38 replies to this topic

[Tesunie]

Spare Parts Bin, on 24 March 2018 - 05:12 AM, said:

Would ECM be of benefit?

ECM can be helpful, especially for the direct fire builds. However, the ECM Omnipod has no other hard point at all, meaning a more limited selection and ability to take weapons.

I personally don't have the preorder and only the free mech. That means I'm limited to the Prime, A and B pods (and of course the Vangaurd pods). My favorite build actually involves pure Vanguard pods, so it retains the rather reasonable set of 8 quirks.

For the thread's discussion here, I was just presuming the OP was in the same situation as me, which means limited selection of pods till it comes out for official C-bill release, and when it does... I may be picking up an additional copy of a Sun Spider, as I have been liking it. I've come to accept it's weaknesses and found a way to play it to work around that weakness. The trick is, don't be seen! (Not litterally, but to limit visual contact. Poke out, shoot, hide. Don't remain exposed for too long.)

[GX9900 Gundam X]

I'm a bit late to the party but I thought I'd pop in to share my experiences with the two hero mechs

Okay so first thoughts: The Sun Spider has ZERO slots. Like none. It's very hard to build for it because you only have 3 slots between the legs and center torso to put ammo or anything else. There are a lot of locked Omnipod tech in the left and right torsos as well as the legs, head and CT that are very restrictive.
That being said if you embrace those flaws, I have a loadout that kinda works with the mech. 4 AC2s between the left and right torsos, and two LRM 5s in the arms with 2 tons of LRM reloads. Have 5 tons of AC2 reloads, using the arms to carry one ton of AC2 ammo each and the other 3 being in the only free slots you have left outside of the arms.
You can also try 4 MGs of any variety with two ATM 12s in either arm and you'll have a suboptimal but quirky build.

Now the Roughneck is awesome. Here's a build that I'm very proud of and have been getting great results with:


The AC20 and SRM4s operate perfectly together, and it's relatively easy to take people down in a couple of bursts. The ER Medium lasers are for poking around corners at a distance if the fight hasn't quite reached you yet and you can't approach, but you can swap them out with regular Medium lasers or small pulse lasers if you're confident in your ability to close the distance. Or, scrap them altogether and use the spare tonnage for AMS or upgrade to an SRM 6.

Edited by GX9900 Gundam X, 03 April 2018 - 05:21 PM.

[Zergling]

GX9900 Gundam X, on 03 April 2018 - 05:17 PM, said:

3 suggestions to refine that build:

1) Move at least 2 tons of AC20 ammo the legs, so that if you lose your left torso you still have ammo for your remaining gun (head ammo will be depleted first, so you can't count on that).

2) You have too much ammo in general; drop to 3 tons of AC20 and 3 or 4 tons of SRMs.

3) Drop the ER Meds; the AC20 + SRMs will be hot enough as it is in a brawl, so they aren't helping. At the very least, change them to standard Mediums to reduce the heat generation.

[GX9900 Gundam X]

Zergling, on 03 April 2018 - 07:33 PM, said:

3 suggestions to refine that build:

1) Move at least 2 tons of AC20 ammo the legs, so that if you lose your left torso you still have ammo for your remaining gun (head ammo will be depleted first, so you can't count on that).

2) You have too much ammo in general; drop to 3 tons of AC20 and 3 or 4 tons of SRMs.

3) Drop the ER Meds; the AC20 + SRMs will be hot enough as it is in a brawl, so they aren't helping. At the very least, change them to standard Mediums to reduce the heat generation.

Thanks for the feedback.
I think I'm just going to drop one ton of SRM ammo in that case and upgrade the CT launcher to a 6-tube, I tend to bring a bit excess of ammo just because I hate losing an easy win for want of ammo.
As for the ER Mediums, I think I'm gonna keep them around because like I said, they're just for poking at distance / general backup weapon and I don't tend to fire them more than once in a brawl. I'm pretty confident in my heat management and I also bring a coolshot on this build. I actually was considering switching to normal mediums (I tend to prefer normal mediums for the exact reason you specified) but I realized that it would kind of ruin the point of having lasers at all for this particular build.

I also didn't know head ammo gets consumed first, thanks for telling me. I haven't had too many problems with losing my ammo for the AC20 since the AC20 usually goes first what with it taking up all the critical slots and all, but it's good practice to shuffle around the ammo a bit and I just forgot to do it here, thanks for the reminder.

Edited by GX9900 Gundam X, 05 April 2018 - 01:51 AM.

[Zergling]

GX9900 Gundam X, on 05 April 2018 - 01:47 AM, said:

I also didn't know head ammo gets consumed first, thanks for telling me.

No problem, lots of players are unaware of the ammo depletion order.

Bit of google searching says it is H > CT > RT > LT > LA > RA > LL > RL

[Horseman]

I was under the impression that they changed it at some point so that head bins go last? EDIT: One of reddit threads about it claims to have received confirmation of this from the game's support.

Edited by Horseman, 05 April 2018 - 03:10 AM.

[Zergling]

Horseman, on 05 April 2018 - 03:05 AM, said:

I was under the impression that they changed it at some point so that head bins go last?

It is certainly possible, but I can't find a mention of it.

I did googling to find the order, and it is from this reddit discussion. That is dated only 9 months ago, and nobody mentions it being wrong, so I dunno.

Edited by Zergling, 05 April 2018 - 03:14 AM.

[Spare Parts Bin]

Ammo in the legs still seems to be the safest place Clan or IS. It only stands to reason that head ammo should be depleted first.

[Koniving]

Zergling, on 05 April 2018 - 01:50 AM, said:

No problem, lots of players are unaware of the ammo depletion order.

Bit of google searching says it is H > CT > RT > LT > LA > RA > LL > RL

I miss the ammunition display.

....I miss the working displays altogether...

Spare Parts Bin, on 06 April 2018 - 05:09 AM, said:

Ammo in the legs still seems to be the safest place Clan or IS. It only stands to reason that head ammo should be depleted first.

This habbit is why many mechs lose their legs.
Mainly because for some reason they put ammo in the legs... and skimp armor on them on top of this.

[Spare Parts Bin]

Ammo in the legs with skimpy armour is a poor decision. I agree Koniving.

Edited by Spare Parts Bin, 06 April 2018 - 05:47 AM.

[PeeWrinkle]

Spare Parts Bin, on 06 April 2018 - 05:09 AM, said:

Ammo in the legs still seems to be the safest place Clan or IS. It only stands to reason that head ammo should be depleted first.

Not in FW, or against organized teams. Better players target the legs. When I pug I put in the legs, when I go into FW I put ammo anywhere but the legs.

[Spare Parts Bin]

PeeWrinkle, on 06 April 2018 - 05:49 AM, said:

Not in FW, or against organized teams. Better players target the legs. When I pug I put in the legs, when I go into FW I put ammo anywhere but the legs.

Good to know.

[Jonathan8883]

I got sick of having my Vanguard STs blown off. I'm running LRM80+TAG and as much ammo as I can stuff in.
My side torsos still get blown off, but at least I don't have to get into direct LOS to do damage.

[Spare Parts Bin]

Jonathan8883, on 06 April 2018 - 07:17 PM, said:

I got sick of having my Vanguard STs blown off. I'm running LRM80+TAG and as much ammo as I can stuff in.
My side torsos still get blown off, but at least I don't have to get into direct LOS to do damage.

Until we get a resale or structure/armour buffs the Sun Spider is fun to play but too squishy overall.

[KC_Fox]

I just rebuilt my Vanguard and am loving it. I was rocking 2 LB-5X ACs and 2 ASRM 6s, and I just swapped some omnipods around and am now using 2 ER Medium Lasers and 4 AC-2s, and I saw an instant jump in my damage numbers. The ACs have an insane max range as well.

[Tesunie]

Ace Heart, on 12 April 2018 - 02:13 PM, said:

I just rebuilt my Vanguard and am loving it. I was rocking 2 LB-5X ACs and 2 ASRM 6s, and I just swapped some omnipods around and am now using 2 ER Medium Lasers and 4 AC-2s, and I saw an instant jump in my damage numbers. The ACs have an insane max range as well.

Be careful though. That jump in damage numbers may look nice, but it can also mean that you are spreading more damage around rather than in a specific (and more lethal) spot on a target.

I mean, damage is damage and it's always good to deal more damage to the enemy, but strategically placed lower damage is often more effective than larger damage hitting less strategic places on the enemy. (Example: Shooting shield arms rather than the CT or even a weaponized side torso...)

[KC_Fox]

Considering that it's LBXs vs. ACs, I'm pretty sure I'm doing more pinpoint damage rather than the spread of the shottie weapons.

[Tesunie]

Ace Heart, on 12 April 2018 - 05:28 PM, said:

Considering that it's LBXs vs. ACs, I'm pretty sure I'm doing more pinpoint damage rather than the spread of the shottie weapons.

Yes, and no.

The LBx5s will spread to some extent. The AC2s have the potential to spread or be pinpoint, depends upon how accurate you are and how much you drift as you stream the bullets out. Their rapid fire nature leads them to spread typically.

Just saying it's possible. Either weapon will spread, just one will spread per shot the other typically spreads between shots.

[Spare Parts Bin]

I reaIly need to max my pertinent survival skills on my Sun Spider Vanguard and use it more.

Edited by Spare Parts Bin, 13 April 2018 - 07:04 PM.