17 replies to this topic

[mad kat]

Well I must be one of the first to buy this mech and I have to say i love it...... compliments my Hugginn nicely and that Dakka!!!

Just don't expect to see much of what is going on when using night vision mode with 6 machine gun barrels flashing in your face.

The paint job is very shiny too. Not decided on sticking with the std engine yet or going xl and more range shall report back.

Edited by mad kat, 04 June 2014 - 12:33 AM.

[Lyoto Machida]

Whoa...Clan Tags.

[DEMAX51]

Can't wait to master this beast when I get home from work

[DONTOR]

I ran it stock after i moved the JJs to the legs, got a kill with the MGs but felt pretty helpless at range.
Switched to an ERPPC and 2MLs, and it felt much more capable, the paint job is really cool but a little flashy for my mIlitant taste. Looks cool as hell all black or all white though.

[mad kat]

This mech by default lacks some much needed ranged weapons for early game so i thought id give this a try (its sacrificed the jj's though):

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...ca3483466f19776

Or xl an 2xerlrg + mpl plus jumpy version of above:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...2a291cc4f7d4a4c

How mine is currently set up: (building up to elite for better heat eficiency on the erlrg).

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...0bb3736fde81de8

If you want to improve your ranged damage potential and find out where the enemy's holes are quicker, for those mg's but refuse to spend 4mil c-bills on target info gathering module use a BAP as below (of course BAP stacks with TIG module to half your information gathering time if you allready have the module):

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...2aa600254920dec

long range arrow anyone? bit compromised on speed and JJ but should be good for many kill assists.

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...24cb94dc980816f

Edited by mad kat, 04 June 2014 - 01:10 AM.

[Davic Kerensky]

mad kat, on 03 June 2014 - 10:55 AM, said:

The paint job is very shiny too. Not decided on sticking with the std engine yet or going xl and more range shall report back.

Have to say it's a sexy paintjob ! ,having not owned any of the variants I tried out the champion and was pleasantly surprised !

[Ghostchips Condensate I and II]

i think i saw one fitted out like the champion blackjack. Not sure why you would do that unless you were in love with the champion & wanted all the extra Cbills.

[mad kat]

snessuk, on 03 June 2014 - 10:44 PM, said:

Have to say it's a sexy paintjob ! ,having not owned any of the variants I tried out the champion and was pleasantly surprised !

Get a blackjack, they're the workhorse of the medium class and i see more of them than the fabled cent's. You have to bear with them through the basic skill set but as others have said they seem to come alive once elited.

This one requires a little caution however early game and in the default load out can't contribute much early on. Once a few holes appear though you can get stuck in. Target info gathering module or BAP (way cheaper) is important on this mech to speed up finding out where to aim those 60 bullets per second.

Edited by mad kat, 04 June 2014 - 12:21 AM.

[Liquid Leopard]

Meh. You can't use all those ballistic hardpoints unless you're trying to build another machine gun troll.
We have plenty of those already, with the Firestarter and champion Spider.
We don't need to give people a C-Bill bonus for trolling.

[Davic Kerensky]

mad kat, on 04 June 2014 - 12:04 AM, said:

Get a blackjack, they're the workhorse of the medium class and i see more of them than the fabled cent's. You have to bear with them through the basic skill set but as others have said they seem to come alive once elited.

Have to say .. after playing with the Champion version , I went ahead and bought it ! .. now to get another two since I maxed the basic on it after three battles !!

[jper4]

Trashforged, on 04 June 2014 - 12:03 AM, said:

i think i saw one fitted out like the champion blackjack. Not sure why you would do that unless you were in love with the champion & wanted all the extra Cbills.

yeah i saw one of those yesterday too. might be trying to take advanatge of the fact that people see the Arrow and expect the energy cslots to be messed with rather than the ballistics. then WHAM! ac20 to the face. also saw one with an AC5 instead of one of the MGs probably had an xl.

i do like mine, tried it stock for a few matches but overheated a bit much for my liking. swapped the energy slots to 3 MPLs and the heat's (extra heat sink tossed in- a bit better plus i can squeeze in an AMS now which i didn;t notice it didn;t have stock. plus i think pulse lasers and MGs work better together than regular MLs (range isn't as badly different anymore with it being 220m for the MPLs vs 270m for the ML). one of the handful of mechs i've been able to keep a kdr of about 1.0 in while going through the basic unlocks. usually it tends to be around 0.4 for me in new mechs. only thing i don;t like is that with ferro/endo i can only use 44 tons before running out of slots (another heat sink would have been great- lose the FF and it's 45 tons so no heat sink anyway).

[Ruccus]

Tanar, on 06 June 2014 - 02:20 PM, said:

yeah i saw one of those yesterday too. might be trying to take advanatge of the fact that people see the Arrow and expect the energy cslots to be messed with rather than the ballistics. then WHAM! ac20 to the face. also saw one with an AC5 instead of one of the MGs probably had an xl.

Here's an AC5 Arrow - no XL engine needed. I find it works well for picking at enemies, then when you get into the brawl you circle and use the flamer to blind an enemy up close.

I also find the AC10 Arrow works well. While the AC20 Blackjack is a beast, on the Arrow it blocks two ballistic hardpoints that can be used by MGs. While I will run my BJ-1 with an AC20, for the Arrow I've decided to stick with builds that don't block too many hardpoints. I'll usually put in one or two main weapons, then top it off with four or five MGs for brawling damage.

[jper4]

Ruccus, on 08 June 2014 - 10:11 AM, said:

Here's an AC5 Arrow - no XL engine needed. I find it works well for picking at enemies, then when you get into the brawl you circle and use the flamer to blind an enemy up close.

I also find the AC10 Arrow works well. While the AC20 Blackjack is a beast, on the Arrow it blocks two ballistic hardpoints that can be used by MGs. While I will run my BJ-1 with an AC20, for the Arrow I've decided to stick with builds that don't block too many hardpoints. I'll usually put in one or two main weapons, then top it off with four or five MGs for brawling damage.

i think the one i ran across had ML and LL (not pulse- could have been ER) i didn;t really check the energy slots too closely because i was trying to figure out where the "wham" hits kept coming from. could have just tossed in a smaller engine too though i guess. wasn;t really doing much chasing in the brief time i saw it.

edit- the AC 10 idea looks kinda cool though for whatever reason the arrow is the only blackjack i consistently lose side torsos on- all the other ones are CT deaths so dunno if trying it out is a good idea for me

Edited by Tanar, 08 June 2014 - 10:40 AM.

[Ruccus]

Tanar, on 08 June 2014 - 10:38 AM, said:

edit- the AC 10 idea looks kinda cool though for whatever reason the arrow is the only blackjack i consistently lose side torsos on- all the other ones are CT deaths so dunno if trying it out is a good idea for me

If you're concerned about the XL engine you can try out something like this AC10 ARROW build. It's not quick but the AC10 does good damage at range and for close up brawling you just keep moving, point the flamer in the enemy mech's face, and keep your finger on the MGs until either you fall or the enemy mech does.

[Appogee]

I've seen a lot of them in matches. Not sure how effective they really are.

I think I'd use a standard engine, 6MGs for critting, and some lasers to peel armor.

[jper4]

Ruccus, on 08 June 2014 - 10:56 AM, said:

If you're concerned about the XL engine you can try out something like this AC10 ARROW build. It's not quick but the AC10 does good damage at range and for close up brawling you just keep moving, point the flamer in the enemy mech's face, and keep your finger on the MGs until either you fall or the enemy mech does.

sounds like my current strategy sometimes. find something damaged, then hope my pulse/MG barrage kills it before it kills me because if i try to run i'm gonna die anyway. actually a couple of my regular Blackjacks run at under 80kph including my ac10 BJ-1 (i got bored with the ac20 version since everyone started using them on it- of course i did throw it back on the DD)

[FEK315]

What chassis is the Arrow, the BJ-3 , BJ-1, BJ-1x or the BJ-DC?

[Ruccus]

FEK315, on 18 June 2014 - 09:40 PM, said:

What chassis is the Arrow, the BJ-3 , BJ-1, BJ-1x or the BJ-DC?

Hero mechs are their own chassis.

The champion mechs are the mechs that are specially outfitted versions of base mechs (the Blackjack BJ-1(c) is a Blackjack BJ-1 but with a different stock loadout than the BJ-1 and a 10% XP bonus).