23 replies to this topic

[jaxjace]

I must learn from you great master.

I have begun the path of the stalker, im convinced it is the best mech in the game.

[CMetz]

Simple answer: You are.

[Valkyrie Brynhildr]

Then come, my young padawan, I shall teach you the secrets of being a Master of the Stalker...

First, know your Stalker fit...they all have different purposes. It doesn't help that if you have multiple Stalkers and they all have the exact same purpose.

Second, get a Misery.

Third, a bigger engine IS better in Stalkers. XL Engines, however, are never a good idea. The reason for bigger engines is so you don't fall prey to Lights as easily and those additional heat sink slots in the engine really help.

I will tell you the fits I have for my three Stalkers.

Stalker-4N: Considered to be the worst Stalker due to being almost identical to another fit but missing missiles. I turned it into a direct fire sniper boat with 4 ER Large Lasers, 2 Medium Lasers and to put pressure on, 2 LRM5s. Designed to stand far from the front lines and just pelt away with the 4 ER Large Lasers. With the Advanced Zoom feature, its proven to be fairly effective.

Stalker-3H: With 20 missile tubes for each arm, this was obviously made into a missile boat with 2 20 ALRMs, 2 5 ALRMs and 4 Medium Lasers. Of my three Stalkers, this one is my slowest because I needed space for ammo and heat sinks.

Misery: AC 20, 2 ER Large Lasers and 3 Medium Lasers and I use this as my Brawler. Good heat management will allow you to keep firing the AC 20 and Medium Lasers when they stop cooling down. A good engine will allow you to scare off lights with the AC 20 if you have good aim. I've gotten my Ace of Spades, Liquid Metal, Bridesmaid and Bad Company titles with this mech alone.

[unFearing]

Perhaps I'll teach you... though it's better to show first rather than tell, at least in my eyes.

If you find me in game on your team in a Stalker, you should stick with me or spectate me when you get the chance, assuming I'm not running a complete joke build.. most of them are fairly efficient ;P. Brawling, sniping, tactics, maneuvering... they all meld together when I'm in one. But no LRM boats here!

[SethAbercromby]

The talker is the most versatile weapons platform among the Assault class. It is more nimble than an Atlas, while being almost as hard to kill and can mount a huge variety of Energy and Missile based weapons loadouts to suit your every needs.

The 3F and 5S have near identical hardpoints. The 5S provides an additional AMS slot, while the 3F can twist its torso a bit further. They provide the most balanced hardpoint layout of the chassis and can become immensely effective all-range supporters. Mine uses 2 LRM10s, 2 ER Large Lasers, 4 Medium Lasers and 2 Streak SRMs. It can pick its fights at any range, allowing you to quickly shift from a second line supporter to a front line spearhead to lead your group. Good heat control required.

The Misery loves company, or to be more precise, getting into peoples faces. The build I'm running was more experimental than a stroke of genius, but surprisingly the setup with an LB10X, ASRM6, 4 Medium Lasers and one Large Pulse Laser has proven to be one of the most vicious brawlers. I chain fire my MLs for a continuous burn, while using the LB and SRMs in tandem to destroy frontal armor. The LPL serves as a powerful armor melter and backup weapon once I start losing equipment.

I'm not too familiar with the missile boat variants yet, so Valkyrie's 3H will likely give you more insight on that.

[Caswallon]

I nominate Pilot "Charlie Grant"

Based on the fact I know him well and that he piloted virtually nothing else for about a year - just because he like them
(And this may make him blush and he's too modest to volunteer)

[unFearing]

It seems there are and will be many willing masters.. perhaps you could specify what you wish to learn about stalkers? And aldo provide insight on what is your preferred fighting style or weaponry etc.

[Spheroid]

300 STD is mandatory.

Post your build. I want to see what your running.

[RLBell]

I do not claim to be the best Stalker pilot, but I have five of them, so I must have learned something.

The Stalker is a team player. By yourself, you are an easy kill, with friends, you are a serious threat that will draw fire as killing you silences a lot of weapons.

You will overheat and shutdown (okay, I overheat and shutdown, and so does nearly every other Stalker I have seen. If you master the Stalker to the point that you never overheat, please accept me as a student). Make sure that you only overheat and shutdown under the guns of one enemy at a time. If you are not alone, shutting down to kill an enemy is okay, but shutting down when your target can keep firing will get you killed, so do it as little as possible. Losing a side takes away half of your weapons, but less than a quarter of your heatsinks, so, while your alpha goes down, your sustained damage per second stays nearly the same, so make sure that you only lose one side, and laugh when it happens-- your mech will run cooler.

Try not to put an XL engine in any Stalker that will fight at close range. Only LRM boats qualify for XL engines. Ghost heat has made the large energy boats unviable, but they needed XL engines to mount all of the weapons and heat sinks.

Oversimplifying a lot, there are three Stalkers: Long range, direct fire support Stalkers, LRM boating Stalkers, and short range brawlers. The first group mount long range, direct fire weapons. They used to be high alpha builds with 6PPC's being a popular, if impractical build. Ghost heat has removed the PPC builds, but you can still see the large laser boats, on occassion. Less ambitious builds with twin PPC's and lots of heatsinks can be useful. LRM boats cram much tubes and ammo as possible into the mech. The short range brawler mounts SRM's and medium lasers to allow them to quickly rip up anything that gets in range. As they tend to run out of crit slots before they run out of tonnage, they can include one or two (ER) large lasers.

The bane of your existence will be the nimble light mech that circles around you until you die. If you are not alone, in the middle of a large open space, you can survive this. Move against some cover, so he cannot just keep circling you and be calm. One good hit will finish him and it will take him a long time to kill you. The only lights that can quickly kill you are Jenners and Firebrands with six to eight small/medium lasers and they have worse heat issues than you do. Do not overheat and only fire when you have a good shot. If you are ever given the choice of defending yourself from a light mech, or defending a team mate from another mech, defend the team mate first. Light mechs circling a team mate are much easier to kill and that team mate may return the favor.

If you are a lone missile boat harassed by a light, consider ignoring the light and fire at any other target, especially if they are shooting at you. You have probably already lost and you might get a kill out of it.

[jaxjace]

I have 3 stalkers

MIsery
3f
5s

All with direct fire weapons no LRMS EVER.


All STD 300 engines,
Mastered,

My current build for my miser is 2 ER large 2 MP and 1 AC20 but i change it every night, anything works.

Anything I put in my misery works, all builds i use include an AC20 and no missles

My 3F And 5S Also work well they are almost the same mech so I dont really know what to do different.

mostly just lasers and more pulse lasers.

In my misery I am averaging 2 kills a match and over 750 damage.
The other stalkers are not far behind, its mostly the AC20 in the misery that packs the punch. but in leiu of that 2 Large pulse lasers work just fine.

Hey CMetz you know i gotta keep my skills sharp if i want to keep up with you and radioactive.

Edited by jaxjace, 04 May 2014 - 01:33 PM.

[SethAbercromby]

I'm currently experimenting with my Misery, by trading the Large Pulse Laser for a PPC to add some long range fire power. Unfortunately, that means that I need to place the PPC in the right arm and move a ML to the CT, taking a lot out of the Zombie punch. The build is still too experimental to say anything about its performance.

[PhoenixFire55]

You want to be a good Stalker pilot ?

[ShinVector]

I know this bug-ger by the name of Proton that often pilots a Misery.

[jaxjace]

As of tonight I run An ER in the center torso, an ER in the left arm, two medium pulse in the right arm and of course AC20 in my misery, it allows me to pack a 18 damage punch across the map and zombie 9 damage if i lose everything, the medium pulses are godlike because no one shoots them, yet they are dealing 12 damage every 7 seconds and of course the ******* KO FINISH HIM" AC20 with 3-4 tons of ammo depending on how hot i want to run, if i use 3 i can fire everything forever and never overheat.

The misery is the best hero mech.

[Tatula]

Built a meta Misery once - 2xPPC + AC/20. One-shot'ed a Spider. Pretty funny and sweet revenge. Lights tend to think Stalkers are an easy kill for them because they turn so slow. Changed the loadout since because I don't like the AC/20 using so much tonnage. Still trying different things, but it's a fun chassis.

Also mastered the 3F, 4N, and 5M. Kept the 3F, but sold the other 2. Right now, the 3F is my energy boat, but I change it to brawler (ML's and Streaks) or LRM boat sometimes. Might try an SRM brawler build again if they ever fix the SRMs.

Pretty satisfy with these two at the moment.

[jaxjace]

Lights should rightly fear the misery, most builds alpha will melt them.

[MisterPlanetarian]

The variants are rated as follows in this exact order: Misery > STK-3F > STK-5M/5S, STK-3H > STK-4N

*The Misery has a Ballistic hardpoint and turns faster.

*The 3F is top dog amongst the non heroes because it has much better torso twist range than all the others not to mention excellent hardpoints.

*I concider the 5M and 5S to be about equal. The 5S offers double AMS and the same hardpoints as the 3F. The 5M has room for 3 SRM6 in the torso and a CT laser.

*The 3H is only good for LRM boating with 20 tubes in each arm instead of 10. Unfortunately it has terrible hardpoints overall second only to the 4N which is **** plain and simple.

*The 4N can't do anything the other stalkers can't do better. If you somehow bought one by accident, XP it out as a 4x Large Laser 2x Medium Laser boat with a Standard 300 engine and then sell it. But, keep the engine.

General Advice:

*Never Use an XL engine in your stalker.

*Make sure to get a Standard 300 and a Standard 275/280. They are the most common engines used in a stalker.

*Don't autobuy endo steel on every variant. The Only stalker which always need Endo Steel to work with a 300 engine is the Misery. The laserboat and SRM6+Medium Laser loadouts need the space for double heatsinks and ammo. They got the tonnage for it even with a STD300 engine installed.

*Use your highmounted energy weapons actively.

*Fit an AMS because the stalker is vulnurable to LRM's with its profile

*Keep targets in front of you since you are extremely vulnurable from the side with your zeppelin side and center torsos. Unlike say an Atlas your arms won't protect your side torsos when shot from the side.

*You don't have to torso-twist as much as a humanoid mech to spread out damage all over your torso.

*If you get shot from a back angle torso twist about 45 degrees to your left or right pending on where the shot came from. Your arms can protect your rear torsos quite well if the shots come from behind.

[Escef]

I am undefeated in Stalkers.

...

...

Ok, granted, I've never used a Stalker, but I can still truthfully say I've never been defeated while in a Stalker.

[Reported for Inappropriate Name]

I am. I just don't drive them because 6 large lasers and 2 ams can get boring.

[Lukoi Banacek]

jaxjace, on 04 May 2014 - 12:39 AM, said:

I must learn from you great master.

I have begun the path of the stalker, im convinced it is the best mech in the game.

I'm pretty good. But I'd recommend eta0h or OG Bizzle (if the latter comes back from his break from the game) as two of the stronger Stalker pilots if you're looking for direct fire variants and no missile boats.

All carry KDR's above 5 in at least one variant and are not "kill-whores" who just steal the shot without contributing.

We'll be doing one on one matches tomorrow night using the private match feature, so feel free to come along and get some pointers and have some fun working on stuff if ya like.

8:30pm EST start time, bound to last an hour or two.