51 replies to this topic

[BigFatGator]

Have SNS-VG from giveaway- played a few games with it in last event to get some extra cbills, but didn't bother skilling it up. It performed ok with 2 UAC10 and a couple secondary weapons but not exceptional. Seemed fragile, but pretty nimble. Above average firepower, but not great hitboxes.

Anyone have opinions on if it's worth the GXP and Cbills to get the 91 SP to improve mech, or is it just understood to be trash? On the one hand, I'd like to have a cbill generator with the +30% bonus- is my only clan heavy 'hero' mech- on the other hand don't want to waste my time with this if consensus is it's crap.

[BTGbullseye]

Makes a decent LRM boat that doesn't really sacrifice much to do it.

[Bombast]

I personally don't think so. It's getting a hitbox change in the coming months though, so who know what will happen.

Personally I probably still wont use it. It's got some awkward hardpoints/internal slots.

[Nightbird]

Wait til after the hitbox fix.

[Spheroid]

The mech is junk.

[Damnedtroll]

Found it quite good after learning how to play it, right now a constant performer and my favorite clan heavy.

You need to be sneaky, waving like a stalker while facing the enemy and not showing your side. It's not a spearpoint battlemech, support your team from the flank and lay pinpoint fire peekaboo style.

Best build tested for me is 1 lb10x, 1 uac10 and 1 erppc. Tried dual uac10 and erppc for a while and got better results with the mixed lbx and uac10.

[Cnaiur]

It’s pretty underwhelming. The hit boxes are terrible and while the hard points are pretty high, there’s a lot of mech exposed above them so it’s not as good at poking and hill humping as one might think. I’ve had some success with a 3 ERPPC fit; maximize your engagement range and minimize your face time. I think the Powerhouse is a much stronger mech, and if you’ve got one you’ve got the other.

[Davegt27]

Damnedtroll, on 12 April 2018 - 04:31 PM, said:

Found it quite good after learning how to play it, right now a constant performer and my favorite clan heavy.

You need to be sneaky, waving like a stalker while facing the enemy and not showing your side. It's not a spearpoint battlemech, support your team from the flank and lay pinpoint fire peekaboo style.

Best build tested for me is 1 lb10x, 1 uac10 and 1 erppc. Tried dual uac10 and erppc for a while and got better results with the mixed lbx and uac10.

My favorite Clan Heavy is a Artic Wolf

[Brain Cancer]

It's notoriously fragile, but this doesn't mean it's automatically trash. As a freebie Hero, even if you end up doing 30% less work, you still make as much C-bills as you would in something else- and you can get the same effort. Just try to avoid the shortest rangebands here, as brawl = killed for the Vanguard (how unaptly named it is).

Midrange 10-class ACs/lasers/PPCs or ATMs at least mean you'll bite down on the opponent. It can buy Prime-A-B pods, so you can mix things up a bit. It'll get better once reinforcement pods are commonly available and the first pass on it's quirks and such happens.

[Nightbird]

70% X 130% = 91%

[JediPanther]

I find it plays a lot like my cptl-k2. It's going to be fun-er with skills. I like it and I'm not one to like piloting clan mechs much.

[STEF_]

Nightbird, on 12 April 2018 - 04:19 PM, said:

Wait til after the hitbox fix.

^^ 100% this.

Actually sunspider is made of paper....

[Burke IV]

When i look at the sunspider i get this vision in my head of PGI all sitting round a table looking at it and saying to themselfs, how can we gimp this mech and insult LRM users so they know we hate them and have no place in the game? (spots can of red bull on table) i know, lets give it wings!

Pressure PGI to take those silly wings off and make the box mounts its arms with some amount of up down movement. It will basicly be a rearranged stalker, but it will still be gimped, just a little less so. Its ST will still be huge and anybody with aim will still be able to take its shoulders off if they want to.

[Aidan Crenshaw]

JediPanther, on 12 April 2018 - 09:04 PM, said:

I find it plays a lot like my cptl-k2. It's going to be fun-er with skills. I like it and I'm not one to like piloting clan mechs much.

Speaking of it, I noticed that walking behind a K2 the SNS can fire it's torso mounted weapons over the Catapult. Tag team partners!

[5th Fedcom Rat]

JediPanther, on 12 April 2018 - 09:04 PM, said:

I find it plays a lot like my cptl-k2. It's going to be fun-er with skills. I like it and I'm not one to like piloting clan mechs much.

The K2 was always good because it was more CT than ST. Isn't the Sunspider kind of the opposite? I generally don't like mechs such as the Stalker and Warhawk that lose their STs easily, beyond using them as LURM boats.

[Angel of Annihilation]

The Sun Spider rapidly became one of my favorite mechs to be honest. I went with 2 x UAC/10s and 3 ER MLs and generally end up with 600-700 damage and multiple kills per match.

The Key to the Sun Spider is to invest a full 32 points into the Survivability Tree. Personally I just skip putting anything into mobility in order to do this because the Sun Spider has good mobility and speed without any investment here. Then I fill out the Firepower and Operations tree focusing on maximizing heat reduction and range while grabbing the UAC jam reduction nodes.

Honestly, once you maximize the Survivability Tree the mech feels, not tanky by any means, but adequately tough and the mech becomes very pleasurable to play. I liked the VG enough I went ahead and got the basic pack and hero but that is just because I wanted the hero hardpoints and wanted to have two or three different builds I could run at a whim.

As far as the Hit Box change. I personally am concerned it will bring too much focus on the CT and would have much rather had 10-15 armor or structure for the STs but who knows, maybe the hit change will be a magic fix for it and make it OP.

Edited by Viktor Drake, 13 April 2018 - 05:13 AM.

[Felbombling]

I actually like the Sun Spider Vanguard. If you are concerned with expenses, I'd invest fully in the Roughneck Powerhouse first, though. That Mech is amazeballs, even without heavy investment into the Survival tree.

As Vanguard tips and tricks, my advice would be to build it to fight around 125m-500m or beyond. You don't want to be in the thick of things, but in the second rank of battle. It is nimble and tall, with fairly good weapon mounts. If you are pushed, roll damage through your torsos slightly side to side, not over rotating either left or right. That will just punish the corresponding facing torso way too much.

I can suggest a few builds that seemed to work ok as I levelled it up and experimented.

2x Ultra AC/10 + Large Pulse Laser [ER PPC if you don't mind heat surfing]
1x Ultra AC/10 + Heavy Large Laser + 2x ATM 6 [Ultra 10 double tap syncs up well with a Large Laser burn]
2x Ultra AC/10 + Heavy Large Laser [See above for double tap/burn timing]
1x Ultra AC/10 + TAG Laser + 2x ATM 9 [More ATM punch, but you lack a backup weapon if pushed and the Ultra jams]

Gauss Rifles will fit into the torsos, too. I'm not a big fan of the LB 10-X AC, but you can swap those in for the Ultras if you prefer.

While it might be best to wait on the hit-box fix, I found it perfectly serviceable as-is. I had positive K/D and W/L ratios in PuG queue. Can't complain about the 30% bonus C-Bill earner you received for free!

Edited by Felbombling, 13 April 2018 - 10:38 AM.

[JediPanther]

5th Fedcom Rat, on 12 April 2018 - 11:04 PM, said:

The K2 was always good because it was more CT than ST. Isn't the Sunspider kind of the opposite? I generally don't like mechs such as the Stalker and Warhawk that lose their STs easily, beyond using them as LURM boats.

Not really far as I can tell. My cptl-k2 has max mobility and survival skills so it can torso twist pretty well that its pretty good at light and medium fighting. Im just using the st missile box/arms the same way as on the K2s laser arms by using them as extra 40 point st shields when Im using an ac build.

I have more than enough mechs as dedicated lrm/srm mechs so finding one for acs is pretty tough. I have a high preference for fast 90kph or more mechs. I also find mechs with ballistic cool down quirks in the 10-15% range are ones I try and max out their cool down by stacking the quirk with the fire power tree cool down nodes.

My main gribe and reasons why I dislike clan mechs is their longer burn times, higher heat, and longer cool downs. To me it seems nearly all clan mechs need mech ops maxed for cool run and heat skills so that's already 25-40 points spent before even using the mech.

IS mechs to me have a lot higher dps, short burn times and depending on the quirks just as much range as a clan mech.

[Stridercal]

Sold mine almost immediately.

[HGAK47]

ERPPC and dual UAC10`s is a fun build, I actually enjoy using that but thats about it on the VG for me lol.