25 replies to this topic

[Darth Hotz]

Excelsior!

To get the ecm Stalker from the customer appreciation I need to buy another mechpack. I dont have any Marauders and think of buying them, or buy the Bushwacker pack, without knowing how they will perform.

So, whats your call? Marauder or Bushwacker to get the ecm Stalker?

[MeiSooHaityu]

Darth Hotz, on 13 October 2016 - 06:38 AM, said:

Excelsior!

To get the ecm Stalker from the customer appreciation I need to buy another mechpack. I dont have any Marauders and think of buying them, or buy the Bushwacker pack, without knowing how they will perform.

So, whats your call? Marauder or Bushwacker to get the ecm Stalker?

Well, the Marauder is a known entity. It is a solid Heavy, somewhere in the middle of the pack of heavies. I like mine and played them quite frequently.

The Bushwacker is honestly anyone's guess. It seems like it would have Crab-like hitboxes which could be ok.

I think I personally would go Marauder as it is a 75 ton heavy and it's performance is known and you would know what to expect.

Edited by MeiSooHaityu, 13 October 2016 - 06:45 AM.

[N a p e s]

The Marauder is indeed a great mech and one that has been reviewed plenty already. That's an advantage if you don't feel like taking the gamble on the Bushwacker.

On the other hand, if you know the kind of mechs you like to pilot and the Marauder doesn't fit the bill you may be better served by taking the leap of faith and going with the unreleased mech.

How much do you like heavies? How about mediums and specifically, Shadowhawks? I mention these because hardpoint-wise the Bushwacker looks pretty similar, lots of variety between ballistics, energy and missiles on each chassis.

I'm a mostly medium mech pilot but I like the Marauder enough to recommend it.

[Y E O N N E]

Marauder.

It is a solid performer, even after its nerfs, but don't expect a Warhammer out of it. It plays differently.

[The Lobsters]

My guess is that the Bushwacker will be the IS Stormcrow. I think that is something to get excited about. Also, the coming iic Marauder may well steal the IS versions thunder.

Then again, The Marauder is a solid mech with good quirks.

[lagartx3]

But... the marauders are out for C-bills, how do you feel about the cyclops???

[Aggravated Assault Mech]

I'd spend my money on the Bushwacker, but I'd spend someone elses money on the Marauder. The Marauder is a solid mech. Nice hitboxes and a variety of builds.

Pretty hard to recommend Bushwacker without more information. Three issues:

-IS medium disease. Most variants are ballistic reliant however the weight category makes it difficult to mount a substantial armament, especially in comparison to the Nova/SC/HBKIIC.

-With such a big long torso you probably won't be able to XL assuming it's scaled as large as other 55 ton mechs. Ultimately this means you'll be stuck with the same sort of armament/speed balance as a Shadowhawk or Wolverine. Upside is that you might be able to play it like a mini-misery especially if it has good torso twist characteristics.

-Then you have the fact that it's very likely that most of the mounts will be quite low on the mech. The only guaranteed high mount will be the LT missile hardpoint. The bright side is that torso ballistics will probably be to either side of the CT energy hardpoint, meaning nice tight convergence relatively close to cockpit level.

Bushwacker is going to be too reliant on good hitboxes, mounts, and perks. Personally though it hits all the right nostalgia chords, and that's why I'd get it.

[Tordin]

Get the mech for the mech class you like the most.
Medium or Heavy?

Medium and Heavy mechs are in the middle ground of the classes.. kinda.
Mediums favor a little more speed than firepower, while the heavies favor a bit more firepower over speed. Assaults and Lights are the extreme ends, all firepower and all speed.

I like the marauders alot, a though and hardy comrade to pilot. Cant wait to see how the IIc version will play out in comparison since it will be an assault.
The Bushwacker are a nostalgia mech, but seems to have pretty nice setup for becoming a deadly medium mech. Promising. But still unclear how it will compete with the other 55 tonner. And theres an oversaturation of 55 tonner, at least on the IS side.

[Gas Guzzler]

I still think the MAD-3R nerfs were unfounded. The 3 AC5 build was pretty solid, but it wasn't THAT good. And... you can buy a Marauder for C-bills...

[Y E O N N E]

Gas Guzzler, on 13 October 2016 - 10:16 AM, said:

I still think the MAD-3R nerfs were unfounded. The 3 AC5 build was pretty solid, but it wasn't THAT good. And... you can buy a Marauder for C-bills...

All of the Marauder nerfs were unfounded.

The 3R was never really impressive and could have definitely used a buff to ballistics rate of fire, if anything.

The 5M is a similar story, but PGI could differentiate it by giving it Legend Killer levels of LB-10X quirks and some laser range.

The 5D was entirely dependent on its missile rate of fire and original agility, and it lost both. To really make this one shine, a MedLas duration quirk in conjunction with better agility and another 5% to the missile cool-down are in order.

All of the Marauders except the 5M should have some form of PPC quirks. It is as iconic with PPCs as the Warhammer, and I find it insulting that the latter was so heavily quirked relative to the former.

[0bsidion]

Darth Hotz, on 13 October 2016 - 06:38 AM, said:

Excelsior!

To get the ecm Stalker from the customer appreciation I need to buy another mechpack. I dont have any Marauders and think of buying them, or buy the Bushwacker pack, without knowing how they will perform.

So, whats your call? Marauder or Bushwacker to get the ecm Stalker?

I'd say buy the MAD-3R for C-bills and play around with it, because that'll be the (S) variant you're spending money on. Even unbasiced you can still get a decent feel for a mech.

That said, I've had a pretty decent experience with my MADs, with their quirks they are fairly tanky. With torso twisting you can stand a fair amount of attention even using an XL. There are better mechs out there but MADs can definitely hold their own.

Bushwacker looks fairly solid on paper but as a few others have mentioned until it's battle tested we don't know how the whole hitboxes thing will play out in the field. It's probably going to have decent convergence for the ST weapons though, which will make hitting single components easier.

Anyway, you could do worse than the MAD for certain.

[The Lobsters]

Tordin, on 13 October 2016 - 10:11 AM, said:

Promising. But still unclear how it will compete with the other 55 tonner. And theres an oversaturation of 55 tonner, at least on the IS side.

Good point. It will be the only non-humanoid IS 55 tonner mind, which is a big selling point for me. I'm hoping it does have some Crab-like qualities hit box wise. When you run a standard engine the ST's are great for rolling damage and when you run an XL the ST profiles are pretty slim when you face front.

It has a decent amount of torso hard points too so you can strip the arms for the win.

Edited by The Lobsters, 13 October 2016 - 12:20 PM.

[Mole]

Well, if you're going to go with Marauder I'm going to give you the build that I've fallen in love with: MAD-5M

You can uh... lose the machine gun and its associated ammo for an extra heat sink if you don't share my OCD desire to have all weapon hardpoints filled on your 'mechs.

[JIMMYJAMM]

Marauder!

[JC Daxion]

i was in the same boat.. But i may just get resistance II, because of 2 months premium, and 36 colors, and 4 +30% c-bill mechs and all 6 faction camo's for each of the 4 mechs. So while it is 40 dollars more than buying one collector package, you get far more than 40 dollars worth of stuff, if that stuff is worth it to you. Just the bays and premium alone is worth that, and 36 colors, is worth over 100 bucks,, over 50 even if on sale, if paint is something you like.

as for the packs, I was learning towards Cyclops for the simple fact it's an assault, and the most bang for your buck as far as cost to buy the others with c-bills in the future. People say it's pretty decent..

Edited by JC Daxion, 13 October 2016 - 04:50 PM.

[Captain Stiffy]

Don't get any of them just for the stalker.

"This Stalker Loyalty Variant will only be available through the 2016 Top-Tier Inner Sphere Collection Reward program. The Standard version of this Stalker variant will be available for MC and C-Bills at a future date, to be determined."

Edited by Captain Stiffy, 13 October 2016 - 11:41 PM.

[627]

Why not both? get the Marauder for cbills and the bushy as a pack.

[Xetelian]

I thought the deadline for purchases to count was way back on the 8th?

[Vellron2005]

Darth Hotz, on 13 October 2016 - 06:38 AM, said:

Excelsior!

To get the ecm Stalker from the customer appreciation I need to buy another mechpack. I dont have any Marauders and think of buying them, or buy the Bushwacker pack, without knowing how they will perform.

So, whats your call? Marauder or Bushwacker to get the ecm Stalker?

Bushwhacker.. You can always get the Marauder for cbills.. Or get the Maraduer IIC..

[Cabusha3]

I vote Marauder. It's a solid heavy, and my fav 75 tonner.

I suspect the Bushwhacker will be crappy. Basically an Ebon Jag profile but 10 tons lighter, and no clan XL to make up for the poor hitboxes.