Posted 07 January 2016 - 02:29 PM
As a fella who appreciates light mechs, and most of all the spider, I felt compelled to respond to this post and thank you for it.
And of course, I had to chime in on my two favourite mwo subjects: SPIDERS and lights in general.
As far as hero mechs and light mechs go, and even mechs in general, I have to say the Anansi is one of the BEST.
In the hands of an experienced light pilot, it's a murder-machine.
In the hands of a scrub/biscuit/inexperienced light pilot: ( Advice/encouragement for new players and new light pilots below!)
it is one of the best light mechs to hone your light piloting skills. It has better survivability than the locust or the commando, so it's a bit more forgiving there (morale can be a valuable thing when you are trying to practice lights). At the same time, it runs in the same speed and tactical bracket, so you really get training in traditional, run and gun, backstabbing and dodging style of light mech play (The BEST Play! HAHAHA no bias here).
This is in contrast to the Arctic Cheetah or the Firestarters, which encourage more of a "stop. aim. fire alpha." type of game play. I'm not saying one style is better than the other (overtly at least, lol), but you WILL find that once you get good at dodging the alpha strikes from these mechs, a majority of pilots you run into won't be able to hold their own in a traditional dogfight with a skilled SDR-A pilot. When you are up against one that CAN, get back amongst your buddies, ASAP!
If you aren't practised in timing/leading the target with SRM's, you'll have a bit of a learning curve in the beginning.
I recommend NOT using streaks to try to avoid this, because you are really hobbling one of the primary features that makes the Anansi stand out as a giant slayer and cheeto-dogfight-capable machine. The sooner you learn to fling srms while doing high speed 180 degree turns and 148+ kph circles, the better.
But once you master that, AND become proficient at dogfighting the "I stop to shoot" laser boat lights , you can become an incredible terror on the battlefield, especially in solo que matches.
Someone posted a version that runs 2xERLL on mechspecs, and referred to it as the meta build. This may be true for running sdr-a in higher tier matches...
But when it comes to the solo/pug game, I would say the meta build(s) are definitely the ones that involve srm4-6, two pulse lasers (small or medium depending on what you're willing to give up in other areas), and two machineguns.
Personally I tend to opt for the small pulse lasers, srm 4 ARTEMIS (it's amazing how fast you'll take down a JAG or a Timber if you can get behind him for a few salvos), and the two machineguns.
Throw a uav and an artillery strike on there so you can run through a concentration of enemy mechs, provide your team with intel and locks (and yourself with some substantial c-bill and xp bonuses) as you drop some red smoke at their feet so they have something other than you to consider while you're exposed.
The benefits of a well placed uav (and a team with the comprehension and motivation to act on the intel) can easily swing the game in your team's favour.
2
the Urbie has proven you should be able to do a uac5 and 2 ml. Maybe an xl190? I had 3ml and uac w/xl180 on an Urbie but the uac jammed constantly on me so I went with an ac5 instead.
