16 replies to this topic

[Trollunge]

okay so the first mech I bought as a newbie was a catapult, probably did not build it right, focusing on putting the biggest LRMS I could get on it and giving it a BAP. Ah well....what i really want to do is spot and scout, without being suicidal.
Are there any recommendations I was leaning towards Cicada or Jenner.
(the other downside is my favorite weapon is the PPC)
Essentially i want to keep my distance run around, spot, and maybe harrass a bit. Maybe an er ppc or 2 the n speed armor and anything that would help me as a scout, but no clue on building mechs really hah

[qki]

Well...

I can vouch for the Jenner. It is the best light mech currently in the game.

JR7-F with some combination of medium/small lasers, double heatsinks, near-max armour and a big engine is a force to be reckoned with. JR7-D with 2 ML, 2SL, and 2SRM4 packs a mean punch, at the expense of heatsinks and/or armour.

You won't do much good with a PPC though - you need to play the Jenner in accordance with the Battletech canon - to wreak havoc on the enemy lines.

Finding a good angle, getting behind a fattie and unloading in his back can be devastating, and chaos is your best friend.

[Ertur]

You can have a JR7-K with a PPC and 3mlas, but it'll cost you about 10.5million cbills to put it together.
Cicadas can't jump, but there's one with an ECM slot.
Jenners are fastest, and pretty sturdy for lights, and can all jump.

[Xoxim SC]

Definitely do what qki said, PPCs on a Jenner is blasphemy. I would recommend doing just 6 ML though, as opposed to a combination. Once you master it, get yourself a UAV module, and you'll be golden.

Edited by Todd Lightbringer, 02 September 2013 - 04:35 PM.

[MavRCK]

Trollunge, on 02 September 2013 - 07:07 AM, said:

Essentially i want to keep my distance run around, spot, and maybe harrass a bit. Maybe an er ppc or 2 the n speed armor and anything that would help me as a scout, but no clue on building mechs really hah

Please don't do this in a light. Take medium lasers and back up your team... Consider large lasers in a raven 3L... but still think of lights as maneuverable assassins. Cataphract 3D and Highlanders make better snipers and with glasses, a good pilot can survery at range with them.

[Trollunge]

This probably isn't a great build but what the heck I'll post it, I took the basic 3m cicada.
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...48096af88f5d080

basically plan to use it as sort of a learning spotter mech.

Edited by Trollunge, 03 September 2013 - 04:20 AM.

[IllCaesar]

I'm obviously new, but just with my limited experience, I've not seen any light mech stack up against a Jenner. Unless they add the Uller/Kit Fox when the clans are finally introduced, I don't see any other light mech being the Jenner when it comes to firepower, let alone its ability to have all that firepower plus jump jets on every variant, even an ECM. Overall, its very versatile, I'm saving up for one myself, and I can't imagine many builds where any of the current light mechs could outperform the Jenner in more than one area of performance.

As for that Cicada build, I think having the ER PPC will hold you back. I'd recommend you replace it with an ER Large Laser or a Large Laser. Its lighter and has more DPS with a pretty good range. You typically won't have a clear line of sight for 900 meters, so I don't think that the ER PPC is performing better than a Large Laser could, and even if you do have line of sight that long, you're probably vulnerable to Heavy or Assault snipers that will tear your Cicada apart. You could also edit your weight a bit so you could maybe even fit two of them on board. I might think about removing your AMS as well, since it'll be relatively useless since you have ECM. The only way you can be hit by LRMs when you have ECM active is if you're being tagged with somebody using the TAG. The AMS is only really doing anything against SRMS, and the Cicada is fast enough that you should be able to out-maneuver anybody trying to hit you with them.

Removing the AMS and replacing the ER PPC with an ER Large Laser or Large Laser will give you an extra 4.5 tons of space. Finally, REMOVE THE COMMAND CONSOLE! Its almost completely useless at this given moment, and the only way it is useful is in a way you're not using it. Thats an extra, what, three whole tons? That gives you an extra 2.5 tons or so extra to do whatever you please with them. Personally, I'd probably add some armour, although you could still add an MG onto your mech, although I think the armour would be more useful. I doubt that an additional heat sink or two to use the remaining tonnage would be that necessary since you only have two actual weapons, because even if their output is relatively high, you'd have to fire them about nine times in immediate succession to overheat.

Edited by MarsAtlas, 03 September 2013 - 11:55 AM.

[NecessaryWeevil]

I know you said you were leaning towards Cicadas and Jenners, but if you like spotting, scouting, and PPCs, you really need to consider the SDR-5R with an ERPPC and perhaps TAG. It's my favourite mech in the entire game - speed, size, jumpjets and ECM make you hard to see and hit, and you can get where you need to be really quick. I even find I can do a surprising amount of damage if I need to brawl a heavy/assault unless they really know what they're doing. The biggest downside is that encountering a light or a fast medium light-killer is pretty much game over unless you can make it back to friendly lines.

[Bront]

PPCs in lights work OK in spiders and Commandos. I'd avoid them in Jenners and probably ravens.

[Ertur]

If you absolutely positively want a PPC Jenner, this is about the best I can come up with.
I've been running something like it for a while, and it really got whacked hard with this last update. Before that it was a bit warm, but kind of fun on a big map where range matters.
JR7-K
You can do the above build with any chassis of Jenner, really, the K is just the cheapest.

All things considered, a Jenner F with 6MLas is probably better, and faster to boot. The 7 tons of ERPPC work better as three tons of laser, 1.5 more tons of engine, and a second jump jet. A Jenner D with two streaks 4MLas has the same damage as the F 6MLas, but with missiles the damage doesn't always go where you'd want.

Dual PPC can be done in a Jenner but is pure suicide; you'd have to give up too much armor and/or engine to fit the second PPC in. Like trying to fit dual guass in a Cicada. Sure you can, but do you want to?
(The answer is no, you do not.)

Edit to add a modest proposal for a Cicada:
CDA-3M
I think this is what was being alluded to before. More armor (nearly max), no command console, no PPC, no AMS (this is a fast build, runrunrun for cover when Betty says incoming missiles), ER LLas, 2MLas, extra heat sink. Should run cool enough. Still has BAP, ECM, and TAG to fit your original intent.
A more expert builder can point out any flaws.

Edited by Ertur, 04 September 2013 - 12:08 AM.

[Rooikat]

Hei Troll Child - there are a couple of mechs that could fit the role that you are looking for. The Cicada while viable would not be a good idea, reason been lack of jump jets & larger shape. It is a great support mech and works as an anti-light support mech. But as an independent scout...its results vary.

For pure manuverability, jump jets are a must. And they will make a big difference for you.

A couple of options:
Spider 5D
ERPPC with ECM, no TAG - One shot option, limited missile support
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...f110a59d46ac04e
ERPPC with ECM & TAG - One shot option, missile supporter, limited JJ mobility
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...fbb3cbdb819305e
ERLL with ECM & TAG - Sweep fire, missile support, mobile - Can switch ML for JJ
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...b12e962d4801621

Jenner 7-D
Twin ERLL with BAP and limited JJ
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...eab533c0ffe3908

Anti light Jenner - x4 ML, SSRM & BAP
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...1c3adf81bd046e4

The Jenner is a very versitile mech able to change and adapt to roles depending on the pilot.

Everything will come down to which is more fun for you and which fulfills your needs...and thats a good proportion of what makes this fun...finding what works

EDIT: Cleaned up double links

Edited by Rooikat, 04 September 2013 - 02:10 AM.

[Esperys]

As an alternative that I didn't see posted, the Raven 3L has ECM, runs at 150kph tweaked, and can still load near max armor 2 mpl and 2 streaks. In the time I've been playing it I only encountered 1 Jenner I couldn't outright destroy in a 1v1 and even then it was due to being on the canyon map making their jump jets a nearly impossible to counter advantage.

The Jenner is a great option, but I would be hard pressed to call it the 'best' hands down as others seem so prone to do. I'm not some pro pilot by any stretch of the imagination but once again, my 3L dominates Jenner, spiders, and commandos on a consistent basis.

[mailin]

Here are a couple of options for you. 1) Spider 5D. Max XL Engine, ER PPC in the arm, 2 jump jets and 197 points of armor. The problem with this mech is that if you get in a fight against a light, it's pretty tough to hit them. Which is why I swapped out my PPC for 3 mplas and am much, much happier. 2) Cicada 3M with 2 ER PPCs. I tried this build. It worked okay, but it was really hot even before they increased ppc heat. I swapped out the 2 ER PPCs for 4 medium pulse lasers and I'm not looking back. 3) Raven 3L. My build has 2 mlas, tag, ssrms x2 and two tons of streak ammo. I have seen people mount a ppc in this one as well. Too many compromises need to be made for that to work for my tastes. The biggest problem with any mech with ppcs is that it is really challenging to hit lights, and if a ppc is your only weapon you're pretty much dead. I have also seen some Jenners with a PPC. Again, too many compromises. What do you give up in these mechs? Armor? They have precious little of that as it is. Speed? That's the best form of armor these mechs have. What do you gain for giving this up? Long range? Lights are designed to get in quickly do damage and leave quickly . . . even before the enemy can ask, "what hit me?" Don't worry about the range, speed > range for a light. All of these builds are possible with a PPC, but unless you're dropping with a regular group on comms, I would forgo the PPCs in all of these mechs. Instead, if you want, run a Raven 3L with the loadout I mentioned. You will be able to get behind the enemy and attack or TAG their rear, and then get away before help arrives. Which is the role of the harasser, right?

Edited by mailin, 10 September 2013 - 11:07 AM.

[DEMAX51]

Esperys, on 06 September 2013 - 07:05 PM, said:

As an alternative that I didn't see posted, the Raven 3L has ECM, runs at 150kph tweaked, and can still load near max armor 2 mpl and 2 streaks. In the time I've been playing it I only encountered 1 Jenner I couldn't outright destroy in a 1v1 and even then it was due to being on the canyon map making their jump jets a nearly impossible to counter advantage.

The Jenner is a great option, but I would be hard pressed to call it the 'best' hands down as others seem so prone to do. I'm not some pro pilot by any stretch of the imagination but once again, my 3L dominates Jenner, spiders, and commandos on a consistent basis.

The only downsides to the Jenner are a gigantic CT hitbox and none of the variants can mount ECM. If you can deal with those issues though, it is easily the best Light in the game. (Second best maneuverability behind the Spider - and only slightly behind it... most & best weapon hardpoints... all variants have JJs).

If two pilots of equal skill were to face off - one in a Jenner and one in a Raven - the Jenner pilot would have a huge advantage as it can out-maneuver the Raven and put out more damage. The only edge the Raven gets is the ECM & Streaks combo, and this can be countered by the Jenner-D with BAP and Streaks or a Jenner-F pilot with good laser-aim.

Edited by DEMAX51, 10 September 2013 - 11:21 AM.

[mailin]

I agree DEMAX that the Jenner can bring more weapons to the table and should win 1v1 against any other light, but having ECM means that the Cicada, Raven or Spider isn't taking damage from lrms until he engages the mech with BAP. If his intended target has a BAP, it is easy enough to scamper off, out of BAP range. Actually one of my favorite tactics to use in my Spider is to engage an lrm boat. If he has a BAP, but no TAG, I keep engaging until I get the missile warning, then I scamper off. The incoming lrms will lose target, and possibly, although not likely hit my target. Either way, my enemy has wasted a volley. Then, I go back and do it all again. I think that ECM is so important to lights that I would be hard-pressed to run my Jenner unless I knew one of my team mates has an ECM light or Cicada. Also, I have seen Jenners with non-streaks and I just laugh. Sorry, but the chances of hitting a Spider with regular srms is very, very slim.

[DEMAX51]

mailin, on 10 September 2013 - 11:28 AM, said:

I agree DEMAX that the Jenner can bring more weapons to the table and should win 1v1 against any other light, but having ECM means that the Cicada, Raven or Spider isn't taking damage from lrms until he engages the mech with BAP. If his intended target has a BAP, it is easy enough to scamper off, out of BAP range. Actually one of my favorite tactics to use in my Spider is to engage an lrm boat. If he has a BAP, but no TAG, I keep engaging until I get the missile warning, then I scamper off. The incoming lrms will lose target, and possibly, although not likely hit my target. Either way, my enemy has wasted a volley. Then, I go back and do it all again. I think that ECM is so important to lights that I would be hard-pressed to run my Jenner unless I knew one of my team mates has an ECM light or Cicada. Also, I have seen Jenners with non-streaks and I just laugh. Sorry, but the chances of hitting a Spider with regular srms is very, very slim.

1. ECM is useless if the enemy launches a UAV. TAG can cut through the ECM shield as well.

2. Lights are fast enough that they should be able to avoid incoming LRMs (or at least get behind cover fast enough to limit the amount of damage you take from them) even without ECM.

3. The Jenner with standard SRMs may not be much of a threat against a Spider, but it'll put a major hurt on an Atlas' rear torso! Not all builds are designed to do everything, and the -D with twin SRM 4s isn't meant to be a Light-killer. (Plus, once HSR issues are fixed, I'm quite sure I could hit the little guys with SRMs too, but I would still opt to save them for the bigger baddies).


Trust me, man. I've played literally thousands of matches in Light 'Mechs. Their current ranking is:

Jenner > Spider > Raven > Commando

Edited by DEMAX51, 10 September 2013 - 11:44 AM.

[Flak Kannon]

I didn't read replays, sorry if redundant.

I think based on what you said, an UPENGINED Trebchet might fits your requirements.

You'd have alot of speed, 100+kph, and enough missile racks to make a dent.