416 replies to this topic

[DavidStarr]

Tarogato, on 07 March 2016 - 04:08 PM, said:

I've earned upwards of 60 of them for free

How is that possible? Even if you get 3 bays from each faction, which I think is unrealistic given how long it takes to get the 3rd - it'd require 20 factions, but there only are 10 in the game.

[-Vompo-]

DavidStarr, on 08 March 2016 - 12:38 AM, said:

How is that possible? Even if you get 3 bays from each faction, which I think is unrealistic given how long it takes to get the 3rd - it'd require 20 factions, but there only are 10 in the game.

Mechbays are often given in events/challenges.

[nehebkau]

DavidStarr, on 08 March 2016 - 12:38 AM, said:

How is that possible? Even if you get 3 bays from each faction, which I think is unrealistic given how long it takes to get the 3rd - it'd require 20 factions, but there only are 10 in the game.

VompoVompatti, on 08 March 2016 - 12:40 AM, said:

Mechbays are often given in events/challenges.

Yes, there are tons of ways to get mechbays though the year -- doing a faction tour is just one of them. Keep your eyes open and before you know it ... BOOM ... new mechbay!

[Windscape]

thx for adding in the grasshopper

[Jarl Dane]

Excellent news, thanks to the ample efforts of the 2323 Reggies we have our first 12 players with a Stormtrooper deck. If other faithful members of the RKA keep this up we'll soon be able to do some Stormtrooper drops and put our mechs to the test.

[MischiefSC]

Mech The Dane, on 12 March 2016 - 11:49 PM, said:

Excellent news, thanks to the ample efforts of the 2323 Reggies we have our first 12 players with a Stormtrooper deck. If other faithful members of the RKA keep this up we'll soon be able to do some Stormtrooper drops and put our mechs to the test.

So I got a chance in my travels to drop against a 2323 group that was mostly Stormtrooper deck -

Yeah. Fast and rock solid. The mixed Clan team I was on was defending Emerald Taiga and tried to hold up between the gates. However the Stormtrooper deck didn't smash into us (the general assault-heavy IS deck approach) so we could draw them back into the buildings and flank, they just went past and down the side to circle back in behind the Omega.

It was a big change and problematic - they got to Omega the same time we did, a little before so they spread out into a line. Normally a Clan team can get back, set a line behind Omega and receive the push. The lack of any discernible mobility advantage was telling. The couple of people who dropped Dires lost them quickly because they could not catch up with the rest of the team between drops and were isolated and killed.

Also the similar paint setup was a genuine problem. While trying to XL check a white Black Knight, he would twist back into cover and when 'he' came up again and I popped my lasers into that ST again..... he shrugged it off because it was actually a different Black Knight. That got me killed as I'd expected to kill the guy but overheat, power up and scoot back before his buddies caught up. Oh no. I got to stand there steaming with my **** in my hand and get smote cuz NOT THE SAME WHITE PAINTED BLACK KNIGHT.

That was a similar issue, repeatedly. BLKs and QDs are not visually distinctive between variants. It takes a few seconds for a paperdoll to load and you can't just wait. Having everyone go white/white/white isn't a bad idea at all as it makes it tougher to exploit knowing they all have XLs. I was surprised at the amount of trouble it gave. You don't always even get letter designation fast enough; you see someone coming around the corner and have to pop them before they're totally into view if you want to win the trade (which is tough against IS LPLs as it is). When the other team is largely identical it was a problem.

While my TBRs still held a firepower advantage 1 on 1 I had neither range nor mobility and most of my team (largely pugs though they were) died out of position. This killed most of the Clan stats like chasing the tail, a fast push through and past the enemy team and I was completely unable to just say 'Oh ****, my bad, wrong corner' and disengage. They just chased me down before I was around the corner.

QDs are fragile and focus-fire would be a must to make it work well, also getting good at the shuffle but it eliminated the bulk of solid strats available to a Clan team. Especially on defense. Too fast to keep under ERLLs at long range, too fast and mobile to be able to flank and chase down, too fast and mobile to pin in a brawl, too fast to hit and run on. QDs won trades if they were quick but I won all the slugging matches if I could keep them in the open.

It was a strong deck to play against.

[Jarl Dane]

Okay so..I wasn't naming them Stormtroopers after Star Wars Imperial Stormtroopers..I was naming them after the WW1 Imperial German soliders who stormed trenches using newly developed fast attack techniques.

That said, it sounds like 2323 are painting their 'stromtroopers' white...and I think that is a good idea and will go ahead and recommend it to everyone even my ISEN guys.

I think next week we'll schedule some FRR/RKA Stromtrooper drops for the community.

[MischiefSC]

Mech The Dane, on 14 March 2016 - 11:07 PM, said:

Okay so..I wasn't naming them Stormtroopers after Star Wars Imperial Stormtroopers..I was naming them after the WW1 Imperial German soliders who stormed trenches using newly developed fast attack techniques.

That said, it sounds like 2323 are painting their 'stromtroopers' white...and I think that is a good idea and will go ahead and recommend it to everyone even my ISEN guys.

I think next week we'll schedule some FRR/RKA Stromtrooper drops for the community.

I'm pretty sure that painting them all in grey with white highlights and calling them 'Sturmtruppen' would be taken poorly by people with a less than stellar command of WW I/WW II history and the differences between WW I and WW II German special forces.

Besides, the heads on the Black Knights and Quickdraws actually look a bit like Star Wars Stormtroopers. I can rock out a drop to the Imperial March to top it all off.

Edited by MischiefSC, 14 March 2016 - 11:21 PM.

[Tarogato]

Mech The Dane, on 14 March 2016 - 11:07 PM, said:

Star Wars Imperial Stormtroopers

just roll with it. Nobody's gives a hoot about WWI anymore.

[Jarl Dane]

Tarogato, on 14 March 2016 - 11:33 PM, said:

just roll with it. Nobody's gives a hoot about WWI anymore.

Mech The Dane, on 14 March 2016 - 11:07 PM, said:

..it sounds like 2323 are painting their 'stromtroopers' white...and I think that is a good idea and will go ahead and recommend it to everyone even my ISEN guys.

That is me, rolling with it!

[DaemonWulfe]

I got my Stormtrooper deck painted up white with Isengrim colors for secondary/tertiary. After reading Mischief's testimony, I may go all white. Lol, my bright blue and orange lines would make me stick out too much.

[MischiefSC]

Been running g it exclusively for a bit now, here's the preliminaries -

When playing with a mixed team these results may vary as there isn't the same degree of synergy.

The ml/srm one struggles. It simply can't brawl with a TBR, which is where it ends up. Lacks the firepower or durability. While I defer to Dane to see if a synergy drop overcomes this issue it was a significant struggle.

4 LLs required too much face time. With needing the 0.5 stagger between sets of 2 I'm trading well within viable cerml range and it's not nearly as effective as the 3 LPLs. I'm picking up ~50m range and 6pts alpha for more than 2x the face-time per trade. I'm tempted to say either run a second 3lpl or do 3 erlls and more dhs if you want a range option.

Rotating drop order with the perspective that 2nd wave was optimal performance this was my general breakdown of damage value by mech over about 20 total drops.

The BK is a stone cold killer, good for 800-1300 depending on the map.

3lpl good for 600-1k.

4ll 300-600

4ml+srms ~200-400

Again, pugging CW performance will vary but I'm a huge fan of the concept - I'd love to see it in action.

[Tarogato]

MischiefSC, on 16 March 2016 - 03:42 PM, said:

4 LLs required too much face time. With needing the 0.5 stagger between sets of 2 I'm trading well within viable cerml range and it's not nearly as effective as the 3 LPLs.

Set your weapon groups so that each of them fires three LL - you get more direct punch and it's not as bad if just the fourth LL gets cut short by returning to cover. Also, on most maps you can alpha all four a lot - it just depends on the situation/engagement.

[MischiefSC]

Tarogato, on 16 March 2016 - 03:48 PM, said:

Set your weapon groups so that each of them fires three LL - you get more direct punch and it's not as bad if just the fourth LL gets cut short by returning to cover. Also, on most maps you can alpha all four a lot - it just depends on the situation/engagement.

Yep. Especially on Portico. Just that the difference between 1 second an 0.66 was measurable for hit n twist. If I'm running 4ll and not 3 lpl in only getting the benefit if I stay for the whole burn, otherwise I'm doing more damage on target for less heat with 3 lpls.

[DaemonWulfe]

If I have the heat and a square shot, I always alpha with the 4LL build. Nasty little bugger how it spreads damage. Still, I think I get my best performance hands down with the 3LPL builds. They make me feel like Jedi in combat. Concentrated ST shots take the Timbers down in seconds. While I prefer to not be face to face with the brawler Timbers, I've managed to overcome lesser skilled pilots in less than 300 meter combat one on one, sometimes even brawling down 3 or 4 in rapid succession if they're all damaged. The cooldown on those LPL is awesome.

[Jarl Dane]

Yeah the 4H is the least useful in pugging matches unfortunately. It is enough for pilots to have it ready for when we stromtrooper drop, they don't have to bring it on their solo outings unless that is their desire.

That said, I have decent success with it. When I am pug dropping and there is no real general coordination I take it in my final drop. There are a few reasons for this:

1. If the match has gone badly, your final drop wont change anything. If they are camping your spawn, brawling is as good a way to go out as any.

2. If the match has gone very well, the final drop wont change anything. If you are fighting in our near their spawn a mobile brawl mech will also do quite nicely.

3. If the match is super-close and could go either way. Both teams are pretty beat up and will have lighter tonnage (your heavy mech will likely be one of the heaviest mechs on the field). It'll probably break down into intense knife fighting and you'll be well positioned to take advantage of it. Maybe you're blowing up generators or finishing off heavily beat mechs. Or maybe you're just a ninja.

[Jay Leon Hart]

Thanks for the good read - I think this cements my thoughts on going back to CGB or FRR once my connection gets fixed and I can dip my toes back into CW. I've been looking to get some Blackjacks (and Battlemasters & Banshees, I've seen a lot of those lately...) and the Quickdraw is one of the few Heavies I haven't tried yet. It will be good to see if I can perform adequatly in it, at least compared to my TDRs

[Jarl Dane]

Dropped tonight in a FRR Mixed warband with 5 Stromtroopers and it was awesome.

[-Mean Machine Angel-]

Well,I finally got all the mechs and the required bits,had a few rounds with it and love it..fast and punchy!

[Valkyrie1968]

Hello Mech the Dane

I'm only a new comer to MWO but have played the MW games for years.

I would like to congratulate you on your idea of a RKA sanctioned Dropdeck - as a new player it has given me direction when I had only confusion.

As I already had some Quickdraws and some Black Knights I have elited a Stormtrooper Dropdeck - which I really enjoy playing. I also had some Thunderbolts so I'm also working on completing that dropdeck as well as I'm also really enjoying playing them as well.

I have joined the FRR TS Hub today but was unable to post a screen shot as I'm either doing it wrong or more likely I don't have the TS permissions to do it.


Keep up the good work.

Good luck and happy hunting

Valkyrie1968