41 replies to this topic

[Vellron2005]

I find the Linebacker to be quite fun, altho slightly underpowered in terms of weapons for a heavy..

I consider it to be a medium with the armor of a heavy..

It's speed is it's best feature, and I find that if I play it in standard LRM+Medium Lasers combo, it works well and gets me plenty of kills and damage.

I find it most useful in FP matches other than Siedge, when I need to get to the front line quickly.

It's not a frontline mech, more of a hit&run support..

[Cabusha]

Basically, they're a Clan Dragon. Fast, Heavy Striker. With all the good and bad that brings. They're a very fun mech, but not really meta.

Edited by Cabusha, 29 March 2017 - 11:54 PM.

[lazytopaz]

I've bought some time ago a Linebacker but I find awkward the fact that I'm not gonna be able to make a proper laser vomit brawler without dishing out real cash for Redline hero to get that RT with 3E hardpoints :/

[Anjian]

Personally I see a lot of them online, at least during my online times, and I myself had been practicing on them before. The opening question kind of leaves me with question marks floating around my head.

[Kaveli]

i see them frequently. I've come to love my simple, yet boring, 6 ER MED build. runs cooler than you'd think and has good range for mid range poke and run.

[Paigan]

Juodas Varnas, on 29 March 2017 - 12:54 AM, said:

Really?
From my experience Linebackers are pretty popular.

Definitely see them every other match.

Seriously... When was the last time you saw a Kintaro? Or a Trebuchet? Maybe a non-hero Commando?
THOSE mechs are not many around.
Linebackers are a plenty.

About every other match, jup.
Sometimes, it's even myself .

And the last time I saw a Kintaro ... was when I stumbled accross Juodas Varnas in a few consecutive matches .

[Peter2k]

I've been on a MWO break since beginning of January

I'm seeing Linebackers more or less regular, but more in Faction play
understandable there


what I've not seen a lot are Bushwaker

and not a single Supernova

[The Basilisk]

Linebackers are good as long as you go versus lurmerboys and movement anaphabetics.
The moment you encounter decent shoots with ppfld weapons you're quickly done for since most linebacker builds are so shortranged you're running around in the open.

Bushwalkers....well those got hyped a lot for beeing popular with the MW4Mercs fans.
I MWO they are one of those mechs that do what others have done since a long time and better.

Supernovas are scarce (due to ppls aversion to slow mechs) but surprisingly sturdy and potentially dangerous.

[fat4eyes]

I bought one for cibills because I thought it was going to be a tankier version of the stormcrow. It has more armor but the stormcrow has much better hitboxes, so it sort of evens out. Weapon-wise it's very similar to the stormcrow, and it's better at doing dual ppcs. It's not as good at srm boating, because your'e forced to put the srms in the arms which quickly get blown off while brawling. It's a heavy and since the heavy queue is perpetually overpopulated I don't take it out much anymore. It's one of those unfortunate middle of the road mechs: they do their job well enough, but there are other mechs that can do it at least as well for less tonnage.

[Gattsus]

I run a kintaro, but a trebuchet... Lolz

BTW, linebackers are kind tricky to hit you see them one second and then the next they are gone. To me, they are the artic cheetahs of the heavies, good speed, great hit boxes, nice loadouts. I fear them a bit more than the Timbergod because of the ability.

[BigBenn]

Oh, I think there are plenty of LB's out there. More than once and very recently I've been hit hard from a flank, turn to face the threat only to see a LB tearing away and out of the line of fire. LB's are mechs that NEED to be used correctly (utilize their speed to flank, reinforce, or plug line gaps), otherwise they are not being taken advantage of. If you're in a LB and being a front line mech trying to go toe to toe with other heavy or assault mechs while in a LB you're doing it wrong.

[Marquis De Lafayette]

A group of Linebackers running around in a Wolfpack on certain modes= can be scary good
A group of Linebackers forming a standard firing line on skirmish= not good at all

Used correctly it is a useful mech to have, but it's not close replacing the other Clan 65 tonners....which I understand is close to how it turned out in lore...ironically.

[FactsOfLife]

when my clan runs multiple linebackers with someone running ECM coverage, things get shredded from behind pretty regularly. most of us are running some form of SRM build with SPL backups and we call primaries religiously.

coordinate the push with us cannon balling into the backside and it's usually game over pretty quick. Linebackers' speed means we can be places the other side doesn't expect fast.

[Deathlike]

Linebackers are oddly more prominent than they should be.

I think it's the fact that you have to actually fight a super-fast brawling 65-tonner that makes them popular.

Just don't use it to snipe... because it's not exactly the best mech for trading (we already have HBK-IIC-A's for that).

If you're not brawling with it, you're doing it wrong.

[Barantor]

Gattsus, on 30 March 2017 - 04:03 AM, said:

I run a kintaro, but a trebuchet... Lolz

BTW, linebackers are kind tricky to hit you see them one second and then the next they are gone. To me, they are the artic cheetahs of the heavies, good speed, great hit boxes, nice loadouts. I fear them a bit more than the Timbergod because of the ability.

I run a trebuchet when I play, but I'm an oddball. Surprisingly sometimes you can have folks not know how to deal with you because they haven't fought many of them lol.

Linebacker seems like a good mobile heavy.

[Huginmunin]

I love my Linebacker. I don't have the Redline, so I just mount 5 cMPLs in the torsos. I use it three ways, if I'm doing it properly and being disciplined.

1. Use the speed to quickly close the distance to teammates in trouble and try to even up the odds. Very useful when someone is getting pecked to death by one or two lights.

2. Stab in and out of cover, getting behind Assaults, pecking away at convenient weak spots, chipping off missile pods on LRM boats, etc, then running away, finding another position, and starting again.

3. Find an Assault or a more heavily armed/slower Heavy buddy, drift along behind them, wait for them to engage, and then harass whoever they're fighting/"secure kills", even absorb some hits if my buddy shuts down or gets cored.

I had my best game last week. Slightly over 1000 damage, 4 kills, 6 assists, and the match came down to me (badly hurt) vs an Arctic Cheetah. I had just enough speed to mostly keep up with the Cheetah (obviously I'd have lost a straight race but I could stay with him wen he tried to turn and engage) and finally cored them.

I really don't care if it's not the best mech according to the meta (I'm certainly not the best pilot). I just like being about to zoom around and contribute to the fight then run away if I have to.

Edited by Huginmunin, 30 March 2017 - 10:57 AM.

[ChapeL]

I've been away since January ( I think ? ) Started playing again this week and I have yet to see a single Assassin, Bushwacker or Super Nova. ( or Huntsman for that matter, aside from mine ) On the other hand I ran into a few Linebackers already.

[Huginmunin]

ChapeL, on 30 March 2017 - 10:59 AM, said:

I've been away since January ( I think ? ) Started playing again this week and I have yet to see a single Assassin, Bushwacker or Super Nova. ( or Huntsman for that matter, aside from mine ) On the other hand I ran into a few Linebackers already.

Hunh. Bushwackers seem rare to me, but I see a few Assassins and a bunch of Supernovas around.

[LordNothing]

finished mastering all 5 of mine a couple days ago. stuck all the missile omnipods on one and ran 6 asrm4s, brutal build. another one with 5 mpls was also quite deadly. gauss + 5ersmalls, cerppc + 2erml + 2srm4, 4mpl + 3machineguns. its speed makes it excellent at poking. its good at hit and run, it can even outmaneuver assaults as if it were a medium. what it is not good at is tanking, it can kinda brawl in a fair fight, but hit and run is better.

[NRP]

I got Red Line, in anticipation of the elimination of the rule of three. Now I have about 70k XP on it and thinking about getting two more to master it.

I've heard people compare them to Dragons, but in my experience Linebackers are a hell of a lot more effective than Dragons. Linebackers provide probably the most clear example of how good speed and agility can make up for a lack of firepower. I really like them.