42 replies to this topic

[Bloodwitch]

Looking for suggestions for an LRM deck.
Stealth Narc Raven 3L is already set (tho, i wouldn't mind any build or skilltree suggestions)

Was thinking about 2 Awesome 8R and 1 Archer.5W

LRM is not my forte so any recommendations are welcome.
This is meant to be a group deck in faction play, not the most serious deck tbh.
IS only and hero'mechs are not an option (alt account).

[Eisenhorne]

The best LRM deck, IMO, is the one that has a single LRM mech in it, that carries enough ammo to last damn near the entire game. Something like this Mauler MAL-1R. Yes, it's an XL engine. Yes, it has seriously reduced armor. If you're playing in a group in Faction Play though, you should really have a NARC light or two in your LRM wave, so if you're getting shot, you're doing it wrong. Stay in the back. Do not be seen. Fire forever. This thing carries well over 5,000 missiles, and enough heatsinks to fire salvos of 30 missiles for quite a long time. You just pound missiles into the enemy. If they start pushing, you fall back. If your LRM wave is crushed, then you need to fall back to plan b... direct fire mechs. You should have 2 heavy direct fire mechs in the deck as well. I play my LRM deck like this:

MAL-1R, 2x WHM-6R (dual gauss), RVN-3L. You can swap the WHM-6R's for any two direct fire heavies you like, but something with an effective range of ~500-700 meters is what you're looking for here.

If you wanna go HAM on LRM's, you can swap one of the direct fire mechs for an ARC-2R if you want, but -never- take 3 LRM boats, because if you need direct fire, you want to have the option.

* edit - fixed armor distribution on mauler

Edited by Eisenhorne, 06 September 2018 - 12:40 PM.

[Tesunie]

I take a similar deck approach as Eisenhorne, but my LRM mechs are less.... boaty. That is, if I decide to take an LRM mech for a faction drop.

If I'm going to include LRMs in my faction deck, I normally have one, maybe two, LRM based mechs. I know my Stalker 3F and Catapult BB have done well.

Builds:
Stalker 3F: 2 LRM15s, 2 MRM10s and four ERMLs.
Catapult BB: 2 LLs, 2 ERMLs and two LRM10s.

Those builds may not have "missiles for days", but when the missiles dry up, or an enemy pushes in, they each have enough direct fire to contribute to the fight still. I like to never be helpless.
(I can post up more complete builds if desired. Just ask if they interest you.)

[Eisenhorne]

Yea, my LRM boats tend to be "boaty"... but if you have 6-7 guys running those, with 1-2 NARC lights, and some direct fire mechs (like Gausshammers) to kill enemy NARC mechs and other things that get too close, it's.... stupid. I've seen fresh Annihilators drop in 3-4 seconds as 400+ LRM's slam into it per salvo.

[Bloodwitch]

I'm running mainly warhammers on main and alt account, 3x 6R is already set up.

Spoiler

The LRM is solely meant for group play on polar/alpine etc including NARC mechs.
I'll take it to heart and integrate 1 LRM boat (as in boaty boat) contraire to having 3 LRM'mechs.
The archer looks interesting, the mauler ammo pinata is.. weird. I get that it's the 90 ton "filler" but it looks so makeshift
Any other options? I am sadly not having too many mechbays to play around with currently.

Add: Oh, props if it's mech on sale btw, i'm a bit tight on anything right now, including c-bills.

Edited by Kunato Developments, 06 September 2018 - 12:04 PM.

[Eisenhorne]

The Mauler is weird, but it's also not uncommon for me to still have ammo while the score is like 35-5, and to pull 2,000 - 2,500 damage with it by itself. My record in FP with LRM's so far is 4300 damage w/ 20 KMDD's, dropping the Mauler followed by an Awesome. The Awesome still had like 1000 rounds left in it. Just gotta make sure to stay back from the front and let the LRM's fly

[Bloodwitch]

Eisenhorne, on 06 September 2018 - 12:23 PM, said:

dropping the Mauler followed by an Awesome.

Mind showing me the awesome builds? (pun not intended)

[Eisenhorne]

Kunato Developments, on 06 September 2018 - 12:28 PM, said:

Mind showing me the awesome builds? (pun not intended)

Sure, It's something like this. The armor / ammo counts can be changed depending on preference.

[Bloodwitch]

Eisenhorne, on 06 September 2018 - 12:35 PM, said:

Sure, It's something like this. The armor / ammo counts can be changed depending on preference.

Thank you very much.

[Spheroid]

If you want to win I don't recommend lurms. If your group brings lurms to an appropriate map, the enemy will also have that idea.

Clans will bring an equivalent or heavier tube count at a higher speed and with more ECM than you. The Cheetah can also narc well and its jump jets are arguably more useful then the Raven's stealth armor.

[K O Z A K]

Awesome 8R (quad 15s + tag, no artemis) is the bomb when it comes to IS lurm boats, ultimate in farming technology, it's the only mech I've done 3k with repeatedly (though I havent been lurming that long yet). Some people like to drop 1x15 for even more obscene amount of ammo, but I'm not sure that's really necessary, since even with 4 it has like 4.5k missiles

[Eisenhorne]

Spheroid, on 06 September 2018 - 12:48 PM, said:

If you want to win I don't recommend lurms. If your group brings lurms to an appropriate map, the enemy will also have that idea.

Clans will bring an equivalent or heavier tube count at a higher speed and with more ECM than you. The Cheetah can also narc well and its jump jets are arguably more useful then the Raven's stealth armor.

As long as the entire team buys into doing it, it's fine. IS has advantages when it comes to lurming that clanners don't, so it mostly comes down to the skill of the NARC pilot and the skill of the guys trying to kill the NARC pilot. The actually LRM boats require very little skill, just stand back and press ur damage button.

[Spheroid]

Well lets say the map is polar domination, a common lurm map. Mad Dogs and Hellbringers will be at the circle before the Awesomes arrive. If enough of the enemy team arrives first you will get differential attrition and never claw your way back.

The Raven and the Cheetah will show up around the same time, but the Clans will have the speed advantage. You could bring something like a Trebuchet but then the tube count is grossly inadequate.

I say its a bad idea not because the Awesome is bad, its quite good actually but the manner in which I.S. are brought to bare result in disappointing outcomes.

Lets take a look another lurm map like caustic where speed is not a factor. You bring LRM45-LRM60 the enemy brings cLRM80 for the same speed. All else being equal it is a losing trade.

Edited by Spheroid, 06 September 2018 - 01:08 PM.

[Eisenhorne]

Clanners using Mad Dogs and Hellbringers to get to the fight faster means they have less LRMs than IS does, so while we may be late to the party, when we get there it's not gonna go the clanners way. As for the 60 vs 80 tube counts... clanners have a slower rate of fire (all decent IS mechs have LRM cooldown quirks of 10-20%, and the actual cooldown is naturally faster because we don't have to wait for the stream of missiles to stop before the cooldown starts), and larger spread. I tend to do more damage with IS launcher than clan launchers, and I've tried lurming on both.

Edited by Eisenhorne, 06 September 2018 - 01:15 PM.

[K O Z A K]

Spheroid, on 06 September 2018 - 01:07 PM, said:

Well lets say the map is polar domination, a common lurm map. Mad Dogs and Hellbringers will be at the circle before the Awesomes arrive. If enough of the enemy team arrives first you will get differential attrition and never claw your way back.

The Raven and the Cheetah will show up around the same time, but the Clans will have the speed advantage. You could bring something like a Trebuchet but then the tube count is grossly inadequate.

I say its a bad idea not because the Awesome is bad, its quite good actually but the manner in which I.S. are brought to bare result in disappointing outcomes.

Lets take a look another lurm map like caustic where speed is not a factor. You bring LRM45-LRM60 the enemy brings cLRM80 for the same speed. All else being equal it is a losing trade.

You're over thinking it, make sure to have a narc mech -> mash damage button within 1km, that's all there is to it. If no narc mech tag goes to something like 800m? The IS missile battery doesn't need to be in the domination circle, it just needs to be within 1km of it. Though it is strongly not advised to run lurms unless you have like at least 6 boats shooting the same targets

[Eisenhorne]

Hazeclaw, on 06 September 2018 - 01:16 PM, said:

You're over thinking it, make sure to have a narc mech -> mash damage button within 1km, that's all there is to it. If no narc mech tag goes to something like 800m? The IS missile battery doesn't need to be in the domination circle, it just needs to be within 1km of it. Though it is strongly not advised to run lurms unless you have like at least 6 boats shooting the same targets

And a -very- skilled NARC pilot. If your NARC guy dies early, you will most likely lose the wave, if not the game, unless your enemy is bad. I've seen guys volunteer to NARC, then die super fast, and the whole team just stands around waiting for locks that never come.

[justcallme A S H]

Eisenhorne, on 06 September 2018 - 10:09 AM, said:

The best LRM deck, IMO, is the one that has a single LRM mech in it, that carries enough ammo to last damn near the entire game. Something like this Mauler MAL-1R. Yes, it's an XL engine. Yes, it has seriously reduced armor.

I tell you a secret. Bit less ammo, however still enough for 3k dmg with full armour. The kicker though is the 1R's quirks apply to LRM20 as well... It's a nasty, nasty piece of work and even on Caustic can fire continously for an exceptional amount of time

It's actually better than the AWS-8R with LRM15s. If you find the 1R runs cool/outta ammo, drop a DHS - I haven't had either issue yet

Edited by justcallme A S H, 06 September 2018 - 02:49 PM.

[justcallme A S H]

Eisenhorne, on 06 September 2018 - 12:35 PM, said:

Sure, It's something like this. The armor / ammo counts can be changed depending on preference.

Can also do THIS in the face of the Artemis Nerfs. I gave it a run, with the extra DHS, over time, it actually isn't too bad.

Again less ammo but then 2k dmg in a single mech is enough for me - and it puts the TAG in the head

[justcallme A S H]

Eisenhorne, on 06 September 2018 - 12:59 PM, said:

As long as the entire team buys into doing it, it's fine. IS has advantages when it comes to lurming that clanners don't, so it mostly comes down to the skill of the NARC pilot and the skill of the guys trying to kill the NARC pilot. The actually LRM boats require very little skill, just stand back and press ur damage button.

He is forgetting the IS LRM Quirks are huge.

AMS means nothing, as does ECM in most organised LURMAGGEDDON play.

[Bloodwitch]

Thanks for all the input.
I've settled for a mauler 1R.
Setup will be either this or this.
Not quite sure if i want the ammo container in the same place as the tag but i guess i'll figure it out on the fly after a few games (i shouldn't have the need to use the tag at all honestly).

Reasoning for the mauler is, a) i can use the same engine and upgrade for both builds and i can level it with heavy gauss in quickplay :3.

Again, thanks for all the recommendations, hope i can lurm one or two of you guys soon.

Edited by Kunato Developments, 07 September 2018 - 10:05 AM.