16 replies to this topic

[Roachbugg]

so we have had the banshee available to play with on smurfy for a bit now and i was wondering if any one had come up with some fabulous builds for it yet. Also to any one who bought em for mc how do they run? Do they play similar to the atlas or are they kinda in a niche of their own.

I threw togther some builds but i think some of them are kinda silly i know for a fact some of these banshees just run to bloody hot i mean christ what am i supposed to do with all these energy hardpoints?

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...019f5b558dfa6ed

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...faf38f6475ba3d1

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...200af5398d39ac0

[Wintersdark]

IMHO, the S and M are largely trash, with the S being somewhat usable... But the E?

BNC-3E

It's pretty much obvious, but ridiculous. Three Autocannon 5's provide what amounts to a Gauss Rifle with a 1.5s recycle and no terribad charge mechanic, backed by a pair of PPC's. Losing either side torso leaves the mech with solid offensive power, so a STD310 engine while somewhat slow allows me to continue fighting even under heavy fire.

You can chainfire the AC5's for the same overall DPS as groupfiring, though with the danger of spreading damage. Firing a AC5 every .5s is great for suppression.

A 35 point alphastrike allows for one-shot kills cockpitting mechs. You don't have the strengths of the "Poptart Glory Days" Heavy Metal poptart-cockpitting mechs, but you've got more armor, and shield arms.

The mech has downsides, of course. Lack of arm mounted weaponry restricts most significantly your vertical reach, so steep inclines can put you in places where foes can strike at you while you cannot return fire. Also, it's fairly slow - until we can get Speed Tweak, you're rocking 52kph. Torso twist isn't good, but it's not terribly bad, but it's important to understand the mech's limitations to use it well.

It presents a tremendous amount of firepower, capable of hammering away at foes indefinitely (the mech will cool while firing all three AC5's) using the PPC's to supplement damage output. But you've got weaknesses that can - and will - be exploited. It's tempting to stay at range and hammer from safety, but there's a lot of danger in that approach. At 52-60kph, it's easy to be separated from the pack, and with the lack of arm mounted weapons combatting lights can be quite difficult.

I find I prefer utilizing the mech's solid armor and imposing firepower, pushing forward alongside other assaults/heavies. Open up with heavy alpha strikes until your heat is high, then fall back to AC5 fire up close when the PPC's are less useful.

[Antique]

These are the ones I came up with, all are optimized and i guess they could all work, I just have to try them first, but I ain't buying the banshees for MC

BNC-3S
BNC-3S
BNC-3E
BNC-3S
BNC-3E
BNC-3E

most of them don't even use the supreme speeds that the banshees can achieve and that feels like a shame.

[DocBach]

those are all pretty bad builds. winter nailed it with the 3E - puts all the other Banshees to shame, 2 PPCs 3 AC5s, decent sized std engine. its brutal.

[Turist0AT]

Running with this one at the moment. STD ofc.

Weapon groups:
AC-20 + ASRM 6 (~30 dmg)
6 SPL (~20 dmg)
LPL+ML (~15 dmg)

Needless to say, its a brawler for ranges 0-300meters.

Have not played it that much, forgot to unlock basics(it handles like a WW2 tank). But if feels good. I dont get roflstomp, not yet anyway. Love the spacy cockpit

Edited by Turist0AT, 17 March 2014 - 03:41 AM.

[Wintersdark]

Antique, on 16 March 2014 - 12:05 AM, said:

These are the ones I came up with, all are optimized and i guess they could all work, I just have to try them first, but I ain't buying the banshees for MC

BNC-3S
BNC-3S
BNC-3E
BNC-3S
BNC-3E
BNC-3E

most of them don't even use the supreme speeds that the banshees can achieve and that feels like a shame.

Banshees can't achieve supreme speeds. That's a red herring. Oh, sure, it's possible to go 75kph in one, if you devote 33.5 tons to a 400XL, but that's not fast. And the diminishing rewards for tonnage>speed is really brutal after 350 rated engines (and it's bad even after 300). You simply don't get much bang for your buck: You end up with a very heavily armored slow Heavy... That's enormous, and killed by clipping a side torso. Agile, jump capable assaults like the Victor can utilize XL's, or ones with ridiculously large center torsos (arguably the Battlemaster, though it's not a particularly good assault)... But a 95 ton non-jumping assault with an XL is just bad. So, given that, speed is simply not a good way to go with the Banshee. This is, incidentally, why nobody liked banshees "in lore" - they boasted the firepower of a medium, the speed of a heavy, in an assault chassis. It's just not good enough at anything to work out.

After that... Non-ballistic banshees are just bad, too. The reality is that energy weapons are so severely gimped in the current heat system, and further nerfed into crapitude by ghost heat, that in an assault platform you need to be able to mix energy and ballistics to get the best utilization of heat capacity and tonnage. A pure-energy 95 ton assault is garbage. Perhaps a time will come when our heat system sucks less, then such a mech could have it's day in the sun, but that day is not today.

The S has at least one Ballistics hardpoint, but that's essentially limited to an AC20, making the S a slightly undersized and undergunned and/or excessively hot Atlas without ECM options. It's just a poor choice compared to a DDC.

"But the Boar's Head" you say? The Boar's Head at least mounts those energy weapons on it's arms, where they can be used with pinpoint precision. This is a very significant difference, given the lack of agility in the Banshee (and Atlas, obviously).

I've yet to see a build I'd consider decently usable for the M, and the ones for the S that are usable at least still are inferior to many other options.

And, my build above notwithstanding, I'm not all about meta-whoring. I've got a wide variety of builds over my 50ish mechs, and am happy with non-standard builds. But they need to work, and not be grossly inferior to builds offered by similar mechs.

[Soulscour]

Bought a e tonight. Had a xl385 lying around. Proceeded to pwn in this build BNC-3E

[oldradagast]

The Banshee's variability in usefulness sums up the balance issues with the game. The viability of the mech is directly related to the number of autocannons it can effectively mount, and that's about it (except for jump jets, which none of the Banshee's have.) So, yeah - the 3E rocks, the 3S is marginal, and the 3M is a 95-ton Awesome 8Q without weapons in the arms... ugh.

[3rdworld]

IMO- GXP the basics on the 3M.

3E: Slow but this thing is a nail driver.

3S: Run it just like a misery, but 1 kph faster. Solid all around mech.

Edited by 3rdworld, 19 March 2014 - 06:23 AM.

[Bishop Steiner]

Wintersdark, on 15 March 2014 - 08:02 PM, said:

IMHO, the S and M are largely trash, with the S being somewhat usable... But the E?

BNC-3E

It's pretty much obvious, but ridiculous. Three Autocannon 5's provide what amounts to a Gauss Rifle with a 1.5s recycle and no terribad charge mechanic, backed by a pair of PPC's. Losing either side torso leaves the mech with solid offensive power, so a STD310 engine while somewhat slow allows me to continue fighting even under heavy fire.

You can chainfire the AC5's for the same overall DPS as groupfiring, though with the danger of spreading damage. Firing a AC5 every .5s is great for suppression.

A 35 point alphastrike allows for one-shot kills cockpitting mechs. You don't have the strengths of the "Poptart Glory Days" Heavy Metal poptart-cockpitting mechs, but you've got more armor, and shield arms.

The mech has downsides, of course. Lack of arm mounted weaponry restricts most significantly your vertical reach, so steep inclines can put you in places where foes can strike at you while you cannot return fire. Also, it's fairly slow - until we can get Speed Tweak, you're rocking 52kph. Torso twist isn't good, but it's not terribly bad, but it's important to understand the mech's limitations to use it well.

It presents a tremendous amount of firepower, capable of hammering away at foes indefinitely (the mech will cool while firing all three AC5's) using the PPC's to supplement damage output. But you've got weaknesses that can - and will - be exploited. It's tempting to stay at range and hammer from safety, but there's a lot of danger in that approach. At 52-60kph, it's easy to be separated from the pack, and with the lack of arm mounted weapons combatting lights can be quite difficult.

I find I prefer utilizing the mech's solid armor and imposing firepower, pushing forward alongside other assaults/heavies. Open up with heavy alpha strikes until your heat is high, then fall back to AC5 fire up close when the PPC's are less useful.

And the E pretty much is totally helpless vs anything small and fast, because of the all torso weapons. The Banshee is horribly slow and non agile, overall. With a huge 380XL, La Malinche can more decently, but anything under a 350 leaves your average Stalker dancing circles around you. (not good overall for a mech that had to close to CQB to have a chance).

3E is a good "team" mech, but is a horrible solo one, IMO. The 3S, sadly ain't much better solo, though at least it's arm mount gives it some degree of defense. The 3M..... well, I don't own it for a reason.

But my Ember LOVES to find BNC-3Es. Only thing easier to kill is XL Stalkers.

[meteorol]

Bishop Steiner, on 19 March 2014 - 06:30 AM, said:

And the E pretty much is totally helpless vs anything small and fast, because of the all torso weapons. The Banshee is horribly slow and non agile, overall. With a huge 380XL, La Malinche can more decently, but anything under a 350 leaves your average Stalker dancing circles around you. (not good overall for a mech that had to close to CQB to have a chance).

3E is a good "team" mech, but is a horrible solo one, IMO. The 3S, sadly ain't much better solo, though at least it's arm mount gives it some degree of defense. The 3M..... well, I don't own it for a reason.

But my Ember LOVES to find BNC-3Es. Only thing easier to kill is XL Stalkers.

Had to learn this the hard way, because i had to answer the phone while playing my new 3E. When returning to the PC, my team was halfway across the map, and there i stood all alone.

Brand new 3E. STD 300 engine. Not even one basic skill unlocked. Without 2x basics (well, i didn't even had 1x basics) this mech feels like riding into the battle on an anvil.

Raven 3L challenged me for a 1on1 and did some serious harm, without even being a decent pilot. I managed to leg him eventually and killed him, but it took an awful amount of time. Given the skill of said light pilot, i would have killed him within seconds with any of my other mechs.

Using the 3E against anything that moves fast is really a pain in the *ss, atleast before unlocking elite skills. It can create a world of pain for slow mechs though.

[Bishop Steiner]

Wintersdark, on 16 March 2014 - 02:49 PM, said:

Banshees can't achieve supreme speeds. That's a red herring.

Could care less about top speed in a Banshee. On the other hand, the agility difference between my BNC-LM with a stock 380XL, vs the 310 in your BNC-3E? Massive. Granted, at standoff ranges, no biggie. At brawling ranges, my inferior armed, but far more agile La Malinche will eat that 3E alive.



on the whole, Banshee to Banshee, I think the hardpoints to engine size balancing is pretty good, but it is pretty much totally outclassed by a Mech 10 tons lighter, the BLR as a brawler. Really only the 3E Dakka-Sidhe brings anything new to the party.

[Wintersdark]

Bishop Steiner, on 19 March 2014 - 06:30 AM, said:

And the E pretty much is totally helpless vs anything small and fast, because of the all torso weapons. The Banshee is horribly slow and non agile, overall. With a huge 380XL, La Malinche can more decently, but anything under a 350 leaves your average Stalker dancing circles around you. (not good overall for a mech that had to close to CQB to have a chance).

Truth. Isolated vs a light, and you must rely on his making a mistake and allowing you a shot. I've killed many lights who've given me that opportunity but I do recognize that I've won due to their mistake.

The Bouncy is a sledgehammer. It utterly wrecks whatever it can track, but it's definitely vulnerable to a fast, agile light. I happily go toe to toe with heavies and assaults, but there is one other significant weakness: torso pitch. You need to avoid being drawn into a position where a mech can get enough elevation (jumping onto a building for example) and be able to fire down at you with impunity.

Quote

3E is a good "team" mech, but is a horrible solo one, IMO. The 3S, sadly ain't much better solo, though at least it's arm mount gives it some degree of defense. The 3M..... well, I don't own it for a reason.

But my Ember LOVES to find BNC-3Es. Only thing easier to kill is XL Stalkers.

Oh, the 3E is fine solo, but you need to be very aware of its weaknesses and ensure you don't get isolated. It's a lot of fun to drive though, because frankly nothing else hits like that.

The M... I bought it, GXP powerleveled it, and sold it. Didn't even try it.

The S... I'll level that one the old fashioned way, but I'll probably end up selling it. Just doesn't offer anything my D-DC can't already do better.

[DONTOR]

DocBach, on 16 March 2014 - 01:16 AM, said:

those are all pretty bad builds. winter nailed it with the 3E - puts all the other Banshees to shame, 2 PPCs 3 AC5s, decent sized std engine. its brutal.

No it only has 6 tons of ammo for 3 AC5s it IS going to run out, then your literally useless wthin 90M and to slow to get distrance between you and an opponent. Although while you have ammo it will be quite good. Actually you could just lose the 2 DHS for 2 tons ammo that would make it much more viable.

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...30530ce9a12dd67
This 3S is quite good at brawling and uses a 340 standard to get it to 64KPH.
with a manageable 60 point alpha. the 6 mediums and AC20 are enough to win most close range encounters.

Edited by DONTOR, 19 March 2014 - 07:29 AM.

[meteorol]

DONTOR, on 19 March 2014 - 07:19 AM, said:

No it only has 6 tons of ammo for 3 AC5s it IS going to run out, then your literally useless wthin 90M and to slow to get distrance between you and an opponent. Although while you have ammo it will be quite good. Actually you could just lose the 2 DHS for 2 tons ammo that would make it much more viable.

I'd rather downgrade the engine to STD 300. Doesn't make too much of a difference in speed and twisting, gives you 2.5t to play with. 2t of ammo and a bit more armor on those shield arms.

[Bishop Steiner]

Wintersdark, on 19 March 2014 - 07:17 AM, said:

Truth. Isolated vs a light, and you must rely on his making a mistake and allowing you a shot. I've killed many lights who've given me that opportunity but I do recognize that I've won due to their mistake.

The Bouncy is a sledgehammer. It utterly wrecks whatever it can track, but it's definitely vulnerable to a fast, agile light. I happily go toe to toe with heavies and assaults, but there is one other significant weakness: torso pitch. You need to avoid being drawn into a position where a mech can get enough elevation (jumping onto a building for example) and be able to fire down at you with impunity.


Oh, the 3E is fine solo, but you need to be very aware of its weaknesses and ensure you don't get isolated. It's a lot of fun to drive though, because frankly nothing else hits like that.

The M... I bought it, GXP powerleveled it, and sold it. Didn't even try it.

The S... I'll level that one the old fashioned way, but I'll probably end up selling it. Just doesn't offer anything my D-DC can't already do better.

well, it can tank damage better than your DDC. But that is balanced by the DDC having ecm and avoiding a lot of damage early. In the LRMworld we inhabit this week, ecm wins.

[EyeOne]

I got LRMed to death to quick to judge how good this ones. But I like the looks of it, Rifleman x 1.5
Ghost heat on 3 LLs is minimal.

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...36de37f877c3563