29 replies to this topic

[TheArisen]

As I'm sure you're all aware I'm super excited for the Nightstar. It looks great but what weapons to put on it?

[Y E O N N E]

NSR-9FC
- 350 LFE
- Endo
- 16x DHS
- 2x HPPC
- 1x Gauss

The meta build. We're going to see this a lot, unless HPPC get neutered to uselessness. You'll also see it with the smaller engine on the other variants.

NSR-9FC
- 350 XLE
- Endo
- 17x DHS
- 2x Ultra AC/10 (6.0 tons)
- 2x PPC

Another bread-and-butter build that I suspect will be common.

NSR-9FC
- 375 XLE
- Endo
- Light Ferro
- 15x DHS
- 2x Light Gauss (5.0 tons)
- 2x ER Large Laser
- 3x ER Medium Laser

This will be fun. Solid slugging power at long range, dangerous mid-range surge, especially with the duration reduction nodes. You can go harder on the mid-range by swapping the ER Large to standard Large and the Light Gauss to AC/10, moving two of the MedLas out to the arms and pulling the Larges into the torso.

NSR-9FC
- 350 XLE
- Endo
- Light Ferro
- 14x DHS
- 2x Light Gauss (5.0 tons)
- 4x ER Large Laser

Super hot, but 52 damage at 810 meters will send targets reeling and, barring radical changes this month, the duration will be decently short. Could be an absolute monster on Boreal, Polar, Plexus, and Alpine. Can probably drop engine to make it more monstrous by squeezing in more DHS.

NSR-9S
- 345 XLE
- Endo
- Light Ferro
- 13x DHS
- 2x Ultra AC/20 (7.5 tons)
- 2x Snub-nose PPC

Beefy.

Edited by Yeonne Greene, 05 June 2017 - 06:12 PM.

[Nightbird]

None of those

[TheArisen]

Yeonne Greene, on 05 June 2017 - 06:09 PM, said:

NSR-9FC
- 350 LFE
- Endo
- 16x DHS
- 2x HPPC
- 1x Gauss

The meta build. We're going to see this a lot, unless HPPC get neutered to uselessness. You'll also see it with the smaller engine on the other variants.

NSR-9FC
- 350 XLE
- Endo
- 17x DHS
- 2x Ultra AC/10 (6.0 tons)
- 2x PPC

Another bread-and-butter build that I suspect will be common.

NSR-9FC
- 375 XLE
- Endo
- Light Ferro
- 15x DHS
- 2x Light Gauss (5.0 tons)
- 2x ER Large Laser
- 3x ER Medium Laser

This will be fun. Solid slugging power at long range, dangerous mid-range surge, especially with the duration reduction nodes. You can go harder on the mid-range by swapping the ER Large to standard Large and the Light Gauss to AC/10, moving two of the MedLas out to the arms and pulling the Larges into the torso.

NSR-9FC
- 350 XLE
- Endo
- Light Ferro
- 14x DHS
- 2x Light Gauss (5.0 tons)
- 4x ER Large Laser

Super hot, but 52 damage at 810 meters will send targets reeling and, barring radical changes this month, the duration will be decently short. Could be an absolute monster on Boreal, Polar, Plexus, and Alpine. Can probably drop engine to make it more monstrous by squeezing in more DHS.

NSR-9S
- 345 XLE
- Endo
- Light Ferro
- 13x DHS
- 2x Ultra AC/20 (7.5 tons)
- 2x Snub-nose PPC

Beefy.

I think one of the best parts of the Nightstar pack is how you get some of the better variants in the base pack.

[TheArisen]

NlGHTBlRD, on 05 June 2017 - 08:21 PM, said:

None of those

Ok, what builds would you do?

[TheArisen]

I've been thinking about builds and I think anything bigger than a LFE325 might be too heavy to be worthwhile. Battlemasters & Wubshee get around big STs by mounting big engines & twisting off DMG. I think the Nightstar will be more like a Mauler or KC with better weapon mounts but not quite as good at boating.

[Y E O N N E]

TheArisen, on 06 June 2017 - 05:15 PM, said:

I've been thinking about builds and I think anything bigger than a LFE325 might be too heavy to be worthwhile. Battlemasters & Wubshee get around big STs by mounting big engines & twisting off DMG. I think the Nightstar will be more like a Mauler or KC with better weapon mounts but not quite as good at boating.

Battlemaster and Banshee get by with big STD engines because they boat tonnage-efficient energy weapons. Conversely, the Mauler gets by with a small STD because ballistics have excellent range and are sustainable. I think the Nightstar sits sort of in-between. I think it's going to be an excellent long-range assault and only okayish at mid-range, save the brutal 9P and maybe the 9S. It will be horrible at close-range; too easy to get on its flanks and take a side out, just like the Marauder IIC, Stalker, Madcat Mk. II, etc.

But a 300 LFE lets you do some dangerous things, with 52.5 tons of free space with Endo and some moderate armor redistribution (4 from each arm, 17 from each leg). Can squeeze another ton out of it with Light Ferro for certain builds. Running at 51.2, it isn't the fastest thing in the world, but I don't think that will hurt it too much. Mauler for DPS, Nightstar for big alpha.

[TheArisen]

Yeonne Greene, on 06 June 2017 - 06:11 PM, said:

Battlemaster and Banshee get by with big STD engines because they boat tonnage-efficient energy weapons. Conversely, the Mauler gets by with a small STD because ballistics have excellent range and are sustainable. I think the Nightstar sits sort of in-between. I think it's going to be an excellent long-range assault and only okayish at mid-range, save the brutal 9P and maybe the 9S. It will be horrible at close-range; too easy to get on its flanks and take a side out, just like the Marauder IIC, Stalker, Madcat Mk. II, etc.

But a 300 LFE lets you do some dangerous things, with 52.5 tons of free space with Endo and some moderate armor redistribution (4 from each arm, 17 from each leg). Can squeeze another ton out of it with Light Ferro for certain builds. Running at 51.2, it isn't the fastest thing in the world, but I don't think that will hurt it too much. Mauler for DPS, Nightstar for big alpha.

I do quite well with an XL in my BMaster & Wubshee, I have had some success with XLs in my Maulers but only for ranged builds.

In general I think the only one worth considering an XL will be the 9FC because of it's large cap.

If MRMs are good the WP could be pretty strong as well.

[kapusta11]

NSR-10P

LFE325
ECM
4x AC5 + 6t ammo
1x PPC
13 DHS

NSR-9FC

LFE325
2x Light Gauss + 5.5t ammo
2x ERPPC
16 DHS

[TheArisen]

kapusta11, on 06 June 2017 - 11:34 PM, said:

NSR-10P

LFE325
ECM
4x AC5 + 6t ammo
1x PPC
13 DHS

NSR-9FC

LFE325
2x Light Gauss + 5.5t ammo
2x ERPPC
16 DHS

The 10P really has a lot more going for it then people seem to realize. I mean, one of the best Mauler builds is X5 AC5.

[Y E O N N E]

TheArisen, on 07 June 2017 - 12:52 PM, said:

The 10P really has a lot more going for it then people seem to realize. I mean, one of the best Mauler builds is X5 AC5.

The Mauler has weightless arms and two more ballistics hardpoints. The Mauler also runs 2x UAC/5 and 3x AC/5.

The NSR-10P has to leave its arms armored and has only four ballistcs with one usable energy hardpoint. 4x AC/5 and a PPC or 4x RAC/2 and a PPC is about as good as it gets, but it's no Mauler.

[El Bandito]

Maybe 4xPPCs+2xUAC5s, for 30+30 PPFLD? I need to find a computer in these woods, so I can verify the build.

[Fyrwulf]

The 9S is asking for dual HGR. Begging for it, really.

[TheArisen]

Yeonne Greene, on 07 June 2017 - 09:07 PM, said:

The Mauler has weightless arms and two more ballistics hardpoints. The Mauler also runs 2x UAC/5 and 3x AC/5.

The NSR-10P has to leave its arms armored and has only four ballistcs with one usable energy hardpoint. 4x AC/5 and a PPC or 4x RAC/2 and a PPC is about as good as it gets, but it's no Mauler.

Maybe a pair of Lppcs would be better because they might have a higher rate of fire? They might not be too dissimilar from being energy AC5s. A hvy ppc might also be worth the weight as well, but it'd require an xl to fit. ECM may not be as good as it once was but being able to fire from it's cover would still be good.

Also the 10P can use a LFE but a X5 AC5 Mauler can't.

Edited by TheArisen, 08 June 2017 - 06:57 AM.

[Cyrilis]

Fyrwulf, on 07 June 2017 - 11:01 PM, said:

The 9S is asking for dual HGR. Begging for it, really.

The BFG needs 11 slots... will only fit in the 9P ST

[TheArisen]

El Bandito, on 07 June 2017 - 10:44 PM, said:

Maybe 4xPPCs+2xUAC5s, for 30+30 PPFLD? I need to find a computer in these woods, so I can verify the build.

I was thinking about trying quad hvy ppcs for lulz.it'd be too hot and have a minimum range but hitting someone with that would be good.

[Metus regem]

Yeonne Greene, on 05 June 2017 - 06:09 PM, said:

NSR-9FC
- 350 XLE
- Endo
- 17x DHS
- 2x Ultra AC/10 (6.0 tons)
- 2x PPC

Another bread-and-butter build that I suspect will be common.

I could see this one using normal AC/10's depending on how the UAC/10 is implemented, if burst fire perhaps normal AC/10's would be better served for quick kill power. Another way to go, would be with RAC/5's depending on how they are implemented as well.. they are slightly smaller than AC/10's in terms of weight and crit space requirements, with a higher potential DoT over a burst fire UAC/10 DoT.

[Reno Blade]

Would this work?
I've build it in Tabletop editor HeavyMetal Pro / The Drawing Board, so the engines are tied to the walk/run MP.

LFE 285, 100% armor, Endo
3x LGauss + 8t ammo
1x ERPPC
2x ML
10x DHS (min)

or
LFE 285, 100% armor, Endo
1x HGauss + 5t ammo
2x HPPC
14x DHS

[FLG 01]

TheArisen, on 06 June 2017 - 07:09 PM, said:

In general I think the only one worth considering an XL will be the 9FC because of it's large cap.

And I intend to use it. The XL 375 on the -9FC seems like a no brainer to me, but much depends on how the new weapons work.

NSR-9FC

• Engine: XL 375
  
• Structure: ES
  
• Armor: STD (almost maxed)
  
• DHS: 15
  
  • Armament (1a): 2x AC/10 (5t ammo), 2x SNPPC
    
  • Armament (1b): 2x UAC/10 (5t ammo), 1x HPPC
    
  • Armament (2): 2x RAC/5 (8t ammo), 2x SNPPC
    
  • Armament (3): 2x LGR (5t ammo), 4x LPPC
    
  • Armament (4): 2x UAC/2 (4t ammo), 3x LPL, +2 DHS

Obviously it will need fine-tuning in terms of heat and ammo. Anyway, the general idea is to have two ballistics combined with whatever heavy energy weapons can be loaded, and to stay out of brawls.


It is also obvious that this might not be the most efficient way to run a Nightstar. For maximum power I'd go with LFE and pick dual gauss, either combined with two SNPPC or a single HPPC (depending on how they work). Alternatively the dual gauss can be backed up by a battery of ERML, which also allows to increase the engine rating.

What I will also be running is the NSR-9S with LFE, dual UAC/20 and some ERML, putting the rest of the tonnage into the engine (and DHS if required). Just drive to the enemy and kill it with those big guns.

Speaking of big guns... I am not sure if I will get the reinforcement pack, but dual HGR is tempting. This can be combined with two LPPC or some ERML.

[TheArisen]

Reno Blade, on 08 June 2017 - 09:33 AM, said:

Would this work?
I've build it in Tabletop editor HeavyMetal Pro / The Drawing Board, so the engines are tied to the walk/run MP.

LFE 285, 100% armor, Endo
3x LGauss + 8t ammo
1x ERPPC
2x ML
10x DHS (min)

or
LFE 285, 100% armor, Endo
1x HGauss + 5t ammo
2x HPPC
14x DHS

HGauss takes too many slots to be put in an arm or be mounted with an LFE. I'm not sure how many slots a Lgauss takes but I don't think you can fit two in an arm & the 9P only has 2 E HP's.