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Any Light Mechs Meant For Poking/ranged Skirmishing?


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#1 FRAGTAST1C

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Posted 24 June 2019 - 03:04 AM

I'm close to leveling up my Cipher fully. The other light mech that I've piloted before was the Javelin 11F that I got from PGI. Both are built for aggressive backstabbing and less of ranged skirmishing. I have the Street Cleaner, Sekhmet and the Firestorm and I don't particularly like them to be honest.

Do you guys have some good recommendations for this? I've read about the Grinner and K9 and they're fine. I'll buy them soon but they're still leaning towards fast skirmishing. Are there any other? The "slower" Clan Light mechs seem to be made of paper but they can mount impressive weaponry. I've checked the Grim Mechs site and there are a lot of builds for the Cougar. The Kit Fox seems good as well with the support systems like AMS and ECM to shadow the assaults and heavies. Any other mechs with a similar flavour?

#2 LordNothing

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Posted 24 June 2019 - 03:25 AM

ive been mostly happy with my grinner and k9, and thats saying something because im usually a cat person.

up till recently i ran my grinner as a quad lppc build, but i switched it to medpulse for some reason im not entirely clear on. and k9, anything you can put on it usually does pretty good. rac2, ac5, uac2. it doesnt really have a lot of fire power but its usually enough to do some damage, and you usually dont get focused when you are with other mechs, presumably because its cute and non threatening. people just dont understand how devastating urbie power can be.

im also fond of the adder. i got a cinder with a uac10 and some hmls. its a vicious brawler and can face tank an assault and win, not that you should do that kind of thing in a light mech. you could probably do dual uac2s if you want more range. dual uac5s would work on the cinder if you stripped the arms. ammo is a little tight though. adder is pretty versatile so you could do anything with it, atms, srms, lasers, ppcs whatever you like. great omnipods.

Edited by LordNothing, 24 June 2019 - 03:35 AM.


#3 Ilfi

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Posted 24 June 2019 - 03:46 AM

There aren't a ton that are made for it, but it's good that you mentioned GrimMechs since that's a great place to start. I suppose you could do it with a double ER LL Incubus with those high mounts, but how often do you see an Incubus in the wild these days? Oh, and there's also the hero Kit Fox that can fit ECM, JJs and five to six ER Mediums for a passable mid-range laser vom.

Lights aren't in a good place to begin with, and the ones scratching you from 800m away are hardly the memorable ones -- it's the ones that vomit 60 into your back and skitter away.

#4 McGoat

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Posted 24 June 2019 - 03:49 AM

https://mech.nav-alp...#413b5a81_INC-4

Some of the best mounts in the game.

There's also the Panther 8Z with 10% range quirk, Osiris, Cougar etc. Just poke around and these kind of mechs should be clear to you as to what they're capable of.

Be aware, though, that if you're not fast and aware of your positioning relative to your team/enemy this type of game play will not be very rewarding ;)

Edited by McGoat, 24 June 2019 - 03:54 AM.


#5 Curccu

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Posted 24 June 2019 - 04:11 AM

View PostLordNothing, on 24 June 2019 - 03:25 AM, said:

ive been mostly happy with my grinner and k9, and thats saying something because im usually a cat person.

up till recently i ran my grinner as a quad lppc build, but i switched it to medpulse for some reason im not entirely clear on. and k9, anything you can put on it usually does pretty good. rac2, ac5, uac2. it doesnt really have a lot of fire power but its usually enough to do some damage, and you usually dont get focused when you are with other mechs, presumably because its cute and non threatening. people just dont understand how devastating urbie power can be.

Personally I wouldn't put any ballistics to K-9 just MPL/ML/ERML
K-9 not massive alpha but good high mounts, decent amount of DHS and armor quirks ofc to keep you alive.. and because urbies ability to run away and still shoot & tank with your front armor.

#6 Gagis

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Posted 24 June 2019 - 04:17 AM

Woldfhound-2 skirmishes well with 6ERML and maximum engine.

#7 Daggett

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Posted 24 June 2019 - 05:51 AM

In my opinion the big problem with ranged skirmishing using light mechs is that T1 matches are usually finished within 4-6 minutes. And since longer range weapons always come with lower DPS and/or hefty tonnage/heat dissipation requirements you can't fit much long-range firepower on a light mech. And low dps means you have a much harder time to achieve damage numbers as high as on heavier mechs or knife-fighting lights in such a short time-frame.

So if you want to contribute to winning a match in a true light long-range skirmisher you probably won't achieve this with damage or quick kills. Your best bet is trying to make the enemy team uncomfortable by flanking them smart. If you manage to deny some big mechs any cover, they usually panic and do stupid things.

The best compromise however are probably mid-range weapons like medium (pulse) lasers. They are light enough to allow boating along with some DHS to keep DPS decent and have enough range to allow for a skirmish playstyle with good positioning.

For example the medium (pulse) laser Wolfhound gives a very good mix of speed, survivability, firepower and harassment potential. You have the speed and range to skirmish but also the armor/hitboxes to get close and personal if needed.

So personally i would choose something like this over true long-range builds like 2 large lasers. Or with other words: I can usually safely ignore a large laser light in my back for some time because of it's pathetic DPS and long laser burn, but i can hardly ignore a pulse-laser wolfhound flanking me. Posted Image

Edited by Daggett, 24 June 2019 - 07:18 AM.


#8 Kotzi

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Posted 24 June 2019 - 05:53 AM

MWO doesnt has the tactical depth for those mechs. In a good game lights with long range harassing loadouts would be a good viable option for some sick tactical maneuvers. But unfortunately MWO neither has the mapsize nor the time to do anything but skirmish. It would be so nice if light mechs and long range weapons had much more viability like you know really have to decide between high heat, no ammo to low heat but ammo dependant long range weapons.

That said ER Large Laser Raven were quite popular and dual PPC adder was my favourite. Actually any fast moving light that can carry 2 PPC or Large Laser will be great. But because of above mentioned gameplay limitations you will be more likely a hindrance to your team and people will call that out. It needs time to do damage with those builds and you can, but if the enemy is agressive, you are most likely the scapegoat, maybe rightfully so, for the loss.

#9 thievingmagpi

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Posted 24 June 2019 - 06:14 AM

7ml Javelin and the ML Osiris (good mounts) can do it. you need to be shooting always, constantly redlining or you just won't be doing enough damage by match end.

#10 Ruccus

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Posted 24 June 2019 - 06:33 AM

The Kit Fox is a nice support mech but it needs the Purifier (hero mech) left and right torsos to be a solid hill poking mech. It's one of the few light mechs that can do LRMs well though. Just a thought - if you want a fast skirmisher maybe consider something like a Vulcan VL-5T, Viper, or Ice Ferret. They're agile and fast yet at 40 to 45 tons are a bit more durable than the quick light mechs.


View PostCurccu, on 24 June 2019 - 04:11 AM, said:

Personally I wouldn't put any ballistics to K-9 just MPL/ML/ERML
K-9 not massive alpha but good high mounts, decent amount of DHS and armor quirks ofc to keep you alive.. and because urbies ability to run away and still shoot & tank with your front armor.

The K-9 has some exceptional ballistic quirks (15% cooldown, 20% range, and 10% velocity). Here's a solid AC5+Small Laser build that's worked well for me. The AC5 can be used at long range yet is still cold enough and fires fast enough to be good for brawling. A fun variant is swapping out the AC5 for a RAC2.

That's not to say the 5 MPL build isn't effective as well; the AC5 build above and the 5 MPL build are the two I usually use for the K-9.

#11 Nightbird

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Posted 24 June 2019 - 07:52 AM

As mentioned before, lights don't really have the heatsinks to maintain a reasonable DPS with mid-long ranged weapons, esp in solo quick play. You'll see noticeably lower performance compare with high DPS lights. If you'd like to skirmish, I would suggest looking at medium mechs as this is their niche.

Edited by Nightbird, 24 June 2019 - 07:52 AM.


#12 Zephrym

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Posted 24 June 2019 - 08:06 AM

As well as those mentioned above, Jenner (JR7-F) is often overlooked but fun to play.

You tend to need to be surgical with 6x (er)ml poke builds. Popping torsos is my preferred option depending on opponent. Target info becomes a valuable aid.

Z.

#13 Foxwalker

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Posted 24 June 2019 - 08:24 AM

I am curious how you outfitted the Sreetcleaner. I have a RAC/2 and 3 Medium lasers and it seems to do very well. For any light it boils down to your play style and how you outfit the mech to fit it.

#14 L1f3H4ck

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Posted 24 June 2019 - 11:01 AM

Incubus 4 has a fantastic peeking profile. It's horrible vs other lights, but it works like a pocket Battlemaster.

#15 LordNothing

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Posted 24 June 2019 - 11:53 AM

View PostCurccu, on 24 June 2019 - 04:11 AM, said:

Personally I wouldn't put any ballistics to K-9 just MPL/ML/ERML
K-9 not massive alpha but good high mounts, decent amount of DHS and armor quirks ofc to keep you alive.. and because urbies ability to run away and still shoot & tank with your front armor.


not running ballistics on an urbie just seems wrong.

#16 JediPanther

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Posted 24 June 2019 - 01:44 PM

Mechs with range quirks and fire power range nodes work for a lot of long range pokes. I don't like the "laser sniper" as it seems dumb to me since that laser is just pointing back to your position defeating the purpose of a "sniper". Er mls and Er lls are the two most common lasers for is. I've ran 3 lppcs on a stealth raven.

#17 VirtualRiot

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Posted 24 June 2019 - 06:12 PM

You can run a pretty sick 3ERLL build on the Paralyzer. ECM, medium JJ, speed. Can always swap out ERLL for LL if you are good enough.

#18 Prototelis

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Posted 24 June 2019 - 06:26 PM

Incubus is best light poker.

#19 Wil McCullough

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Posted 24 June 2019 - 06:49 PM

View PostZephrym, on 24 June 2019 - 08:06 AM, said:

As well as those mentioned above, Jenner (JR7-F) is often overlooked but fun to play.

You tend to need to be surgical with 6x (er)ml poke builds. Popping torsos is my preferred option depending on opponent. Target info becomes a valuable aid.

Z.


I broke 1k damage a few times using this exact mech build. There's a more ballsy 6mpl version i used to run for **** and giggles too. Gotta drop jjs and strip armor off the legs though. It's less risky than it seems because most players aim for the yuge ct when fighting jenners.

#20 FRAGTAST1C

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Posted 24 June 2019 - 07:47 PM

View PostFoxwalker, on 24 June 2019 - 08:24 AM, said:

I am curious how you outfitted the Sreetcleaner. I have a RAC/2 and 3 Medium lasers and it seems to do very well. For any light it boils down to your play style and how you outfit the mech to fit it.


The RAC2 was the first build that I went with. I didn't play it all that much as I had other mechs to level up. Maybe I should try it out again.

View PostVirtualRiot, on 24 June 2019 - 06:12 PM, said:

You can run a pretty sick 3ERLL build on the Paralyzer. ECM, medium JJ, speed. Can always swap out ERLL for LL if you are good enough.


I use my Paralyzer with 4 SPLs, 2 Flamers and 2 SRM6s with Stealth and JJ predominantly as a Harasser and Light mech hunter. It is fun to a degree. It's the odd shape of the mech that makes it bad I feel. I'll check out the ERLL build later as I feel like using some Light mechs for now.

View PostNightbird, on 24 June 2019 - 07:52 AM, said:

As mentioned before, lights don't really have the heatsinks to maintain a reasonable DPS with mid-long ranged weapons, esp in solo quick play. You'll see noticeably lower performance compare with high DPS lights. If you'd like to skirmish, I would suggest looking at medium mechs as this is their niche.


I need some Medium mechs as well. I have a lot of Heavies and Assaults but as far as Mediums go, I have the Bushie X1 with Triple Rac2, Veagle 3 with 3 ERPPC/2 ATM12s depending on what I feel like loading it up with, Veagle A running like a pocket Orion IIC A, the Pakhet with 3 ATM 9s, Griffin Ares with SPLs and SRM6+A and Stealth Paralyzer. So, please feel free to recommend some medium mechs.





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