9 replies to this topic

[Cat Xim]

I had two Marauders,one IS and the other of Clans. I equipped exactly the same,but with both sides technology. I noticed that Clan AC20 does several shots and its not effective like IS AC20 that does only single but powerful shot. Should i need to put LBX AC20 or UAC20 to my Clan Marauder?????

[JC Daxion]

You wan't to use the UAC20 in the clan mechs.

AC20 still have a place IS side because of the single slug and less heat.


Clan side, there is really no reason to use an AC at all, unless of course you just can't get a handle on the whole double tap system and are constantly jamming. You can fire a UAC again before the timer is recharged, but the weapon has a chance to jam of a limited amount of time. I forget exactly how long, but its over 5 seconds, perhaps a bit longer.

If you for some reason just can't get a handle on that, you might wanna try the AC, but id highly suggest for clan side you try and learn the mechanic.

IS side, the single slug, can make AC's worth using. Sometimes weight, can be a factor too as UAC's are an extra ton more. Since they released the IS uac's most people swapped over to them in most builds. There are some, that will still take the single AC though for reasons i stated. I personally like the Big slug of the AC20 on a couple of mechs.

Some lighter ones i still use an AC5 or 10, but they are more niche builds, sorta like using an Standard engine IS side these days.

[CFC Conky]

I haven't tried the cAC20 yet but I did buy two cAC10's by mistake a while back and I do use them. I think of them as shotguns that shoot slugs instead of pellets. I really like the IS AC20 but sometimes I will take two AC10's instead so I can put out 20 points of damage more often due to the faster cooldown time of the 10's. I find this most effective when using LB10's vs the LB20.

Good hunting,
CFC Conky

[Stephan Amaris]

Cat Xim, on 26 September 2017 - 01:08 AM, said:

I had two Marauders,one IS and the other of Clans. I equipped exactly the same,but with both sides technology. I noticed that Clan AC20 does several shots and its not effective like IS AC20 that does only single but powerful shot. Should i need to put LBX AC20 or UAC20 to my Clan Marauder?????

if you like to use Clan AC`s, better use LBX AC. due to the 5 single shots, the spreading at the C/UAC is very wide. this makes C/UAC very inefficient against agile opponents. or in other words: C/UAC are the weapon of choice against powered down or really slow huge assaultmechs like the atlas.

[B0oN]

Op ?
Yes .

[Tier5 Kerensky]

You can't load clan assult same way as IS heavy. Ballistic Marauder IICs have limited space so you'd use UAC10 or UAC5. Clan UAC20 is generally not a great weapon.

[Cat Xim]

Teer Kerensky, on 26 September 2017 - 04:54 AM, said:

You can't load clan assult same way as IS heavy. Ballistic Marauder IICs have limited space so you'd use UAC10 or UAC5. Clan UAC20 is generally not a great weapon.

I ended equiping the Clan Marauder with LB 20 X AC.

[justcallme A S H]

cAC20. Never use. Weighs more than cUAC20, pointless and low DPS for tonange.

cUAC20/. Rarely use - the jam chance & duration of jam is absolute garbage now.

cLBX20. Use always. Excellent brawl weapon.

[Gasoline]

Those are two completely different weapon systems. There is no counterpart of the IS AC/20 in clan tech.

What is called the clan AC/20 is basically a substitute for the slug-fire mechanism of the LB-20X. That's why it is the same weight and space of the LB-20X, has a longer range and a little less heat than the UAC/20. LBX autocannons are very flexible lore wise, as they're able to fire different ammunition types. There is the shrapnel ammunition which is the LB-X we know from ingame and the solid slug rounds which are basically what standard ACs shoot.

The current engine cannot handle switching ammunitions, so PGI was "forced" to create the substitute we know as the clan standard AC.

The clan Ultra AC/20 has it's own counterpart in the IS Ultra AC/20 which also fires multiple projectiles.

On another note: Autocannons from lore are known to fire a stream of bullets to do damage, there're very few single shot autocannons in Battletech lore (HBS upcoming title Battletech actually does a great job in their autocannon display). In fact there is only ONE 20 damage autocannon in lore that fires a single projectile (at least that I know of). That is the Devastator Ultra AC/20 of the Ebon Jaguar - a 203mm projectile (yes, that's a small artillery piece).

During development PGI thought single shot autocannons would be cool to have... as soon as the clan invasion was announced players were concerned about a double tap single shot UAC/20 (which would allow for a pin-point 40 damage alpha, 80 if you can sport 2 UAC/20s), that's why we have multiple projectiles in the first place.

So UACs seem to be better on paper, but they can (and will eventually) jam if you double tap. The jam chances increase with caliber.

The LB-X fires shrapnel ammo which spreads in a small cone in front of you. Spread increases with range. It's easier to hit with them because of this, but you spread damage all over the enemy. Their redeeming factor is that they have an increased chance of critically hitting internal components as soon as the armor is removed, which makes them devastating in close quarters late game.

[Koniving]

Cat Xim, on 26 September 2017 - 01:08 AM, said:

I had two Marauders,one IS and the other of Clans. I equipped exactly the same,but with both sides technology. I noticed that Clan AC20 does several shots and its not effective like IS AC20 that does only single but powerful shot. Should i need to put LBX AC20 or UAC20 to my Clan Marauder?????

Literally the only reason to use the Clan AC/20 is that it is 6 heat per volley instead of 7 (this plus the fact that you can't double tap means each use is only 6 heat... while the Clan UAC/20 might be 7 heat plus 7 more if you double tap).

For the 10, the standard AC/10 is significantly less heat per volley than the Ultra 10.
The two is colder as well. For some reason the 5 is identical here. The AC/5 gets more range than the Ultra 5, however, as does the AC/2 over the Ultra 2.

Clans in lore phased out the autocannon, virtually becoming extinct in all but the mothball mechs given to old warriors so that they could hurry up and die in battle. The AC we get in MWO is supposed to be the "Alt fire" to the LBX which is why they have identical stats and prices.
PGI just hasn't gotten around to figuring that out.

When....if...they ever do, the Clan ACs will disappear completely, replaced with LBX versions.