8 replies to this topic

[FuzzyNova]

I believe I was not made to be a heavy or an assault pilot. As I tend to stray towards light and medium mechs. It just feels right, and I perform and have more control in them more than the other heavy monsters. With that said, I purchased a King Crab. Had a tough time choosing a new bigger mech becuase alot of them looked great. Like the Stalker or Highlander or Victor etc... Once I hopped in the Crab for the first time I knew I made a mistake. I am an awful assault pilot. But I bought it knowing that. If I can learn to pilot this mech then I will be able to move along to another. But advice is needed. As I have not made any real progress with my Crab. I still do low damage or just die way too fast.

I currently have the KGC 0000. I'm used to my Raven2x my Cda 3f (L) my HBk GI and the other HBKs. I spent alot on the Crab so selling it isn't an option since I won't get much for it. So i have to stick It out and become a better assault pilot or let it collect dust in my bay. I understand and have been told by a few people the basics of assault mechs. What to do and what not to do. Your basically a slow moving target. Teamwork is key. Think ahead...etc.

I'm just looking for any other Crab Pilots who may have something to say.

[Cog777]

Hi,
I hope it is not late and you haven't sold it

So I have been a KGC pilot for almost one year. I have some experience of playing with KGC.

I have found that almost all mech have weaknesses and strengths. I investigated all three variants from this perspective. KGC-0000 can take lot of lasers and missiles but only 2 ballistic. I really like this configuration (I am not the pilot) with 2 Gauss, 4 Art LRM5 (because LRM15-20 spread badly) and some medium lasers.
You can have lot of firepower.

One of most important thing is the SPEED! Occasionally you can suppress the enemy (in a tight place) and don't need speed but it is very rare.
The maps are big, you must follow the happenings and react quickly. So I would put at least 340 engine to have enough speed. My mastered KGC has 60 km/h speed and with 360 engine almost 65km/h

The next KGC is the 000B where you can take 3 lasers as well 4 ballistic. I have found that UAC5 with 3 ml is very good with XL340. Unfortunately the XL is a risk, I have engine explosion once from 10 matches.

The KGC-000 is my favorite. I found that very difficult to shoot to far (e.g with UAC) because the bullets travel "slow" and I am always better if I shoot in short range. (Except Gauss but it needs skill of targeting.) The KGC-000 has good cooldown quirks for ballistic and plus with the AC20 modules it is the one of best mech in close range. In every 1.36 seconds I can shoot with AC20 causing big cockpit shaking. To support the short range (300m) I have to install the quick engine, such as 360STD. So I can easily change position and sneak to the side of enemy and surprise them. I really like this build. Some things that I have to mention: you should know very well the maps otherwise you cannot sneak. The other thing is installing enough ammo, the enemy as a sponge, sucking lot of AC20 bullets .
Important module for all KGC (all mech) is the seismic. Always knowing what is going on behind the corner. If there are lot of movement, you should re-position yourself quickly! (big engine!) (On the canyon network I could track the coming of enemy and my AC20 was ready to shoot.)

Some tricks:
You can cut down the armor of the arms, KGC almost never get hits on arms but torso. I have 30 points on it(KGC has +17 armor quirks on arms) and 66-70 points on legs.
I have found that streak srm is very good anti-light. I have good hit statistics on Shadow cat so maybe it can be used on KGC as well.

I hope I could help a bit. An assault without mastering is not easy to drive and be successful.

[Top Leliel]

Specific tips on King Crabs:

You can set your claws to being always open, bound to the same key you use to open a Catapult's missile bay doors. This makes them vulnerable to slightly more damage, but prevents shots from being delayed by the claws having to open each time.

Your ballistic arms are low slung, while your torso missile pods and laser battery are very high mounted. You can shoot over stuff with your lasers, but not with your cannons. The cannon arms are in a position where they are better at blocking shots to your legs than to your torso. In general, it is very easy to target specific king crab torso hit boxes, and hard to defend them.

However, the King Crab has good torso twist range and speed compared to other Assault mechs, so twist away.

Be careful about taking an XL engine if you don't want to die horribly. Most people will target your huge side torsos first.

Try not to hit friendly mechs. It's hard, because you can't exactly shoot over their heads, the way your arms are set up.

Edited by Top Leliel, 19 November 2015 - 02:24 PM.

[Wild_Alaskan]

My favorite KGC is my 0000 with dual Gauss and 3x ERLL. It has an XL engine, which can be dangerous, but it also means I can keep up with the team for support. I generally try to stick to cover and pick enemies off from a distance - preferably such a distance that the enemy cannot shoot back. I find that I have particularly good results with this mech/strategy combination, though it can sometimes cause a little salt:

[Wild_Alaskan]

And for a little KGC hilarity:

[Digital_Angel]

I had a similar experience with the KGC that you did at first. I pilotted mainly lights and lediums, but wanted a larger mech in my arsenal. I hated it for a long time until I played around with configurations until I found one I liked. For a long time I ignored my KGC and ran lighter mechs again.

The KGC did do a lot to help me learn how to brawl in the game, which while I am still not great at, I am much better than I used to be.

I have recently gone back to my KGC and grinding through the variants to get it skilled up. I run my KGC-000B as a 3xERLL and LRM boat and use it as fire support, and it works fairly well in that capacity. Sometimes teammates cuss me for not being in front lines a lot with an assault mech in PUG matches, but most of the time the team runs off and leaves me behind in most of those cases anyway. A KGC is slow even for an assault mech (even if you stick a larger engine in it), and will get eaten alive by a swarm of lights if left all alone by the rest of the team. I tend to upgrade mine to about a 320 engine to not be quite as slow, but even then Dire Wolves and Atlases outrun me on a regular basis.

My KGC-000 is running 2xERLL a single LRM launcher with a couple tons of ammo and a few AC5s. It can take some decent range shots while closing distance, but is still fairly effective at close to medium range once I catch up to where the action is.

I left my KGC-0000 pretty stock as far as weapons since it has the quirks specific to the AC20s and am using it as an exercise to force myself to brawl more and get better at it. Once they are all skilled up, it will probably no be the one I keep out of them though.

I was playing around with the trial version of the KGC-000B(C) the other night and found it to basically be a closer range version of my 000, and liked it fairly well.

[Napoleon_Blownapart]

[Champion of Khorne Lord of Blood]

Simple tips:

• Never run XL engines: These things are notorious for getting their sides shot off, I killed far too many of them running XLs last time I was playing.
  
• Spread Incoming Damage: With such a wide torso damage doesn't just spread itself, if you are getting shot and can't return fire then don't let that damage focus into one spot.
  
• Focus Outgoing Damage: Try and get your shots all hitting one location. You might get by if you are running a super dakka loadout, but its just not efficient.
  
• Stick with a Dire Wolf: I'd say stick with the assaults, but a Dire is honestly the only other assault mech that is always at least as slow as you as long as you are at a 300 engine or better, there are also lots of Dire Wolf pilots, so it shouldn't be too hard to find one and buddy up, just think of all that firepower.
  
• Keep your claws closed: Unlike the Catapult, there is actually no delay when you fire weapons from your claws, but there is a defense bonus.

Simple Loadouts:

• Quad UAC5: Works on all but the 2 ballistic Krab, you can throw on 4 UAC5s and 2MLs, all the ammo you can fit, and just dakka all day. Pumps out loads of damage but does jam so it can be spotty at times. If you really really want to not jam then you can just not double tab.
  
• Dual Gauss: Works on any Krab, hits hard and quick at long range, runs icy cold, and can be backed up by anywhere from 2 to 4 medium lasers easily. Downside is there is a charge time to gauss rifles and a long reload time on the gauss.
  
• Dual AC20: Works on any Krab, hits extremely hard at close range. You can throw on some SRMs or medium lasers for extra pain up close. Downside is that you won't have anything to throw at people far away unless you put on a large laser, which still won't be that much damage compared to close up.
  
• Other: The King Crab can use loads of different loadouts, I just named 3 of the most effective ones I see used and have used. Of course you can go use quad flamers or a quad LRM15 boat or 6 AC2s or 6 MGs and dual LRM5s. Results may vary.

Good luck and don't forget the butter.

[SleekHusky]

Actually KGC could run XL but you need to be careful.

I personally prefer not to run them with XL though.

One trick that mainly only the KGC can do is when you are torso twisting unlock your arms and point upwards, this way the claws start blocking damage as well and with claws closed you get 10% more damage resistance on them and along with the quirks your arms are almostl ike another CT to shoot through.

My favorite build for the KGC so far is quad UAC5s which I stagger fire with left click firing the left arm and right click firing the right arm.