24 replies to this topic

[Alaskan Nobody]

Vanrian, on 29 April 2014 - 11:23 PM, said:

....I have to say though, I noticed a distance step up using the MPL's as compared to just the regular ML's...

One note that was kind of mentioned but possibly deserves more attention:
All lasers do their damage over time - over the duration of the beam (link has a list of the hard stats)

MPL do better damage faster (6 damage in 0.6 seconds, compared to 5 damage in a full second) but are less efficient. (2 tons and 5 heat with 200 meter effective range, compared to 1 ton and 4 heat with 270 meter effective range)

If you learn to hold the beams steady - ML will take you further, but if you are still wavering the beams (and don't feel to bad if you are, there are lots of days where I do it ) don't feel bad about mounting the MPL.

[Vanrian]

Taking everyone's advice and working with what I had in my budget (it was about 1.7mil c-bills) I managed to build this

HBK-4P

I modified it a bit from all the advice you great guys and gals had given me and then tweaked it a bit to what I've tended to need while on the battlefied (note the B.A.P and the A.M.S) the C.A.S.E system is in there because I had a spare .5 ton to work with and decided it's better to be safe than sorry.

I've grouped the weapons as so:

Group 1:
3x Med Laser

Group 2:
3x Med Laser

Group 3:
2x Med puls laser
Small Laser

Group 4:
6x Medium laser

I try to use group one and two chain firing at the same time which has kept my heat well under control for quick hits while I use Group 4 to fire my entire hunch into slower moving targets (preferably with their backs turned) Group 3 is used mostly to deter the light mech that seem to near constantly swarm me as soon as I appear on anyone's Battlegrid.

I don't know if it'll help but I noticed that my playstyle shifts between hit and run and sticking beside my assault buddies to help watch for the flank (anyone who's played with me knows the first thing I do is call my contacts and potential flanks). The engine upgrade has been near invaluable to helping with that and with my heat.

Anyway, like I said that's the build I've been able to make so far and I'm hoping that my slow evolution will be a boon to others who share the same playstyle/mech chasis. If anyone has any more help or critiques I'd love to hear them and will definitely take them into consideration (it's gotten me to where I can regularly survive a match so something went right xD)

As always thank you all so very much for your help and I look forward to seeing you on the battlefield

[Void Angel]

Try This instead. The single Small laser in the head isn't really worthwhile, because range, so by pulling that and the CASE out, you can fit in another heat sink - which is always useful for a laser boat - and transferring over a medium laser from the hunch to the head preserves more firepower for if (when) someone blows that tempting hunch off of your back (see what I did there.)

Finally, no one ever bothers to leg a Hunchback, and if they do, the worst thing that can happen is you lose a medium pulse and some heat sinks. Probably. It's worth the risk; and even if you DID put in the CASE, you'd still want to put the AMS ammo in the leg - because CASE prevents ammunition explosions from entering a component, as well as leaving it.

As for your weapon groups - never use more weapon groups than you can bind to your mouse, by the way - I'd recommend that you only use the 3-laser groups when you are desperate to defend yourself but cannot spare the heat to alpha strike the Hunch. If you can afford the heat, it's always going to hurt the other guy more to get slapped in the face with a 30-point laser strike than a 15-point blast. So unless you're working on killing a particularly troublesome light, I'd recommend giving them the ol' "mace to the face" from the hunch lasers.

Edited by Void Angel, 30 April 2014 - 03:19 PM.

[Orbit Rain]

With that build, I'd ditch the BAP and the AMS and add three heatsinks:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...689155c5ee7d2b5

[Mahws]

ThatBum42, on 30 April 2014 - 01:50 AM, said:

I would have thought that medium pulse lasers would be a good weapon for lights, and indeed I've seen Spiders use them to great effect. For knife fighting range, the damage should be optimal. The shorter duration would reduce the damage spread while moving quickly. The shorter recycle time would increase DPS, and this is valuable since lights tend to harass and circle, having a relatively large exposure time as compared to other classes.

Not really, Spiders are the exception because they have so few hardpoints. On a Spider 5-D 3xMPL is a decent option because 3xML leaves you with plenty of weight left over. Though often I take the ML anyway because the extra range means more effective harassment and less risk engaging.

You'll never see a Jenner-F running 3xMPL over 6xML though as tonne for tonne the ML give more bang for your buck. With ML you can do decent damage whilst staying at the edge of streak range, at 300m MPL are only doing 3 damage while a ML is doing ~4.5. A light mech is only ever 'safe' >300m or behind the enemy, so whilst pulse lasers may be a bit better against other light mechs, their drawbacks against mediums, heavies and assaults make them unattractive.

IMO they're best used on dedicated light hunters (alongside streaks) or on the arms of larger mechs that need a little extra protection against light mechs and can spare the extra tonnage.