35 replies to this topic

[DGTLDaemon]

Hi everyone New player here, have been playing for a couple of weeks, and now I'm considering moving on to community warfare. After reviewing the excellent CW Guide (many thanks to the author), I still have a few questions left - basically, a pre-CW checklist. Since my resources are rather limited at the moment, I want to make sure I'm not doing anything stupid before I commit I figured I'd post them here, since the CW section of this forum is strictly divided into specific faction-related subsections, and my questions are more general in nature. If I am posting in the wrong forum, I kindly ask the moderators to move my post where it belongs.

1) My current build is HBR-PRIME. It's very marginal on pretty much everything - armor, ammo, heat management, but this is the build that I'm most comfortable with, and that allows me to deliver maximum performance in Quick Play matches. Is this build viable for CW? If not, what should I change? If I currently have just enough ammo for a good Quick Play match, do I need to bring more or less ammo for a CW match? I tried replacing 2 x C-UAC/5 with a single C-UAC/10, which gave me more freedom in terms of armor, ammo and heatsinks, but found it to be less effective in Quick Play due to lower sustained DPS. Will that lack of DPS matter for CW, or should I be concentrating more on burst damage? In terms of play style, I tend to favor standoffs in the 500-1000 m range, and I'm most comfortable with lasers and autocannons.

2) I currently own three Clan mechs: HBR-PRIME, HBR-A and HBR-B, all mastered. Only the HBR-PRIME is fully outfitted. The guide I referred to above states: "There is a tonnage limit of 240 tons (update: now 260 for Clan and 265 for Inner Sphere but expect it to change)". This means that I can either purchase and master another HBR variant and use an identical loadout on all four Hellbringers, which would give me exactly 260 tons, or, to be on the safe side, I could purchase a Shadow Cat and basic it, which would give me 240 tons (at this time, I cannot imagine myself piloting a non-ECM mech or a mech lighter than a medium ). Which option would you recommend, based on expected changes in maximum deck tonnage? I'm sitting on about 30 million C-Bills, that should be enough to purchase a fourth mech and outfit them all, save for the seismic sensor modules.

3) As I understand, the key to CW is teamwork and communication. Unfortunately, due to the environment I'm gaming in, I am unable to use a microphone. I can receive audio with no problems, but I cannot transmit. Will that significantly affect my performance or my chances to be accepted into a unit in CW? The way I see it, as I'm a new player, I should be doing more listening and less talking, but I might be wrong on that

4) I'm pretty much restricted to playing on EU servers, due to my poor Internet connection. US servers are barely acceptable, but I really would like to avoid playing on them, as my performance (which is less than stellar to begin with) becomes heavily affected by lags. Oceanic servers are totally unplayable for me. Based on that, and on the fact that I'm usually able/willing to play for a couple of hours starting from about 5-6 p.m. UTC, which units would you recommend me to start looking at? I'm currently Tier 3. Until recently, I could do about 700-800 damage and get a match score of about 400 in a good match. Now that I've moved into Tier 3, my performance figures have dropped significantly as I am playing in a much more competitive environment, but I'm still holding on, and willing to improve

Thank you in advance for your help. Any input from those more experienced than myself will be greatly appreciated

Edited by DGTLDaemon, 24 January 2016 - 06:01 AM.

[jss78]

Some quick answers. I occasionally PUG in CW, and am not a real expert there.

1) CW tends to be longer-range than public queues. I see no reason why that Hellbringer build wouldn't do fine there. I wouldn't overthink building your mechs for occasional CW play, unless you're playing in a competitively minded organized group. If you're familiar and comfortable with your mech, that matters more than being super-optimized for CW.

2) I might not buy that fourth Hellbringer just for CW -- if you'd like to have it anyway, then why not. The way I read Russ's recent tweets, the max. tonnage is sure to change in the future, and very likely it'll also be going down at some point. Something that puts you around 240 tons might be safer. Again, I don't think it's critical to be super close to the limit, as long as you're familiar with the mechs you'll do well enough.

3) Being able to listen is IMO the most important thing. Even in PUG games you often have an experienced player step up and drop command in VOIP, and as long as you listen and follow that's good. You can always use the chat to call targets, warn about flankers, etc.

4) All CW games take place at the NA server.

Good luck! CW is not as brutal as they make it out to be. Especially when you face PUG teams, it's just a different game mode, but in no way more demanding than Tier 3 solo queue games.

[latinisator]

1) Play the 'Mechs and loadouts you are comfortable with! HBR is fine, though. I for one love my Novas.

2) Your ECM affinity is somewhat troublesome: the Shadow Cat can be a fine 'Mech in the right hands. However it has very limited options imho. 3 ERLL or 2 LPL for CW. MASC saved my behind more than once in this thing, it is however a tonnage burrial.
If I were you I would go for Stormcrows. No ECM but very durable and flexible (except jumping, which the HBR cannot do either).
When the drop tonnage drops again, you can still field two HBR and two SCR - pretty solid drop deck.

3) What JSS78 said.

4) See 3).


edit: Replace the head of you HBR with HBR-A version and put a laser in there - in case your left torso dies (which is the part of the HBR I will almost always aim first at - ECM )you have one laser left.

edit 2: different armour distribution and edit 1s changes
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...68dd63f1ac4b24b

Edited by latinisator, 24 January 2016 - 06:57 AM.

[B0oN]

A few HBR builds from off the top of my head that are average to excellenct in CW, depending situation and maps :
Note that all HBR´s stated use ECM

-2UAC5+4ERML
-UAC10+4ERML
-2UAC10+3ERSML
-Gauss+4ERML
-Gauss+3MPL
-6MPL
-6ERMED
-3ERL+TC7
-4ERL
-2SRM6ART+4MPL
-2ERPPC+TC7

Have fun

[DGTLDaemon]

latinisator, on 24 January 2016 - 06:46 AM, said:

Your ECM affinity is somewhat troublesome

It comes from two things. First, my playstyle is (and probably will always be) based on being where the enemy is not expecting me to be, and striking first rather than trading blows face to face. I'm a terrible brawler, but I feel very comfortable ambushing and flanking the enemy, and ECM contributes greatly to that. Second, during my first 25 cadet matches in a trial mechs, I've learned that the most terrible thing that can happend on a battlefield is a volley of LRMs dropping on your head from God knows where when you think you are perfectly safe from enemy fire. I know ECM is not the only way to counter LRM's; radar deprivation module can be used for that purpose, too. But right now I'm a long way from grinding enough GXP to unlock that module - just blew most of my hard earned GXP on the seismic sensor Which, by the way, also perfectly fits my idea of being situationally aware and denying the enemy that awareness.

Quote

Shadow Cat can be a fine 'Mech in the right hands. However it has very limited options imho. 3 ERLL or 2 LPL for CW. MASC saved my behind more than once in this thing, it is however a tonnage burrial.
If I were you I would go for Stormcrows. No ECM but very durable and flexible (except jumping, which the HBR cannot do either).
When the drop tonnage drops again, you can still field two HBR and two SCR - pretty solid drop deck.

Yea, the Cat always seemed more like a support/scout/harrassment mech to me, too. Thanks for the Stormcrow suggestion, if/when I unlock radar deprivation, I'll take a look at it. On the other hand, two LPLs on the Cat don't look that bad, either. I ran a Hellbringer loadout with two LPLs and a Gauss for a while, and those lasers did a very good job.

Quote

edit: Replace the head of you HBR with HBR-A version and put a laser in there - in case your left torso dies (which is the part of the HBR I will almost always aim first at - ECM )you have one laser left.

Good point, thank you Thought about that, but never really got around to it. Although right now I seem to be RT'ed/LT'ed/CT'ed in more or less equal proportions. Once again, I think it comes from my playstyle: if I get wrecked, it's usually from focus fire, I rarely just stand out in the open and let the enemy pick which part of my mech they want to shoot at. Basically, the way I see it, if the enemy is shooting at me and actually hitting me, I'm already doing something wrong

Quote

edit 2: different armour distribution and edit 1s changes
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...68dd63f1ac4b24b

Way too much armor on the legs, IMHO. I don't get legged anywhere near that often, especially since I'm hill humping a lot, and my high weapon hardpoints allow me to keep the legs protected. I've already tried stripping the armor off the arms, but it didn't work too well. They get destroyed by a single stray shot, and then the smoke trail gives away my position. Reducing the rear armor, however, is an interesting idea, thank you
I also noticed you've removed one double heat sink. Already tried that, too much heat even on regular maps, let alone Terra Therma If anything, it feels like one more heatsink is warranted.

Edited by DGTLDaemon, 24 January 2016 - 07:40 AM.

[Shura1986]

DGTLDaemon, on 24 January 2016 - 05:10 AM, said:

Hi everyone New player here, have been playing for a couple of weeks, and now I'm considering moving on to community warfare. After reviewing the excellent CW Guide (many thanks to the author), I still have a few questions left - basically, a pre-CW checklist. Since my resources are rather limited at the moment, I want to make sure I'm not doing anything stupid before I commit I figured I'd post them here, since the CW section of this forum is strictly divided into specific faction-related subsections, and my questions are more general in nature. If I am posting in the wrong forum, I kindly ask the moderators to move my post where it belongs.

1) My current build is HBR-PRIME. It's very marginal on pretty much everything - armor, ammo, heat management, but this is the build that I'm most comfortable with, and that allows me to deliver maximum performance in Quick Play matches. Is this build viable for CW? If not, what should I change? If I currently have just enough ammo for a good Quick Play match, do I need to bring more or less ammo for a CW match? I tried replacing 2 x C-UAC/5 with a single C-UAC/10, which gave me more freedom in terms of armor, ammo and heatsinks, but found it to be less effective in Quick Play due to lower sustained DPS. Will that lack of DPS matter for CW, or should I be concentrating more on burst damage? In terms of play style, I tend to favor standoffs in the 500-1000 m range, and I'm most comfortable with lasers and autocannons.

2) I currently own three Clan mechs: HBR-PRIME, HBR-A and HBR-B, all mastered. Only the HBR-PRIME is fully outfitted. The guide I referred to above states: "There is a tonnage limit of 240 tons (update: now 260 for Clan and 265 for Inner Sphere but expect it to change)". This means that I can either purchase and master another HBR variant and use an identical loadout on all four Hellbringers, which would give me exactly 260 tons, or, to be on the safe side, I could purchase a Shadow Cat and basic it, which would give me 240 tons (at this time, I cannot imagine myself piloting a non-ECM mech or a mech lighter than a medium ). Which option would you recommend, based on expected changes in maximum deck tonnage? I'm sitting on about 30 million C-Bills, that should be enough to purchase a fourth mech and outfit them all, save for the seismic sensor modules.

3) As I understand, the key to CW is teamwork and communication. Unfortunately, due to the environment I'm gaming in, I am unable to use a microphone. I can receive audio with no problems, but I cannot transmit. Will that significantly affect my performance or my chances to be accepted into a unit in CW? The way I see it, as I'm a new player, I should be doing more listening and less talking, but I might be wrong on that

4) I'm pretty much restricted to playing on EU servers, due to my poor Internet connection. US servers are barely acceptable, but I really would like to avoid playing on them, as my performance (which is less than stellar to begin with) becomes heavily affected by lags. Oceanic servers are totally unplayable for me. Based on that, and on the fact that I'm usually able/willing to play for a couple of hours starting from about 5-6 p.m. UTC, which units would you recommend me to start looking at? I'm currently Tier 3. Until recently, I could do about 700-800 damage and get a match score of about 400 in a good match. Now that I've moved into Tier 3, my performance figures have dropped significantly as I am playing in a much more competitive environment, but I'm still holding on, and willing to improve

Thank you in advance for your help. Any input from those more experienced than myself will be greatly appreciated

Hello i am a new Clan side player and i have only 3 hbr mastered.
I usually use hbr-hbr-timberwolf.trial-stormcrow.trial.
HBR-PRIME 2uac5+ 4 medium laser+tcomp1+ecm for maps like vitricforge, and sulfurus rift
HBR-PRIME 2LPL+3med lasers+ecm+tcomp1 in general on all drops have one of this.
HBR-PRIME Gauss+4med laser this change for the 2uac5 build on vitric and sulfurus rift.

Sorry for my english.

[Crusher Bob]

Would recommend an artic cheetah as your fourth mech, as light mech are sometimes called for in CW.

Contrary to what the guide you linked says, I've found that most CW matches are most concerned with 'shock' brawling at less than 400 meters. In general, groups will want to be all together, exposing all thier armor and as many people as possible firing on the same targets. So basic CW formations and tactics are mostly about setting up at corners and choke points so that everyone can fire on single enemy mechs as they step through.

Sometimes very specialized long ranged builds are used, but that is for specific maps and people with many more mechs at their disposal.

Because of their ECM and heavy weight, Hellbringers are part of the CW meta, but I'm not sure what exact builds are used. I'd try some combination of clan medium pulse lasers and SRM4s or SRM6s or clan UAC 10s or 20s. Since you don't have alternative mechs yet, make sure any build you bring will be useful on vitirc forge, you can go out in the practice room and shoot at the ground to see how heat management works there.

[edit]
Looking at your build:
Too much rear armor. Reduce to around 8-12 (or even lesS) and put it all on the front. Also, legs are quite weak, as some CW groups like to shoot legs as they can't be torso twisted. Also, light swarms are pretty common in CW and they will generally be shooting at your legs.

Edited by Crusher Bob, 24 January 2016 - 07:29 AM.

[latinisator]

DGTLDaemon, on 24 January 2016 - 07:21 AM, said:

It comes from two things. First, my playstyle is (and probably will always be) based on being where the enemy is not expecting me to be, and striking first rather than trading blows face to face. I'm a terrible brawler, but I feel very comfortable ambushing and flanking the enemy, and ECM contributes greatly to that.

Well, in CW we do not have little space to flank unnoticed. When CW phase 3 goes live, you will have your chances there for sure (Polar Highlands and all other "big" maps from public queue).
Run with the pack and stay a little behind if you are too scared from brawling as of now. But give it a try sometime - ideally with a Stormcrow.

cLPL is the best weapon in game imho. Yet, I love my Novas (10 SPL or 12 ERSL or UAC/10 and 4 ERSL or 6 ERSL and 2 aSRM6/aLRM10). But that is brawling for the most part, quiaff?^^

In case you do not know already:

http://metamechs.com/

https://www.mechspecs.com/

[DGTLDaemon]

Rad Hanzo, on 24 January 2016 - 07:14 AM, said:

-2UAC5+4ERML
-UAC10+4ERML
-2UAC10+3ERSML
-Gauss+4ERML
-Gauss+3MPL
-6MPL
-6ERMED
-3ERL+TC7
-4ERL
-2SRM6ART+4MPL
-2ERPPC+TC7

Very interesting, thank you Never thought about doing something like 3ERL+TC7 or 2ERPPC+TC7. Gauss+4ERML and Gauss+3MPL also look quite appealing. I've always approached my builds as "energy for long range, ballistics for medium-to-long range", but I guess there is nothing wrong with doing it the other way around Not too comfortable with Gauss, though. Leaves me exposed for longer than I like.

Crusher Bob, on 24 January 2016 - 07:23 AM, said:

Since you don't have alternative mechs yet, make sure any build you bring will be useful on vitirc forge, you can go out in the practice room and shoot at the ground to see how heat management works there.

Just did that - seems like Terra Therma with a different name Not very kind to my ERLL side, but UACs still do their job. Thanks for the suggestion to study the CW maps in testing grounds - never thought of that.

Quote

Too much rear armor. Reduce to around 8-12 (or even lesS) and put it all on the front. Also, legs are quite weak, as some CW groups like to shoot legs as they can't be torso twisted. Also, light swarms are pretty common in CW and they will generally be shooting at your legs.

Copy that, will adjust accordingly.

latinisator, on 24 January 2016 - 07:39 AM, said:

Well, in CW we do not have little space to flank unnoticed. When CW phase 3 goes live, you will have your chances there for sure (Polar Highlands and all other "big" maps from public queue).

Point taken. I was under the impression that CW was bigger and longer-ranged, but I guess I was wrong. Interesting that you've mentioned Polar Highlands, though. Currently its my favorite map, hands down. I hugely enjoy playing it even when I get wrecked in the end

[Crusher Bob]

There are some strong plays on Boreal vault that rely on massed ~500-600 meter ranged damage, or 4-6 mechs with ~1400 meter ranged damage, but that's only one map. There is some opporunity for ~500 meter ranged damage in hellebore. And some opportunity for ~700 meter ranged damage in emerald tiaga. The other three all tend to favor 100-300 meter brawling. And in general, you can't really go wrong with a ~300 meter ranged brawling mech in CW.

For example, one of the strongest basic plays on any CW map is 12 brawling timerwolves (srm6x4, spl x4) which just overrun and smash many defenses.

Against the clans, most IS groups will want to close to point blank range with you, so you don't have time to retreat and cool off

[Leone]

DGTLDaemon, on 24 January 2016 - 05:10 AM, said:

1) My current build is HBR-PRIME.

I find your build atrocious for my playstyle. I mean, Large lasers? Why would you even need to be outside 400 meters? And not using up every single energy hardpoint? Those things are precious, as they add that much more mech melting power! That said, your playstyle is not my playstyle. I'd rather you bring what your good with. I'd offer to queue up with ya were I still with the clans.

DGTLDaemon, on 24 January 2016 - 05:10 AM, said:

2) ... or, to be on the safe side, I could purchase a Shadow Cat and basic it.

That's my vote. Grab a one week contract, nab your first mech bay, jump ship to another faction, nab a sixth mechbay, an bam, you've three of each, and the bay's'll just keep comin'

DGTLDaemon, on 24 January 2016 - 05:10 AM, said:

3) As I understand, the key to CW is teamwork and communication.

Yup, you'll do fine. Get on Team speak and just listen. You can still type in chat.

DGTLDaemon, on 24 January 2016 - 05:10 AM, said:

4) US servers are barely acceptable, but I really would like to avoid playing on them,

Far as I can tell, all CW is us based. I could be working off old intel though. As for Tiers, Tiers mean nothing in CW. I used to be Tier Five until the last grab bag event.

Oh, also, Maps! http://mwo.smurfy-ne...ands&m=invasion
Take a look at each map. Your first coupla drops, just find another similarly ranged mech an stick near em, but after that, explore the maps a bit an see if you can't find better vantage points.

~Leone

Edited by Leone, 25 January 2016 - 12:27 AM.

[DGTLDaemon]

OK, guys, need your help once more - this time for performance assessment I'm into CW now, and seem to be doing more or less fine, consistently above average across both teams in terms of damage, and regularly in the top 5-6, so I know I'm at least pulling my weight. However, one thing I can't check and evaluate for myself is the loyalty point earnings, as they are simply not shown in the team results. So, what's considered a "normal" loyalty point haul from a match? Mine can range anywhere from 300 on a bad match to 800+ on a very good one, with 400+ being the most common figure. Is it good, bad or average? I'm currently on a one-week contract, so I don't have any loyalty point bonuses.

P.S. Many thanks to everyone for their build suggestions I tried most of the builds suggested in this thread in the solo queue, and it really helped me expand my understanding of MWO combat mechanics, and get rid of the "one-trick pony" syndrome. I still went back to my original build with minor changes as per the other members' recommendations, as I failed to see any significant performance improvements from other builds. However, after spending some time in CW, I'm considering refitting a couple of my HBRs with a different loadout - maybe a 4 x ERML + 2 UAC/5, or even a crazy "shock trooper" build with dual UAC/10s and a couple of medium/small lasers for backup. The CW environment is indeed different from Quick Play - less deliberate, more aggressive and dynamic, more "shock brawling", as Crusher Bob pointed out. Still, the dual UAC/5 package remains very strong at any range, regardless of what kind of lasers it is paired with.

Edited by DGTLDaemon, 29 January 2016 - 01:23 AM.

[The Basilisk]

From the CW guide you where citing:

[...]
You also need to learn the proper balance of armor sharing and keeping your weapons online as long as possible. [...]

So onesided builds suffer somewhat regarding their performance.

Sometimes you will get focus fired during a gate push and there isn’t much you can do about it. [...]

That also means you either accept a potential instant down of one of your mechs or max out armor.

[...]
However, with that said, you don’t want to be suiciding all 4 of your mechs into the meat grinder over and over.
If this is happening too frequently you might need to adjust how you play.
You also don’t want to hide too far in the back of the group not having absorbed any hits at all. This can partly be achieved by cycling your ‘Mechs out of extreme danger before you lose weapons to allow healthier players to get ahead. [...]

A crucial part of the success of a CW groupe is to distribute damage over the group and to keep as many mechs intakt as long as possible.
I see some contradictions regarding this guide and your prefered HBR build.
Low ammo and realy poor staying power. IS tends to have more frontload damage and Clans have longer range. In Cw those features are especially pronounced.
Most of the successfull Clan teams play out their range advantage to maximum extend.
Also the Impact of your ECM will not be as great as in single PuG qeue.

Again citing from your guide:
[...]
The Community Warfare meta has its own subtleties compared with the regular queues. Intermediate to long range attrition standoffs are more frequent.

[...]

Ammo dependant ‘Mechs such as LRM support or dakka may need to pack extra ammo compared with what is adequate for the regular queue(as their is no way to reload).
[...]
And this is quite right.
Your mechs dakka has only 2T of ammo for each UAC5 and thats realy the bare minimum.
Sure with that low armor you won't be able to do much dmg before going down anyway since the enemy will focus an enemy ECM carrier first but....
Since you are owning and having elited or mastered only one chassis I strongly recommend mastering at least one more chassis before even thinking about CW.
Have you ever thought about a Warhawk and a Stormcrow ?
( Warhawk, Hellbringer, 2x Stormcrow ) And if the tonnage limit drops again maybe substitute one of the Stormcrows with one of the 35 or 30 tonners.
Kitty fox suffers a far more terrible rep than it should have. It is simply not one of those lag and hsr shielded runaround cheatboats.

One last thing for your consideration:

That you seem to do fine does not necessariely mean you are perfoming well with your group.
A onesided layout may give you a maxed out reward but keep in mind that all damage you avoid is suffered by your group and every bullet you dodge may hit someone behind you.

Edited by The Basilisk, 29 January 2016 - 02:33 AM.

[DGTLDaemon]

OK, the forum's acting funny for me, so I'll try to quote manually Sorry for the formatting.

Quote

That also means you either accept a potential instant down of one of your mechs or max out armor.

I really don't see any way to max armor on this mech without seriously sacrificing firepower. All "max armor" builds I've tried in solo queue produced really poor damage numbers And I already have barely enough ammo for my UAC/5s. Maybe I'll try a laser boat, to avoid relying on ammo altogether, and buff my armor instead. Didn't like laser boats in Quick Play because they forced me to put weapons in arm hardpoints, but CW environment is a bit different.

Quote

Low ammo and realy poor staying power. IS tends to have more frontload damage and Clans have longer range. In Cw those features are especially pronounced.
Most of the successfull Clan teams play out their range advantage to maximum extend.

Well, this is as ranged as it gets, save for the 4 X ERLL build, but that is really a niche poker build with no sustained firepower whatsoever.

Quote

Also the Impact of your ECM will not be as great as in single PuG qeue.

Frankly, it's not even that great in Tier 3 solo queues anymore, as most people are now using their eyes to spot the enemy instead of relying on those red rectangles/triangles. Still, it has its uses. I had a couple of decent matches in Vitric Forge where ECM allowed me to pull some good flanking maneuvers and literally shoot enemy players in the back. And that's despite my clear disposition towards long-range encounters

Quote

Your mechs dakka has only 2T of ammo for each UAC5 and thats realy the bare minimum.
Sure with that low armor you won't be able to do much dmg before going down anyway since the enemy will focus an enemy ECM carrier first but....

For me, it feels exactly the same as in solo queues - barely sufficient, but still sufficient. My match damage is usually in the 1-1.3k bracket, dropping to around 700-800 in really poor matches, and going up into the region of 1.7-1.8k in really good ones. Don't know if it's good or bad by universally accepted standards, but I keep regular track of the team scores, and it's usually above average. Also, I generally last roughly as long as everyone else, it's very rare for me to be among the first players to lose all their four mechs or among the last men standing.

Quote

Since you are owning and having elited or mastered only one chassis I strongly recommend mastering at least one more chassis before even thinking about CW.

Ah, and here we run into a problem. In order to master another chassis, I need more mech bays. In order to get more mech bays, I need to play CW So for now I'm just trying to use what I have to maximum effect.

Quote

Have you ever thought about a Warhawk and a Stormcrow ?

Yep Once I grind enough mech bays and enough GXP to unlock radar deprivation, as I really can't imagine playing without either ECM or radar deprivation (those damn LRMs, yes).

Quote

That you seem to do fine does not necessariely mean you are perfoming well with your group.
A onesided layout may give you a maxed out reward but keep in mind that all damage you avoid is suffered by your group and every bullet you dodge may hit someone behind you.

Yeah, that's one thing that worries me, too. A ranged build will avoid some of the damage intended for it by definition. I've also noticed that when an experienced player takes command of a random group in CW, they'll often utilize totally different tactics. Some will specifically instruct snipers to take high ground/hang a bit back, while others will demand that everybody push at the same time. I guess it depends on the group's playstyle to a certain extent.

Edited by DGTLDaemon, 29 January 2016 - 03:18 AM.

[Rushin Roulette]

One really, really big tip I can give you is to forget about any long range sniping in CW. Successful teams show 12 mechs to their opponents while fighting so that the incoming damage can be spread around easier and damaged mechs have the chance of rotating behind friendlies.

If one mech is missing in the firingline because he is way back in the outbeyond sniping, then that is already 1/12 higher chance of getting more damage and dying faster.

Im not saying that you should not be using Gauss and/or ERLL, but do not use them at extreme ranges. You can be behind your team. but make sure that it is not more than 200 meters behind the frontline.

[DGTLDaemon]

OK, based on the above comments: what do you say if refit two or three of my current HBR's into something like this? Still pretty low on ammo, but with better armor and close-to-medium-range firepower. And it wouldn't require any retraining, as the UAC side remains the same, and ERLLs are simply replaced with different lasers. Say what you will, but I just can't let go of my dual UACs They are just too good, in any situation, at any range.

Edited by DGTLDaemon, 29 January 2016 - 03:51 AM.

[Leartes]

I would make at least 2 completely different builds. I'm no clanner (yet), but maybe you want to drop ECM on some. Maybe make a laser boat, something for longer range or a bit brawly. This way you are set up better for different maps and different situations during a match. e.g. in the first wave you usually want longer range. On some maps you probably want something with erlarges while on other maps you want some uac to run cooler.

[DGTLDaemon]

Leartes, on 29 January 2016 - 04:35 AM, said:

e.g. in the first wave you usually want longer range

Very interesting. So far my own observations have been quite the contrary The first wave is usually a heavy head-on brawl, and that's where my ranged build suffers most. The second, however, is just one huge opportunity for sniping - people get spread out all over the place, someone is retreating, someone is giving chase, someone is rushing towards the frontline, and the targets are just begging to be ambushed, flanked and sniped I often do about half of my total match damage in my second mech.

[Shura1986]

DGTLDaemon, on 29 January 2016 - 03:47 AM, said:

OK, based on the above comments: what do you say if refit two or three of my current HBR's into something like this? Still pretty low on ammo, but with better armor and close-to-medium-range firepower. And it wouldn't require any retraining, as the UAC side remains the same, and ERLLs are simply replaced with different lasers. Say what you will, but I just can't let go of my dual UACs They are just too good, in any situation, at any range.

Hello again, i suggest to try more front armor, and more ammo, try a few times in quick play.
Work on CW too.
HBR-PRIME
When you run too hot just keep firing your uac5.

[Rogue Jedi]

DGTLDaemon, on 29 January 2016 - 03:47 AM, said:

OK, based on the above comments: what do you say if refit two or three of my current HBR's into something like this? Still pretty low on ammo, but with better armor and close-to-medium-range firepower. And it wouldn't require any retraining, as the UAC side remains the same, and ERLLs are simply replaced with different lasers. Say what you will, but I just can't let go of my dual UACs They are just too good, in any situation, at any range.

that is, in my opinion a much better build than the previous one, but I would drop 1-2 heatsinks for more ammo, possibly also drop 1 ERML if you find that too hot