27 replies to this topic

[Lord Perversor]

Denolven, on 27 August 2013 - 04:30 AM, said:

Or maybe, just maybe, it's the fact that a medium @ 64 kph is quite limited in positioning or escaping unpleasant situations . For anything that slow, the equipment game pretty much boils down to getting as much frontal armor as possible, and as much firepower as possible. The AC5 doesn't make it a good mech. It makes it somewhat bearable.

But I think I'm going to keep this one ballistic mech for a change, maybe training a bit so I don't totally suck when the Shadowhawk finally comes. Can the XL235 be used somewhere else properly?
To be honest, I thought about keeping the TBT-7K, but sold it because it has no JJ and wasn't as fast as I expect mediums to be (100+), and allaround less versatile than the TBT-5J. The Blackjack however has JJ and the weapons are arm-mounted. If the engine could be used somewhere else too, I might want to give it a try. If only my aiming was better...

It's Dangerous to go Alone take this

Also listen to Quinton advices he pretty much sums it up.

The Blackjack it's mostly a support mech (not mean for close combat aside the 1X) the arm elevation and lack of arm twist it's one of the reasons.

While the Ghost heat it's annoying (to avoid it fire your 2x Ac/2 together) and the Ac/2 heat it's quite high you need to keep an eye on heat, this mech allow you to only show the upperside of the cabin and get a clear line of fire.
As example if the terrain only blocks less than half your cockpit glass you can fire without expose longer yourself.

The trick with 2x Ac/2 it's the same as playing a mobile sniper position, position, position you need to stay close to the Heavy/Assault mech but also a bit separated in a different angle of fire, when they engage it's when you show up a bit and fire your dual Ac/2 to the weakened sections or to the most vulnerable ones (CT for fresh mechs to soften further, or RT-LT to open up a probably XL engine)

When the enemy notice your fire, they will trace it back to you!! (remember the part of different angle of fire) then when you see them turning towards you duck behind cover and reposition yourself, wait for another barrage from your teammates and repeat. (sometimes it's useful to check your friends Health if it drops they are being focused so good time to pop out)

Always remember to fight at the edge of your weapon range (700m it's ideal) so you can deal the full dmg, and still make yourself harder to find.

After all the use of AC/2 requieres a tight battle discipline, sometimes you get carriedw ith the Dakka, and that's when you screw it since you often give yourself open to the enemy with biger guns to wreck you quickly.

[Denolven]

I've seen multiple times that you don't take an AMS. With a mech that slow, and given that it's supposed to stay near allied assaults due to lack of own firepower, wouldn't it be wise to take AMS and help your big friends to survive? I found that somewhat usefull in my 64 kph half-stock version.

[Xeno Phalcon]

DPS weapons can work on slow mediums but only in the situations they are able to plant their feet and unload for a extended duration making them ill suited to most maps outside of alpine, forest colony and a smigin in river city unless they are able to take advantage of a brawlfest to offer fire support.

Personally though I prefer big nasty weapons on my blackjack (which still uses a standard 180 engine, I used to have a 225 in it though) so if some pesky fast mech comes blazing in they immediately wish they hadn't. Jump jets are pretty damn important for a slowjack though, being able to jump over a building on river city has literally saved my butt more times then I can recall as so far no ones succeeded in strapping jump jets to a stalker or atlas

[mad kat]

I don't understand the Moaning on the AC/2. I think it is a very usable weapon its a fit and forget job. The ammo is bountiful and with the fast reload time you can bang away at an enemy. I find it more consistent than its bigger brothers to an extent as i can just get the crosshairs near a target and blast away while still adjusting aim. unlike the bigger versions where aiming first is more important. if you come across someone at close range however the big muzzle flashes and booming can very annoying if your on the recieving end especially when mounted in numerous numbers. its also a very good acompanyment to LRM's which seem to have Woefull accuracy

Having said that i just checked my weapon stats and in the few shots of an lbx-10 i've done i've got 100% accuracy yet the AC/2 only got 33% yet fired it considerably more.

[Elyam]

Following up my earlier post regarding the VTR-9S and loadout of 2 AC/2 and 2 LLAS, one of the reasons it works is the punishment the full-armor Victor can take combined with well-used jet agility. I can keep the light cannons on target for long periods, giving them the time they need to drill deep. I can remain in LOS of the target (and others) for quite some time. All I can say is, it works well. Only had a chance to be in one match last night, and I had a stretch of about 1 minute where I was able to keep two lances busy, shredded them badly, bought my team time to regroup, and after I fell to the combined fire of 8 or 9 mechs, they fell to their wounds in moments. While I didn't make it out standing, the score showed 3 kills, 8 assists, over 750 damage. And I certainly can't claim to be better than perhaps 60-70% of pilots (i.e., I'm good, but not top tier). It's an intriguing data set for the effectiveness of multiple AC/2 on a high-mobility assault mech.

To address the medium mech concern, could I do it with a Centurion-D? No, not the same role. I've used a 2 AC/2 2 MLAS 320XL CN9-D and it's valuable, but needs to hit cover much more often as others have described when it comes to medium survivability. The AC/2 practically fires tracer rounds, and they know where you are quickly. But to be clear, I would take it as often as a dual AC/5 or mono AC/5, AC/10, LB10, or Gauss CN9 (though I think the dual AC/5 Cent is best in its class).

Edited by Elyam, 27 August 2013 - 08:17 AM.

[Denolven]

I tried both the Blackjack and my Dragon 1N with double AC/2, and I must say I'm very surprised that it actually works. In fact so surprised that I completely forgot why I hated it so much.
Proper aggro management allows to utilize dps, and as long as they are the only used weapon, the heat is manageable. I could increase my damage output by factor 2-3. Plus the dakka is fun, so overall it's a big win.

The damage stats alone are not that good, because other weapons like the bigger ACs or the common sniper weapons still hit harder and more focused. But it seems the shaking throws them off so much that in conjunction with classical skirmishing tactics it works wonders.

Thanks everyone for your tipps. The enlightenment has finally arrived


PS: I'll put a summary in the opening post, in case other newbies have the same troubles.

[xengk]

Elyam, on 27 August 2013 - 07:55 AM, said:

To address the medium mech concern, could I do it with a Centurion-D? No, not the same role. I've used a 2 AC/2 2 MLAS 320XL CN9-D and it's valuable, but needs to hit cover much more often as others have described when it comes to medium survivability. The AC/2 practically fires tracer rounds, and they know where you are quickly. But to be clear, I would take it as often as a dual AC/5 or mono AC/5, AC/10, LB10, or Gauss CN9 (though I think the dual AC/5 Cent is best in its class).

The UAC/5 combo very well with an AC/2, both having almost the same firing rate(2shots in 1.1 and 0.52s) and range(720~2100m and 600~1800m).

After the recent buff to UAC/5 I have switched out the AC/20 on my YLW and replace with the UAC5/2 combo.
The change improve my range and DPS, I potentially can fire 7xUAC/5 and 7xAC/2 in the same amount of time to fire 1 shot of AC/20, more than double my damage as long as the UAC/5 doesn't jam.

Last night just had a match with over 700 damage, with multiple kills and assist.

[Elyam]

Indeed. I just prefer the reliable, non-jamming cannons. I need my attention on maneuver and aim and have no more neural room left to attend to the 'babysit the timing' anti-jam awareness. But many people swear by the ultras.

Edited by Elyam, 29 August 2013 - 08:00 AM.