130 replies to this topic

[Dee Eight]

i think i'll downsize engine on the -1 and -1(S) models, to 375s or 350s and run them with different loadouts. I can see all the ERML swapping to MPL instead. same heat but 14.2% more damage. Maybe change the Ultra-20 for a gauss.

Edited by Dee Eight, 17 May 2016 - 04:21 PM.

[xXBagheeraXx]

Khobai, on 17 May 2016 - 04:13 PM, said:

youre doing it wrong then. with ES and FF you can pack 100% of the firepower of a dire wolf

direwolf doesnt have ES or FF... so the Kodiak with both is like playing a 108 ton mech

the only downside is you dont get as many crit slots for DHS so youre forced to rely more on lowheat ballistics than the direwolf

well that and the unreasonably oversized CT... but that will likely get fixed like it did with the dire wolf.

The issue becomes crit space and the fact tha tmost of your weapon weight will be Energy weapons....Clan energy boats are not that good due to the heat and face time, so i mix mine up with some gauss and SRMS....works very well as a mid range poke mech.

[Mechwarrior Buddah]

Bishop Steiner, on 17 May 2016 - 10:02 AM, said:

Still says maintenance on my end......

That said, I was not hugely impressed with the sneak peek last night.... Firepower was good, but they couldn't really take a hit. Time will tell how that translates to 12v12.

Brawling mech glass cannon... um something aint right here

[Bishop Steiner]

Mechwarrior Buddah, on 17 May 2016 - 05:13 PM, said:

Brawling mech glass cannon... um something aint right here

KDK-3 is the HBK-IICs 'Roid Ragin Big Brother..... and he's angry!!!

[Whaler]

The SB is my new fave mech. Even though I was on the loosing team I had a blast.

[Bishop Steiner]

KDK-4 Stink Bear

Dangit... now I gotta buy the reinforcements.....

Edited by Bishop Steiner, 17 May 2016 - 06:35 PM.

[Ivan Tsarevich]

I only have the funds to fully kit out two KBKs. Of the basic three and the SB, which ones are you all having most fun in?

[TheMadTypist]

Ivan Tsarevich, on 17 May 2016 - 06:45 PM, said:

I only have the funds to fully kit out two KBKs. Of the basic three and the SB, which ones are you all having most fun in?

The SB with the MASC is pretty amazing. bursts of speed above 80, fast accel/decel/twist. Big missile alpha, too. Your only limiting factor is range, really.

EDIT: forgot one more point in the SB's favor- Cbill boost means playing the build you make will outfit your other KDK's faster, too.

Edited by TheMadTypist, 17 May 2016 - 06:59 PM.

[Dee Eight]

I already found a nickname for my spirit bear after I died in one match (the team did win the match)...

Edited by Dee Eight, 17 May 2016 - 07:23 PM.

[Dee Eight]

I am also seeing a lot of people not bothering to tune their kodiaks at all and just running them stock... with the usual over heating results (especially the -1 variant). I had to just tell one guy over voip to LOCK the target so as to use the streak missiles. We lost that one... I had the high match/damage score of our side and my psr gave the equal symbol. The king crab quad zero got 4 kills and was second after me in score/damage. While we can all buy good mechs.... it doesn't mean everyone who buys them will be good players.

Edited by Dee Eight, 17 May 2016 - 07:35 PM.

[1453 R]

The Spirit Bear is every bit as satisfying as I figured it would be. It does not handle like a 100-ton machine, not with the native 400cXL and M.A.S.C., though any variant that retains the whole-shebang engine like that is going to run hot. My personal first stab at configuring it runs decidedly warm and is not overblessed with ammo...but great galloping Goddamn is it proving a blast to play. This is exactly the sort of "OH FROGBAWLZ" ultra-high impact, cluck-your-mama War Train I was hoping the Spirit Bear would be.

Provided, y'know, that you can handle what doesn't feel much better than Warhawk-level durability. Which, admittedly, is fair given the level of raw facepunchery involved, and given as my Warhawks are generally my favorite assault 'Mechs it's not too awful. Heh...I just tend to get in trouble when I slide into Mad Max-y "WITNESS ME!" behavior and charge the enemy full-tilt because my blood is up and my Bear is Hungry. That is a very real threat when one is piloting a Spirit Bear the way God intended it to be piloted. I swear I had to pinch myself when I saw someone Lurmboating with a Spirit Bear...that man so very...very nearly received a heavy alpha to his backplates and damn the blue-on-blue...

Anyways. The others are hundred-tonners. I've dickered around a bit with a KDK-3 armed with dual Gauss and dual Quack/10. It's got more shooting power than the Fifth Fleet, which is good because it feels like trying to steer a battleship in a robot fight. Not my choice of machines to be in most days, but a nifty change of pace from Stormcrows and such, I s'pose. There is something to be said for knowing you can win pretty much any one-on-one gunfight you can somehow force through. The KDK-3 has so much ballistic firepower, and even with a paltry 325 it has much better torso mobility and thus survivability than a Whale. On top of cockpit-level Gauss. It's pretty ridiculous. I can't foresee its quirks sticking around long, sadly.

Have not tried the others yet. Mostly because I've only got the basic pack plus Spirit Bear, and neither the KDK-1 nor KDK-2 are particularly exciting. There's almost a different-y sort of build out there for the KDK-2, maybe, but the Class I jump jets thing is very nearly a deal-breaker. And frankly, if I want mass energy spam in a Clan 'Mech in the assault bracket, I'd probably just grab a Gargoyle. Both 'Mechs are pretty much limited to banks of medium or medium pulse lasers, with maybe a cLPL or two to liven things up. Laser Vomit is the purvue of smaller, more maneuverable 'Mechs that can deal with the low overall DPS/pressure of a hot-*** build with no fallback weapons - the Kodiak is not a machine that can duck and weave and wend in and out of combat dumping laser salvos at things.

Even configured as a mixedy-armaments standoff machine instead of a straight-up Beamvomit or Beamvomit+ machine...well, this doesn't have that much more projection than my typical Warhawks, and it also carries LRMs in hardpoints that are really bad for LRMs. This is also sacrificing three of the nine energy hardpoints, and heat efficiency is still moose. I can't foresee the energy-centric Kodiaks competing with the godawful sprinting missile massacre-ing Slasher-Movie-Murder-Monster that is the Spirit Bear, or the Yamato-class Land Battleship KDK-3 and its utterly bus-tastic-ed ballistic mounts.

Which...basically means all the Kodiaks that aren't the SB or the 3. Poor suckers. Though at least Bishop's Stink Bear looks different enough to possibly be amuse even if I refuse to spend fifteen (more) bucks to do so. Stupid Reinforcements packs...

Edited by 1453 R, 17 May 2016 - 08:14 PM.