14 replies to this topic

[Nex Descript]

Hey all. I'm looking to purchase a light mech, and since I'm a poor man, I was looking at the Commando. Can I get a few 2D builds, please? I'd appreciate it if it didn't require a massive amount of cbills. I don't have the time for grinding.

Thanks a bunch.

[Bishop Steiner]

2 things.....

Max XL engine
ECM

and of course Streaks and medium laser.

alterantely, the LRMmando might be viable again with the LRMs, so you could lay in 2-3 LRM5. and a TAG.

[ArcDemon]

A bit old but the Trollmando is a common 2D build, here is one for 5.8m c-bills (main costs are the chasis and the XL 195 engine).

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...1df4b6f8f891350

You can tweak things to modify the energy weapon and how much ammo you carry. I've deliberately left off both Double Heat Sinks and Ferro-Fibrous armor. The first because you said you don't want spend a lot of C-Bills and in it's basic configuration the Trollmando is a rare mech that is manageable even with single heat sinks, so that saves you 1.5m until you are ready to spend it. Once you upgrade to DHS you don't need to pay any attention to your heat at all.

Ferro-Fibrous is useful for getting an extra 0.5 tons (which is a lot on a Commando), but you'll find that you can't combine FF and DHS very well on the 2D, there are often just not enough critical slots. For this reason I've also left it off, since it would just be an expense to remove it later. You'll notice the armor points are equal front and back instead of more in the front. In the Commando you shouldn't be taking hits (you can't really), so the paper thin armor you do get is more to hold off light brushes from lasers then to stand up to PPCs. Thanks to the very flat side profile I've found the Commando tends to get hit a lot in the arms and shoulders (side torso), though in the beginning you'll probably take a good share of hits in the front and back CT - getting hit in the front CT means you are charging the enemy head on and will die fast, getting hit in the rear CT means you are surviving long enough to run, but haven't planned a good escape route.

Commandos generally run with either an XL195 engine for weight, or an XL 210 for speed. The more energy based Commandos have enough criticals for Endo Steel and FF and don't need to carry as much or any ammo, which makes the XL 210 a nice perk though XL 195 builds work too. If you share a single XL 195 engine you can run 3 Commando variants relatively cheaply though its much harder to put off the DHS upgrade on the others. For the other variants I'd suggest the 3A and the 1B, unless you can afford a Death's Knell Hero mech. The 1D is just a poor copy of the 3A - both missiles are in the CT which limits your options, and both lasers are on the same arm which makes it easy to lose them.

As a 2D and a light you'll obviously scout, cap and harass. Your ECM is a valuable asset to the team in both disrupt and counter mode. Raven 3Ls will eat you unless they have a bad pilot, however you can be a considerable threat to other light mechs with your large streak loadout and ability to tail them. SRM damage is still nerfed, so the 2D is not quite the tiny power house it used to be. Last time I ran with mine I could still take down Dragons but the days of solo killing multiple medium and heavy mechs, or even an assault, is probably over for the moment. The reign of high alpha builds combined with state rewind also mean a lot more sudden deaths since most of them can kill you in one shot.

[Haruspex Pariah]

Hope this isn't "necro" since we're advised to look for existing threads related to our questions...

Would it hurt much to run the Trollmando with 200 XL instead of 195 or 210? I have one 200 XL in another mech and the last time I bought an XL engine it wiped a significant amount of my money reserves. Is it worth it and/or necessary to save up for a 195 or 210 XL?

EDIT: If it matters, my current "Trollmando" runs on a 150 standard engine and it isn't very good at all.

Edited by Haruspex Pariah, 13 June 2013 - 05:50 PM.

[AlmightyAeng]

2D runs fine with an XL 200, 3 streaks, ML and 2 tons of ammo.

Edited by Ghost Badger, 14 June 2013 - 06:13 AM.

[CygnusX7]

Ghost Badger, on 14 June 2013 - 06:13 AM, said:

2D runs fine with an XL 200, 3 streaks, ML and 2 tons of ammo.

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...ec2dd9cdd964bb4
+1 but with 3 tons of ammo.

[AlmightyAeng]

CygnusX7, on 14 June 2013 - 06:33 AM, said:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...ec2dd9cdd964bb4
+1 but with 3 tons of ammo.

Reducing the leg armor in a commando by that much makes me twitch. 2 tons is enough for me...unless you really feel like you're going to get off a full 50 salvos of SSRM's off in a match. I'm good with 33

[CygnusX7]

Ghost Badger, on 14 June 2013 - 08:49 AM, said:

Reducing the leg armor in a commando by that much makes me twitch. 2 tons is enough for me...unless you really feel like you're going to get off a full 50 salvos of SSRM's off in a match. I'm good with 33

Agreed but I have gone through more than 2 tons of SSRM ammo.. which is why I have 3.

Edited by CygnusX7, 14 June 2013 - 09:18 AM.

[Pater Mors]

195XL Endo, Ferro, ECM, SHS, 3x SSRM 1x TAG

Basically run this as a light hunter and use the TAG to help out the team (much better now that LRM's are useful again). Can also rack up some huge XP with the TAG. Either use a gaming mouse for TAG toggle or set it to group 6 and wedge the key down for constant TAG.

Also can drop the TAG and 1 SSRM for a NARC which can be very fun but it's a very hit and miss strategy at the moment as it relies on at least one LRM Boat on your team to be paying attention.

[The Silent Protagonist]

Something I made a while back was a 2D with a LL, 2 streaks (both right arm, for the epic arm movement range), ecm and an XL195 spending the rest on double heat sinks. It was heat neutral. You heard right. Even on caustic valley. Stock armour.
Sadly I dropped it upon the Death Snail's release for hard mode funtimes in that bad boy. Dem lasers. Dat speed. I do miss the LL big hitter and the streaks for light hunting, though.

*Goes to build it again*

[Johnny Reb]

I thought the Trollmando was the 200+ kph which helped bring on the engine cap. (with the lunchback my 130+ kph 9 small lasers of death)

[aniviron]

Haruspex Pariah, on 13 June 2013 - 05:48 PM, said:

Hope this isn't "necro" since we're advised to look for existing threads related to our questions...

Would it hurt much to run the Trollmando with 200 XL instead of 195 or 210? I have one 200 XL in another mech and the last time I bought an XL engine it wiped a significant amount of my money reserves. Is it worth it and/or necessary to save up for a 195 or 210 XL?

EDIT: If it matters, my current "Trollmando" runs on a 150 standard engine and it isn't very good at all.

I would actually recommend a 200 engine; currently, the way heat sinks work is that for every 25 engine rating you add, one more heatsink gets built into the engine. Therefore, a 200 engine gets one 'free' heatsink over a 195. While it still weighs one ton more, that extra heatsink takes up no critical slots, and if you have double heatsinks (and you should, every mech should have them) it counts as a true double heatsink, and sinks 2 points of heat per second, unlike the external doubles which only sink 1.4 per second. Generally speaking, engines that end in a multiple of 25 are the most efficient; the only exceptions are the ones like 375->380 where, for some reason, the bigger engine does not weigh any more than the smaller one.

[Pater Mors]

aniviron, on 15 June 2013 - 12:27 AM, said:

I would actually recommend a 200 engine; currently, the way heat sinks work is that for every 25 engine rating you add, one more heatsink gets built into the engine. Therefore, a 200 engine gets one 'free' heatsink over a 195. While it still weighs one ton more, that extra heatsink takes up no critical slots, and if you have double heatsinks (and you should, every mech should have them) it counts as a true double heatsink, and sinks 2 points of heat per second, unlike the external doubles which only sink 1.4 per second. Generally speaking, engines that end in a multiple of 25 are the most efficient; the only exceptions are the ones like 375->380 where, for some reason, the bigger engine does not weigh any more than the smaller one.

Normally I would totally agree with you on DHS but the 2D is the only Mech I've run so far with SHS and it performs admirably. You can get off a huge number of salvo's with 3x SSRMs but there is one issue with running it the way that I do and that's in a prolonged engagement the dissipation is really bad so once you're close to 100% you basically can't fire. However, if you're running a 2D into a prolonged engagement you're doing it wrong IMO.

Edited by Pater Mors, 15 June 2013 - 01:06 PM.

[ArcDemon]

aniviron, on 15 June 2013 - 12:27 AM, said:

I would actually recommend a 200 engine; currently, the way heat sinks work is that for every 25 engine rating you add, one more heatsink gets built into the engine. Therefore, a 200 engine gets one 'free' heatsink over a 195. While it still weighs one ton more, that extra heatsink takes up no critical slots, and if you have double heatsinks (and you should, every mech should have them) it counts as a true double heatsink, and sinks 2 points of heat per second, unlike the external doubles which only sink 1.4 per second. Generally speaking, engines that end in a multiple of 25 are the most efficient; the only exceptions are the ones like 375->380 where, for some reason, the bigger engine does not weigh any more than the smaller one.

The XL 200 is 1.5 tons heavier then the 195, meaning you pay an extra .5 tons for that internal heatsink. In some builds there may be merit to the 3 criticals you save, but for many builds I don't see it. Heat wise if you are using DHS on an SSRM 2D you won't have any heat worries regardless of whether you have 7 or 8 internal heat sinks. With an XL 195 engine you literally remove heat faster then the SSRMs can create it, leaving you with only a single medium or small laser to worry about.

[aniviron]

I'm not saying so much that I would put a 200 in my 2D if I owned one (I would probably do a 210, I like speed :]) but was more answering the question above to indicate that a 200 would work well, and might even be of use on another mech some day, as usually engines that end in multiples of 25 are usually more efficient. It makes sense if you are still worrying about cost on your mechs.