24 replies to this topic

[WickedLovely]

Hello mechwarrior online forums~
I just started picking up this game cause my boyfriend has been harassing me forever so I must ask-
I love the -press one button launch one kind of wepeon pew pew BOOM- kind of play
Like my hunchy with 4 large lazers
But- what other alpha builds with (hopefully) one kind of wep are there?
BF was telling me about a 6 ppc stalker :C
(P.S- I hate ghost heat :c-

[Nemesis Duck]

A girl! Yes, well, how may I be of service?

J/K - My favourite first alpha was a hunchback grouping an AC/10 with 4xMLAS.

[Goose Igaly]

Sadly 6 PPCs will nearly cook you in your seat. That said it can be difficult to find high alphas with only one weapon type unless you stick to chasis that boat a specific weapon (ie the laser hunchback/stalker). My personal favorite build is the Atlas DDC with 2 ML, 3 SRM6, AC20. I don't have an Alpha Strike button set on my mouse and I have them broken into 4 weapon groups, but I can more or less Alpha with it by quickly clicking though the mouse buttons.

Also, welcome to MWO.



EDIT: While they are certainly not as powerful as they once were, Splatcat (SRM Catapults) and StreakCats (SSRM Catapults) are still seen about. StreakCats went away when SRMs were re-worked to hit different parts of the mech instead of focusing CT. SplatCats will catch anyone's attention if you managed to unload into their back armor.

Edited by Goose Igaly, 31 December 2013 - 02:17 PM.

[JigglyMoobs]

I second the recommendation for the Atlas-DDC:



Of course things may go horribly awry if you are not careful:



And unfortunately some people will call your mech a "Fatlas"

[WickedLovely]

Can you Artemis this "splat cat"??
Wouldn't that fix the spreading issue?
(Now I gotta check smurfys to see how much alpha x3 )
(The only problem I have with the atlas is pressing different buttons for many wep's is really hard :X and I just panic and fire the wrong things, Also If I'm playing peeka-boo with people around a corner one button seems really good for saying hi! and then bye.. very very very quickly before I get murderd

Edited by WickedLovely, 31 December 2013 - 02:29 PM.

[Racklesnack]

You would have to spend a little $ but the triple ac/10 or triple lbx ac/10 build on the murromets is spectacular if you're looking for one button mechs.

[Goose Igaly]

Absolutely. I Artemis everything I can. Do keep in mind, though, that it adds extra tonnage. Depending on your playstyle you may not need Artemis. If you are stealthy enough to get in close enough, your SRMs won't have much spread. This will allow you to put the extra tonnage into armor and a better engine (ie better "get the hell outta dodge"). You'll just have to play with it and test it out on the battlegrounds to know what works for you.

[luxebo]

Yes, but it will run hot with ghost heat. http://mwo.smurfy-ne...b78fedd13694757

Splatcat build.

Edited by luxebo, 31 December 2013 - 02:33 PM.

[Lostdragon]

What you want for a high alpha build are weapons that are not necessarily exactly the same but have a lot of similarities in that they are the same type of weapon doing the same type of damage.

The best type is direct fire pinpoint damage weapons like ACs and PPCs. These weapons fire a projectile that does all of its damage to one spot. They have different speed projectiles, so firing a PPC and an AC10 at a target together means the projectiles will arrive at slightly different times and are more likely to hit different locations, which is not what you want. PPCs and the AC5/UAC5 have very similar projectile speeds and are thus make it easier to out 30 damage in one spot. The HGN-733C with 2x PPCs and 2x AC5 or UAC5 is probably the strongest mech in the game due to its ability to use jump jets to pop up and fire those weapons with a high probability of hitting a single location on the enemy for big damage.

Lasrers are hitscan and don't synergize with direct fire weapons. The reason is you need to lead targets with direct fire weapons but hold lasers on the target. Mechs like the JR7-F, which is probably the second strongest, boat medium lasers to great effect.

SRMs are another beast. They are direct fire but they have the slowest travel speed of any projectile, which makes it pretty much impossible to hit a moving target with both SRMs and any other weapon at once unles you are very, very close or the target is moving directly toward you.

[Goose Igaly]

Mr Titan, on 31 December 2013 - 02:28 PM, said:

You would have to spend a little $ but the triple ac/10 or triple lbx ac/10 build on the murromets is spectacular if you're looking for one button mechs.

Something else to note about ballistic builds: their weapon patters are near pinpoint. SRMs will spread over a mech (as will the LB-10x). Personally, if I could remove the SRM racks from my Atlas and put another AC/20 instead, I'd be ectatic. However, when making the transition to single shot ballistics, you have to make sure you hit with the shot. ACs have reload times and if you miss, you've missed entirely (save for the 10x as it is a shotgun effect). SRMs have a reload but if you misjudge the distance and lateral speed you still have a chance for a few SRMs to hit.

[JigglyMoobs]

WickedLovely, on 31 December 2013 - 02:26 PM, said:

Can you Artemis this "splat cat"??
Wouldn't that fix the spreading issue?
(Now I gotta check smurfys to see how much alpha x3 )
(The only problem I have with the atlas is pressing different buttons for many wep's is really hard :X and I just panic and fire the wrong things, Also If I'm playing peeka-boo with people around a corner one button seems really good for saying hi! and then bye.. very very very quickly before I get murderd

I usually do something like this:

group 1: 2xmL, mouse button 1
group 2: AC/20, mouse button 2
group 3: SRMs, space bar
group 4: EVERYTHING. number 4 on the keyboard.

In fights I just press the num 4 button all the time. Or, if you want even simpler, you can do this:

group 1: EVERYTHING but set to sequential fire using the "backspace" button
group 2: EVERYTHING FIRE at once set to mouse 2 or space bar.

Now you can just press the space bar to shoot everything. If your mech is getting a little hot, press button 1 repeatedly and it will go through all your guns one by one.

[WickedLovely]

well, I've been tinkering since yesterday with a hunchy.. had 9 mediums.. was fun, but I find I'm liking the large lasers (4 in the shoulder with an XL) cause if they dead space me, I'm dead anyways, might aswell stick all the wep's there lol.
I do LOVE ppcs, but ghost heat just sucks :/
what we need is the fafnir and annihilator
Or I sell my soul and jump into a jagerbomb (Gauss or ac 20's , only prob I've ran into is ammo goes away really..really. fast

[WheezerX]

Hunchback 4P - 51.13 Alpha

6 Mediuim lasers and 2 large pulse

XL 275, 13 double heat sinks, and AMS with a ton of ammo.

With all my elites this baby moves at 98 KPH and has nearly 1:1 upper torso twist movement with mouse movement.

High heat though, double heat sinks are mandatory. on the coldest map I get 63% heat, 78% on the hottest.

Problem is there seems to be a massive hit detection issues and it never does full damage, dunno how many times I get a clean alpha on a light mech and they just walk away from it relatively unscathed.

Edited by WheezerX, 31 December 2013 - 02:43 PM.

[Tilley]

I highly recommend a Jagermech build with 2 AC/20's or the 2 Gauss rifle load out. You can fit an XL 265 or XL 275 in along with plenty of ammo (6 tons) and two medium lasers on the AC/20 variant. The AC/20 variant is more brawler style than the Gauss rifle for obvious reasons...either one will get the enemies attention very quickly.

[WheezerX]

Tilley, on 31 December 2013 - 02:46 PM, said:

I highly recommend a Jagermech build with 2 AC/20's or the 2 Gauss rifle load out. You can fit an XL 265 or XL 275 in along with plenty of ammo (6 tons) and two medium lasers on the AC/20 variant. The AC/20 variant is more brawler style than the Gauss rifle for obvious reasons...either one will get the enemies attention very quickly.

You shush, there's more than enough of those guys out there already

[Arnold J Rimmer]

If you hate Ghost Heat, that 4LL Hunchback might not be for you... and the 6PPC Stalker has thankfully died a death. Even before GH, it would usually overheat and shutdown.

Perhaps the double-AC/20 Jagermech? Lots of boom there.

[WickedLovely]

Arnold J Rimmer, on 31 December 2013 - 02:54 PM, said:

If you hate Ghost Heat, that 4LL Hunchback might not be for you... and the 6PPC Stalker has thankfully died a death. Even before GH, it would usually overheat and shutdown.

Perhaps the double-AC/20 Jagermech? Lots of boom there.

no, no; I hate that ghost heat prevents alot of fun stuff, I'm actually really really enjoying my 4ll Hunchy

[NRP]

Well, right now the most effective alpha strike build is probably the dual AC/20 Jagermech. Any of the Jager variants can do it.

By the way, welcome to MWO!

[Victor Morson]

WickedLovely, on 31 December 2013 - 01:54 PM, said:

Hello mechwarrior online forums~
I just started picking up this game cause my boyfriend has been harassing me forever so I must ask-
I love the -press one button launch one kind of wepeon pew pew BOOM- kind of play
Like my hunchy with 4 large lazers
But- what other alpha builds with (hopefully) one kind of wep are there?
BF was telling me about a 6 ppc stalker :C
(P.S- I hate ghost heat :c-

Hey there - one quick rule: Don't stack too many weapons of the same type on a 'mech if they run in violation to Ghost Heat. You're not alone in hating it, given it that makes certain weapon pairings run VERY hot, and it's often quite illogical. Check smurfy or search the forum for more information (The 4 Large Laser hunchback will be quite hot unless you stagger fire as a result).

What you want with good alpha setups is compatible weapons that can hit the same location, but don't run into extra heat issues.

Current favorites from the competitive community:

2x (U)AC/5 2x PPC - Highlander
2x PPC 1x AC/20 - Highlander
2x AC/5 2x PPC - Cataphract 3D / Victor
4x AC/5 - Cataphract 4X
2x Gauss - Jagermech
2x AC/5 1x ER PPC - Shadow Hawk
1x ER PPC 1x AC/20 - Shadow Hawk
2x ER Large - Raven
6x Small Pulse - Jenner
6x Med - Jenner

You'll notice AC/5, AC/20, and PPCs popping up a lot in this list because they pair well with everything and despite their refire, make a nice single-shot pop when combined with PPCs.

EDIT: These are all "Alpha configs" as requested - weapons you (in general) want to fire all at once in most situations. True you can fire the AC/5s a few extra times between PPC cycles, but overall it's a "one big punch" list. 'mechs like the 2x AC/20 Jag/K2 were left off because they require stagger fire to work.

Edited by Victor Morson, 01 January 2014 - 11:14 PM.

[CostcoHotdog86]

Just sayin...