22 replies to this topic

[Foxwalker]

I finally broke down and bought a few of these. A really terrible piece of junk. I had recently bought Vulcans, and objectively looking thought they may not be good, but they are a bunch of fun.

So, thinkng maybe they have something going for them i can't see. Nope. Really terrible. No speed, No real armor quirks and not great weapon loadouts. I can make it work soft of but just not the fun Mech it was in MW4.

It really needs something to make it worth driving.

[thievingmagpi]

https://grimmechs.is...Guides?c=Cougar

[Foxwalker]

thievingmagpi, on 21 June 2019 - 01:07 PM, said:

https://grimmechs.is...Guides?c=Cougar

Funny, without going to that site, already realized most of those builds on my own. It does nothing to counter the slow plus no armor aspect of this thing.

[Vxheous]

Foxwalker, on 21 June 2019 - 01:23 PM, said:

Funny, without going to that site, already realized most of those builds on my own. It does nothing to counter the slow plus no armor aspect of this thing.

It's meant to be played like a medium. Shadow a larger mech so you don't get shot, and use your much higher damage output to help augment that other mech you're shadowing to nuke opponents down

[Funky Bacon]

It's a really hard mech to use. Got the firepower of a medium but the survivability of a legged Jenner.

Only two builds I found somewhat viable is the Dual ER-PPC one with the torso mounts, and the COU-C with Gauss and 4 ER-ML (5 lasers is too hot imo, replace one with a heatsink for a bit more sustained damage).

[FupDup]

Vxheous, on 21 June 2019 - 01:30 PM, said:

It's meant to be played like a medium. Shadow a larger mech so you don't get shot, and use your much higher damage output to help augment that other mech you're shadowing to nuke opponents down

The Urbanmech is a light that is meant to be played like a medium.

The Cougar does not have anywhere near the armor of a medium and most loadouts don't have the firepower of one either. I dunno which mediums you're playing, but the ones I use tend to take a lot of damage to go down unless I do a potato. The Cougar meanwhile has to play far more conservatively than a medium because it can be crippled in one salvo from almost anything.

[JediPanther]

A bad mech over all. I got the hero one from the recent sale and best build I could get was an lbx 5 and 4 spls. I played it long enough to get 20 into mech ops and went back to my other lights. Runs too slow, poor armor and only meh builds. Every thing it can do my adder prime can do and better already and my adr is already max 91 nodes.

The only good thing is the high bal torso pods on the ba. ac 2 snipe with it. I might try just being an extra ams with it since it can mount two ams and do anti missile duty...except my kfox is set up for that with extra ams and skills. At least it gets the c-bill bonus.

[LordNothing]

its not a mech you should get unless you like adders and urbies and other slow lights. i tend to prefer slower lights in some situations but i still never find an excuse to use a cougar.

Edited by LordNothing, 21 June 2019 - 05:50 PM.

[WrathOfDeadguy]

It's the quintessential glass cannon. I love the stupid thing, but unless you also like being a walking bag of guns armored with tissue paper, it's just not gonna be for you.

So, maximize its firepower, and don't try to mess around with DPS builds or brawling. The other slow lights play like slightly squishier mediums, but the Cougar plays like a very squishy heavy. Think "I'm a Hellbringer with no armor." That's about how much firepower you can bring to the table (minus a few of the extra sinks you'd be taking with a HBR), about how much mobility you've got to work with, and about how long you can expect to survive if you become a primary target.

But, if you choose your trades carefully, you can absolutely post decent scores. You just need to remember not to be the primary target (which is why the COU fares so poorly against comp-level players; they know it's a quick way to wipe out a big alpha, so they tend to shoot you first if you're visible).

The best tactic to maximize the COU's potential is to attach yourself to a heavy or assault with a similar range bracket, and poke with them... but about a half-second behind. That way, the enemy has already wasted their return volley by the time you expose. Yes, I'm telling you to meatshield, and do it shamelessly. It'd be a cruddy, selfish way to play if you had armor to share... but you don't have armor to share, so don't feel guilty; you couldn't have tanked that damage anyway, nor could you have dodged it. You don't have armor to share, so you have to share your firepower instead... and you can only do that if you're alive. Surviving as long as possible to get as many shots downrange as possible is the name of your game.

[cougurt]

LordNothing, on 21 June 2019 - 05:50 PM, said:

its not a mech you should get unless you like adders and urbies and other slow lights. i tend to prefer slower lights in some situations but i still never find an excuse to use a cougar.

i prefer the adder for ERPPCs, but i think the cougar does everything else better. i wouldn't necessarily call it good, but it's perfectly adequate for solo queue.

[LordNothing]

cougurt, on 21 June 2019 - 07:47 PM, said:

i prefer the adder for ERPPCs, but i think the cougar does everything else better. i wouldn't necessarily call it good, but it's perfectly adequate for solo queue.

i run a cinder with a uac10 and 3 hmls. things a beast. it can face tank an assault and win. not that you should face tank in squirrels, but its nice to have the option.

Edited by LordNothing, 21 June 2019 - 07:55 PM.

[LT. HARDCASE]

What invisible trait did you expect to emerge after you spent the cbills?

[Christophe Ivanov]

I mastered one of mine. As it's been said, this is NOT a mech you go out by yourself and scout, find a lone enemy to dish it out with etc. This one you stay with the main body and support your group. Once in the middle of the battle, you'll soon find some enemies you can take out yourself while supporting your group. All depends on your fighting style.

[Phoenix 72]

I am playing my Cougar E with an H (ECM) head and LRM40, as well as 2 HML. I tend to play it as fire support / ECM support. Works for me. Not my best mech by any stretch of the imagination, but not my worst, either.

[Vxheous]

FupDup, on 21 June 2019 - 04:19 PM, said:

The Urbanmech is a light that is meant to be played like a medium.

The Cougar does not have anywhere near the armor of a medium and most loadouts don't have the firepower of one either. I dunno which mediums you're playing, but the ones I use tend to take a lot of damage to go down unless I do a potato. The Cougar meanwhile has to play far more conservatively than a medium because it can be crippled in one salvo from almost anything.

I don't know what cougar builds you're running, but most of the good ones are easily medium mech firepower, if not borderline heavy mech firepower. 6 Clan medium pulse, Gauss + 5 ERML, 2 Heavy Large 3 ERML, 1 Heavy Large 6 ERML, 2 ERPPC + decent amount of heatsinks, those are all at least medium mech firepower, and played the same way as a poking medium (just don't get hit, because it's still a 35 ton mech)

[FupDup]

Vxheous, on 22 June 2019 - 11:27 AM, said:

I don't know what cougar builds you're running, but most of the good ones are easily medium mech firepower, if not borderline heavy mech firepower. 6 Clan medium pulse, Gauss + 5 ERML, 2 Heavy Large 3 ERML, 1 Heavy Large 6 ERML, 2 ERPPC + decent amount of heatsinks, those are all at least medium mech firepower, and played the same way as a poking medium (just don't get hit, because it's still a 35 ton mech)

In terms of pure pod space the Cougar can carry 18.5 tons of guns (assuming the arms aren't stripped). Mathematically, most 50-55 ton mediums can do more than that, particularly the Clan ones. On paper you can carry the same number of guns but in practice you have fewer heatsinks for those guns ("firepower" is about more than just alpha strike).

Also the durability aspect limits your offensive output because you have to be a lot more picky of when you engage. Mediums can usually engage whenever, letting them take shots that would be too risky for the Coug.

So, to reiterate, telling people to play the Cougar like a medium doesn't make sense because most mediums have a much larger margin of error for taking risks and not being punished as hard for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's probably a lot closer in playstyle to something like a down-engined Flea or Locust because of the whole "never ever get hit in your whole life" thing.

Edited by FupDup, 22 June 2019 - 11:56 AM.

[WrathOfDeadguy]

In practice, the fact that you are so limited by lack of durability mostly negates the lack of heat sinks. Because good trades are fewer and farther between- owing to your inability to take return fire- you've got more time to cool off, so the 15-19 DHS you can pack in the hottest builds (the HLL+ERML vomits) is more than adequate. Unless the enemy team is spud-heavy and just not bothering to return fire, you'll almost always be cooled off again by the time another good shot presents itself. The heat sink buffs really helped the Cougar in that regard, too.

It's sort of a weak silver lining, though. "You're so squishy that it doesn't matter how hot you run!" isn't precisely the greatest of compliments. But, at least you don't get doubly screwed for packing a bigger alpha.

[Vxheous]

FupDup, on 22 June 2019 - 11:52 AM, said:

In terms of pure pod space the Cougar can carry 18.5 tons of guns (assuming the arms aren't stripped). Mathematically, most 50-55 ton mediums can do more than that, particularly the Clan ones. On paper you can carry the same number of guns but in practice you have fewer heatsinks for those guns ("firepower" is about more than just alpha strike).

Also the durability aspect limits your offensive output because you have to be a lot more picky of when you engage. Mediums can usually engage whenever, letting them take shots that would be too risky for the Coug.

So, to reiterate, telling people to play the Cougar like a medium doesn't make sense because most mediums have a much larger margin of error for taking risks and not being punished as hard for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's probably a lot closer in playstyle to something like a down-engined Flea or Locust because of the whole "never ever get hit in your whole life" thing.

I don't know what to tell you other than you must not be a good trader (picking the right trades to make/proper positioning), since whenever I play a cougar, I play it like a clan trading medium/heavy, and it works. Do you have to be careful with your trades? Sure, margin of error with poking as a light is definitely higher than mediums/heavies, but the idea is the same. I'd prefer to take 0 damage back every time I go to make a poke, regardless of playing a light/med/heavy/assault.

Here's my cougar (19 double heatsinks + additional heat quirks associated with Cougars):


Here's my stats with it:


As comparison, I threw in the Hunchback IIc-A laser vom, and Hellbringer laser vom stats as well. Cougar averages 519 damage/match, Hunchback IIc-A averages 525 damage/match, and Hellbringer averages 688 damage/match.

Edited by Vxheous, 22 June 2019 - 08:25 PM.

[R79TCom1 Night Lanner]

Vxheous, on 22 June 2019 - 11:27 AM, said:

I don't know what cougar builds you're running, but most of the good ones are easily medium mech firepower, if not borderline heavy mech firepower. 6 Clan medium pulse, Gauss + 5 ERML, 2 Heavy Large 3 ERML, 1 Heavy Large 6 ERML, 2 ERPPC + decent amount of heatsinks, those are all at least medium mech firepower, and played the same way as a poking medium (just don't get hit, because it's still a 35 ton mech)

Cougar-H with stock OmniPods mounting 2x ERPPC, ECM, JJs, plenty of DHS and those Go8 quirks is a solid light 'Mech. I use it as my filler light in FW and a good 'Mech to use in Quicks if other people in the group want to take bigger 'Mechs. In both cases stick with the big boys giving them cover from missiles and pop out with your ERPPC while letting them soak up the damage you cannot take.

[Nightbird]

You just need some Botox and plastic surgery