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Modo44, on 10 September 2013 - 09:17 PM, said:
don't try to be gimmicky.
Above all, this. Avoid "trick" loadouts like wasting your missile hardpoints on a bunch of LRM5s or SSRMs. Last night a "Streak Kitty" (4xssrm2) "jumped" me at point blank range. His streaks peppered me while my med lasers and srms cored him out. Later that night, I charged at a "FlashCat" that was chain-firing LRM5s. AMS chewed up his incoming while my "big boxes" tore him open. These builds may work on the inexperienced or under ideal circumstances, but for every success you will find a dozen failures. This includes "Hero" builds that sacrifice armor and close-in weapons to shoe-horn in as many LRMs as you can. If you want to volley LRM60, go with a heavier mech, like an Awesome or Stalker. LRM40 is about as high as I'd recommend trying to push it in a Cat. The more volleys you fire, the more ammo you go through. The more LRMs and ammo you carry, the less weapon alternatives you can field, and the less useful you will be in the end game once you're empty.
Appogee, on 21 September 2013 - 12:27 PM, said:
We don't want you standing at the edge of the map spamming LRMs as ''support''... we want you to be killing the enemy with the rest of us 
. So please take a more balanced build to the battlefield.
. So please take a more balanced build to the battlefield.Agreed. If you're playing PUG, the first thing you need to do, whichever Cat you run, is add armor. The stock is nowhere near enough. Beyond the lights you will always have to face, you are going to have to understand that in the PUG, teamwork is not guaranteed, so you need to build a mech that can find and hold its own locks, and kill its own targets. You are going to take some hits, and the best way to rack up points is to deal damage all the way to the end. That means surviving. Someone mentioned MPLs because they range exactly at the LRMs minimum. This is exactly why I prefer straight mediums. If you build a fast enough mech, you can keep the enemy in the "sweet spot" at about 250m, then sh*t med lasers, srms, and LRMs all over them.
Unless you are building for a premade group, you will have to understand that you are not going to get to sit in the backfield and lob LRMs. Lights will come looking for you, and again, once you're LRM bins are empty you have to be able to contribute. Furthermore, once weight limits hit, MWO is going to change radically. All these assault/heavy "support" mechs are going to become canards. The heaviest mechs with the potential for the most armor will be most effective at brawling the "push." Cat is one of those mechs. Learn to LRM with your own locks and LOS (think of indirect support as a bonus-way to help your team, not your primary objective) and build a mech that is survivable enough and packs enough close firepower to skirmish well.
