10 replies to this topic

[Grimm Shado]

I started up and dropped out in 2016, now back again. Current stable: SCR Prime, C, and D, TBR A and S, plus centurion and urbanmech they gave me. I'm at about $10M C-Bills and starting to think about next addition.

Favorites are TBA-A (2 ERLL, 4 MPL, SRM6) and SCR-D (LRM20, 2 SSRM6, 2 SRM6, Clan Active Probe), followed by SCR-Prime(stock). Timberwolf felt ungainly at first, feel like I'm almost getting the hang of it, definitely needed mobility tree filled in to feel nimble enough. Went primarily for anchor turns and speed tweak.

Trying to do TBR-S as a brawler (4 SRM6, 3 MPL, 2MG) and can't get the hang of it. Seem to struggle to stay in cover and hold off engaging until I'm in range. I don't find the jump jets useful and would rather have the 5 tons and slots for something else (damage or heat sinks). Giving someone 24 SRMs to the face is fun, but getting diced up at range I can't retaliate at less so.

What should I do next? I have a clan preference, but would be willing to try IS. Wavering between trying a new weight class or doing another medium. Always liked the way Hellbringers look, would like to try ECM, but concerned weight/armor limitations. Not sure I am ready for assault, I think I need more mastery of positioning & timing.

Thank you if you want to help me with a recommendation!

[IllCaesar]

I'm just returning recently myself and from a longer hiatus but you don't need three separate chassis to unlock the skills on a line of battlemechs, just one now. I think it was reworked some time this year.

Again, a returning player, but somebody else told me the Huntsman and the Ebon Jaguar are popular mechs and they weren't kidding. Those two are probably the most common clan mechs I see nowadays. The Kodiak is also really popular and for one of any other clan assault mech I see at least two Kodiaks. I should also note that I haven't seen a single Gargoyle since returning so I think its a safe bet to not go with that if you want to move up a size. The Shadow Cat seems to be pretty popular as a lighter medium that strikes a nice balance between a light and a medium, as far as I can tell, while most times I see a Night Gyr its playing the way you would expect from a Highlander.

You shouldn't buy anything off of my recommendation but play a few matches and if you die spectate people playing those mechs.

Edited by IllCaesar, 15 December 2017 - 11:46 AM.

[Rogue Jedi]

the Timber Wolf is an omnimech, the Jumpjets are linked to the -S torso omnipods, 1 in the CT and 2 each in the sides, you can fit omnipods from other varients, I think the -D has 2 missiles per side without Jumpjets, you could swap both out just leaving the 1 jet in the CT if you would rather have the tons.
if you put ERmed lasers or any large class laser or PPCs in the arms you could have 2-4 longer range guns with the SRMs.
also Artemus can tighten the grouping of the SRMs.

as for other Mech sugestions
Helbringer is not bad, not as durable as the TBR but a lower priority target for the enemy team, and it offers a lot of choice in omnipods for weapon combinations.

Ebon Jaguar is another 65 tonner (like HBR) but has no ECM, instead all its weapons are mounted near or above cockpit level making it great for poking over cover.

most of the Clan Mediums are pretty good at this point, ranging from the Viper ^{(fast and best jumping Mech in the game)} and Ice Ferret, both of which play like Light Mechs, the Shadow Cat, a very agile Mech suited to be a fire support Mech ^(sniper) or harrasser, the 50 tonners are all pretty good.

for the Lights the Myst Lynx and Arctic Cheetah both make good harrassers, Jenner IIC can be a nasty dive bomber with potentialy upto 36 SRMs, if you are willing to compromise on speed and/or armor.

I am not realy an assualt player so cannot realy speak for the Clan assualts

[Zh0u]

I love my HBR-Prime so so much. Its crazy and performs really well with the laser vomit build. With ECM its very deadly.

[Keltan]

Hellbringer is a good mech. Might as well get the prime, as it comes with the ECM pod. Its very similar to the HBR-F(L), except offers AMS in the head slot. I like a 4ER LL build, but it tends to play hot.

Hunchback IIC is good also.

[Khobai]

Quote

Trying to do TBR-S as a brawler (4 SRM6, 3 MPL, 2MG) and can't get the hang of it

If you want to play a clan brawler I recommend the Orion IIC

Its able to carry way more weapons than the TBR and has better survivability due to structure quirks and better torso twist.


The 65 tonners are probably the best place to start though, theyre all very good.

Hellbringer has highmounts and ecm but its mostly limited to energy weapons.

Ebon Jaguar has less highmounts but can use heavier weapons like ballistics like autocannons and gauss.

Linebacker is basically a heavy with the firepower of a medium and the speed of a light. Also mostly limited to energy weapons (and SRMs) but its very fast.

Edited by Khobai, 16 December 2017 - 12:19 AM.

[JigglyMoobs]

Timberwolves have been nerfed to ****.

Linebacker is a great recommendation.

Summoner is the new timby but it's not perfect replacement.

Huntsman is an excellent timby stand in for flanking and support.

[Hunter Tseng]

TBR is currently in a bad spot in my opinion, they still carry the legacy negative quirks from its heyday xD
I don't really play the Linebacker so I can't really comment anything about it.

The Night Gyr used to be the king of heavy class, until they linked the ghost heat for gauss-ppc. Now they're just a slow assault with no armour to survive an engagement.
The Ebon Jaguar is an excellent heavy mech as they have most of their weapon hardpoints in the goldilock range, although they are kinda wide it is easy to get used to it. They have good free tonnage to mount a myriad of weapon systems and they have the mobility to keep up with the team.
HBR is another excellent heavy, but be careful not to fall into the pit trap of over-relying on its ecm. There is a dangerous tendency to rely too much on the ecm to compensate for bad positioning that soon you would find yourself difficult to play any other mech that doesn't have ecm.

Mediums, the Huntsman is a popular choice as it is essentially a heavy with less armour.
My favourite Shadow Cat can be tricky to play if not playing the annoying sniper role.
Hunchback iics are another solid medium mech that has survived several nerf bats but are still considered to be the best medium.

[Grimm Shado]

I think I'm getting the hang of the TBR-S SRM brawler. Positioning really really important, sticking with team important, if you can keep to cover and be patient to only engage inside of 300M the SRM and medium pulse combo is a nasty surprise. I don't mind that they were nerfed because they seemed overpowered before, and after I skilled out the mobility tree it didn't feel so bad. Considering spending the $900K C-Bills to switch out side torsos to TBR-Ds to add either artemis or more heat sinks. I'd lose some DPS losing the machine guns, but I'm not sure their 2 (heat free) DPS and crit chance are worth spending a lot of time facing enemies that close.

Leaning towards getting a MAD-IIC-A since they are on sale. The 3-UAC-5 builds look real neat, and I don't have a mech that does dakka yet. And I've always super loved the way Marauders look. But to do the 3-UAC build pretty sure you have to go to an XL engine which tacks $5M C-bill on to the currently reduced price. I'm leaning towards getting it while sale price is good and not rushing to spend money customize it right away.

I'll think about the Huntsman more. Also on sale right now, and would do stuff my Stormcrows can't. And Linebacker might fit me well because I seem to do better with faster mechs, easier to hit and run.

This process made me realize I decide on mechs similar to how I decide on guitars. I'll think a lot about the features and pro/cons, but in the end 40-60% of the decision is based on how cool I think it looks I can analytically see the advantages of Ebon Jags but I just do not like the way they look!

Thank you everyone for the recommendations!

[Hunter Tseng]

I also run a Timberwolf brawler almost similar to your TBR-S, I would advice just drop the mgs, go 4x mpl and 4x srm6+artemis. Swap out the S side torso with the D, I think there's still negative quirks from the S side torso, not sure.
But only mounting 2 mgs is not worth the stare time, the TBR CT is too easy to pick out so you should always try to twist the damage. Fire your shots and twist away, never stare down an enemy in a TBR

The Marauder IIC are good assault chassis, but with the A variant you have to be careful because most of your firepower is loaded on a single side. When faced with a good opponent who can single out a component, they can neuter your mech real quick. I used to run uac10 with uac5 combos on the madiic-A... Until the uac jam nerf and civil wartech raising the firepower potential on the field significantly meaning the madiic-A can be very vulnerable. Nowadays I run my Madiic-A with dual gauss and 4x mpl, might try to switch out the lasers with HLL and ermed combo. Its not meta but I find it fun rather than having to rely on rng for those uac jam chances

Good luck;)

[peekyblinder]

Grimm Shado, on 19 December 2017 - 08:32 AM, said:

Leaning towards getting a MAD-IIC-A since they are on sale. The 3-UAC-5 builds look real neat, and I don't have a mech that does dakka yet. And I've always super loved the way Marauders look. But to do the 3-UAC build pretty sure you have to go to an XL engine which tacks $5M C-bill on to the currently reduced price. I'm leaning towards getting it while sale price is good and not rushing to spend money customize it right away.

I picked up a MAD-IIC-C on sale and have it kitted out with two UAC10's and four MPL's. Very fun mech.