31 replies to this topic

[Bombast]

Twas just wondering what people thought about the mechs currently on sale, and seeing as it's almost over and I haven't seen a thread on it, I thought why not ask?

Specifically, I was wondering what IS mechs may be worth purchasing (Besides the Catapult), but remarks on clan mechs are welcome as well. Also, any of these heroes a 'must have?' Doesn't seem to be any, but figured there may be a hidden gem in there. Any variants in particular worth it?

For reference...

Catapult
Raven
Cicada
Catafract
Stalker
Locust
King Crab
Marauder
Crab

Timber Wolf
Addar
Diashi
Kit Fox
Nova
Stormcrow
Warhawk
Mad Dog
Ebon Jagar
Jenner IIC
Viper
Shadow Cat

Edited by Bombast, 01 February 2017 - 04:13 PM.

[RestosIII]

The Adder is, and probably always will be, the best light mech IMO. That adorable little gunboat is perfect.

Anyways, on the IS side, I'm a huge Marauder fan. Tanky as hell while still putting out great damage. Haven't piloted it in over half a year though, so my love for it might be a bit out of date.

[Bud Crue]

Can only speak to the IS.
Comments in same order as the OP list.

Ravens are probably the least harmed of the 35 ton IS mechs post rescale, but the Huggin is still a shadow of its former self.

Cicadas are great and if played smart are worth more than their tonnage suggests. As to the hero the X5 never really clicked with me.

Cataphract is still at best mostly "meh" even with the extra armor boost it got last patch. The Illya however is imho one of the most fun mechs in the game running 3LBX. That sound... Still be prepared to shoot a lot of terrain with the low hard points of most variants. Avoid the 4X.

Stalker. Tough, though not nearly the beast it was in the 4N heyday of early 2015, still viable. Misery is still a great brawler.

Locust 1E, M and PB are probably the most exhilarating/fun mechs in the game. No greater pains in the a55 in the game.

King Crab is the only one on your list I don't have, so no comment.

Marauder is great. All the variants offer something, lots of variety of builds. BH2 is one of best laser boats in the game (4 medium lasers with those quirks are perfect with 3LPLs though I admit I don't run mine that way), plus it can jump.

I love the Crabs, especially the SL. 3LPL and a couple of jump jets...lot a fun. 5MPL and biggest std you can fit...tough as heck. A 12 man of Crabs is one experience everyone must try some time. Just so much fun.

[RestosIII]

Bud Crue, on 01 February 2017 - 09:51 AM, said:

Marauder is great. All the variants offer something, lots of variety of builds. BH2 is one of best laser boats in the game (4 medium lasers with those quirks are perfect with 3LPLs though I admit I don't run mine that way), plus it can jump.

BH2 is best IMHO with 6 MLas, a STD engine, and an AC/20. Knock knock, *******.

[Bud Crue]

RestosIII, on 01 February 2017 - 09:52 AM, said:

BH2 is best IMHO with 6 MLas, a STD engine, and an AC/20. Knock knock, *******.

Yup.
I ran mine originally that way as well, and found I over heated way to often (lack of trigger discipline. Meh. Ima terribad). I dropped it down to an AC/10 and it is now one of my best performing heavies. I think I have gotten better at heat management of late...maybe time to drop a couple JJ and go back up to the 20.

On a different note: That green sheen of the default camo is always present under your paint no matter what color you apply. This lets you do some pretty striking paint jobs on the BH2 as well.

[Trollfeed]

Pretty much all of those IS mechs have some decent variants except cataphract, they're just junk. I would either go with cicada or crab if you don't have any, unless you dislike energy boats.

[The Lighthouse]

More expensive mech you buy, more cbill you save really. But here is my list, from best to worst (unlisted are not considerable). This is highly personalized opinion.

IS : Locust (though if you can/want a light mech), Marauder, Stalker, Cicada, Crab.

Clan : EBJ, Timber, Stormcrow, Maddog.


Other mechs are... meh... too specialized and too niche and/or just not fun.

Edited by The Lighthouse, 01 February 2017 - 10:10 AM.

[Bombast]

For the Cicada, Stalker, and Crab, what variants are suggested? Assuming I was only going to buy one (Hurray for no more rule of 3!)?

[The Lighthouse]

For Stalker, get 5S for godlike Large Pulse Laser power.

For Cicada, get 3M for ECM and ballastic.

For carb, 27SL for Pulse... or anything else really.

[Bud Crue]

Bombast, on 01 February 2017 - 10:17 AM, said:

For the Cicada, Stalker, and Crab, what variants are suggested? Assuming I was only going to buy one (Hurray for no more rule of 3!)?

For the Crab: The 27B for the 6 hard points, but I like the SL for the jumpjets. Crab is a mech where you don't want to twist and expose those giant STs. Being able to spread damage vertically helps a lot.

Stalker: Misery. 3LPL and an AC20 or 10. 4N with 6LL is great but a Battlemaster with 5ERLL is probably better.

Cicada: I think the 3M is with 2lpl or 2ppc and ecm is great. But even a uac5 and 3ml is fun too. Often ran it on last wave invasion matches when I still played CW. The 2B with XL300 and 5mpl is probably more "cicada like" though.

[Bombast]

Bud Crue, on 01 February 2017 - 10:28 AM, said:

Cicada: I think the 3M is with 2lpl or 2ppc and ecm is great. But even a uac5 and 3ml is fun too. Often ran it on last wave invasion matches when I still played CW. The 2B with XL300 and 5mpl is probably more "cicada like" though.

Would the 3M be a decent mech for training oneself to use PPCs?

[xTrident]

I bought a Maddog, Ebon Jag and Nova. Just one of each because of the upcoming skill tree change. So far I like the Maddog alright but love both the Ebon Jag and Nova. I swear the Ebon Jag... It was like hopping into an easy mode mech. I'm doing awesome damage, getting kills/assists etc.. Seemingly every match right now with it. The Nova is a bit tougher to use compared but I'm doing pretty damn well with also. I'm running ten medium lasers on it - stock was 12. I dropped two lasers and added heatsinks because it was way too hot. Runs much better for me and I love the damage and range clan mediums do.

The Maddog on the other hand I just changed up the loadout last night. Six SRM 6's and one LB-20X for a massive alpha, which is exactly why I did it. It's not the easiest mech to use and because of range constraints I don't tend to last very long when I finally do engage in battle - but It gets kills pretty good as well as KMDD's and if you can last any length of time with it you're close to breaking 500 damage with just a few shots.

If I had to recommend one - Ebon Jag all the way. Mech is amazing.

Edited by xTrident, 01 February 2017 - 10:36 AM.

[Deathlike]

Vipers are the only interesting option if you like "fat Lights".

[Trollfeed]

For cicada if you want ECM CDA-3M, if you want to fly it's CDA-3F, otherwise it's CDA-2B with it's ludicrous -20% energy heat gen and 20% energy cooldown.

For crabs its CRB-27B for most firpower or CRB-27SL for most mobility. Sadly both jumping cicada and crab comes bundled with unoptimally sized XL engines.

Only experience I have with stalkers is STK-4N, which is very vicious with 6xLL due to it's quirks, high hardpoints and cone shaped nose for wiggling damage.

[xTrident]

Bud Crue, on 01 February 2017 - 10:28 AM, said:

For the Crab: The 27B for the 6 hard points, but I like the SL for the jumpjets. Crab is a mech where you don't want to twist and expose those giant STs. Being able to spread damage vertically helps a lot.

Stalker: Misery. 3LPL and an AC20 or 10. 4N with 6LL is great but a Battlemaster with 5ERLL is probably better.

Cicada: I think the 3M is with 2lpl or 2ppc and ecm is great. But even a uac5 and 3ml is fun too. Often ran it on last wave invasion matches when I still played CW. The 2B with XL300 and 5mpl is probably more "cicada like" though.

Crab 27B with three LPL is a great DPS mech. And IS LPL do great damage and the duration isn't as long as clan.

[The Lighthouse]

Bombast, on 01 February 2017 - 10:29 AM, said:

Would the 3M be a decent mech for training oneself to use PPCs?

Cicada is... well, borrowing Deathlike's word, "fat Lights." It's a medium mech playing like light mechs.

Yeah, you can certainly put ppcs and enjoy, but Cicadas in general are meant to have max XL engine and moving nonstop.


Plus : Right now my 3M setup is like just ECM, 4 MPL and XL340. Not much firepower but it moves 148kph. Only very slightly bigger than Jenner, but far more armor so you don't die instantly if you make single mistake at least.

Edited by The Lighthouse, 01 February 2017 - 10:37 AM.

[Bud Crue]

Bombast, on 01 February 2017 - 10:29 AM, said:

Would the 3M be a decent mech for training oneself to use PPCs?

Run and gun, sure...but you better run. Keep in mind the default is the lower mounts. If you are going to do a dedicated PPC build I think I would go with a 3F (is that for sale?). But probably should get a second opinion from someone good, as I put PPCs on everything (including the Crab SL with 2 ERPPCs and 2smpl).

xTrident, on 01 February 2017 - 10:33 AM, said:

Crab 27B with three LPL is a great DPS mech. And IS LPL do great damage and the duration isn't as long as clan.

Yup, but I do the 3lpl on the SL for the quirk and for the jj.

[Trollfeed]

Bud Crue, on 01 February 2017 - 10:36 AM, said:

Run and gun, sure...but you better run. Keep in mind the default is the lower mounts. If you are going to do a dedicated PPC build I think I would go with a 3F (is that for sale?). But probably should get a second opinion from someone good, as I put PPCs on everything (including the Crab SL with 2 ERPPCs and 2smpl).



Yup, but I do the 3lpl on the SL for the quirk and for the jj.

That's a hard question, 3F can mount both PPCs on same side and poptart, while 3M is more safe against lurms which are problem because with double PPC cicada will go around 110-120kph so those missiles will eat your legs.

[Bombast]

Bud Crue, on 01 February 2017 - 10:36 AM, said:

(is that for sale?)

Everything with chicken legs is on sale.

So, what I'm seeing so far is...

Cicada
CDA-3M (Leader?)
CDA-2B
CDA-3F

Crab
CRB-27B (Leader?)
CRB-27L

Stalker
STK-4N

[xTrident]

Oh, Bombast - I just mentioned the three I bought - I do own Timbies and Scats. They're both great mechs as well. Everyone says how wonderful the Timberwolves are, and I don't disagree but I think the Ebon Jag, at least for me, is better. As for the Scat, I don't know your play style but if you like snipe I don't know that it gets much better than Shadow Cat. Two large pulse lasers, or two ER larges combined with incredible jump distance, great speed for a medium + masc AND ECM!!! It's a lot of fun to poke the enemy team. The biggest downfall of the Scat for me is I feel like I don't do enough. I'm not up in the battle helping take damage and either two laser build really isn't that much fire power. The Scat simply can't take much damage from my experience and it's even worse if the enemy team focus fires your weapons. Add to that the lack of damage you dish out... I like to be shooting the enemy a while before my team engages so I feel like I've really helped them.