15 replies to this topic

[Grimview]

Returning player, still getting back into things - I played for a couple months in 2020 and then life happened so I kinda backed off for ages. Been playing again for about a week.

So far, I've got an Urbie (R63, about half-skilled up) for memes when I want to mess around, a COM-2D that's fully skilled (2x SRM4, 1xRocket Launcher 15 ("go away" button), 1x Med Laser, + ECM, LFE that gets me to 110 kph), an ENF-4R (about 3/4 skilled, 3xER Med Laser + UAC10, might switch to normal AC10 to avoid jamming due to the quirks), a MAD-3R to learn brawling in (still experimenting with loadout and skills a lot there), and the free Javelin and Arctic Cheetah from the June event. Both of those are currently completely stock, except that I pulled the flamer off the Cheetah.

I'm going to invest the free MC from the two current events in another mech bay so I can pick up one more mech with c-bills, not MC, as I don't have a lot of spare income at the moment.

I'm still down in tier 5, but have been able to get some consistent wins lately through being a scout/shot caller and flanking/harassing the enemy or supporting the bigs on my team depending on the map. This is especially true in my Commando and Arctic Cheetah. (I haven't actually tried out the JVN-11A yet) I regularly end up getting thanked for my calls and have been directly credited with match wins by the other players I'm with many times for the situational awareness and flanking calls I've been able to make, so I know I'm doing okay on that front. If I get a team that actually coordinates and sticks together and drop on a team that doesn't, I can usually lead them to rolling the other team completely. Like, 12-0 to 12-2 range rolls, regardless of match type.

The problem I'm having is that even in a good match in my Commando or Cheetah (though I only have 6 games in the Cheetah), I average ~200-250 damage done. The actual average is lower because sometimes I get taken out early or my team just isn't coordinating, so I end up more in the 150-180 range for overall average. My best matches in my lights, I've done 300-350 damage. I get points for scouting, flanking, formation, UAV use and spotting, etc. But I just can't get as much damage output as I'd like with my loadouts.

So... I wanted to ask for suggestions here. Should I change up my loadouts? Try a different mech that is a bit more up-gunned compared to the Commando? Shift towards a more long-mid range build for scouting rather than SRMs so I can hang back more?

I'm open to anything, I just want some help figuring this out. I like ballistics, missiles, and energy weapons about equally so far, so don't limit suggestions on weapon preference. My only real preferences at the moment are:
1) to swap engines to Lights rather than XLs because I don't quite have damage spreading down pat yet, so the ability to lose one side torso does a lot for my survivability in a match. When I get better, I will probably upgrade to XLs, but while I'm learning again I think it's best I stick with Light Engines.
2) having ECM, because it's invaluable when I'm out scouting ahead and gives me extra survival chance when I run back to the group or go out to flank whoever they're fighting.

With that new spare mech bay, I'd be up for a light or a medium, though given I have four lights it might be better to get a fast medium?

Edited by Grimview, 26 June 2021 - 08:51 AM.

[SafeScanner]

so Right as of now you have a
Commando,
Javalin
Artic Cheetah

for fast lights try a
Locust - Mixed selection some missle, ballistic and lasers (ecm is behind pirates bane)
Flea - mainly laser builds Flea-20 gets ecm

for more ranged slighly bigger light mechs there are the
Osiris - Locusts Bigger brother?
raven - more a support mech one can ecm/stealth and use narcs that will keep mechs on radar

and the black horse Pirana's 1/2
i won't explain but these will require a bit of finese to play (map knowlege god team blah blah blah)

[CFC Conky]

Hi Grimview,

The Commando has good hit boxes and is one of the fastest mechs in the game so I would suggest putting a bigger xl engine in it and use speed/agility as your armour.

I don’t know if you have a preference for IS or Clan rides. On the IS side the Wolfhound-2 works well as does the Hero Grinner if you have the MC for it. For Clan the PIR is a good bet.

There are all kinds of fast mediums out there, off the top of my head I’d say the Vulcan 5T and Assassins are decent for IS. Clanside, the Vapor Eagle and Huntsman are pretty effective.

I run my ENF-4R with 5xML and an AC-10 and get best results (for me) in my Marauder 3R using 2xLB10-X and 4xML.

Your mileage may vary.

Good hunting,
CFC Conky

Edited by CFC Conky, 26 June 2021 - 09:55 AM.

[martian]

Grimview, on 26 June 2021 - 08:50 AM, said:

Returning player, still getting back into things - I played for a couple months in 2020 and then life happened so I kinda backed off for ages. Been playing again for about a week.

Welcome back!

Grimview, on 26 June 2021 - 08:50 AM, said:

II can pick up one more mech with c-bills
...
I'm open to anything, I just want some help figuring this out. I like ballistics, missiles, and energy weapons about equally so far, so don't limit suggestions on weapon preference. My only real preferences at the moment are:
1) to swap engines to Lights rather than XLs because I don't quite have damage spreading down pat yet, so the ability to lose one side torso does a lot for my survivability in a match. When I get better, I will probably upgrade to XLs, but while I'm learning again I think it's best I stick with Light Engines.
2) having ECM, because it's invaluable when I'm out scouting ahead and gives me extra survival chance when I run back to the group or go out to flank whoever they're fighting.

With that new spare mech bay, I'd be up for a light or a medium, though given I have four lights it might be better to get a fast medium?

Considering the restrictions that you have laid out, my suggestions would be:

PXH-2 Phoenix Hawk
Usually armed with a suite of Medium lasers of some variety. I would imagine six ER Medium and 300-rated LFE. The speed 108 km/h is not so bad. After you unlock some durability skill nodes (and earn some C-Bills), you can switch to some larger XL engine to get higher ground speed.

Shadow Cat
Its most iconic build runs twin Clan ER PPCs with the effective range of 810 metres, but there are other - short-ranged - builds for it too. The Shadow Cat is a Clan OmniMech, so you can always buy various OmniPods to design diverse loadouts that would suit your needs.

Please note that the Shadow Cat comes with Clan Ferro-fibrous armor, Clan Endo Steel and Clan XL engine (and since Clan XL engines need only two engine slots in side torso, you can lose one side torso of your Shadow Cat to the damage and still fight) and MASC (good for bursts of speed and agility).




Almost forgot: The Shadow Cat serves as this month's Trial 'Mech, so you can try it for free as often as you wish.

Edited by martian, 26 June 2021 - 10:10 AM.

[Leone]

So... Let's talk the commando. Now, speed is life little light. I can understand wanting to go Light Fusion, but speed is life. That rocket pod you got? 1 tonne. 45 damage max, eaten up by ams, so you gotta position and prob or ams tank with your srms. Also, fairly terrible spread and what... 90 meters dead zone? Not, in my opinion worth it. I'd rather strip it and switch to 3 srm 2s, freeing up another tonne and with two tonnes free you can switch to an LFE 200 (since you can ditch two heatsinks now.) New speed, 129.6kph before any speed tweaking.

Best bet for the commando'd be flanking and getting side and back shots then running off cackling madly to do it again and distract mechs pulling them from the firing line or getting them to turn their flank to the enemy. The problem is you'll still be run down by 150 kph fleas and piranhas and locusts. That's my personal thoughts there.

Lemme mull over the mech suggestions for a bit.

Edit: Okay, My issue is with the phrasing fast mediums. I, personally, do not consider my Arctic wolf fast because it only goes 97.2 before speed tweak. That said, my ACW-A is a decent missile platform to test Clan missiles with. (my current load out is smallpulse x 2, srm 2 x 2, ATM 9 x 2)

The cicada goes fast, but has limited build options and I'm hesitant to not go XL with it, the black lanners a great fast brawler, but not sure it's versatile enough to suggest it for testing a variety of weaponry. I'd second phoenix hawk and shadow cat as options. I'm leaning more towards suggesting a clan mech so as to take advantage of the Clan XL survivability. So, shadowcat for jumping, Arctic Wolf for slower heavier missile based weaponry.

Assassins, griffins and phoenix hawks are nice, but I feel the need to go fast and the desire to stick to lfes'll limit your build options. Keep 'em in mind for later, but mayhaps now's a good time to take a dip in the wonderful world of omnipods?

~Leone.

Edited by Leone, 26 June 2021 - 11:50 AM.

[Grimview]

Thanks guys! I'm definitely gonna mod the Commando like you suggested, Leone - that sounds like a fun build. Keep the Medium Laser I assume?

And I think I'll try the trial Shadow Cat a bit more and see if I like it. I generally prefer Inner Sphere stuff but I'm not opposed to having some Clan mechs kicking around, and if it's going to be a more versatile platform for learning and improving, that's a pretty strong argument for me to invest in it. Just gotta save up the c-bills!

[Gagis]

Vulcan 5T with 5 Medium Pulse Lasers is still the top of the fast agile mediums. The Phoenix Hawk with 6MPL or 5MPL+1ERSL is an acceptable substitute, even though in my opinion the ECM is not worth its downsides compared to the Vulcan.

[Horseman]

Your stable seems to be suffering from a Bushwacker deficiency. Get an X1, this thing is reasonably XL safe and has good convergence on its' torso ballistics - XL255, 2xUAC10 and go murderize.

[Leone]

Grimview, on 27 June 2021 - 07:44 AM, said:

Thanks guys! I'm definitely gonna mod the Commando like you suggested, Leone - that sounds like a fun build. Keep the Medium Laser I assume?

Correct! Much as I love running solo distraction with my lights, an under-engined commando cannot outrun the quintessential lights, which I feel is a requirement to range too far from the team until you have the opfors measure. Now, you can always stick close whilst flanking and lead other lights back to a friendly heavy or assault to deal with, which gives the added benefit of being able to come to their aid. (When choosing a mech as your anvil to lead enemy lights to, make sure it's not a stationary sniper, but a mobile flanking mech itching to shoot something. Then, when you run by with a light chasing, they'll be ready to unload on it.)

Grimview, on 27 June 2021 - 07:44 AM, said:

And I think I'll try the trial Shadow Cat a bit more and see if I like it. I generally prefer Inner Sphere stuff but I'm not opposed to having some Clan mechs kicking around, and if it's going to be a more versatile platform for learning and improving, that's a pretty strong argument for me to invest in it. Just gotta save up the c-bills!

I think, at this point, you should get at least one clan mech to see if you like the variability of the omnipods, and the tech of the weaponry. Sure, you might decide it's not for you, but at least you'll know, right? So... If you don't end up liking the trial Shadowcat, I'd suggest the Black-Lanner as the backup option. It's not jumpy, and I always wanna brawl with 'em, but you'd have about 10 tonnes of weaponry to play with if you go fully armoured.

Also, if you like ballistics and want a more manouverable medium than your Mad-3R, the bushwhacker, whilst unable to bring the ecm, is a solid mech. Prolly something to keep on the back burner though.

~Leone.

Edited by Leone, 27 June 2021 - 11:40 AM.

[Grimview]

Leone, on 27 June 2021 - 11:39 AM, said:

Correct! Much as I love running solo distraction with my lights, an under-engined commando cannot outrun the quintessential lights, which I feel is a requirement to range too far from the team until you have the opfors measure. Now, you can always stick close whilst flanking and lead other lights back to a friendly heavy or assault to deal with, which gives the added benefit of being able to come to their aid. (When choosing a mech as your anvil to lead enemy lights to, make sure it's not a stationary sniper, but a mobile flanking mech itching to shoot something. Then, when you run by with a light chasing, they'll be ready to unload on it.)

Just pulled exactly that strategy after the changes you suggested in a bunch of games, and, well. 12 games, 9 wins, survived to the end of ten of them (the other loss was a capture loss on Assault). This was my best performance in both damage done and match score.

Quote

I think, at this point, you should get at least one clan mech to see if you like the variability of the omnipods, and the tech of the weaponry. Sure, you might decide it's not for you, but at least you'll know, right? So... If you don't end up liking the trial Shadowcat, I'd suggest the Black-Lanner as the backup option. It's not jumpy, and I always wanna brawl with 'em, but you'd have about 10 tonnes of weaponry to play with if you go fully armoured.

Also, if you like ballistics and want a more manouverable medium than your Mad-3R, the bushwhacker, whilst unable to bring the ecm, is a solid mech. Prolly something to keep on the back burner though.

~Leone.

Noted on both counts! I've liked the little bit of playing around I've done with the Arctic Cheetah from the free event, so I do have that, but having a second feels like a good plan.

[justcallme A S H]

When you say fast - what speed are you thinking?

Some mechs you listed I would not call fast - so clarification around that will be helpful for further recommendation.

[Grimview]

justcallme A S H, on 27 June 2021 - 02:39 PM, said:

When you say fast - what speed are you thinking?

Some mechs you listed I would not call fast - so clarification around that will be helpful for further recommendation.

Oh, I wasn't saying my current stable is all that fast. But of them I am currently enjoying my Commando the most, so was mainly thinking of things where I could keep 100+ kph speed in a medium. From the suggestions so far it sounds like Shadow Cat or maybe Black Lanner are my best bets, and options to start exploring Clan tech? With others (Phoenix Hawk, Assassin, Bushwhacker) to check out later?

I've had a few good matches in my Marauder so far on the learning-to-brawl front and a few very bad ones. But I seem to perform better, so far, as a flanker and scout. So stuff where I could fulfill that role but be a bit upgunned from my Commando loadout (now 1x Med Laser + 3x SRM2s, with ECM) would be of interest.

I've got my Enforcer set up for basically hunchbuddying with bigger mechs and taking potshots/fending off flankers. Marauder is still a build I'm trying different ballistics and energy combos on to get a mid range brawler figured out.

So the question in the first post could I guess be rephrased as: if I want to keep getting better in a flanking/scouting role, and am having success in the Commando (CMD-2D specifically), what should I look at for my next mech bay? With an eye towards mediums or lights, but probably mediums due to the fact I have several lights to experiment with thanks to buying the Commando and Urbie for myself, and the two free ones from the event.

[SafeScanner]

Looking forward to seeing you on the battlefeild its good so see more interest being put into light mechs ill keep you on your toes and if we are on the same side say hi ill help you out

[Horseman]

Grimview, on 27 June 2021 - 02:49 PM, said:

Oh, I wasn't saying my current stable is all that fast. But of them I am currently enjoying my Commando the most, so was mainly thinking of things where I could keep 100+ kph speed in a medium. From the suggestions so far it sounds like Shadow Cat or maybe Black Lanner are my best bets, and options to start exploring Clan tech? With others (Phoenix Hawk, Assassin, Bushwhacker) to check out later?

Arctic Wolf can do 120-ish with 4xASRM6

[Ignatius Audene]

Lots of good choice here. Crab 5-6mpl. Vulcan with mpl or Phoenx Hawk. I would say Phoinix hawk with ecm and good armor quirks is an easy option. Wolverine with mrm might be an option, that plays quite diffrent.

[The Basilisk]

Not exactly fast but quite a lot of punch and mobility:
DV-8D

Edit: if you aren't into jumping, just add an other HS or armor

Edited by The Basilisk, 28 June 2021 - 02:50 AM.