23 replies to this topic

[Arianrhod]

In my opinion, the Catapult is a reasonably effective chassis. However, it isn't particularly friendly to beginners, which I think is what you're experiencing. Issue #1 is that many of its variants are missile-oriented, which is difficult to control for new players. Issue #2 is that it comes in on the lighter end of the heavy mech spectrum, which means it has the low speed of a heavy mech without the armor you could get on a 70-75 tonner. That said, I wouldn't say it's one of the poorer heavies. Compared to other IS 65 tonners, it's not as durable as a Thunderbolt but certainly more durable than a Jaegermech. Once you get used to its role as a midrange support unit, you should be more successful, but keep in mind that any mech built around LRMs isn't likely to get a lot of kills.

As someone else pointed out, the CPLT-K2 stock build with PPCs and machine guns is kind of weird, given that any mech far away enough to use PPCs is way too far for a machine gun, and any enemy close enough to use machine guns is too close for a PPC. That's probably reducing your damage totals, so consider switching to weapons that have similar ranges.

[pattonesque]

The Catapult is unfortunately quite a bad 'mech in the current meta. It's way, way oversized (at 65 tons, it's about as large as an 85-tonner), has bad hitboxes, is easily disarmed, and most variants carry missiles in an environment where missiles are either outright bad (LRMs) or only useful on a fast, tanky mech that can close the gap quickly (SRMs). It's telling that the two best Catapult variants (-K2 and Jester) are the ones that eschew missiles entirely.

The PTS gives structure quirks to the Catapult and improves SRMs, which may give it a role again. Right now though, they're simply not great, save in lower tiers where any old damn thing works.

[AnimeFreak40K]

Catapults aren't bad, but they do have problems (mostly regarding the present meta and scaling). That said, I am of the mindset that you should play MWO to have fun... and sometimes fun means bringing mechs that are as far from the meta as possible.

In any event, this is my LRM Troll-Cat.

Some additional notes:
- Set your missiles to chain-fire. Always chain-fire these. Seriously. Unless you really need to drop 30 missiles at once.
- The XL300 lets you keep up with and even outrun most heavies and assaults. And the Catapult is fairly XL-friendly (seriously, you have to worry about losing your missle launchers more than your ST).
- On most maps, the cooling is sufficent that you can just keep chain-firing for a stupid amount of time. Only maps like Terra Therma, Vitric Forge (CW map) or Tourmaline Desert do you have to actually kinda-sorta mind your heat.

I will be clear: it's a one-trick pony, it is not competitive by any means. If you have a team that locks targets, uses UAVs, NARCs and/or TAGs, you can easily dominate and make the enemy team hate you and LRMs in general.

...if you don't have a good team, well, you won't do that great.

All of this being said; I find that Catapults aren't terrible mechs, they aren't in the meta, but in the right hands, they can be six kinds of sick and wrong.

[Thunder Child]

Has anyone taken a Splat Cat out for a Stroll since the hitbox changes? With a STD 300, it could probably shield a side pretty well, couldn't it? Which would make it good in a brawl.

Still looking forward to the Scaling changes. The Cat has always been one of my favourite chassis, since TT.