38 replies to this topic

[Vincefeld]

Seriously!!! anyone who tries to pick that 105 degrees arms zone madcat is looking towards instantly gets 60 damage in the face.

Poor light pilots unknowingly approach madcat thinking their speed is high enough to throw off most assaults aim. Yeah good luck! Madcat II is not average assault, its assault from hell.

Oh yeah and dont ever try to peek it from above or below. Its not a kodiak, will rekk you.

Somebody plz send help in T4. Madcats will end my sanity

[Villainy]

Well, first off, you shouldn't be engaging an assault solo unless you're rocking some ace light pilot skills and stealth armor. You're fighting a mech literally built to solo pretty much anything.

As a light pilot; wolf pack up. Try sticking with some other lights and tackle the UACats together. If you can't wolf pack, try using your chat function to drum up some help. You're never gonna tank that kind of fire power, find someone who will.

As one of those UACat pilots: Git gud scub

[Grus]

id worry more about the dakka from a Direwolf UV...

[PocketYoda]

Personally i just hit it with my ungodly damage mech, generally another MCII or Annihilator Fafnir etc.. Outside of that hit and run is your best bet, Chicken legs or back is their weakest spots.. Honestly for some reason most players never press R to actually see where they are damaged at least in lower tiers.

That said i do agree the MCII are vastly overpowered beyond all others bar maybe Dire Wolves.. And at least Dire wolves have slow speeds.

[Heavy Money]

MadCats have nasty firepower, but their hitboxes aren't great and they can't tank or brawl as well as many other assaults. Also you can just shoot their arms off and they become worthless, unlike a Cyclops or Fafnir. Assaults and even many heavies can take the arm off a madcat in a couple volleys (or a few seconds of fire, depending on fire rate, etc), and then they aren't an issue. And if they end up in close combat with a real brawler, or in a long range firefight with a real range specialist, they are toast.

[YueFei]

Vincefeld, on 24 February 2021 - 03:05 PM, said:

Oh yeah and dont ever try to peek it from above or below. Its not a kodiak, will rekk you.

Strictly speaking that's not true. Because a significant chunk of its torso is above its cockpit, in some situations it is possible to peek over such that you can see the top of the Madcat II but he can't see you. If your cockpit is high-mounted and your hardpoints are also high-mounted, then you can see and hit him. As long as you don't see his cockpit, then he cannot see you, either, and you can hit him with impunity.

If side-peeking a corner, you can at least try to corner in such a way that you only expose to half his firepower, not all of it. This again relies on pivoting at the correct distance around the corner. Think "slicing the pie" but applied against a single enemy mech. Instead of "slicing the pie" against multiple mechs, you are "slicing the pie" against his individual hardpoints.

[Vincefeld]

Heavy Money, on 24 February 2021 - 03:47 PM, said:

MadCats have nasty firepower, but their hitboxes aren't great and they can't tank or brawl as well as many other assaults. Also you can just shoot their arms off and they become worthless, unlike a Cyclops or Fafnir. Assaults and even many heavies can take the arm off a madcat in a couple volleys (or a few seconds of fire, depending on fire rate, etc), and then they aren't an issue. And if they end up in close combat with a real brawler, or in a long range firefight with a real range specialist, they are toast.

First time i hear someone that MCII hitboxes arent great. Which hitboxes are "great" then? BSW? And the rest of the mechs suck in compasion? Madcat can utilize very advanced technique in brawl called "turning torso away a bit and continue firing at you with arms" Its much better than regular torsotwisting which forces you to stop firing and lose dps. Anyway yeah its possible to outbrawl madcat with dedicated brawler when UACs jam.

YueFei, on 24 February 2021 - 04:55 PM, said:

Strictly speaking that's not true. Because a significant chunk of its torso is above its cockpit, in some situations it is possible to peek over such that you can see the top of the Madcat II but he can't see you. If your cockpit is high-mounted and your hardpoints are also high-mounted, then you can see and hit him. As long as you don't see his cockpit, then he cannot see you, either, and you can hit him with impunity.

If side-peeking a corner, you can at least try to corner in such a way that you only expose to half his firepower, not all of it. This again relies on pivoting at the correct distance around the corner. Think "slicing the pie" but applied against a single enemy mech. Instead of "slicing the pie" against multiple mechs, you are "slicing the pie" against his individual hardpoints.

Okay now peeking it sideways when it cant shoot you with both arms is genuenly good idea. I learned a lot from this. But for that to work you need good sidepeek mech and right piece of cover which is situational.
Excuse me i was talking about how mechs that mount their weapon in torso can be shot safely from high elevations and low ground. Not about high mounts and overpeeking. In fact MCII got above average 4/5 hardpoints location so most mechs have it way worse and at disadvantage trying to peek over hills

[Mochyn Pupur]

I pilot MC IIs and yes, they can wreck faces at all sorts of angles (love it when a light tries to leg hump and you turn them into scrap - might not see them but that red hit reticule says it all), however, properly focused on, they can be nullified very easily, having the big arms that aren't particularly well quirked knocked off and if lucky, left with a couple of lasers in the CT; same goes for the HUGE side torso pods for atm/lrm builds that ought to be your target - just think a bigger clan equivalent of the Catapult.

So, like any other mech, MC IIs have their strengths and weakness that you have to learn and use.

[Vincefeld]

PeppaPig, on 25 February 2021 - 03:43 AM, said:

I pilot MC IIs and yes, they can wreck faces at all sorts of angles (love it when a light tries to leg hump and you turn them into scrap - might not see them but that red hit reticule says it all), however, properly focused on, they can be nullified very easily, having the big arms that aren't particularly well quirked knocked off and if lucky, left with a couple of lasers in the CT; same goes for the HUGE side torso pods for atm/lrm builds that ought to be your target - just think a bigger clan equivalent of the Catapult.

So, like any other mech, MC IIs have their strengths and weakness that you have to learn and use.

Yet no other mech can use arms in such fashion. All highmounted arms lack lower arm actuators. Its like playing completely different game where only you can aim and everyone else is crippled.
Maybe i should just buy madcat and giveup. -_-'

[Gagis]

Do it. Its a good mech worth buying, tho tends to perform better in quick play than in faction play and comp, since the arms are very easy to isolate targets that skilled players can and will destroy very fast, making the mech a bit of a glass cannon. The worse aim your average opponent has, the better the MCII will perform.

[The6thMessenger]

You can always bring your own MCIIB with the dakka setup. Hell I'd bring a Dakka Direwolf just to show who's the god damn boss.

[Teenage Mutant Ninja Urbie]

since you're fresh to the game, some well meant advice:

-it IS the norm not to start out as an ace. so practice, practice, practice.

-learn what mechs can AND CAN NOT do;
.for example, your light can't facetank a madcat, as you've found out - so don't.
.another example: a madcat can NOT outrun you, and in the potatoe-rotatoe, mostly tries to keep up with his team. there's plenty of room to use BOTH against him.

-don't think QP is a 12vs12 game. it's a 1vs12 with 11 others not shooting at you (well.. for the most part). if 1 out of 12 targets is something you think you can't trash by yourself -> there's 11 other blues that might, and there's 11 other reds you could go after.


and to spare you a whole wall of text what and what not to do: have fun! have fun with the things you do right, learn from the mistakes you (like everybody) makes - and your future-you will have even more fun

[Dozer6]

LRM'S.

Lots of them...

[PocketYoda]

The6thMessenger, on 25 February 2021 - 05:04 AM, said:

You can always bring your own MCIIB with the dakka setup. Hell I'd bring a Dakka Direwolf just to show who's the god damn boss.

I know MCIIB is the meta but i far enjoy my MCII1 more.

[Gagis]

Samial, on 25 February 2021 - 07:36 AM, said:

I know MCIIB is the meta but i far enjoy my MCII1 more.

Well, MCII-1 might arguably be better than the -B, since it can run 4ERPPC with jump jets and having all of the weapons in its side torsos, making it a lot less easy to disarm. That loadout is somewhat popular in competitive tournaments.

[LordNothing]

i usually pick apart madcats in squirrels. of course lights usually hunt the more potato of assault pilots, which usually stand out like a sore thumb. also if you have good intel, you can watch their weapon list for when their guns jam and exploit the situation.

but if you take out a torso or one of the arms, you can cut their firepower in half. so a flanking approach works well.

[Novakaine]

Grandpa Novakaine used to tell me.
"Boy you shoot em from far far away with lots of lurms."
PS PGI I'd pay lots of money for this

Edited by Novakaine, 25 February 2021 - 10:37 AM.

[Elizander]

I alpha the arm for 90 with my Scorch then they sorta run away.

[YueFei]

Vincefeld, on 25 February 2021 - 03:28 AM, said:

Okay now peeking it sideways when it cant shoot you with both arms is genuenly good idea. I learned a lot from this. But for that to work you need good sidepeek mech and right piece of cover which is situational.
Excuse me i was talking about how mechs that mount their weapon in torso can be shot safely from high elevations and low ground. Not about high mounts and overpeeking. In fact MCII got above average 4/5 hardpoints location so most mechs have it way worse and at disadvantage trying to peek over hills

With over-peeking, it's true that in many situations (and depending on what mech you chose) it might not be possible to over-peek against the MCII without risking return fire. It's not strictly impossible, but there are more variables that need to line up, some of which are determined pre-match.

With side-peeking, that does not depend entirely on having the right piece of cover or a mech that's good at side peeking. While it obviously increases the viable side-peeking "zone" to use a mech that's good at side peeking, it is still possible to do it with any mech. Some mechs that are good at side-peeking might even be able to side-peek with impunity (as in, the MCII can't even see and shoot them back at all, not even with 1 arm). See for example:


But any mech should at least be able to limit the MCII to only being able to hit them with 1 arm.

Side-peeking also far less dependent on having the right piece of cover, it just requires that you have a single corner to peek from and manipulate. With side-peeking, there isn't as much dependency on pre-match variables, so it's something you can work with mid-match to create those opportunities.

[RickySpanish]

For the II-B specifically, you can attack from the side and aim for its arms. You can also wait for its UACs to jam (they go red on the paperdoll) for a window of opportunity. The arms have a good range of motion, but the 'Mech itself is quite slow to turn, as long as you aren't staring directly at it you will have a chance to attack before it can return fire.