18 replies to this topic

[Pjwned]

So I bought an ACH-E earlier and was originally planning to run it like this, but then I realized that (as far as I can tell) the TC1 doesn't benefit the machine guns at all, so now I'm not sure how to build it; I don't think it needs another heatsink and a TC1 seems like a waste if it doesn't benefit the machine guns at all.

Any suggestions? Note that the zero head armor is intentional because I pretty much never die to strikes and it's rare to take any significant damage to the head otherwise, so I probably won't change that or if I do (for whatever reason) then it would be easy enough to shave off a half ton of ammo to max out head armor.

[qS Sachiel]

Correct. Tc does nothing for mg or lbx. It will increase crit damage on laser shots though so it's not completely useless. You could switch it for bap if you wanted to interfere with ecm carriers but it would be less useful imo.

As long as you have enough sinks to fire your lasers then that's enough. Looks generally solid to me but I don't like hmed.

Zero head armour is ballsy in my eyes. What is your reasoning for that?

Edited by qS Sachiel, 05 September 2017 - 05:37 PM.

[Y E O N N E]

Drop the TC, add a heat-sink, drop half a ton of ammo and armor up the head.

Now go ham. That's otherwise the same build I run on my MLX-ED and it does work.

[Fox With A Shotgun]

qS Sachiel, on 05 September 2017 - 05:36 PM, said:

Zero head armour is ballsy in my eyes. What is your reasoning for that?

When was the last time you got headshotted in a light? I'd say it's probably like a 1 in 500 matches event which makes it virtually a nonfactor.

[Spheroid]

I recommend three standard mediums and an extra heatsink with a LAP and either half a ton more mg ammo or an armored head. In addition installation of the full actuator set is very useful in a dog fight or while shooting while jumping.

[qS Sachiel]

Fox With A Shotgun, on 05 September 2017 - 09:52 PM, said:

When was the last time you got headshotted in a light? I'd say it's probably like a 1 in 500 matches event which makes it virtually a nonfactor.

Don't get me wrong, I shave head armour on most mechs to shore up a half tonne ammo (supplemented by other armour depletion) but especially when people *load meteors* I still end up with yellow or orange head on a significant enough amount of matches.

Hey if it works for you go for it. I just don't like running completely raw

Edited by qS Sachiel, 05 September 2017 - 10:22 PM.

[CraneArmy]

Pjwned, on 05 September 2017 - 04:58 PM, said:

So I bought an ACH-E earlier and was originally planning to run it like this, but then I realized that (as far as I can tell) the TC1 doesn't benefit the machine guns at all, so now I'm not sure how to build it; I don't think it needs another heatsink and a TC1 seems like a waste if it doesn't benefit the machine guns at all.

Any suggestions? Note that the zero head armor is intentional because I pretty much never die to strikes and it's rare to take any significant damage to the head otherwise, so I probably won't change that or if I do (for whatever reason) then it would be easy enough to shave off a half ton of ammo to max out head armor.

my testing showed ttk difference over 6 runs (small sample) on the AS7-D in frozen city showed ~15 LMG rounds (individual bullets) difference between killing with a tcomp VII and no tcomp.

drop the tcomp
add a heatsink

[Pjwned]

Yeonne Greene, on 05 September 2017 - 08:43 PM, said:

Drop the TC, add a heat-sink, drop half a ton of ammo and armor up the head.

Now go ham. That's otherwise the same build I run on my MLX-ED and it does work.

I'll just try that then I guess, I don't think it needs another heatsink but I can't think of anything better.

Spheroid, on 05 September 2017 - 10:09 PM, said:

I recommend three standard mediums and an extra heatsink with a LAP and either half a ton more mg ammo or an armored head. In addition installation of the full actuator set is very useful in a dog fight or while shooting while jumping.

Normally I'm much more of a fan of the C-ERML in general, but in this case the mech doesn't have much in the way of tonnage or energy hardpoints, stripping off armor faster would tend to be better for the 6 machine guns, and the weapon ranges sync up really well.

qS Sachiel, on 05 September 2017 - 10:20 PM, said:

Don't get me wrong, I shave head armour on most mechs to shore up a half tonne ammo (supplemented by other armour depletion) but especially when people *load meteors* I still end up with yellow or orange head on a significant enough amount of matches.

Hey if it works for you go for it. I just don't like running completely raw

Normally I don't run 0 head armor either because I tend to shave some leg armor off as well, but that's not really practical with a 30-ton light mech.

If it was a bigger and/or slower mech then I wouldn't do that.

[Y E O N N E]

Pjwned, on 05 September 2017 - 10:42 PM, said:

I'll just try that then I guess, I don't think it needs another heatsink but I can't think of anything better.

If you are actually engaging with this thing, the heatsink is useful, trust me. You should be firing at something basically the entire game.

[PaquIS]

Its true you rarely die to headshots as a light, but having zero means you will die to a single gauss round to the head. Again its rare, but I dont think its really worth the risk.

Get as many heatsinks as you can get. Heavy mediums are quite hot.

[Pjwned]

PaquIS, on 06 September 2017 - 12:13 AM, said:

Its true you rarely die to headshots as a light, but having zero means you will die to a single gauss round to the head. Again its rare, but I dont think its really worth the risk.

Get as many heatsinks as you can get. Heavy mediums are quite hot.

Actually, since I don't see a need for operations nodes and there's only so many firepower nodes worth taking with that build, I'll be running it with some survival nodes which should increase the structure just enough to take a gauss hit, even in the case of a critical hit too; AC20 would still be dangerous to the head but it wouldn't hit me from far away so that makes it even less likely than a gauss headshot which is already pretty unlikely.

[RestosIII]

Fox With A Shotgun, on 05 September 2017 - 09:52 PM, said:

When was the last time you got headshotted in a light? I'd say it's probably like a 1 in 500 matches event which makes it virtually a nonfactor.

I can't remember, did they remove the ability for airstrikes to perform headshots? That possibility is the entire reason I've always kept most of my head armor on my light mechs.

And yeah, I agree with the rest of these fine folks, an extra DHS would probably be a better choice than that TC.

[Y E O N N E]

Pjwned, on 06 September 2017 - 10:30 AM, said:

Actually, since I don't see a need for operations nodes and there's only so many firepower nodes worth taking with that build, I'll be running it with some survival nodes which should increase the structure just enough to take a gauss hit, even in the case of a critical hit too; AC20 would still be dangerous to the head but it wouldn't hit me from far away so that makes it even less likely than a gauss headshot which is already pretty unlikely.

Don't skimp on operations for HML. I didn't skimp on my MLX, and I'm still blowing two coolshots every match. Cool Run is important to get your heat back into a firing position once soaked.

[Magnus Santini]

Head armor on a light is bonus CT armor.

[Quicksilver Aberration]

Yeonne Greene, on 06 September 2017 - 10:39 AM, said:

Don't skimp on operations for HML. I didn't skimp on my MLX, and I'm still blowing two coolshots every match. Cool Run is important to get your heat back into a firing position once soaked.

Cool run or all the heat gen nodes if you haven't already.

Pjwned, on 06 September 2017 - 10:30 AM, said:

Actually, since I don't see a need for operations nodes and there's only so many firepower nodes worth taking with that build

Range and heat gen nodes are pretty big even for that build. Range is ALWAYS nice for lights. HMLs are your main vertical poke weapon, MGs are for when side poke or you can commit to an engagement. It is essentially what the old SDR-5K used to be except less ranged and harder hitting.

Edited by Quicksilver Kalasa, 06 September 2017 - 01:15 PM.

[Y E O N N E]

Quicksilver Kalasa, on 06 September 2017 - 01:13 PM, said:

Cool run or all the heat gen nodes if you haven't already.

I have it in both.

8.25% Heat Gen
6% Heat containment
6% Cool Run

It was originally set up to run SRMs with a different layout, and still has two nodes being wasted on Missile Spread reduction and High Explosive, but as it is it still feels really good. I have 5.4% in cool-down and 7.5% in beam duration, so my HPS in is 3.66 and my HPS out is 1.96. I haven't run the numbers the for stacking one or the other, but I doubt it makes any more than a marginal impact since I already have more heat-related skills than that. It takes me more than 30 seconds to shut down and I'm dealing 12.94 DPS with the MGs in the mix.

[Pjwned]

Yeonne Greene, on 05 September 2017 - 10:44 PM, said:

If you are actually engaging with this thing, the heatsink is useful, trust me. You should be firing at something basically the entire game.

Yeonne Greene, on 06 September 2017 - 10:39 AM, said:

Don't skimp on operations for HML. I didn't skimp on my MLX, and I'm still blowing two coolshots every match. Cool Run is important to get your heat back into a firing position once soaked.

Quicksilver Kalasa, on 06 September 2017 - 01:13 PM, said:

Cool run or all the heat gen nodes if you haven't already.

Range and heat gen nodes are pretty big even for that build. Range is ALWAYS nice for lights. HMLs are your main vertical poke weapon, MGs are for when side poke or you can commit to an engagement. It is essentially what the old SDR-5K used to be except less ranged and harder hitting.

I wasn't necessarily thinking it would be a build to go completely ham with--although not a mech I would cower & hide with either--but I suppose I could try being more aggressive than usual with it and see how it pays off in that mech and perhaps (probably) appreciate the heat skills more if it does work out; it would take a bit of adjusting but I could probably do it if I tried enough.

I've been known to run mechs that are hotter than that though and still do well enough, including mechs that don't have heatless weapons, so we'll see how it works for me whenever I play more matches again (probably during the next actually decent event).

[Y E O N N E]

Pjwned, on 06 September 2017 - 06:50 PM, said:

I wasn't necessarily thinking it would be a build to go completely ham with--although not a mech I would cower & hide with either--but I suppose I could try being more aggressive than usual with it and see how it pays off in that mech and perhaps (probably) appreciate the heat skills more if it does work out; it would take a bit of adjusting but I could probably do it if I tried enough.

I've been known to run mechs that are hotter than that though and still do well enough, including mechs that don't have heatless weapons, so we'll see how it works for me whenever I play more matches again (probably during the next actually decent event).

You have to remember that both the MLX and ACH have six JJs. If you are taking advantage of them, and you should, it's going to screw with your heat management.

The way I run this build is I'm basically laser pop-tarting and corner poking at all times. If I get an opportunity to go ham on a target, either isolated or in a furball, I take it. The results are tangible.

[Lykaon]

Are you married to idea of keep all of the E variant pods?

If yes then my suggestion would be drop the TC put the armor back on the head (arty strikes are a thing) fit a light active probe because you will frequently be paired with LRMs on team mates and your LMG require you to get close enough to targets that the light probe will help keep them locked if they have ECM.

If no then put on the Prime left torso and replace the TC with an ECM cap off the armor 6 LMGs with 2.5 tons ammo 2 hvy medium lasers and that leaves you with 1 spare ton to fiddle with any number of options from +1 DHS putting the TC back adding a probe (to enhance target info gathering and sensor range) or more ammo for the LMGs.

Edited by Lykaon, 06 September 2017 - 11:42 PM.