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Ratatat! With The Rac Shadowhawk.


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#1 RickySpanish

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Posted 13 February 2020 - 06:55 PM

Edit: Adrian pointed out the link was highjacked by facebook. I posted it into an FB group before copying it here. I had no idea the link was altered like that - even more worrysome is that I didn't add the BB url tags either. It is now fixed.

Hell-oh Mechwarriorsh,

it'sh me, Rickyspanissssssh, here to talk to you today about a brand new build I've invented! Why yes! Nobody has ever tried this before!

This is essentially a double-RAC-5 Crab but in a Shadowhawk. Because both ballistics are in one torso, I had to downgrade one RAC-5 to a RAC-2... Why would you pilot this stupid thing when you could drive a Crab instead? Well, the combination of tall 'Mech with high mounted ballistics, good shield arms that cover the torso, jump-jets and agility make it supremely excellent at scaring yolo-queue potatoes back into cover. Or at least it will make them shake their torso like a spaz.

Here's the build: https://mech.nav-alp...bd1e6b0b_SHD-2H

I found that three double heatsinks provide the perfect amount of cooling, anything less and you run the risk of overheating if you luck out and your RACs don't jam when their bars fill up to red. You also can completely ignore the cooldown and heat gen skill nodes in the weapons tree, all you need is the range and the UAC/RAC jam nodes, and you won't need cool-shot.

I also heartily recommend the left side of the survival tree for the majority of the armour skill nodes, and all of the radar deprivation nodes from sensors. The rest is up to you, I personally got the extra arty from auxilliary and put the remaining points into mobility for better acceleration and torso twist.

I've managed to get this thing to perform at 600+ damage in games where player's are particularly squeamish about being wacked in the face from every possible angle. Although in more regular games especially ones with better players that don't last so long, the average damage is closer to 500. The match score is high, presumably because the ~90kph speed and jets let you lay down all sorts of cover fire, make plays with arty strikes and dump your UAV somewhere nice. The extreme mobility and brilliant jump distance means you can be everywhere at once.

I wouldn't recommend playing this outside of yolo-solo queue, and if anyone gets smart and dashes at you between cover the gig is up and you should consider relocating. The 3 tons of ammo per gun may be overkill, but you end up running out of critical space so weight saved from dropping a half ton of each munition is best used on armouring your arms and head I suppose.

Anyway, it's tons of fun, very nippy, and worthy of the half hour I spent aligning RATATAT across its torso.

A couple of games (Yes, one is in the 5M before I realised that was dumb) with a reasonable score. Both were fairly fast and mobile with some decent communication, but I whiffed a couple of kills because I allowed my RACs to jam.

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My amazing paintjob.

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Edited by RickySpanish, 14 February 2020 - 05:17 AM.


#2 FRAGTAST1C

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Posted 13 February 2020 - 07:33 PM

A regular 3 RAC2 would've been a better performer, no? Then again, given the quirks of the 2H, I'd just go with LBx10 + 3 SRM4.

#3 FupDup

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Posted 13 February 2020 - 07:58 PM

View PostFRAGTAST1C, on 13 February 2020 - 07:33 PM, said:

A regular 3 RAC2 would've been a better performer, no? Then again, given the quirks of the 2H, I'd just go with LBx10 + 3 SRM4.

That takes up more tonnage tho, which would require other sacrifices to compensate for.

#4 RickySpanish

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Posted 13 February 2020 - 08:07 PM

View PostFRAGTAST1C, on 13 February 2020 - 07:33 PM, said:

A regular 3 RAC2 would've been a better performer, no? Then again, given the quirks of the 2H, I'd just go with LBx10 + 3 SRM4.


Something like this perhaps?

https://mech.nav-alp...bd1e6b0b_SHD-2H

I fear it might get toasty because I think the concessions you make drop you below any engine class that mounts internal heatsinks. Your remaining space has you fighting for ammo, armour or one more heatsink but I might give it a go. For brawler I prefer an AC-20 over the LB-10X, it's a little more accurate so sometimes it's easier to lob a round to finish off a component at medium range than spray it with flechettes from the LB and pray.

#5 FRAGTAST1C

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Posted 13 February 2020 - 09:11 PM

Ah, I see what you're getting at. I didn't understand your initial post at first. You basically want to run a high damage RAC build while also keeping the speed up as well as having JJs.

I merely saw the screenshots and thought, "Hmm.. 600 damage games with that RAC build doesn't sound like much when a regular 3x RAC2s would let you get maybe 200 damage more". Plus, the disparity between RAC 2 and RAC5 range, ramp-up speed and heat build up also didn't register with me first given how I was looking at it.

I have a 3x RAC 2 Bushwhacker that performs really well but a simple 2x LBx10 or 2x UAC10 would just be better despite being slower. As for brawling with LBx10, yeah an AC20 would be better but given that I like fast moving mechs, an LBx10 + 3 SRM4 Shadowhawk can mount XL 300 and 2 JJs with plenty of ammo and be cold enough for constant damage. Dropping to SRM2s would sync really well with the LBx10s cooldown. I run my Catapult C2 (S) with 2 LBx10s + 4 SRM2s. When I get into SRM range, the constant alpha strike shreds most mechs rather quickly while the fast firing LBx10s are good enough at 400m range to not stay idle.

#6 Curccu

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Posted 13 February 2020 - 09:57 PM

SHD-2H 3xRAC2 IMO why mix velocities and different ammo and **** if you don't need to, yes it's slower but still fast enough.

#7 justcallme A S H

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Posted 13 February 2020 - 10:35 PM

View PostFupDup, on 13 February 2020 - 07:58 PM, said:

That takes up more tonnage tho, which would require other sacrifices to compensate for.


Only talking about 8km/h difference from 3 x RAC2 to a RAC2/5.

RAC2 x 3 is infinitely better SHD-2H. It really doesn't run that hot, just ensure there is at least one coolshot.

If you need a DHS to help cool it - SHD-2H

#8 Davegt27

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Posted 13 February 2020 - 11:05 PM

for some reason the first link sends me to face book ??

#9 FRAGTAST1C

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Posted 13 February 2020 - 11:52 PM

View PostDavegt27, on 13 February 2020 - 11:05 PM, said:

for some reason the first link sends me to face book ??


Yep, it does for me, too. I just clicked "Follow" and it took me to the right page later.

#10 Aidan Crenshaw

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Posted 14 February 2020 - 12:16 AM

look at the link, it redirects over FB. Definitely not the standard link that is provided by the applet.

#11 RickySpanish

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Posted 14 February 2020 - 05:18 AM

View PostAidan Crenshaw, on 14 February 2020 - 12:16 AM, said:

look at the link, it redirects over FB. Definitely not the standard link that is provided by the applet.


Holy ****ing **** I did not see that. I just corrected it. Thank you for pointing that out! I posted this into an FB group before coming here and copied that chunk of the post out. FB actally inserted the BB tags as well to make it look legit. Unbelievable.

View PostFRAGTAST1C, on 13 February 2020 - 11:52 PM, said:


Yep, it does for me, too. I just clicked "Follow" and it took me to the right page later.


Lol, well at least I didn't managed to paste any images where I had porn tabs left open. It's the little victories.

Edited by RickySpanish, 14 February 2020 - 05:24 AM.


#12 Sjorpha

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Posted 14 February 2020 - 07:10 AM

I like 3 rac2 shadowhawk, 3 rac2 is much stronger than rac2+rac5 not only because of matching range etc but also because rac2 is just a better weapon than rac5.

#13 RickySpanish

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Posted 14 February 2020 - 08:12 AM

I really don't like the speed or heat dissipation concessions needed for RAC 2. ~10kph doesn't sound like a lot but it really does bring the 'Mech past the too slow threshold back into Medium 'Mech territory. The heat is unpleasant, with RAC 2 and 5 your only impediment to firing is the jam bar.

#14 FupDup

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Posted 14 February 2020 - 02:08 PM

Instead of RAC/2 + RAC/5 or triple RAC/2 I'd honestly rather go with a third option of just 2 RAC/2 and adding some extra backup weapons like a few Medium Lasers. Due to the Shad's hardpoints though this would require the use of a Bushwanker rather than a Shaq Hawk (which might be an upgrade anyways because of its profile being better for staring contests than a flat humanoid chest).

#15 RickySpanish

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Posted 14 February 2020 - 03:35 PM

Yeah the placement and number of the energy hardpoints is unfortunate, might try a wacker the problem is you have to keep adjusting the reticule to hit something moving across your sights.

#16 Teenage Mutant Ninja Urbie

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Posted 15 February 2020 - 04:03 AM

3x RAC2 is the way to go.
it's fun and nets damage & kills in QP. better not bring it to FW, though.


overall, going RAC, the wacker is the better option, imo, especially if you wanna bring it to fw.

or try the "big boy"version, the RAC2-Marauder; more armor, better geo and additional weapons make this thing a blast.

#17 Prototelis

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Posted 15 February 2020 - 07:23 AM

The rac-arauder is incredibly easy to ST and render useless.

#18 Teenage Mutant Ninja Urbie

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Posted 15 February 2020 - 07:27 AM

View PostPrototelis, on 15 February 2020 - 07:23 AM, said:

The rac-arauder is incredibly easy to ST and render useless.



yeah, and..?

we're talking QP here..
it should not perform, yes.
yet, it does. ..

#19 Prototelis

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Posted 15 February 2020 - 07:31 AM

View PostTeenage Mutant Ninja Urbie, on 15 February 2020 - 07:27 AM, said:



yeah, and..?



It's a worse option than running the bushwhacker in just about every way.

#20 Teenage Mutant Ninja Urbie

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Posted 15 February 2020 - 07:43 AM

View PostPrototelis, on 15 February 2020 - 07:31 AM, said:

It's a worse option than running the bushwhacker in just about every way.


sure. whatever mate. Posted Image





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