13 replies to this topic

[Steel McLongshaft]

Greetings fellow mechwarriors,

Looking to buy my first assault class mech and thinking of using a quad RAC/5 weapon setup.

Any players out there use this type of setup? Would you recommend using such a setup? If not, Why?

Thanks in advance.

[Koniving]

There's a number of 'Mechs that can do this, all of which are in the Heavy and Assault class.

The issue is you're going to get some excessive heat punishment when you have more than 2 firing at once. Might fire off 2 until they jam then fire off another 2, but I dont know if the excessive heat would stop. I figure I could go try it really quick and see what happens.

Lets find out. Gimme a few minutes.

[yuujiroassistant]

RAC5 on paper have very good burst damage, but in practice have less sustained dps and momentary burst than UAC5. They also have Ghost Heat past firing 2, which makes the setup you suggested absolutely useless. I really wish PGI did not do that.

With all that said, 4xUAC5 on a Mauler is an incredibly good build. It takes some time to learn its positioning, but its second only to the Annihalator's 5xUAC5 in terms of sheer dps. Here is an example build: http://mwo.smurfy-ne...09b4ef70ba8570c

Feel free to ask any questions.

[yuujiroassistant]

Koniving, on 11 August 2017 - 07:24 AM, said:

There's a number of 'Mechs that can do this, all of which are in the Heavy and Assault class.

The issue is you're going to get some excessive heat punishment when you have more than 2 firing at once. Might fire off 2 until they jam then fire off another 2, but I dont know if the excessive heat would stop. I figure I could go try it really quick and see what happens.

Lets find out. Gimme a few minutes.

Stagger firing 2xRAC5 just increases face time without rivaling the uac5 version in terms of dps. Its also a pain to manage its heat and jam chances. The projectile velocity and consequently range is also too low to be useful.

[Koniving]

Okay I stuffed an Annihilator with 4 RAC/5s and 7 tons of ammunition and a crapload of heatsinks...
Firing all at once...shutdown in 3 seconds. And exploded.

Firing 2 then 2 whenever one pair jammed... I was able to get 11 seconds of sustained fire before shutting down.
Alternating them for bursts, however is quite sustainable, could probably run them with only brief pauses for well over 20 seconds without a problem.

SUCTION, on 11 August 2017 - 07:39 AM, said:

Stagger firing 2xRAC5 just increases face time without rivaling the uac5 version in terms of dps. Its also a pain to manage its heat and jam chances. The projectile velocity and consequently range is also too low to be useful.

"Skillz." Also if you're worried about velocity you're firing too far away anyway.

It's actually pretty manageable, but this idea would only work on an Annihilator, the Mauler doesn't have the armor or standing power to make this worthwhile.

Left click for 2 seconds, right click for 2 seconds, left click for 2 seconds, right click for 2 seconds.

Quite manageable, the 'ramp back up' time is actually decreasing with each time you alternate back.

I should note my test model was my third Annihilator that until now had no equipment or use in combat, and as such I never bothered with its skill tree. The jams during the firing until jammed would be unjammed by the time the other pair jammed but again that heat kept any use down to 11 seconds.

Against single enemies this would be quite phenomenal. A group not so much; there's better ways to rock an Annihilator against several enemies at once.

Edited by Koniving, 11 August 2017 - 07:56 AM.

[Steel McLongshaft]

Thanks for the info and testing. I'll have to consider something more viable.

[yuujiroassistant]

if you want that kind of burst, 6xUAC2 does the job much better due to higher alpha and double tap alpha, higher double tap dps, and if the jam chance favors you, better sustained dps. It also has higher velocity and considerably longer range.

On the annhialator, 5xuac5 does a better job that the 4xrac5 hands down for the same reason 4xuac5 does on the mauler.

I would normal reccomend RAC5 or RAC2 boat in place of uac as a style/function choice, but after hours of playing both within PTS and Normal Game, the ghost heat and very low guarenteed nonjam duration make them horrible choices for boating with assaults. Just avoid doing it.

I hope you also realize that because of the jambar fill and jambar disperse rqtes are not identical, you are constantly forced to switch between weapons groups faster and faster just to maintain the equivalence dps of the uac5...

[ImperialKnight]

RAC5s are only good for suppression not damage. So you do not need more than 2. If your objective is damage, UACs do a much better job.

[Kjudoon]

Steel McLongshaft, on 11 August 2017 - 07:18 AM, said:

Greetings fellow mechwarriors,

Looking to buy my first assault class mech and thinking of using a quad RAC/5 weapon setup.

Any players out there use this type of setup? Would you recommend using such a setup? If not, Why?

Thanks in advance.

Never more than 2 RACs on a mech. The ghost heat shuts you down in a second. It's sick. If they allowed it for over 3 RAC2's that would be nice though. Still not as good as 2 RAC5s, but more equivalent.

knightsljx, on 11 August 2017 - 08:18 AM, said:

RAC5s are only good for suppression not damage. So you do not need more than 2. If your objective is damage, UACs do a much better job.

Great for gettin' paid. Component and armor stripping is phenomenal. You can shape the battle similar to LRMs in that respect. You just have to know their role is as harrassment and support. Not many players like doing that job though, so. Honestly, the RACs seem to work best on medium mechs and some Heavies that I've seen.

[yuujiroassistant]

2xRAC5 works pretty much only on the Bushwacker and Jaegermech-A. The bushwacker's slim front profile allows it to facetank effectively to dish out its damage, and the Jaegermech A can abuse its quirks and high mounts to severely punish exposed mechs and flankers. Outside of that, RACs are essentially useless and good pilots can tank their way through RAC fire to brawl or reposition to take advantage of the horrible weaknesses RAC boating has.

PGI, please increase the jambar duration and remove the ghost heat limit to at least give these weapon systems a reasonable chance to be used.

[Audacious Aubergine]

I've had some good runs putting 2x RAC5 on a Marauder. Sometimes I've even managed to just poke that RT out from behind a big rock and pop away with my potato guns. I do agree that it's uses are fairly limited - if I have to try hitting anything smaller than a large medium or faster than a small heavy I have to either get real lucky or just use mah lazers instead
EDIT: Only just realised this is actually an assault thread, my bad

Edited by Audacious Aubergine, 11 August 2017 - 07:27 PM.

[Steel McLongshaft]

SUCTION, on 11 August 2017 - 07:36 AM, said:

RAC5 on paper have very good burst damage, but in practice have less sustained dps and momentary burst than UAC5. They also have Ghost Heat past firing 2, which makes the setup you suggested absolutely useless. I really wish PGI did not do that.

With all that said, 4xUAC5 on a Mauler is an incredibly good build. It takes some time to learn its positioning, but its second only to the Annihalator's 5xUAC5 in terms of sheer dps. Here is an example build: http://mwo.smurfy-ne...09b4ef70ba8570c

Feel free to ask any questions.

Does indeed look like an interesting build. Where would you recommend sinking skill points?

[Audacious Aubergine]

Steel McLongshaft, on 12 August 2017 - 01:10 AM, said:

Does indeed look like an interesting build. Where would you recommend sinking skill points?

In the order I'd prioritise them: Range, heat generation, enhanced UAC if you have the points, magazine capacity if you have the points, crit chance receiving (you only have 4 weapons so I'd say protecting those as much as you can would be a benefit to you) and torso yaw/pitch

[yuujiroassistant]

The torso pitch of the mech is so low that the skill tree is not helpful. It does not improve the situation it needs it the most, a 30>ton mech shooting legs at point blank range. Critical chance nodes are also useless.

The mauler has 24 dps at disposal, you will want to fire that for as long as possible. With that goal in mind, this tree:
https://kitlaan.gitl...3336d&s=Agility

The agility node allow for mauler to speed off behind cover faster. If you do not see use of coolshots, then add more accellerage instead. If you have fine time positioning, remove agility and grab double strikes instead.