4831 replies to this topic

[Void Angel]

Dracol, on 04 May 2014 - 11:41 AM, said:

The OP laid out a nice selection of Loci.

"Locusts." The singular of "loci" is "locus."

On-topic, I do love to pull my Locusts out every so often; it's often an excercise in frustration because people don't really brawl that much any more, and it's hard to scout without ECM, for related reasons. But I still treasure that one Shadowhawk pilot that told me my streak boat was the only time he'd ever felt threatened by a Locust. =)

[jper4]

Bigbacon, on 05 July 2014 - 06:22 AM, said:

all right! all locusts mastered.

today- after finishing off the 1E- i am now also a member of the "all 5 Locusts mastered" club too.

[Bigbacon]

i do wish I could have the phoenix variant now

[Rando Slim]

I wish I could give you mine, lol.

[Void Angel]

I have my Phoenix package locusts mastered - I have no desire to purchase the others, for much the same reason I have no desire to set myself on fire, or poke needles into my naughty bits.

[Brizna]

Let me tell you something, I play Commandos and I know those 5 tons less give me little in comparison to spider:
No jumpjets
Extra heatsink weight (seriously!!!)
Less weapons and armor
In exchange I Get:
Faster turning rate
Slightly smaller.

When you downgrade from Comando to Locust all you'll really notice is the lack of ECM and 5 tons.

But still ===> Pilot >>>> Mech ===> So a good pilot can do great things in a Locust.

[Tim East]

I still saved a slot for my com 2d. ECM does more for my team than anything I've ever managed in my locusts, as fun as they are. I don't know what it is, but it's almost like Locusts are better for giving me kills while my Commando is better for giving me wins. Most of the time.

[Ertur]

Tanar, on 16 July 2014 - 08:32 AM, said:

today- after finishing off the 1E- i am now also a member of the "all 5 Locusts mastered" club too.

I've only mastered (and own) the Phoenix pack ones, but today I finally got my KDR for them over 1.0. The 3S was the worst of the lot for me, but that was the build I think. I had been using 2xSSRM2's, one ton ammo, BAP, and a medium laser; I took off the BAP and SSRM's and put on 4xSRM2 with 2 tons ammo. I had to shave off some armor for that second full ton, but the extra shots are worth it, and I'd rather have a few points less armor than lose either ammo or the medium laser. Anyways, speed and mobility are a locust's real armor, right?

[Ovion]

Tanar, on 16 July 2014 - 08:32 AM, said:

today- after finishing off the 1E- i am now also a member of the "all 5 Locusts mastered" club too.

I'm working on it!

I'm hoping for it to be my first mastered light, but that may end up going to the Kit Fox.

[jper4]

Ertur, on 17 July 2014 - 02:16 PM, said:

I've only mastered (and own) the Phoenix pack ones, but today I finally got my KDR for them over 1.0. The 3S was the worst of the lot for me, but that was the build I think. I had been using 2xSSRM2's, one ton ammo, BAP, and a medium laser; I took off the BAP and SSRM's and put on 4xSRM2 with 2 tons ammo. I had to shave off some armor for that second full ton, but the extra shots are worth it, and I'd rather have a few points less armor than lose either ammo or the medium laser. Anyways, speed and mobility are a locust's real armor, right?

well you got me on that- my kdrs range from ,.43 (1V) to .93 (3M) on my Locusts. the 1V was the worst for me. i actually went with just 3SRM2s on the 3S with 2 tons and upgraded the laser to a MPL. losing the 4th launcher gives you a few more shots with the SRMs and the MPL works better for me at keeping damage in one spot at high speeds compared to the ML. i think the armor's around 107ish (haven;t played it since i've been trying to lvl up the 2 newest locusts so not positive)

[IraqiWalker]

Ovion, on 17 July 2014 - 02:24 PM, said:

I'm working on it!

I'm hoping for it to be my first mastered light, but that may end up going to the Kit Fox.

Easy mode on the KFX is ECM arm, with 2 ERPPCs, Radar Dep, ECM, JJs, Advanced Zoom, and TIG. I did that with the KFX-S. HPG Manifold is just too easy if you can get on the walls.

[Ertur]

Tanar, on 17 July 2014 - 05:21 PM, said:

well you got me on that- my kdrs range from ,.43 (1V) to .93 (3M) on my Locusts. the 1V was the worst for me. i actually went with just 3SRM2s on the 3S with 2 tons and upgraded the laser to a MPL. losing the 4th launcher gives you a few more shots with the SRMs and the MPL works better for me at keeping damage in one spot at high speeds compared to the ML. i think the armor's around 107ish (haven;t played it since i've been trying to lvl up the 2 newest locusts so not positive)

The trick I've been using is that I scout the flanks, side to side, and hide hide hide hide hide for the first several minutes. I try to report anything I find using grid references. I don't engage ANYTHING until after the main battle starts. Just scout, hide, report, hide, run, hide, hide, and hide. Not very 'honorable' but I've got NO FRIKKIN ARMOR. In the mid game, I keep one eye open for enemies lone-wolfing on the flanks and try to get behind them, and another eye open for enemies backing out of the main fight due to heat or damage. Whenever I make it to the top of the enemy's target queue, it's time to run and hide some more and wait for them to find something else to shoot at, or at the very least to come up at them from another direction.
The Locust pilot needs to be half vulture and half assassin.
Honor is for chumps and clanners. Though I guess that's a bit redundant.
Works great for all three that I have, though I do have to force myself to disengage when I'm in the machine gun 1V. It's so easy to linger too long when there's an open red-crit CT in your face.

[Ovion]

IraqiWalker, on 17 July 2014 - 06:40 PM, said:

Easy mode on the KFX is ECM arm, with 2 ERPPCs, Radar Dep, ECM, JJs, Advanced Zoom, and TIG. I did that with the KFX-S. HPG Manifold is just too easy if you can get on the walls.

I'v never really got along with PPCs myself.

I do really well in an ECM + CLPL, 2 CMPLs, 2 CMGs though, which is my Prime set up.
To avoid boredom I've been trying other stuff for leveling the other two. (All boats have 1-2 backup CERMLs)
The twin-uac2 boat is awesome.
LBX5 is... a little lackluster sadly - gonna try twin LBX-2's at some point, but it means sacrificing the ECM, but hey ho.

LRM30-40 boat with or without ECM is pretty funny tbh, and the SRM6 boat has been pulling silly damage numbers, but doesn't feel as fun.


As to Locusts, was trying out my shiny new XL190 on my 1V - MPL+MG.
Didn't like it, so I've pulled it back to a ML and put in an extra ton of MG ammo.
Something about 5000 rounds of MG ammo pleases me greatly.

Edited by Ovion, 17 July 2014 - 11:14 PM.

[jper4]

Ertur, on 17 July 2014 - 08:11 PM, said:

The trick I've been using is that I scout the flanks, side to side, and hide hide hide hide hide for the first several minutes. I try to report anything I find using grid references. I don't engage ANYTHING until after the main battle starts. Just scout, hide, report, hide, run, hide, hide, and hide. Not very 'honorable' but I've got NO FRIKKIN ARMOR. In the mid game, I keep one eye open for enemies lone-wolfing on the flanks and try to get behind them, and another eye open for enemies backing out of the main fight due to heat or damage. Whenever I make it to the top of the enemy's target queue, it's time to run and hide some more and wait for them to find something else to shoot at, or at the very least to come up at them from another direction.
The Locust pilot needs to be half vulture and half assassin.
Honor is for chumps and clanners. Though I guess that's a bit redundant.
Works great for all three that I have, though I do have to force myself to disengage when I'm in the machine gun 1V. It's so easy to linger too long when there's an open red-crit CT in your face.

my biggest problem is making myself disengage when things start getting dicey. i'm a brawler by nature and that doesn;t go well with the Locusts). plus find my team's ability to abandon me the second i show up to help them is second to none so often i go to help kill a couple of their guys with a couple of our team (since they have their attention in full by that point) and within second i find both enemy mechs are shooting at me because my team took off. if there's no enemy lights around i can usually get away ok once i commit to being brave sir robin.

firestarters are the death of me though. i get slaughtered by them, other lights and cicadas i can hold my own against though. i hear you about the 1V- machine gun spam and i'm "it's gonna die aaaaaaany second now- wait how did i die?"

i run my mediums mostly the same way- twiddle my thumbs for the first few minutes then start looking for damaged mechs. been trying to force myself to sit back and watch the LRM boats in my Locusts for the inevitable visitors but i'm very impatient

[Bigbacon]

i end up under my head alot because I get sick of no one else on the team doing anything so I start the charge advance, run around a take shots and whatever I can while the confusion happens. Die horribly while my team still sits around not moving forward when they should have...

seismic is a must I have found anymore and it helps so much. I've used it successfully so many times now on my 3M (3S the 5 laser one?) to take on multiple targets by myself and come out on top. without it, I would have been sunk.

on a side note....

Playing this game has ruined my ability to play FPS games...Installed STALKER again today to play it and found myself hitting what is normally my strafe keys and expecting to turn left or right....it was VERY strange...Like MWO movement has broken my brain for other games. It actually took a few minutes to remember that mouse was look around and keys were strafe left/right.

[IraqiWalker]

Each one of my KFXs has a different set up. Streak boat, Sniper, and all-rounder. As for Locusts. With the MGs the way they are, things take a bit longer to die, sadly. Which means we can't just saw people's limbs off like we used to 4 months ago. However, the MGs are still dangerous. I'm going to be enjoying maxing out the LCT-1E very soon. However, I'm also going to be working on the Adder as well, since I need to write an "underrated Adder" thread.

[mikromancer]

surprisingly, I have only just found this page.

love my locusts, had a 3M as my main, but sold it for some reason, then recently at some point picked up the 1E (I think? 6 energy points one) and it's literally the only reason i still have mechwarrior installed.

my faithful hunch is still ok, but underperforming more and more compared to the newer mechs (especially clans). sold my fatlas, it was too slow, and even my thunderbolt is being a pain to master.

so I play locust, small, zoomy, fast, and fully capable of supporting my sneaky and devious behaviour. Today I had stalker for dinner, the poor thing knew I was there, but never actually fully saw me. my drop buddy was flabbergasted, he'd earlier said something along the lines of "you're gunna die on first contact".

anyways, I love the locust, and though statistically it may not be usefull at all, its personality really makes me feel good again after a run of poo matchmaker luck.

(ps. bring on the MASC, I can take it man!)

[IraqiWalker]

mikromancer, on 20 July 2014 - 12:22 AM, said:

(ps. bring on the MASC, I can take it man!)

you and me both. Too bad the netcode can't.

[Ovion]

mikromancer, on 20 July 2014 - 12:22 AM, said:

anyways, I love the locust, and though statistically it may not be usefull at all, its personality really makes me feel good again after a run of poo matchmaker luck.

K/D and even damage is a terrible judge of things.

You can kill a fresh mech inside 31 damage.
You can win the game without having firing once (Conquest)
You can affect the course of battle by splitting the attention of the enemy team, making them turn to face the threat at their back, for your team to push and core them.
You can scout and report so much.

Screw Statistics. We're useful if we want to be!

[jper4]

Bigbacon, on 18 July 2014 - 05:51 PM, said:

i end up under my head alot because I get sick of no one else on the team doing anything so I start the charge advance, run around a take shots and whatever I can while the confusion happens. Die horribly while my team still sits around not moving forward when they should have...

tell me about it. i've lost track of how many matches i'm waiting in a medium behind the big guys waiting for the push to charge the guys who have us in a firing arc to break up the status quo. but nope they just sit there exhchanging fire and dying one by one. i push in front of them briefly (get shot in the back several times in the process since it would require movement on their part to not shoot in the exact same spot as soon as their weapons refresh or even hold fire) so they can see me moving forward against the enemy. then go all in at the enemy trying to rush through the line to get them to turn around and present their backs to my "supporting" slower teammates following me.

i die and find the "heavy/assault" mechs standing there firing just like before and getting FFed down.

lights i just try and hit and run and try and get something to chase me. though somehow even though they hadn;t seen me to that point (hiding behind the bigger mechs) and i know exactly where they are to shoot. they somehow always manage to get their shot off before i do (and my ping is usually around 30-50). i tend to last longer in my Locusts than some of my other mechs because in a Locust i absolutely refuse to go first under any circumstances so i have to wait for the rooted blob to die before i can do anything.