20 replies to this topic

[Water Bear]

Alright, so here's the deal. I bought the CTF-0XP because it has very similar armor to a Cyclops and also ECM. Figured I'd slap 4 MPLAS + HGR on it and be off to the races.

I cannot make this thing work! My current KDR in the 'mech is abysmal. My match damage is terrible. I think the problem is that it just doesn't do any damage. A 45 point alpha on a 70 ton 'mech at short range is just garbage.

Does anyone have a build for this thing that actually mashes potatoes?

Edit: Current build is a snub+AC/20 asymmetrically laid out, with 3 medium lasers in the low mounts for brawling. Gonna try that out when I get back home.

Edited by Water Bear, 26 January 2018 - 06:32 AM.

[El Bandito]

I'd suggest you to run AC20 instead of HGR and get LFE to gain some tonnage. Perhaps try out the AC20 with a couple of SNPPCs for a sword and board 40 PPFLD?

[Bud Crue]

I find that my best 0xp configs are those that use one arm as a shield. Think 2lpls or snubs and an AC10/UAC10, that sort of thing. Then any free nodes I have (after firepower, armor and aux) go to mobility to get the twist speed as high as I can.

I tried the HGR build you mentioned and given the std engine requirement found the old 4MPL AC20 build to be far more effective. I just can’t time the twist very well with the damn HGR. Plus the real 0xp drawback of all 5 hardpoints being so low certainly doesn’t help.

[Champion of Khorne Lord of Blood]

Brawler
Ranged
Why Didn't I bring a Medium?

Mech's one of those garbage mechs that is quirked up pretty good but has a lot of core design failures. Its as wide as a barn, it has cripplingly low mounts, it has a very limited amount of hardpoints, and there's really not much it can do well. Its definitely no Cyclops.

[Joshua McEvedy]

My Cataphract 0X is my mech of choice and I know their best builds by heart. For pure DPS and tankiness, here's your build:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...36bb21f42b4efea

It runs a bit hot but if you're smart with your Ops and Heat Generation skills, it'll do fine.

If you're really adventurous, you can tinker with its loadout some and add Stealth Armor, which makes the 0X all but invisible. I use it in my prime configuration and it's fun to to walk right into an enemy formation undetected and blast away with the AC20.

[Water Bear]

Thanks all for the suggestions!

Dakota1000, on 26 January 2018 - 06:59 AM, said:

Brawler
Ranged
Why Didn't I bring a Medium?

Mech's one of those garbage mechs that is quirked up pretty good but has a lot of core design failures. Its as wide as a barn, it has cripplingly low mounts, it has a very limited amount of hardpoints, and there's really not much it can do well. Its definitely no Cyclops.

First, lol @ "why didn't I bring a medium." Second, yea you said it. Those are the core weaknesses.

I think what kills the HGR is that its DPS is absolute garbage and the PP damage just isn't worth it in my initial build.

El Bandito, on 26 January 2018 - 06:32 AM, said:

I'd suggest you to run AC20 instead of HGR and get LFE to gain some tonnage. Perhaps try out the AC20 with a couple of SNPPCs for a sword and board 40 PPFLD?

I'm gonna try a S&B build ASAP. UAC/20 + LPL or SNPPC in the right arm high mount so I can shield with the LT. This gives me some extra defense when exposing my entire body to shoot from the CTFs low mounts.

[Champion of Khorne Lord of Blood]

Just remembered sword and board.

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...38319799ec4c7f4

Dual SNPPC and an AC20, 40 PPFLD all in one side which also happens to not be the side with ECM, so RIP stealth after enough hits. I've seen it work out pretty well on Orion IICs with LBX20+2ERPPCs, you'll have the benefit of not generating nearly as much heat per shot and having more raw armor.

[oldradagast]

Good luck. I made the mistake of buying one of these, thinking "how bad can it be - it has ECM?" Ugh... ECM does little good when all your weapons are practically ankle level. 0XP is such a fitting ID for this mech, because that's exactly how much XP one seems to earn in it.

Cataphracts these days are just terrible. Wide hitboxes, horribly low mounts, and mediocre hardpoints. They were my first mech back in early 2013 - when they were good - but even then, the soon-released Jagermech started to call them into question. Now, the only one I have is the 3D I won in some event, and it just rusts in my mechbay. I can't even remember what's on it.

Anyway, good luck and listen to the folks above who provided some good info.

[Sjorpha]

I think the 0XP is great with AC20 + 2SNPPC, 4 tons of ammo and LFE300. Sneaky close range sword and board. Very fun IMO. It's a good teamplayer in Faction brawl pushes when facing LRMs.

It's not the best cataphract, the best ones are 3D and Ilya. 2UAC10 + 2LPPC on the 3D makes a cool mix of dakka and poptart and the -30 jam chance and all the armour quirks plus jumping makes it a quite nice mech despite it's drawbacks.

Ilya for 3 AC10, makes me so sad I didn't qualify for the loyalty Victor

4X is a pretty powerful dakka boat in a firing line as well.

You need to play Cats almost fully exposed and press the enemy to be likewise so that your DPS and armour advantage (quirks) matter more than mount location and hitboxes, I find it works really well for coordinated aggressive pushes in Faction Play for this reason, when you can count on your whole team to push or stand in the fire line exposed with you is when the Cataphract can be really stronk, so it plays well together with Annihilators (similar to the cat in the sense that it's best when both you and the enemy are fully exposed), maulers and Bushwackers etc, and not so well together with cover based mechs like Battlemaster and Grasshoppers.

In other words, it's badly suited for solo queue farming where you need to be able to abuse cover and poke because that's what everyone else does.

Edited by Sjorpha, 26 January 2018 - 09:01 AM.

[Metus regem]

CTF-0XP

Looking at it on Smurfy, that's what my gut tells me to build it like. The LL and UAC/10 all have an optimal range of 450m, giving a nice synergy there.

[nehebkau]

My opinion is, if you are going to take a sub-par mech you should have some fun with it....

I have had lots of turds-n-giggles with this snub-nosed stealth armor CTF. You just have to manage using the stealth armor to close then, when they aren't looking shout 'PPC BABY!' Just make sure you don't skimp on the heat-gen and heat dissipation on your skill tree.

You can have fun with bad mechs, you just have to change how you think the mech should be played.

[Sjorpha]

nehebkau, on 26 January 2018 - 09:12 AM, said:

My opinion is, if you are going to take a sub-par mech you should have some fun with it....

I have had lots of turds-n-giggles with this snub-nosed stealth armor CTF. You just have to manage using the stealth armor to close then, when they aren't looking shout 'PPC BABY!' Just make sure you don't skimp on the heat-gen and heat dissipation on your skill tree.

You can have fun with bad mechs, you just have to change how you think the mech should be played.

You can do this too.

[Water Bear]

nehebkau, on 26 January 2018 - 09:12 AM, said:

My opinion is, if you are going to take a sub-par mech you should have some fun with it....

I have had lots of turds-n-giggles with this snub-nosed stealth armor CTF. You just have to manage using the stealth armor to close then, when they aren't looking shout 'PPC BABY!' Just make sure you don't skimp on the heat-gen and heat dissipation on your skill tree.

You can have fun with bad mechs, you just have to change how you think the mech should be played.

Well that's hilarious.

Sjorpha, on 26 January 2018 - 08:52 AM, said:

I think the 0XP is great with AC20 + 2SNPPC, 4 tons of ammo and LFE300. Sneaky close range sword and board. Very fun IMO. It's a good teamplayer in Faction brawl pushes when facing LRMs.

It's not the best cataphract, the best ones are 3D and Ilya. 2UAC10 + 2LPPC on the 3D makes a cool mix of dakka and poptart and the -30 jam chance and all the armour quirks plus jumping makes it a quite nice mech despite it's drawbacks.

Ilya for 3 AC10, makes me so sad I didn't qualify for the loyalty Victor

4X is a pretty powerful dakka boat in a firing line as well.

You need to play Cats almost fully exposed and press the enemy to be likewise so that your DPS and armour advantage (quirks) matter more than mount location and hitboxes, I find it works really well for coordinated aggressive pushes in Faction Play for this reason, when you can count on your whole team to push or stand in the fire line exposed with you is when the Cataphract can be really stronk, so it plays well together with Annihilators (similar to the cat in the sense that it's best when both you and the enemy are fully exposed), maulers and Bushwackers etc, and not so well together with cover based mechs like Battlemaster and Grasshoppers.

In other words, it's badly suited for solo queue farming where you need to be able to abuse cover and poke because that's what everyone else does.

I actually do pretty well in the other 3 CTFs that I own. Turns out the -4x with 2 LB-10s can put up some numbers.

Out of the last 5 games I've played, 4 of them went to 0-4 or 2-5 leads rather quickly, before I had time to do much. There's really no reason for this - my team split up in at least 3 of the mentioned games, and the enemy team had the where-withall to march off and kill the smaller of the split groups. All you can do in those situations is plead to various gods for mercy.

[nehebkau]

Sjorpha, on 26 January 2018 - 09:26 AM, said:

You can do this too.

oooh that would be fun.... 'BOOM!.... ZAP! SURPRISE!"

[Lykaon]

Joshua McEvedy, on 26 January 2018 - 07:05 AM, said:

My Cataphract 0X is my mech of choice and I know their best builds by heart. For pure DPS and tankiness, here's your build:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...36bb21f42b4efea

It runs a bit hot but if you're smart with your Ops and Heat Generation skills, it'll do fine.

If you're really adventurous, you can tinker with its loadout some and add Stealth Armor, which makes the 0X all but invisible. I use it in my prime configuration and it's fun to to walk right into an enemy formation undetected and blast away with the AC20.

Why the heatsinks in the arm? since it's only a matter of time before you lose that arm (it's the one I would shield with over losing the large pulse arm) Put those DHS in the torso and crit pad the ECM side.

AMS with ECM is of questionable value to you. In particular when the AC20 ammo is such sort supply and as you said the build runs a bit on the warm side. Either heatsinks or more ammo would likely serve you better I would go for ammo since 35% heat efficency to me is very easily managed.

overall looks like a decent build I would just tweak a bit for refinements.

[Bud Crue]

nehebkau, on 26 January 2018 - 09:12 AM, said:

My opinion is, if you are going to take a sub-par mech you should have some fun with it....

I have had lots of turds-n-giggles with this snub-nosed stealth armor CTF. You just have to manage using the stealth armor to close then, when they aren't looking shout 'PPC BABY!' Just make sure you don't skimp on the heat-gen and heat dissipation on your skill tree.

You can have fun with bad mechs, you just have to change how you think the mech should be played.

In the spirit of having fun, I kept all three of my 0xps (reminant from phase 2 CW) and run them on occasion.

My right side poke Gauss/2ERPPC has transformed to an LFE 280, 3ERLL and a Gauss rifle. Its just not the same as the old build and I hate that 3rd ERLL on the left arm. Probably will gut this one and try something with a RAC5 or something, who knows.
My traditional 4MPL AC20 build remains the same but is now faster with an LFE325.
My last one became my midrange machine gun of 2LPLs and a UAC10.

For awhile I had a std 280 with LBX 20 and 4MPL, an LFE 300 build with UAC20 and 4MPL (that build with some slight variations is on my Loyalty Phract), a HGR with 4ERML and a STD 275.

I know at least one guy running as big of an XL as possible and 4LPLs and I saw one the other night with a RAC2 (for blinding?) and 4LL.

I know the 3D has JJ, but if PGI won’t remodel the 0xp to give it even 1 decent hard point height (the 3D does after all have 2), they ought to give the thing a couple of JJ just to offset how bad those hard point heights are. ECM is not an acceptable trade off post skills tree, especially on a mech that nearly demands a mixed load out (your 4 snubs not withstanding).

Edited by Bud Crue, 26 January 2018 - 10:02 AM.

[Cnaiur]

This thread hit me right in the feels. I've been sporadically trying to skill up the CTF-3L(L) and I just cannot find a decent build for it that includes the MASC. I know the CTF ain't exactly meta, but I've made plenty of other crappy mechs work. This thing though? Hopeless.

Edited by Cnaiur, 26 January 2018 - 11:10 AM.

[Magnus Santini]

Cnaiur, just run the MAMBS (meta as misunderstood by Magnus). 5 large lasers and I think two machine guns. Lasery enough for peeking, only 3 buttons to be worked by us Atari joystick guys.

[Water Bear]

Cnaiur, on 26 January 2018 - 11:07 AM, said:

This thread hit me right in the feels. I've been sporadically trying to skill up the CTF-3L(L) and I just cannot find a decent build for it that includes the MASC. I know the CTF ain't exactly meta, but I've made plenty of other crappy mechs work. This thing though? Hopeless.

Exactly! What shocks me is that out of all the garbage 'mechs I've managed to massage a score out of, it's this one that puts me to bed. It has ECM for heaven's sake! What does it take?

[Alex Morgaine]

Lb20 + hppc can be fun on it