37 replies to this topic

[aGentleWarrior]

I currently play shadowcats... i have to confess there are mechs out there which are easier to handle.
It is fragile and has only few weapon hardpoints, weight used by JJ + MASC which i would love to drop some...
However I will keep one, because - well it is the legendary shadowcat.

The trial Stormcrows i played were ... well if i manage to get regularly 500+ dmg matches without any pilot tree skills ... they must be OP... BUT ... well NOVA looks much cooler for me ... and somehow i do not choose the mechs which are competitive but the ones I like visually - and then i try to get well or have fun with them!

[NUJRSYDEVIL]

I love the Shadowcat, but only the x2 ER PPC build. Nobody uses it but the SHC makes a decent LRMer as well.

If you go with the ER PPC build be sure to put a range mod on it as well as X4 zoom.

[Audacious Aubergine]

Personally, I'd go the Shadowcat though I don't have experience with it (funnily enough I've actually been wanting to get into them for ages).
But if you prefer brawling, definitely the Nova. Both of my builds so far that I've basic'd have been nutso brawler builds - one was a loyalty variant with a UAC20 and a single medium laser, the other was a -C with a UAC5 and 2 SRM6
EDIT: People will swear by the Stormcrow and how it's THE meta medium, but I've never liked them personally

Edited by FreebirthToad18999, 25 January 2016 - 04:07 PM.

[B0oN]

Lupis, do the IS/Clan-mechbay-tour through CW ... each faction gives you a Mechbay @ rank2 and rank 6 iirc, so not really much need to shell out tons of pesos for them

[Rhavin]

Stormcrow is best.....Buuuut.

You like going outside meta , shadowcat and nova are very different mechs, both excel at different aspects. I've seen both mechs put up 800 damage games but they do it differently.

If you are a team player, staying close to your heavys and assaults I would go nova, it's nimble but not fast enough to stay out of trouble if you get too daring. But It's a perfect wingman for any assault, heavy brawler or tanky medium. Atlas plus spl nova is a great combo. Can also snipe, but not as well a cat. Biggest issue for a lot players is heat management. Poor scaling gives its poor hitboxes and that means it needs to avoid long confrontations between larger mechs. You will carry a lot of smaller weapons on the nova, like 12 small lasers, or 6 meds plus machine guns.

If you like being the bait, sticking and moving, or are the backstabbing sneaky type then the shadowcat is a solid choice. The shadowcats ECM is its biggest weapon, and it's best armor. At higher lvls of play the ECM helps, but it isn't foolproof as you can still shoot what you can see. At lower tiers it is great because you don't need to avoid the LRMpocalypse when it's running. Sit back snipe, flank snipe, run in and out of the brawl. Jump around like a madman spamming medium lasers, srms. Works real great as a wingman too because of the ECM, helping to get them fatties in under the radar till they are in range to brawl then flank what they are shooting. But no where near the raw damage as a nova in a brawl because of lack of hard points. You will carry a few weapons, just not enough hard points to boat anything but machine guns.

[Not A Real RAbbi]

That SHC-P LA omnipod, tho. 3x MG? Works GREAT with the SHC, with LPLs in the RT and RA. Poke-n-Stroke, I call it. Same as the BJ-ARROW, more or less. Lasers, and at least one BIG one, for cutting up armor. MGs, and LOTS of them, for spamming on exposed internals. Poke, then stroke.

I think there's a Nova setup that can do this, in a close-range format though. LOTS of ERSLs or SPLs in the arms, and up to 4x MG in the RT/LT.

More or less useless in CW, but lots of fun in PUG drops!

[Lupis Volk]

Think i'll get the Nova first. since it's on sale atm.

Edited by Lupis Volk, 25 January 2016 - 10:48 PM.

[Mazzyplz]

Lupis Volk, on 25 January 2016 - 10:22 PM, said:

Think i'll get the Nova first. since it's on sale atm.

i was gonna tell you to get the nova

12 er medlas does very well for me in the nova if i make 6 weap groups:

2 weapon groups of 3, 2 weapon groups of 2, and 2 weapon groups of 1.
it's easy to manage heat this way and you can use the jumpjets to get up on things and shoot, or to turn fast or do a dropshot when fighting melee

[Leone]

Lupis Volk, on 25 January 2016 - 10:22 PM, said:

Think i'll get the Nova first. since it's on sale atm.

Woo! Erm, I mean, Welcome to the fold, brethren.

~Leone.

[Mazzyplz]

that's the standard loadout btw, i play the nova prime without modifications

[Lupis Volk]

Leone, on 25 January 2016 - 11:14 PM, said:

Woo! Erm, I mean, Welcome to the fold, brethren.

~Leone.

Where's the "one of us" chant?

[Audacious Aubergine]

Lupis Volk, on 25 January 2016 - 11:54 PM, said:

Where's the "one of us" chant?

http://i.imgur.com/wirXNSF.gif

Edited by FreebirthToad18999, 26 January 2016 - 12:53 AM.

[radiv]

you could wait for next patch and see what they do with masc.. maybe shadowcat will be good then

[Lupis Volk]

Well got the Nova Prime. Anyone have smurfy builds for it? Boy does it run hot.

[Audacious Aubergine]

I'm pretty sure that's one of the few mechs in existence that runs perfectly fine with a stock build. Put one arm on group 1, the other on group 2, pick your shots carefully, learn the limits and know when to start backing up

[Leone]

Yup.

So, my suggestion is stack all the heat sinks in the torso you're used to protecting. That's about all you need to do to tweak the build. Gameplay wise the Stock prime is one of the best high alpha pokey mechs for damage to exposure ratio, but takes forever to cool off. That mech is how I learned to gauge my heat an run the redline between overheating an shutdown.

Welcome to redline training mechwarrior.

Figure out at what heat you can fire one arm. Eventually you'll beable to fire one, then the other, pop into cover to cool an pop back out to fire a third salvo, pushing yourself right back into the brink. Eliting the mech really helps with the heat, but it'll always be a beast.

Now, if you want alternatives, the brawling Blackhawk uses small pulse, or one could go er smalls and add other omnipods for things like machineguns or ams. I prefer the S variant with A torsos for my triple ams twelve er smalls build.

~Leone.

[Lupis Volk]

Now i'm so close to selling it. Really hate how PGI screws you over with the massive gap between buying and selling mechs.

Edited by Lupis Volk, 26 January 2016 - 03:21 PM.

[latinisator]

I dare you!

The Nova is great. Put out a ERLL on each arm, add two more heatsinks.
Weapon group 1 = left arm group fire
Weapon group 2 = right arm group fire
Weapon group 3 = left arm chain fire
Weapon group 4 = right arm chain fire.

3 and 4 can be reached nicely cause of "wasd" if you do not own a gaming mouse.