95 replies to this topic

[3xnihilo]

InspectorG, on 11 September 2015 - 12:51 PM, said:

Cicada is an acquired taste. Not OP or anything but fills a very interesting niche. Poke like an annoying 2 year old.

X5 has NICE energy Quirks...but only 4E. 5E would be OP. I refer 1LPL+3ML or 2-3ERLL if you snipe...at 810m. 4MPL works. 4ML+SRMs work but i sux with SRM brawling. 4ML is...underpowered but heat-neutral and you can poke at range with a short duration, 'less is more' for some i suppose.

B is for Wubs. Likely the best variant. Wub hard. Wub often.

A is for 6ML...borng but the quirks are nice. Duration and heat being key.

M has ECM but, meh.

C is the PPC sniper but only 1E. Some roll 1ERPPC+UAC5, others 1ERPPC and 4MG.

Now we are getting the REBALANCE soon, so...who the hell knows for sure.

But Cicadas have treated me well so far. Just dont brawl in them. 'Annoying Fire Support' is kinda how i use them in Pugs.

Good Luck.

Right now with the ballistic cooldown and uac jamming quirks the M can be pretty impressive with a uac5 and 4ml. Much Dakka!

[InspectorG]

3xnihilo, on 13 September 2015 - 02:31 PM, said:

Right now with the ballistic cooldown and uac jamming quirks the M can be pretty impressive with a uac5 and 4ml. Much Dakka!

I swear UAC Jam quirks make my UAC jam MORE OFTEN. Maybe i just cant push hte button correctly.

[3xnihilo]

InspectorG, on 13 September 2015 - 05:33 PM, said:

I swear UAC Jam quirks make my UAC jam MORE OFTEN. Maybe i just cant push hte button correctly.

haha, I went through all of my ammo in a CW match without a single jam, I was super impressed. Uac's on Urbies on the other hand jam about 4 out of 5 shots.

[Steel Raven]

Wow, I got the Champion Cicada for free during the last holiday C-Bill sell and sold it because I didn't see myself getting another Cicada

[Soul Tribunal]

3xnihilo, on 13 September 2015 - 02:31 PM, said:

Right now with the ballistic cooldown and uac jamming quirks the M can be pretty impressive with a uac5 and 4ml. Much Dakka!

I will have to try that. I've never had much faith in the UAC on a 3M.

Though I am very stoked for the one I am getting for free.
Not sure what I am going to build out of it though. Jumping Sniper maybe....scale the engine back a bit and put in some ER LL's.

-ST

[Soul Tribunal]

3xnihilo, on 13 September 2015 - 05:43 PM, said:

haha, I went through all of my ammo in a CW match without a single jam, I was super impressed. Uac's on Urbies on the other hand jam about 4 out of 5 shots.

Quick question, can you share your build just so I can compare to mine?
I feel light on Ammo, and want to make sure I'm doing it right since its the first UAC on a Cicada.

Thanks!

-ST

[3xnihilo]

It is kind of ammo limited. You could run 3 ml for another ton of ammo, or drop down to a smaller engine. I am so used to running ml or spl builds on locusts that the UAC feels like a bonus weapon

[Chados]

The X5 was my first hero mech. I learned the art of LRM harassment in it with two ML and two LRM5. I sold it to finance my first Catapult, and regretted it. With the sale, I had some MC left over from buying Victors, so I rescued an old friend from the scrap heap.

But like all old boyfriends, the relationship is a little different the second time around. I've kept it largely stock engine and armor,but stripped weapons, replacing them with an ER PPC and keeping one ML. It is a great, speedy harasser. You can run out of cover, hit a Dire Wolf in the face with a PPC shot, and be gone before he realizes you were there. I was such a pain in the neck on one map that the entire enemy light lance chased me from one side of Forest Colony to the other before they finally got me.

When I got it back all but two of the basics were still done, so two or three matches had me at full basics. I'll hang onto it and the loyalty 'mech, obtain an ECM version with Cbills at some point, elite them, and have an option for mediums when the queue is low.

Edited by Chados, 15 September 2015 - 03:06 AM.

[Audacious Aubergine]

Looking at the stock builds, a lot of them either have paper-thin armour, or have an XL (in other words, the MC variants only). Since I don't much fancy running around with post it notes for armour, is an XL all but mandatory on these things if you want any semblance of firepower?

[Grayson Sortek]

Tom Sawyer, on 11 September 2015 - 05:06 AM, said:

I will be honest. Never bothered with the Cicada.

So which 2 versions would you recommend to master? There is the sale on the X-5 at the moment. Worth 1500 MC?

Or maybe 2 of the other variants for C-BIlls.

Thank you in advance for helpful input!

People might hate me for this, and someone may have already said this, but I don't want to scan through the whole thread...

I run my X-5 with 2xLRM5s and then MLs. I do this for a number of reasons:

• I'm squishy, don't have JJs, and I'm a rather big target for how much armor I get.
  
• Because of 1, it is in my best interest to get at least 1 hit on each enemy 'mech without trading armor so that I get a Kill Assist without messing up the rest of the match. Hence why I have LRMs and can "tag" people at the beginning of the match during the pokey phase.
  
• Because of 2 I can help suppress or focus fire with the other LRMs.
  
• After the pokey phase and after I've run out of LRM ammo I start doing the standard light strafe runs because I still have fresh armor while everyone else is battered and bruised.
  
• It's not all greedy, I stay near the Heavies and Assaults who have LRMs and protect them when the lights come to harass them.

Do this with the X-5 and you will be rolling in the C-Bills, assuming that you are patient enough to just get some hits in near the beginning of the match and you're not trying to instantly murder people.

As for the other variant... I believe the 3M is the ECM capable one? Go with that. Mine is ECM with ERPPC and 3xML... I get to snipe without being rained on, and I still have a decent amount of mid-range defense.

[Dawnstealer]

RedlineHunter, on 11 September 2015 - 05:58 AM, said:

The Cicada is an underrated mech in my opinion. They are a bit squishy, but make up for it in maneuverability. The X-5 isn't that bad now that the tube count has been upped. I run mine with 4ml and 2 srm4s. The top cbill picks I think would be the 3M because of ECM and the 2b because of mpl quarks. I'd say pick up a cbill variant and try them out.

Wait, wait, wait: they upped the tubes?? I might have to break out my X-5 again

[Audacious Aubergine]

Dawnstealer, on 15 September 2015 - 05:07 AM, said:

Wait, wait, wait: they upped the tubes?? I might have to break out my X-5 again

What did it used to be?

[Zookeeper Dan]

FreebirthToad18999, on 15 September 2015 - 05:41 AM, said:

What did it used to be?

It used to have two tubes in each torso. Now it can have up to 20.

I run my X-5 with 4ml and 2 LRM 10's and I'm still able to fit a big enough engine to go over 100 kph before speed tweek. LRM's at range but still fast with enough firepower to make strafing runs.

[bad arcade kitty]

im personally picked 3m (ecm) and 2b (the best general laser quirks) and run them both as nobrainers 3 (sometimes er) large lasers with 295 and 300 engine (to not buy 2 300 ones), works nice for cw and should work nice in pugs too

nope, i wont play 2b with mpl, sorry, i saw what happens with brawling cicadas which are twice as large as 35 tonner jenners being just 5 tons heavier

Nightshade24, on 11 September 2015 - 06:38 AM, said:

Cicada 40 tonner with 8 jumpjets will not out jump a Spider 30 tonner with 12 jumpjets...

i think it might... even shadow cat being 45 tonner with 6 jj (70.31) outjumps 30 tonner spider with 8 jj (69.38)

mediums have class 4 jj and those were buffed while light have class 5 and those were not buffed

Edited by bad arcade kitty, 16 September 2015 - 12:04 AM.

[ExplodedZombie]

3M is fantastic for CW. 2 ERLL, 2 ML.

Ehhh.....

X-5 is actually great. 2 ML, 2 SRM4. It's kind of like a Jenner but with a little more armor, a little slower.

Edited by ExplodedZombie, 21 September 2015 - 11:12 AM.

[Sereglach]

Personally, I plan on sitting on the special Cicada until the rebalancing is done. The changes enacted on the chassis will probably play a fairly significant part in which variants I'd like to keep.

Besides, in the mean time I'll have a Black Knight, Crab, Wolfhound, Jenner IIC, and Hunchback IIC coming for the investment I made before closing my wallet (waiting on Flamer fixes). That will leave me with plenty of toys to tinker with before making any decisions on which Cicadas I wish to pair with the loyalty mech.

However, it's going to be nice to finally have an excuse for leveling those mechs. They're one I was always at least a little interested in, but never made the plunge. At least we're getting the very nice 3F with a rather respectable hardpoint layout (especially given the jumping capacity).

[bad arcade kitty]

ExplodedZombie, on 21 September 2015 - 11:10 AM, said:

3M is fantastic for CW. 2 ERLL, 2 ML.

why not 3 er-ll

[Grey Black]

I tried running the X-5, but I'm not a big fan of it. I really felt like it couldn't understand what it was trying to do. Not a fan, overall, but I am a medium fanatic so I'll be keeping it.

[Dawnstealer]

CDAs are absolutely ferocious when built right. I'm really looking forward to kitting this free one out with a pair of LPLs and a max engine along with those jump jets.

[3xnihilo]

Ok so I have started telling my wife: I get a new Cicada on Tuesday!

But you have to understand, when I start talking to my wife about a video game I must be pretty excited about it.

(And when my 3 year old son chips in: "the one with jump jets?" You know I have been talkin about it quite a bit.)

Edited by 3xnihilo, 04 October 2015 - 01:54 PM.