39 replies to this topic

[Dee Eight]

The problem is buying for the new skill tree means buying by the basic mech specs alone and ignoring the present quirks, because one doesn't know what exactly will be in the trees for each mech.

[Jay Leon Hart]

Audacious Aubergine, on 25 December 2016 - 04:15 PM, said:

Truth be told, with the rescale I think a lot of the 35t lights (ie Firestarter, Wolfhound, Panther) aren't nearly as viable as they used to be

For me the Wolfhound and Firestarter are saved by having some, if not most, of their firepower torso mounted so you can lose and arm and keep fighting. The Panther can pack an SRM6 or 2 SRM4s in the CT and that's it if your arm gets blown off.

[Kuaron]

Dee Eight, on 25 December 2016 - 04:44 PM, said:

The problem is buying for the new skill tree means buying by the basic mech specs alone and ignoring the present quirks, because one doesn't know what exactly will be in the trees for each mech.

They will keep the quirks and rename them to "base skills" or sth.

Darian DelFord, on 25 December 2016 - 04:13 PM, said:

It will lose to just about every other light out there..... but like many here have said.... 2 PPC's and JJ's and it is a blast to play. It is a mech that I play when I just need to sit back and actually have fun and not worry about winning.

We were speaking about the 10P, not the Vindicator's ugly little brother.

[stealthraccoon]

The 10P seems to be one of those mechs with "personality" - it's difficult to be effective, but you're going to have a fun time trying. I also love toting an AC10 and an SRM2 for backup, don't get caught out in the open or get separated from the group.

[Kuaron]

Tried the "poor man's Huginn" loadout today, for two matches only. Not sure about it yet.
Tomorrow it be the LBX on legs.
Impressions will follow.

[A_Velociraptor]

TercieI, on 01 June 2016 - 09:02 AM, said:

Not a beginner's mech, not a dominant mech, but a stupidly fun mech that can be effective if you run it well. 3LL 9R and 2PPC 10K are both faves of mine. Can brawl decently with MPL/SRM too. Not fast but tanky hitboxes. Always protect the arm.

Why not run the 3LL on the 8Z due to the amazing quirks for the large lasers for both duration and cooldown. Or is the heatgen more appealing to you.

[Draslin Darkforge]

Not in quick play. This mech is absolute trash with puggles. Haven't bothered with it in FW yet, but I would definitely not advise anyone to buy this mech in any variant. Total buyer's remorse.

[v4skunk]

A_Velociraptor, on 03 March 2017 - 11:26 AM, said:

Why not run the 3LL on the 8Z due to the amazing quirks for the large lasers for both duration and cooldown. Or is the heatgen more appealing to you.

I found XL220, 2LL 1JJ and the rest double heatsinks to be much more effective than the 3LL build.

[A_Velociraptor]

If you have the cash to spare the Katana Kat hero is definitley the strongest Panther closely followed by the 10K. The reason i say it's teh strongest is because of the 40% PPC velocity, i believe this is the highest increase through base quirks correct me if I'm wrong. XL 250 2PPC 1 JJ is really strong on it with my current skills it fires them every 3.3s. the 10K is still the second best for PPC's though and a good choice if you don't wanna spend real money on a mech.

[zeta44]

I've piloted a panther since it first dropped, highly underrated mech, my advice is to get it up to at least 90Km/H and take an XL engine, it's a very XL friendly mech, in the skill tree invest in durability, refer deprivation, and mobility. In game pick engagements carefully, a panther can function as a great sniper and like lore functions well in urban combat.

Overall underrated mech that's very fun to pilot

[Koniving]

vanguard1997, on 01 June 2016 - 08:14 AM, said:

So, I just started out after the CW3 patch, picked myself up a Black Knight and am having a blast. Now, however, I am looking towards one of the lights. The one that really sticks out to me is the Panther, due to it's penchant for carrying the heavy energy weapons I'm more used to. I'm just curious if any of them are any good.

In Battletech tabletop it's awesome. In the Battletech PC game (where it looks the same as it does here), I love it. In MWO... it takes a LOT of skill (tree) to really enjoy it.

Personally I capitalized on Survival (the entire tree) and select elements of firepower with a huge focus on range, heat generation and firing rate. Also did some under Operations and Mobility.

The end result is pretty passable. In order for it to have the "Battletech" umph it should have you need twin PPCs. Might go with Snub (as opposed to standard), twin Light PPCs, or possibly a Heavy PPC to make sure you have either a good rate of fire or a high amount of firepower. I like to run Streaks, LRMs or MRMs for my missiles. Streaks as an anti-light. LRMs to get some damage even when I can't get close enough to fight. Or MRMs as a way of dealing with assault and heavy mechs for low heat after softening them with my PPCs.

Double heatsinks and endo steel are almost requirements. Can run well with STD, LFE or XL engines.

[AureliusDean]

I run my 10K(S) in a light support role, and I really enjoy it. My loadout is PPC, 2xssrm2, TAG, and dual AMS. I run a STD 170 in it, since I really feel I only have to keep up with the heavies. By going heavy on cooldowns, the streaks fire every 1.6 seconds, which is great for chasing away lights. It's goofy but I love it.

The hardpoint for the PPC is freakishly low though, I can see why people complain. I don't know how many times I've lined someone up, squeezed the trigger... and beheaded a groundhog. LOL

[Colonel Clunge]

AureliusDean, on 26 July 2017 - 06:50 AM, said:

I run my 10K(S) in a light support role, and I really enjoy it. My loadout is PPC, 2xssrm2, TAG, and dual AMS. I run a STD 170 in it, since I really feel I only have to keep up with the heavies. By going heavy on cooldowns, the streaks fire every 1.6 seconds, which is great for chasing away lights. It's goofy but I love it.

The hardpoint for the PPC is freakishly low though, I can see why people complain. I don't know how many times I've lined someone up, squeezed the trigger... and beheaded a groundhog. LOL

Yeah - why do they have to put them under the hand??? Surely they could put them in a more natural position above the hand like the Phoenix Hawk - would make a massive difference. Half the time I end up having to hop with my JJs to make sure I get a clear shot.

[juxstapo]

just now easing back into it, aside from no small amount of anxiety over lights suddenly being nonexistant, I've wondered how much life the new PPC selection has breathed into the PNT's.

because I'm enough of a lorewhore to not want to run them with anything else.

[yuujiroassistant]

juxstapo, on 15 August 2017 - 05:29 PM, said:

just now easing back into it, aside from no small amount of anxiety over lights suddenly being nonexistant, I've wondered how much life the new PPC selection has breathed into the PNT's.

because I'm enough of a lorewhore to not want to run them with anything else.

Panthers are useless right now. They are huge and have worse mobility than the dragon. All of their non ppc builds are done infinitely better by other chassis or just underweigh it.

As for ppcs, only the normal PPC and HPPC builds are any worth on it. the HPPCs are more of a joke than serious, but considering what a horrible place the panther is in now (vindicators are more useful) you might as well go for the HPPCs, which involves a very small xl engine and barely any armour. Did I mention the heat?

The ERPPC panther is too hot, there simply isn't enough space or weight to shove heatsinks. Just a reminder, external heatsinks are less effective than engine heatsinks, and the extra sinks you can add don't outweigh the speed loss OR the cooling rate than 10 edhs deliver. And 10 isn't enough for ERPPCs.

The SNPPC panther is useless because the SNPPC is already too hot for its job, is very low mounted on a chassis, no longer able to shield or aggressively chase like before due to engine decync, and is just generally massive. The alpha isn't scaring anyone off at such close range, and the DPS is abysmal.

[Ertur]

I do better in a PP Panther than a PPC Uziel. Which is more about how bad the Uziel is than how good the Panther is.

[Gogo and the crazy 88]

1xERPPC+3xERML / 1xHPPC+3ERSML <3

https://youtu.be/jAALG8PMbdw

[Tim East]

The Panther is an underrated classic. The one variant can poptart quite nicely with all the extra JJs you can mount, and another has the best PPC velocity quirk in the game iirc, which lets you do some absolutely ridiculous things after the IS ERPPC velocity buff. If you skill node for velocity, mount a TC8, and an ERPPC, you can get the fastest moving projectile in the game, and that's pretty funny. The fact that it outpaces even quirked and skilled gauss, and actually becomes hitreg unreliable at short range amused me to no end.

Don't treat it as a knife fighter and you'll do fine.

[Koniving]

Colonel Clunge, on 15 August 2017 - 06:09 AM, said:

Yeah - why do they have to put them under the hand??? Surely they could put them in a more natural position above the hand like the Phoenix Hawk - would make a massive difference. Half the time I end up having to hop with my JJs to make sure I get a clear shot.

The ones from Battletech carry them that way. The main thing is typically, PPCs are too big for most 30 to 35 tonners to carry in lore. The Panther got around this by having the massive barrel shortened and some other stuff that I'll look up and get into later.

----------

Far as the original question.
They get hefty armor quirks because they are among the most armored lights... and slower than dog poop being carried by snails. Decent hitboxes.

[stealthraccoon]

Dual SNPPC is a bunch of fun if you play bodyguard with the heavies. Nearly cooked myself to death because I couldn’t stop shooting a king crab and a whale that insisted on ignoring me.