4831 replies to this topic

[Buckminster]

MonkeyCheese, on 08 June 2014 - 04:44 PM, said:

It's risky but some times it pays off, I once circled a lone thunderbolt that had yellow/orange armor and I just constantly out maneuvered it until I killed it with my streaks and my one small laser.

I've done the same to a fresh Cataphract. Danced around it, dumping all of my Streaks into it until I ran out of ammo, leaving me pecking at it with a single SL until I killed it. He was clearly a player that preferred the long range sniper build (hence why he was so far off and all alone), and he just couldn't do more than tag me.

[Tim East]

I've gotten just shy of 400 damage already with this one in one match, and I am nowhere near my skill threshold for this beast.

It's like trading my COM-1B's plywood armor for tissue paper armor and three med pulse lasers that require constant attention to avoid overheating for five smalls that I can alpha all over the place with. Also so much faster it isn't even funny. It's like the same playstyle of harass the enemy and shank them in the back, but way easier because of how stupidly fast the thing goes. It's going to get downright nuts once I get the efficiencies done, though that's going to be quite a ways off given my casual rate of play.

Plus facehugging people and being too short for them to return fire is always hilarious. Silly atlases backing up hills.

[IraqiWalker]

Tim East, on 08 June 2014 - 06:32 PM, said:

I've gotten just shy of 400 damage already with this one in one match, and I am nowhere near my skill threshold for this beast.

It's like trading my COM-1B's plywood armor for tissue paper armor and three med pulse lasers that require constant attention to avoid overheating for five smalls that I can alpha all over the place with. Also so much faster it isn't even funny. It's like the same playstyle of harass the enemy and shank them in the back, but way easier because of how stupidly fast the thing goes. It's going to get downright nuts once I get the efficiencies done, though that's going to be quite a ways off given my casual rate of play.

Plus facehugging people and being too short for them to return fire is always hilarious. Silly atlases backing up hills.

Lol, that post had me laughing a good deal. Your short frame also helps dodge a lot of fire as well. leg humping a big mech (most preferably a Stalker) will leave them with almost no chance of return fire. Especially if you can keep wiggling between their legs, and around them.

It's why I don't mind SPLs. They allow me to pump so many shots into the enemy, while needing to maintain aim for only a blink of an eye.

[Kin3ticX]

IraqiWalker, on 08 June 2014 - 04:33 PM, said:

My friend, you need to try the 1V.

I have tried the 1V(P), the $20 dead on arrival one, with 4xMGs and either a Mlas or Mpulse and I have a .5 KDR which basically means I am giving away free kills to the other team.

Edited by Kin3ticX, 08 June 2014 - 09:48 PM.

[MonkeyCheese]

Kin3ticX, on 08 June 2014 - 09:40 PM, said:

I have tried the 1V(P), the $20 dead on arrival one, with 4xMGs and either a Mlas or Mpulse and I have a .5 KDR which basically means I am giving away free kills to the other team.

Kinda have to agree, and the 5K spider does that weapon loadout so much more justice with more armor/ammo and JJs

Personally for me I still like the 1v with a large laser and 2mg at 170kph
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...81cc179fdf19fc5

I dont know 1ml/mpl and 4mg just dosnt sit well with me, esp now that the blackjack arrow has 6mg

Machine guns are mostly an endgame weapon where a large laser just works and im talking dancing in your face at 170kph LL not a erLL sniper light...

[Bigbacon]

Tim East, on 08 June 2014 - 06:32 PM, said:

Plus facehugging people and being too short for them to return fire is always hilarious. Silly atlases backing up hills.

I love standing behind the big guys when they are trying to back up so they can't. You see their panic set in because they don't know what to do. Along with them taking FF a lot of times, and sometimes myself, is always fun.

Lots of times I don't mind dying because lots of times it helps the team get something done.

definitely enjoy the SL/SPL boating and during all the brawling confusion just alphaing people in the back a few times before buggering off.

Too many players in mediums+ just stop fighting stronger threats to try and deal with the little guys that and you see that 4 year old soccer game mentality when you zip through their lines and watch the entire team turn and chase for whatever reason.

[IraqiWalker]

Kin3ticX, on 08 June 2014 - 09:40 PM, said:

I have tried the 1V(P), the $20 dead on arrival one, with 4xMGs and either a Mlas or Mpulse and I have a .5 KDR which basically means I am giving away free kills to the other team.

My KDR in the 1V isn't positive either, but if I bring down a Highlander, or a Victor, I've already paid for my tonnage 4-fold. In my unit they say that if you did 150 in a locust, no one should ever complain. I personally hold the mech to a somewhat higher standard, but that's because I'm crazy like that.

I enjoyed the 1V most with 4MGs, 1 ML, 3 tons of ammo, XL 190. Try not to do much for the first 2-3 minutes. Unless it's a big brawl, then you need to be a vulture. Do a lot of drive bys, and only kill those that have no armor left. Someone isn't paying attention to you, good. Pop a few shots into their back, and zip off. Rinse and repeat, until the enemy team is dead.

[anonymous161]

Voivode, on 15 January 2014 - 10:37 AM, said:

I've been running my LOLcust lately and hitting 300-400 damage a match. It's pretty unbelievable that something that looks that bad on paper can do that well in game.

Used to run a 1xERLL build, 2xMG build with the 190XL that did pretty well. But the LOLcust does as much if not more damage and is just stupid fun to run with.

Only able to do that because this game is so broken and unbalanced a mech that is barely cannon fodder can do assault level damage against noobs and up.

[evilC]

LOLcust? Is that because your main method of offense is to get the enemy to laugh themselves to death?

I mean, seriously, 6 armor on the head ?!?!?! Are you TRYING to die to arty?
MGs as your primary damage dealing weapon? You picked a FLAMER over a medium laser?

So many bad choices in that build, it has to be a weaponized form of comedy, like the Monty Python sketch:

[IraqiWalker]

Darth Bane001, on 09 June 2014 - 07:02 AM, said:

Only able to do that because this game is so broken and unbalanced a mech that is barely cannon fodder can do assault level damage against noobs and up.

While I agree the game has some balance issues. I absolutely disagree on the second part. My light mech should have just as much potential to deal 900+ damage as your assault, if I can pilot it well enough.

[IraqiWalker]

evilC, on 09 June 2014 - 07:37 AM, said:

I mean, seriously, 6 armor on the head ?!?!?! Are you TRYING to die to arty?

even at max armor, you will still die to arty with one shot. After patch each arty shell will deal 35 instead of 40 damage. The most health a cockpit can have is 18+15=33hp Still get one-shotted.

Also, no need for an insulting level of sarcasm. Plus, his MG+flamer combo is actually extremely effective against exposed targets. Both weapons have a much higher chance to crit for good damage.

Basically, he's playing a purely vulture mech. Does not engage in the early game, and only shows up to deliver the coup-de-grace, and kill opponents quickly.

[evilC]

IraqiWalker, on 09 June 2014 - 07:41 AM, said:

even at max armor, you will still die to arty with one shot. After patch each arty shell will deal 35 instead of 40 damage. The most health a cockpit can have is 18+15=33hp Still get one-shotted.

Also, no need for an insulting level of sarcasm. Plus, his MG+flamer combo is actually extremely effective against exposed targets. Both weapons have a much higher chance to crit for good damage.

Basically, he's playing a purely vulture mech. Does not engage in the early game, and only shows up to deliver the coup-de-grace, and kill opponents quickly.

Incorrect.
Arty has two components:
Shell Damage - if a shell hits your mech DIRECTLY, it causes pinpoint damage. If this happens on the head, it is an insta-kill regardless of armor levels.

Splash Damage - An AoE. ALL locations within the AoE will take damage. Lower head armor will make you very vulnerable to headshots via splash damage.

[evilC]

IraqiWalker, on 09 June 2014 - 07:38 AM, said:

While I agree the game has some balance issues. I absolutely disagree on the second part. My light mech should have just as much potential to deal 900+ damage as your assault, if I can pilot it well enough.

Yes, it is entirely possible to get decent damage numbers in a light. In this light though? Very unlikely, unless you are playing at very low Elos.

A Flamer is not effective against ANYTHING. There is no contest whatsoever between a ML and a Flamer.

And I was not sarcastic. I was overtly critical - at no point did I say one thing and mean the opposite. I make no effort to conceal the fact that I take issue with this thread giving out bad "advice".
A locust is a waste of 20 tons if playing a tonnage limited match, and most certainly a waste of a light if playing a 4x3 match.

Edited by evilC, 09 June 2014 - 08:10 AM.

[IraqiWalker]

evilC, on 09 June 2014 - 08:00 AM, said:

Incorrect.
Arty has two components:
Shell Damage - if a shell hits your mech DIRECTLY, it causes pinpoint damage. If this happens on the head, it is an insta-kill regardless of armor levels.

Splash Damage - An AoE. ALL locations within the AoE will take damage. Lower head armor will make you very vulnerable to headshots via splash damage.

If you had paid attention in class, and listened to the dev vlogs, (especially the last one) you'd have noticed that splash damage doesn't spread to the cockpit. Only direct hits damage the cockpit.

evilC, on 09 June 2014 - 08:07 AM, said:

Yes, it is entirely possible to get decent damage numbers in a light. In this light though? Very unlikely, unless you are playing at very low Elos.

A Flamer is not effective against ANYTHING. There is no contest whatsoever between a ML and a Flamer.

And I was not sarcastic. I was overtly critical - at no point did I say one thing and mean the opposite. I make no effort to conceal the fact that I take issue with this thread giving out bad "advice".
A locust is a waste of 20 tons if playing a tonnage limited match, and most certainly a waste of a light if playing a 4x3 match.

A flamer is good against high energy builds, and can deal bonus critical damage, seriously, just go to Smurfy's and look up the stats.

As for your critique of the thread, it falls down to playstyles, and what we enjoy. This thread is here for those that want to have fun piloting the Locust. In tonnage restrictions, the locust is actually more valuable. You may not like the mech, but that's YOUR problem, not ours. As for advice being "bad" I would like to see you point out where the bad advice is. That would be something I'm interested in.

If you just think the locust is a bad mech, that's a personal problem with you. The mech is good, the pilot is the real problem.

EDIT: I apologize for my mistake, I meant "condescending" instead of "sarcastic". Also, adjust your style of critique, because that's just insulting, not critiquing anything.

Edited by IraqiWalker, 09 June 2014 - 08:41 AM.

[Tim East]

IraqiWalker, on 09 June 2014 - 08:41 AM, said:

In tonnage restrictions, the locust is actually more valuable.

This. ^ The 15T or whatever I didn't spend upgrading to a firestarter can be used by my team to bring in a heavier heavy/assault. Like the difference between an awesome and a banshee.

On a side note, this makes me think wistfully about how MWO needs a conversion of the BV system and matchmaking based on it.

[evilC]

Crits only occur against unarmored locations.

The flamer is the absolute worst weapon in the game. It don't matter that it has a higher crit chance, it's DPH (Damage per heat) is laughable @ 0.7.
It cannot even shut down an enemy mech due to heat, but it can shut YOU down due to heat.


See the Crits and You thread for a decent evaluation of crit seeking weapons.

A flamer has to do a 3x crit to even begin to compare against a Med Laser doing no crits.
A flamer is less effective against an unarmored target than a ML is against an armored target.
A flamer cannot compete on range against a ML.
A flamer is a raycast weapon that requires you to look at the enemy for 100% of the time (As does the MG), a ML only needs to look at the target for 25% of the time. It is impossible to brawl properly with a flamer.
A flamer weighs the same as a ML and takes the same number and type of slots.

The Locust is a recon mech, but it is not the fastest mech due to netcode limitations.
Hell, a COM can go faster, with more tonnage left over than a locust. (LCT with XL190 + 3HS + full armor = 169.3 km/h with 4.68 tons left, COM with XL240 + 1HS + full armor = 171.1 kp/h with 4.93 tons left)

Edited by evilC, 09 June 2014 - 09:50 AM.

[Ovion]

A 'proper' or 'realistic' Locust with its XL190 will have 6.5-7T of space.
The same for a Commando is... 6.5-7T!
The Commando in this instance is 1.8kph faster, and around 35pts more armour.
Though going 'straight' max, the Locust is 6.14T free, and the Commando has 6.53T free, with 40pts more armour.

The commando is sadly, at the moment, a little better (if more expensive).

However the Locust SHOULD be able to go up another few engines, and go around 180-190kph.

Edited by Ovion, 09 June 2014 - 10:19 AM.

[IraqiWalker]

evilC, on 09 June 2014 - 09:48 AM, said:

Crits only occur against unarmored locations.

Yes, that's the whole point, it's a crit seeking mech. Damage is secondary. You're talking to us like we don't know this. We do. If he wanted to run a meta mech he'd be in a boring Dragon Slayer. He wanted to have fun, and THAT is a mech that can have fun.

Also, you're still comparing the Locust to mechs bigger than it. Yes I know everything is bigger than it, that's the beauty of a locust.

Ovion, on 09 June 2014 - 10:19 AM, said:

A 'proper' or 'realistic' Locust with its XL190 will have 6.5-7T of space.
The same for a Commando is... 6.5-7T!
The Commando in this instance is 1.8kph faster, and around 35pts more armour.
Though going 'straight' max, the Locust is 6.14T free, and the Commando has 6.53T free, with 40pts more armour.

The commando is sadly, at the moment, a little better (if more expensive).

However the Locust SHOULD be able to go up another few engines, and go around 180-190kph.

Actually, with XL 190, and with fixed netcode, the Locust should be going about 300+ Kph.

[evilC]

IraqiWalker, on 09 June 2014 - 08:41 AM, said:

If you had paid attention in class, and listened to the dev vlogs, (especially the last one) you'd have noticed that splash damage doesn't spread to the cockpit. Only direct hits damage the cockpit.

I don't remember seeing that. At what point (H:M:S) does he say that?

Here is video proof (recorded just now) that shows that this is not the case currently:

[evilC]

IraqiWalker, on 09 June 2014 - 10:26 AM, said:

Yes, that's the whole point, it's a crit seeking mech. Damage is secondary. You're talking to us like we don't know this. We do. If he wanted to run a meta mech he'd be in a boring Dragon Slayer. He wanted to have fun, and THAT is a mech that can have fun.

Proof that the flamer is useless as a crit seeking weapon:

IraqiWalker, on 09 June 2014 - 10:26 AM, said:

Actually, with XL 190, and with fixed netcode, the Locust should be going about 300+ Kph.

So you are arguing that the mech is "under-rated" because of what might happen in the future?

Keep countering my points with conjecture, speculation and hear-say, and I will keep posting EMPIRICAL evidence to blow your arguments out of the water

Edited by evilC, 09 June 2014 - 10:44 AM.