4831 replies to this topic

[Squiggy McPew]

I've really taken a shine to the pirates bane. Complete tinfoil but its has some ranged punch with 4 er meds and with ecm/radar dep no real need for stealth armour. Add in two max skilled air strikes and use your speed to flank around to take side and rear shots and lay out the strikes behind them so they don't see the smoke.

[loopala]

the following video is a cautionary tale proving you need to watch your surrounding.

it contains mature language. if the F bomb offends you do not watch...

you have been warned

end of match Annihilator with no arms being crotch shot by locust.

[Gustav Kuriga]

gamingcthulhu, on 15 January 2018 - 03:52 PM, said:

So I think I may have had my retirement match with my Pirates Bane. Mind you this sucker is stock with the exception of adding stealth armor. So just the 4 small lasers and 2 machine guns. In the end it was 5 kills (2 solo kills against assaults) 1 Annihilator that just kept walking in a straight line till I had his back completely opened up. With 829 damage done with weapons alone and an absurd amount of UAV spotting.

https://imgur.com/gallery/iKp3o

Anyone who goes around trying to tell any light mech, especially a locust, that they have to stay with the murder ball just doesn't understand what something that fast is really capable of doing. Yes you can get caught out by yourself and chased down if the enemy spots you early. But if you can use map knowledge and take your time you can be on the back of a group of enemies providing targeting data, movement details and when the brawl begins being able to turn multiple mechs away from your lines as you get in a passing shot as you move to cover can all be vital. Also picking up that lone Assault mech that the enemy team left behind because he was slower then them is hilarious as you know they are yelling at their team. So as a reminder for everyone if you are moving together it's best to move at the slowest persons speed and not that of your mediums or lights.

I've gotten 6 kills in a my 1E and still lost. Talk about carrying your team hard.

[Neutron IX]

Anything new and fun going on in Locust-land everyone?

Now that we have our long lost-brother Flea coming in to join us, what's life going to be like for us now?

P.S. Doesn't the Sun Spider look like a Locust and a Flea had a child, and it grew up to set a Single Season Home Run record while playing for the San Francisco Giants?

[Old dirty B]

Been away for a while because of my new study but i'm enjoying my Locusts as ever... Had to change my gameplay slightly, less aggressive more sneaky because of the changes last year with the skill tree and mobility.

My current favourite is the LCT-PB "Pirates Bane" with 3xMPL and ECM + Stealth armor. The mind-games you can play with this little assassin is just so rewarding!

Check out my channel for some footage - hope to publish some new vids soon.

[Ovion]

Rip Snorgan, on 19 March 2018 - 07:32 PM, said:

Anything new and fun going on in Locust-land everyone?

Now that we have our long lost-brother Flea coming in to join us, what's life going to be like for us now?

P.S. Doesn't the Sun Spider look like a Locust and a Flea had a child, and it grew up to set a Single Season Home Run record while playing for the San Francisco Giants?

Well... the flea will be overall worse than the Locust.

Likely squishier, definitely slower (with some variants, sometimes being able to burst a teency bit faster), with mostly similar hard points, similar tonnage to 20% less tonnage available, and a LOT less space to work with.
Even if they ultraquirk it, it will have some inherent problems that can't be overcome.
It's basically going to be an extra 6, slightly worse Locust variants to mess around in.
So, not a lot of change at all really.

I really wish that 'light slot' could have gone to a more interesting 20T or a more interesting light mech overall.

[Old dirty B]

The MASC equiped Fleas look interesting and im looking forward to try these propably because these will play rather similar to the Locust. The MASC could bring some edge to its mobility..

But in the end i dont think the Flea will replace the best mech in the game

[mad kat]

Anyone tried a locust in solaris yet?

So far it's generally been a bad idea. Very nearly killed a rifleman in my 3S and did kill a grid iron with it. then tried the 3M which didn't go well against a Cataphracht.

I think generally because you can't pick your target in a firefight and you will be focused its generally a bad idea unless you can stay at range which pretty much leaves only the steiner coliseum that can work.

[Old-dirty B]

I've rolled my Locust in all of my games in Solaris, mostly the 1E with small pulses and a few with the 1M in another division, for this "review" i will focus on my games with the 1E in division 5.

Lets say i had more success then failure so far, but i also had a few very boring games where people just refused to engage in fight - waiting with their backs against the wall for me to run straight at them. Lets focus on the ones where there was an actual fight.

What you want to avoid is going straight at someone as your minimal armor won't last enough to bring your opponent down. My tactic is to get a jump on my opponent and use boom 'n zoom to wear some one down. Boom 'n zoom means you dive onto your opponent, preferably from an angle where he isnt looking then depending on the reaction you disappear behind another piece of cover. Once you have inflicted enough damage, usually when one leg is stripped of armor, i dive in once more but then to finish the game. One or two alpha strikes to take out the leg and you more or less have all the time to destroy the other leg.

I use terrain and cover to get close but remain hidden and use my seismic sensor te keep track where my opponent is going. When i see him moving in a certain direction towards me, i rotate accordingly around that piece of cover and use my speed to hit the opponent from the his back. He will respond / rotate and you move once more behind him, hitting another time then move further so you are again behind cover and the whole process can be repeated.

This tactic works pretty good but not on every map and it also depends on your opponent, sometimes he just always look exactly at the right moment in your direction when you make a move (some others seem to have seismic as well )... And as you know, a small mistake in a locust is often enough to get you killed. I've also lost quite a few games because i got stuck on some piece of terrain or object just to get one-shotted.

But for now i think i will return to scouting and just occasionally go Solaris, so far i've encounter 1 other locust, 1 urbanmech, twice a hunchback and the rest was all cataphract and riflemen. It gets a bit boring fighting the same type of mech over and over.

Edited by B3R3ND, 23 April 2018 - 01:25 AM.

[Virlutris]

Rip Snorgan, on 19 March 2018 - 07:32 PM, said:

Anything new and fun going on in Locust-land everyone?

Now that we have our long lost-brother Flea coming in to join us, what's life going to be like for us now?

P.S. Doesn't the Sun Spider look like a Locust and a Flea had a child, and it grew up to set a Single Season Home Run record while playing for the San Francisco Giants?

mad kat, on 22 April 2018 - 11:51 PM, said:

Anyone tried a locust in solaris yet?

So far it's generally been a bad idea. Very nearly killed a rifleman in my 3S and did kill a grid iron with it. then tried the 3M which didn't go well against a Cataphracht.

I think generally because you can't pick your target in a firefight and you will be focused its generally a bad idea unless you can stay at range which pretty much leaves only the steiner coliseum that can work.

Yes.

The LCT-1M is the only mech I'm running in Solaris. I'm at a break-even won/loss ratio in it.

The challenge of making the most of a limited mech is the only thing that's captured my imagination enough to run in Solaris.

I've only run into one other Locust thus far, a -3V. Otherwise it's been Uzis, YLWs, Vindis, and BJ-1s. My only match against a Grey Death, the pilot was a 0-ping.

It's a real challenge to improve in general and stay sharp every moment.

[Ovion]

mad kat, on 22 April 2018 - 11:51 PM, said:

Anyone tried a locust in solaris yet?

So far it's generally been a bad idea. Very nearly killed a rifleman in my 3S and did kill a grid iron with it. then tried the 3M which didn't go well against a Cataphracht.

I think generally because you can't pick your target in a firefight and you will be focused its generally a bad idea unless you can stay at range which pretty much leaves only the steiner coliseum that can work.

I am yet to get round to figuring out how to optimise a Locust for Solaris, in part because it'll invaribly end up in me buying 3-4 more Locusts....

I think a start point would be likely lowering the rear armour to 1/2/1, 1/1/1 or even 0/0/0 to slightly further what little forward resilience the Locust has.

If taking ammo based weapons, refer to chart for ammo requirements, if any apply:

Spoiler

With splits, 1-2T will be enough for any weapon the Locust takes especially paired with some lasers.

Most mechs have a high DPS and short engagement time - usually less than 30 seconds of 'actual engagement', and most mechs will have a minimum of 10-15, potentially 20+ DPS, meaning it will only take 5-10 seconds of sustained fire to drop a locust if they can hit.

The Locusts speed will mean it's often capable of getting behind a target giving it a 'fast' path, but it still needs to be brawl capable as there's numerous mechs that can 'keep up' in Div 5/6/7.

Spoiler

The Locust has never been great at a straight brawl, and there's some hard choices there... so learning the maps and slip-ways will be important.

Will probably max Survival Tree, though it's debatable how useful max agility tree will be in Solaris, with the tiny maps and lower average speed of mechs, though I would probably still take high agility myself, maybe some Seismic, which won't leave much for weapons nodes overall.

Edited by Ovion, 23 April 2018 - 05:37 PM.

[Old-dirty B]

I roll without any back armor, with a locust you are supposed to go around and be in your opponents back. If you let your opponent get behind you 1 or 2 points more back armor will not save you...

As for skills, that depends greatly on your gameplay. My style is to juke around and harass my opponent, using boom 'n zoom to surprise attack and minimising exposure. For that i need speed and agility to be able to hit someone at the right time from the right angle. I invest almost fully into movement.
Also important for this playstyle is information and denying that to your opponent, stealth and surprise greatly help towards survival and being effective. So, i invest in sensors, max seismic (of course!) but also max radar derp. The latter to minimise the information my opponent can gather about my location and direction of movement, this is important for boom 'n zoom.
I invest half way into survival, selecting most armor skill nodes (left side of tree).
Lastly, the few points left i invest into firepower and operations, depending on the type of weapons i carry. As i run the 1E mostly i invest in range as the SPL's can use an extra few meters...

Further more, i want to point out that the Locust is unforgiving, small mistakes have big consequences. With that in mind make everything you do count. That means you need to be precise, you should make sure to hit the same component consistently - preferably the same leg over and over. Once that leg pops you have a major movement advantage and from there on it should be fairly easy to win the game. That also means you should only expose when you need to (when you attack) and expose as short as possible to minimise the damage you take.

To illustrate these simple points, i have won quite a few games where i had suffered less then 15% damage while i did less then 200 damage (almost only to just the legs of my opponent), just by minimising my exposure and being precise. I also lost quite a few games where i did more then 200 damage and was destroyed by less then 50 damage! In these games that i lost i wasn't precise enough and also exposed at the wrong time and from the wrong angle allowing my opponent to inflict enough damage to a single but vital component.

Lastly, mindgames! There's not another mech more suited for this then a locust...

I hope this helps you further!

Edited by B3R3ND, 23 April 2018 - 11:40 PM.

[Virlutris]

I don't max out the survival, but I come close. I think the only nodes I don't have are AMS, and a reinforced casing that's superfluous because I can go around it and don't need it.

Agility's got over half the nodes, but again not maxed. I make sure to get all the speed tweak by the most straight-line route through top of the shrub, then add the accel/braking in the upper right.

Because it just doesn't run hot enough to justify it, I don't take ops (edit: at least not on my -1M). Any of it. At all. Heat gen in firepower does more than enough.

Same for info, and consumables. Consumables aren't allowed anyway, so that's easy. Radar dep's not worth the investment, and if I'm still enough to use seismic anyway, I can hear footsteps in real time and use basic map knowledge to take advantage.

Finally, I fill with relevant nodes from firepower. I emphasize the range to wring a little more damage out of the MPLs if I need to kite at all, laser duration to really make the most of the short MPL burn, and cooldowns to pump even more work out of them. Heat gen of course. I finish with enough nodes from the left side to get an ammo count buff if I think the build calls for it (because missile locust).

I'd still do all of the above for a 3S, even if the ops tree would be a bit more tempting.

For a 3S, I'd load up on the left side of the firepower shrubbery instead, and go for both ammo count nodes along with every heat and cool down I can manage from that left side. I'd skip laser duration, because the SRMs are the point. I wouldn't build for the backup weapon (though you can if you like)

If I've got what I want from the firepower shrub, and have a lot of points leftover, I'd consider ops. If I have a handful of points left, I'd fiddle with a couple more agility or something else that seems relevant from firepower.

PSA: Please don't mistake this for even the slightest form of appreciation for the quirk shrubberies (I don't call then skill trees). I still despise them with molten, acidic loathing.

Edited by Virlutris, 24 April 2018 - 03:41 PM.

[Virlutris]

So I saw a guy post a screenie of his stat screen showing something he thought was pretty cool.

It was apparent that the guy has been playing that mech as his main since forever.

I took note of that, and thought "I wonder what mechs I've been playing the most." Now, I'm more of a "play the mechbay" kind of pilot than a one-mech kind of pilot.

I expected the Griffins, Hellbringers, and the Cicada. What I didn't expect was the Pirate's Bane.

That thing really is my little garage project, I guess. Every so often, I come back around to it to fiddle with it in my for some kind of "just right" build.

The combo of hardpoints and locations is still funky for me.

Still, it was really odd to see it listed that high, above my Invasion Ferret and my poor, nerfed Gauss Jager.

The garage project and mechbay tinkering are real

[Old dirty B]

So the list order is about most played mechs right?

How much games have you played with the PB then since its at the top of that list?

[Pain G0D]

I would like to point out that maxing out fire power and survival nodes on the Pirates Bane makes for one very nasty lil critter .

I also think perhaps the 3S variant should also have most of the fire power tree unlocked .

[Old dirty B]

Pain G0D, on 13 May 2018 - 10:06 AM, said:

I would like to point out that maxing out fire power and survival nodes on the Pirates Bane makes for one very nasty lil critter .

Not according to my locust-doctrine... Skill nodes in firepower are merely nice to haves, perhaps ammo cappicity for the 3S otherwise there are other areas the Locust profits more... Sure skill points in survivability help to stay alive, but any point besides the left side of the tree can be spend more wisely (read in other trees / elsewhere).

Mobility is your foremost advantage and that should be amplified by occupying most of the mobility tree.

Furthermore, sensors... another way to get an serious edge over your opponent(s). You have the size and mobility to react to enemy movement like no other, this means you can avoid risks and exploit chances:

• Improved info gathering allows you to hit critically damaged components in the least amount of time.
  
• Seismic sensor provides information where enemies closeby are heading so you can either get away or hit them in the back.
  
• Radar depr. Not to avoid lrm's, that already possible with just the speed you have. Radar depr. DENIES information about your presence and direction instantly when you move behind cover. This will allow you to evade or surprise attack. Any info the enemy has on you means more chances they are waiting for you with more weapons pointing at you, you dont want that! Another thing, radar depr. also gives you some intel about wheteither your presence is compromised. A small visual and audible alarm will occur when you break line of sight, this is very helpful information!
  
• Sensor range, allows you to notice enemies before they will notice you, this means you can be adapt and adjust your game plan accordingly.

Then there's operations, some skill nodes like cool run and heat containment might be more or less needed depending the build, but hill climb is another very useful node for locust. Without jumping jets you need any help you can get to get away from a hairy situation.


Once you have these skill nodes covered you are prepared to meet the enemy.

Edited by Old dirty B, 13 May 2018 - 11:30 AM.

[Pain G0D]

Fine I shall bow to your wisdom. I have a PB , V ,S and M . I am a locust fan although I normally play heavies and assaults.

Do I have to toss the original engine for the fastest one possible and if yes must it be an XL engine ? I only gave my S an XL engine to fit more missile ammo .

Any tips for a single ER large laser locust 3M ? I think it's a great idea but so far it's my luck is non existent .

[Old dirty B]

In line with my previous comments any Locust should be outfitted with an XL190 because mobility is what should be amplified, Only under special circumstances should a lower / slower engine be considered. Only my Locust with 3xMPL and ECM has an XL180, the rest is all XL190.

If you want to use more range i suggest to use a LPL Locust 1V, thats a little poke monster. I'm no fan of large lasers, the long duration leads to more exposure. More exposure is bad for Locust health...

But it seems you dont have the 3M and my personal favorite, the 1E... you are missing out!

[Ovion]