59 replies to this topic

[Training Instructor]

I like the 4G over the 4H because you can run different ballistics loadouts with it, such as LB10X or AC10 + 2 machine guns, or 2xAC2, etc.

[LiGhtningFF13]

Yea definately! Nice fast thing with good armament. But at the end the most important part has the pilot in this mech.

[Mycrus]

Mastered all the hunchies / cents and soon all the trebs.. You can't go wrong with the hunchies or cents or trebs for that matter...

[jper4]

hunchies are a great way to get your feet wet into the medium bracket. i've mastered the hunchies (i prefer the 4sp myself- no huge hunch to target), blackjacks (also fun but generally slower), trebbies (a bit trickier due to their size), kintaros (great for light hunting) and working on shadowhawks atm (still having trouble finding a build i like). never played cicadas or cents.

hunchies are the only one of those that i've played i'd say aren't very xl friendly. blackjacks are probably the most xl friendly (since i always die to CT destruction anyway)

[Timslim]

Got to say...buy one.... personally I didn't get on with the all laser one...overheats like a b........d but the AC20 ones are just plain fun (I prefer the 4h as it has more options to go laser boating if you would rather... ok yes you'll get the 'hump' shot off a lot but you pays your money you takes your choice..... trust me the first time you one-shot someone with that big ac it will bring a huge smile to your face. And now I'm probably going to upset some people because my favourite hunchback is..... the 4sp (maybe it should be just a 'back' as it has no hunch) it has no ballistics but is so changeable that you can modify it to suit almost any play style.... I've run mine with large lasers, ppcs, srm/med lasers and am currently running 2 lrm 15s and 4 medium lasers!! You can LRM boat or brawl (2x srm 6 and 5 medium lasers (49 point alpha!) I think prossibly the best mech to learn the game with! Now as to the alternatives.... Ciccada....buy a light it does the same job...better. Blackjack ok at jump sniping but too light for standing up with the big boys (funny the difference 5 tones makes) Treb...well like the 5j but the rest...hmmm, just couldn't find a build I liked though many do. The cent, I refuse to do a vombie build so havnt got on with it that well though the CNC A seems to be ok ... havnt got on again with the all laser version. If your going for the cent the the Hero mech YLW is brill I love mine its currently topping out at 106 kph with an ac20! The Kintaro... well they fixed the overly large CT apparently though I still seem to get cored most games... but don't let that put you off its a great mech the KTO-18 can carry a 60-70 point alpha if your good with srms (I'm not but I've found 5 SSRM's works brilliantly for me tied in with 2 ERLL for long range killing. The Shadowhawk...ive not got so I cant comment sorry! So all in all should you buy a Hunchback.... hell yes. Hope my ramblings help!

[Archio]

I love my 4H; AC20, 2 ML, 3 SL, STD250. Probably the most enjoyable 'Mech Ive piloted, even more than my X-5 which is pretty damn fun.

Just wish I could find somewhere to put another ton of ammo. 21 shots is NOT enough, but oh so satisfying.

Yesterday in the canyon map I had a Commando who decided it was his personal mission to harrass me and try to kill me, I got fed up and put him down with two rounds, and was immediately ambushed by a Shadow Hawk. I panicked and got off a snap shot, and either I put it through his cockpit or he was already seriously damaged because I got the kill.

Imma probably go for the 4SP next. Unless they add a hero HBK.

Edited by Archio, 01 November 2013 - 05:00 AM.

[Bhelogan]

SDH are by far the best medium in the game (for my play style at least). Had 4 games over 800 damage 5+ kills alone last night in about 1.5 hours of play. However, if you don't have the phoenix package, they will not be available for a while. Hunchbacks were the first mechs I picked up. The 4SP is the only one I kept. I don't play it often, but it is still a viable mech.

[RiotHero]

Well I bit the bullet and got the first one in my hunchie stable.

I got the HBK-4P, I haven't fiddle with much in the way of upgrades until I can read some guides for it. All I did was upgrade to double heatsinks and stuff them everywhere I could. I have 18 now. Also I took the two mediums out of the arms and replaced them with small pulse that I already had to make getting lights easier, then I took one of the mediums and replaced the small in the head with it.

I know it's mostly luck but, my first game with it was 2 kills, 3 assists, 3 component destructions, and our team won. Obviously wasn't me but, I think it was a good sign xD

Also about the YLW, after having the Jenners for so long I really wanted to try something with arms that move side to side and up and down. I was looking at it for some time until I found out about the arm lock.

I'm sure the 4SP will be my main Hunchie but, there is something so fun about all of these lasers.

[Fuggles]

Well as someone mentioned earlier, if you've only played lights before, your going to be lumped in with all the new players . This means your first 10-20 games will basically be freebies to learn the chassis until your elo goes up a bit.

The hunchback is simply a fantastic chassis, very nice to pilot. Good visibility, torso twist, arm movement. To do well in it I highly suggest running as big of a motor as you can. The fact that it's not an xl friendly chassis may make you feel outgunned compared to other mediums however. You also have to know your role, just like with a light. Hang with the big boys, keep enemy lights off their back and be a low priority target. Then as the match goes on, you can get more aggressive, and play cleanup duty mopping up wounded heavys and assaults.

Do not play like a light, your too big and slow to just run by people. Your also not fast enough to retreat to your mate's.
Do not engadge full health heavies. They pack asault firepower and can match your speed.
You can take pot shots at assaults, but not full drive buys like you can in a light.
DO take on enemy lights! That's going to be the one thing you excell at.

[RiotHero]

Fuggles, on 01 November 2013 - 07:42 AM, said:

Well as someone mentioned earlier, if you've only played lights before, your going to be lumped in with all the new players . This means your first 10-20 games will basically be freebies to learn the chassis until your elo goes up a bit.

The hunchback is simply a fantastic chassis, very nice to pilot. Good visibility, torso twist, arm movement. To do well in it I highly suggest running as big of a motor as you can. The fact that it's not an xl friendly chassis may make you feel outgunned compared to other mediums however. You also have to know your role, just like with a light. Hang with the big boys, keep enemy lights off their back and be a low priority target. Then as the match goes on, you can get more aggressive, and play cleanup duty mopping up wounded heavys and assaults.

Do not play like a light, your too big and slow to just run by people. Your also not fast enough to retreat to your mate's.
Do not engadge full health heavies. They pack asault firepower and can match your speed.
You can take pot shots at assaults, but not full drive buys like you can in a light.
DO take on enemy lights! That's going to be the one thing you excell at.

I'm having so much trouble not playing like a light, it's so hard when I'm used to doing a ton of damage in a game and taking cap points.

I did do a another "free" upgrade, I took the 245 engine I had laying around from my jenner and put that in there. It's actualy quite a bit faster now. I think it will do until I can look up some good builds.

[Fuggles]

some food for thought to help you transition.

instead of capping/scouting at the start of a match like you might in a light, hang with an atlas/stalker/highlander/battlemaster (behind them) particularly one thats sporting LRMs. you want to kill lights, thats what you do best and these guys just have a beacon over their head saying come kill me lights! do not however chase the lights. that is bad!

towards the middle of the match you can start being more aggressive, poking out and taking pot shots but avoid taking fire at all costs. theres still lots of sniping at this point and your much easier to hit than a jenner. if your in a match such as frozen city with lots of cover, you can be a bit more aggresive and make a few strafing runs but immediately return to your team/cover.

as the match winds down it tends to be more brawling and less sniping. this is finally when you get to shine! run around using your speed and maneuverability to take down crippled mechs and then chase down that light thats fleeing from the fight.

like i said, your going to feel undergunned. this isnt because hunchies are bad. its because your going to be going up against 8 or so heavies and assaults on the enemy team every match. lights you find will often be grouped up, so theres no real advantage their either. you cant run an XL, so you your not going to have alot of room for weapons, thats why i prefer the energy/missle versions like the P and the SP.

personally i run 5mediums, 2 ssrms 1 ton ammo with a std 275 in my 4sp. streaks have more damage / ton of ammo and are great against lights. if you want to go with a more traditional srm6 setup your going to have to sacrifice speed with a std250 or heat buy running very few heatsinks, and still like i said streaks do more damage per ton of ammo regardless of what type of launcher you use.

i would suggest at a minimum you run a std250 as youll get full 10 2.0 heatsinks internal from the engine.

with the 4p, you can basically fit as big of an engine as you want in there, its just managing ghost heat. just remember small lasers, small pulse lasers and medium pulse lasers do not count towards the 6 mediums in the hunch. i like your small pulse in the arms idea since the arm lasers will be used close up. when i ran this mech last i had the best luck with 6 medium and 3 small, i found 9 mediums too hot.

[Roosterfish]

I don't think you'll regret buying most of the Hunchies. I went with a P, SP, and J for mastery of all three, I ended up selling the J because I went with Catapults after Hunchies. Hint, a SP and J can run basically the same builds but the SP doesn't have the hunch so it's more survivable. So with a P, SP, and G or H you cover Lasers, Missiles, and Ballistics.

Instead I wish I'd gotten a G or H for my third for mastery, I'm pretty sure I'd still have it in my stable.

For advice I'll only give you this, Patience and timing. Patience is a virtue and it's doubly so in a Hunchie, timing makes or breaks the success of your attacks. Learn to commit at the right time and you'll be devastating to the opposing team, commit at the wrong time and you'll just be a smoking pile of slag.

How I prefer to play my P and SP is at the beginning of a match I escort heavies or assaults. I try to keep lights shooed away and provide AMS coverage. When the fight starts I try to attack my big buddies targets to provide support. Be fast and flexible to respond to any emergencies that might pop up. After the main fight has developed is when I start picking targets to terminate, when armor is stripped from a mech it becomes a tasty target for 6 ML hunch punch or 2 SRM6 blast. If all goes well after the main fight you just help in the clean up.

If things go bad in your Hunchie don't panic, you're a freaking Hunchie pilot, try to take one with you to Valhalla, and make them think they'd tried to grab a tiger by the balls.

[LordVanquish]

This is from someone who loved Hunchies to death in Closed Beta and still refuse to pilot a Centurion:

It's not THAT bad of a mech, but if you are able to get one now, get a Shadowhawk instead! It is a better Hunchback in almost every way.
Failing that, I would even recommend a Blackjack over a Hunchie if you know how to pilot one well.

I really hope that PGI buffs the Hunchback and other mediums more than what they have previously, because its honestly not as good as some of the newer mechs at all.

Note: I am NOT saying that it is bad, unusable, etc (anyone can use any mech and do well in it once in a while), but other mechs can do the same job even better.

[YueFei]

SchwarzerPeter, on 31 October 2013 - 02:30 AM, said:

The hunch of the 4H is a bit smaller than in the 4G. So the if you plan to use only one AC the 4H is better.

The energy hardpoints in the 4H are a bit low though. There is a common build with 4 SL and 1 ML but i find 3 ML more usefull due to its range.

Using more than 1 ballistic in the 4G is pretty hard with a Std engine. And an Xl is a very bad idea. Some argue that you are useless without your hunch anyway, but the Hunchy is a pretty good zombie.
I had some nice games with just that 1 ML in the head left.

It's not just about being able to continue fighting without your Hunch. Some people overlook the fact that you can use your left torso as a shield, lose that shoulder, and continue fighting (and continuing to use that shoulder to soak hits to mitigate damage to your CT by 50%).

If you run an XL engine in your Hunchback, you can't do that. You die as soon as you lose that left shoulder. And you do zero DPS when you're dead.

[Narcissistic Martyr]

Another good idea for hunchies is to put all but 1 or 2 points of armor on the front RT as you'll keep your main gun much much longer that way.

[Kain]

Hunchbacks are great mechs,

I'm still running my Founders HBK-4G occasionally with a lot fun, with 3ML and an AC20 you can deliver a lot of pain.

Don't run XL engines, Protect your Hunch, and don't wander alone.

Edited by Kain, 02 November 2013 - 11:07 AM.

[Koniving]

RiotHero, on 30 October 2013 - 03:31 AM, said:

I was thinking of moving up from lights and trying my hand at mediums. Right now I only have two Mechs; A Jenner JR7-D(S) and JR7-F. Both of these are mastered and fully upgraded.

I've had quite a bit of success playing these and even more fun. A few games with over 700 damage in the D, with one at 750 and nearly as much in the F. I liked playing these so much I haven't even purchased anymore mechs, leaving me with a 43mill cbill bank after buying some modules.

This brings me to the Hunchbacks, are they still viable? What is considered the best medium or the medium to avoid? The laser boat version and the AC/20 have had my eye for quite some time. I just don't want to get into a new weight class only to find out I bought a dud chassis or that something amazing is just down the pipe and I should have waited


Anyway, thanks for reading and any advice you can give.

TL;DR: You won't regret it at all. In fact you'll have some damn good fun!

Old, split screen Hunch back vid (the audio from both vids are shown to demonstrate its synch before it switches to just one side).


Chase cams (watch me play from Lordred's camera commando perspective)

Spoiler

XL engine. 7 kills, 700+ damage. 2 MGs, LB-10, 3 SPL


Ninja Hunch (back in the 6 PPC stalker days where we had to be super careful so there's a bit of stealth play here.) AC/20 + 2 MG+ 3 ML. I hunt down that stalker to kill it.

Hunchback 4G in its native territory. Hunchback + buildings = God.


Hunchback withstands 13 minutes of base attacks by PPC lights with base at less than 10% health at the very start! AC/20 + MGs + SLs.


Triple PPC Hunch. <--still an incredibly viable rig!


Vids of kicking butt after losing the Hunch.

Spoiler

Surviving losing the hunch


Head to head against more than one Atlas (not at the same time)


The Garage Battle


See also the Stock ones where I lost the hunch there.

Kicking butt with STOCK Hunchbacks.

Spoiler

4G. Skip to 2:53. Yes, I lose the hunch. 4 kills, 229 damage. 2nd match, 1 kill 237 damage.


First attempt with the 4H. Several kills, 691 damage.

Some basic rules:

• For any "Hunched" hunchback, 46 front armor and 2 rear armor for the right torso. The "right rear torso" is no bigger than the Hunchback's fist and only a Locust, Commando or Jenner is short enough to touch it.
  
• For all hunchbacks Left Rear Torso must be at least 8. That cylinder on the upper left torso? It is "rear torso" and can be hit from the front for a fast kill/disable. Protect it.
  
• Your backup weapons should fire faster than your main gun. If your main gun takes 4 seconds to fire again, those backup weapons better be faster than medium lasers. If your main gun fires in 2.50 seconds, your backups better shoot even faster.
  
• Nothing says you can't slap PPCs in the arms.
  
• Chicks dig a man with a hunch.
  
• Before you begin choose whether you want to brawl or play it safe.
  
  • Brawlers need either speed or cover.
    
    • If you're alone speed is better.
      
    • Got a friend with an assault? Tag along in a Wedge formation with another friend in a Hunch or Centurion. The combination is almost invincible. Use the assault for cover and act as his extra cannons.
  • If you choose to play it safe, pack on either PPCs with fast firing backups or a Gauss Rifle. Hunchbacks are short, hard to hit at long range, and their cannon is on eye level with the cockpit (no convergence issues). Enjoy getting people enraged!
• The LB-10 is better than the AC/10 for a Hunchback. Less heat + same damage + bonus damage to structure + rapidly disables enemy weapons allowing you to live longer without powering down as often.

Edited by Koniving, 02 November 2013 - 11:29 AM.

[Damoadius]

Saw is post and felt similar mixed emotions...

I purchased the HJ during the recent sale. Ive only ran it twice, with its standard load out. Thinking now, after reading this and after intense research in general... HBK-D13 ... Is what im thinking of trying.

Im still not sold on missles. As much as i enjoy sniping. I prefer being 2nd line offense then sitting back the whole match.

But if I did try missles...... Perhaps that...

Edited by Damoadius, 03 November 2013 - 05:30 PM.

[Koniving]

Damoadius, on 03 November 2013 - 05:07 PM, said:

Saw is post and felt similar mixed emotions...

I purchased the HJ during the recent sale. Ive only ran it twice, with its standard load out. Thinking now, after reading this and after intense research in general... HBK-D13 ... Is what im thinking of trying.

Im still not sold on missles. As much as i enjoy sniping. I prefer being 2nd line offense then sitting back the whole match.

SRMs have huge hit detection issues at the moment. LRMs not as much but if you fire lots at once you'll have them. Streaks are fairly effective.

I has stuff for that.

Spoiler

I have a rig that runs 1 ER PPC, 1 LRM-20, and various smalls as backup. Runs quite well as a support mech near an assault.

Edited by Koniving, 03 November 2013 - 05:33 PM.

[Damoadius]

Ffs i JUST put SRMs on the missle build i considered using... /facepalm