Quicksilver Kalasa, on 03 June 2017 - 02:23 PM, said:
For the most part, you are correct. The only exception is the 2 Gauss/2 ERPPC MAD-IIC (Gauss in LT, ERPPCs in the RA). That said, going full asym is stupid because of how easy it is to rip a side off if you get wrapped around on.
Personally, I wouldn't call that an exception; I take out its RT (ballistics are always RT on both Clan and IS MAD) and I've removed 60% of its PPFLD and chopped it down to extra slow and left its hottest weapons intact with a stiff heat penalty. At that point, I'd be more worried about whatever else is baring down on me and re-prioritize accordingly.
And this is extra easy because cGauss goes boom 100% of the time and he's got two in one torso.
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I was specifically talking about maps like Caustic (where you won't be using ERLL boats). Quad Gauss Kodiak is definitely a niche build but Caustic just happens to be one of those maps.
Off-topic, but believe you me you can run an ERLL Dragon 1C on Caustic and hardly notice the difference from running it on Polar. It's a boat, but it's a boat of three and uses rapid fire to do what you needed 5x ERLL to do with a Grasshopper, and it has one more DHS in the mix, too. The at-range DPS is phenomenal even on hot maps, and it's all essentially guaranteed to be on-target. Easy mode.
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Depends on whether that power position covers enough of the map. EmP had a power position on Tourmaline in the semi-finals, but it didn't have map coverage, it was specifically to deal with heavy handed E4 pushes and fighting stage.
And they hardly moved out of it unless the fighting was essentially concluded. When they did otherwise, the weakness of slow, immobile 'Mechs used for power positioning was revealed as they got poked to death over time or you guys got better positions because it took them
forever to get out of their initial placement.
Still wondering why the hell so many teams tried to push up E4, especially when they got their arses handed to them in Round 1. Actually, I blame the lobby revealing lance disposition and comp players generally knowing who specializes in what class for that.
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And the Whale fails to be good at that because it just doesn't have the reach anymore to appropriately cover it and hasn't for a long time. Range is important, that's part of the reason Proton used the Quad Gauss Kodiak in the first place on tourmaline (Gauss still had x3 max range then).
I have not been advocating the DWF as a Power Position 'Mech, I have been trying to say that everything big and slow gets **** on by fast and bursty unless the range is at 600 meters or less, because projectile lag and inability to juke.
What I
have been trying to say about the DWF, though, is that it is a phenomenal bushwhacker. You can't full engage with one inside a 500 m radius of where you are trying to be without immediately losing one of your heavier 'Mechs, and the lighter ones do not require anything but the Gauss to manage. If the enemy DWFs know what they are doing, they will not use the full burn until one of your valuable 'Mechs presents itself...and then it will die without a whole lot you can do about it.
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Not on those maps, those maps definitely side more with push decks than any sort of range deck (and the Whale can't really push).
How so? You've got no covered approaches that don't terminate in kill boxes.
Also, the DWF isn't pushing; the DWF is getting pushed into. You've already chosen to commit and they've set up to receive in such a way where you can only begin shooting when you are within Optimum Whaling Range. Are you still going to crest knowing that your first 'Mech in is a dead-man-walking, knowing that it's going to be a 7v8 fight and that you have at best 14 seconds, possibly zero, to turn the tables before the next volley takes out another man? I don't think so.
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FW also has stupidly broken maps where they force you through meat grinders so those aren't really great examples to begin with. Not really sure I'd waste tonnage on a whale in FW to begin with, MAD-IIC is much more efficient for the tonnage.
Mining forces you through a meat grinder.
Canyon forces you through a meat grinder.
Tourmaline forces you through a meat grinder.
HPG forces you through a meat grinder.
FW maps are bad because the nature of the game mode compels you forward; you don't have the option to trade the enemy due to the clock and default win for the defenders. QP maps, however, are just as guilty. The fact that power-positioning works at all is the proof, because the entire goal of power positioning is to
create a meat grinder. The same problem exists with Domination. If it weren't for that clock, attackers could poke all day long at the defenders and the team with the better builds and better pilots would win.
The difference between FW and QP maps, however, is that FW sets the grinders up mostly at mid range due to the gates and the hills, not long range. Too many obstructions for long range on Sulfurous, Hellbore, Portico, Emerald, and Vitric. That's why the DWF works there. If you are running a brawl push deck on a QP map, though, you aren't fighting at long range, now are you? A team that built its strat around a DWF is, similarly, not going to try to fight you at long range. They are going to bait you into committing, keeping the DWF in their back pocket, and then pop them out to dismantle your most important 'Mechs before they can contribute. You'll have to try to wear them down before you can actually push or it's going to be a struggle, and doing that means you are not doing the push strat you espoused. It's now a trading strat.
FW is not actually about the tonnage. FW is simply about getting a better team KDR. If you are trying to give yourself the highest median armor per wave, you don't take any assaults at all. But if you want to be able to kill multiple waves of IS assaults with one of your own waves, then you do. Even with the IS having so many Assaults, their reliance on XLs in broad shoulders gives the 30% more firepower that the DWF has over the MAD-IIC some real value on defense.
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HBK-IIC-As do better on Plexus, but Night Gyrs don't (generally NGRs are used for as overwatch for pushes because of their DPS, not their jumps). The typical engagement range between the two hills is too long for the NGR. Then again, it depends on the strat, for pushes you won't see the HBK-IIC-As, you will more than likely see Novas or laser vomit HBK-IIC-As. The meta has started to shift away from poptarts somewhat.
The meta has shifted away from pop-tarts because the 'Mechs that can volley 50 PPFLD have been brought down to Earth and that ultra minimized exposure is no longer the most valuable resource. But anything big and slow that has to stay exposed to be useful is still vulnerable to them, and it's handy to keep at least one on hand for mid-long maps.
Trading between hills on Plexus doesn't sound like a predominantly push play-style to me. It sounds like a stupid waste of armor if you know the enemy is going to eventually commit or something entirely different from push. I don't count the typical clean-up push as a "push strat."
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