15 replies to this topic

[Purger of Man]

I was inspired by Mcchuggernaut after reading his thread titled "My Best Build, Shared"

So for my second post on this forum, I decided to do something similar if not almost identical
with a different 'mech/chassis that seems to work very well for me, and hopefully others too.

Here below is the 'mech that is currently filling my bank with cbills, which also
is allowing me to redeem past crashes/blunders due to my old PC/ineptitude

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...b772b4313bfef8c
^ 340XL, 2 Medium lasers, Large Pulse, top speed 151.5 kph ^
^ The build I devised whilst playing/creating this 'mech/thread ^

&

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...a795709dbd8edcb
^ 300XL, 3 medium lasers, Large Pulse, top speed 133.7 kph ^
^ This build courtesy of Lunatech, which was extrapolated from his advice ^

Unlike Mcchuggernaut, I don't consider myself a veteran, maybe kinda versed, but nothing
in comparison to his experience, hell I've only taken this 'mech into 40-ish games with my
ideal loadout, and in that time I had to cobble up this build which is working extremely well,
with a current 2+/1 k/d ratio and 2+/1 win ratio as shown below, and some other 'mechs


^ Obviously I've cropped/removed many of my 'mechs I don't use/like for the sake of saving space on the page ^

How I tend to use it:

Bare with me, for I'm fairly new and don't know the terminology of this game/forum. In
short, I too, like Mcchuggernaut, like to do "pin point damage" as stated in his thread
"My Best Build, Shared". If I'm alone, I tend to aim at side torsos. Since some 'mechs
carry XL's engines and those regions have less armour than front torsos, and if not
I usually blow off half of the enemy 'mech's firepower. Though if I'm with friends, I'll
hide in plain sight whilst watching the map and hide in front of bigger allies legs,
and sometimes emerge from either side of an ally and offer fire support, making
sure to leave enough room for him/her to backup if they need to take cover or
reposition to fire elsewhere. Most importantly, sticking near allies and not
soloing grants others the benefits of ecm and allows for coordinated effort.


Why Large Pulse Laser? Why not Reg/ER Laser/PPC?

Personal preference, like anything in this game, but I find the large pulse laser
and medium lasers work a lot better together because of their similar ranges,
allowing greater damage output at near optimal ranges for both weapons.
I've used all the previous weapon systems mentioned for this 'mech, but
found I barely used the mediums early to mid game due to the range
differences of the weapons, hence why I settled for the L. Pulse.

Ps: Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but... I think because the Large pulse fires in "volleys"
it allows for a greater crit chance on unarmoured 'mech parts, though I could be wrong


Modules that I tend to use in this variant

1. Advanced Targeting: 25% decrease in time to acquire enemy 'mech info, very useful in my opinion

2. Capture Accelerator: Very useful for most game modes, and you've got the speed to take advantage of it

3. Advanced Zoom: I know this thing doesn't have the greatest range in the game, but... Getting those
precise shots are a lot easier with zoom magnification x4 and if not, you could opt out for seismic sensor


Pro-Tip: Pot Shots

I know the Medium Lasers don't have the best maximum range, but ever since
they've buffed the range of the Large Pulse Lasers, it can reach out to 700m,
so if you see an enemy, just take a shot at em, it'll help when it comes to
assists at the conclusion of the match and help boost your cbill/exp gain.

Pro-Tip: LRM Interference

If you see it raining Lrm's not too far away, run over and help alleviate some
of the damage caused by those missles, and reignite the fight on that flank

Pro-Tip: Ecm Denial

Ecm's don't just disrupt, but can counter other ecm's with the press of the "J" button,
this can make or break a game. So if you do encounter another ecm bubble horde,
toggle off, and try to gauge how beneficial it will be in either mode. For instance,
if you toggle it to disrupt and you view a almost dead Ecm boat, It'd be best to
keep countering allowing team members to take those "pinpoint" shots to their
vital areas. On the other hand, if it starts raining a ridiculous amount of Lrm's
immediately after you toggle to counter mode, you'd be best to turn it back
on or else you and that half of a 'mech will be all that's left as they close in.

Pro-Tip: You got legs, Use em

This build I've put before you has a lot of speed under the hood, and you'd be
best using it, and I don't mean from getting to the next hill to pop up and down
repeatedly in the same spot, if you do that, that's a great way to be greeted
by Mcchuggernaut's PPC's/AC20 to the face. Be unpredictable in your
placement/firing positions, but not needlessly so that you're wasting too
much time with placement and not enough time firing, if you got a good
spot and they're oblivious stand still for precise shots at your own risk.


Ps: Thanks for reading, hopefully it's helpful, and I'll probably add more
about the weapons/tactics later on if I remember anything else, thanks

Edited by Purger of Man, 07 March 2014 - 10:23 AM.

[NRP]

You can also run dual PPCs on the 3M (and still do something like 130 kph). It's quite an effective loadout, if you're into pinpoint damage and know lights won't hassle you. Great "peek" sniper.

[SirLANsalot]

CDA-3M
if you like those LPL then here ya go.

113kph is on the side of slow for a wannabe light, but if you run into other lights, they will not be around long enough to use there speed against you.

This is the same thing people use for the twin PPC (which is silly). LPL are the perfect hybrids between upfront damage like a ballistic but also the duration point in click of beams.

[Kyynele]

SirLANsalot, on 06 March 2014 - 12:51 PM, said:

This is the same thing people use for the twin PPC (which is silly). LPL are the perfect hybrids between upfront damage like a ballistic but also the duration point in click of beams.

Not sure if serious.

Twin PPC 3M is so effective it's almost easymode, assuming your aim is good enough to reliably hit stuff. And assuming that you are willing to play a nasty sniping *******.

We probably have completely different playstyles, because i personally couldn't consider a Cicada with 255XL even viable. :/ Here's what I've been running: http://mwo.smurfy-ne...0fb675c7f1cd3e9

OP's build doesn't look bad at all for brawling. Personally I would replace the LPL with an LL, an extra ML and one extra DHS for a slightly higher alpha, a fraction better DPS and longer reach, but that's pretty much just personal preference.

[TB Freelancer]

Kyynele, on 06 March 2014 - 03:59 PM, said:

Not sure if serious.

Twin PPC 3M is so effective it's almost easymode, assuming your aim is good enough to reliably hit stuff. And assuming that you are willing to play a nasty sniping *******.

Until the Firestarter it was a good build. But now days, with so many lights and fast light hunter mediums running around, also with JJ changes, things have already shifted. There are simply far more builds out there now that will just giggle when they see a PPC cicada and take the free kill because they can get inside 90m and stay there.

[SirLANsalot]

TB Freelancer, on 06 March 2014 - 04:23 PM, said:

Until the Firestarter it was a good build. But now days, with so many lights and fast light hunter mediums running around, also with JJ changes, things have already shifted. There are simply far more builds out there now that will just giggle when they see a PPC cicada and take the free kill because they can get inside 90m and stay there.

exactly, unless you run ERPPCs which means you will have to go to the 255 to get the HS to keep it from overheating on just one ER.

Running with just 10DHS is never a good idea for big energy weapons, its best to run (at minimum) 13 DHS for a pair of LL and can be ran with a pair of LPL but thats pushing those DHS to do a lot. This covers the times when you are on a hot map (like Terrible Therma) which maxes those DHS from the start.

[InRev]

TB Freelancer, on 06 March 2014 - 04:23 PM, said:

Until the Firestarter it was a good build. But now days, with so many lights and fast light hunter mediums running around, also with JJ changes, things have already shifted. There are simply far more builds out there now that will just giggle when they see a PPC cicada and take the free kill because they can get inside 90m and stay there.

Hell, I giggle when I see a PPC Cicada while driving my dual LL Cicada! The predator becomes the prey . . .

[Johnny Reb]

SirLANsalot, on 06 March 2014 - 12:51 PM, said:

CDA-3M
if you like those LPL then here ya go.

113kph is on the side of slow for a wannabe light, but if you run into other lights, they will not be around long enough to use there speed against you.

This is the same thing people use for the twin PPC (which is silly). LPL are the perfect hybrids between upfront damage like a ballistic but also the duration point in click of beams.

Gonna have to try this, better than the 2 erppc sniper in terms of heat! And, dont have to be a sniper!

Edited by Johnny Reb, 06 March 2014 - 09:24 PM.

[xMintaka]

You can put that Large Pulse in your CT for greater protection.

I run this which got me to 79th (IIRC) in the Cicada category for med vs the world over two nights of normal playing (so, maybe 30 drops).

You may not know this, OP, but running the XL300 is optimal. It gives you the most tonnage to spare for weapons/cooling, while still allowing you to run a respectable speed. Anything much above that, you could mount the equivalent build on a Jenner and have jumpjets.

Obviously, some CDA builds benefit from bigger engines but more often than not I advocate the use of XL300's.


From a Cicada fanboy,

[Levi Porphyrogenitus]

CDA-3M has more firepower at the cost of marginally less speed.

[Alcom Isst]

SirLANsalot, on 06 March 2014 - 12:51 PM, said:

CDA-3M
if you like those LPL then here ya go.

113kph is on the side of slow for a wannabe light, but if you run into other lights, they will not be around long enough to use there speed against you.

This is the same thing people use for the twin PPC (which is silly). LPL are the perfect hybrids between upfront damage like a ballistic but also the duration point in click of beams.

You're still well within viable heat efficiency and 20 KPH faster with this.

[Kyynele]

TB Freelancer, on 06 March 2014 - 04:23 PM, said:

Until the Firestarter it was a good build. But now days, with so many lights and fast light hunter mediums running around, also with JJ changes, things have already shifted. There are simply far more builds out there now that will just giggle when they see a PPC cicada and take the free kill because they can get inside 90m and stay there.

Well, in the tournament I piloted one pretty extensively, came across tons of Firestarters and only had to give one free kill. And that was in a situation in which my team was already outnumbered by 6. On most occasions those lights looking for a free kill seem to turn away when they get a 20 point hit in their leg/torso and when you return to the firing range of the rest of your team, which shouldn't take more than 10 seconds if you haven't screwed up your positioning. I'm pretty sure I saw a bunch of the other top 10 Cicadas running 2 PPCs as well (while there were other builds, too.) I'm waiting to see how the JJ nerf affects the situation, but certainly the introduction of the Firestarter wasn't that big a deal.

ECM remains a strong tool for sniping, and PPCs still do instant pinpoint damage, that's much harder to see where it's coming from than LLs. As long as most people prefer playing assault mechs, I fail to see much reduction in it's viability. The last game I played with it was last night on Terra Therma Conquest, the opposing side had 4 scary Firestarters - yet I survived to the end, dealing 3 kills, 7 assists and 670 damage. The Firestarters faired much worse.

Fast light hunter mediums aren't usually a problem if you know what you're doing and aren't running a slow 255XL build.

Yes, there are builds that situationally trump others. And no, I'm no die-hard PPC fanatic, I run my 3M with 2x ERLL and LL+3ML as well, and could try out LPLs in the future. It's just that a fast ECM dual PPC sniper is something no other mech is seriously capable of, while there are other, debatably even better options for brawling distances. YMMV.

[Purger of Man]

Lunatech, on 06 March 2014 - 09:25 PM, said:

You can put that Large Pulse in your CT for greater protection.

I run this which got me to 79th (IIRC) in the Cicada category for med vs the world over two nights of normal playing (so, maybe 30 drops).

You may not know this, OP, but running the XL300 is optimal. It gives you the most tonnage to spare for weapons/cooling, while still allowing you to run a respectable speed. Anything much above that, you could mount the equivalent build on a Jenner and have jumpjets.

Obviously, some CDA builds benefit from bigger engines but more often than not I advocate the use of XL300's.


From a Cicada fanboy,

Now when you mention "putting the Large Pulse in the center torso for greater protection", the reason I don't do is for two, well three reasons now that you bring up using a XL300 (Which I own by the way, so there's no reason in me not trying it).

First reason, I usually emerge from cover/allies with my right side poking out first, So I'd prefer my most powerful/longest reaching weapon protruding out and firing as apposed to my weaker/shorter ranged medium lasers.

Second reason, the side torso energy points are placed higher up, which allows me to clear hills/obstacles
with greater ease, as apposed to the lower mountings provided in the center torso.

Third reason, thanks to your input/suggestion, if I indeed did use/put a XL300, the Large Pulse Laser takes up
two critcal slots within the torso, thus not allowing me to utilize the two energy hard points within said torso.

With all that being said, I'm more than happy to try a XL300,
and divulge my findings within this thread, so thank you.

That being said, the end result will most likely be something like this.
(Also the 300XL allows me to increase the heat efficiency by a smidgen)

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...a795709dbd8edcb


Ps: The reason I even had the XL300 is because I was fooling around with a CDA with 2 AC'2/AC2&ER
Large Laser, Which fortunately enough will also be used in my up coming Quickdraw(s) as well

Edited by Purger of Man, 07 March 2014 - 06:50 AM.

[DONTOR]

Another good build!
I have a friend I play with wo rns exactly the same build and I was amazed at how effective it is while I was spectating him.
I generally run 1 ERLL and 3 Meds on the 3M to great effect, but I will have to gve this a try.

[Agent 0 Fortune]

Seems like I may be one of the few who feel that Cicada do not need to move 130+kph. I feel that with its low profile and ECM capabilities a 250 engine is sufficient (100kph) and the only reason I wouldn't go lower is to preserve the free heat sinks.

Dual PPC is probably the most effective due to pinpoint convergence, but I have had success subing in a AC2 and/or UAC5 as well.

I have also been known to run 2x ER Lg laser or 3x Lg Laser

Edited by Agent 0 Fortune, 07 March 2014 - 10:58 AM.

[Rokuzachi]

Thank you for sharing.

I'm going to try this out tonight as a partner to my buddy's FS. I figured he could use the ECM cover and a little extra backup for when he jumps out of the shadows and backsabs people, lol. I usually drive heavies/assaults which are unsuited to accompanying him. This seems like a good fit though.