Escef, on 21 June 2015 - 06:17 PM, said:
Because you seem to enjoy bagging on the Mad Dog in this thread. 6xSRM6+4xERML is an alpha of 100. None of my assaults is within 20 points of that.
I've played that build. I've played it with cERSL, I've played it with cSPL. I've played it sans lasers altogether. I've played it with cASRM-6, I've played it with cASRM-4. I've played it with cSSRM-6. I've played it with cSRM-2s and cMPL. I've played the Doge with LRMs, I've played it with mixed long and short-range missiles, I've played it with cSRMs alongside a class-20 autocannon. I have done every single bloody thing that makes sense on the Doge and a good few things that don't.
The thing is made of spun sugar. It sheds shoulders faster than a Meth Lynx sheds arms. The Mad Doge, even with its cXL, is noticeably less durable than a Dragon. I know, I learned this game in Dragons, and I would bet on my Flame in most any match you'd care to put me in, even with less than half the alpha damage, because the Mad Dog, very literally,
cannot take a punch to save its life.
If it does not perfectly ambush its enemies every single time, it comes apart. If it is focused
at all, for any length of time, it comes apart. It cannot win duels, it cannot sustain itself in the brawl. It has truly heart-stopping potential firepower, but that potential cannot be fully realized because the 'Mech is so incredibly, impossibly fragile that any amount of fire its victims manage to put into it is a serious problem for the Doge.
I want to like the Doge. I have tried, desperately, to like the Doge. I have done everything in my power to turn the Mad Dog into the ferocious combatant it's supposed to be, but I cannot do that. The Cauldron-Born does not possess the Mad Dog's overwhelming firepower, no, but it also does not possess the Mad Dog's disastrous combination of scaling and hitboxes. The CBN is more fragile than either Clan heavy humanoid, and significantly more fragile than the Timber Wolf, but frankly?
Dragons are sturdier than Doges. My Trebuchets are sturdier than Doges. The trees from the destructible terrain teaser clip are sturdier than Doges. A roll of sodden toilet paper is sturdier than a Doge. Paul Inouye's reputation with the community is sturdier than the Doge.
If you can somehow manage to survive in a Mad Dog long enough to get that hundred-point alpha off more than once, fantastic. I'm honestly glad the 'Mech works for you and I highly encourage you to keep running it. The rest of us, on the other hand, will continue to assume that the Mad Dog is far and away the least durable machine out of the Clan heavy
and medium brackets, and in fact, somewhat less realistically durable than some Clan lights.
Now. Can we move on? I hope so. Anyways.
'Clan JagerMech' seems to be fairly accurate, though as I have never piloted JagerMechs myself I can't really say. It seems to fit, though - the CBN is definitely best as a heavy weapons platform and needs to pick its engagements much more carefully than the other machines in the Clan heavy line-up (exempting the Mad Dog, as previously mentioned). The rewards for managing that engagement control, however, are very sweet indeed. I honestly haven't bothered with dual Gauss or dual cUAC/10 as most people seem to run on the thing. For one, a single cUAC/20 covers the same damage as both AC/10s for an eight-ton reduction in overall gun weight - I figure that if you're running dual cUACs, run /5s and get significant weight for secondary armaments. As for the dual Gauss thing...well, I'm glad there's a non-Whale Clan 'Mech that can finally run it, but it just ain't my bag.
Good thing, then, that there's so many fun things you can do with a CBN. Here's to hoping that it doesn't end up saddled with pointless nonsensical nerfs that don't fix anything, a'la the TBR and SCR, eh? If they're going to hit it - and who knows, maybe you folks are right and they won't, but if they do - let's hope we can steer them to things that at least make sense this time, eh?
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