40 replies to this topic

[Death Proof]

It's a good-looking mech...but...I place it in the "play this if you're a Honey Badger" category.

[GeneralArmchair]

I like it as a twin CERPPC sniper. Its combination of JJ's, ECM, small profile, and high mounted hardpoints make it good at that. It runs a bit hot, but you can generally maintain distance to stay out of sight to cooldown. If forced to fight up close, you can still get off ~3 alphas in quick succession.


Really the only thing "holding the shadowcat back" is that unlike most clan mechs, it doesn't have the huge sum of energy hardpoints that would allow it to boat the extremely powerful CERML and CERSML in huge numbers.

[Monkey Lover]

They killed it with a worthless masc. Maybe with 20% speed boost but now its almost worthless. If they change ecm to 90m with slow lrm locks it will be worthless.

Edited by Monkey Lover, 13 October 2015 - 09:46 PM.

[Illya Ghost Bear]

GeneralArmchair, on 13 October 2015 - 09:38 PM, said:

I like it as a twin CERPPC sniper. Its combination of JJ's, ECM, small profile, and high mounted hardpoints make it good at that. It runs a bit hot, but you can generally maintain distance to stay out of sight to cooldown. If forced to fight up close, you can still get off ~3 alphas in quick succession.


Really the only thing "holding the shadowcat back" is that unlike most clan mechs, it doesn't have the huge sum of energy hardpoints that would allow it to boat the extremely powerful CERML and CERSML in huge numbers.

i love hunting twin erppc shadowcats.... they are IMO the least dangerous to kill.

[Light-Speed]

Summary of thread so far:
"[I suck in a Shadowcat. Hey look, others suck in a Shadowcat too! Let's make fun of them!]"

[Illya Ghost Bear]

Nightingale27, on 13 October 2015 - 10:08 PM, said:

Summary of thread so far:
"[I suck in a Shadowcat. Hey look, others suck in a Shadowcat too! Let's make fun of them!]"

and this post is somehow more helpful?

[Lykaon]

Illya Arkhipova, on 13 October 2015 - 03:14 PM, said:

Debuted July 21st, been available for Cbills for a week now......

Pros?
Cons?
Best builds?
Worst builds?

I'll start off by saying, as the title suggests.... I'm underwhelmed.

Hitboxes? Mediocre. Mobility? Nothing to write home about. Hardpoints? Lackluster. Not enough of anything, and not enough tonnage to use large weapons particularly well. ERLL beam duration really hurts in this instance as this would otherwise be an ideal candidate for them.
But facetime to heat ratio, not so much. And MASC? Please don't get me started. I like it on my Executioner (just bought one...so fun! If..also less than spectacular). Such an unimpressive boost.

Pros? Looks.... fantastic. Jumps really well, especially if you do a bionic leap with MASC.

And...that's about it.

As for builds...only two I seem to do OK with are a UAC10 and 2x ERML, and an ERPPC and 2x ERML.

Worst build I've seen..and seen way too often? 2x ERPPC PoopCats. Does not pack near the heat capacity to really do this effectively. If you face opponents that press and get in your face (and you really aren't that fast to escape good light and medium hunters) you have zero volume of fire. IMO, the Nova does the 2xERPPC poptart build far, far better.

OK... enough about me. Let's hear about you?

Best 45 ton mech with ECM in the whole game!

But seriously I only find one failing and that is a general lack of hardpoints.

Easy fix either inflate the hardpoints on existing omni pods or add in new omni pods with more hardpoints.

I would bet the Shadowcat would be better recieved if it had 2 energy hardpoint on each Variant B arm as an option.

[Kushko]

I enjoy my Shadowcats and i do quite well in them. They might be slightly worse off with the upcoming ECM nerf since thats mostly whats keeping Shadowcats in the "solid mech" compartment instead of "meh, ill pilot it here and there", but i think it will still be a fun little mech (for me at least).

What i like about it:

• great jumpjets
  
• solid maneuverability
  
• smallish frame
  
• ECM

What will get you killed in it:

• trading blows with pretty much any medium or higher mech
  
• staying in a spot where the enemy has spotted you already and trying to poke
  
• going off on your own and not using allies as a distraction for you to be extra sneaky

Edited by Kushko, 13 October 2015 - 10:19 PM.

[TyphonCh]

I love the **** out of all of them.
If you complain about Masc, you're using it wrong. It's about the acceleration, not overall speed. Going 0 - 125kp/h in half a second is well worth it for landing jump jets or maneuvering uneven terrain that would normally slow you down
My favorite build is 2 ERLL, a srm6, ECM, and a TC mk3. Just know when to disengage and regroup. With both modules it's an excellent harasser
Just because you can't gauss + laser with it doesn't make it bad. Find something fun.

Edited by Team Chevy86, 13 October 2015 - 10:26 PM.

[STEF_]

Bish, are you asking for improving your builds or because you are tempted to buy it?

Anyway, 2erppc is fun! Yep, it is worse than Nova one, etc. but who cares? Ninja jumping with ecm at distance is fun (for a couple of matches).

I think it's the wrost brawler between the clan medium, so I don't like short range weapons with it.
The only build I constantly see kinda usefull in every match, is the 2lpl one.
I also see some good pilot doing well with uac10+2erml.

o/

[Illya Ghost Bear]

Stefka Kerensky, on 13 October 2015 - 10:46 PM, said:

Bish, are you asking for improving your builds or because you are tempted to buy it?

Anyway, 2erppc is fun! Yep, it is worse than Nova one, etc. but who cares? Ninja jumping with ecm at distance is fun (for a couple of matches).

I think it's the wrost brawler between the clan medium, so I don't like short range weapons with it.
The only build I constantly see kinda usefull in every match, is the 2lpl one.
I also see some good pilot doing well with uac10+2erml.

o/

own it on my ...well, I guess this acct. Suffice it to say, between them and mr Gargles, I ended up tier 4. So color me unimpressed. And yeah, the Nova toasts it with 2 erppc....heck even my anti meta one with 2 erppc and 4x mg kills shadowcraps all day.


It's not that's it's horrible...it's just that it does nothing better than several mediums I already own... well...aside from looking real snazzy.

Team Chevy86, on 13 October 2015 - 10:23 PM, said:

I love the **** out of all of them.
If you complain about Masc, you're using it wrong. It's about the acceleration, not overall speed. Going 0 - 125kp/h in half a second is well worth it for landing jump jets or maneuvering uneven terrain that would normally slow you down
My favorite build is 2 ERLL, a srm6, ECM, and a TC mk3. Just know when to disengage and regroup. With both modules it's an excellent harasser
Just because you can't gauss + laser with it doesn't make it bad. Find something fun.

you do realize that the beam duration kills a lot of the MASC acceleration advantage? Either you are burning a lot of heat wasting damage b scooting early, or you are letting yourself eat return fire. None of which is very efficient. I'll take a VND over a Scat, sadly.

[STEF_]

Illya Arkhipova, on 13 October 2015 - 11:05 PM, said:

own it on my ...well, I guess this acct. Suffice it to say, between them and mr Gargles, I ended up tier 4. So color me unimpressed. And yeah, the Nova toasts it with 2 erppc....heck even my anti meta one with 2 erppc and 4x mg kills shadowcraps all day.

Without knowing, we ended to use the same nick referring to the SHC

[TyphonCh]

Illya Arkhipova, on 13 October 2015 - 11:05 PM, said:

you do realize that the beam duration kills a lot of the MASC acceleration advantage? Either you are burning a lot of heat wasting damage b scooting early, or you are letting yourself eat return fire. None of which is very efficient. I'll take a VND over a Scat, sadly.

No, just started yesterday.
Fixed equipment; creates niche builds and play strategy. I didn't say it was the best, but I make do with what I've got and I've been very successful

[Ace Selin]

Great poker mech and much better than my BJ Arrow.

[Y E O N N E]

Illya Arkhipova, on 13 October 2015 - 09:12 PM, said:

15-20% isn't "That much worse"?

15-20% is pretty frikking huge, especially the higher your play tier.

T2, man. I play against everybody, everywhere, with a bias toward the better end of the scale if the names and units I see in my games are anything to go by.

And it's not that much higher if I consider that I'm being more efficient with my shots in the UAC/10 SCat because it has consumable ammo. I will not shoot with the SCat if I'm not going to hit exactly what I want to hit, but I will with a BJ-1X since I have nothing to lose. That's a play-style choice, not really a deficiency in the 'Mech.

[Alistair Winter]

It's mediocre. But it can be fun to play if you go with some high risk builds, like gauss or ppc sniping. I don't really like Shadowcat builds that rely on doing damage over long periods of time, because it's such a fragile mech, and relatively slow for its weight.

But MASC, jump jets, ECM, gauss rifle? What's not to like?

[fat4eyes]

The 2 things that make the Shadow Cat are ECM and agility. ECM gives you the element of surprise so you can deal damage and fade away before you get hit back. MASC gives you near-instant acceleration so you can get back into cover much faster than your target can even look at you. The numerous jumpjets allows you to ridge-peek in places people don't expect (tip: ease off the jumpjets as you reach the ridge peak so you don't overshoot). Armed with Streaks and MPLs, it's probably the best anti-light mech around (it beats the Stormcrow because it has jumpjets). Avoid trades, avoid one-on-one brawls and you'll do well.

MASC tip: You can move at MASC speeds a LOT more efficiently if you bunnyhop: MASC to top speed then use your jumpjets to fly a few feet of the ground for as long as possible, then MASC again to get to top speed as you land. You'll travel at the MASC top speed as long as you don't touch the ground, and you'll only use the MASC meter just before the jump and right before you land.

[Lightfoot]

GeneralArmchair, on 13 October 2015 - 09:38 PM, said:

I like it as a twin CERPPC sniper. Its combination of JJ's, ECM, small profile, and high mounted hardpoints make it good at that. It runs a bit hot, but you can generally maintain distance to stay out of sight to cooldown. If forced to fight up close, you can still get off ~3 alphas in quick succession.


Really the only thing "holding the shadowcat back" is that unlike most clan mechs, it doesn't have the huge sum of energy hardpoints that would allow it to boat the extremely powerful CERML and CERSML in huge numbers.

The reason it can't run 2x ERPPCs, which it can just fine in Battle Tech, is MWO has the recycles too fast on big weapons and the double heatsinks running slower than normal as well as DHS 1.4. It creates a balance where lasers can skate by and AC's fire at extreme rates because they mostly ignore heat, AC's run cool, and 2x ERPPCs require 20 DHS to keep up with lasers. And that is not available to the Shadow Cat. Cooling Quirks then since it can't fit into MWO's assault-mech weapon re-balancing?

[1Grimbane]

I've got three shadowcats in various laser and ballistic builds..... all have gathered dust since release.

[PurpleNinja]

The only really successful build I came up with was 3 SSRM6 and 2 ERML.
It provides ECM cover for heavies and assaults and can do a good job hunting lights.