19 replies to this topic

[SirSoggyDog]

Hello, my unit's finally considering running a clan drop deck for a short while to see what all the fuss is about, and to get a feel for how they play. We've been IS pilots for a few years, and as such we're sort of in the dark about what to run for drop decks. What are your suggestions?

As of right now, I've been thinking of running the following

Supernova, Hellby, Linebacker, MLX-G/Cheeto.

Edited by SirSoggyDog, 01 December 2017 - 10:32 PM.

[Champion of Khorne Lord of Blood]

3 Hellbringers and a Shadow Cat, alternatively an Ice Ferret. Every single mech running ECM. All the Hellbringers with 2 HLLs and 6 ERMLs and focus firing so that 3 of you firing at the same target will kill it if you don't miss. All of the Ice Ferrets with 5 ERML doing the same thing as the Hellbringers but with more speed and more need for focus fire.

Just form up firing squads of 3, if you are a 12 man then you should have 4 of them. Have each firing squad focus on taking out one mech in particular, since you have 400+m range you should be able to stop brawlers before they get into range.

If you get reduced to Ice Ferrets then form up into firing groups of 6 and stick together and wolf pack enemies.

If your team isn't super highly coordinated to be able to have the 3 man firing squads be able to reliably take out one mech at a time then increase the size of your firing squads.

[N0ni]

3 Ebons/HBRs/Linebackers + cheetah/ferret/viper/shadowcat

4 splat dogs

drop one of those heavies from the first deck to a Hunchback IIC-A and bump one of those heavies to a 75 ton Orion IIC-A or Night Gyr (for hot maps)

Clan assaults eat up too much tonnage to be worth it for the moment, until the Piranha is released so you'll have a useful 20 ton light.

[Wolfways]

Four Mad Dog's

[SirSoggyDog]

Yeah, I figured the triple HBR was going to be a go too (it's basically banshee firepower for thirty less tons, and packs ECM to boot). These mechs will probably also be pressed into QP though, and it'd be nice not to buy multiple of the same chassis if possible.

[Khobai]

depends on the map. these are my picks:

scorch/orion IIC for short range

ebon jaguar/hellbringer for mid range

warhawk/nightgyr/hellbringer for long range (night gyr for hot maps)

linebackers for conquest


I wouldnt take more than one slow mech (under 81kph is slow for clans) if attacking, and always take the slow mech first. If youre defending you can probably get away with more than one slow mech though.

and take a mist lynx/arctic cheetah/kitfox/etc... whatever 25-30 tonner you prefer as your last mech so you can front load the tonnage of your other three mechs. that gives you the most tonnage to fight the IS assaults in the first two waves.

Edited by Khobai, 01 December 2017 - 11:15 PM.

[Champion of Khorne Lord of Blood]

SirSoggyDog, on 01 December 2017 - 11:04 PM, said:

Yeah, I figured the triple HBR was going to be a go too (it's basically banshee firepower for thirty less tons, and packs ECM to boot). These mechs will probably also be pressed into QP though, and it'd be nice not to buy multiple of the same chassis if possible.

You'd be hindering yourself in FP by not going with all Hellbringers, but if you really had to have different mechs then you could still do Hellbringer, Ebonjaguar, and Linebacker. They can also all still run the same laser loadout as the Hellbringer, but the Hellbringer gets the ECM and fits the most heatsinks.

Hellbringers are omnimechs anyway, so even if you wanted to set them up for quickplay later on they could all have their own loadouts. I own 4 Hellbringers currently, waiting for the day that Clan dropdeck tonnage rises again to allow 4 65 tonners.

In general though, Clans and their omnipod technology and low dropdeck weights leads to them being most effective at just spamming a lot of the exact same mechs at the enemy. Fighting Clan is like fighting a professional army, everything is the same and they all work together in perfect harmony. With the IS its a ragtag militia in mix-matched mechs crammed with whatever combination of missiles and ballistics will fit on them with occasional laser boats. I kinda like how it feels somewhat fitting with lore in that way.

Edited by Dakota1000, 01 December 2017 - 11:11 PM.

[Khobai]

Quote

You'd be hindering yourself in FP by not going with all Hellbringers

this isnt true at all

hellbringers make for really bad brawlers

on a brawling map like vitric forge, orion IIC will massively outperform a hellbringer.

youre hindering yourself by not taking the right mechs for the right map. you get multiple dropdecks for a reason.


even if youre just going to have a single all-comers dropdeck, I think putting at least one orion IIC in it is a good idea. Id probably put a hellbringer in it too. theyre both good at what they do.

Edited by Khobai, 01 December 2017 - 11:37 PM.

[lazorbeamz]

I have

hellbringer ecm, hunchback: 6erml 2hll
orionII: 2xuac10, atm(9+9+3)
nova-s 12 ersml, 4 mg

ballistic/rocket orion is optional to have and for fun, possibly another laser vom mech fits here

What do you guys think about ballistic Ebon: 2x uac10, 3x erml?

[Y E O N N E]

lazorbeamz, on 01 December 2017 - 11:56 PM, said:

What do you guys think about ballistic Ebon: 2x uac10, 3x erml?

Ballistic Ebon is solid, go nuts.

[Tier5 Kerensky]

If you have plenty of mechs Supernova is good on many maps. But if you have less so that you can't drop the Supernova off and take something else on the fly, I would not aim to have Supernova on your deck. The slowness and huge tonnage can be a penalty on some maps and modes.

Hellbringer is solid generic mech. Ebons and Maddogs are good substitutes and can be better on some maps, like with SRM and UACs.

[arcana75]

My Clan drop deck: Marauder IIC, Hellbringer, Mad Dog, Arctic Cheetah.

[Xetelian]

75 tonner TBR
65 tonner EBJ or HBR
65 tonner EBJ or HBR
30 tonner ACH

235 tons

Or 3 HBR and 1 SHC like was previously suggested. With high laser vomit alphas.
240 tons

3 LBK and a SHC or IFR for conquest as was suggested before.


I've played FW 8 ranks deep with clan wolf and 3 ranks as a merc (mostly innersphere) and 4 ranks as Marik. I really enjoy bringing HBRs and the uniformity of the speeds. Unless you are specifically going for a slow deck on defense, most of your mechs are going over 80 so pushing feels pretty great. Where as in IS side, at least with the groups I've been playing with, the mech speeds vary a lot and most of us are going 70kph, we're not highly organized like I was with my clan unit so we don't all have XLs or LFEs and similar mechs.

Edited by Xetelian, 02 December 2017 - 05:18 AM.

[arcana75]

Xetelian, on 02 December 2017 - 05:17 AM, said:

75 tonner TBR
65 tonner EBJ or HBR
65 tonner EBJ or HBR
30 tonner ACH

235 tons

Or 3 HBR and 1 SHC like was previously suggested. With high laser vomit alphas.
240 tons

3 LBK and a SHC or IFR for conquest as was suggested before.


I've played FW 8 ranks deep with clan wolf and 3 ranks as a merc (mostly innersphere) and 4 ranks as Marik. I really enjoy bringing HBRs and the uniformity of the speeds. Unless you are specifically going for a slow deck on defense, most of your mechs are going over 80 so pushing feels pretty great. Where as in IS side, at least with the groups I've been playing with, the mech speeds vary a lot and most of us are going 70kph, we're not highly organized like I was with my clan unit so we don't all have XLs or LFEs and similar mechs.

With that 75 tonner, why not an 85t assault like the Marauder IIC for the max 245 tons drop deck? It goes 65kph stock and isn't that much slower than the 70-80kph of most Clan heavies/mediums.

Edited by arcana75, 02 December 2017 - 06:09 AM.

[Champion of Khorne Lord of Blood]

arcana75, on 02 December 2017 - 06:08 AM, said:

With that 75 tonner, why not an 85t assault like the Marauder IIC for the max 245 tons drop deck? It goes 65kph stock and isn't that much slower than the 70-80kph of most Clan heavies/mediums.

Because the limit is 240 tons, not 245. He'd have to drop the Cheetah to a Mist Lynx or one of the EBJ/HBR to a Mad Dog.

[panzer1b]

My personal most reliable FP dropdeck is 3 hellbringers with 1 shadowcat/ice fridge depending on whether i feel JJs are more useful or speed (if its a map like canyon, HPG, anything with levels in it the fridge stays home). The thing is, while a hellbringer may not be the tankiest or strongest mech clan can bring, its one of the most tonnage efficient mechs out there, and having 3 means that my combat ability doesnt drop one bit whatsoever until im literally on my last mech (in which case 90% of games are already decided by then and nomatter what mech i bring wave4 its eithr automatic loss/win).

As for builds that i run on the hellbringer, i tend to focus mostly on laser vomit if im being super serious since thats like the only way to play this game competitively now. My 3 main loadouts are 6ERML+1HLL, 6ERML+1LPL, and 4ERML+2ERLL, depending on the particular map, situation, and what i expect to do with it. The HLL one is obviously the best at poking and alfa strikes, and it also has the most DHS and thus sustained DPS, my prefered choice for general purpose mid range combat. The 2nd one has a bit more range, and fires faster, therefore its a bit better in a full on brawl. Not that i want to be brawling in a laser boat, but if my unit brings all orions or something (and i SUCK with any weapon system that isnt pinpoint so no SRMs for me), id rather bring a fast firing decent sustain laser HBR then much else and this one works well here (not to mention its got a bit more range then the HLL vomit). Finally, if i want to fight on maps such as frozen, i bring 2ERLL and 4ERML for a good combo of sustain, sniping capability, and still packing enough mid range guns to trade against the average IS laser boat (very few IS laser mechs break 50 dmg and have any sort of sustaineability). Pretty much, all of these builds focus moreso on supporting teh team rather then putting out the absolite biggest alfa strike possible, since the way my unit plays benefits more from that playstyle on my end.

For the ice fridge, i generally run 5HMLs and use it as a sort of makeshift alfa striker, ideally in a situation where i can gen behind the enemy and stab them when they least expect it (50 alfa strike is more then enough to 1 shot backstab unless they got tons of rear armor or something).

Shadowcat is almost always 2ERLL/HLL+6MG/LMG depending on teh map. If i expect any sort of sniping whatsoever ill brign teh ERLLs since its more range and utility, and the sustained DPS isnt far below the HLL or anything, and well in MG range it doesnt matter as im facetanking either loadout. The MGs are there mostly for ciritting damaged targets during later waves, with LMGs being more common (safer, dont need to be at utterly point blank), but some maps i like normal MGs too since they have almost 50% more damage output and if you can close the gap they will beat LMGs any day).

Aside from that, i do bring a few other mechs to the game in niche circumstances, but its still almost always at least 1-2 hellbringers in each deck for their versatility and really strong hitboxes/hardpoint locations vs things like say the ebon or timby, latter of which is sorta a dead mech after engine desync.

For extreme ranges i have a marauder2c with 6ERLLs, pretty much a duh build for range and about the ONLY assault i bring into a serious game since its got so much damage potential if you fight at 1km or so, as well as a ebon with 3ERLL and 1GR for slightly less extreme range but still a very solid kick at 800-900m or so with its 48 alfa strike (unless im about to cook myself i eat the minor ghost heat from the ERLLs).

For speed strats (conquest, incursion, ect), i have 2 stormcrows with generic laser vomit (good balance of everything, speed, alfa strike, sustained DPS, ect), a linebacker with 6MPLs, and some cheetas and myst linx with the meta brawling MG loadouts (3HML for ACH, 4HSL for MLX), with the lynx doubling up as a filler for the rare times i bring my mad2c (i can bring that with 2 65t and the 25t).

Almost every other mech i do use occasionally, but those are more builds for when im not in a competitive mood and could care less about breaking 3000 dmg or even doing all that well. Stuff like brawl scorch, anything with AC/UAC/LBX, ect.

[Vxheous]

Deathstrike + Night Gyr + Hunchback IIc A + Mist lynx almost always guarantees 3K+ damage for me whenever I feel like wandering into FP to farm. Typically get 1 to 1.5K damage out of both the Deathstrike and the Night Gyr, and anywhere between 500 to 1K out of the Hunchback and 400 to 800 out of the Mist Lynx

Edited by Vxheous, 02 December 2017 - 08:15 AM.

[- World Eater -]

I run 3xHBRs + ACH or 2xHBR + EBJ + ACH.

[MischiefSC]

MAD IIC, 2x LBK/HBR/EBJ, 1x Crit Lynx.

Or 3x LBK/HBR/EBJ, 1x Sadcat

[arcana75]

Dakota1000, on 02 December 2017 - 06:18 AM, said:

Because the limit is 240 tons, not 245. He'd have to drop the Cheetah to a Mist Lynx or one of the EBJ/HBR to a Mad Dog.

Oh yeah that's right my drop deck is Scorch+MDD+HBR+ACH. Forgot the MDD is 60t not 65t.

Edited by arcana75, 02 December 2017 - 02:17 PM.