8 replies to this topic

[Grifthin]

So I bought myself a A1 Catapult. I'm having trouble with the following things:

Mitigating damage to centre torso.
Damage application with Streaks (yes It's a streak cat)
I seem to have trouble out manuevering enemies in it. I have a big engine (top speed about 80km\s per hour)
When to volley fire and when to chain fire.
How to tackle heavies.

Things I like:
Blowing ECM lights to pieces in 1-2 volleys
Jump Jets
Low Heat
Fast for a heavy.

How do I survive longer ? I'm a hunchback pilot at heart and I thought keeping the hump alive was not that difficult. I just seem to melt in seconds in the cat even though I should have more armor. I just seem to accumulate damage to the torso randomly during the course of fights. Any tips or suggestions ?

[Jchan1e]

No matter what you do, the Cat's CT is a huge target. Torso twist to mitigate. You should have about max armor and at least 300XL as well as a BAP to counter ECM, but the biggest thing you can do to survive longer is pick your fights such that you can get in, take out that straggler, and get back to cover quickly. Open areas like the lake in Forest Colony will be the death of you because your weapons are limited to 270m, You want to stick to areas with lots of cover you can ambush from, and it helps to have a buddy nearby with long range weapons for when you do get caught at a distance by snipers or LRMs. My personal favorite build for the A1 is the 6xSRM6 Splat Cat, for sheer damage output that can down most heavies in 2 volleys.

Chain fire isn't as useful as it used to be since they changed recoil. I'd just alpha every time you have a solid lock so you can get back to cover quickly.
Heavies, since you're faster than most of them you should be able to stay behind them most of the time to focus your damage to their rear CT.

Edited by Jchan1e, 07 June 2013 - 04:50 PM.

[Tahribator]

I think your answer lies in working on JJ usage. You don't really need to aim streaks, so try to spend as much as of your time in air in combat. You tend to get hit in the legs while you are in the air, which boosts your survivability. Always hang out near hills/builds so you can use elevation to your advantage.

Cats have absolutely huge CT that can be hit from every angle possible, so torso twisting is not really the answer. It is simply not a front-line mech. The only positive thing going for you are the huge ears, but they don't really obscure view from sides. What I can recommend you is, don't be afraid to sacrifice your back armor when the situation is dire.

About chain vs volley, it's about the type of mech you're fighting. Mediums and lights are your natural preys, so volley fire makes sense to quickly core and get rid of them. Against heavier mechs, in a 1v1 situation; your SSRM's won't cut it. This is when you switch to chain fire and switch to a "suppresser" role; every SSRM hit rocks the mech and explosions obscure the cockpit view which disorients most players. So it makes sense to send them one by one. I suggest you to avoid other heavies(well, except dragons) and especially assaults. You just don't have the damage to win against them in personal fights.

I also recommend you to run 360 Targeting and Advanced Target Decay, so you won't have problems losing locks while in the air. Artemis upgrade also drastically reduces SSRM2 lock-on time.

Edited by Tahribator, 08 June 2013 - 09:07 AM.

[CECILOFS]

Don't be Rambo. Hang around with and support your Assaults, especially keeping lights off them.

You need good positioning and awareness (The new seismic sensor is great for this). Watch enemy contacts on the minimap so you can see which way they are facing (requires ally to target them). Try to pop out behind enemies and duck into cover when they spot you. You can use JJ when they aim at you/when you are moving in front of them so that they miss their shot.

Also, don't forget to master the art of jump-jetting while reversing because its epic when you kill someone while flying backwards

I've been flying my trusty Streak Cat again since the latest patch. Its fun but its nothing like it used to be in this world of PPC and AC20 boats.

Edited by CECILOFS, 10 June 2013 - 06:28 AM.

[Grifthin]

Tahribator, on 08 June 2013 - 09:06 AM, said:

I think your answer lies in working on JJ usage. You don't really need to aim streaks, so try to spend as much as of your time in air in combat. You tend to get hit in the legs while you are in the air, which boosts your survivability. Always hang out near hills/builds so you can use elevation to your advantage.

Cats have absolutely huge CT that can be hit from every angle possible, so torso twisting is not really the answer. It is simply not a front-line mech. The only positive thing going for you are the huge ears, but they don't really obscure view from sides. What I can recommend you is, don't be afraid to sacrifice your back armor when the situation is dire.

About chain vs volley, it's about the type of mech you're fighting. Mediums and lights are your natural preys, so volley fire makes sense to quickly core and get rid of them. Against heavier mechs, in a 1v1 situation; your SSRM's won't cut it. This is when you switch to chain fire and switch to a "suppresser" role; every SSRM hit rocks the mech and explosions obscure the cockpit view which disorients most players. So it makes sense to send them one by one. I suggest you to avoid other heavies(well, except dragons) and especially assaults. You just don't have the damage to win against them in personal fights.

I also recommend you to run 360 Targeting and Advanced Target Decay, so you won't have problems losing locks while in the air. Artemis upgrade also drastically reduces SSRM2 lock-on time.

Do you have a source for artemis affecting Streaks ? I was under the impression it had no effect.

[Raptor6789]

Everything I would say has pretty much been brought up in this thread already, such as mastering the use of jumpjets, positioning, picking your fights carefully, etc.
As a general rule for catapults, you should always try to fit a big of an engine as possible (I like XL300 or XL315) and max CT armor, because that's where you'll be getting hit the most.
With six SSRM2's, you should have enough tonnage left over for all four jumpjets, BAP, AMS, tons of ammo, and who knows what else. Maybe post your build and we might find some things to tweak?
Personally, I like to run four SSRM2's and two LRM15's so that I can engage at longer ranges but still deal with lights or mediums that get too close.

Grifthin, on 10 June 2013 - 11:20 AM, said:

Do you have a source for artemis affecting Streaks ? I was under the impression it had no effect.

I'm pretty sure it has no effect either, and BAP should take care of your lock-on time.

[Proxzerk]

Curious... When the BAP buff came out I picked up my 3rd CPLT, and went with the StreakCat A1 loadout for a while, figured it'd be a fun way to finish out my basics in CPLTs.

While I enjoyed the Streak-a-pult, I found that the average damage per round was still less than desirable (although KD and KAs go up well) so I rolled back towards an LRM boat running two LRM15 with some SRMs and/or SSRMs (tried them both) for when something gets close.

So my question:
What damage are you Streak-a-pulters seeing for matches? I know if I roll back to this build, I still have a learning curve for tactics and piloting, just trying to get the feel for a benchmark.

[Grifthin]

I'm Running my Streakcat with std300 engine (i prefer the standard over the XL since the speed difference is negligible and i've had several rounds where all i had left was 1 "ear"), 6x Streak 2's, BAP, AMS with 1 Ton ammo, 4x Jump Jet and Maxed armor. I think I have 5 or 6 tons of ammo (at work so I can't check).

Average damage per round is 250-280. Much lower than my Hunchbacks.
Kill death ratio is about 2:1 which is not as high as i'd like but still atleast I'm getting some kills each match. I don't think my fit is the problem tbh - I think just need to get used to the fact that I just don't have 45 point damage volley's.

The advice has been useful although i've been having a hard time with all the PPC's people are packing. WTF is up with that ?

[Dragoon20005]

CPLT-A1


just asking is this setup of the Splat-cat very common?

is there advantage of installing BAP other than to counter ECM lights


8 tons of srm ammo for Splat-cat the norm?


seem like XL eng is a must for Cats since you need the speed to hit and run