22 replies to this topic

[Gundam Prime]

Ive been read that panther must pilot as a fragile medium,seeking targets in every córner. Why is that???

[Mosadoff]

Cuz it's slower, less lag-shielded and worse hitboxed than firestarter.

Plus it's quirked for using long range poking weps.

[Arn0ldSchwarzenegger]

the 9R is a brilliant mech but yes it hovers in the zone inbetween a light and medium. It's a very tanky mech, its quick torso twist enables you to use your shield arm very effectively, although not as fas as other lights it has great manoueverability.
Using this build whilst flanking the enemy (your still not exactly slow) will get you some greaty games and if your a good shot you can quite easily hurt other lights
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...33ecf16b74b4c80

[Vlad Striker]

Panther can't have 6 mpl )) Max engine 250 vs 295 Firestarter's and it is a range quirked. But I have some success with 3mpl + srm6 + AMS on 9R (114 km/h). It's a very good Cicada killer.

[TeteSP]

Vlad Striker, on 19 May 2015 - 10:25 AM, said:

Panther can't have 6 mpl )) Max engine 250 vs 295 Firestarter's and it is a range quirked. But I have some success with 3mpl + srm6 + AMS on 9R (114 km/h). It's a very good Cicada killer.

Im a Cicada pilot and ive killed some panthers

Edited by TeteSP, 19 May 2015 - 10:33 AM.

[Moldur]

They have some good armaments for their quirks, but they're not tanky, especially considering your main weapons are in a single arm. I like the niche they fill, as they're different from other lights and aren't just a copy of the LL poke Ravens.

[juxstapo]

Mosadoff, on 19 May 2015 - 01:32 AM, said:

Cuz it's slower, less lag-shielded and worse hitboxed than firestarter.

The first two are spot-on, have to disagree with the last one. Hitboxes are actually a smidge better than the FS, lower speed affects this however.

The Panther is my favorite IS light, but I was willing to put in the work to make it jive due to being a fluff nut. It is not, however, my best performing IS light.
Simply put the Panther doesn't fit into MWO's meta, and I don't mean the flavor-of-the-month fluctuating tuning meta, I mean the overarching game design.
The low engine cap, the paucity of weapon hardpoints, the fact that those hardpoints are all congregated into a single arm and thus are easily lost, the fact that it's optimized for one big weapon instead of an array of small ones, weapon mounts are low slung requiring exposure to fire; long story short the fact that it was designed for a turn based tabletop game in a fashion that translates somewhat poorly into a real time, fast paced 3d arcade/sim.

I still love the thing, but yea, you can't play it in the nominally accepted fashion for MWO's lights. If your ping is low and your reflexes decent, I feel the ERPPC makes a fine light brawling weapon once you acclimate to it, and those CT slots will take a streak or two quite readily, although you'll get better results mounting SRM4s and learning to lead your targets.

so don't let people tell you not to use it if you want it, but do realize it isn't the easiest or the "best performing" for this game.

[bossclan]

ERPPC and 2 srm4s is the best in a panther imo ,you can poke ,run and gun, or brawl all day.

[Burnsidhe]

The idea behind the Panther is that it was designed to operate as the 'hard hitter' in light mech scout lances.

Instead of using a Medium mech to back up the rest of a light mech scout lance, Kurita forces would assign a Panther instead as the command element and 'heavy' firepower.

So yes, it occupies a very particular niche; not quite fast enough to operate as a normal 'light' mech and not quite armed and armored enough to be a proper 'medium' mech.

[Tiamat of the Sea]

The Panther is a Medium in the sense that a Cicada is a Light- they're on the opposite side of the weight class line from the other 'mechs that do what they do. They're not bad at what they do by any means, but what they do is different from what other 'mechs in their weight class do, because of their combinations of hardpoints, engine size availability, and shape.

Of course, using them in that way requires adjusting your mentality to something different from the other 'mechs in their weight class, which is part of why there are people who have serious issues with them. You run into similar things with Quickdraws, Orions, Blackjacks, Kit Foxes, Adders, and a few specific variants of other 'mechs.

It's a result of people trying to simplify things 'Light 'mechs should go really fast and have very light or small weapons only so they can operate independently far from support and still get away' is a mentality that makes the Panther, Kit Fox, and Adder bad matches; while they have their drawbacks, they're painted as terrible choices, when actually, the Panther is a good choice and the Kit Fox isn't bad (the Adder has a few too many issues from its shape to quite match up). Basically, it paints them as worse than they are.

[Banditman]

The fact that it falls between means that it falls behind. Mechs that do well in MWO are mechs that do something well, even if it's only one thing. For better or for worse, that's where the Panther is. A number of people questioned why we needed a slow Light mech before it was even released.

[Arn0ldSchwarzenegger]

Bandit your completely wrong, take it from someone with a lot of comp experience, now its availiable for cbills. it will be seen a lot more often, this has a certain niche and infact in CW its a brilliant mech and often gets me 1k dmg from that mech alone and is spot on for the role of a pokey trader, its better than ANY other light for using Dual LPL's including the 4X due to its better tankiness over the raven. Speed is not everything, totally dpends on the role and as a pokey mech they generally have degraded engines - FS9-S for example doesnt use max engine.

Out of interest bandit, how many drops you done in Panthers?

Edited by Arn0ldSchwarzenegger, 20 May 2015 - 03:04 AM.

[Banditman]

If "slow lights" were/are so great, why didn't we see them sooner? Any mech can lower it's engine for the sake of carrying more weapons. Why didn't that happen if it was so effective? The answer is quite simple: Speed is MORE effective.

I think perhaps you may have also forgotten which forum you're addressing here. Advanced tactics and niche roles are fine for heavily experienced players. For new players, they need general advice that will allow them to develop their basic skills and gain valuable experience. I feel that the general rule for Light mech success is speed > all. This is what I communicate to them.

[Arn0ldSchwarzenegger]

Ok so you dont pilot panthers? He's asking a question about panthers and i get the feeling you dont pilot them...

CW isnt a 'niche', It has a distinct advantage over pretty much any IS light if you want to use LPL which is possibly the best laser weapon in CW for torso twisting and accurate fire with the ranges that are normally operated at. Speed is not life in CW, torso twisting, accuracy and the ability to poke are king. Hence why LPL is brilliant for it.
Unless your planning a light zerg with your team, if your dropping in cw, its poke & creep
I thoroughly enjoy tearing a 'fast' light apart in CW because he thinks his speed is giving him an advantage, yet gets himself well ahead of his team, thus he gets smashed by everyone. Im much more concerned by someone with a decent loadout who can appear, fire & disapeer just as quick whilst dealing a very powerful amount of firepower. accurately.

Speed isnt what keeps lights alive, its situational awareness. and CW requires a different approach and mindset, one that the panther is very well suited for.

I'm well known for my light piloting. Theres a reason I dont use 150kph lights in CW - its no good unless I want to do a boring, tacky light zerg

Edited by Arn0ldSchwarzenegger, 20 May 2015 - 06:23 AM.

[Levi Porphyrogenitus]

Panthers suffer from a couple issues:

1 - Slightly slower than other 35-tonners (espcially Jenners and Firestarters).

2 - Overwhelming right arm weaponry.

3 - Quirked for hot-running loadouts, without much in the way of heat-reducing quirks.

Personally, I have a couple of rules for running my Panthers.

First, don't go arm-exclusive for your weapons. Always bring an SRM launcher of some kind. You will lose your arm, and with it all of your energy weapons.

Second, stick with the pack. You can't afford to rambo the same way that other lights can, in large part due to the inevitability of losing your arm if you mix it up too much. Use your SRMs (always bring SRMs) to provide close-in fire support, and your arm weapons for longer range poking and for general agility-based combat.

Third, remember that your arm can let you shoot all kinds of things without running at them. Turn off arm lock, use free look as needed, and you can both protect your arm and engage targets all around you.

[PocketAces]

Panthers are awesome. I like em' I like em' a lot.

[Nightshade24]

Banditman, on 20 May 2015 - 05:54 AM, said:

If "slow lights" were/are so great, why didn't we see them sooner? Any mech can lower it's engine for the sake of carrying more weapons. Why didn't that happen if it was so effective? The answer is quite simple: Speed is MORE effective.

I think perhaps you may have also forgotten which forum you're addressing here. Advanced tactics and niche roles are fine for heavily experienced players. For new players, they need general advice that will allow them to develop their basic skills and gain valuable experience. I feel that the general rule for Light mech success is speed > all. This is what I communicate to them.

The answer is that there is no quirks till recent. There was nothing stopping the jenner from doing the exact same thing a panther can do but still be faster. or lower it's engine rating and mimic it as it has higher hardpoints and such and thus easier to use.

There was nothing out there to make this thing unique to a firestarter or jenner.

The same problem happened with the raven 2X and 4X, they were simply out done by the jenners and later on fire starter in every single way till quirks.

Note:

[Koniving]

To add to the slow lights of yore:


Great fun. But before quirks, it required mechs with especially good hitboxes and shoving lots of armor to the front.

Now it doesn't require something so drastic.

[eFTy]

Wow, I can't believe how many people hate on the panther... I just bought the damned thing a week ago and got these results so far:
PANTHER PNT-9R 13 7 6 1.17 19 6 3.17 3,919 16,235 01:58:54
I'm not exactly a great player, but a mech with KDR over 3 during Basics is NOT a bad mech by any stretch of imagination.

And yeah, most of the weapons are on the arm. I've been driving Wolverines and Griffins for a while now, so I know how to twist. I've only lost the arm -once- and not died in the following 10 seconds.

[Arn0ldSchwarzenegger]

Exactly, its a great mech to learn torso twisting if your not great at it as well