39 replies to this topic

[OneEyed Jack]

Having Mastered every chassis to date except Awesome, Cicada and Locust (because I simply didn't care to), and having the c-bills to do it, I find myself unable to decide if I should bother buying, leveling T-bolts. Is there anything worthwhile about them compared to other chassis?

[FupDup]

Not really. They do seem to have higher durability than the other 65 tonners by a good margin, but their armaments are pretty meh in most cases. Thuds are okay but not meta-breakers.

One fun loadout is the 5SS armed with 2 LL and 5 ML, although obviously you're gonna be toasty.

[Rhaythe]

The only thunderbolt I use reliably is a missle boat. NGNG has a few episodes with armaments for this chassis, so maybe you can draw some inspiration there. I don't run the thunderbolt much at all, and I've *never* run one of my battlemasters. Just not my flavor of mech, I suppose.

[Joseph Mallan]

That was kinda the point of a Thunderbolt. It was strong and durable but not a standout beast. It got the job done with little flash.

[LauLiao]

Rhaythe, on 17 December 2013 - 12:10 PM, said:

The only thunderbolt I use reliably is a missle boat. NGNG has a few episodes with armaments for this chassis, so maybe you can draw some inspiration there. I don't run the thunderbolt much at all, and I've *never* run one of my battlemasters. Just not my flavor of mech, I suppose.

Yeah did the same thing here, have one variant kitted as a missile boat and that was the only one I had the patience to master. Overall, TDRs were pretty meh for me. The Shadowhawk and Battlemasters I loved however. But yeah, Thunderbolt pretty blah.

[Rhaythe]

LauLiao, on 17 December 2013 - 12:14 PM, said:

The Shadowhawk and Battlemasters I loved however.

I should probably have mentioned that I never bothered to buy what I needed to kit out the battlemasters, but nor did I spend an inordinate amount of time on them. I'm curious as to what you use them for.

[NRP]

I'm going to say yes. I actually quite like Thunderbolts, particularly the 5S and 5SE. For some strange reason, I always lost the side torsos on the 5SS and it always ran hot, but it was pretty effective with 2 PPCs or 2 LLs or 2 LPLs + 5 MLs and a STD engine.

[Ngamok]

FupDup, on 17 December 2013 - 12:08 PM, said:

Not really. They do seem to have higher durability than the other 65 tonners by a good margin, but their armaments are pretty meh in most cases. Thuds are okay but not meta-breakers.

One fun loadout is the 5SS armed with 2 LL and 5 ML, although obviously you're gonna be toasty.

Exactly what he said. I find them more durable than the JM6 and the CLPT because i can put good enough weapons in them to run them with STD or XL engines and be faster.

[Deathlike]

I'll consider looking into Tbolts, but they seem underwhelming.

I guess it would be an improvement over the Catapult... and the Jager's Dakka isn't for me (though some people swear by them).

[FireSlade]

One thing that I found is that they do not really do well with SRMs or even SSRMs. All my builds use LRMs with mixed range of weaponry and do well but I cannot break the 1000 damage barrier with them. I love how they look and they get the job done, but there are better designs but few mechs as durable.

• TDR-5S
  
• TDR-5SS
  
• TDR-5SE

Edited by FireSlade, 17 December 2013 - 12:42 PM.

[Corbon Zackery]

Yes!

[dragnier1]

I was thinking if the tbolt is durable wouldn't that make it a decent brawler? ie full ml/mpl + srm6 on 5ss?

[DaZur]

Joseph Mallan, on 17 December 2013 - 12:11 PM, said:

It was strong and durable but not a standout beast. It got the job done with little flash.

Sounds like the perfect mech for me!

[Roadbeer]

I like the S as an LRM platform
Love the SE as a JJ brawler
Just cant get comfortable in the SS, I relate the experience to going through Ravens before there was ECM

[MerryIguana]

Its the centurion of heavies.

[TercieI]

MerryIguana, on 17 December 2013 - 02:18 PM, said:

Its the centurion of heavies.

+1. No glam, no glitz, but take forever to kill with a STD engine.

I mastered all three, but, yeah. They're really, thoroughly OK.

[Tahribator]

It loses side torsos too quickly, which makes it seem durable but the having the CT intact without any weapons is useless. At least Centurion can keep going with CT lasers.

[Escef]

I run my 5SS and 9SE as energy boats, my 5S is 2 AC5, LL, 3 MLs. They are solid, unexceptional mechs.

Best piece of advice is if you're using the 5SS put your longer range guns in the right torso, that elevates them for better firing over obstacles.

Tahribator, on 17 December 2013 - 02:46 PM, said:

It loses side torsos too quickly, which makes it seem durable but the having the CT intact without any weapons is useless. At least Centurion can keep going with CT lasers.

The left torso tends to be a huge target on the 5S and 9SE, as that's usually where most of your firepower is.

Edited by Escef, 17 December 2013 - 02:55 PM.

[Roughneck45]

Nope.

Decent laser boats, but that's about it.

[Bront]

dragnier1, on 17 December 2013 - 01:00 PM, said:

I was thinking if the tbolt is durable wouldn't that make it a decent brawler? ie full ml/mpl + srm6 on 5ss?

That works OK on the 9SE IMHO due to it having jump jets. The 5S isn't bad either if you don't mount SRMs and instead mount a balistic. The missile hump can make the mech more vulnerable than it needs to be.