149 replies to this topic

[Traven Lockwell]

I don't mind the inclusion of Double Heat Sinks at launch, even if it isn't quite canon (it's pretty close). When you think about it, it makes perfect sense from a gameplay standpoint, to allow for a more balanced clan invasion. See what I'm getting at?

[Damascas]

Type/Model: Catapult
Mass: 65 tons
Chassis: Hollis Mark II Standard
Power Plant: 260 Magna Fusion
Walking Speed: 43.2 km/h
Maximum Speed: 64.8 km/h
Jump Jets: None
Jump Capacity: 0 meters
Armor: 13 Tons
Armament:
4 SRM 6s
1 Large Laser
Ammunition: 3 tons SRM

I am considering changing this up, the brawling capability is certainly there but is 11 salvoes enough for a whole battle? With just the LL as a backup and the JJs stripped out I would be fighting on the same level as a light without the electronic systems and a bit less speed.

Edited by Damascas, 09 July 2012 - 06:26 AM.

[Gamgee]

Wish I knew enough to participate. /newb.

[Damascas]

Gamgee, on 09 July 2012 - 06:53 AM, said:

Wish I knew enough to participate. /newb.

I can help you a bit if you want it, I know some programs that do it all for you.

[Butane9000]

Well since I'll be having the Hunchback (No I didn't buy legenary) here's what I figure I'll use:

AC/20
2x Medium lasers
2x Small lasers
Max out the armor as much as I can
Anything left goes towards AC20 ammo and speed boosts.

If I have the tonnage to get away with then I'll upgrade the small lasers to 2 additional medium lasers.

[Frans83]

All. Machine Gun. ATLAS. It shall be called The Gnat.

[Butane9000]

Frans83, on 09 July 2012 - 07:00 AM, said:

All. Machine Gun. ATLAS. It shall be called The Gnat.

And it won't kill anything, except maybe a Raven.

[Der Zivilist]

You underestimate the sheer number of machineguns an Atlas can fit...

...under tabletop rules. Can't boat MGs in MWO, I'm afraid, because of the hardpoint system.


P.S.: According to a recent Dev statement, the Catapult currently only has one missile hardpoint per arm, so no quad-SRM6 either. Though these values may still change during beta... they changed before.

Edited by Der Zivilist, 09 July 2012 - 07:16 AM.

[Damascas]

Butane9000, on 09 July 2012 - 07:06 AM, said:

And it won't kill anything, except maybe a Raven.

I would not be so sure, an Atlas with an XL engine can mount around 40 MGs, their range is short, but in urban combat you are looking at almost 80 dmg with no heat. That would make light mechs cease to exist and worry anything else quickly. The problem is of course the hard point system which will likely reduce that number.

Der Zivilist, on 09 July 2012 - 07:14 AM, said:

You underestimate the sheer number of machineguns an Atlas can fit...

...under tabletop rules. Can't boat MGs in MWO, I'm afraid, because of the hardpoint system.


P.S.: According to a recent Dev statement, the Catapult currently only has one missile hardpoint per arm, so no quad-SRM6 either. Though these values may still change during beta... they changed before.

I was afraid of that, thanks for the info though.

Edited by Damascas, 09 July 2012 - 07:18 AM.

[EvangelionUnit]

Jenner: maybe toy around with extra flammers instead of SRM 4 ... or dropping two lasors and the SRM 4 to fit in Streak SRM's and ECM stuff

Hunchback: trade AC20 for AC10 with extra ammo and maybe upgrade the reactor or put on more medium lasers

Catapult: hmm see if the jumpjets for for me, if not, i put them out for more LRM ammo

Atlas: nearly the same as the Hunchback, drop the AC20 for AC10, maybe i take out the Medium lasers and SRM to replace them with Large lasers ... oh when i'm doing this, i have to put in a LRM15 ... instead of the LRM20

[Twisted Power]

I've been doing some brainstorming for my Cata. I was thinking I might drop the 15's to 10's.

From some of the video's it seems the spread is smaller on the 10's and this might lead to more hits per missile fired. So I was thinking that if I could just fire more often and do more damage. This game does not seem in any way about 1 shot kills, so being able to really do concentrated damage seems like a plus and you have the time to fire more than 3 times before you get hit twice and die. That would also allow me to put in some extra ammo.

I am also interested in seeing what the different targeting systems do and how they affect the LRM's. However this is all speculative because I won't know how it plays until it comes out :/

I was also thinking depending on the crit slots available, I might drop down to the 10's and only 2 med lasers and then put in some Streaks in for the scout mechs that sneak up on you. Once again testing needs to be done but maybe streaks could handle the scouts better and I would still have the 2 med lasers. The only thing is I had read in a previous thread that they only have Ssrm2's but once again won't find out what is officially in the game till Aug 7th so.

I may also get rid of the JJ and put in some heat sinks to fire the 4 meds more. I understand the Cata is long range but I saw in the video's that those damn scouts def piece you from behind and that firing those med's run the cata hot (as seen in the "heavy" dev video). I do not like worrying about controlling heat when squishing fleas (not literally but MABY if the flee ever comes out!) :-P

A forum mod had mentioned in a thread that the founders version of a mech had less critspots and hardpoints (I do not belive this. He is only a mod and he did not link any dev statements confirming his statement) but once again IF it is true then I might just run stock.

From the video's I have yet to see jumpjets being needed on a Cata. The LRM's fire up and then come from the top so why bother jumping if you can just fire over things? There is no reason to be ontop of a building or a hill when you can be behind it and not get hit. I gues it would depend if your scouts are getting the Missle lock for you.

Those are just the things i've been thinking about.

[Sept Wolfke]

for me, it's going to be a race to double heatsinks. that's where I plan on getting my primary 'free-tonnage gain.'

XL engines screw you in the survivability department in a major way, in my experience so those are out.

ferro fibrous and endo steel are really for lighter mechs that have the critical space, once you start getting into double heatsinks, you start seeing your crit table slots rapidly diminish, so at most I'm planning on using, at most, one or the other of these pieces of advanced tech.

the streak SRM2 is a nice piece of equipment. from what I've seen, SRMs are looking kinda like 'dumb missiles' that kinda have a 'saturation spread' as far as their hit strategy goes. adding a guidance system to SRMs seems like it'd be nice - I'll probably use some of the tonnage freed up by using doubleheatsinks to turn SRM racks into stacks of streak SRM2's

CASE is in.. one of those mandatory kind of things. I'll be interested to see how the mechanics of ammo explosions pan out in-game. in tabletop, if you take an ammo explosion, you just take the mech off the field as it's vaporized completely. In MWO will this be the same, or will ammo in an arm, for example, just take the arm off in an explosion. this is a pretty big factor in mech design strategy, so we'll have to wait and see. it could diminish the value of CASE if an ammo explosion without CASE ceases to vape the mech if ammo is stored in an arm.

[Dimestore]

Sept Wolfke, on 09 July 2012 - 07:58 AM, said:

CASE is in.. one of those mandatory kind of things. I'll be interested to see how the mechanics of ammo explosions pan out in-game. in tabletop, if you take an ammo explosion, you just take the mech off the field as it's vaporized completely. In MWO will this be the same, or will ammo in an arm, for example, just take the arm off in an explosion. this is a pretty big factor in mech design strategy, so we'll have to wait and see. it could diminish the value of CASE if an ammo explosion without CASE ceases to vape the mech if ammo is stored in an arm.

Vaporize is a bit strong unless your mech has ammo spread across multiple locations that chain react with each other. If that's the case then you're building it wrong. It will definitely mangle your mech. Personally, I like to put ammo weapons in the arms with their ammo, when I can. An ammo hit removes the arm, ammo, & weapon that used the ammo but not much else. Then, I tend to run pretty light on ammo weapons.

If you ever put ammo in a torso slot, you should CASE it. Way too easy to trash something important there.

[Major Tom]

Catapult - lowtech on the cheap, with 2 x Lg Lasers, 2 xSRM6, 16 HS
(assuming heat scales are similar to TT, that means 2 Lg at range or 2 SRM + 1 Lg at close range)


Jenner - hightech and expensive - 2 x PPC, XL Engine, Endo Steel, Double Heatsinks
(this model doesn't have Jump jets, but I may try to fit some in even drop down to Lg Lasers if it can't handle the heat)

[Cordel Ordo]

I'm possibly planning on running this variant of the Atlas I designed.

Spoiler

Atlas AS7-D2

Mass: 100 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Chassis Config: Biped
Rules Level: Tournament Legal
Era: Succession Wars
Tech Rating/Era Availability: E/X-F-D
Production Year: 3049
Cost: 10,482,000 C-Bills
Battle Value: 2,062

Chassis: Unknown Standard
Power Plant: Unknown 300 Fusion Engine
Walking Speed: 32.4 km/h
Maximum Speed: 54.0 km/h
Jump Jets: None
Armor: Unknown Standard Armor w/ CASE
Armament:
1 Autocannon/20
1 LB 10-X AC
1 LRM-10 w/ Artemis IV FCS
1 SRM-6 w/ Artemis IV FCS
4 Medium Lasers

================================================================================
Equipment Type Rating Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Standard 152 points 10.00
Engine: Fusion Engine 300 19.00
Walking MP: 3
Running MP: 5
Jumping MP: 0
Heat Sinks: Double Heat Sink 10(20) 0.00
Gyro: Standard 3.00
Cockpit: Standard 3.00
Actuators: L: SH+UA+LA+H R: SH+UA+LA+H
Armor: Standard Armor AV - 296 18.50
CASE Locations: 1 LT 0.50

Internal Armor
Structure Factor
Head 3 9
Center Torso 31 49
Center Torso (rear) 12
L/R Torso 21 31
L/R Torso (rear) 11
L/R Arm 17 31
L/R Leg 21 40

================================================================================
Equipment Location Heat Critical Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 Medium Lasers CT 6 2 2.00
Autocannon/20 RT 7 10 14.00
SRM-6 LT 4 2 3.00
Artemis IV FCS LT - 1 1.00
LRM-10 LT 4 2 5.00
Artemis IV FCS LT - 1 1.00
Medium Laser RA 3 1 1.00
Medium Laser LA 3 1 1.00
LB 10-X AC LA 2 6 11.00
@AC/20 (10) RT - 2 2.00
@SRM-6 (Artemis) (15) LT - 1 1.00
@LRM-10 (Artemis) (24) LT - 2 2.00
@LB 10-X (Cluster) (10) LT - 1 1.00
@LB 10-X (Slug) (10) LT - 1 1.00
Free Critical Slots: 13

BattleForce Statistics
MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 10 Points: 21
3 3 4 2 0 4 2 Structure: 8
Special Abilities: CASE, SRCH, ES, SOA, AC 1/1/0, IF 1, FLK 1/1/1

[Insidious Johnson]

I agree with Bluten and a few others out there, I like the defaults. I think they will truly shine in role warfare in the meta game later. Of course, with access to XL engines and pulse lasers, I would have more opportunity to deliver high burst damage between dashes for cover in scout roles. If this game is around long enough for Triple Strength myomer, then the extra heat and high speed really shine. Coincidentally, that would make conditions ripe for hatchet wielding maniac mechs.

[Healbe]

The first thing I would like to try with the Atlas is a double AC20 fitout with 8-10 tonns of ammo.

Does anyone know if that is possible? And any reason it wouldn't be good/fun?

<Hides behind building - jumps out> Peek-a-boo! Duel AC20's say "Hi"!

[HydroSqueegee]

going pure stock!

[Fiest]

hikaru: u built yourself a 65ton thug. Love it! but i'd suggest skunk werks for dream builds - i;ve found it more flexible (espec as i can pick the year of tech rather than just age)

So in 3049 tech i guess you could get:

CAT-3GRY-X
Mass: 65tons
Power Plant: Magna 260 13.5 tons
Walking MPs: 4
Running MPs: 6
Jumping MPs: 4
Heat Sinks: 13DHS
Standard Armor: 12 tons standard
Endo Steel Chassis: 3.5 tons

Weapons and Ammo
PPC x2
SRM-4 w/artemis x2 (could swap for 4 streakSRM-2's)
2 tons SRM-4 artemis capable ammo
CASE x2

Cost
6,504,410 C-Bills
BV
1,515

(totally gonna run this if possible)

Edited by Fiest, 09 July 2012 - 07:35 PM.

[MoxVoid]

LRM seem underpowered based on the video they only do like 3% dmg per volley of 30 missiles.... and then on top of that You only get like 16 shots.... So 16X3% means your doing 96% dmg with TWO FULL MISSLES RACKS and depleting all your ammo...