20 replies to this topic

[PigsinBlankets]

So I've been playing this game a little over 3 months. Played a little over 1000 matches, low Tier3, so yeah I'm not all that. I've mastered out the Jenner, centurion, shadowhawk, battlemaster, marauder and warhammer, yeah I paid real money for those last two. Really love all the mechs, get my best scores in the marauder-bh, although my most kills in one match (5) came from a one off game in my centurion ah , where everything just went perfectly.
Now I've started the Spider , why? Well I love my Jenner, and the speed of light play just gets the adrenalin flowing so much more than plodding around in the MAD-BH but I wanted ECM and something that is really hard to hit. (And practically flies the 5v might as well be a LAM)
I've basic'd the 5d, got a 540 damage game in that, again a one off, and I've basic'd the 5v (which took a while) lots of deaths very few kills. Now I am attempting the 5k - so far it's not pretty - 1ml and 4mgs and bugger all damage getting dealt. Any suggestions on how to cope with this mech and what tactics I should employ gratefully received.

[Nik Reaper]

So, have you tried the 1 Large pulse laser with 4 mgs , large XL and a jumpjet?
I had a game with one good player that did over 1K damage with it, you just poke around a corner and ire the LPL off cooldown, and go in for the mg kill when they are low and open.

Like this I guess http://mwo.smurfy-ne...998a4a8f6f096f7
or this http://mwo.smurfy-ne...dc81523de28b73c

Edited by Nik Reaper, 16 March 2016 - 08:34 AM.

[SnagaDance]

I run the LPL build with max engine and max jumpjets, no machine guns. It's a nice annoyance mech with a reasonable punch and range.

[Kyynele]

I'd follow Nik's advice. Perhaps even go one step further, and forget about the MGs, use the largest engine you can fit and play a full peeking game with the LPL:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...4cec98939d793ee

The 5K has a huge 50% cooldown bonus for the one energy weapon you can fit in it, I'd say take full advantage of it. That means that with 1 LPL, you have almost the same DPS as you would with 2 LPLs on some other mech. You naturally do have to peek twice as often to deal that damage, but the large engine helps with that.

[Nik Reaper]

Well, try everything out and see what fits, but MGs are useful in the later parts of the match and as you will not be brawling and doing the circle dance of death ( until the end ) you might find that you will not benefit of a max size engine all that often.

Edited by Nik Reaper, 16 March 2016 - 09:39 AM.

[Voivode]

You could just go straight troll with it. A while ago I bought the Guardian mech pack and got a Locust 1V (same hardpoints as the Spider 5K) that I'm not allowed to sell. I hated the Locust as a mech and I've long struggled to find a workable build with it. After the changes to the flamer I decided why not go full troll on it.

1 x Flamer
4 x MG
1 x AMS

Thing is, I expected a stupid and pointless troll mech that was good for lolz, but it actually was WAY better than anything I'd tried on it. Look for high heat mechs like the Cauldron Born, Stormcrow, Nova, etc and hit them with the flamer for a few seconds. If you can catch one away from their teammates they'll shut down and you can stand behind them and MG kill them from behind. Great fun!

EDIT: Went with the max engine as well.

Edited by Voivode, 16 March 2016 - 09:51 AM.

[Kyynele]

Nik Reaper, on 16 March 2016 - 09:39 AM, said:

Well, try everything out and see what fits, but MGs are useful in the later parts of the match and as you will not be brawling and doing the circle dance of death ( until the end ) you might find that you will not benefit of a max size engine all that often.

Well, max size engine affects all movement, acceleration, twisting and so on, so I'd argue it's always beneficial, whereas machine guns are only useful if a match proceeds to a point where there are broken enemy mechs left to clean up.

YMMV.

[Eaerie]

instead of a LPL try using a ERLL or just a LL if you want to keep the MG's and a big engine.

[B L O O D W I T C H]

SDR-5K

Try this.
Hang back the first half of the game, harrass or assist but try to not take damage.
At the later half (or last 1/4, 1/5 of the game), you go infighting and critseeking with the MG array.
A fresh 5K with MG is a hell lot of tun to play at the end of a match.

The XL-255 is a good engine, you'll need one for the 5D anyways (or a lot of other mechs).

[mad kat]

Yep what's already been said stick in an ERLL and four machineguns with xl255. Also helps to have the level 5 cooldown module for the laser. Use those jumpjets to hop around your foe and the spider used to have the best hitboxes in game until the Artic Cheetah turned up and now the jenner iic too. As far as IS goes the Spider is still one of the best for survivability.

However power creep has pretty much rendered the spider as a late game mech as it simply doesn't have enough meaningful hardpoints to do any real damage to armour. So bring a target info gathering module if you can too to see the enemies weakspots to know where to concentrate your limited firepower.

I took mine out last night and after rejoining the game in the second half i was able to crit out an orion, strip and kill a hunchback and give a LRM jenner a hard time before he was stolen and most of that was from the machineguns. So moral is you come into your own late game. If you see a smoking mech go for him, the beauty of lights is you can pick and choose your fights and targets.

Edited by mad kat, 16 March 2016 - 10:32 AM.

[Rogue Jedi]

I found the 5K to be realy effective with this build
early in the game stay at range poking with the ERLL, just do not poke from the same spot more than twice.

As the game progresses and the enemy have taken damage close and use the Machine Guns to remove any unarmored components.

If you see the opportunity to get behind a lone assault Mech ^{(also works with many heavies)} do so, usualy it will have 10 or less rear armor, the ERLL does 8 damage, the 4 MGs do 3.2dps against armor, so within a second you will usualy be through the rear armor, occasionally you come up against someone sensible who has put a reasonable amount of armor on the back, but rarely enough to take your fire for 5 seconds, then you are onto internal structure, and even the biggest of Mechs are not likely to survive your damage output for 10 seconds, I have killed 100 ton Mechs from fresh inside 5 seconds many times with that sort of build, just make sure to stay behind the target.
It is best to do that when the enemy is firing at something because they are less likely to notice the damage indicators.

Edited by Rogue Jedi, 16 March 2016 - 11:42 AM.

[Nik Reaper]

Kyynele, on 16 March 2016 - 10:11 AM, said:

Well, max size engine affects all movement, acceleration, twisting and so on, so I'd argue it's always beneficial, whereas machine guns are only useful if a match proceeds to a point where there are broken enemy mechs left to clean up.

YMMV.

True, but after the 150 kph rated engine you really don't need/use the slightly faster twist rate and accel/deaccel but the mech is in dire need of DPS and you really have no other option sept the MGs , so in the ideal situation of getting behind an assault the doesn't know you are there I'd always go for more firepower to the back rather than an extra 10% speed and who knows how much of those extra stats.

[JC Daxion]

Rogue Jedi, on 16 March 2016 - 11:39 AM, said:

I found the 5K to be realy effective with this build

I do something very similar http://mwo.smurfy-ne...fb907f21a666f47


If you really wan't to go with the large pulse build, i say skip the machine guns, and add more JJ's, and bump the engine. with only one JJ' the spider looses a ton of it's maneuverability, Id' day do this instead. http://mwo.smurfy-ne...c38dc6f2bbfe903


if you want a 4 machine gun + Large pulse, go with the Cicada 3C instead, 1 JJ in a spider helps a bit, but to me it just seams wrong. Use a mech for it's strengths right? The cicada 3C, is almost as fast as the spider pulse machine gun build, But has a good amount more armor, and carries much more ammo. For me if mechs are so wrecked late game that 1 ton will work, you could of just used your energy weapon a few more times. 4 machine guns running for a match, really takes 2 tons, if not 2 1/2, or even 3, for max carnage http://mwo.smurfy-ne...21a01c728b9b02e I prefer the bit more ammo, at the loss of a tiny bit of speed.

Edited by JC Daxion, 16 March 2016 - 02:34 PM.

[Flak Kannon]

I've seen some amazing play in this mech courtesy of Spriggan from Lords.

He just SLAYS in this mech. I think its 1 LPL, 4 MG build.


I see him, he becomes my priority target, I usually end in a smoldering heap at his feet. Ouch.



It's a very, very strong mech in the right hands...


Enjoi

Edited by Flak Kannon, 16 March 2016 - 02:37 PM.

[Bud Crue]

Treat it like a joke. Just have fun and raise hell. I'm serious. Only mech I intentionally rush the enemy with abandon in. Wait about 2 minutes (hardest part) once you know where the main enemy mass is, run through, drop an arty and and a UAV and run like hell (minimize jumping) if lucky one or more of the stupid reds will follow, taking them from the fight. Sometimes you die, but more often you just have a blast. If you survive the run, head away from the battle, then circle around and try to use those MGs (if you have em) to harass and if lucky steel some kills of opened up enemies. The real goal is to squirrel. Distract the enemy and get them to shoot at you with futility, as opposed to shooting more effectively at your slower team mates. More bad guys who focus on you the better.

I love my locusts, but spiders are just a blast. Its all in the mind set.

[Kyynele]

Nik Reaper, on 16 March 2016 - 11:41 AM, said:

True, but after the 150 kph rated engine you really don't need/use the slightly faster twist rate and accel/deaccel but the mech is in dire need of DPS and you really have no other option sept the MGs , so in the ideal situation of getting behind an assault the doesn't know you are there I'd always go for more firepower to the back rather than an extra 10% speed and who knows how much of those extra stats.

The OP is having problems performing with the mech, I would've assumed that it would be easier for him to completely forget risky maneuvers such as drilling assault mech backs, and instead just safely stay with his group and chip away enemies health with a fast, fast-firing, fast-relocating LPL machine. I believe it could be the easiest and safest way to get some decent results with the mech.

I also believe that all extra speed in light mechs translates into survivability, and can even translate into increased damage per match when you get into good positions faster.

Of course, if the assumption is that the mech will primarily be spending time in assault mech a**es, you do want to have the MGs.

[JC Daxion]

Flak Kannon, on 16 March 2016 - 02:35 PM, said:

I've seen some amazing play in this mech courtesy of Spriggan from Lords.

He just SLAYS in this mech. I think its 1 LPL, 4 MG build.


I see him, he becomes my priority target, I usually end in a smoldering heap at his feet. Ouch.



It's a very, very strong mech in the right hands...


Enjoi

would never say it couldnt work... just saying if it was me.. see above post

I always say.. no person has ever given me grief like a incredible spider pilot. The only thing is many moved on to better mechs.. or what they think is better. I kinda miss the good ol days, when a killer in a spider took down half your team Not cause they were OP.. but cause they were that good. I see the same people own in new mechs

[Rogue Jedi]

JC Daxion, on 16 March 2016 - 02:26 PM, said:

I do something very similar http://mwo.smurfy-ne...fb907f21a666f47

now I feel like an idiot, I looked at that build and could not see any difference to what I run so rechecked my build and saw I had half a ton free, so my build is identical to that, I had just failed to equip that last jet

[Burning2nd]

I run 1 ER large and 4 Mg

she does 113 shes a little bit slow... but she flys good...

now my ansisa is a little different, that thing is faster with less fire... but its relys on its quickness

[PigsinBlankets]

Thanks for all the help guys. I took it out again last night, just the LPL and I shoehorned in a 275xl , because I had one already. What a blast, some great matches, nothing spectacular but a regular 250-300 damage and more wins than losses, not a lot of kills but a lot of fun was had. I think the problem was I was getting in to close to fast with the ML and 4mgs. If you get sucked in to early, well you might occupy 5/6 enemy mechs for 30 seconds but it won't be much longer than that and if your team doesn't push exactly then it won't help anyone. With the LPL I sat back at 5-600m and took a few shots, then moved to another position and repeated. I only moved in towards the end once the big guys were all in each other's faces.
This mech is excellent on the new map, there are just so many places to poke from and so many ways get behind the enemy.
I really enjoyed it now - might have to keep it and not just master the 5d