30 replies to this topic

[xX Evil Angel Xx]

I'm just looking for some good suggestions on a chassis that is known to create a good missle boat. I know the Catapult and Stalker are pretty common, I'm just not sure what variants. I'm looking for a mech that has good LRM hardpoints and a couple ballistic or energy hardpoints just in case i need to scare away a light or medium that sneaks around. Also, I would appreciate some pointers on Missle Boating also. Thanks in advance!

[One Medic Army]

Stalker 3H has 20 tube launchers in the arms.
Stalker 5S has 2 AMS systems for defending vs SSRMs (light mechs) and LRMs (other missile boats)
Stalker 3F has the most torso twist, meaning its less weak vs lights
Stalker 5M has the most missile hardpoints (5)

Catapult C1 has 15 tube launchers in the arms, and has 4 energy hardpoints for TAG and close-defense weaponry
Catapult C4 has 20 tube launchers in the arms, 2 hardpoints per arm, but only 2 energy hardpoints so it's weak on self-defense
Catapult A1 has 15 tube launchers in the arms, 3 hardpoints per arm, but no energy hardpoints at all.

[Roughneck45]

C1 is the best boat for pugging IMO.

Max Armor, JJ's, 2x LRM20's with artemis, 3 MLas, TAG, and XL280.

You can defend yourself with the lasers, have good speed and maneuverability, and bring the rain with two 20 racks.

Assault missile boats can be devastating, but if you are not playing with a group you can be easy pickings for a light, so i prefer to pug with one that can escape and regroup.

[Belorion]

Commando 2d

Seriously though Trebs seem to do ok in a role they are on the edge of.

Edited by Belorion, 12 June 2013 - 11:48 AM.

[Lightfoot]

Artemis is a must. Awesome 8 series have the tubes to fire LRM 15's in one salvo. Catapult C-4 for 2 LRM20. A Trebuchet 5N with 2xLRM15 and 3 MLAS goes about 82 before speed tweaks so it can hit and fade and be very elusive. Don't forget BAP. TAG as well if you want the full deal, but definately BAP.

Edited by Lightfoot, 12 June 2013 - 02:31 PM.

[Hans Von Lohman]

You might be surprised to find the Cenurion-A is a bit of a missile boat.

It is not uncommon to find them with 3 SRM-6's with Artemis, 2 medium lasers, and no cannon at all.

I would at least put on an AC-2, though. It sucks being caught with no long range weapon on the big maps, and the AC-2 works fine in game because they gave it a high rate of fire.

[Cybertek]

I love my Catapult-C1 - 2LRM 15s, 4 Med Lasers, and 720 missile ready for targets. At Elite it cruises at 74kph, and does good long range and short range if I get caught and have to fight myself away from threats.

[Aranzor]

I've run both a C1 and a Stalker as missile boats. While its fun to get a 'rain of death' with the Stalker, I find myself just more comfortable in the C1 since its faster and provides greater maneuverability, but thats just me. However, this is one of the few mechs I've run that I dont use an XL since lights and mediums love to charge in and try to take out my left or right torsos.

C1- 3 ML, 1TAG, 2LRM15+Artmemis, BAP

I'll add that with the C1 mastered you have 3 module slots. Having Seismic, Adv. Sensors, and Target Info Gathering all on 1 mech gives you an amazing idea of whats going on amidst a fight.

Edited by Aranzor, 14 June 2013 - 01:00 PM.

[badaa]

[Victor Morson]

badaa, on 14 June 2013 - 01:30 PM, said:

I raise you your Cent 9AL, and offer the following setup:

Cent 9D
2x LRM15 /w Artemis
1x TAG
BAP
280-300XL

It's a brutal missile skirmisher because it carries solid firepower, is hard to disable with ECM, and more importantly is fast enough to dictate engagement ranges.

I strongly advise against a Stalker or even a Catapult for the missile role. The bottom line is you need to manage your minimum range (170) and optimal range (sub 750 so you can use TAG), which you cannot do if you are going at even heavy speeds. If you are moving at 100+ speeds, however, you become incredibly hard to pin down and keep firing those launchers from any position you need.

The Trebuchet 7M is good for similar reasons.

[Bagua]

I tried many different LRM boat chassis, incl. all Stalkers and Cats, but my favorit since closed beta is the AWS-8R.

Edited by Bagua, 17 June 2013 - 01:33 AM.

[Lightfoot]

Bagua, on 17 June 2013 - 01:32 AM, said:

I tried many different LRM boat chassis, incl. all Stalkers and Cats, but my favorit since closed beta is the AWS-8R.

The ammo in the CT is very dangerous, put a BAP there. Try to keep ammo out of the torso unless you use CASE. Too many hits to the torso in matches and you get an ammo explosion.

[Thejuggla]

I have the C1 catapult, trebuchet 7M and stalker 5s.

The catapult has 300xl 2 Lrm 15 atermis 4 medium lasers and I think nearly 1000 rounds, just and double heat sinks to hav decent burst along with jump jets. The trebuchet is similar with 4 medium lasers and 1 Lrm 15 with a Lrm 10, I think the downgrade on one launcher is worth fitting more ammo for endurance, also took off atermis because it is a lot of weigh and space for the smaller mech, has plenty of ammo too. And my stalker I haven't played it much it has 60 Lrm worth and rest filled with medium lasers, I don't really like it because I find the faster mechs with less lrms are better.

I'd go with the trebuchet or catapult again don't really like the stalker but it is fun to occasionally get the chance to rain missiles upon someone slow who isn't near cover. Overal id stay away from the slower assualt missile boats at first or at least a assault missile boat that could also do a non missle role. I'd say the trebuchet is quite a bit faster and it comes pretty much ready to go(it should for what you pay for it) but the catapult has quite more armor allowing it to take way more hits also a very good torso twist for a heavy you can almost look behind you.

[Spheroid]

Plenty on LRM Highlanders out there. We are talking 50-60 tube count.

[Belorion]

Highlander and Stalker are probably the two best missile boats right now, because they can fit the most lrms. I don't really like all lrm builds, but to really do decent damage you need at least 60 with Artemis. Which doesn't leave room for a whole lot else.

[MustrumRidcully]

This was always one of the best:

[Skyfaller]

xX Evil Angel Xx, on 12 June 2013 - 10:12 AM, said:

I'm just looking for some good suggestions on a chassis that is known to create a good missle boat. I know the Catapult and Stalker are pretty common, I'm just not sure what variants. I'm looking for a mech that has good LRM hardpoints and a couple ballistic or energy hardpoints just in case i need to scare away a light or medium that sneaks around. Also, I would appreciate some pointers on Missle Boating also. Thanks in advance!

Stalker 5s can be set up as an effective missile mech in two different ways:

The 'balanced' setup which I prefer and have great success with (avg 700 dmg per map):

Support Kit:
2 AMS
2 tons AMS ammo
2 large lasers (1 in each arm)
2 TAG (1 in each arm)
2 LRM 20 (1 in each arm)
7 tons LRM ammo (about 1200 missiles)
Artemis
Ferro Armor
XL 300 engine.
12 DHS
BAP
Armor: Max in all sections except legs and arms. Those are set to 50 armor.
Modules: Sensor Range x2 , Target Decay x2
Alpha Strike: 62

It is not a missile 'boat' per say but it is a 'dedicated' missile and anti-missile support mech. Heat is easily manageable. Ferro armor provides excellent survivability (even with an XL), the dual tags work great when firing from cover as many a times one side will be blocked by terrain... this essentially allows you to half-peek out of cover TAG'ing the target as the missiles fly in. Putting the LL and TAGS in arms enables you to use terrain elevation/depression to fire with minimum profile exposed to enemy. Finally, the LRM20s may not be massive missile damage compared to the setup below, but when combined with 2 LLs applying damage on the CT it is, in my opinion, a more effective killer. Dual AMS may not seem like much but many a time it has saved my bacon and saved a team-mate when we are very low armor. AMS now shoots SSRMS and SRMs I believe too so most lights really cant hurt you that much with them.

Heavy Missile Kit:
4 LRM15
8 tons of ammo
XL 300
12 DHS
4 med lasers
1 TAG
Endo Steel
BAP
Artemis
Modules: Same as previous.
Armor: Same as previous.
Alpha Strike damage: 86 (if all med lasers and all missiles hit).

This heavy missile kit is more finicky in heat management but works pretty good if you fire the med lasers in chain fire.

Edited by Skyfaller, 19 June 2013 - 05:46 AM.

[Ragnar Darkmane]

@Skyfaller: I would never run a Stalker with an XL engine (unlike most other mechs), not even a support build. When you shoot a Stalker from the front only about 1/3rd of the upper body (where everyone shoots at) is the CT (indistinguishable from the side torsos for most players): That means that you are going to lose a Side torso before the CT 95% of the time simply because of the layout and the fact that the side torso armor is so much weaker than that of the CT if you max both and you are not getting killed from behind. This gets even worse for XL versions when you are getting shot from the sides (because the sides of the side torsos are broad as a barn). Even if you lose half your weapons with a destroyed side torso you will still be able to dish out solid damage for quite some time even with backup MLs on a LRM support build. The weight you save is simply not worth the price that comes in the form of being extremly fragile. Even if that means that you'll have less tons to spend on launchers.

I have to say that IMO the Stalker 5S makes for the best LRM boat if you are willing to sacrifice speed and torso twist (fighting lights isn't your primary role anyway and should be avoided simply because you lack effective firepower against them as any LRM boat, otherwise toso twist has little impact on using LRMs at range). 2x AMS lets you win any LRM duel and you can install enough back up lasers to be a formidable threat at close range (unlike say C4 or A1 LRM catapults), not to mention the amount of weight you get to spend (after all LRM-launchers with Artemis and ammo are the heaviest of all weapon systems).

Edited by Ragnar Darkmane, 19 June 2013 - 08:07 AM.

[Belorion]

@Skyfaller

Why would you put Ferro on a mech that doesn't have Endo? Endo is always the better option. The only time to ever use Ferro is if you are running both Endo and Ferro.

[Skyfaller]

Ragnar Darkmane, on 19 June 2013 - 07:58 AM, said:

@Skyfaller: I would never run a Stalker with an XL engine

Thats a misconception brought by those who are used to brawling with other mechs. The trick to the stalker is to point your nose at whoever is shooting at you. The side torsos are VERY hard to hit when the stalker's nose is aimed at you. Most people driving stalkers wave the nose back and forth ...something that in other mechs distributes the damage across the chest. Good for them, not good for stalker.

I run all my stalkers with XL's and never really have any problems. If I die because of a side torso being blown it will be not but a shot or two before my CT would've been blown as well (red or no armor in CT).

Belorion, on 19 June 2013 - 09:58 AM, said:

@Skyfaller

Why would you put Ferro on a mech that doesn't have Endo? Endo is always the better option. The only time to ever use Ferro is if you are running both Endo and Ferro.

Slots. The stalker has the tonnage to equip the support kit items. Ferro frees up just a couple of tons (enough to put 2 or 3 more missile ammo) and adds very good armor protection. If you equip endo you'd have good tonnage freed up but nothing to put it into other than your leg armor.. and ferro is a much better choice for that kit. You will notice the heavy missile kit uses endo.