71 replies to this topic

[FupDup]

Luminis, on 07 July 2018 - 03:44 PM, said:

PIR says hi.

Been a while since the ACH was the premier light.

MLX also says hi, as does the Wolfhound and even the Flea.

[Alex Morgaine]

one match with th e(C) worked for me XD

[The Lighthouse]

DjPush, on 07 July 2018 - 10:15 AM, said:

Immediately sold it. Garbage mech. I can't make it work for me.

ACH is unfortunately no longer a good light mech, and that is if you put machineguns on it.

Weapon nerfs hit Cheetah hard, but what it killed it was agility nerf during engine desync. You just can't twist your body fast enough to spread out damage or make a sharp turn. Fatal vulnerabilities for typical hit-n-run lights.



Tell you what, play pseudo medium mechs first like Wolfhound and Urbie. They are not too alien for players who do not play light mechs often, yet you will be forced to learn some of the tactics that light mech players need to learn. After you become good at those two mechs, then explore traditional lights such as ACH.

[SFC174]

The Lighthouse, on 07 July 2018 - 04:46 PM, said:

ACH is unfortunately no longer a good light mech, and that is if you put machineguns on it.

Weapon nerfs hit Cheetah hard, but what it killed it was agility nerf during engine desync. You just can't twist your body fast enough to spread out damage or make a sharp turn. Fatal vulnerabilities for typical hit-n-run lights.



Tell you what, play pseudo medium mechs first like Wolfhound and Urbie. They are not too alien for players who do not play light mechs often, yet you will be forced to learn some of the tactics that light mech players need to learn. After you become good at those two mechs, then explore traditional lights such as ACH.

I think he was playing the ACH for the event challenge. I barely started playing the ACH myself when the CSPL nerf went into effect, so I had little time to experience it at its peak. That said, 140 kph with speed tweak, ECM and lots of JJs give you lots of options. If you have trouble with it and need dmg/KMDD, go with the ERLL build. It makes me a little sick to recommend that, but it'll do the trick for you. If sniper lights bother you, then the meta 2xHML and 6xMG works pretty well. You're not going to crit components like a PIR, but your additional armor, vertical mobility and ECM will help reduce incoming fire. I pulled mine out today for the event and did 2 kills, 1 KMDD and 500 dmg in my first match. Hadn't played it in months but it felt pretty good. A slightly larger, slower PIR with pug armor. Just be sure to hang with the big boys for the first 5 min of the match before you get stuck in.

[Vonbach]

The arctic cheeter got nerfed to death and justifiably so. It was the Piranha of its day.

[Luminis]

Vonbach, on 07 July 2018 - 06:46 PM, said:

The arctic cheeter got nerfed to death and justifiably so. It was the Piranha of its day.

Being nerfed to death is never justified. Being brought in line is.

Nerfing things to death is a result of incompetence.

[arcana75]

My first mech was the ACH-Prime. Mastered it long ago and shelved it. Brought it out again for the event, MGs and HMLs. Still good. ECM, JJ, fast, has MGs, what's not to like?

[LordNothing]

i brought this up in another thread but there is kind of a selection bias for new players to go assault as opposed to light. the kind of player that is drawn towards lights is usually well seasoned and at least moderately effective with lights. at the other end of the spectrum you have assaults that are noob magnets. while there are good assault pilots, they are overshadowed by the terrible potato assault pilots. and we all know what happens when these two groups of players meet.

to be fair the cheetah isnt even one of my favorite lights. i thought they were overrated in their heyday and when the ballistics omnis became available they were overshadowed by the myst lynx. i suppose its ok and i get ok scores with it but i dont really like it as much as i like adders, urbanmechs or locusts. those are fun lights.

[S O L A I S]

I am curious if you are good in other lights? Perhaps that particular lights fighting style is not one you are good at? As an example I do better in a Purifier with 4 med pls than I do Wolfhound 2R. The jump jets and specifically the mounts are why I believe it to be better for me and my playstyle. Overall however I think most would say that the Wolfhound is a better mech and I acquiesce to that opinion and can see why people would say that.

The forums are an interesting place so please don't take what I am saying as a dig in any way shape or form because I certainly do not mean that as insulting.

[Requiemking]

Vonbach, on 07 July 2018 - 06:46 PM, said:

The arctic cheeter got nerfed to death and justifiably so. It was the Piranha of its day.

Barely. Much like the Timby and other good Omnis, the Cheetah changed very little in terms of meta placement. It was the best Clan Light because all the others were garbage for things Lights typically do, and the lack of quirks on the Cheetah made it nigh on impossible to nerf.

[S O L A I S]

LordNothing, on 07 July 2018 - 09:25 PM, said:

i brought this up in another thread but there is kind of a selection bias for new players to go assault as opposed to light. the kind of player that is drawn towards lights is usually well seasoned and at least moderately effective with lights. at the other end of the spectrum you have assaults that are noob magnets. while there are good assault pilots, they are overshadowed by the terrible potato assault pilots. and we all know what happens when these two groups of players meet.

to be fair the cheetah isnt even one of my favorite lights. i thought they were overrated in their heyday and when the ballistics omnis became available they were overshadowed by the myst lynx. i suppose its ok and i get ok scores with it but i dont really like it as much as i like adders, urbanmechs or locusts. those are fun lights.

I wish there was a way to steer new players away from Assaults. Most of the people I see raging over Piranhas are terribads in Assaults. Mediums and Heavies for the most part are just so much easier to play and so much more forgiving of bad positioning. They are also much harder targets for lights.

[Inatu Elimor]

The ACH-E is a favorite of mine. I run the classic loadout of 3 hml and 6 mg' s. Alpha is 60 with heat efficiency of 1.49, speed 139. Not bad for a light. However, this mech is not for outputting big dmg numbers but assists. When played well you can get matchscores of 250 consistently. How to play it well? Some tips.

I am always on the run and try to get the main teamgroup (minimap) between me and the enemies' main. If the enemy has a shooting solution they will go for the bigger, slower mechs. If fire opens I switch from the minimap to direct visual contact with my teammates and whatch what they do. You go with the flow.
Don' t get to early in the fight. I like to hook up directly with assaults, there entry in the fight is most times later so the game is already a bit matured; wait for the frontline to be established.
Ideal is the engaged assault that you can assist by a flanking maneuvre.
No guarantees for succes however as you are very dependent on your teams' performance. A team that has no situational awareness and cannot position well results mostly in a disappointing matchscore. But then, you win some, you loose some.

You can hook up with me anytime in pugplay and I' ll show you.

[Y E O N N E]

That alpha is not actually 60; if you fire the MGs for as long as it takes the HML to burn (with skill tree duration nodes), it's going to be 37.83. I have no idea what formula PGI is using to inflate the alpha size for MGs and RACs, but it is very silly.

[Weeny Machine]

Luminis, on 07 July 2018 - 03:44 PM, said:

PIR says hi.

Been a while since the ACH was the premier light.

I would argue that the ACH is the more consistant mech. After laser nerfs, though, the PIR will be better (most likely)


In general, though, except some few outliers, the whole light mech class need an agility boost - especially the 35t mechs

Edited by Bush Hopper, 08 July 2018 - 01:35 AM.

[LordNothing]

definitely finding the split loadout piranhas to be more effective that the pure laser or pure machine gun variants. heat capacity is kind of a resource that you just dont utilize on a machine gun boat, none of the weapons generate heat. and they dont go through armor as effectively as the assaultaters would have you believe. the pure laser builds are rather self destructive and takes god like fire discipline to not explode. in the middle you got a build that can punch a hole in the armor and then gobble up the gooey center inside. you also have some late battle sustain when your ammo runs out.

[adamts01]

DjPush, on 07 July 2018 - 10:15 AM, said:

Immediately sold it. Garbage mech. I can't make it work for me.

100% agree. The ML build is too hot, the Cheetah can't loiter long enough for the small pulse build to deal damage, and other lights do the MG build MUCH better. The Cheetah needs agility, needs to be smaller, and needs some armor quirks for those arms.

LordNothing, on 08 July 2018 - 04:14 AM, said:

definitely finding the split loadout piranhas to be more effective that the pure laser or pure machine gun variants. heat capacity is kind of a resource that you just dont utilize on a machine gun boat, none of the weapons generate heat. and they dont go through armor as effectively as the assaultaters would have you believe. the pure laser builds are rather self destructive and takes god like fire discipline to not explode. in the middle you got a build that can punch a hole in the armor and then gobble up the gooey center inside. you also have some late battle sustain when your ammo runs out.

Try the 14 energy variant with 14 ER small lasers. Set 8 lasers in one group and 6 on the other. It runs incredibly cool and has an optimal range of 165+ meters with skills. It doesn't have all the torso weapons of the 15 energy variant but those arms tend to last longer than torsos, plus that 14 energy variant has some decent survivability quirks.

[DjPush]

S O L A I S, on 07 July 2018 - 10:10 PM, said:

I am curious if you are good in other lights? Perhaps that particular lights fighting style is not one you are good at? As an example I do better in a Purifier with 4 med pls than I do Wolfhound 2R. The jump jets and specifically the mounts are why I believe it to be better for me and my playstyle. Overall however I think most would say that the Wolfhound is a better mech and I acquiesce to that opinion and can see why people would say that.

The forums are an interesting place so please don't take what I am saying as a dig in any way shape or form because I certainly do not mean that as insulting.

I'm really partial to IS lights. Ravens, Firestarters, and Panthers. I can do pretty well in those three. As for the clan lights. Not so much. The Adder 5 MPL build is a ringer for me and that's about it. I have had the Cheetah since Clan Phase I. Even in it's heyday, I couldn't get the scores other people were getting with it. When this challenge came around I sold all the variant (except for the prime). I dusted it of the prime and gave it a shot. Then put it back in it's bay.

[DjPush]

I tried the HML and 6MG build last night after reading some of your suggestions and actually had a pretty good match. I ended up getting 813 dmg and 2 kills. It was hard work though. I had to basically wait until the heavier mechs chewed off enough enemy armor for me to get those MG crits. I was pretty much playing the scavenger. Like a Remoras fish feeding off a sharks left overs.

Edited by DjPush, 08 July 2018 - 10:18 AM.

[MischiefSC]

That's lights. Ideally you don't even want them to know you're in the water until they're spread a bit and people are opened up. THEN to rush a couple prime targets and hope a rout starts and you can gorge.

[Mcgral18]

Yeonne Greene, on 08 July 2018 - 12:04 AM, said:

That alpha is not actually 60; if you fire the MGs for as long as it takes the HML to burn (with skill tree duration nodes), it's going to be 37.83. I have no idea what formula PGI is using to inflate the alpha size for MGs and RACs, but it is very silly.

It used to be damage over 5 seconds
Not sure if it's changed.