73 replies to this topic

[0bsidion]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's one of those mechs that are devastating in TT but won't translate well for so many reasons. That said, I'm absolutely stoked it made it into the game because there's a chance it'll show up in HBS Battletech where it will be an absolute best.
I might still get it here even though I'm pretty much resigned to it being bad, although bad with about as much firepower you could reasonably hope to put on an IS mech. That's got to count for something right?

[Tordin]

I went with MC Mk II and Cougar with the first CW pack, for Escalation I went full on bonkers with the Arctic Wolf, Osiris, Nightstar and a bit of Nova Cat.
Most of these for nostalgia, hit and miss maybe stll a powerfyl marketing tactic. Now wheres the Flea?!

Anyway. Looking forward, mostly for the Cougar. If you want a slowish clan light. Why not go full on podspace and weaponry? Suits me just as well as with fast lights with less weapons. Kindalike a pocket medium, like a viper is a pocket light.
Call me adaptable

HOWEVER. A real annoyance is the
MCII-A left toro energy hardpoint.... make it ballistic to give it some symmetry. Wanted to add 3 hmg to it, but noOO.


Its not really canon, so they can change it.

Apocryphal Content Starts
The information after this notice comes from apocryphal sources; the canonicity of such information is uncertain.
Please view the reference page for information regarding their canonicity.

These variants presented here were introduced in MechWarrior Online, and thus far have not appeared in any canonical media.

• MCII-A Mad Cat Mk. II A This variant is based off the Timber Wolf Prime's configuration. Mounting the same ER Large Lasers, ER Medium Lasers in each arm, an LRM-20 in each torso, and retaining the single Medium Pulse Laser in the left torso. The standard Machine guns from the Timber Wolf Prime are replaced with a pair of Heavy Machine Guns. This variant also replaces its base armor package with Standard Armor while maintaining the base variants jump jets. ^[19]

Edited by Tordin, 10 July 2017 - 11:27 AM.

[Antares102]

Luminis, on 10 July 2017 - 11:06 AM, said:

• Nightstar: At a glance, the best bet in terms of performance of the Escalation 'Mechs. Gonna be pretty damn good with PPFLD or Gauss Vomit. The ECM variant with 2x Gauss and 2x ERPPC will make some potatoes cry really, really hard, mark my words. Only downside is the lack of build diversity aside from the hero.

You cannot mount 2xPPC on the ECM variant.
One of the energy hardpoints is in the head.
Odd, that people always make the same mistake.
Was the same for the ECM Marauder IIC as well.

But what you can do is 4x AC/5 which is also quite good for an ECM variant assault.

Edited by Antares102, 10 July 2017 - 01:38 PM.

[davoodoo]

Or you can run hppc and dual gauss.

[Lorian Sunrider]

Metus regem, on 10 July 2017 - 09:55 AM, said:

That gives up precious fire power, speed and cooling. Not a bad option, just remeber that an Uziel using a 300XL has 20.5t of space for weapons, equipment and cooling, changing that to a 300 LFE brings that down to 15.5t for weapons, equipment and cooling.. Dropping it to a 250 LFE, in other words giving up 16km/h roughly in ground speed brings it up to 20.5t of space, that's a big speed drop to get the same weight for equipment....

Now I don't know how much time you spend in IS mediums, but ground speed is pretty important to them, not as important as it is to lights, but still very important. As most IS mediums are best used as skirmishers and flankers. Going against the Uziel is that low cockpit and high shoulder mounts, meaning a lot of the mech needs to be exposed to return fire with them, that is where the Uziel is going to get XL-checked.

Edit:

I should add, that those numbers are based on using an Endo S. chassis with LFF armour.

I do my fair share of mediums. I don't disagree with what you are saying.

However, there are plenty of mediums I run with STD engines and there are plenty I run with XL. I own and have mastered at least one of each IS Medium except the Phoenix Hawk and the Vindi (working on the latter, can't stand the former). I think ultimately it's gonna come down to play style.

If you want to run it as a ballistics platform, especially dual ballistics I would concur with you.

I'm still sad that Light Autocannons didn't make it into this tech jump.

[Skanderborg]

I really don't think Godzilla is going to be THAT bad. Yes , its cockpit is high up , but its weapons are in essentially the same place as Mad Cat's.

[Chados]

I got the Uziel collector because I wanted the 2S(S). Classic Uziel layout. Then bought the Annihilator collector to get the hanging items . Instant semi-hero mech for any variant I want. I don't know how much I'll like the ANH. I like ballistics. But that 300 engine cap on a 100 ton mech. If it doesn't have giga-buffs to the armor and structure of legendary proportions and the ability to turn in place fast, it's Osiris/Locust/Jenner food. But the Uziel...it had possibilities. Remember that I'm the gal that purposely mastered all four Vindicators and enjoyed the experience.

I didn't get sucked into the Mad Cat Mk II hype. Only way I'd try them is if I win one in a tournament or if there's a sudden and unexpected gift code tossed my way. I bet on launch day I find myself the only non-Mad Cat II dropping with 11 MC Mk IIs, tho, LOL.

Edited by Chados, 10 July 2017 - 04:36 PM.

[Fluffinator]

I like the Mad Cat MKII but without ECM can't use it. With the new skill tree anything without ECM is just a pain in the butt having to hide all the time.

Edited by Fluffinator, 10 July 2017 - 05:00 PM.

[stealthraccoon]

Chados, on 10 July 2017 - 04:34 PM, said:

I got the Uziel collector because I wanted the 2S(S). Classic Uziel layout. Then bought the Annihilator collector to get the hanging items . Instant semi-hero mech for any variant I want. I don't know how much I'll like the ANH. I like ballistics. But that 300 engine cap on a 100 ton mech. If it doesn't have giga-buffs to the armor and structure of legendary proportions and the ability to turn in place fast, it's Osiris/Locust/Jenner food. But the Uziel...it had possibilities. Remember that I'm the gal that purposely mastered all four Vindicators and enjoyed the experience.

Didn't think about the extra hanging bits, I may just have to do that (no way can I drive 100 tons).
I think Uziel is going to be a lot of fun, those torso mounts! I'm really looking forward to the 5P; HMG's and snubPPC make me happy.

[Valdarion Silarius]

I don't really have any natural interests in any of the civil war mechs coming out, since I'm holding out for the RFL-IIC and the WHM-IIC.

Down the road I'll probably pick up the Annihilator and Mad Cat MK2 for c-bills.

Edited by Arnold The Governator, 11 July 2017 - 09:19 AM.

[Y E O N N E]

Arnold The Governator, on 10 July 2017 - 05:17 PM, said:

I don't really have any natural interests in any of the civil war mechs coming out, since I'm holding out for the RFL-IIC and the WHM-IIC (yeah go ahead and ***** to me that those mechs won't add anything new to the game).

[Redacted]

Nobody begrudges you wanting your pet 'Mech. We all have ours. Just don't try to sell it on falsehoods.

Edited by Belegor, 11 July 2017 - 04:25 AM.
Unconstructive

[Humpday]

I bought everything except the Nightstar.

Uziel: fast midrange skirmisher/harasser and poptart; no hillhumping. I'm concerned about its reliance on that XL though
Anni: This dumb thing is going to suck, luckily it can mount big ballistics for poops and giggles.
MKII: Because...well, Nighstar vs MKII...might as well take the better tech.
Cougar: dunno, off my radar. At a glance, man that is a slow light mech, but it can mount a good amount of armament, thing looks like it'll have a nasy bite if you ignore it.

Osiris: for me it was all about having a good diversity of hardpoints, which it offers.
Nightstar: meh, went the MKII route as the only variant that tickles my fancy is the 9P which is locked behind a paywall.(says the guy who has 6/8 mechpacks coming).
Arctic wolf: Dunno, im worried about those hitboxes, but it should still be fun to splat people in a much smaller mech than the linebacker.
Novacat: I simply wanted a NightGyr, but not...and a little more agile, this should fit that bill.

[Aggravated Assault Mech]

I'm not sure why people are so down on the Annihilator for anything other than the 48kph top speed. Hitbox and hardpoint complaints seem totally off the mark based upon what we know.

It's not like it's going to be substantially taller than anything else in game. It might be slightly taller than the Atlas, but it isn't going to be so tall that it can't fit under the HPG array or other major terrain features. PGI provided actual images of the model and we know what the geometry looks like. Given that the model appears to be fairly wide, the egg-shaped torso and thick legs might render it "slimmer" than the Kodiak, Atlas, Banshee and Executioner in frontal silhouette it it's adhering to the volume-based scaling.

Shooting from the hip? The torso hardpoints are all shoulder-height, which is crazy generous considering the -1X has 11 hardpoints with five of them in the torso and head. Twin UAC/LBX/AC20 from shoulder height mounts with a legitimate backup of quad MPL, or 6 LBX/AC5s or quad AC10 (even UAC10?) or quad LB10X with backups etc. All the builds you could never quite pull off in the Mauler, and all the builds you could never dream of in anything else under the current mech building rules.

Likewise, suggesting it's going to be easy to headshot is just of touch with how mechs are actually hitboxed. Seems unlikely to me that they entire "head" will be CT all the way around.

Writing the mech off as DOA is such a strange notion when there are so many possibilities for ferociously huge firepower, even without accounting for unknown variables (UAC20 ghost heat, for instance). It's not something that can ever be truly "DOA", just like how the DWF isn't really a **** mech. They're niche tools that aren't going to be ideal in every match, but unapproachable levels of firepower are also never truly obsolete (and Russ said as much at the town hall re: the Dire Wolf).

[Valdarion Silarius]

[Redacted]

Edited by Belegor, 11 July 2017 - 04:47 AM.
Unconstructive

[MustrumRidcully]

Antares102, on 10 July 2017 - 01:30 PM, said:

You cannot mount 2xPPC on the ECM variant.
One of the energy hardpoints is in the head.
Odd, that people always make the same mistake.
Was the same for the ECM Marauder IIC as well.

But what you can do is 4x AC/5 which is also quite good for an ECM variant assault.

Hmmm. ECM + Stealth Armor + Something Gaussy? Difficult to fit crit-wise, I suppose, and the Light Gauss wasn't all that great on PTS...

[Y E O N N E]

Arnold The Governator, on 10 July 2017 - 09:38 PM, said:

Who ever said I was salty? I can tell you don't bother reading things such as "Down the road I'll probably pick up the Annihilator and Mad Cat MK2 for c-bills." If you even bothered reading my original post under my signature, you would see what it would add to the game. I'll just leave this here for you.


Perhaps you are the one that is salty with PGI delaying IS omnimechs until after 2018 for responding with such hostility.

I am not the one being passive aggressive every time he posts about his pet 'Mech. You are. While also remaining blissfully ignorant of how good the builds on the RFL-IIC would be relative to what's already in the game.

I followed your original thread back when it was still popular, but never posted because you are so hellbent on your 'Mech that you will not listen to the truth and you will, in fact, stoop to being misleading on what it can actually do to try and gain support. Quicksilver was right on it then and he's still right now. I really don't care what order PGI releases 'Mechs in since it takes them 10 years from announcement to finally get to put the same builds we always put on a shiny new chassis, but quit telling lies about the capabilities of the RFL-IIC and you will be agitated no more.

[FunkyT]

Aggravated Assault Mech, on 10 July 2017 - 09:10 PM, said:

I'm not sure why people are so down on the Annihilator for anything other than the 48kph top speed. Hitbox and hardpoint complaints seem totally off the mark based upon what we know.

Well, I have to say: this looks a lot more servicable than the concept art. Haven't seen the dev stream, so I didn't know what it would likely look like.

The whole giraffe neck thing looks like it got put down in the design department, torso mounts are quite high. It's just the arms hanging relatively low, as is the case with most IS mechs I feel.

It's side profile might be Dire Wolf sized with that egg shape, but I think the critical question would be, how big the side torsos are relative to the center torso. Might be good after all, who knows.

[0bsidion]

Aggravated Assault Mech, on 10 July 2017 - 09:10 PM, said:

I'm not sure why people are so down on the Annihilator for anything other than the 48kph top speed. Hitbox and hardpoint complaints seem totally off the mark based upon what we know.

It's not like it's going to be substantially taller than anything else in game. It might be slightly taller than the Atlas, but it isn't going to be so tall that it can't fit under the HPG array or other major terrain features. PGI provided actual images of the model and we know what the geometry looks like. Given that the model appears to be fairly wide, the egg-shaped torso and thick legs might render it "slimmer" than the Kodiak, Atlas, Banshee and Executioner in frontal silhouette it it's adhering to the volume-based scaling.

Shooting from the hip? The torso hardpoints are all shoulder-height, which is crazy generous considering the -1X has 11 hardpoints with five of them in the torso and head. Twin UAC/LBX/AC20 from shoulder height mounts with a legitimate backup of quad MPL, or 6 LBX/AC5s or quad AC10 (even UAC10?) or quad LB10X with backups etc. All the builds you could never quite pull off in the Mauler, and all the builds you could never dream of in anything else under the current mech building rules.

Likewise, suggesting it's going to be easy to headshot is just of touch with how mechs are actually hitboxed. Seems unlikely to me that they entire "head" will be CT all the way around.

Writing the mech off as DOA is such a strange notion when there are so many possibilities for ferociously huge firepower, even without accounting for unknown variables (UAC20 ghost heat, for instance). It's not something that can ever be truly "DOA", just like how the DWF isn't really a **** mech. They're niche tools that aren't going to be ideal in every match, but unapproachable levels of firepower are also never truly obsolete (and Russ said as much at the town hall re: the Dire Wolf).

Admittedly the hard point locations are better than what I was expecting based off the original art. In that regard it might actually have points in its favor vs the DWF.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I figure if my expectations are low I won't be disappointed if it doesn't quite make it to even mediocre levels of performance.

[Trenchbird]

Fluffinator, on 10 July 2017 - 04:59 PM, said:

I like the Mad Cat MKII but without ECM can't use it. With the new skill tree anything without ECM is just a pain in the butt having to hide all the time.

Then invest in Radar Derp.

[Metus regem]

Lorian Sunrider, on 10 July 2017 - 01:57 PM, said:

I do my fair share of mediums. I don't disagree with what you are saying.

However, there are plenty of mediums I run with STD engines and there are plenty I run with XL. I own and have mastered at least one of each IS Medium except the Phoenix Hawk and the Vindi (working on the latter, can't stand the former). I think ultimately it's gonna come down to play style.

If you want to run it as a ballistics platform, especially dual ballistics I would concur with you.

I'm still sad that Light Autocannons didn't make it into this tech jump.

Yea, I would've loved to get LAC/s as well.. 4t for an (L)AC/2 is a whole lot more palatable, even with the slight range loss.

For me I tend to run mixed configs on my mechs, taking advantage of at least two of the three types of hard points. At current I really am enjoying my BSW-X2. Admittedly, I don't pilot a lot of mediums outside of the Centurion and Bushwacker families these days... but I did master most non clan lights and mediums.