Steel Claws, on 08 September 2013 - 01:51 PM, said:
You actually could mount the large laser but there is no point. A C4 is a sitting duck once the enemy close and 2 MPL might make you feel better but thats about all. AS for those lights, again the MPL isn't going to help much. C4s are bread and butter for light pilots, especially if they are alone. The problem with your thinking is that you value the lasers over the tag. Your main weapons are the LRMs - once you start having to use the lasers it's game over anyway. Try this instead:
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...e049806350d4bc5
You then have bap and 2 SSRM 2s and a medium laser for the light mechs - and yes you can shoot the SSRMs as long as you dont have 2 ECM mechs on you. If you prefer you can take off the SSRM2s and 1 ton of LRM ammo and install 2 SRM 4s instead. If you want a JJ you can drop a ton of ammo but there isnt much need since you are going to be wanting to keep a low profile anyway. The importance of tag cannot be over stated for a LRM using mech. Then for modules you load Advanced Target decay, Advanced sensor range, and a Advanced UAV.
That said I dont use tag on my LRM using Highlander because I back the LRMs (1 LRM 20 and 2 LRM 10) with 2 PPCs - which cancels ECM for a few seconds. I can still usually do 450+ damage and get a few kills with it each drop - despite how "ECM shuts everytrhing down". If ECM bothers you, take the stuff that cancels it out.
First, you're right about the large laser... my bad, I thought it was three slots, not 2. Still, I'm glad we agree that the point stands: It's silly for me to have to waste that second energy slot and all that tonnage just to be able to plink at a group of mechs under an ECM umbrella.
Second, I appreciate the advice. Any new players interested in a good C4 build could do a lot worse than taking a look at your Smurfy's link. The scenario I posited above was strictly a hypothetical (but nonetheless realistic) response to Taemien's assertion that ECM is simply an obstacle that is easily overcome with skill/build solutions, and not a game imbalance. That's not a loadout I run (I don't post my own loadouts. It's not some big pretentious mystery, just superstitious, I guess
).
But again, I think we at least agree that in the above scenario appx. 20+ tons (don't forget to include that BAP, the Artemis, and the Ammo!) of my mech's 65-ton total weight has been rendered utterly inert, and no amount of skill is going to get around that. You have LRMs. They have ECM. Your weapon flat out doesn't work. Not "It's fire-rate is slower." Not "It generates more heat." Not "It doesn't do as much damage." You've got the Atlas in your cross hairs. Well within your maximum range. Well outside your minimum range (Suck it and cry me a river, PPC-nerf grievers! You have no idea!). You could zoom in and watch the pilot pick his nose while he trudges through the open like a dumb*ss, as only ECM-equipped mechs can. You pull the trigger and... you're playing lawn-darts 50m in front of you. No other weapon in the game has to cope with that kind of 'balance.' Then again, no other weapon has you fitting out tons of extra {Scrap} like Artemis and BAP, or wasting energy slots and tons on TAG, just to get them to work as advertised. No other weapon has you shooting at targets with anti-whatever systems that soak up 5-7 points of each hit (more if he's next to his buds and they have them too) or a special Betty warning telling your target each time they're being shot at. No other weapon has a hang-time like Jordan's that the slowest mechs can find cover from before it hits and the faster mechs can almost outrun... but I digress.
You say that if ECM bothers me so much, I should just take the stuff that cancels it out...
*sigh* more stuff. More slots, More tonnage, More C-Bills, just to get some damage out of the weapons I've already paid all of that for just like everyone else, only I field LRMs, so I still have to buy more... stuff. In the above hypothetical, the only solution is to field a TAG, and that is a half-*** solution that forces me in the immediate sense to break cover and shine the red glow-in-the-dark kick-me sign (INSERT GAUSS ROUNDS HERE) while in the long-term build sense pretty much forces me to be a "boat" with nothing but a single medium laser once I'm out of ammo or my "ears" get shot off. Taemien thinks boating= suck. You said he was right, and now you're telling me that once my LRMs are useless (the only weapon in the game that can have that happen without anyone doing anything except clicking on a certain mech and then clicking on 'ECM' in the mechlab... skill solutions, right Taemein? Whatta joke.) I'm pretty much running for my life.
So answer me this, Steel Claws: What do mechs with Ballistics as their primary weapons have to waste tonnage and slots on to counter ECM? What do mechs with energy as their primary weapons have to waste tonnage and slots on to counter ECM? Heck, even SRM-users can pull the trigger and get something out of an ECM-equipped target. What's so important to game- balance about making some mechs and the mechs standing next to them invulnerable to LRMs? Especially when everyone agrees that LRMs
aren't very effective aren't competitive weapons suck?
Of course, that line of thought leads me to flip your question over and ask: Why do you think there's so much resistance to the idea of making ECM counters available for a wider variety of builds? Are these ECM-players so dependent on their crutches that they can't walk without them? Is the only reason they're running Atlases and Spiders and what have you because they can't figure out how to break a lock or elude a sensor without ECM to do it for them? That's MWO 101 right there; "noobs" figure it out in thier first week. There's a now-famous diagram going around to show you the trick of how to break a missile lock... So what does that say about these pilots? Are these mechs useless without ECM as-is? What does that say about the state of ECM balance?
Whole lotta "pros" out there, scared to pieces over a little rain and the mechs that can bring it... I suppose I should be flattered
.
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