Nightmare1, on 16 August 2015 - 10:26 AM, said:
It varies. I tried the boring laser meta and found it to be rather underwhelming.
Which mechs? Did you use too many lasers and thus have too much heat output, or not enough laser sand too little alpha?
Do note that, in general, laser vomit is basically about trading salvos from behind cover. Peek out, fire, hide. Punch big holes in people before they get in range. In a sustained/direct fight it tends to not be as effective.
Nightmare1, on 16 August 2015 - 10:26 AM, said:
I use a Gauss + PPC build very effectively on my Summoner Prime and twin PPCs on my Kit Fox along with ECM. Both of those builds are powerful.
That Fox sounds like it's really hot...
Nightmare1, on 16 August 2015 - 10:26 AM, said:
My Timbies are okay. I have one that uses a Gauss with lasers and twin SRMs. Another is built to be a splat boat with MPLs as back up. It's effective. They're just boring. There's no variety. Because everything is locked down on these chassis, there's only a handful of cookie-cutter builds that work. Even then, the Mechs just don't feel tough or resilient. They get focus fired quickly and even in single combat don't seem to have the longevity of their IS counterparts. Shoot, I'd rather run a Thunderbolt over a Timber Wolf right now, because I know my Thunderbolt will outperform it. I've had several 1000+ damage matches with them, but only one with a Timby (LRM boat, that one).
In terms of variety, the Mad Cat actually can be built in
a lot of different ways because of Omnipods and the mech's general traits. It can do almost any role except for ballistic boating, really. In some ways I think of them as a heavy-class Shadow Hawk on steroids.
The focus fire thing is partly because of the mech's reputation for being so good, it is what it is.
In terms of locked-down construction, it really depends on which mech we're talking about...in the Mad Cat's case, it actually doesn't get hurt much by this. Endo-Steel is pretty much an auto-equip item, so having Endo locked is a strength instead of a weakness. Clan Ferro is in a similar spot, being much smaller than IS Ferro and slightly lighter (making it viable for heavies and some assaults). The engine might possibly be a few sizes too large, but it's not too bad...I might prefer a 350 or maybe even a 325, but a 375 is able to work because of the mech's other benefits.
Nightmare1, on 16 August 2015 - 10:26 AM, said:
Daishi are powerful but pathetically vulnerable and something of a joke.
The Daishi is one of the few mechs that requires special team considerations to work at its best...the disorganized/chaotic nature of Puglandia doesn't always suit it, because people are prone to NASCAR'ing and leaving them behind.
Nightmare1, on 16 August 2015 - 10:26 AM, said:
Adders are cute and that's about it.
It's called the Badder/Sadder for a reason.
Nightmare1, on 16 August 2015 - 10:26 AM, said:
Novas got a nice buff recently, but I don't really have any reason to run them now unless I want to jump snipe with PPCs or run the SPL meta. I'd rather not do either since I already have enough PPC Clan Mechs and SPLs just don't interest me.
A build with about 6 ERML and a bunch of DHS can be a nice midrange poker. I used to run a mix of 6 ERML + 6 ERSL during the invasion, but the heat increases probably invalidate that build...probably remove a few lasers from it. ERSL's are nice for the Nova because you can get an alpha of 30
per arm...short range though.
Nightmare1, on 16 August 2015 - 10:26 AM, said:
I haven't even touched my Warhawks.
It's a nice assault for being abnormally fast and agile (like, really huge torso twist radius) for its class/size, along with being able to pack alright payloads... The Warhawk unfortunately is just awkward to build with because of having Ferro + 20 DHS. The 4 LPL build has been very viable and strong at continuous midrange DPS even before the Clan LPL buffs, and with the new 13 damage per LPL (along with WHK quirks) it's sexytime. Quirks made the 4 ERPPC build threatening as well, as far as I've seen. Some people boat Lurms in them, which is kinda derpy but it can work.
Nightmare1, on 16 August 2015 - 10:26 AM, said:
Stormcrows are okay, but they don't impress me much. I'd rather run HBKs, Enforcers, Cents, and SHDs instead. They're just more fun and feel more like MechWarrior.
How so?
I'm going to try to guess that it might because the SCR doesn't really have a built-in weakness/fatal flaw/kryptonite of any form? It has good durability, good speed/agility, and can pack a punch...while many mechs (particularly IS mechs) having to either have weird engines (too high or too low), low weapon payload, or low durability (hitboxes), or even a combination of those. :\
This might also be why you don't like the Mad Cat much...but to be fair, I don't really like the Mad Cat either, I've always preferred the Loki and Cauldron Born (higher hardpoint mounts are neat).
Nightmare1, on 16 August 2015 - 10:26 AM, said:
I miss the Clan Mechs we had in MW4. You could run pretty much whatever you wanted on them and have fun. Here, you're restricted to only a couple of builds that actually work. If PGI would make the Clans equal to the IS, then they would actually be fun again. Until then, they're just sub-par. Throw in the massive amount of nerfing, and the Clans just don't have the firepower or battlefield longevity, on average, to beat the IS.
MW4 made Omnimechs and Battlemechs a mostly fluff difference instead of gameplay difference (except for a few Omni hardpoints here and there)...I kind of like different construction types for "flavor" (not saying that MWO's exact system is perfect ATM).
Edited by FupDup, 16 August 2015 - 10:47 AM.