24 replies to this topic

[BadBird]

For all yearning for the days yonder of loading 9 small lasers on an HBK-4P, take a trip down memory lane! Load your hunchy to the brim with, this time, small pulse lasers.

On my first trip out I had over 600 damage for the round, and that was on a hot map too.

For everyone sick to death of PPC boaters I say load up and let the hugging begin!

I have a feeling we are going to see a lot of these around again. In my opinion not a bad thing, we need more people playing brawler only builds.

Edited by BadBird, 19 June 2013 - 05:29 PM.

[Soy]

No lie, even before the buff I was rotating in SPL in all the time cuz it's so ******* fun.

Running a quad SPL Death's Knell at the moment. It's comedy gold.

AND my 9m spl boat just got even better - it's so good now it's almost legit.

Edited by Soy, 19 June 2013 - 05:34 PM.

[Levi Porphyrogenitus]

I was using SLs on my 4P and it worked ok, but the combination of a severe lack of range and a 90 km/s max speed made it very hit-or-miss. I may well try a SPL build, but I'd be more likely to use a Jenner (F most likely) since it would have enough speed to make the 90/180m range viable.

[Ralgas]

Hmmmm, maybe i should load up the old x-5 and give it a spin ( with srm6 pew pew for extra effect ofc)

[BigMekkUrDakka]

didnt used them myself, but seen in a few games spl "boats" taking first places in damage in both teams (around 500-600)
goodbye "OP" snipers
going to run those on my AWS-9M this evening for lulz

[Keifomofutu]

Levi Porphyrogenitus, on 19 June 2013 - 05:38 PM, said:

I was using SLs on my 4P and it worked ok, but the combination of a severe lack of range and a 90 km/s max speed made it very hit-or-miss. I may well try a SPL build, but I'd be more likely to use a Jenner (F most likely) since it would have enough speed to make the 90/180m range viable.

I tried 8spls on a 110km/h BL-1X. Still wasn't too impressed. Getting that close to my targets meant I got ripped up pretty fast.

[aniviron]

Yeah, just got done running 9spl on my 4p for the day, and I have to say, I was much less than impressed. I run a 5kd on my 4p with an 8mlas loadout, so I'm not bad with it; but for the life of me I still feel like the spl is just worse in every regard. Sure, I can fire more shots more often, but for the same tonnage I will take mlas every time. The 90m range was part of it; some maps there is just no way to approach within 90m of the ppc boats without taking 20% of your armor or more. It's not great when your range is 270 either, but it's at least doable. I was also finding that I was having the 'machine gun' problem; sure, I had better dps, but I had to look at my opponent more often to actually use that dps, which meant losing the hunch much faster.

[Goldensaver]

I've gotta say, I was enjoying mine. I do find the range is quite a limitation though. I do like the lower cycle time though, half the duration of a Mlas allowing me to apply damage more effectively.

I think I've had more luck with it on my JR7-F though, and I'm considering doing it to my TDK. I like the lower heat generation per cycle, and the lower heat/second too. I think it's a good build, it just lacks range.

And I do agree it suffers the 'machine gun' problem. It does have a lot of up time just to keep the guns doing damage. But I've been seeing some success with it.

And to aniviron, I don't think anything could make you lose the hunch faster. It's large enough to be hit from all sides, and even the back of the hunch is still front RT. I've taken to putting 4-6 armour on the rear RT because of this, and it still gets blown off all the time... usually to some high alpha build that takes most of it off in one shot, and then just saves the second shot for when I turn back to shoot anyways. Nice thing about the SPL's is that I can fire off another volley before it gets removed :/

[xenoglyph]

Viable mediums? I don't believe it.

[aniviron]

Goldensaver, on 19 June 2013 - 10:45 PM, said:

I've gotta say, I was enjoying mine. I do find the range is quite a limitation though. I do like the lower cycle time though, half the duration of a Mlas allowing me to apply damage more effectively.

And to aniviron, I don't think anything could make you lose the hunch faster. It's large enough to be hit from all sides, and even the back of the hunch is still front RT. I've taken to putting 4-6 armour on the rear RT because of this, and it still gets blown off all the time... usually to some high alpha build that takes most of it off in one shot, and then just saves the second shot for when I turn back to shoot anyways. Nice thing about the SPL's is that I can fire off another volley before it gets removed :/

The beam time is .75 seconds, it's still 3/4 the duration of an mlas.

Yeah, it's pretty frustrating being turned such that your left torso/shoulder is facing directly at your opponent and they hit the hunch anyway and laugh. I've got mine set up the same way, only 4 armor back there I think. Doesn't seem to matter though, a quad ppc alpha wrecks you pretty good anyway. The worst is when you get hit 900m out and of course it hits the hunch, it's the biggest part of the mech to hit, so they don't even really have to aim, just sorta line up the dot and boom, one mech out of commission for the match.

[Goldensaver]

aniviron, on 19 June 2013 - 11:05 PM, said:

The beam time is .75 seconds, it's still 3/4 the duration of an mlas.

Yeah, it's pretty frustrating being turned such that your left torso/shoulder is facing directly at your opponent and they hit the hunch anyway and laugh. I've got mine set up the same way, only 4 armor back there I think. Doesn't seem to matter though, a quad ppc alpha wrecks you pretty good anyway. The worst is when you get hit 900m out and of course it hits the hunch, it's the biggest part of the mech to hit, so they don't even really have to aim, just sorta line up the dot and boom, one mech out of commission for the match.

No, I just went and double checked. Beam duration of an SPL is .5 seconds, half the duration of the Mlas.

But yeah, not much you can do with your hunch. You can do your best to keep it alive, but it'll be the first to go all the time. Even with only 4-6 armour on the rear RT, I still lose the hunch with RT armour intact 98 times out of 100. Then I'm running around with whatever's in the arm and head. Can't do much with that in most cases.

[VonRunnegen]

beam time is 0.5s on splas (slas is 0.75s)

Edit: Beaten to it by Goldensaver!

Edited by VonRunnegen, 19 June 2013 - 11:13 PM.

[PEEFsmash]

Still a 4 out of 10 build at best.

[Elizander]

I just use 6 and I keep the 3 ML on arms/head. When up close and not in danger I just spam the 6 SPLs constantly and use mediums when things are a bit further out.

[aniviron]

Goldensaver, on 19 June 2013 - 11:13 PM, said:

No, I just went and double checked. Beam duration of an SPL is .5 seconds, half the duration of the Mlas.

But yeah, not much you can do with your hunch. You can do your best to keep it alive, but it'll be the first to go all the time. Even with only 4-6 armour on the rear RT, I still lose the hunch with RT armour intact 98 times out of 100. Then I'm running around with whatever's in the arm and head. Can't do much with that in most cases.

Ah, you are correct, I had assumed it was the same as mplas and lplas still (I haven't had much cause to look this up for a long time ;] ).

[Goldensaver]

aniviron, on 29 June 2013 - 11:40 PM, said:

Ah, you are correct, I had assumed it was the same as mplas and lplas still (I haven't had much cause to look this up for a long time ;] ).

Yeah, until recently they weren't even worth using at all. Not surprised that people forgot how they worked.

Also, on this topic, I've been thinking about this one. It's not quite as strong as a brawler, but it still gets 6 SPL with similar convergence (5 RT, 1 Head), 2 Mlas on the arms for dealing with many threats, giving both things on the arms the same characteristics, and a PPC for helping ease against kiters.

I understand that much like most stock 'mechs, it may not work as well because of trying so much at once, but I'm curious to see how well it'll turn out. I just haven't put it together yet.

[SubRyan]

Cicada builds are quite good with small lasers (beam/pulse)

2B with 4 small lasers and 1 LL works quite well
X-5 with 4 pulses and 2 SSRMs works like a charm
2A with 6 pulses is brutal if you keep behind the target

[Victor Morson]

Small Pulse are pretty good now, but I'd have to question the wisdom of running them on a Hunchback. They're stellar on something faster though!

Of course since small pulse are actually a viable alternative to medium lasers, I expect them to be nerf'ed out of the galaxy when they "fix" the other pulse lasers again.

[Johnny Reb]

Heh, its not the wep loadout its the lack of engine/speed! So, no thanks might try it on my 4P replacement i.e. the BJ 1X.

[SixBottles]

really?`cause if u boat ML instead, u increase your heat by about 5% but triple your effective range...