89 replies to this topic

[Mad Ox]

Unlike Board game where certain aspects of mechs were ignored especially size. MWO really does bring out smaller mech strengths beyond the fact they can move fast.

Cicada being just barely in mediums is a great blend of Light and medium.
+ Much better armored then standard light
+ Small Size bit bigger then light but still rather small
+ Stick thin legs hard to leg the thing
+ Very fast. Size not hit to hard yet on engine size vs speed
+ As bigger mech can load up on some decent firepower
+ can support a very large engine on all varients

- Jump Jets no JJ's sorta sucks but jsut requires ya to think ahead a little more for what you want to do still able to.

Assuming your can control it well along with have good connection bad ping = trouble. it really can be a very powerful mech in game.

Edited by Mad Ox, 19 February 2014 - 09:17 AM.

[Koniving]

Viges, on 19 February 2014 - 08:54 AM, said:

single handedly??? There were 2 cicadas, used artillery on 3(!) gauss lone phract. Lol

Second Cicada fired once. And well the artillery. But that's something every player can use.

[Unnatural Growth]

ginger, on 18 February 2014 - 06:34 PM, said:

Wanted to throw in my 2 cents on this bad mamma jamma.

In general I really like the way this chassis is set up, and it's my go to favorite right meow.

Dude...

You said "meow"...

lolz.

[Viges]

Koniving, on 19 February 2014 - 09:18 AM, said:

Second Cicada fired once. And well the artillery. But that's something every player can use.

Yea and any mech can kill 3 gauss phract in 5 seconds too

Edited by Viges, 19 February 2014 - 09:29 AM.

[Koniving]

Viges, on 19 February 2014 - 09:29 AM, said:

Yea and any mech can kill 3 gauss phract in 5 seconds too

Totally not true.

[NRP]

If you run a 3C with an ERPPC+4 MGs, I recommend building for max speed (XL340). The one (only?) situation where this build shines is late game "last man standing" situations. The extra speed allows you to maintain spacing while kiting enemies to take full advantage of the ERPPC's 800m range, and the speed also helps to fully utilize the 4 MGs when exploiting damaged enemies. IMO, you definitely don't want to be slow in this mech.

[Viges]

Koniving, on 19 February 2014 - 09:30 AM, said:

Totally not true.

Spoiler

<br></p><p></p><p>

Gangbangs dont count But anyway I suggest this one

Edited by Viges, 19 February 2014 - 09:41 AM.

[IraqiWalker]

Viges, on 19 February 2014 - 08:54 AM, said:

What? Victors cant aim? Highlanders cant aim? Atlases cant aim? Phracts or jagers cant aim? You will be killed by most mechs in this game if they can aim. And ECM only keeps you from spotting by people that cant aim. Btw you wont dominate shadowhawks or blackjacks or any streak medium with bap or or or ...yea, thats right, they are great against bad pilots. Anything is.

(Do not take the following to be aggressive or condescending, I am merely raising a couple of points, and I know I can sound like a Scrapheap over the internet sometimes)

I've killed every mech you've mentioned up there with a Locust 1V.

Your post is basically saying that the pilot skill is what matters. Which in a way hurts your own previous point about the other "superior" mechs. Also, you will dominate a streak hawk, easy. Since they have the turn rate of a truck with 4 trailers, you can easily bob and weave around them.

The argument of : if they aim you die. is actually not helpful at all, as it applies to all mechs in the game. (just had a drop where I killed a 2xPPC/AC5 highlander solo with my COM-2D) Doesn't matter if you're in a meta mech or not. At least the cicada has a better chance of dodging hits because of its slender frame and speed.


My point is that, if you get to know how a mech works, it doesn't matter if it's "meta" or not meta. You will win almost every fight. As long as you know more about your mech and the enemy's than they do.

Meta mechs are more forgiving of mistakes, or are more abusable for a specific type of tactic that is popular for a month or two. You honestly improve your piloting skills a lot more by going off meta. Add to that the fact that a single weapon balance could bring down the current meta and replace with something that makes the current "meta" mechs useless to meta only player.

I've played my COM-2D through lag-shield days, LRMpocalypse, Discoball HBK9Ps (with 9 SPLs that out-damaged everything)
PPCmageddon, Same mech, same build (1 ML 3 SSRM2s with 2 tons ammo) except for the days when I wanna goof around and go with 3xSRM6s on it. Because of that, I easilly deal 500+ damage per match with my non-meta mech, and take on many "superior" builds and mechs, and come out on top.

End of the day, the meta is just the "easiest mechs to pilot/abuse" and that is always fluid, which means the skills you develop specifically for the meta might become useless when a patch rolls in. On the other hand, learning to play a mech for the sake of mastering it will make you a force to be reckoned with regardless of the meta.

One of my lance-mates can solo assaults (plural) with his TBT. I don't know how he does it, especially considering it doesn't have a lot of weapons on it (a couple of LRMs and LL/ML mix I think) All I see at the end of the match is him out-damaging most of the players in the game and getting a bunch of kills, and because of LRMs I guess almost 12 assists. He's a monster with it, and says it's their fast torso twist that makes it work for him.

EDIT: added clarification since language over internet isn't perfect yet.

Edited by IraqiWalker, 19 February 2014 - 02:41 PM.

[xMEPHISTOx]

LiGhtning90, on 19 February 2014 - 08:11 AM, said:

If you prefer the hit and run tactic as I do it's very awesome!

Indeed, very good for hit and runs, I like the 3M with ECM and 2 ERLL for that job myself.

[Viges]

IraqiWalker, on 19 February 2014 - 02:38 PM, said:

Your post is basically saying that the pilot skill is what matters. Which in a way hurts your own previous point about the other "superior" mechs. Also, you will dominate a streak hawk, easy. Since they have the turn rate of a truck with 4 trailers, you can easily bob and weave around them.

Hawks have hands that move fast enough. And more weapons and armor.
What I said is that cicadas are great only against bad pilots, and any good pilot that can aim will beat it in most other mechs.

I have mastered cicadas, I killed 4 mechs solo in it to win and so on. Still they are not great - pretty average mech. Take jack or hawk and you will be able to do so much more.

[Tesunie]

IraqiWalker, on 19 February 2014 - 02:38 PM, said:

My point is that, if you get to know how a mech works, it doesn't matter if it's "meta" or not meta. You will win almost every fight. As long as you know more about your mech and the enemy's than they do.

Agreed. I have several mechs that I've been told on the forums "Suck" and are "terribad" because they aren't meta. Yet, I commonly pull 300-600 damage in them easy. It's all in how you play, and not always in how your mech is set up.

(Honestly, I don't know how, but me and ACs don't seem to get along that well. I like them, but they hate me. I use a meta mech right now and do nothing but die. Give me some LRMs, even a few, and I seem to do far more damage. Go figure...)


Mechs I've been told are "Terribad" that preform well:
Stalker 3F: http://mwo.smurfy-ne...1b0fed418ebb28e (My best running mech currently.)
Battlemaster 1S: http://mwo.smurfy-ne...d83edc6e97ad3eb (Just a ghost of my Stalker. Doesn't seem to run as well, though it carries the same exact weapon payload. Just crumples too easily.)
Shadowhawk 5M: http://mwo.smurfy-ne...45485a8ad957121 (Slow. About it.)
Cicada 3C: http://mwo.smurfy-ne...60c653d5c1bff86 (Been considered too slow.)
Locust 3S: http://mwo.smurfy-ne...0aed9ef87384ab3 (Is considered too slow, not enough ammo, and not enough LRMs. Regularly run out of almost all ammo with a total of 300 damage most matches, if I'm careful and not stupid.)


I could keep pulling up more builds that other people have called bad, and yet continue to say how well I did with them. Sometimes, it's all in how it's used, and sometimes by whom.

[Alaskan Nobody]

Tesunie, on 19 February 2014 - 06:27 PM, said:

Locust 3S: http://mwo.smurfy-ne...0aed9ef87384ab3 (Is considered too slow, not enough ammo, and not enough LRMs.

Well, you DO have the crits to "Upgrade" to an XL100.... for an extra 0.5 tons of whatever.

[Tesunie]

Shar Wolf, on 19 February 2014 - 06:30 PM, said:

[/size]
Well, you DO have the crits to "Upgrade" to an XL100.... for an extra 0.5 tons of whatever.

Could, for more armor maybe. However, do you know how many times I'm still alive as a one legged, one torso, no armed Locust? I swear! People can't seem to hit the broad side of my SLOW locust! This thing seems to take more punishment than my fast locusts do! (I'm not even joking... )

[Alaskan Nobody]

Tesunie, on 19 February 2014 - 06:52 PM, said:

Could, for more armor maybe. However, do you know how many times I'm still alive as a one legged, one torso, no armed Locust? I swear! People can't seem to hit the broad side of my SLOW locust! This thing seems to take more punishment than my fast locusts do! (I'm not even joking... )

Oh I'd believe it (people's inability to hit anything outside of the absolute highest tier of gameplay is one of the reasons I wind up arguing with Victor)

Just pointing out that there is a bit of room for optimization there (makes ya wish for half-ton ammo values eh?)

hmm.... an XL120 would give about 10 more KPH... not sure it would be worth it though.
Or a case - but that wouldn't really be worth the weight.

I'll have to try that on my 3S.... After! I get a STD100 engine!

[Tesunie]

Shar Wolf, on 19 February 2014 - 06:59 PM, said:

Oh I'd believe it (people's inability to hit anything outside of the absolute highest tier of gameplay is one of the reasons I wind up arguing with Victor)

Just pointing out that there is a bit of room for optimization there (makes ya wish for half-ton ammo values eh?)

hmm.... an XL120 would give about 10 more KPH... not sure it would be worth it though.
Or a case - but that wouldn't really be worth the weight.

I'll have to try that on my 3S.... After! I get a STD100 engine!

Well, one good thing, it's cheap. The mech is cheap. The weapons are cheap. The ammo is cheap. All upgrades you need are already there. And... the engine is cheap!

I will warn, you have to stay with someone with this mech most times. Support from mid range, normally indirect. Once you are out of LRM ammo, rush in and pester someone with some annoying SRMs... I'm sure one could also remove a ton of LRM ammo for a med laser or TAG if they wished... but one ton ammo is going to be very light.

(Basically, it is not a build for everyone... but it does at least make the 100 Std engine feel useful. Poor thing was feeling so unloved till I cam around.)

[Alaskan Nobody]

Tesunie, on 19 February 2014 - 07:02 PM, said:

I will warn, you have to stay with someone with this mech most times. Support from mid range, normally indirect.

If you ever saw my arguments about my Centurion, you should realize I am (somewhat) good at that.

Still.... this little guy doesn't have the armor or size to play "Ablative Armor" for the mechs with more firepower like my Centurion can

[Tesunie]

Shar Wolf, on 19 February 2014 - 07:05 PM, said:

[/size]
If you ever saw my arguments about my Centurion, you should realize I am (somewhat) good at that.

Still.... this little guy doesn't have the armor or size to play "Ablative Armor" for the mechs with more firepower like my Centurion can

I wont say it can do more than distract and add in a little more fire power into a target. It isn't going to be a "one hit killer (exaggeration)" Locust. It slowly grinds away and creates a few holes that others can hopefully exploit. It's a support mech, but still only a 20 ton mech. What more do you expect for 20 tons?

[Alaskan Nobody]

Tesunie, on 19 February 2014 - 07:11 PM, said:

What more do you expect for 20 tons?

Someday?

This

[Tesunie]

Shar Wolf, on 19 February 2014 - 07:25 PM, said:

Someday?

This

With all those MGs, find an open piece of armor and the poor bloke wont even know what hit them...

Personally, I'm still wanting this: http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Flea

But I REALLY want these:
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Crab (I'd probably do "okay" in this mech)
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/King_Crab (I could do well with this. Do a mix of LRMs and ACs... )

[Alaskan Nobody]

Tesunie, on 19 February 2014 - 07:43 PM, said:

Personally, I'm still wanting this: http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Flea

But I REALLY want these:
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Crab (I'd probably do "okay" in this mech)
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/King_Crab (I could do well with this. Do a mix of LRMs and ACs... )

Yeah, I've wanted the Flea since I saw the "Falcon's Honor" or something like it on Youtube (group of German players from MW4 - 3rd best worldwide or something like that - can't find the youtube videos any more though )
They used a Flea to open up some weight on their team - and put up videos of him doing awesome stuff (to Beach Boys music to!) including Irish Highstepping (the music they used may be why it isn't up anymore, hadn't considered that)

Doubt we'd get the Crabs though - or at least not the King - between the split-criticals rule issue, and the redunkulous firepower (4! AC/20 potential in one variant?!) - which is sad.