19 replies to this topic

[Breidr]

I've been dropping into CW with the FRR for a couple of weeks now, and it's been a very enjoyable experience most of the time. I get to meet Kerensky's extended family [seriously, how many of you are there?] and stomp their robots.

I've fashioned a drop deck out of what I had skills piloting, but I feel it may be lacking based on what I've seen and heard. Mostly about mediums not pulling their weight or better options being available.

My lance consists of the Following 'Mechs:
Stalker Misery [Stalker-4N will replace]
Wolverine-6K
Hunchback-4P
Hunchback-4P

Lots of lasers, and play pretty similarly, except the Stalker. Shield with the left, shoot with the right. I've even been known to do this in the Stalker and shield with my lovely PPCs and AC... fun times. I've yelled "Not that left, your other left!" more than once at my 'Mech.

Am I missing anything? Are there better options for novice pilots? I just wanted to check with the community, maybe there are some awesome ideas I have overlooked.

Edited by Breidr Breidsson, 02 July 2015 - 06:49 PM.

[Chadamir Fitzkrieg]

Find what works for you. It's never about Min/Max, when I was IS I ran three hunchbacks and an enforcer because I love mediums. I think your deck is solid and if you enjoy those mechs and believe you're best in them then go for it, sir!

[Doc ShOoTnLoOt]

Play what you want to play. Don't fall into the trap of min/max or the flavor the quarter meta. You'll get more enjoyment out of the game. I run with Enforcers and Ravens because that's what I enjoy and I'm able to get kills and maneuver. Your deck seems solid and if it works for you right now, don't change it.

[Rhavin]

All the firepower in the world will not help you if you are not enjoying the time you spend in the mech. Play what you want, as long as you're successfull in it no one can really complain can they? I drop in fairly meta mechs , hbr prime, cauldron born, and a pair of storm crows. I find I have more success in my storm crow that isn't a meta build because it is an unknown factor and isn't a priority target until I have wrecked a little face in it. My hellbringer and it's ecm suite on the other hand are a focus fire target as soon as the other team sees me, it feels like I am actively being hunted down. I enjoy all of the mechs I bring, don't get me wrong, but sometimes being outside the box has it's upside.

[SnagaDance]

Rhavin, on 02 July 2015 - 08:43 PM, said:

My hellbringer and it's ecm suite on the other hand are a focus fire target as soon as the other team sees me, it feels like I am actively being hunted down.

I think you're right. I'll specifically go after ECM Hellbringers when I see them and are perfectly fine with losing one of my mechs to take one out in return. At least when it's piloted by someone who knows what he's doing. Sitting in the second line, ECM-shielding lots of friends etc. That's a force multiplier that needs to get down fast!

[The Basilisk]

There are several things to be considered in a CW drop deck.

1. Fun....as somebody above said...all the firepower won't help if you hate your mech.

2. LAZORS.....yea....NO
Laser builds are .... nice to reap high overall dmg and for some brawling builds like the flavor of the last half year the Wubbolt, Thunderwub or what ever you want to call that effin frankenmech.
Such builds need one thing to be of any use: Speed to rush the enemy and coordinated fire to bring DOWN enemy mechs. Your dmg is useless if you dont do kills. Clans have much more range and if you go against some clanner who know what they are up to wub or laser builds need much coordination to be realy effective.

3. Game phases
There can be a lot of differences if you drop random groups CW or if you drop with a team and against wich fraction you are droping in wich game mode.

First example: You are droping solo into a defense scenario and your enemy is clan.
Know this the main advantage of Clanmechs is their range. If you got extremely unlucky and you meet the wrong clanners they won't only bring ERLarge laser but staggering ammounts of dual Gauss with CERPPCs.
Hide.....let them come...they have to.

Generaly use a mixture of dakka mechs ( 1 or 2 ) a tank and some kind of raider / scout.
Deployment is tank, dakka dakka, raider. Important thing is always bring at least one ECM.
Sometimes if your team has smal or no ECM coverage for the first and second wave use your ECM mech no matter what he is.

Second example:
If they are defening you either have to get lucky and they get impatient or otherwise disordered and you can take them one by one or simply you get them of foot and do more dmg with your first wave or you are simply screwed.
If Clan mechs are patient and play smart during defense operation IS has smal chances.

Third example:
If you are droping solo IS against IS the game depends on pure old luck.
Who got the larger premade and the better unit combination.
Seriously as solo player you can't do much about it.

Genaraly do not use a single minded drop deck even if you are prefering a certain play style. Its mostly:

I. Tank / scout(ECM cover unit), if you are able to talk strategy with your team first a sniper could also be choice.

II. dakka ( dps ) nothing much to say here, just live long and dish more out than you get

III. second dakka/ high frontload to clean up, by now the game should tell you if you are going to winn or not. You can try to take your tank now if your team is behind and if you didn't already used it.

IV. Tank/ raider depends on what you used first if you used the tank your raider may reap some additional dmg but normaly your game should end now or you loose anyway if you used the raider/scout first your tank may be able to clean house since he may very well be one of the last undamaged mechs still beeing in game.

[McHoshi]

Sulfur

2 DRG-1N
1 TDR-5SS
1 WVR-6R

Have Fun and a dmg output over 2000 for sure

[TheStrider]

Not knowing what sort of mech assortment you own, I will just share what I've been running.

Firestarter S - 5 MPL
TDR - Thunderwub
TDR - 4 LL
CTF - Usually Muromets, 3 UAC5 / 3ML

I'm 5 tons under, but I don't own anything 5 tons higher that I'd rather play. I could upgrade the FS9 to a Cicada. Or I could trade a TDR for CTF... Guess it depends on how much I want ECM that day.

Actually looking at that, I may start using the ECM CTF, now that I have it.


When we had 250T, I had a Battlemaster or Awesome in the deck. Usually LPL builds.

[B L O O D W I T C H]

TheStrider, on 03 July 2015 - 05:23 AM, said:

Not knowing what sort of mech assortment you own, I will just share what I've been running.

Firestarter S - 5 MPL
TDR - Thunderwub
TDR - 4 LL
CTF - Usually Muromets, 3 UAC5 / 3ML

I'm 5 tons under, but I don't own anything 5 tons higher that I'd rather play. I could upgrade the FS9 to a Cicada. Or I could trade a TDR for CTF... Guess it depends on how much I want ECM that day.

Actually looking at that, I may start using the ECM CTF, now that I have it.


When we had 250T, I had a Battlemaster or Awesome in the deck. Usually LPL builds.

I would rather take the ecm griffin then the phract. the phract isn't bad ofc, but griffin is more tanky and faster, it can provide ecm cover much better then the Phract. so unless you know that your group runs similar speed (slow heavies/assaults) i'd go with the griffin instead.

Breidr Breidsson, on 02 July 2015 - 06:41 PM, said:

I've been dropping into CW with the FRR for a couple of weeks now, and it's been a very enjoyable experience most of the time. I get to meet Kerensky's extended family [seriously, how many of you are there?] and stomp their robots.

I've fashioned a drop deck out of what I had skills piloting, but I feel it may be lacking based on what I've seen and heard. Mostly about mediums not pulling their weight or better options being available.

My lance consists of the Following 'Mechs:
Stalker Misery [Stalker-4N will replace]
Wolverine-6K
Hunchback-4P
Hunchback-4P

Lots of lasers, and play pretty similarly, except the Stalker. Shield with the left, shoot with the right. I've even been known to do this in the Stalker and shield with my lovely PPCs and AC... fun times. I've yelled "Not that left, your other left!" more than once at my 'Mech.

Am I missing anything? Are there better options for novice pilots? I just wanted to check with the community, maybe there are some awesome ideas I have overlooked.

I don't think you're doing anthing wrong.
Maybe a minor note that you run faily hot on your deck. You could come up with a cooler deck to switch if you drop on a hot map like sulfur so you don't limit your damage potential. There's nothing wrong with staying under the maximum tonnage either.

[TheStrider]

LOADED, on 03 July 2015 - 05:31 AM, said:

I would rather take the ecm griffin then the phract. the phract isn't bad ofc, but griffin is more tanky and faster, it can provide ecm cover much better then the Phract. so unless you know that your group runs similar speed (slow heavies/assaults) i'd go with the griffin instead.

Too true, but I don't have Griffins. My only ECM medium is Cicada.

Should probably pick up Griffins when I'm done with my Wave 3 tour of duty.

[Kin3ticX]

The hunchback-4Ps are not bad. One of the good things about CW is that as long as what you bring is remotely in the realm of meta it should be okay. I find I call upon the BJ-1X more often than the HBK-4P due to 45t fitting into decks better.

Should really think about getting...

TDR-5SS: Super quirks for 7x Medium Pulse but 4xLarge Laser also works if you want more range
TDR-9SE: Nice large pulse quirks, i use 3xLPL, 2xMedium laser with a Standard but some use an XL
TDR-5S: The weaker of the 3, but really good with 4x Large Laser or Gauss + 3x Large Laser
BJ-1X: Good 4P substitute that is 5t less, 6xML, 2xMPL
Quickdraw-5K: Good with 4x Large Laser
BLR-1G: 3xLPL, 4xML makes a closer range version of the STK-4N
Raven-2X: 3xLL
Panther-9R: 2xPPC poptart alternate of the 3xLL Raven-2x

you also may want to get DRG-1Ns, WVR-6Rs, and JM6-DDs

see this
https://docs.google....g7925b2718_3870

Edited by Kin3ticX, 03 July 2015 - 07:41 AM.

[Breidr]

In terms of ECM, which 'mechs are viable to bring them? It may be something I want to look into. Well, it WILL be something I look into.

[Kin3ticX]

Breidr Breidsson, on 03 July 2015 - 07:32 AM, said:

In terms of ECM, which 'mechs are viable to bring them? It may be something I want to look into. Well, it WILL be something I look into.

It is kind of tough to fit ECM into IS decks. A simple way is if you are running STK-4N, STK-4N, RVN-2X, RVN-2X. Then you can swap out a 2X for a 3L or Spider 5D if need be. Beyond that I wouldn't worry too much about ECM. The CDA-3M, GRF-2N, CTF-0XP, and ATLAS-D-DC arn't exactly great variants for CW. The 40t CDA-3M seems to swap poorly into existing decks and has big hitboxes. The GRF-2N is limited to SRMs or LRMs making it a bad WVR-6R/6K substitute just for the sake of ECM. The CTF-0XP has all low mount energy and armor quirks that don't matter. The Atlas can only brawl and is a giant focus fire.

Edited by Kin3ticX, 03 July 2015 - 07:57 AM.

[TheCaptainJZ]

The Raven or Spider ECM variants are probably the best choices for support.

[Peter2k]

bit uncommon setup from me here, but it works for me

2x3L
one with 2 LL (I appreciate the lower heat more than the extended range)

other with 2 PPC's, I can aggressively snipe with this one and take a load of shots of opportunities, since I don't have to hold them on target
and PPC's always seem to make people think about advancing in your direction (no one seems scared of lasers really)
a few times I was able to hold off the enemy at a gate since I was hammering them with PPC's and they didn't know if I'm just baiting them

I cover the group with those, so they're rather slow with ~104 I think, but again in CW you get away with it


1 King Crab, quad UAC-5's
this one rolling out when we simply need to push, or are being hammered and I need something with sustained unrelenting push back effect

1 heavy of whatever liking
for me at the moment it's Grasshopper, 4 mediums, 2 PPC's n some JJ
or an Ilya with 3 UAC-5's



Stalkers with LL are rather useless in my book
those work well in good organized drops, when you can rely on friends to advance and hold as a group, to cover you and take your spot to hammer the enemy more

Misery can be good, depends if it works with the way you play

aaand

I know I'm no good in mediums
so if you are good in them, by all means go for the ecm griffin, I can't seem to work wonders with it

[Rogue Jedi]

I think they are all viable, however some are better than others,

for ECM Mechs the Atlas and Commando seem to be the only ones I do not see regularly, probably because the AS7-D-DC is such a large tonnage investment and the COM-2D does not have enough weight available to run more than a single ML and 3 SRM2 or a single large pulse or (ER) Large laser.
the Griffin has amazing potential for missile related roles(SRM brawler, SRM skirmisher, LRM skirmisher, LRM support)
the Cicada and Raven have excellent potential for laser/PPC snipers
the Spider and Locust can make great scouts and harassers, not to mention being so light you can use the leftover weight for an assault, or take 3 heavies and 1 light
I am not really a fan of the Cataract but I am seeing them reasonably frequently

[B L O O D W I T C H]

best choice for ecm or me would be Griffin 2N because it's fast, tanky and can pack a punch at close range, second best would be cicada 3M with 2 LPL. D-DC is to much tonnage for ecm, also way to slow for CW even with 360 engine. Pirate Bane is an option too, those are stupidly annoying in CW if no gauss or streaks are arround. Raven would work too, either 3 ML + 1 srm6 + 1srm 4 or 2 Large laser. it's just not good at running with a pack. at least not as good as the Griffin or the Cicada is.
Com-2D is a no no. it doesn't have the speed it would need and can hardly pack a punch or the ammo for SRM.

I personally ran a spider 5D with a single er-ppc on my IS dropdeck.. super scout + harrasser.

[DivineEvil]

Reading all that makes my eyes bleed...

[TheLuc]

my deck is two 80 ton mechs ( Victor and Zeus ) one 60 ton ( dragon or quickdraw ) one 20 ton mech ( the locust of course ) so far did the job well but I dont play much on CW

[POOTYTANGASAUR]

What works for me is this:

Battlemaster 3s - 3 lgpl, 3 mdpl, xl 375
thunderbolt 5ss - 7 mdpl, std 300
BJ-1x - 8 mdls, xl 280
BJ-1x - 1 lgpl, 5 mdls, xl 280

I consistently break 2000 damage. Start game with heaviest end with lightest. Just shoot everything you see, don't be afraid to get close but all of these builds have quirked range so you aren't forced. Finding a corner and peaking around it constantly is the best tactic for all the builds. I came to this dropdeck after testing about 5-10 others and this is the most consistent. Even on terrible games I break 2000, best game so far was 3400 which is decent.