10 replies to this topic

[Soy]

Triple PPC cheese boat build, used majority of time, probably 75% - http://mwo.smurfy-ne...451c7380ccaa9e9

LL boat 'Multipass' build, used probably 20% - http://mwo.smurfy-ne...96528fb01e6a7ab

Quad PPC build, used 5% - http://mwo.smurfy-ne...7f4d8e48e5228b1

All three mechs were involved in my placing in 2nd for heavies yesterday, maybe this will help some other players looking for that little bit of extra oomph to help them play more competitive.

Remember, cheese boating with PPCs should only be for competitive play, because it is boring as ffffff.

[Soy]

This tourny, for 4th place, I only used trip ppc and quad ppc builds. I probably used trip about 50-75% of the time, and quad the rest. There was one other build I used very rarely listed last.

Trip ppc had max XL, almost max armor, 17 DHS, 4 jjs i think, and AMS.

Quad ppc had 315 xl [still goin 80+], prolly around 43/44 armor in legs arms rest max, 17 DHS, 1 JJ, and no AMS.

* I also took out a trip ppc like above except without 4th JJ and stuck in a ML for being able to tag assists without focusing big shots and dedicated heat to unimportant fleeting targets. This build wasn't something I spent a lot of time dropping in because in order to use that ML correctly, I had to stick in in the arm - my normal trip PPC build has 2 ppcs in arms, 1 in shoulder [unlike most who rock 2 in shoulder], which threw off some of my symmetry and firing rhythm enough to not feel comfortable with this, but it was effective.

By the end of Sunday night I was getting better results in quad, but I bet half my 10 best scores were from both trip and quad.

Edited by Soy, 24 June 2013 - 08:35 AM.

[80Bit]

Cool info Soy. Congratulations on 4th place.

I have been running 2xPPC and 2xERPPC. Have not tried 4xPPC yet.

Do you find the ability to fire more often offsets the missed opportunity for very long range shots?

Edited by 80Bit, 24 June 2013 - 12:41 PM.

[Soy]

Personally I think ERs run too hot, unless you're going just simply 2 ER ppcs in arms like a boss, or 2xPPC + 1 ER. I think once you start going 2xER + 1 regular, it starts to get kinda hot. You can't have that consistent dmg output like you can with regulars. But it comes down to playstyle - can you handle lights with only ppcs if they get up close, your range is shorter, etc.

I find the ability to fire more often offsets the missed opportunity, yes. But I find the ability to fire more often is more important in regards to issues like this tourny where you HAD to touch all 8 enemies - I'd be chain firing single ppcs at 3 or 4 guys sometimes in the span of 2 secs just to get those tags and dip back down as fast as possible. Long range is about dictating flow and pace of the match and tagging ppl rather than actually going for kills, cuz if you were to focus on just sniping down an Atlas or Stalker, etc. from distance then you most likely missed that 8th touch or another easier kill you could've juggled in between the snipe and the guy getting banged on 200m off to your right or w/e.

[POOTYTANGASAUR]

I run this: http://mwo.smurfy-ne...540b8cdb134d6c2 or this: http://mwo.smurfy-ne...7f5afcee93253c2
I run the latter more often because though i have 13 dhs its slightly more heat efficient and i run a variation w/o jjs on my cataphract-1x with an extra med laser that can brawl extremely well. As long as you dont fire med lasers and er ppcs at the same time you will nearly never overheat. The 4 erppcs are just fun i also run a 5erppc variant on my cataphract-1x which is actually more effective which is surprising considering it has less heatsinks. 5erppc - http://mwo.smurfy-ne...ebdeb6fa4366a36 snipaphract - http://mwo.smurfy-ne...66dfc9e79ab2900

EDIT: the Snipaphract and Snipaphract variant on the 3d are very cool running and extremely effective. I have run it many times and to extremely good effects. You can easily break 600 damage regularly and it is not limited by the map. It runs cool enough for caustic and has the range to bombard on alpine. But the ppc boats are just my fun builds and are in no way competitive just for lulz. I recommend you try the Snipaphract before judging it because you will be pleasantly surprised with its power.

Edited by POOTYTANGASAUR, 24 June 2013 - 02:49 PM.

[Soy]

Lol the gauss with 2 mls and 2 ers is pretty funny... and actually quite interesting... I might try that out.

Also the 1x, the quint ppc build got me thinking... not about it, but, thanks for the serendipitous suggestion, I might have to fiddle about with a 1x..

Most of your builds run too hot for my particular playstyle at top level of play, but the gauss ones kinda intriguing by itself

Edited by Soy, 24 June 2013 - 01:24 PM.

[AlmightyAeng]

So, Soy, here's a question. Using those builds you CAN rack up huge numbers. Your well-earned tournament place is proof of that.

But I'm guessing you still played a LOT of games.

What % of games using your PPC builds were the 'tourney winners,' what % were just okay, and how often did you get your face eaten?

I'm honestly curious for an estimate

[Soy]

I'm not that good and that's not really what this thread is about so I'll try and be quick, bear with me I'll just type this off the cuff:

I played more than most people in most brackets. I think I spent more time to get my score than the vast majority of tourny players. My first 2 days sucked, so that right there is like, at least 15 hours basically down the drain... on the 1st day, I only had 2 good games, and was sitting at 7th... Next afternoon when I got on I had slipped to like, 13th. So I spent Saturday trying to find out what I could do to step my game up, and my tourny approach became this: match the meta at the moment where you're seeing so much high alpha, that you can stand toe to toe with them in certain fights and not be outgunned AND outarmored (think stalkers, etc). Then it became, find good methods to tag all 8 opponents and snag kills during this process. This is usually done by playing hyper aggressive first couple minutes, almost suicidal, and hoping you don't eat a core shot and tag at least 3-4 [going for 5-6+ was usually a death sentence]. So at this point, you drop back and start playing tight and conservative, looking for kills, trying to dictate placement of the fight, and letting both teams start to grind it out and hopefully it turns into a brawl where you are in a good position and aren't being focused. You can pick off some kills and rack up damage and hope your team mates are dying off as well while you're grabbing some kills. If by the end of the round you've tagged 7 at least, and it's down to a 2v4 or something like that and you already have some kills in pocket, play super tight and play smart and don't miss shots and grab the last couple kills. Hopefully an ammo explosion here, or a component destroyed there, and you're up into the 500+ dmg 3/5 or 4/4 or 5/3 round territory. These rounds are not there every time. Especially at highest ELO. You search for these rounds like you're fishing; don't force it, feel it.

I probably played at least 24 hours in this tourny, prolly a lil more. I took a lot of breaks to pace myself, especially after great or horrible rounds. To stay grounded and keep emotion out of my play. Sat in our units TS channel which was hoppin all weekend and a lot of good chatter, and friendly competitive banter. It helped myself and others stay motivated, but at other times we would all be complaining and I wish we had Koreanese around to brighten the mood. Times like that i might mute ppl and listen to music for an hour and try and grind out whatever bad rut I was in.

You never know when you will have a good round or not. My first night on Friday was trash, really it was. But my 2 good rounds were back to back, sandwiched in between 4 hours of **** before, and 4 hours of even worse **** after. You can't give up and you have to stay focused and trust in your abilities and the MWO MM gods.

I dunno a number of rounds, but I was quitting out of bad rounds left and right, with more frequency towards the end of the tourny. I'm guessing with that included, I probably played 150 rounds, at least.

I died all the time. All the time. I dunno what percentage of games other ppl were using PPC builds. I used nothing but quad or trip entire tourny. 90% of my rounds were trash. 8% were "so close, yet so far" 4/3/500dmg rounds that were meaningless to raising score on boards. 2% of my rounds where a combination of luck, skill, and playing clutch when the opportunity arises.

btw by tag i mean touch, you know, for assist

Edited by Soy, 24 June 2013 - 02:05 PM.

[PropagandaWar]

if you want good damage and manageble heat try a Phract 3d standard engine no JJ's Equip it with an ERPPC, Guass and No med lasers. Goes about 67 with spead tweek. I checked my stats and suprisingly its my best mech. Its doesn't have the play time my hucnchy does but is a great sniper/brawler.

Jerkoff 1000 meters out? no problem.
Nutbag at 540 meters? no problem
Light trying to headbut your crotch? no problem

[NRP]

The 3D build I keep coming back to is:

XL300
2 PPCs
Gauss
JJs

It's highly maneuverable, simple weapons grouping, high alpha, and low heat. Basically, it seems like it can deal with just about anything. Hopefully, it won't be affected by PGI's upcoming banana-headed nerf.

[AlmightyAeng]

Ok...that makes me feel a little better. I played, maybe, 4 hours on Saturday. That was it. Took out my Riflebrand (2 AC/5, 2 LL, 2 ML Firebrand). Had a number of games I got facerolled, 3-4 that were 500+ and one memorable game of 3/5/752 dmg.

Ending up ranking a little under 200th place, lol. Kinda want to try devoting a weekend the next time a tournament rolls around.

Thanks for the info, Soy