71 replies to this topic

[Jinn of 23]

Not much of a light pilot, but I have elited the locust and was wondering what others thought of it compared to the commando, is the extra 5 tons worth it? I'm debating which to add to my drop deck in CW as i can only fit 20-25 more tons, as well as getting quick drops in the Pug que.

[Raflik]

Locust now is overquirked + got much more weapon Hardpoint, and those hardpoints are much better - energy one - You can pack max 3 medium laser on CMD (4 on TDK but that for MC), and its ineefective to play Commando on more than 2x SRM4 + 2 tons of ammo. Or you lack of punch (with less SRM launcher), or you lack of ammo (with more SRM launcher)

Long-long time ago when ECM-mech were god and Streak were broken, Trollmando 2-D (1xML 3xSSRM2) was viable, but now is long gone.


Go Full Locust cause Commando now is like pre-quirked locust.

[eFTy]

I got both. I'd say it should depend on what you like to play and what your team needs. There are quite a few differences:

-the commando is much more resilient than the locust. The locust only survives if it doesn't get hit. At all. The commando can take a bit of a beating before going down. The locust is much faster, but that's not such a great advantage in CW where you need to stick with the team.

-neither has jump jets so neither can jump over the gate and flank. If the gate is already blown, then the Locust has a minor-to-considerable advantage, depending on the commando build being compared to.

-each chassis does some builds better than the other. The Death Knell is the best for medium pulses. The Locust 1E is the best with medium lasers (it's a goddamnmurdermachine, in fact). The Locust 1V is the best with ERLL poking. The Commando 3A is the best SRM bomber, but is relatively slow (you can pack 2x SRM6 with enough ammo for a PUG game, but only go 120kph; I usually find that to be enough). The Commando is also the best for LRM dingy-ing. Neither offers enough tonnage for meaningful ballistics, though.

-if buying mechs with MCs isn't a problem, both can chassis offer you an ECM. In CW, the Pirate's Bane is better because it's not ammo reliant. The 2D struggles, but can still be fun with 3x SRM2 on chain-fire (kinda like a mini Huginn), or jsut take 2x LRM5 w 3.5 tons of ammo... If you'd like to help your team with that light mech and not spend MCs, getting a commando is the only option.

tl;dr - depending on what you want to do with the mech, both chassis have great options for CW.

[the punk who stole your thunder]

If you have the GXP and CB get the hill climbing module for the locust oder commando ... really fun.

Try the Locust 1E with 6 SPL ... it need to get close but it has the speed and the manouverability for it ... so you just have to bring the balls and some patience and you'll rule the battlefield

Used the ML-TDK excessive before but atm i am riding the Locust 1E with 190XL, 6 SPL, Seismic, Hill climbing, Shock Absorber and with SPL Range and Cooldown.

That's a true murder machine - for the enemy or me

Edith: true - feels overquirked.
But noone wants to be the one complaining: "That Locust is OP - nerf it!"

Edited by Laggy Luke, 27 March 2015 - 09:16 AM.

[DONTOR]

eFTy, on 27 March 2015 - 04:20 AM, said:

The locust is much faster

Wrong, the commando is the fastest mech in the game currently at 171 KPH.
If you want missles and to brawl go Commando.
If you want energy and to poke people from distance with MLs, or jab em in the back wth SPLs then go locust.

Obviously I much prefer the Comando as it is tougher and more fun to me because brawling at 171KPH is a feeling like no other in this game. I like the 1D with 2MLs, 1 SRM2 and 1 SRM4, average damage is 400, but I have gotten in the 800s quite a few times. It helps if you play conquest only.

[InspectorG]

I like both but:

Locust > Commando. Commandos just dont have the firepower.

I sold all my Commandos aside form my TDK.

I have the Locust 3M, V, E and Pirate's Bay. PB is a better ECM caddy than Commando 2B

[DONTOR]

Laggy Luke, on 27 March 2015 - 09:15 AM, said:

If you have the GXP and CB get the hill climbing module for the locust oder commando ... really fun.

This is the absolute truth, and how I run mine aswell, you can scale almost every wall on Canyon network this way, and it minimalizes the fact that neaither can equip JJs.

[Voivode]

The commando has more armor, more speed, and more firepower than the Locust while only being marginally larger.

The quirks for the Locust are really attractive, but the differences in durability are dramatic. Despite only having 40 more points of total armor, the Commando is just incredibly durable compared to the Locust. Using both in the same sort of fast striker role, the Commando will make it to match's end more often than the Locust.

EDIT: As some others have pointed out, the Locust gets the better laser weapon quirks, but for missile weapons the Commando gets really nice quirks and actually has the weapon weight to run a couple SRM4s and backup lasers.

Edited by Voivode, 27 March 2015 - 11:44 AM.

[Tim East]

As others have said, the Commando is a little bit faster and a lot more durable, while the Locust has favorable hardpoints allowing it to boat powerful energy weapons better.

I more or less "grew up" on the Commando, and it plays a lot differently than the Locust, which I attempted and grew quite fond of due to IraqiWalker's http://mwomercs.com/...errated-locust/ thread.

The Commando taught me to ambush as a stock mech, and to stun-lock as an upgraded 2D. Too bad IS streaks are pretty much completely overshadowed in this day and age.

The Locust, on the other hand, taught me about speed. I know that the Commando can go faster, but when I first started playing, I ran a lot of mechs near-stock due to the high cost of engines. I learned how to dodge missiles, leap out and attack someone point-blank, and then fade around a corner before they could even turn around to look at what hit them.

It's almost like two flavors of guerrilla warfare. The Commando is punchy and tough, and can screen-shake people pretty heftily with its missile armaments, and the Locust is more like a ninja, appearing behind you as if by magic and stabbing you repeatedly in the thigh with lasers and leaving you crippled for his friends.

Edited by Tim East, 27 March 2015 - 12:14 PM.

[MonkeyCheese]

The arm hardpoints on a commando are much batter suited to holding beams on targets at 170kph than the good old horizontally locked arm hardpoints and torso hardpoints of a locust but saying that the only commando I kept is the 4 energy hero the Deaths Knell.

[TercieI]

Voivode, on 27 March 2015 - 11:33 AM, said:

The commando has more armor, more speed, and more firepower than the Locust while only being marginally larger.

The quirks for the Locust are really attractive, but the differences in durability are dramatic. Despite only having 40 more points of total armor, the Commando is just incredibly durable compared to the Locust. Using both in the same sort of fast striker role, the Commando will make it to match's end more often than the Locust.

EDIT: As some others have pointed out, the Locust gets the better laser weapon quirks, but for missile weapons the Commando gets really nice quirks and actually has the weapon weight to run a couple SRM4s and backup lasers.

Conversely, the LCT's accel/decel quirks make it substantially more maneuverable than a Commando and so able to avoid more fire entirely, mitigating the durability advantage. I have and like both, but I consider the LCT-1E the best variant of either at this point.

And anybody debating the fine points of LCT vs COM is my kind of Mechwarrior.

Edited by Terciel1976, 27 March 2015 - 12:37 PM.

[Metus regem]

DONTOR, on 27 March 2015 - 09:29 AM, said:

Wrong, the commando is the fastest mech in the game currently at 171 KPH.
If you want missles and to brawl go Commando.
If you want energy and to poke people from distance with MLs, or jab em in the back wth SPLs then go locust.

Obviously I much prefer the Comando as it is tougher and more fun to me because brawling at 171KPH is a feeling like no other in this game. I like the 1D with 2MLs, 1 SRM2 and 1 SRM4, average damage is 400, but I have gotten in the 800s quite a few times. It helps if you play conquest only.

We differ on this point, but piloting a Locust, and getting stuck in a brawl feels a lot like this:

[Dawnstealer]

The Urbie will own all of these and stand over their mangled corpses chortling proudly to itself.

[stealthraccoon]

Just get both, they are both cheap little death chariots!

Oddly, I favored the Locust 1M and the Commando 3A, but I felt the Locust 3M was a great stand in for a TDK and the 1E with 6 small lasers is the cheap thrill king!

[SethAbercromby]

The Commando is indeed faster (though in terms of ECM vs ECM, the PB outspeeds the 2D due to its lower engine cap), though the Locust has immense accaleration and deccaleration quirks which make it accalerate from full speed into reverse in less than a second. This allows the locust to do dead-stop manouvers to avoid enemy fire and in some situations can even poke it's head out of a corner, leasurely aim its shots and scoot away the instant somebody notices it (though due to how the maps are designed in CW, this will probably be an unlikely scenario to occur. More open maps would allow for a lot more flexible positioning and flanking). The Locust leg durability quirks are of debatable effectiveness, but with 2/3 of the 'Mech being legs, this can be fairly useful.

As already mentioned, both their hill-climb modifiers are high enough to get up structures other Lights can only take with the aid of Jump Jets. Combined with the climb module the Locust and Commando can get get up practically anything that isn't a 90° wall.

One variant which hasn't been mentioned yet is the Locust 3S which I think is a hilarious 4x SRM2 bomber, albeit a very, very hot one. Bring coolshots.

[Brizna]

Voivode, on 27 March 2015 - 11:33 AM, said:

The commando has more armor, more speed, and more firepower than the Locust while only being marginally larger.

The quirks for the Locust are really attractive, but the differences in durability are dramatic. Despite only having 40 more points of total armor, the Commando is just incredibly durable compared to the Locust. Using both in the same sort of fast striker role, the Commando will make it to match's end more often than the Locust.

EDIT: As some others have pointed out, the Locust gets the better laser weapon quirks, but for missile weapons the Commando gets really nice quirks and actually has the weapon weight to run a couple SRM4s and backup lasers.

I'm not going to deny that commando is tougher to kill, because it is significantly harder to kill. But seriously I have to give you a big "BOOOOOO" for saying that Commando has greater firepower. Locust are the KINGS of firepower in the ultra light mech category even before quirks, after it they are emperors which is the reason you see throngs of locusts in game and just a handfull of commandos.

[Takashi Uchida]

Personally, I've had a hard time gelling with the Commando CT missile point (due to my own skill limitations). The Commandos have phenomenal arm movement, great for insane kung fu movies and close range, and I've had difficulty coordinating the torso missile at times. I love the quick attacks you can make from awkward angles with the arms, which is why The Death's Knell is my favorite Commando (and is my favorite solo quick-drop mech). The speed differential itself isn't that noticeable to me, but the agility of the Locust and the durability of the Commando (even though a couple points of armor seem negligible) are.

Disclaimer: I don't play much of the CW modes. Since I've only played a handful of CW games, I don't know what context you plan on using the mech in. If you're looking for the best "bang for weight," the LCT-1E and 3M can bring a savage amount of lasers into the fight. If you need ECM, the smallest ECM carrier is the Hero LCT-PB. The COM-2D can also carry ECM (but has a lower engine cap than the other COMs).

Consider also that Locusts and Commandos don't cost much themselves but can be expensive with all the upgrades and engines, and none of them can truly shine before mastery. So, you'll have to figure out if you want to spend some GXP on them or grind them out (which can be a painful process). If you're willing to drop some real money, look for the Death's Knell or Pirate's Bane next time they go on sale.

[Tim East]

Fun things, the PB and DK. The DK feels like it moves like a Locust and tanks like a Firestarter, while the PB feels like a non-jumpy non-tanky Spider. Nice hardpoint placement on it though. TDK is probably the Locust-iest Commando you'll find, though it does do the arm thing which is a nice touch, though the lower and wider placement of the hardpoints may cause you to shoot floors/walls on accident now and again. They're both very good mechs, and I would definitely recommend the PB as a variant to level Locusts, since I prefer the energy Locusts and there really only are two. I'm not counting the 1V despite the laser quirkage, that thing is a silly joke for silly people, and even I don't use it at this time. So much quirks for all of one hardpoint.

Anyway, if you're going to plunk down cash money on anything here, the PB is one of the best choices out there imo. Of course, the cost is low enough that you can actually just grind MC through CW and events if you really really want one and really really don't want to spend cash money.

[Blaze32]

eFTy, on 27 March 2015 - 04:20 AM, said:

I got both. I'd say it should depend on what you like to play and what your team needs. There are quite a few differences:

-the commando is much more resilient than the locust. The locust only survives if it doesn't get hit. At all. The commando can take a bit of a beating before going down. The locust is much faster, but that's not such a great advantage in CW where you need to stick with the team.

-neither has jump jets so neither can jump over the gate and flank. If the gate is already blown, then the Locust has a minor-to-considerable advantage, depending on the commando build being compared to.

-each chassis does some builds better than the other. The Death Knell is the best for medium pulses. The Locust 1E is the best with medium lasers (it's a goddamnmurdermachine, in fact). The Locust 1V is the best with ERLL poking. The Commando 3A is the best SRM bomber, but is relatively slow (you can pack 2x SRM6 with enough ammo for a PUG game, but only go 120kph; I usually find that to be enough). The Commando is also the best for LRM dingy-ing. Neither offers enough tonnage for meaningful ballistics, though.

-if buying mechs with MCs isn't a problem, both can chassis offer you an ECM. In CW, the Pirate's Bane is better because it's not ammo reliant. The 2D struggles, but can still be fun with 3x SRM2 on chain-fire (kinda like a mini Huginn), or jsut take 2x LRM5 w 3.5 tons of ammo... If you'd like to help your team with that light mech and not spend MCs, getting a commando is the only option.

tl;dr - depending on what you want to do with the mech, both chassis have great options for CW.

Actually the commando with max engine of 240 (not the 2d version's 210 cap) can go 1.8 kph faster than any locust (going 171.1 vs the locust's 169.3kph after speed tweak) Also if you run a commando with a standard engine it can be VERY tanky like it can take on mechs three times it's weight!

Other than that I agree totally with eFTy, it depends on what you use it for but if you want to be able to take punishment like no other take a standard engine commando

This is my favorite commando build:
standard engine COM-1D
xl engine COM-1D
same loadout just a .5 armor difference...
I've played 172 matches with this build and it has a 1.21 k/d ratio (115kills/95deaths)

Edited by Blaze32, 28 March 2015 - 10:04 PM.

[Nothing Whatsoever]

Well, I'm now running my Commando's with XL 175's so ~124 KPH, which is not really much, but allows for adding enough ammo or plenty of DHS.

One can easily run the XL 180, but I'm trying my best to build by my own house rules on my mechs and having one too many to keep better track of!