46 replies to this topic

[Carrie Harder]

Alrighty, I caved in and bought this hero because of my 55 ton medium obsession. My first impressions are pretty good. It doesn't feel like it's the best Griffin, but it definitely is not the worst. It's definitely the best long-mid range fire support platform of the lineup, by a big margin (dem pew pew lazors rack up huge damage), while the missile variants are probably better brawlers due to their SRMs (frontloaded, lower heat).

I'm using a 2 LL + 4 ML cookie cutter loadout ATM and the heat isn't as problematic as I expected it to be. In fact, once I get it to 4/4 elite, I'm considering replacing the LL with ERLL (I can probably afford the extra heat). Overall I'd say it's a solid and viable robot, and I'd recommend it for anyone who likes agile, maneuverable mechs (especially medium fans).

So far, the main issue is that I sometimes only get to fire my left or right half of the body's weapons, which causes the other side's beams to hit dirt and waste heat...but I can just solve that by creating more weapon groups (i.e. group 3 for left side, group 4 for right side). Its heat management can sometimes be annoying but not as much as you'd think (especially if played as fire support rather than brawler).

Edited by Carrie Harder, 10 September 2014 - 01:09 PM.

[CDLord HHGD]

Bishop Steiner, on 10 September 2014 - 06:54 AM, said:

Yeah, it's not a great sniper, though having torso mounted large lasers and arm mounted mediums gives you options. With a max speed around 116, you aren't a Cicada or Jenner. Especially when you add in the aforementioned size.

6 Mlasers, is OK on it, though very situational. Right now, I actually have found that going a bit slower, and popping on 4 Large Lasers to be my most effective option. Been alternating between that, and 2 torso LPL and 4 arm MLasers, but boy howdy, pretty much no matter how you roll, Sparky seems to be a warm boy.

Sparky doesn't seem to be too bad as long as you don't go around alpha ticking everything in sight.... Could use an XL255 and add more DHS without needing ES too if you want to risk the extra vulnerability. Griffin seems to handle an XL pretty good though.

XL+JJ

Edited by cdlord, 10 September 2014 - 01:12 PM.

[kesmai]

Bill Shakespear, on 10 September 2014 - 08:05 AM, said:

I played 10 matches last night with this Sparky build and had some success. I love it! It's like a poor IS man's Stormcrow.

I know, I know - No jump jets on a Griffin!? Sacrilege! I barely noticed their absence though. (Devs, please un-nerf them).

It also runs a bit warm, but after it is mastered it should be a lot better.

You can put 7 jj on the sparky, jfyi. and it is able to do dual ppc potarting quite well.

Edited by kesmai, 10 September 2014 - 01:26 PM.

[Bill Shakespear]

kesmai, on 10 September 2014 - 01:25 PM, said:

You can put 7 jj on the sparky, jfyi. and it is able to do dual ppc potarting quite well.

Yeah, a couple of builds I was considering had jump jets, but with the state they are in now, I decided to just load up on more heat sinks.

I've run a dual-PPCs on my other Griffins. Those can be nasty.

[Bishop Steiner]

cdlord, on 10 September 2014 - 01:11 PM, said:

Sparky doesn't seem to be too bad as long as you don't go around alpha ticking everything in sight.... Could use an XL255 and add more DHS without needing ES too if you want to risk the extra vulnerability. Griffin seems to handle an XL pretty good though.

XL+JJ

can't drive Griffs that slow, no sir, not gonna do it.

But more power to you if you like to!

[Grendel408]

Well... an XL300 or XL360 seem ideal for the Sparky... I've currently got it set with XL300, 4ML, 2 ERLL, 1 AMS, plus BAP just to piss off some ECM scouts Almost maxed out armor, standard structure, standard armor, DHS a must! The XL360 can be a mean 6ML Medium that runs fast enough to counter Clan Light Mechs.

[Angel of Annihilation]

Bill Shakespear, on 10 September 2014 - 01:33 PM, said:

Yeah, a couple of builds I was considering had jump jets, but with the state they are in now, I decided to just load up on more heat sinks.

I've run a dual-PPCs on my other Griffins. Those can be nasty.

Isn't that sad. I mean I used to love the Jump Jet game and I am not taking poptarting or jump sniping, I am talking about jumping over ridges and hills to flank the enemy or strike from unexpected angles, the jumping away to come at them form another angle and repeat the process.

One of my most memorable games was in a my Quickdraw of all things. I ended up killing 7 mechs and pretty much singlehandly won the match for my team but using my JJs to do crazy jumps over and around the enemy and strike at them from where they least expected it. At the end of the match, I got mad props on my piloting skills from more than half of both teams, many saying that it was the best piloting they had every seen. Hell it even took me hours and hours and hours of practice in the testing grounds to get that good with JJs but I guess I am the reason for the nerf because obviously they were just too good to leave as as.

So now I have a ton of jump capable mechs, most of which sit unused and the hours of time I spent perfecting my JJ skills are totally wasted and whats worse, aside from light mechs, I generally feel JJs to be more of a liability, just wasted weight, than any sort of asset.