155 replies to this topic

[BrokenDog]

Hi I'm a Locust pilot and I need therapy!

Locust: hero to zero in alternating matches

Best score: 777. (yeah, i know, no print never happened.)
Most Kills: 6 (3 did not even look at me, 1 complete fluke and 2 good fights. Lost game and died)
Shortest game: 38 seconds!!!
Too many games with zero damage to mention.

LCT-1V(P) XL190 1ml 4mg
LCT-3M XL190 4ml 1TAG
LCT-3S XL190 1mpl 2srm2
There are far better builds, but these are what are working for me at the moment.

25 hours in a Locust cockpit cleared.

DO NOT STOP MOVING!! Even when you are sure that it is safe!!
Do not cross in front of a CTF under any circumstances!! The enemy ones or your own team mates!!

I run, I spot. I snipe. I irritate, I die alot!!
I carry artillery and air strike!!

Please run to the red smoke for the instant power up and the gift of yummy candy!

Dream Hero Locust: 1/2E, 1/2B, 1/2M, and ECM! You would never be happy with it!

20 tonners will have a place when weight limits come into place.

[Cimarb]

BrokenDog, on 15 January 2014 - 06:35 AM, said:

Hi I'm a Locust pilot and I need therapy!

Locust: hero to zero in alternating matches

Best score: 777. (yeah, i know, no print never happened.)
Most Kills: 6 (3 did not even look at me, 1 complete fluke and 2 good fights. Lost game and died)
Shortest game: 38 seconds!!!
Too many games with zero damage to mention.

LCT-1V(P) XL190 1ml 4mg
LCT-3M XL190 4ml 1TAG
LCT-3S XL190 1mpl 2srm2
There are far better builds, but these are what are working for me at the moment.

25 hours in a Locust cockpit cleared.

DO NOT STOP MOVING!! Even when you are sure that it is safe!!
Do not cross in front of a CTF under any circumstances!! The enemy ones or your own team mates!!

I run, I spot. I snipe. I irritate, I die alot!!
I carry artillery and air strike!!

Please run to the red smoke for the instant power up and the gift of yummy candy!

Dream Hero Locust: 1/2E, 1/2B, 1/2M, and ECM! You would never be happy with it!

20 tonners will have a place when weight limits come into place.

Artillery strike needs nerfed, but that is beside the point. It really does need nerfed though...

You should try an ERLL in any of those chassis. It is a great harassing weapon, as it lets you light up and harass a huge group of enemies while still being far enough away to drop behind cover before they can return fire. It also has enough sting that they take notice. While it does less damage than a PPC, the perceived damage is much higher. Just be prepared to run back to your lines quickly once they bite.

[BrokenDog]

Tried the LL and the erLL. Just did not suit me. .
Had a run carrying just an erLL where i was kissed for about 10% damage in the CT and it took out the laser.
Ran around with nothing! Felt kind of wrong.

LL, erLL and LPL seem to work well for quite a few people out there.

Having been on the end of artillery and air strikes, i thought it could well be the correct use for two slots on a Locust.
FAO/FAC sounds like a roll for the Locust. A TAG on the 3M always seems right to me.

[Cimarb]

BrokenDog, on 16 January 2014 - 04:58 AM, said:

Tried the LL and the erLL. Just did not suit me. .
Had a run carrying just an erLL where i was kissed for about 10% damage in the CT and it took out the laser.
Ran around with nothing! Felt kind of wrong.

LL, erLL and LPL seem to work well for quite a few people out there.

Having been on the end of artillery and air strikes, i thought it could well be the correct use for two slots on a Locust.
FAO/FAC sounds like a roll for the Locust. A TAG on the 3M always seems right to me.

I also have a 5ML version I get better damage scores in, but getting in that close to the enemy is a very risky maneuver, so I far prefer the harasser-mode ERLL.

I don't do the arty because I think they are currently far overused - they need a nerf, especially since I spend a lot of time sniping in full advanced zoom and you can't see the arty smoke in that mode, lol...

[GLIZZY GULPER]

There's a part of me that wants to put an ERPPC in this thing with max engine.

[levitas]

Do it! It's fun!

The key is to cut armor in the right places. Cut all armor from the arm you're not using, cut the head to 5, and take the rest from your side torsos. By keeping your rear armor low, you can take a hit from the front with them anyway (but really just one hit).

That said, don't expect to last long if a light manages to close on you. This build really only does one thing well, and that is to get enemy heavies to look at you and not at your team.

[Cimarb]

solar levitas, on 02 February 2014 - 09:09 PM, said:

Do it! It's fun!

The key is to cut armor in the right places. Cut all armor from the arm you're not using, cut the head to 5, and take the rest from your side torsos. By keeping your rear armor low, you can take a hit from the front with them anyway (but really just one hit).

That said, don't expect to last long if a light manages to close on you. This build really only does one thing well, and that is to get enemy heavies to look at you and not at your team.

I know it's fun to pack an ERPPC into things like this, but I really think you sacrifice too much in this case. Keep your armor maxed, what little there is, and put an ERLL in the center torso to keep it as long as possible. You can't crest quite as well, but the difference is minimal and it makes for a much better distractor build when you have that big beam shooting out.

[eFTy]

So since I'm almost done grinding the Catapults, I decided it's time to get a new mech and picked the Locust since I realyl like how it looks. Lo an behold, just like with the Cat & Raven, I tend to pick the gimped ones...
And after trying a few setups in smurfy's (which are quite similar if not identical to those in the OP), I picked the 1V first, like a dumb-ass (mainly because AC2).
First 10 games were all roflstomps. I tried the 4x MG & MPL and sucked ass. I also tried ERLL + 2x MG, sucked almost as much ass. Right now I'm running around with the AC2 and XL180. I finally got a couple of kills and get games where I do more than 50 damage (usually around 150 per match now). It's only annoying when I run out of ammo. If I was rolling in C-Bills I'd buy a XL170 and fit a small laser in there, but that will have to wait.
Frankly, I don't get why people would drive the 1V with a single ERLL or LPL. The 3M can do that much better, as you can mount it on the arm (and thus fire easier over cliffs or at odd vertical angles).
I like the AC2 build. I just drive here and there o nthe battlefield, pop up and take a few shots, and then hide and pop out somewhere else. When I happen to have a good team on my side who goes in and brawls with the enemy, I can almost safely just sit there and hammer with the AC2 until I run out of ammo. This is, of course, easier on some maps than on others...

[Cimarb]

The ERLL is a very fun build for all variants, IMO, and I always mount it CT. The arms get blown off in a bad breeze, so the less you put in them, the more effective you are farther in the fight.

[eFTy]

Eh, I don't think I've ever had my arms blown off. I've been legged more times than I can count, and my torso has been opened on occasion, but I've never had my AC arm blown off yet. I just need to get money for the XL170 so that I can mount a laser as well, it's really annoying to run out of ammo and then just run around the last two enemy mechs who are barely limping, with no chance of scoring a kill...

[Hawky4s]

Hi my fellow locust pilots.

The 3M became my light mech of choice. It's so much fun speeding around, sneaking behind the largies and blast them my 5 MLs through the back side torso.
I had plenty of cool matches, even some where it was 3 large / assaults vs my legged bug.

My loadout:

5 ML + XL190 + BAP

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...e4627a490eef319
+ SEISMIC SENSOR
+ TARGET INFO GATHERING
+ ARTILLERY STRIKE

I use BAP and TIG to get really fast lookups of the enemy weak spots, so I know where I need to point my 25 point alpha.

Mechs stats:
LOCUST LCT-3M 356 193 161 1.20 361 229 1.58 106,191 293,578 1 day 10:48:55
Cheers!

[Charons Little Helper]

Step 1 = Never play the locust

Step 2 = Prosper

[Haji1096]

I was having trouble with the 3S until I came up with this build (stupid yet fun):

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...b0f38bdaca43ab0

Armor: 71
Engine: XL190
Upgrades: ES, FF, DHS, ARTEMIS
HS: 3 DHS
Armament: 4 Streak SRM2 /w 2 tons of ammunition

The basic premise is that a Locust has so little armor that you are basically already dead anyway. Most of time you will get legged, or CT cored. Place armor on CT, LL, and RL.

Never stop moving and never engage alone. It helps to run this mech alongside more threatening light mechs (Firestarter). Use your speed to find an isolated target, maintain distance until Firestarters engage, now go in and unload. When the target is close to death, break off and find another target for the rest of your lance.

You scout for scout mechs!

Edited by Haji1096, 12 March 2014 - 07:40 AM.

[Chacky]

Ty for this very good guide, helped me a lot ^^

BUT I encountered an error of yours when trying to rebuild your 3Streak LCT-3S.

: You forgot about the ammo for the streaks, so it doesnt really work

[Buckminster]

One ton of Streak ammo isn't enough, IMO. I'd rather drop the 3rd streak and add more ammo.

[PraetorGix]

I am a (pretty experienced I might say) Locust pilot too, and I liked most of your guide. I even found a bit or two of info that I never put into practice and sounds good. But I really disagree with your building style. I would never ever ever take a brittle mech like this without AMS, and having 3 SSRM launchers with only 1 ton of ammo is amusing to say the least... Aside from that, good job on the guide, I hope it encourages other people to try this mech, if only for the underdog thrill.

[Shadey99]

I'm glad to see this thread is still going. Some of you should notice that it was created just days after the Locust was first released back on the 18th of October in 2013. I haven't updated it much since then as I took a break in December (It had begun to feel to much like I was doing the same thing for the six months I'd been playing). I'm still not back yet as my time has been tight lately and money even tighter.

For those finding issues with builds that did in fact work correctly when I first made them, I would suggest you do up a new version and post a link to it in your replies. Eventually I'll find the time to be back in the game and update the original post using your links.

Have fun.

[Cimarb]

Shadey99, on 19 March 2014 - 07:54 AM, said:

I'm glad to see this thread is still going. Some of you should notice that it was created just days after the Locust was first released back on the 18th of October in 2013. I haven't updated it much since then as I took a break in December (It had begun to feel to much like I was doing the same thing for the six months I'd been playing). I'm still not back yet as my time has been tight lately and money even tighter.

For those finding issues with builds that did in fact work correctly when I first made them, I would suggest you do up a new version and post a link to it in your replies. Eventually I'll find the time to be back in the game and update the original post using your links.

Have fun.

In case you didn't read it already, the Locust is getting a hitbox fix for its legs, which should help quite a bit on its survivability. I don't play my locust much since I mastered it (I'm not really a light pilot, to be honest), but I did love the Locust while leveling it, so I hope to see lots more of them in matches soon.

Too bad we can't get an ECM version... That would be a fun mech to play...

[Rampancy]

Been rocking the 3M with the standard 5Mlas build. Extremely good mech if you can avoid going 1v1 with lights. Can run circles around most other mechs, I usually average 450+ damage/game with this thing.

[jper4]

something i've messed around with lately LCT 3S (3SRM2 w/2tons ammo, MPL, xl185). one less launcher lets the ammo last a bit longer (33 shots vs 25 for the 4srm version) heat is a comfy 48% efficency even with the MPL upgrade from the ML and speed is still decent at 164kph. has worked pretty well (in locust terms) as the MPL can get the damage in one spot quicker than the ML when zooming around, and leg seeking pulse lasers tend to scare other lights more than regular lasers when they come by to visit while still have enough srms to make nice chain firing puffs of explosions on those mechs that would squash you if they saw you.

[smurfy]http://mwo.smurfy-ne...e98d681753782cd[/smurfy]

(i'm bad at linking stuff so hope this works)