22 replies to this topic

[invernomuto]

Hi guys,
I have three Cataphract (0XP,1X and 3D) and three Marauders (bought the standard pack).
I've "basic-ed" all of them and "elited" the MAD-3R. While I'm trying to complete elite efficiencies on the others, I'm saving C-Bills for my next mech.
I would like to try something that feels different from Heavies.
I was thinking about an Assault mech, Atlas or King Crab (I really like the look of the KC). While I think that Assaults are very close to my playing style ("Enemy is near: CHAARGE!!!"), I'm a bit worried for their cost (bigger engines, lot of weapons, ecc) and for they usefulness in Community Warfare (due to the tonnage limit).
Should I consider another class first (Medium or Light)? What are your suggestions?
Thanks in advance!
D.

Edited by invernomuto, 20 February 2016 - 05:04 AM.

[Zoeff]

100 ton mechs like the Atlas and King Crab are going to be quite a bit slower than the heavies you're used to, both in speed and responsiveness. It's hard to tell if you'll like it, it might become quite grindy in slow mechs or you could find yourself at home in them.

Have you tried any trial assaults?

[epikt]

Zoeff, on 20 February 2016 - 05:38 AM, said:

Have you tried any trial assaults?

If you haven't yet, try them. Both the Atlas and King Crab are well built and will give you a good idea of how these mechs feel.

[Rogue Jedi]

try the trial Assaults to get a feel for them, I think both the Atlas and King Crab have trial Mechs at current.

the Atlas and King Crab can take up-to 360 engines on most variants, however they are still probably going to want standard engines, usualy a 300, 325 or 350 with 325 probably being the most used on the Atlas, I am not sure about the King Crab.

While assaults have a lot of armor, that can go in seconds if you make the wrong move and expose yourself to focus fire from half the enemy team.

with the current 260 ton max limit you can take a 100 ton Mech and still have tonnage for 2 heavies (provided both are less than 75 ton) and a Light or 1 heavy and 2 mediums. if you want the Cataphract, Marauder and a 100 ton Mech that is unfortunately not possible in a CW drop deck, but you could go Atlas Cataphract, Cataphract, Locust, or 100+MAD with 85 tons for your last 2 Mechs.
if instead of a 100 ton Assault you went for an 85 ton Stalker or Battlemaster for your Assault that would make it easy, 85+75+70=230 so you could have a Locust, Commando, Spider or Urbanmech for your last Mech with the assault CFT and MAD

you do not want to charge the enemy in an assault unless you have the advantage or know your team is working with you, because it is unlikely you will win a fight against 2 enemies at once.

[invernomuto]

Zoeff, on 20 February 2016 - 05:38 AM, said:

Have you tried any trial assaults?

I played with the trials a couple of time with both KC and Atlas in Public Group play.
In my latest game I breaked my personal record for damage in a single mech. With trial KC I did about 1000 damage. Unfortunately we lost the match

Rogue Jedi, on 20 February 2016 - 05:58 AM, said:

with the current 260 ton max limit you can take a 100 ton Mech and still have tonnage for 2 heavies (provided both are less than 75 ton) and a Light or 1 heavy and 2 mediums. if you want the Cataphract, Marauder and a 100 ton Mech that is unfortunately not possible in a CW drop deck, but you could go Atlas Cataphract, Cataphract, Locust, or 100+MAD with 85 tons for your last 2 Mechs.
if instead of a 100 ton Assault you went for an 85 ton Stalker or Battlemaster for your Assault that would make it easy, 85+75+70=230 so you could have a Locust, Commando, Spider or Urbanmech for your last Mech with the assault CFT and MAD

Thanks for the input, I agree that a 85 tons Assault could be more appropriate for my drop list for CW.

Thanks!

[Zoeff]

1000 damage? That's pretty darn good for a new player. Sounds like assaults are your kinda thing, even if you plan on playing a lot of CW in the future (perhaps in Phase 3 or after it's feature-complete or something) it'll still be a good mech for you in any other game mode.

[invernomuto]

Zoeff, on 20 February 2016 - 06:33 AM, said:

1000 damage? That's pretty darn good for a new player. Sounds like assaults are your kinda thing, even if you plan on playing a lot of CW in the future (perhaps in Phase 3 or after it's feature-complete or something) it'll still be a good mech for you in any other game mode.

Well, on the other match I scored only 140 damage so the uber-damage happened completely by chance.
KING CRAB KGC-000B(S) 2 0 2 0.00 2 2 1.00 1,147 1,531 00:11:04
...and right now it's 100% loss with Assault

[el piromaniaco]

Marauders wäre Great.
King crabs are Great too.

You're on the right path I think.

[Tarl Cabot]

Zoeff, on 20 February 2016 - 06:33 AM, said:

1000 damage? That's pretty darn good for a new player. Sounds like assaults are your kinda thing, even if you plan on playing a lot of CW in the future (perhaps in Phase 3 or after it's feature-complete or something) it'll still be a good mech for you in any other game mode.

For most players high damage is achieved by getting ammo/gauss rifle crits (indirect damage) which is not separated into its own line. Noting it here cause IS mechs will tend to load ammo in the legs first, after that it can vary on the mech. For Clan mechs with case as default equipment and due to fixed equipment, leaves the arms and side torsos.

IS-AC10 - max 200pts
IS-LBX10 - max 300pts
IS-SRM - max 215pts

And depending on if it is the first part, middle or towards the end can determine how much damage that ammo crit will cause due to usage. And earlier in the game it happens, more likely the bigger crit cause rarely does a ton of ammo sit by itself.

[Cato Phoenix]

I think if you are going to scale up from the Phracts - the Mauler may be a good assault for you. A little bit more mobile than the Atlas or Kcrab and definitely leaning towards the ballistics side of things.

I would suggest you think about the 4th mech going down-tonnage too, and there's a ton to choose from based on playstyle. Hunchbacks, Enforcers, Blackjacks, Griffins, Wolvies all might fit in a good role and supplement your CW drop deck choices.

[Leone]

If you are thinking of Community warfare, I would personally suggest looking at lights. With your heafty mech preference, you might want to look at getting a locust just to shoehorn in as many heavies as possible. How are your mechbay's looking? if you've the spare bay's think light.

If not, I'd say go for the assaults. You can take a trial light in CW whilest you grind for mechbays. As for assualts, sounds like you might enjoy ballistics, in which case the battlemaster can run dual AC5s, there's a Highlander that can run dual uac 5s, and I'm quite fond of the BNC-3E with a three Ac5 load out. But the mauler an the King Crab are gonna be your best best for all the guns.

~Leone.

Edited by Leone, 20 February 2016 - 03:11 PM.

[invernomuto]

Leone, on 20 February 2016 - 10:52 AM, said:

If you are thinking of Community warfare, I would personally suggest looking at lights. With your heafty mech preference, you might want to look at getting a locust just to shoehorn in as man heavies as possible. How are your mechbay's looking? if you've the spare bay's think light.

If not, I'd say go for the assaults. You can take a trial light in CW whilest you grind for mechbays. As for assualts, sounds like you might enjoy ballistics, in which case the battlemaster can run dual AC5s, there's a Highlander that can run dual uac 5s, and I'm quite fond of the BNC-3E with a three Ac5 load out. But the mauler an the King Crab are gonna be your best best for all the guns.

~Leone.

I've just bought some MC credits getting one free mechbay as bonus. Right now I have 2 free.
I also have 1350 MC and plan to spend them on mechbays only (that's four of them).
I have considered light mechs but I've read that you need to be a very good pilot (which I'm not): They're not so forgiving.
Raven would be my choice, if I had to chose a light.

[epikt]

invernomuto, on 20 February 2016 - 02:25 PM, said:

I have considered light mechs but I've read that you need to be a very good pilot (which I'm not): They're not so forgiving.

Yes and no.
Light mechs are indeed not forgiving: one well placed shot can cripple you, if not kill you. But you are still in tier 5, you're mostly facing rookies like you, they won't be able to take advantage of your mistakes like veterans would be.
How do you do with the trial light mechs? If you enjoy them I see no reason not to continue playing lights, no matter their reputation of being difficult to pilot.
The raven is a good choice if you don't want to be forced to get close to your opponents, it make a great long/mid-range poker.

[Leone]

invernomuto, on 20 February 2016 - 02:25 PM, said:

I have considered light mechs but I've read that you need to be a very good pilot (which I'm not): They're not so forgiving.
Raven would be my choice, if I had to chose a light.

They are not forgiving, it is true. However, it is not that you need to be a very good pilot to pilot lights, it's that you need to be a very good pilot to do well with them. You are not going to start off awesome; that's okay.. But learning on the lights should teach you the map awareness and manouvering skills you need to shine in them.

And, once you've gotten the hang of the lights, you'll be able to interpret that knowledge an use it on the heaftier mechs. Atleast, my assault piloting got better for my knowing how lights work.

So yeah, if you like the raven, get the raven. You'll need one light no doubt, for CW. Might as well be one you'll enjoy.

~Leone.

Edited by Leone, 20 February 2016 - 03:38 PM.

[mailin]

Leone, on 20 February 2016 - 03:15 PM, said:

They are not forgiving, it is true. However, it is not that you need to be a very good pilot to pilot lights, it's that you need to be a very good pilot to do well with them. You are not going to start off awesome; that's okay.. But learning on the lights should teach you the map awareness and manouvering skills you need to shine in them.

And, once you've gotten the hang of the lights, you'll be able to interpret that knowledge an use it on the heaftier mechs. Atleast, my assault piloting got better for my knowing how lights work.

So yeah, if you like the raven, get the raven. You'll need one light no doubt, for CW. Might as well be one you'll enjoy.

~Leone.

NOTHING will teach you map awareness as fast as driving a light. For the simple reason that they can cover so much ground so fast you will be able to see things and find places that you would never have the time for in a slower mech.

Also, the trial Raven has ECM (a huge bonus) and 2 ER LL (I believe). While I personally don't like this build, it can be decent in the right hands. Also, there are some other Ravens that can do some very fun stuff. If I were you, I'd do some drops in the trial Raven to see if you like it. If you do, you can buy the 3L and be able to use the experience gained in the trial immediately. If not, simply move on and look for something else.

[Rogue Jedi]

invernomuto, on 20 February 2016 - 02:25 PM, said:

I have considered light mechs but I've read that you need to be a very good pilot (which I'm not): They're not so forgiving.
Raven would be my choice, if I had to chose a light.

if you go Raven you will have trouble fitting an assault into your dropdeck, 35 ton Raven + 70 ton Cataphract + 75 ton Marauder = 180 tons used so that only leaves 80 tons to spare with the current 260 ton upper limit, so that is Victor or Awesome, those are not considered to be great assaults.

if you want to get a Raven for your Light Mech then do so but also get a Medium to give you more tonnage to play with.

if you want the MAD a 100 ton Mech and the Raven that would leave you with 50 tons free, so a Blackjack, Crab, Centurion, Hunchback Trebuchet or Vindicator would fit, if you take a 85 or 90 ton Assault that allows heavier mediums or 60/65 ton Heavies

also bear in bind that dropdeck weight has changed in the past and could change again in future, if it drops back down to 240 ton maximum which has usualy been the upper limit for drop weight that could give you trouble

Edited by Rogue Jedi, 21 February 2016 - 06:14 AM.

[invernomuto]

I'm making up my mind for my dropdeck:

Assault (first to drop): 85 ton, do not know what to take :/
Marauder: 75 ton
Cataphract: 70 ton
Light: 30 ton. Spider or Urbanmech. Are they any good? One variant has ECM like Raven...

Or

I could get a 90-95 ton Assault (Mauler or Banshee) and get a Locust (20 ton) as light or a Commando (25 tons).
With a Mauler and a Locust I could also field two marauder... Locust is so tiny it scares me, Commando seems a little bit better but I do not know if they're any good for a newbie...

Cheers,
D.

[Rogue Jedi]

invernomuto, on 21 February 2016 - 11:12 AM, said:

I'm making up my mind for my dropdeck:

Assault (first to drop): 85 ton, do not know what to take :/
Marauder: 75 ton
Cataphract: 70 ton
Light: 30 ton. Spider or Urbanmech. Are they any good? One variant has ECM like Raven...

Or

I could get a 90-95 ton Assault (Mauler or Banshee) and get a Locust (20 ton) as light or a Commando (25 tons).
With a Mauler and a Locust I could also field two marauder... Locust is so tiny it scares me, Commando seems a little bit better but I do not know if they're any good for a newbie...

Cheers,
D.

Spider 5D has ECM,
The Spider is fast, agile, can jump high ^{(if you mount enough Jumpjets)} and is hard to hit when moving making it feel rather durable, however the downside is that it is the most lightly armed Chassis in the game,
The 5D can mount up-to 3 Lasers at 145KPH with 8 jumpjets and ECM,
The 5V can mount up-to 2 Medium class lasers or 1 large class laser but can mount 12 jumpjets and a 285 engine ^{(265 after speed tweak)} making it the most mobile Mech in the game,
The 5K has 2 energy and 4 ballistic slots, again can take a 285 engine but "only" 6 JJs, you will probably want an ERLL or LPL backed by Machine Guns to quickly destroy components with stripped armor ^{(MGs are excellent against structure but not great against armor)}.

The Spider is my favorite chassis, I love high speed, high mobility and the Spider does that better than anything else.

out of Locust or Commando I find the Commando more fun but the Locust is objectively superior, it is about as fast ^{(slightly faster than the fastest Spiders)} but has more hardpoints so potentially more firepower

Edited by Rogue Jedi, 21 February 2016 - 11:43 AM.

[Roughneck45]

invernomuto, on 21 February 2016 - 11:12 AM, said:

I'm making up my mind for my dropdeck:

It sounds like you are pretty hesitant about lights, so I'd say that your tonnage is better invested in your assault mech than beefing up your light choice.

I second the Mauler suggestion too. If you enjoy your phracts despite the low hanging hardpoints the mauler should be a very natural transition for you.

[Koniving]

invernomuto, on 20 February 2016 - 05:03 AM, said:

Hi guys,
I have three Cataphract (0XP,1X and 3D) and three Marauders (bought the standard pack).
I've "basic-ed" all of them and "elited" the MAD-3R. While I'm trying to complete elite efficiencies on the others, I'm saving C-Bills for my next mech.
I would like to try something that feels different from Heavies.
I was thinking about an Assault mech, Atlas or King Crab (I really like the look of the KC). While I think that Assaults are very close to my playing style ("Enemy is near: CHAARGE!!!"), I'm a bit worried for their cost (bigger engines, lot of weapons, ecc) and for they usefulness in Community Warfare (due to the tonnage limit).
Should I consider another class first (Medium or Light)? What are your suggestions?
Thanks in advance!
D.

Heavies and lights are actually the most expensive classes.

An assault is reasonably cheap. Std 300 engine comes with them, or crank up to 320. I'll be honest I don't bother with anything larger except on 80 ton assaults (or Battlemasters in the 85 ton category). My Heavy Metal (90 ton Highlander hero) and my favorite Battlemaster both use XL 330... but other than that, pfft.

Assaults are slower so everything you do needs to be calculated. Once you start combat at a range of less than 800 meters... you're pretty much committed and you can't withdraw. There is no retreating or hit and run so to speak. Your average assault gets in 60+ kph. Some get in almost 90. The 100 tonners 'stretch' in the 60 kph range but by then there's so much weight or sacrifice it isn't worth it, and you really shouldn't load them with XL engines in this game.

I recommend starting with an 85 ton mech. Doesn't matter which 'cause they're all good. There's a selection that's varied enough but not overwhelming. They get good speed, their stock engines are great (low costs!), and you'll find there's little to do beyond the standard insert endo and double heatsinks.