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Equip BAP/CAP. Yeah, that's it. It gives tons of benefits for you and your team with a very little cost. I might miss a few pros, so you guys can fill in the rest.
1. It extends your radar range, allowing you to scout and shoot enemies before others in your team does. Since Paul said this:
Quote
PaulInouye: Flanking, spotting assists count for quite a bit in terms of match score.
You have more chance of raising your rating if you are the one who gets all the scouting--my BAP equipped Atlas can attest to its effectiveness in earning scores and C-Bills. And you can do more flank attacks if you notice the enemy from further away.
2. It helps your team to find out the pesky snipers shooting at you from beyond 800 meters. Lets face it, getting hit without knowing where the shots are coming from is demoralizing for the team--consequently your team might stall or, flat out retreat--especially on a cluttered map such as Forest Colony or Viridan Bog. Being able to detect the enemy will help your team to shoot back at the sniper, or sic a couple of Lights on him.
3. It counters ECM in a 240 meter radius. Everyone knows this, but they do not appreciate just how good that is. Forget an LRM boat, even to a brawler it is a great boon, as the mech you are brawling might be under ECM umbrella, thus immune to your team's LRM support fire. Well, you just took that away, and suddenly you have an advantage. You team can see him on the screen and can help you snipe his arse.
More importantly, BAP/CAP takes away the ECM cloak the enemy UAV has, allowing the guys behind you to notice it instantly and shoot it down. That is vital in a close range fight, as a single good UAV when ignored, can dictate the flow of the battle. And it gives you "Counter-ECM" bonus, which means more score and C-Bills.
4. It reveals the enemy paper doll 25% faster. Which is huge as long as one pays attention to it. Rounding up a corner and seeing a Direwolf is intimidating, but suddenly it will look like a paper tiger to you if you find out that it had spent all its UAC ammo. BAP/CAP can literally help you to make a split second decision to Fight-or-Flee.
The effect gets compounded the longer the distance is between you and the enemy, as lock time gets progressively longer. Before you charge towards that AWS-8R 400 meters away, it is really helpful to know whether it is the traditional LRM boat, or the SRM spamming Honey Badger that will eat you up in close range.
Naturally it will also reveal the loadouts for ECM mechs within 240 meter radius--something that is impossible to see without a TAG or UAV. Which will help your team as well.
All these goodies are packed in just 1.5 ton and 2 slot for BAP, and mere 1 ton and 1 slot for the CAP. (that needs to be balanced) My current favorite ride BLR-3S couldn't be more happier with the BAP, than one extra DHS and few points of armor. So yeah, try it out.
PS: I know some say certain mechs do not have enough weight/slots to mount it, but I have not piloted such mechs so I can't give a good feedback to that.
PPS: If a 'Mech has both BAP and ECM installed, BAP's counter ECM feature gets overwritten by ECM. So the 'Mech will only get the increased sensor range, the decreased target info acquisition time and the ability to target unpowered 'Mechs. So you have to toggle CECM manually to cancel enemy ECM.
Edited by El Bandito, 24 September 2015 - 05:43 AM.
