9 replies to this topic

[Lupis Volk]

So with the event i've come into possession of two free mech bays. I'm looking for Dakka mechs to sate my thirst for dakka.

[godmonkey]

Jagermech (any), Rifleman (Any)

Night Gyr (Any)

Kodiak 3

[Audacious Aubergine]

Night Gyr but particularly the NTG-B, Hunchback IIC and IIC-C, Kodiak 3 or 4 (yes, the missile spam one has two ballistic hardpoints in the right torso and double UAC5 works for me) and also the Dakkawhale (Dire Wolf with -B side torsos and either the Prime arms or Ultraviolet if you wanna get pricey)

[Rogue Jedi]

godmonkey has already made some good sugestions for ok Mechs for balistics, but there are many more options including Kit Fox, Urbanmech, Spider 5K, Firestarter H and Ember, Raven, Blackjack, Shadow Cat, Hunchback, Hunchback IIC, Huntsman, Enforcer, Shadow Hawk, Helbringer, Ebon Jaguar, Catapult K2, Summoner, Warhammer, Cataphract, Marauder, Orion, Orion IIC, Timber Wolf, Victor, Mauler, Highlander, Executioner, Cyclops, Atlas, King Crab, Dire Wolf, Kodiak.

Those can all do well with balistics but it depends on what type of balistics you are looking for and what you want to do with them

To attempt to offer better sugestions what are you after?

Do you want something for Gauss, or do you prefer long range DPS like an AC2/AC5 or mid range with AC5/10 or a brawler with AC20.

Do you want Light, Medium, Heavy or Assualt ^{(yes, you can fit a Gauss or an AC20 to a Light Mech)}

Do you want to play harrasser, front line or second line Mech?

What is your order of preferance for, speed, durability, firepower?

[Lupis Volk]

Rogue Jedi, on 12 May 2017 - 03:00 AM, said:

godmonkey has already made some good sugestions for ok Mechs for balistics, but there are many more options including Kit Fox, Urbanmech, Spider 5K, Firestarter H and Ember, Raven, Blackjack, Shadow Cat, Hunchback, Hunchback IIC, Huntsman, Enforcer, Shadow Hawk, Helbringer, Ebon Jaguar, Catapult K2, Summoner, Warhammer, Cataphract, Marauder, Orion, Orion IIC, Timber Wolf, Victor, Mauler, Highlander, Executioner, Cyclops, Atlas, King Crab, Dire Wolf, Kodiak.

Those can all do well with balistics but it depends on what type of balistics you are looking for and what you want to do with them

To attempt to offer better sugestions what are you after?

Do you want something for Gauss, or do you prefer long range DPS like an AC2/AC5 or mid range with AC5/10 or a brawler with AC20.

Do you want Light, Medium, Heavy or Assualt ^{(yes, you can fit a Gauss or an AC20 to a Light Mech)}

Do you want to play harrasser, front line or second line Mech?

What is your order of preferance for, speed, durability, firepower?

Well everything but Gauss. Me and Gauss don't get along.

[Rogue Jedi]

Lupis Volk, on 12 May 2017 - 03:06 AM, said:

Well everything but Gauss. Me and Gauss don't get along.

ok, great, but any idea what you want to do, brawler, fire support, harrasser?
any idea what weight class?

I can give you pros and cons for dozens of Mechs but if I do not know your likes and dislikes I would be wasting my time.

I will list a few good Mechs for each role

Fast harrasser/skirmisher, using MGs and lasers to murder lone slow Mechs, or finish off damaged Mechs late game
LCT-1V, SDR-5K, FS9-H, FS9-E, Viper-M, CDA-2C, Blackjack Arrow

Harrasser, using heavy balistics maybe backed with lasers to harass the enemy
RVN-4X, PNT-10p, CDA-3M, Blackjack, Shadow Cat, Shadow Hawk, Dragon

Brawler, get in close, give and take a lot of damage
Hunchback, Hunchback IIC, Huntsman, Enforcer, Helbringer, Ebon Jaguar, Summoner, Warhammer, Marauder, Timber Wolf, Orion, Orion IIC, Night Gyr, Victor, Zeus, Mauler, Atlas, Kodiak

long range fire support/sniper
Kit Fox, Shadow Cat, Blackjack, Hunchback, Shadow Hawk, Ebon Jaguar, Jagermech, Catapult K2, Night Gyr, Marauder, Mauler, Highlander, Highlander IIC, Dire Wolf, King Crab

Edited by Rogue Jedi, 12 May 2017 - 03:24 AM.

[Lupis Volk]

Rogue Jedi, on 12 May 2017 - 03:22 AM, said:

ok, great, but any idea what you want to do, brawler, fire support, harrasser?
any idea what weight class?

I can give you pros and cons for dozens of Mechs but if I do not know your likes and dislikes I would be wasting my time.

I will list a few good Mechs for each role

Fast harrasser/skirmisher, using MGs and lasers to murder lone slow Mechs, or finish off damaged Mechs late game
LCT-1V, SDR-5K, FS9-H, FS9-E, Viper-M, CDA-2C

Harrasser, using heavy balistics maybe backed with lasers to harass the enemy
RVN-4X, PNT-10p, CDA-3M,Blackjack, Shadow Cat, Shadow Hawk, Dragon

Brawler, get in close, give and take a lot of damage
Hunchback, Hunchback IIC, Huntsman, Enforcer, Helbringer, Ebon Jaguar, Summoner, Warhammer, Marauder, Timber Wolf, Orion, Orion IIC, Night Gyr, Victor, Zeus, Mauler, Atlas, Kodiak

long range fire support/sniper
Kit Fox, Shadow Cat, Blackjack, Hunchback, Shadow Hawk, Ebon Jaguar, Jagermech, Catapult K2, Night Gyr, Marauder, Mauler, Highlander, Highlander IIC, Dire Wolf, King Crab

Well at this point all of the above is good enough, i has oodles of mechs many you've mentioned. Though fast harasser/skirmisher, harasser and brawler would be where i itch for.

Edited by Lupis Volk, 12 May 2017 - 03:25 AM.

[Rogue Jedi]

Skirmishers

Viper is my current favorate for the skirmisher role, it is fast, jumps better than any Mech except the CDA with jumpjets, can jump over almost any hill/wall to escape, can have 4 lasers + 4 MGs, (if you buy the Medusa hero Mech that goes up to 6E+4B)

Spider 5K can be significantly faster than Viper or Arctic Cheetah, 4B + 1E hardpoints mean you can pack in an ERLL or LPL with 4 machine guns, the Spider is more durable than the Viper despite being 10 tons lighter. this is still a good choice.

Firestarter Ember, until the Viper came out this was my best Mech for skirmishing, 4E + 4B means walk up behind a Stalker while it is distracted and it will often go down in less than 5 seconds, although this did suffer from the rescale it is still pretty effective.

Shadow Cat, 6B+2E hardpoints mean you can very effectively strip structure, with the available tonage the 2E would probably take ERPPC, LPL or ERLL

Blackjack Arrow, 6 MGs + 3 lasers makes for effective murdering of slow Mechs if you can get behind them, unfortunately this Mech is limited to the same speed as the Clan heavies.

Harassers

Kit Fox, it got its IS nickname of Uller because it mounts a Gauss Rifle on a common configuration, there is no reason you cannot swop out the Gauss for a 10 or 20 class AC

Koniving seems to love the RVN 4x with an AC20 and Jumpjets, to fit the AC20 you have to compromise on the engine but a Raven
with an AC20 is a nasty suprise and not what most would expect from a Raven.

Panther 10k, the only panther with B hardpoints is desighed to carry an AC20 with missiles, unfortunately there is not realy tonage for that loadout, but again not many people expect a light with a big AC

CDA-3M, 4 E+1B hardpoint, it comes with an UAC5 but you can put in an (LBX) AC10, or if you are willing to go standard engine an AC20, being a Cicada it can be pretty fast.

In battletech lore the Shadow Cat is well known for its configuration with a Gauss Rifle and 2 ERML, you do not like Gauss but there is no reason you cannot replace a Gauss with a 10 or 20 class Autocannon, the MASC makes poking in and out of cover to fire far faster than most other Mechs ^{(a Shadow Cat with MASC active accelerates/decelerates like a locust)}

Shadow Hawk's shoulder mounted B hardpoint on most varients allows you to mount 1 or more balistic in a high mount, it can jump and can mount upto a 360 engine for a base speed of well over 100kph, I do not like the comparitavely (next to HBK or GRF) narrow twist range, but you could have a mobile AC10/20 platform with missiles and/or lasers for backup depending on varient


Brawlers
Hunchback has 3 varients with Balistic hardpoints with 3-5 energy hardpoints, the 4G comes with an AC20, the 4H an AC10 and the Grid Iron a Gauss, the 4H has more energy hardpoints. Hunchback is a popular new player recomendation because of the low cost of outfitting, they work best with a standard engine, and the stock loadout only needs the upgrades. my recomendation for outfitting is usualy Endo, DHS, up engine to 250 or 275 then use any remaining tons to upgrade any SLs to MLs, and add ammo or heatsinks to taste

Hunchback IIC is less durable than the IS Hunchie but has access to the lighter Clan Balistics and the Clan XL engine, much like the IS varients you will probably want to up the engine to a 250+ and ensure it has all the upgrades, but this means you will probably need to reduce the armament, compaired to the IS Hunchie you are traiding durability for damage potential.

Ebon Jaguar has 28 tons available with max armor, you could fit in 2 AC20s or AC10s+ backup weapons, some people swear it is very durable but it always seemed realy fragile compaired to the other heavies I outfitted as brawlers.

Warhammer has several varients with B hardpoints in the torsos, combaine that with energy and missiles and you have a heavy able to wreck stuff, the warhammer is one of the best Mechs in the game at current.

Marauder, most varients have B hardpoints on the right shoulder, suitable for an AC20, AC10 or multiple LB10 or UAC5, the Marauder's shape makes it excel at spreading damage with minimal twisting, making it seem much more durable than the other heavies

Timber Wolf, what is there to say, the S and Prime torsos include B hardpoints, it can have plenty of energy weapons for backup, the major downside is that it has a reputation meaning many people will shoot a timber first regardless of the fact that by this point there are several other heavies which equil of exceed its combat capabilities.

Night Gyr, I have not piloted this as it is rather slow for a heavy but this thing has more payload space than any other Clan heavy omnimech.

Orion and Orion IIC, basicly mini atlases

Mauler, upto 6 B hardpoints, rather slow but devistating firepower

Atlas, probably the most durable Mech in the game ^{(Stalker may be more durable)} AC20+SRMs+lasers and impressive durability mean it outbrawls pretty much anything ^{(unless I am fighting one in a Griffin 3M in which case I almost always win for some reason)}

Kodiak, fast assualt Mech with varients able to take Jumpjets or MASC, as it is a Clan Battlemech it can be lethan, most popular is probably the 3, with 2 B in each side torso, famous for a 4 AC10 or 2 AC10 2 AC5 loadout

[slayerkdm]

I love my Hunchback G, but I think in the present environment, the AC20 is a tough role. Getting close early gets you demolished. I changed it recently to a Dakka 3x2AC and find it very fun to play. I had to use an XL engine, which is always a risk, but find because I play it at extreme range early in all matches, I can contribute early, and then still be effective late game with the AC's and lasers.

For pure dakka fun and effectiveness, I find the Clan Hunchback better, but less fun. I have tried several builds, but the Ultra 10's are really good, and why its a meta mech.

[Fox With A Shotgun]

IMO the gauss kitfox is much inferior to the 2 ERPPC one. The firepower on a single gauss is fairly anemic, and you're limited on ammo. Gauss is also heavy and fragile. Use UAC20 if you're going B on kitfox.