120 replies to this topic

[Demoned]

mine atm CRB-27B
standard 250,
6 DHS,
6 MPL: put them on chain fire for a long constant fire before over heat kicks in (button 2 alpha)
ARMOR 304/338

still on the wall to dump 1 DHS for max armor may do so once elite.

either way still getting very good results with it,
but it is all about timing and getting in close and personal.

i call it the STINGER

[Raso]

So Crabs are on sale. Does the damage reduction on the arms due to the weapon doors add any real advantage? The arms looks smaller than I would expect. The quirks do absolutely nothing for me so I'm hoping I can be sold on it's tanky-ness.

[Tesunie]

Raso, on 02 February 2016 - 06:21 PM, said:

So Crabs are on sale. Does the damage reduction on the arms due to the weapon doors add any real advantage? The arms looks smaller than I would expect. The quirks do absolutely nothing for me so I'm hoping I can be sold on it's tanky-ness.

Oh, the Crab is rather tanky. But it's not the arms that tend to take the damage, it's those side torsos. Place a STD engine on it, and remember to twist, and you'll find it absorbing plenty of damage (for a 50 tonner at least).

I find that the Crab can pack enough of a punch, with enough cooling, with enough speed with a STD engine. However, it's up to the player how they wish to use it, and I've heard of success with XL engines as well. All in how you use it, and what you expect from it.

[Garfuncle]

I've had incredible success with this build. Powerful and tanky. Make sure to chain fire when your heat gets high.
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...691f6fffb6c85e9

[Raso]

I've been thinking of LPL in the center torso and Mlas for the remaining slots. I'd put the LPLs in the arms but I two mediums give you more damage.
What about hardpoint elevation? Can it peak or is it's speer better suited for hit and runs?

[Tesunie]

Raso, on 03 February 2016 - 04:04 PM, said:

I've been thinking of LPL in the center torso and Mlas for the remaining slots. I'd put the LPLs in the arms but I two mediums give you more damage.
What about hardpoint elevation? Can it peak or is it's speer better suited for hit and runs?

It can peek, if you do it right. It's hard points aren't at the top of the mech, so to say, so when you peek you will have to expose more of your mech than just the tippy top like a Stalker. The Head laser is the tallest hardpoint, and I've thrown a Med Laser in there for some surprise peeks at people (it isn't much, but it's better than nothing).

I would like to inform anyone who is trying to peek with this mech to recall that the view you see in 1st person actually isn't at cockpit level (as far as I can tell). Your cockpit view is actually the antenna dish (or close to that height). This makes it seem like your hard points (which are rather high actually) feel lower than they really are... (and don't ask me why it is like this. I compared when I stood next to another Crab... and my view made the other Crab look smaller than my own...)

[Takashi Uchida]

Getting these for the sale. Some of em come with Ferro. Any reason NOT to have both Endo and Ferro for this mech?

I know people debate XL or no XL for this one, if you do run XL do you run into crit space issues for those types of builds? Doesn't seem like it'd be a problem because no big ballistic weapon or missile ammo to take up space. Plus if you're running XL your engie is prob high enough to put one or two heat sinks in too.

[Takashi Uchida]

Another question: are the claw doors purely cosmetic? I don't notice a firing delay, or am I nuts?. Do I get a damage reduction bonus keeping them closed?

edit**
Apparently the delay is set to zero! Like the claws on the King Crab? That means there's no delay penalty for leaving them closed. I wonder, is the damage reduction still there then?

Edited by Takashi Uchida, 04 February 2016 - 09:33 PM.

[Tesunie]

Ferro is dependent upon the build. If you can take it, and use it, then by all means. The Crab is light enough to take advantage of Ferro. Many of my Crabs have it.

Damage reduction from the claws I am not certain about. The arms honestly don't get hit very often, so I wouldn't begin to be able to tell.

As far as XL engine, depends upon the design, what one is looking for, and if you are willing to take the disadvantage with the advantage. I personally have a 50/50 on XL and Std engines with my four Crabs. Each plays different, and have different reasons for their engine choice. If you are looking for Tankiness, then don't go XL as the Crab has large side torsos. If you want speed and know how to twist damage (and take your lumps when you do lose a side torso), than an XL can work just fine.

[Takashi Uchida]

From my handful of preliminary games, it seems like yes, the side torsos are pretty vulnerable. Funny enough the CT has held up really well despite that long snout thing. One of my STs has turned red pretty much every game. Zombie potential is pretty neat tho! Especially if you've still got 3 medium pulses to fight with. That's nothing to sniff at.

So far I'm liiking the MPL builds. The Large Laser stuff works ok too. Though it feels like I'm just playing a not as nimble Cicada. Oh well, I didn't like Cicadas much at first either

[Not A Real RAbbi]

Okay, first thing: CRAB CRB-27B 8 8 0 8.00 10 2 5.00 2,746 18,416 00:57:05

So, I did NOT expect to like the Crab, but I thought I'd give it a spin anyhow. Bought a 27SL, 27B, and 27. Three to BASIC to get to ELITE, right?

DUDE! That is currently tied for my all-time best single-mech KDR now.

That's 2x LL, 4x ML, XL 300. Southpaw. Three fire groups: One per arm, and a third for the H and CT MLs. 97.2 w/out speed tweak is fine (that's SHC and SCR speed) for a IS 50-tonner. DHS keeps it plenty cool for any reasonable side-poking.

Still stuck in BASIC skills on it, as I haven't finished the BASICs on the -27.

I LOVE THESE THINGS! -27B most of all!

I consider them VERY XL-safe, and they are often considered tankier than their weight should be. The long snout is a disadvantage from the side, but you have to break yourself of the old torso twist habits for the long-snout mechs like this one. Just wiggle your snout back-and-forth, and the damage tends to spread pretty well across the three torso segments. So you FEEL like you're tankier, because you are (in relative terms) kinda staring-down your targets. Turning a side torso to the enemy is pretty bad unless you're running a STD engine in it, and even then it's unnecessary. These things carry a lot of ARM armaments, so it's best to hold on to them as long as you can. This thing is NOT a hill humper, but it is a pretty darned good corner peeker. Especially if you have a scout getting you line-of-sight and don't have to clear your cockpit to get that big ol' claw out for the shot. Just line it up on the box, and take the shot.

I LOVE HAVING CRABS!

[jper4]

just started playing mine yesterday and seem to be avoiding my usual "i can't do anything in this mech for 20+ matches" situation. only one of them I had to mess around with builds and it only took 3 matches to find something good. only 1 is an xl but held up pretty well.

they also seem the most zombie friendly with a std as a couple variants have head laser and CT laser slots so even armless and torsoless you're still doing decent damage with your 2-3 MPLs

[JigglyMoobs]

Is it just me or are crabs basically immortal? I've never played one, but shooting them has been a frustratingly low payoff experience.

Oh look, there's that crab snout, let me shoot that. BOOM, 2x erppc gauss appears to hit directly on CT. I look on paper doll: every component on the mech gives a weak flash and a tiny shift in the armor color from pale yellow to slightly redder yellow.... XD

[Not A Real RAbbi]

JigglyMoobs, on 26 March 2016 - 11:10 AM, said:

Is it just me or are crabs basically immortal? I've never played one, but shooting them has been a frustratingly low payoff experience.

Oh look, there's that crab snout, let me shoot that. BOOM, 2x erppc gauss appears to hit directly on CT. I look on paper doll: every component on the mech gives a weak flash and a tiny shift in the armor color from pale yellow to slightly redder yellow.... XD

Man, they spread REALLY well. Hadn't had one out in a bit, so took that -27B out last night with the guys. And mind you, I SUCK AT PLAYING MWO. 670-ish damage on HPG, which is one of my worst maps. And the other team weren't exactly scrubs, either. Stared down a freakin' GaussWhale and survived. Opened up all three torsos, and may have even lost a weapon (a CT ML, I think). Just kept right on goin'.

Remember the old Timex watches? "Takes a lickin', keeps on tickin'."

PGI game me crabs, and I love 'em!

***EDIT***: Summary screenie of that match referenced above.

Also, video of another Crab drop that went alright on HPG.

I mean, sometimes you just get pummeled in a drop, and you can't do much but just try to throw out some damage before you get crushed under the weight of focus fire. But these are more common for me in the CRB than in any other chassis ever, in well over three years of MWO play. I think that it's crutching me, in that you kinda CAN stare-down a much bigger mech in one of these things and are worse off trying to side-shield. But DAMN, I'm loving these, and really wish I had jumped in on the Resistance 2 pack earlier.

Edited by Sister RAbbi, 27 March 2016 - 07:55 PM.

[Aethermech]

Anyone else wish the crab series had ballistic hardpoints in the claws instead of energy? Otherwise I've had a blast in mine.
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...bac8ff6f3abb4b3

It alpha's pretty well, I can hit it three times before needing to cool off. And it can chainfire for a good while before needing a break

[WrathOfDeadguy]

Unfortunately, there are no canon ballistic variants (or missile variants, for that matter... 100% energy, 100% of the time)... but that hasn't stopped PGI before (as with the completely made-up Panther 10P), so it's at least a possibility that there might be a ballistic Crab at some point. The Crab, like all the other Resistance 'Mechs, still doesn't have a hero variant.

[Aethermech]

I know but man having a little crab with some ballistics would be amazing. like the cousin of the king crab

[Tesunie]

I wouldn't mind some missiles... (LRM fan here.)

But I do have to admit I wouldn't complain if it had a pair of AC2s in the arms for a made up stock version. I don't think it's needed and that the all energy gives it flavor, but that doesn't mean I would complain.

Personally, I wanted the Crab 30. ECM and ERPPC stock? Yes please!

[JigglyMoobs]

A crab with no heat penalties? That would be positively terrifying!

[WrathOfDeadguy]

The danger with making a ballistic Crab variant would be that, depending on the hardpoint location(s), it could obsolete one or more of the other 50-tonners.

Say we got a Crab with at least one ballistic in each arm, but retaining at least one torso-mounted energy. Already, we have a problem, because the ENF-5P already fills that niche... but the Crab has a smaller profile and carries its torso energy on a higher mount. While it would be substantially less durable as XL would be pretty much required for a clone of the ENF-5P's dual UAC5 build, IMO it would still have a marked advantage. If it retains more than one energy anywhere on the 'Mech, there'd be no contest at all. If we got a Crab with only one ballistic arm, then it threatens the ENF-4R, for much the same reason- superior torso hardpoint locations, smaller frontal profile, and since with only one big gun it could still run STD, it loses none of its tankiness. Mount the ballistic in a side torso, and now you have the Crab encroaching on Hunchback turf instead. The Crab is currently by far the tankiest 50-tonner, with the smallest cross-section, so give it space for an AC20 in the torso and it instantly renders the HBK ballistic models obsolete. Sticking the B slots in the CT and Head is the only unique option if you want to retain energy hardpoints on the arms, but then the only things you can mount on that variant, ballistics-wise, are MGs and AC2s... which leaves the variant DOA.

You could get around that problem by doing something radical, like making the variant all ballistic (a niche that no IS medium can currently fill) with the same hardpoint locations as the energy variants have. Let's say 2B LA/RA, 2B CT, 1B HD. That's... weird, but offers at least one totally unique config (for the sake of discussion let's give the stock config triple AC2s mounted HD, CT, CT, backed up by dual MGs in each arm, XL250, and FF like several of the other Crabs have) and does not completely overlap the role of any other 'Mech. The downside being that the only really unique configs for it all suck. The upside is that it can still run good ballistics in the arms and suck less.

The alternative would be to combine ballistics and missiles (currently only the CN9-AH fits there, and as long as the resulting Crab can't AC20 nothing's in danger of becoming obsolete). Do another unique hardpoint layout- say, 2B 1M in each arm and the CT, 1M in the Head. The stock config would carry 1MG and 1LRM10 in each arm, an AC2 and an SRM2 in the CT, and an SRM2 in the Head (just the sort of spazzy loadout you'd expect to see on a TT 'Mech). Again... you can do some pretty unique configs with that (zombie SRMs!) but nothing that's really better than what we already have.

After thinking about it some, I definitely think that weird is the way to go for a Crab hero. They could justify a ballistic or ballistic/missile hybrid as a salvage rebuild custom job. Any further canon variants would require a timeline advancement and new tech- CRB-C (3053) would require C3 to be added, and CRB-30 (3061) needs C3 plus IS ERML and ERSL. There also just isn't that much more you can do with an all-energy loadout that the existing Crabs don't already do. *Edit- Unless they introduced a PGI-made ECM variant and did something really mean like stick the ECM hardpoint in the CT, so that the player has to choose between jesus box and zombie lasers.

Edited by WrathOfDeadguy, 10 April 2016 - 01:04 AM.