36 replies to this topic

[Bront]

Falling damage is the greatest enemy of the locust I've found

Yeah, you don't always need the armor, but it depends on the build. On the 1V, there's little reason not to max out armor unless you're doing 4 MGs and an ERLL, but you're also sacrificing engine at that point.

[Kevin Harxen]

ShadowbaneX, on 19 October 2013 - 09:36 PM, said:

Yeah, no. See, lasers aren't coring me...lasers are slowly ablating my armour and then melting my leg structural components. Then, once I'm stuck on one leg, then I'm blown in to itty-bitty little pieces by AC/10 rounds, PPC bolts or swarms of missiles.

As for avoiding combat, hey, yeah, that's great. Thing is, you get XP mainly by killing things or at least doing damage at the moment, so, you're sorta stuck. You can avoid combat entirely, run around trying to cap or spot and getting dribbles of XP. Or you can try to engage the enemy, snipe a few kills or components with MGs or lasers or whatever and get some more XP...problem is they shoot back and then you get that burning of armour and leg actuators that I was talking about earlier.

They only shoot back when you linger too long.

You don't avoid combat, you try not to be the focus of it. The most deadly weapon against a locust so far is an LRM 20 + Artemis and an occasional streakataro. I still get around 700+ xp a game, so I must be doing something right.

Stick with the big guys, and nail people when their weapons are cooling down.

[RadioKies]

I think you can do even with less armor, and a lower engine speed. Use that spare tonnage to cram in more (bigger)weapons/ammo/ams.


Greeting from your lovely neighbour,
JM6-AC40

[TheFlyingScotsman]

The locust really doesn't need a massive amount of firepower to be effective. I usually pass 200-300, even into the 400s and 500s, with just 1ML and 2SSRM2+BAP. (Two tons of ammo)

I think the biggest mistake you can make with a locust is trying to turn it into an attack boat, when in fact it's simply a hit-and-run skirmisher at best. It is more important to be able to repeatedly attack with small arms and live to do it repeatedly than to drop engine size for more burst firepower.

The LCT needs patience, not big fat weapons.

[Autobot9000]

The locust can actually tank a shot from AC10/PPC/LLs in every location, if you want it to...

Wouldnt this perform very well?

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...2bd92e81ecdfe8c

Edited by Autobot9000, 21 October 2013 - 02:44 PM.

[Win Ott]

Bront, on 20 October 2013 - 08:10 AM, said:

Falling damage is the greatest enemy of the locust I've found

Yep. Falling, bumping into other mechs (even lights), tripping on small stones; all just eat up the leg armour.

On a slightly related note: I have seen two locusts taken out (probably through their CP box) by a stomping by a larger mech. One Locust was stomped and killed by an assault. The dead light actually got pushed through the skin of the map!
I killed the other Locust. It was a bit of a mistake. The locust was trapped in a glitch on a cliffside in Tourmaline. I attempted to dislodge my teammate from above. He was dislodged, but I'm still trying to scrape the pilot off my Shadowhawk's foot. o_O One or two points of CP armor might not be enough.

[Avereth Citadel]

So, I finally finished all of my basics on the three Locusts, and I found myself doing exactly this over time with the three builds - dropping armor in favor of more utility, or that all important extra ton of ammo.

I spent the monies to get FF, DHS and such for em all, and I universally run XL190s. It is my thinking that if your only defese is speed, you better get all of it you can.

Of the three Locusts, I found the Pheonix variant to be the most disappointing. Out of the differing combinations I tried, a single ER LL seemed to work the best.

The 3M is like a mini-Jenner, only without the jump jets and less armor. I have had some success both with five SPL, as well as with five ML (you can swap one out for a TAG if you are feeling LRM friendly).

Much to my surprise I discovered a hidden love for the 3S. I really, really, really wanted to run it with 4 SSRMs, but you just can't quite cram enough into it to make it work. You really want a BAP, 2 tons of ammo, and so on, and you just don't have the tonnage to support it. So, I discovered the joys of a super fast LRM Locust - two LRM5s and a TAG and two tons of ammo. Its actually silly fun! Later on I discovered my "Drive By Special" Locust, with a MPL and four SRM2s. Has a decent punch, but you have to know when to take the shot.

In every case, I am running with significantly less armor, as the original OP posited. I still find the Locust a labor of love though. Sometimes you feel super useful and almost criminally fast. Other times you are flying over a hill in the very first few seconds of the game, and get one-shotted by a probing dual Gauss shot (true story).

Having Mastered the Jenner chassis, I really, really want to like the Locust. And I think I do. But there is no denying its a challenging chassis to run.

Edited by Avereth Citadel, 21 October 2013 - 03:26 PM.

[Naduk]

LCT-1V

[Win Ott]

Naduk, on 21 October 2013 - 03:57 PM, said:

LCT-1V

LOLZ! That's a hell of a glass cannon.

[Naduk]

Win Ott, on 21 October 2013 - 04:39 PM, said:

LOLZ! That's a hell of a glass cannon.

iv been running this for a while now , last man alive on my team 4 or 5 games in a row
so in the spirit of this thread its the perfect build

Edited by Naduk, 21 October 2013 - 05:31 PM.

[TheFlyingScotsman]

Naduk, on 21 October 2013 - 05:31 PM, said:

iv been running this for a while now , last man alive on my team 4 or 5 games in a row
so in the spirit of this thread its the perfect build

Also, even if you do survive the initial hit by having maxed armor, it's so exposed afterwards that even a minor laser sweep will quickly remove the internals and leave you dead. This is part of the reason I feel that even with full armor, once you get shot, you are dead anyways without superb luck.

This is a fun build, and just like all the good LCT builds going around, it is underarmored. :3

Edited by TheFlyingScotsman, 22 October 2013 - 09:20 AM.

[Cactus In The Rear]

Xeno Phalcon, on 19 October 2013 - 01:54 PM, said:

Armor? WHO NEEDS ARMOR!? LCT-3M "Sparky"

Was testing this puppy out and other then being REALLY hot it is completely doable and effective, Note the SHS isnt a mistake, I dont have the funds to upgrade to DHS yet so this is a exact replica of my mech in its current state, and the ERPPC is in there cause I had some laying around but no ppcs, i didnt notice many situations where I needed the extra range of the erppc so normal version is totally fine and with DHS would give you 73% heat efficiency.

here is an improved version of that that i had been using on my 3M before even reading this post http://mwo.smurfy-ne...a9de7e98caca72d

Edited by Xanilos, 22 October 2013 - 10:11 AM.

[Xeno Phalcon]

Xanilos, on 22 October 2013 - 10:07 AM, said:

here is an improved version of that that i had been using on my 3M before even reading this post http://mwo.smurfy-ne...a95805432cc7c23

Yeah thats pretty much what I have now, at the time I didnt have DHS but its installed now so my mech looks like, I just have one of the heatsinks in the other torso and the armors distributed somewhat differently but that is a thing of preference. Having 7 tons available on that model is nice cause when I dont feel like sniping I can pull out the ER ppc, toss in two ams+ammo and four medium lasers, party time.

[Buckminster]

Avereth Citadel, on 21 October 2013 - 03:24 PM, said:

Much to my surprise I discovered a hidden love for the 3S. I really, really, really wanted to run it with 4 SSRMs, but you just can't quite cram enough into it to make it work. You really want a BAP, 2 tons of ammo, and so on, and you just don't have the tonnage to support it...

Here's how I've been running my 4 SSRM Locust. Armor may not be in exactly the right place, but it's the idea:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...fbe49fe40890ada

To be honest, it's "meh" - I'm still tweaking it to see if I can make it work. I'm thinking of dropping the engine to a 180XL so that I can squeeze a little bit more armor on to it.

As far as having no BAP, it's really not a problem. As soon as I see that I'm being ECM'd, I turn and run the other way. One ton of ammo hasn't been a huge problem either, as I have yet to last long enough to use it all.

It's been a great it and run mech. Acquire target, get lock, fire a full salvo and scoot. Nasty against other lights, and even against heavier mechs it's enough to make them notice. Just don't get outnumbered - or you'll be an ex-mech straight away.

[ohtochooseaname]

I run streak Shadowhawks frequently. I love to see underarmored locusts that die in just a few hits. Running under armored means that you'll fail even harder against other lights/mediums,so I think it's generally a mistake unless you run some very long range builds and get incredibly lucky.

[Jyaksus]

MungFuSensei, on 19 October 2013 - 10:18 PM, said:

Yeah, I agree. Lasers are your enemy, not burst damage weapons. And yes, you do get the best rewards for getting stuck in it, That doesn't mean exposing yourself. There are always stragglers. As long as it isn't a jenner or a raven, it isn't that hard to go toe to toe with anyone.

Now, the problem I'm finding is that the mech damages itself as much as the enemy does. It moves so fast, that you need to hug hills real tight to avoid flying right off and taking fall damage. However, you're moving real fast and hill hugging, often ending up in collision damage. By the time I reach the enemy, my legs are light orange without taking a single shot. Heaven forbid you spawn right in the middle of everyone. Any bump hurts.

Very much this. I think the module that reduces screen shake should also affect both fall damage, and damage sustained from 'kicking' big rocks and corners of buildings and such.

Honestly, it would also be just fine if velocity while flying off a cliff somehow reduced the damage of the fall, physics make sense, all mechs fall at the same speed, heavier mechs therefore, hit the ground with more energy, IE delivering more damage to their components.

And shouldn't this kind of damage be dealt directly to structural components?

[Jyaksus]

ohtochooseaname, on 31 October 2013 - 12:41 PM, said:

I run streak Shadowhawks frequently. I love to see underarmored locusts that die in just a few hits. Running under armored means that you'll fail even harder against other lights/mediums,so I think it's generally a mistake unless you run some very long range builds and get incredibly lucky.

I run mostly 170s because it's the lightest engine that still has realistic speed, I feel a slave to the 10 heat sink to operate policy, the extra ton gained for weapons/ammo makes the mech feel more useful than going from 137-154kph (Before tweak)

The biggest threat besides banging my tiny, fragile legs against stationary map doodads, is ravens, super fast hawks, taros, and the odd cent with a silly fast engine. To combat this, I focus on weapons that reliably do damage. I greatly prefer pulse lasers in all three locusts, and as far as I remember, it's the only chassis that's made me really feel the advantage.

Streaks in the 3S are fine, but unless you shell out weight for a BAP, you're destined to get eaten by a raven or a spider with ECM, so I actually prefer the versatility/cooler operating temperature of the regular SRMs. Paired with a pulse, and enough sense to shoot at the hip joint rather than the knees, I basically spend most matches hunting other lights.

For fun, I also fitted the 1V with an AC2. Get into a good position and you can sew absolute chaos, leg another light trying to run away in just a few short seconds, and vanish into the sunset.