20 replies to this topic

[Mcchuggernaut]

Well, I goofed. I bought a Mad Dog with the idea of making a dedicated light hunter streak srm boat, and although it looked viable on paper, it wasn't in practice (too heavy and hot, can't carry enough ammo for a whole match, and the way streaks work right now half the missiles don't go where they need to go and you wast a lot of the limited ammo you have taking too long to kill things.). I already have an ultimate LRM boat that is better than anything I could make with the Mad Dog, so I don't want to use it for that. Then I thought "Hit and run Splat Dog?", and am now thinking of trying this:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...29ef9ac4041bd0b


Does this seem viable? Is there any other build type that the Mad Dog excels with that is unique from other mechs? I am taking recommendations.

Thanks in advance for advice!

[Ghillie Dhu]

Shoot da mad dog!

[Brody319]

so did you try something like this?
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...f3a553674699b13

[Lynx7725]

Yeah that looks workable in PUG. You do need to be a lot more cagey than usual; SRM boats need to survive to get in close and you REALLY need to get in close to ensure the SRMs hit where you want them to hit. The CERMLs give you a bit of mid to long firepower, but it's better to skulk around and ambush rather than engage in laservomit.

[Nayru]

If you're having heat/ammo problems in a streakdog, you're doing something wrong.

[Mcchuggernaut]

Brody319, on 22 March 2015 - 11:46 AM, said:

so did you try something like this?
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...f3a553674699b13

Yes I did. Too hot, you run out of ammo too fast, and I didn't like it.

Nayru, on 22 March 2015 - 11:48 AM, said:

If you're having heat/ammo problems in a streakdog, you're doing something wrong.

Well, that's why I want advice: so I quit doing it wrong.

[Red1769]

Try streak 4s instead and use the extra tonnage for heat sinks and ammo? To me, you need to fire your missiles in groups of three for a one two punch, unless you get desperate. It's going to be a bit hot no matter what you do...at least from my observations on it and build theories.

Edited by Red1769, 22 March 2015 - 11:58 AM.

[Yokaiko]

Mcchuggernaut, on 22 March 2015 - 11:38 AM, said:

Well, I goofed. I bought a Mad Dog with the idea of making a dedicated light hunter streak srm boat, and although it looked viable on paper, it wasn't in practice (too heavy and hot, can't carry enough ammo for a whole match, and the way streaks work right now half the missiles don't go where they need to go and you wast a lot of the limited ammo you have taking too long to kill things.). I already have an ultimate LRM boat that is better than anything I could make with the Mad Dog, so I don't want to use it for that. Then I thought "Hit and run Splat Dog?", and am now thinking of trying this:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...29ef9ac4041bd0b


Does this seem viable? Is there any other build type that the Mad Dog excels with that is unique from other mechs? I am taking recommendations.

Thanks in advance for advice!

Drop the mediums down to er-slas, 6 tons of ammo, CAP, one extra heatsink.

Makes lights cry and damage whores like no other.

[Nayru]

Pretty sure I use something similar to this.

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...c8121d63e6187a2

Can drop further armor if you really want more ammo, but in a mad dog, that's generally a poor idea.

You have three weapon groups with this, one is the three SSRM6's in the LT, one is the three in the RT, and one is all of them set to chain fire. Alongside this, there are 4 ways to fire your weapons..

1: Fire the left side (when coming out of cover from the left?)
2: Fire the right side
3: Fire a full alpha (LMB + RMB, when you're expecting to disengage or have a likely killshot)
4: Chainfire (most effective way to fire vs lights, if you fire 36 you will lose MANY missiles to screwy detection)

Having a grasp on these, knowing when you should be incurring ghost heat and when you should not, and identifying when your streaks will land vs when they will hit terrain or wind up out of range or whatnot is key to being a not-bad streaker.

You've the ammo to cause ~1600 damage per round and are the most effective light killer in the game, bar none.

Edited by Nayru, 22 March 2015 - 12:03 PM.

[Mcchuggernaut]

Yokaiko, on 22 March 2015 - 12:01 PM, said:

Drop the mediums down to er-slas, 6 tons of ammo, CAP, one extra heatsink.

Makes lights cry and damage whores like no other.

I'll try that out, thnx!

[Yokaiko]

Mcchuggernaut, on 22 March 2015 - 12:04 PM, said:

I'll try that out, thnx!

I have another that run x6 SSRM4 and x5 slas, its a better all around build but lower odds of one shotting that annoying Spider. Since er-slas are basically half weight IS mlas, it works out.

[Mcchuggernaut]

Nayru, on 22 March 2015 - 12:02 PM, said:

Pretty sure I use something similar to this.

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...c8121d63e6187a2

Can drop further armor if you really want more ammo, but in a mad dog, that's generally a poor idea.

You have three weapon groups with this, one is the three SSRM6's in the LT, one is the three in the RT, and one is all of them set to chain fire. Alongside this, there are 4 ways to fire your weapons..

1: Fire the left side (when coming out of cover from the left?)
2: Fire the right side
3: Fire a full alpha (LMB + RMB, when you're expecting to disengage or have a likely killshot)
4: Chainfire (most effective way to fire vs lights, if you fire 36 you will lose MANY missiles to screwy detection)

Having a grasp on these, knowing when you should be incurring ghost heat and when you should not, and identifying when your streaks will land vs when they will hit terrain or wind up out of range or whatnot is key to being a not-bad streaker.

You've the ammo to cause ~1600 damage per round and are the most effective light killer in the game, bar none.

Hmmm...I don't like not having any backup weapons. I would drop two tons to mount two ERMLs on it...But good advice none the less, and thanks!

[Wrathful Scythe]

MDD-PRIME

This is what I currently use when not using lrms. It offers a tighter spread, you can poke on a longer range and it hurts just as much as the SRM6 build. Just don't alpha those 6 SRMs in one go.

[Levi Porphyrogenitus]

MDD-A could work. Quad cERSLs isn't much worse than quad MLs on an IS mech, quad cSRM4s is a lot of punch, and a pair of cSSRM6s will make any light rue the day it got close to you. With plenty of ammo for both sets of SRM launchers it has decent endurance as well, though pushing shots with all its weapons will raise your heat pretty quickly.

[Nayru]

Mcchuggernaut, on 22 March 2015 - 12:06 PM, said:

Hmmm...I don't like not having any backup weapons. I would drop two tons to mount two ERMLs on it...But good advice none the less, and thanks!

Not being able to rely on an ammo-limited weapon system capable of outputting catastrophic damage (spread out it may be) is a tremendous liability when trying to pilot something like this.

With a mindset like that, I'd stay away from streakers/crabs, or if you want to fix that way of thinking, buy a huginn, they're a pretty good example of how even with only ammo weapons everything's dead before you run dry.

If you still run out of ammo and you haven't won, then your team failed catastrophically. Can't blame yourself.

Edited by Nayru, 22 March 2015 - 12:19 PM.

[Mcchuggernaut]

Nayru, on 22 March 2015 - 12:19 PM, said:

If you still run out of ammo and you haven't won, then your team failed catastrophically. Can't blame yourself.

I'm a PUG player, I'm used to my team failing catastrophically...Looks like I gotta pull this picture out again:



I pretty much refuse to make a build that is so specialized that I can't at least always help out no matter the situation or map, or doesn't have a backup weapon. I have won many games in missile boats with no ammo left and an arm blown off because I had some backup lasers.

[Nayru]

Best not to handicap your build just because in a very very small portion of games you lose because you dealt over 1000 damage and your team still couldn't finish the job.

Not for a chance to win a game in that circumstance.

Trading your effectiveness in most games for some bonus in underdog scenarios is scrub logic, unfortunately.

[mark v92]

easy if you like lurms.

one of my most effective mechs:

left torso: Narc, 2x lrm15
right torso: lrm15, 2x lrm5
right arm 3x small laser

1800 missiles
12 narc ammo
bap

use your speed to narc targets. get back to cover and light them up with lurm fire. if anything gets close, use you 3 small lasers (might not seem much but its still 15 damage).

firegroups:

1: small lasers
2: narc
3: 2x lrm5, lrm15
4: 2x lrm15

highest damage so far in regular: 1539dmg on caustic against some high elo guys (supported by nice teammates ofc)

wouldnt want to run anything else than lurm on it.
would like to see your, better than maddog lurm boat.

Edited by mark v92, 22 March 2015 - 03:18 PM.

[Willard Phule]

I'll be honest with you, man....CSSRM4s are more bang for the buck than CSSRM6s at the moment.

They cycle faster with less heat and even if only 50% of your missiles make it past the HSR's derp shield, at least you can keep a constant barrage of them if you go on chain fire.

I've got a light hunter SCR that only packs 5 of them, and even then, I can only pack one energy as a backup. You could pull it off better in a Mad Dog.

[Mcchuggernaut]

mark v92, on 22 March 2015 - 03:14 PM, said:

would like to see your, better than maddog lurm boat.

I give you the ultimate LRM beast! Behold!:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...6eb4c2f274a0fea

The Warhawk-B has almost everything you could want in a missile boat. It can comfortably boat LRM60, can carry TAG, CAP, and a clan targeting comp. It can run full armor even with all these features, and it's FAST for an assault. Skilled up, this thing moves along at 71.3 kph. That's blistering fast for an 85 ton assault mech, and as fast as a lot of IS mediums! You also have the tonnage and space to carry 1800 missiles, enough to bomb the enemy back to the stone age all match long. As for backup weapons, the 4xcermls are definitely nothing to take lightly. That's 28 pinpoint damage, and that nasty surprise has killed many a light pilot who decided to harass the "helpless" missile boat, driven off many a flanker, and outright killed a lot of enemies during late-game cleanup.

It does have a few cons: The Warhawk got shafted on hitboxes and it's huge size. It is not a brawling mech by any stretch of the imagination. Your a missile boat though, so that doesn't matter much. Secondly, no fifth missile slot for CNARC. You could take out an LRM15 and run CNARC and a ton of ammo, but I have found it isn't worth it in almost all situations, whereas an extra lrm15 rack always is. Thirdly, the stupid locked torso full of heat sinks doesn't allow you to distribute your ammo very efficiently, and if you get your right torso shot off, there goes almost all your weapons and ammo, especially after you have burned through all the missiles in your left arm. Protect that right torso ferociously.

So, as for how you play this build, you want to stay in the middle of your team, close to the front lines but not right on them. The closer you are to the enemy and still over minimum lrm range, the harder you are going to spank the enemy before they run for cover (And they WILL run with a seemingly endless stream of lrm60 rattling and shaking them like a bag of microwaving popcorn.). ALWAYS keep your tag laser on, and ALWAYS run the Adv. Target Decay module. This combination is enough to punish ridge-humpers, because you will lock fast and keep lock long enough to hit them with a full salvo of 60 missiles before losing lock if you are inside around 750 meters, 2 if inside around 400. If you combine this with poking them with your 4xcermls, most people will seriously reconsider their ridge-peeking ways. I would also take a cool shot 9x9 consumable, a UAV consumable to make your own locks if you end up right over a ridge from the enemy, the clrm15 cooldown weapon module, the cerml range weapon module, and your master module is flexible, but I take Radar Dep. Also important: ALWAYS chain-fire those missiles! If you do that you can keep blasting away pretty much indefinitely (if you aren't simultaneously using the lasers) without needing to cool off, but if you don't you are going to miss valuable time bombing the enemy while cooling off, and the point here is to keep up a continuous, withering barrage. Finally, don't be afraid to target light mechs inside 600 meters. You can leg them in seconds, and really ruin their day.

I have had some incredible games in this mech, putting up well over 1,000 damage and many kills. If you play like I recommended above with this thing, a bad game for you will be under 600 damage with only one kill. I assure you, there is no better missile boat out there right now.

Edited by Mcchuggernaut, 23 March 2015 - 06:43 AM.