28 replies to this topic

[Renan Ruivo]

Not sure if this has been debated already or not, but how do you people like your layouts? Personally i'm a Gauss Rifle jock, so i like ballistic and/or direct fire hardpoints, preferably on the torsos. Laser hardpoints on the arms and another ballistic hardpoint on the head/chin/center torso so i can fit as many machine guns as possible to shoot down aircraft and harass lighter mechs (If i'm on a heavy/assault, of course). If i can also have one missile hardpoint i'd throw the best LRM i can as long as i can take 2 tons of ammo with it.

And speaking of ammo, this is really a tough one.. i always have to decide wether i want 2 tons of ammo for each gauss rifle (yeah, i'm talking twins baby!) or on the LRM (if available). Generally though i just go with extra ammo for the rifles.


With this layout in mind, my favorite mechs are Cauldron-Born on the heavy class and Fafnir for assault. If the Marauder I and II are also available, then i'll go with them.



Other than that loadout, i'm also really fond of the Heavy Lasers (especially ER, obviously ... but those wont be on MWO for quite some time). As much as i can put on the mech, and some SRM with extra ammo. For light mechs the loadout i prefer is similar, but with medium lasers obvioulsy. So its medium/heavy lasers, with SRM (2 tons of ammo) and as many heatsinks as possible. Speed isn't a first priority to me, so i'll downgrade the engine to make the loadout work if possible.


With this one in mind, some of my favorites are the Cougar (Not available, will have to make do with Jenner) on the light class, Uziel on the med class, again Cauldron-Born with heavies but Warhammer and Perseus also work. And, of course, the Atlas for the assault class. And also kudos for the Sunder, since it can also perform well with that loadout when i'm piloting it ^^

[WardenWolf]

I'm mostly an energy guy myself. Definitely large lasers, mediums okay if the mech is fast enough to close to range. PPCs I loved in MW3, had trouble with in MW2... so we'll have to see how they behave in MWO. I also liked Gauss Rifles in MW3, but if they implement the TT rules where the gun can blow up if damaged I think I'd avoid them. Never been much of a fan of missiles, though I like them for support when others on my team are using them

I'm planning at the moment on an Atlas with XL engine at max speed, max armor, 4 Large Lasers (1 in each arm and 1 in each side torso - we know at least that many energy hardpoints are present), AMS with CASE and 1 ton of ammo in each torso, ECM in center, and lots of double heatsinks. If an assault with jumpjets comes out, though, I may switch over to it... or use both

[Evedro Solais]

Depends. I like to theme my Mechs. Missile Hard points are very versatile, packing either SRM-6s or LRM-20s I like toting a couple Med lasers around for mid range skirmishes and if I'm sniping Gauss is definitely the way to go. Less of a heat trail back to your firing position.

[Pvt Dancer]

Well, it would be nice if every mech had a Balistic, Missile, and Energy hardpoints, but it ain't so.

I am not a fan of MGs as you have a ammo source that you just never use up. I like ACs, but I feel if your going to use it, you want a AC 20 or nothing. I guess I would rather have a PPC than AC 10 for example. I like SRMs in table top, but since SRMs are not crit seekers... they just don't scatter beyond 3 locations, which isn't focused enough to really hurt someone. I like the idea of LRMs as a harrassment weapon or to soften up foes at range though. I am a fan of large lasers and medium lasers and I have always wanted to do the mech arm with 6 small lasers (like a Victor/Zeus/Orion). But Lasers create a /lot/ of heat, so any real laser build will probably need double heat sinks to make it go.

I guess it all depends on the size of the mech and what options you have. I would love to see a Stinger or Locust (Balistic and Energy) but I would hope I can strip out those MGs for lasers. I guess the real point is to see if smaller mechs with 1-3 weapons and few variants get additional hardpoints.

[Woodstock]

When I go for heavies and Assaults I tend to go for AC's generally ultra AC 10's or LBX10's

However

Since playing WoT I have grown to love the medium class a little too much ... mobility with hitting power .... SO with MWO I won't really have the tonnage to play around with AC's so I'm leaning towards a 70/30 split between Energy and missiles.

E.G. My centurion will eventually have:

1 x ER PPC (no minimum range)
2 x Medium Lasers
3 x Stream SRM 2's

[Kobold]

Arm energy hardpoints for lasers. With DOT lasers, I want them to have the most accuracy possible. This means the Jenner and Stalker are very appealing to me (and, paradoxically, the Hunchback). The CPLT-K2, DRG-1G, and CN9-AL will also qualify if they are all around (only the Cat K2 is confirmed).

I prefer my LRMs in torsos since I don't have to aim those as much. SRMs need some aim, but I only expect to use them as short range where aiming is less on a concern, so again, torso missile mounts.

I don't use much ballistic weaponry.


Summary: Energy and missiles primarily, with ideally enough arm energy mounts for careful aim. The Stalker and Jenner will probably be the best for me, and possibly the Dragon, depending on whether I can get the 1G.

[Solidussnake]

Always been a huge fan of the trusty PPC. The more PPC's and heatsinks and armor I have. The happier I am. Mmm Warhawk.

[Kobold]

Solidussnake, on 06 June 2012 - 10:43 PM, said:

Always been a huge fan of the trusty PPC. The more PPC's and heatsinks and armor I have. The happier I am. Mmm Warhawk Hellstar/AWS-9Q.

Fixed that for you (though I gave you the option of sticking with inner sphere tech). The Warhawk Prime can't even fire three of its four PPCs without building significant heat. It makes me a sad Kobold. Give me the Warhawk C over the Prime any day.

[Renan Ruivo]

Kobold, on 06 June 2012 - 10:31 PM, said:

[...]DOT lasers[...]

Which to me is another reason why i love Gauss so much. I just lead the target a little, wait for him to cross the threshold and let loose the slugs. If its a well placed shot from twin gauss, there's a great chance of knocking the sucka down.

With the target down, i just unload missiles

[Telthalion]

I like to have a primarily energy-based loadout. I hate running out of ammo half way through a mission and suddenly having my damage drop by half.

To expand on that, I love PPCs. High damage, long range, and they're amazingly satisfying to shoot. (I've been wanting a Jihad-era Mechwarrior game so I can rock around with some snub-nose PPCs, but I don't see that happening any time soon.) For secondary weapons I like medium lasers of all types, though I lean toward pulse over ER.

When I do go for ammo-based weapons I'll generally take LRMs or a Gauss Rifle for a combination of range and a satisfying punch.

I historically like to have as many of my primary guns as possible in my torsos for the heavier armor, though in MWO I may make a shift towards the arms for the sake of target tracking.

Barring custom builds I tend to gravitate toward mechs like the Catapult, Awesome or Timber Wolf (A or Prime, depending on the day). Mad Cat Mk II when I want to throw a higher volume of solid objects at people.


For MWO I'm planning on taking some form of customized Raven as my primary mech. (My current untested experimental build [assuming it translates to the MWO mechlab] is a 7/11/4 with GECM, BAP, TAG, Narc, 4 MLas and a Flamer).

Then a stock C1 Catapult as my secondary when I want a change of pace. And an Awesome 8Q when I need to scratch my PPC itch.

Edited by Telthalion, 07 June 2012 - 02:08 AM.

[Kobold]

Renan Ruivo, on 06 June 2012 - 11:03 PM, said:

Which to me is another reason why i love Gauss so much. I just lead the target a little, wait for him to cross the threshold and let loose the slugs. If its a well placed shot from twin gauss, there's a great chance of knocking the sucka down.

With the target down, i just unload missiles

But I could do the same thing with PPCs, and I don't have to worry about running out of ammo before the battle is over. (If I am using either a twin PPC or twin Gauss Rifle mech, I should be staying far away from the main scrum, so hopefully I'd last a while while taking low percentage long range shots)

[Renan Ruivo]

Kobold, on 06 June 2012 - 11:05 PM, said:

But I could do the same thing with PPCs, and I don't have to worry about running out of ammo before the battle is over. (If I am using either a twin PPC or twin Gauss Rifle mech, I should be staying far away from the main scrum, so hopefully I'd last a while while taking low percentage long range shots)

Ah, but there's the heat issue with PPC's.

I generally take some heavy or medium lasers with my twin gauss loadout for heavier 'mechs. The Fafnir, for instance, comes stock with twin heavy gauss, which to me are overkill. I take those out, replace with normal gauss and put some heavy lasers on it as well.

When the enemy gets close, considering i have better than average aim, i can use both gauss rifles and the heavy lasers for a number of consecutive shots without having to override the emergency shutdown.

Taking two slugs and two heavy lasers to the face at close range. Ouch!

Edited by Renan Ruivo, 06 June 2012 - 11:11 PM.

[Zynk]

IMO hardpoint layouts depend on conditions;
City short range weapons - srm/pluse lasers/ac20
Open areas Long range - LRM/PPC/AC2/5/10/erLasers
Hot planet - missles and guns
Ice Planet - PPC/Lasers

[ThundrGod]

I like mechs whose hard points are as flexible as possible to allow for tinkering, anxious to find out if variants are available as founder's choices.

[Redshift2k5]

Mostly energy hardpoints with a few missile points to back it up. The only ballistics I like are Gauss weapons.

[xSNAKEx]

It depends how easy ballistics knock enemies this time. If they do damage as expected, comepletly knock enemies of their feet and shake up their view with every hit then ballistics only with a few lasers as backup is the best provided you can land the ballistics. I say this because I assume in MWO they will balance out the ballistics by making them harder to land.

So ballistics =highest DPS but hargest to land, especially on moving targets.

[Adrienne Vorton]

hrm...i think mostly energy and missle setups, but don´t nail me on that...

[Xendojo]

Raven will be my first chassis, and the loadout will be:

4xMLAS
1xSSMR6 (assuming streak is available)
1xSSRM4

if there is no streak:

4xMLAS
1xLRM15(2 tons of ammo)
1xNARC

have to drop a small amount of armor, or some electronics, to fit the lasers on.

[As8s]

Laser's/PPC's/Flamer's with lot's of coolant to flush and a coolant truck nearby to refill me. As long as I can remap the coolant flush key onto my joystick because I always take my heat up dangerously high.

[Steinar Bergstol]

Bah. I'll play stock models and variants, maybe occasionally with minor tweaks which would make in-universe sense at most, given how difficult making extensive changes to a non-omnimech chassis is supposed to be according to the lore. I'll be playing this game because I like Battletech/Mechwarrior, including the lore and the limitations of the various mechs. Anything else would feel like playing "Generic Modifiable Giant Robots: The Computer Game" to me personally.