pbiggz, on 24 November 2021 - 06:39 AM, said:
For his benefit, I'd run 8-11 armor on the back. A few points shaved from the front will not make or break an assault mech in quick play but a few points shaved from the back could be the difference between a piranha or a stealthy boy surgically extracting his spine.
Feel free to cut down as is recommended once you're more comfortable with them as a class.
on short term, I agree. it's a safety-net to 'get you there'.
mid-to-long, it's going to hurt you though.
not for the "wasted" armor that you don't use back there and could've used up front, but more for the learning effect. I know a lot of people running more back-armor and over time they get used to it; there's no awareness in their playstyle, and it's not gonna develop, cause they "don't need that".
while otoh those beginners I showed the basics all learned "it's your back, watch it." and after a while, they watch it. it benefits you in every match, and again:
I'm not talking the half-ton of armor that's basically wasted; 1-3 points in the back won't save you. 8-20 won't either. getting shot in the back usually means you've overlooked something - and that's what you've got to work on.
too much backarmor is holding back the learning experience (and yeah, you DO also learn by misplays. A LOT. at least I do), and it's improving the mechbuild in general to do it "right" in the first place.
@Will - here's an example, just import into mwo-lab and have a look at it.
AE8E40g1|LR|LR|l^|l^|l^|7fp?1|bB|bBq?1|bB|bBr\0sl0|1C|l^|LR|l^t11|LR|LRu11|LR|LRvB0|LRw505050
it's a general build for QP and not optimised for anything specific, but it does very good as a generalist, and teaches a lot of stuff the hard way

I recommend to always shoot the 4xLB as one group, use the PPC as your second. push that override, watch your heatscale and twist your mech sideways a bit whenever you're not firing.
it's a lot of fun to run, even though it has neither policelights nor -horns
Edited by Captain Caveman DE, 24 November 2021 - 07:22 AM.