39 replies to this topic

[Dagger6T6]

Well as a Catatpult collector I ended up buying the Jester. When it was first announced I really thought I would just hate it. A hero Cat without missiles. I really wanted a missle hero but all the other variants basically had that layout covered, so not much more could be done. The dual AMS, jumpjets, and the higher engine cap (97.8kph with speed tweak) was enough to entice me. I was not a fan of the paint really at all.

It is a decently capable mech. The 2 jumpjets are sufficient enough, the paint scheme can be changed to be more subdued and if you wish with the right color combo you can completely hide the smile and cat eyes. I agree the all energy builds can be tedious with the current state of the meta, and you have to work a lot harder to get good damage as opposed to just leaning on the trigger of an autocannon. I ran 2 large lasers and 4 mediums to good effect... also ran the 6 medium laser Cicadapult as Garth called it. It was pretty easy to elite in one evening.

If you are a Catapult pilot at heart you will probably like it, I did and I don't really care for the K2 chassis anyway. If you are not a Cat person then it's probably not the mech for you, but it does provide some options and niche role that maybe some other mech doesn't right now.

[Praehotec8]

The problem is it doesn't play anything like a catapult, and as a fan of the missile catapults, it just doesn't quite fit well with me so far. Most people who like it so far seem to be those who favor hit-and-run flanking maneuvers, using as a giant light mech. I HATE piloting lights, and find that playstyle frustrating.

My challenge is to find a build that allows a different playstyle than either the plain K-2, or the flanker/light hybrid. What else, besides 6 ML or 2 LL and 4 ML can one run effectively? Anyone have any thoughts?

[DEN_Ninja]

Praehotec8, on 06 November 2013 - 02:51 PM, said:

The problem is it doesn't play anything like a catapult, and as a fan of the missile catapults, it just doesn't quite fit well with me so far. Most people who like it so far seem to be those who favor hit-and-run flanking maneuvers, using as a giant light mech. I HATE piloting lights, and find that playstyle frustrating.

My challenge is to find a build that allows a different playstyle than either the plain K-2, or the flanker/light hybrid. What else, besides 6 ML or 2 LL and 4 ML can one run effectively? Anyone have any thoughts?

This is sort of what I am running and it is much more fun than the current standards. It allows for higher damage burst sets at longer range with the trip LL but has the back up ML for the cool down.

[CygnusX7]

Love my Firebrand but I'm loving my JETster for it's own reasons.
It would be hilarious to carry 4 tons of AMS. It's bummer when you carry just 1 ton and you could of lived if you had more.

You could say it's a Jenner... it can chase lights! Even with a lowly 340XL.
At first I couldn't believe I paid money for something without ballistics.
A lot of fun!

My 340XL build: JETSTER

Edited by CygnusX7, 06 November 2013 - 04:24 PM.

[Kyynele]

I've tried poptarting every now and then, and I've hated it with a passion using the phract 3D, highlanders and victors. I've been moderately successful with them, but I didn't enjoy piloting any of those, so they just collect dust in the mech bays.

But - I realized I love poptarting with this little *******. I've only played this build for 4 matches now, but it has worked wonders for me.

It's just as fast as the regular catapults at their fastest, which I feel is plenty for a poptart. (Not 350XL? Heresy!) It runs surprisingly cool even on hot maps. All the PPCs are mounted high, and even the torso PPC can practically hit anything you see -> you can do with very low jumps not revealing much of your own mech. It has 2x AMS to protect you from the suppressive LRMs you're bound to get your way. The weapon groups feel very comfortable, heat is easy to manage, and you can even alpha for 30 pinpoint damage if you're poptarting in a safe place only going a bit over 50% heat.

And most importantly, with the new torso PPC graphics it looks plain bad-***.



Lots of people like to compare it to the FB. This is definitely something you can't do with the FB. In the last match I played, I killed 2 jagers, including an AC40 Firebrand chasing me within 200m for a considerable amount of time. This is a build I'd confidently take against pretty much any Firebrand build. Not claiming that I'd win, but at least I'd feel like I even had a chance.


(great game, Hirengurth!)

Very happy with it at the moment.

Edited by Kyynele, 06 November 2013 - 05:20 PM.

[FireSlade]

CygnusX7, on 06 November 2013 - 04:19 PM, said:

Love my Firebrand but I'm loving my JETster for it's own reasons.
It would be hilarious to carry 4 tons of AMS. It's bummer when you carry just 1 ton and you could of lived if you had more.

You could say it's a Jenner... it can chase lights! Even with a lowly 340XL.
At first I couldn't believe I paid money for something without ballistics.
A lot of fun!

My 340XL build: JETSTER

Take some armor off your legs and you can fit a 350xl http://mwo.smurfy-ne...9ad280fc5d22e82

[DEN_Ninja]

I don't know what everyone else was complaining about. The camo is frigging amazing.

[Mawai]

Thanks very much for all the great feedback.

I ended up buying a Jester and so far it is great fun to drive.

Surprisingly, the piece of fluff fiction they used to advertise the Jester actually does a decent job of describing how it can be played.

In general, I have used the weapons mix to snipe, flank, support, engage and fall back ... jumping in and out of brawling. Its fast, it jumps, it can snipe and with medium lasers as backup it does a decent job at shorter ranges too.

Some of the good things ...

1) Fast with a 350XL
2) Jump jets
3) Dual AMS makes a significant difference against LRMs ... more than I expected.
4) No other Catapult combines a similar hard point layout and adds jump jets. It may be limited to energy weapons but there is still some variety there ... PPC, ERPPC, LL, ERLL, LPL, MPL, ML ...

One of the reasons I didn't go for the Firebrand is that it didn't seem to offer much new. The fit linked for the FB using 4ML and 2 UAC5 is a great fit ... it works extremely well ... but that is also exactly how my JM6-S is fitted.

Finally, I enjoy driving Jenners and the Jester can be driven similarly to a big Jenner with a lot more armor and more firepower. It's fun! (and I am happy with the purchase so far).

However, I haven't been able to put up the quite the same level of consistent damage as I have done in the Jagers ... so I would have to give them the nod in raw damage at this point.

[Silentium]

Pariah Devalis, on 06 November 2013 - 10:46 AM, said:

• Between the speed, arm type, and jump jets, it plays like a supercharged Jenner. Which is about as awesome as it sounds.

You had me at Jenner.

[Bishop Steiner]

CygnusX7, on 06 November 2013 - 04:19 PM, said:

Love my Firebrand but I'm loving my JETster for it's own reasons.
It would be hilarious to carry 4 tons of AMS. It's bummer when you carry just 1 ton and you could of lived if you had more.

You could say it's a Jenner... it can chase lights! Even with a lowly 340XL.
At first I couldn't believe I paid money for something without ballistics.
A lot of fun!

My 340XL build: JETSTER

so carry more AMS ammo. With that speed ER Larges are largely unnecessary anyhow. Drop to normies and drop 2 H sink, add 2 tons ams ammo.
JESTER

[Ghost Rider LSOV]

I'm a K2 fan, but I was wondering if I should get the Jester.
Now I think I need to shell some cash and buy my 2nd hero mech...
Meow! :3

[DEN_Ninja]

Ghost Rider LSOV, on 07 November 2013 - 04:56 AM, said:

I'm a K2 fan, but I was wondering if I should get the Jester.
Now I think I need to shell some cash and buy my 2nd hero mech...
Meow! :3

Don't go riding in there exactly like every other cat you have piloted. Expect to ride in with the shape of a K2, the speed of a Dragon, and the armament of a capable heavy. The standard 2LL, 4ML is super heat efficient when you give it breather room between shots or have separate smaller groups to fire while cooling down.

Edit: Also help out the team every so often with AMS cover. LRM 20's become LRM 5's

Edited by Tichorius Davion, 07 November 2013 - 08:00 AM.

[Marmon Rzohr]

I still think the Jerster, although cool is a missed opprotunity...

They should have given it ballistic arms. With the JJs it would have become the first flying the AC40

[Moonreign]

In my opinion everybody who is using this mech without PPC's on the arms is totally missing the point. I do not currently own this ($$$ issues currently) but my K2 is the mech I run most often (dual PPC, dual AC 5, XL300). I realize losing the dual AC5's would suck but being able to use the top mounted dual PPC's with jumpjets puts the jester in a completely unique place among heavy and assault mechs and is a much larger boon than people seem to give it credit for. Recently since the announcement of the jester I have noticed every moment when having JJ's would have greatly increased not only my offensive potential but also my durability.

If you pilot a catapult, of any kind, using laser weapons against a skilled player is just asking to die. The catapult has a huge center torso and a huge cockpit located in center of mass making it easy to hit even by accident so using any weapon that requires facing your opponent for periods of time with open line of fire is just silly. I think anybody mocking the usefulness of the jester needs to try something along the lines of dual PPC's on the arms and 1 large laser in the CT or replacing that LL with mediums for more up close effectiveness.

I don't know how effective dual AMS would be but if you chose to take advantage of it that it is just icing on the top mounted JJ equipped PPC cheesefest.

Next Paycheck I am running this mech and I look forward to meeting jagers in battle (not meeting them really, more like seeing them for a fraction of a second as I JJ over a hill and blast them)

JESTER


Edit: I don't like being close enough to my enemy for medium lasers to do any damage, so I never use them (I have 2 on my C4 LRM boat but it's only a last resort)

Edited by Moonreign, 07 November 2013 - 09:45 AM.

[Iacov]

i enjoy the jester and drive it with a similar loadout like my K2
yet i do enjoy machine guns more than small pulse lasers and machine guns work better as a "finisher" once the internals are exposed...

[Moonreign]

Iacov, on 07 November 2013 - 09:55 AM, said:

i enjoy the jester and drive it with a similar loadout like my K2
yet i do enjoy machine guns more than small pulse lasers and machine guns work better as a "finisher" once the internals are exposed...

Iacov try something like this with your K2
CPLT-K2
I find that being close enough to use machine guns with a catapult is just asking to get your cockpit blown out against a skilled player. As a bonus with the K2's great torso twist and an XL300 tracking lights up close is extremely easy. The low mounted AC5's while normally a negative compared to a jager for example become useful up close when trying to shoot a small fast jenner, and lights are fast enough to control the range of a battle so putting yourself in a position to rely on a weapon as week as a machine gun (against enemies with armor left) can make yourself a target light mechs may even single out.

[FireSlade]

Marmon Rzohr, on 07 November 2013 - 08:25 AM, said:

I still think the Jerster, although cool is a missed opprotunity...

They should have given it ballistic arms. With the JJs it would have become the first flying the AC40

I believe that is why they did not do that, same with only allowing it 2JJs to keep it from being a super viable poptart.

Edited by FireSlade, 07 November 2013 - 11:00 AM.

[Pariah Devalis]

To be fair, the difference between a two jet and three jet mech is one whole second of thrust. The first gives the vast majority of the jump power. Two gets on a 65 tonner can get you almost anywhere. More important for me, personally, is that two jets are just enough to wrangle a flying 180. Both for fun, and for tactical purposes, I use that as my baseline for jump maneuverability.

[Lucy Cameron]

It's a fast Heavy with JJ's...I love it!

[FireSlade]

Pariah Devalis, on 07 November 2013 - 11:05 AM, said:

To be fair, the difference between a two jet and three jet mech is one whole second of thrust. The first gives the vast majority of the jump power. Two gets on a 65 tonner can get you almost anywhere. More important for me, personally, is that two jets are just enough to wrangle a flying 180. Both for fun, and for tactical purposes, I use that as my baseline for jump maneuverability.

I understand that but with my style you may as well give me a LAM for how much that I jump. The 4JJs on my C1 is comfortable for me but I find that just 2 is not enough. Plus I have noticed that the Jester takes longer to reach the same height than any of my other mechs.