66 replies to this topic

[SlyJJ]

As the title suggests, you'd think the allure of being able to run dual AC20s could be seen in some way shape or form as an advantage (or at least fun), but this mech seems to be forever sidelined as a quickplay mech, never to be seen in group and never to be seen in faction play because with the weight it consumes, it just sucks too much.

Its one of the only mechs where torso twisting really has no effect, because no matter where your enemy shoots its practically guaranteed to hit a torso. Its arms are slung too low and the 80 points of armor given to them is practically useless.

Now sure, it can bring an impressive arsenal to the game (more than an Atlas) but it just dies way too quick. Compounding this is the godawful range given to the IS AC20, you're like a knifefighter trying to rush a gunfighter and you're blown to bits before you can even begin to enjoy those lovely cannons. At least with quad UACs you can reach out much further, but I think this firmly etches itself as the most underwhelming mech in the game. That's not to say the worst, but any 100 ton mech you would think as being imposing but the King Crab definitely isn't one because of its incredible fragility(given its weight). Its about as durable as a Jagermech despite eating up an extra 35 tons.

I wish there was a way to like this mech....

[RestosIII]

Honestly, if you're running dual AC/20's as IS, I always preferred BoomJagers/Riflemen.

[Johnny Z]

Now I want to take my King Crab out for a spin.

It is a bit heavy to include in a drop deck. It is also not an easy mode mech, its a challenge to do well in.

A great mech though and I have the MC ready for when a hero KC is available.

[SlyJJ]

RestosIII, on 17 January 2017 - 03:25 PM, said:

Honestly, if you're running dual AC/20's as IS, I always preferred BoomJagers/Riflemen.

I agree, but you would think that if youre given an extra 35 tons of weapons and armor it'd be good and not the trash that's the king crab...

[chucklesMuch]

As would I, slow mechs and quick play has been an... unrewarding experience. But it's been a while and I have two unmastered in my garage... so maybe it's time to try again...

Edited by chucklesMuch, 17 January 2017 - 03:42 PM.

[Bombast]

The King Crab has a bad case of 'Too Huge To Live.' Too big to dodge in, and too slow to quickly respond to battlefield changes. Combine that with dreadfully low ballistic hard points that are both poorly positioned to shield with, and yet also so massive that they're easy to focus if the enemy is feeling particularly cruel.

And it's just so ****ing huge.

I despise mine with a fiery passion. One can, of course, squeeze performance out of it, but honestly, I find it hard to see where the fun of it is. There's challenge, and then there's intentionally grinding your soul to dust.

[Metus regem]

Well there are a few ways to enjoy King Crabs, my personal preference is this one:




All jokes aside, I've had fun with these builds for my King Crab

KGC-000
KGC-000
KGC-000

[Bombast]

Metus regem, on 17 January 2017 - 03:44 PM, said:

Spoiler

[Tristan Winter]

It's kind of hard to balance these slow mechs properly for quick play, because the problem is often that you simply get abandoned and there's no way to deal with that except to make the mech powerful enough to solo 4 enemy mechs.

That being said, even in a 1v1 situation, the King Crab may be the worst of all 100 ton mechs right now. Maybe it would beat the Atlas on the right map, but even with 2xAC20, I don't really feel comfortable brawling with other assault mechs. The ghost heat means that I basically have to face hug a lot in order to maximize dps, and it's not really agile enough to stick and move either.

I guess a lot of people must be struggling with the King Crab these days, because I swear to God, the majority of them seem to neglect ballistics in order to run 3xLPL + 3xSRM6 or PPCs + SRMs.

[MacClearly]

Ahh, the joy that is the King Crab. Well solo queue in them for me has been very painful for the most part. Except for the rare game where you manage to get to the team and then the enemy pushes and it turns into a huge brawl... those times are glorious.

Sometimes communication helps as there are some light pilots especially who will go back and hang with a Krab. You also need prayer. This is essential along with proper map vote farming skills as polar badlands is just horrifying when in this beast. I think I have wept openly like a little girl once when it happened to me (have you ever seen a 6'6" 360lbs beast of a man weep like a girl before? Not pretty).

Whatever you do, just don't turn it into a lurm boat. It makes Jesus cry if you do that and I am pretty sure a puppy dies also.

So just breathe and be patient, do some yoga or other new wave crap folks do these days to appease their inner child, and wait. Glory will meet up with you one day and you will learn to live for that moment.

[BCAW]

Everything that needs to be said has already been said. If you want an in-your-face brawly IS assault, the Atlas is a much better choice. The Kingcrab is to the IS what the Dire Wolf is to the Clans. A slow, long-range bunker. I'd build it like this:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...a45573a4d680396

Exact the same speed as a Dire, bit lower on firepower, but pretty good for an IS mech. Do your best to not get left behind. Stay around 650 meters from the enemy and dump alphas into things. Downgrade the ER Larges to regular Larges if the heat is a bit too much.

Note: this build is also doable on the KGC-0000. Might even be better on the KGC-0000, forgot to check quirks.

Edited by BCAW, 17 January 2017 - 04:06 PM.

[Garfuncle]

PGI should consider removing the ghost heat on firing 2 ac20s. Don't see why not considering you can fire 2 guass rifles for 0 heat for vastly longer ranges at the cost of 10 damage.

[NighthawK1337]

It is the first mech I fell in love with. Love at first sight.
As with real life, physical appearances is not a good foundation for a special relationship *wink wink*. King Crabs are mediocre at best, but it can do the job. It'll lose to other 100 tonners except the poor old IS Highlanders. Just take it out if you want to have fun, otherwise use other assaults.

[Cupid and Psyche _]

The King Crab is deceptively bad.

[Dimento Graven]

Problems with the KGC:

1. Bad hitboxes. I have LITERALLY had an enemy directly in front of me fire weapons into my only to have them register on a rear torso. Getting hit in the front and having that damage register to the rear makes the 'mech INCREDIBLY more fragile than it should be.
2. HUGE CT. The KGC torsos have MORE surface area than an Atlas, but lack the Atlas's structure quirks, so that adds to the fragility. For whatever perverse reason, PGI gave structure quirks to the arms, but the hitboxes of the arms are located such that it's practically impossible to use those arms as a shield, that plus the fact that typically MOST of a KGC's more powerful weapons are going to be located in those arms doesn't make arm shielding ideal anyway.
3. Arm placement. The KGC is one of those 'mechs that's just damned bad at firing anything that's "too high" and anything that's "too low". You really feel this on maps like HPG Relay, where you try and shoot at someone peeking over the edge of a wall, but because gun placement is at the ankles, the flight path of the round inevitably smacks into the wall, underneath your target, YET AT THE VERY SAME TIME, if YOU are on top of said wall, trying to fire down at a target, chances are more than 50% that, again due to the arm's super low placement and stupid flight path of the round, you're going to shoot the f'ing floor. I have literally walked off the edge of a wall TRYING to get my guns to NOT hit the frickin' floor when firing at a target.
4. As mentioned in #2, lack of torso structure quirks. You really can't have 'mech this big, this slow and NOT give it structure quirks. Given the fact that any light 'mech boating a bunch of lasers/pulse lasers can typically shoot out the back of ANY 'mech in two shots, it is absolutely ridiculous to have an assault THIS weak.
5. Slow. My typical build in the KGC is dual ERLL/dual gauss, 6 tons of ammo, and the largest STD engine I can cram into it. Even then it becomes the "US Robotics Modem" of 'mechs, running at a speed of 56.6kph. Faster than the Direwolf, BUT, slower than most other assaults (especially Clan assaults). With the lack of a survivable ST loss XL, you're kind of stuck with being moderately armed 'glacier'.
6. Those f'ing side torso hit box dynamix. PGI's insistence that every f'ing weapon equipped has to change the shape of your 'mech means that if you load any weapons in the torsos, you've just INCREASED your hitbox issues. Yes, that's right, load up a weapon in the ST's and they get BIGGER. For most KGC's that means shoot them on the right side. If you take out the right torso you've probably eliminated 75% of his weapons (if he wasn't foolish enough to load an XL).

Other than that, I like the wide view cockpit screen, and the decent torso twisting movement.

Unfortunately PGI has long left this 'mech to moulder in the *** end of usability. Hence you'll note, there's been no real attempt at a Hero, much less Champion version of it...

Garfuncle, on 17 January 2017 - 04:23 PM, said:

PGI should consider removing the ghost heat on firing 2 ac20s. Don't see why not considering you can fire 2 guass rifles for 0 heat for vastly longer ranges at the cost of 10 damage.

Correction: You will generate 2 heat firing 2 gauss.

The gauss is NOT a zero heat weapon in this game. It's just a very low heat weapon.

Also given the SIGNIFICANT nerf to the gauss range, no one should be complaining about it any more.

[Garfuncle]

Another problem is the limitations of IS ballistic choices. 6 Ultra AC 2s would be nice. 2 Ultra AC 20's. Mix of ultra 5, ultra 2...

Rotary autocannons.

And hell, slot a LFE in there.

Edited by Garfuncle, 17 January 2017 - 04:34 PM.

[JediPanther]

I'm with the op. The only real lure of the kgc over the atlas is the fact it can do dual ac20. It really does suck that a mech that has dual 20s by default in a stock load out can't fire them at the same time sucks. Even with chain fire it doesn't help. I've got one kgc mastered, one basic-ed and need a third until they remove the rule of three.

I don't even run dual 20s on the K2 unles I'm in the troll solo q mode for a few drops. Slow firing and reloading ac 20 really gets me. The best builds I've ran with the kgc are lol builds like six mgs and 4 med pulses or dual lbxs and srm 6 x 2. Who knows how the mech will fair with the skill tree.

[The6thMessenger]

It's not so bad, it's very fragile but it's far from incapable. One solution i came up with is run XL360 in it -- yes it's pretty vulnerable that way, but at least you are fast enough to keep up with your team, and to run to cover from LRMs with ample firepower too.

After all, you are pretty much dead left alone to be hounded by the enemy in packs, so why not get the speed to get the means to actually do more damage?

[SlippnGriff]

Just don't run LRM's on it

also use macro crab as best crab

[mouser42]

kbc 000 with ultra ac 5's x4 or ac 2's x6 always makes me smile dakka dakka dakka dakka dakka

Edited by mouser42, 17 January 2017 - 07:54 PM.