22 replies to this topic

[YGSLlewLP]

Hey folks,

since I am a rather casual player with not much time, I don't own many mechs, but I have a Cat-K2. But it seems, its not doing very well. I tried out many different builds with that, now I am running:

XL-300 Engine
Double Heat Sinks
Endo-Steel
2x Machine gun
2x Med-Pulse Laser
2x ER-PPC

I cant even remember if thats the first build I had, but seriously, are other Heavys just way stronger or is that just a bad build?

I already tried several things, like 1gauss, 4 med-lasers, 2x Ultra AC5 with 2 LL and 2 ML as well as several rather stupid things.

Can someone recommend a decent build, preferable made for long range with good brawling backup?

Thanks a lot!

[Wintersdark]

The K2 isn't a bad mech now, but it's not a great one either. The K2 gains +20% PPC velocity and -10% energy weapon heat generation, so you'd definitely want to run PPC's not ERPPC's. At -10% heat, 2 PPC's generate 18 heat, while 2 ERPPC's generate 27 heat. As you'll likely be somewhere around 60 heat capacity, firing 2 ERPPC's will push you up roughly 50% heat. Just too hot. PPC's where nerfed severely back a while, and the bolts travel very slowly now. That makes the +20% velocity critical to actually hit anything, so you DEFINITELY want to run PPC's rather than ERPPC's.

I'd consider something like this: CPLT-K2

Or the basic dual gauss build: CPLT-K2

[Tim East]

I'm not the ultimate heavy guru or anything, but most of the mechs that I run tend to be focused toward one thing or another. Like, if you want to snipe, snipe, and if you want to brawl, brawl. An exception to that rule is if you want to LRM, don't. I kid. Just don't take LRMs as primary weapons.

The days of the Gausskat ruling the battlefield are long gone, but the build lives on, and can still kill you pretty nicely. Twin gauss require a hefty sacrifice to mount though. Tonnage, not livestock. Well, you know, unless you're doing some kind of satanic pact to be better at gauss sniping or something.

A lot of people use the energy hardpoints they way they were meant to be in lore nowadays, and I've seen that work ok. PPCs or LPLs and stuff of that nature.

I don't think I've seen many brawling K2s though. I guess you could mount AC10s pretty easily? AC20s are arguably better for that though, and there are many other mechs that AC20 better than the K2.

You could probably do some kind of LL + AC mix to get your half-sniper half-brawler on. LBX, go!

Or just listen to someone that knows what they're talking about, like Wintersdark.

[bossclan]

Get a standard engine in it and run dual uac5 ,4 med lasers,good brawler.

[Johnny Two Legs]

The K2 in the early days of MWO with the Run Hot Or Die leagues/competitions, was competitive with a STD 300 engine, ES, DHS, 4 LL's and max heat sinks.
With the changes back and forth in the metagame, I'm unsure how popular it is now but I recall having a blast with this load out in the early days.

J2L

[l3elthaz0r]

I used to run it with a std260, 2 large lasers, 2 mediums and 1 ac20. Loved that build but for some reason after not playing mwo for about a year+ or so i'm finding it difficult to run in this build now

[Soulscour]

I run dual gauss CPLT-K2 Its good at long and close range. Its doesn't ever overheat.

[Johnny Two Legs]

Soulscour, on 22 March 2015 - 09:01 PM, said:

I run dual gauss CPLT-K2 Its good at long and close range. Its doesn't ever overheat.

Only problem with a Gausscat is that the Jager can do it generally better.

J2l

[YGSLlewLP]

Hey folks, thank you very much for your replies!

After trying out several of your builds, I decided to go with the dual Gauss build from Wintersdark. Also thanks for the explanation with the PPC mechanic^^ Also ty for your advice Tim East So here goes: CPLT-K2

And this now really has to become my money maker since I am broke now thanks to the XL 255 because the XL 300 I used is shared with my A1, which by the way is this one: CPLT-A1

At first I was going for the streak boat, but since ECM is pretty popular nowadays, I prefer staying at range, so I chose the two LRM-15 instead of additional streaks.

Well, let's see how the dual Gauss will work out. (btw Soulscour, I choose Wintersdarks built simply because I am afraid of running out of ammo, and the laser don't overheat too fast)


edit: btw Johnny, I'll try that 4LL build as well when I am back on an appropriate C-Bill amount

Edited by YGSLlewLP, 22 March 2015 - 10:49 PM.

[l3elthaz0r]

YGSLlewLP, on 22 March 2015 - 10:45 PM, said:

Hey folks, thank you very much for your replies! After trying out several of your builds, I decided to go with the dual Gauss build from Wintersdark. Also thanks for the explanation with the PPC mechanic^^ Also ty for your advice Tim East So here goes: CPLT-K2 And this now really has to become my money maker since I am broke now thanks to the XL 255 because the XL 300 I used is shared with my A1, which by the way is this one: CPLT-A1 At first I was going for the streak boat, but since ECM is pretty popular nowadays, I prefer staying at range, so I chose the two LRM-15 instead of additional streaks. Well, let's see how the dual Gauss will work out. (btw Soulscour, I choose Wintersdarks built simply because I am afraid of running out of ammo, and the laser don't overheat too fast)

The thing I've never liked about the A1 is the fact that if your arms get blown off you're a zombie

[Tim East]

l3elthaz0r, on 22 March 2015 - 10:47 PM, said:

The thing I've never liked about the A1 is the fact that if your arms get blown off you're a zombie

You mean a stick. A zombie can still be dangerous with no arms.

[eFTy]

What about 2x PPC, 2x ML, XL275 and the LB10X?

I'm really tired of running PPC-less (best setup so far is 2x ERLL, 2x UAC5 & 2x ML) and I want to run something that 1) has PPCs 2) won't be laughed at by lights (thus the LB10).

[Nighthog]

I've been trying out a little bit of builds on my K2 with Ac20. Dual/single Ac20 std 200/225, SL/ML combos etc.

I enjoy to brawl in it with some cower around. It's not great in any open face to face hug as you get cored fast so you need something to distract or hide behind as you shoot. Most don't expect you to have the firepower you have and you don't get focused too often in a crowd unless they figure out what you are shooting.

I've enjoyed my K2 ac20, lbx10 & 4xML setup for a while now. I've not tried XL engines on the K2 but I notice I often loose my side torsos in close quarters before getting cored, so I've figured it's not the best choice for how I've played with this machine.

[ExplodedZombie]

2LL, 2 ML, 1 Gauss. It's still kicking hard as hell.

[YGSLlewLP]

stop it folks, there are so many ideas I wanna try now, it makes my C-Bill account cry T.T

[Soulscour]

Johnny Two Legs, on 22 March 2015 - 10:28 PM, said:

Only problem with a Gausscat is that the Jager can do it generally better.

J2l

They have thier tradeoffs. Jager has the higher ballistics and arm mounts for better range of aiming. Catapult has less exposed and smaller side torso which protects the xl and guns.

[YGSLlewLP]

Allright, after testing several other builds today, I found the one, suiting me best

CPLT-K2

It works really good on medium range with Med Pulse and Large Pulse and if some small light dares to approach, he gets a load of the lb-10 x-ac in his face.

And since the heat gets down if an arm is broken, theres no need to cry for the Double Heat sinks in there.

[kosmos1214]

well heres what im runing and i love it
if you want more uac ammo drop the lpls to LLs and dont relay on the uacs use them as fillers when your heat is to high for the lasers

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...17a28a4d987a1bf

[Wintersdark]

Johnny Two Legs, on 22 March 2015 - 08:42 PM, said:

The K2 in the early days of MWO with the Run Hot Or Die leagues/competitions, was competitive with a STD 300 engine, ES, DHS, 4 LL's and max heat sinks.
With the changes back and forth in the metagame, I'm unsure how popular it is now but I recall having a blast with this load out in the early days.

J2L

Ghost heat wrecked 4LL builds. The change to 3LL ghost heat limit just makes that more annoying

My poor 4LL Flame, I loved it so

Said K2 would work now, but not very well. You'd basically be firing the LL's in pairs to dodge ghost heat, but that increases time on target substantially - and that's not something you want in a Catapult.

Also, PPC's on the K2 are cool enough to be drop in replacements for LL's.

I ran 2xPPC 2xLL for some time, but it's not as good as other options now. Too hot, even with the quirks.

[MavRCK]

No to machine guns... please just don't... only specific light mechs use them.

Dual gauss is nothing to turn your back to. It's probably still the best overall. It's you're just learning then a std engine with dual ac10 is a solid choice.