m!!!!! I really don't see myself buying many of these right now...


Should i grab a XL300 or 310? then i could use it in my catapult as well? Or should i get something a little bigger and share it between the assaults? I'm not sure i want to get the biggest engine i can fit, cause it might not be as flexible in other mechs..

i have 12.5m right now.. looks like i still need another 5m to buy the engine.. though i do have enough to buy the highlander, and get endo/doubles.. yesh... i am worrying more about what to buy in this game, than i do clothing in RL..



just one last thing, What engine are people using in a fast raven 3L? do they use XL engines too? I'm kinda thinking, the way my money is right now, Im really leaning towards the highlander 733, just because it is cheaper, and i think more flexible with things i can try.. Was thinking an AC20 and SRM's, Or dual 5's with a PPC and something.

this will also let me pick up my raven sometime next week... Unless of course you guys think master unlocks on a highlander are really needed.

Edited by JC Daxion, 16 May 2013 - 07:06 PM.

[Mycrus]

go for Atlas (DDC, RS, D)