77 replies to this topic

[Doppelsoldner King Crab]

On topic:

IS and Clan weapons are diffrent but i can't say clans are better.
To add to what others were saying, Clan ACs has this weird bullet drop. They are better vs IS ACs on paper but i'd rather have an IS AC5 vs clan: used this extensively in ebon jags, mad iics and mad mk2s. Also the shot +1 vs IS ultra seem noteworthy against lights and mediums moving laterally. IS UAC 10s are doable but clan UAC10s are harder to use.

For energy weapons, clan's are better for peeking (meta, peek then cooldown) but in an extended fight, the cooler weapon is easier to manage.

Now the mechs, i find IS mechs easier on space. yes heatsinks are 3slot and weapons +1 slot but i find the space not as restrictive vs clan. let me rephrase, i can manage to fit any weapon i want on my IS mech but sometimes have a hard time fitting (some) clan mechs (timberwolf, i'm looking at you)


Offtopic (not serious, haha)
I hear King crab slander in the thread haha, i agree it is initially hard to use it but... it's a hidden gem!
As a king crab main, i can definitely tell you it can do a lot of things other Clan or even IS assaults cannot do! Each variant can also play so much different than the others. It is also XL friendly so its firepower is through the roof!

One vs One assault? Open field? KGC-00B.
peeking, sniping? one-sided KGC Kaiju.
medium-long range facetime? KGC-000
300damage in 5 seconds no overheat no coolshot? that one KGC variant
push + stopping power? MRM90 blazer KGC

KGC chassis notes: max torso twist. it can comfortaby shoot and walk 90 (or 100) degrees to the side
convergence is super bad but you have to live with it
arms can aim super high vertically. arms are also your best weapon placements so you can shoot effectively even with great height differences.
some of its weaknesses a few patches back were addressed: frontal armor, heat, torso twist speed.
Model is XL friendly (read as wonky). 95 percent of the time your CT gets blown. with twisting, this can be brought down to 80 percent. and yes, you can hit the KGC CT even in full 90 degree side view of the enemy

[Joanna Conners]

ScrapIron Prime, on 21 September 2023 - 10:32 AM, said:

Its the genre. In the fiction and all the older games this game is based on, Inner Sphere mechs are at a technological disadvantage, they made up for it in numbers. Obviously you cannot do that in a PVP game, so Inner Sphere mechs get better quirks to compensate for their heavier and shorter ranged equipment. The trick, therefore, is playing to the advantages of the mech you're driving, and to choose the mech not only by look and tonnage but by its ability to use the weapons you choose. Some Inner Sphere mechs will be total powerhouses at what they do well.

Clanners have longer ranged weaponry and more of it because its lighter. Don't play the range game 1v1 with them in an Inner Sphere mech or you'll come out second best. You learn better builds and better strategies with experience.

All that said... I feel ya.

Of course you can do that in PvP. Asymmetric gameplay isn't some alien anomaly. Most Clan players would be more than happy for the IS buffs to be taken away and for you to be given higher numbers. But PGI will never do it. Doesn't mean it can't be done.

[Widowmaker1981]

Joanna Conners, on 03 October 2023 - 11:48 PM, said:

Of course you can do that in PvP. Asymmetric gameplay isn't some alien anomaly. Most Clan players would be more than happy for the IS buffs to be taken away and for you to be given higher numbers. But PGI will never do it. Doesn't mean it can't be done.

Yeah, im sure most Clan players would be. Im not so sure about IS players though.

The problem is that you would need there to be more IS players than Clan, despite the obvious fact that most people would choose to be individually more powerful and play Clan.

[Ignatius Audene]

Joanna Conners, on 03 October 2023 - 11:48 PM, said:

Of course you can do that in PvP. Asymmetric gameplay isn't some alien anomaly. Most Clan players would be more than happy for the IS buffs to be taken away and for you to be given higher numbers. But PGI will never do it. Doesn't mean it can't be done.

Even in theorie (assuming people actually want to play yolo mechs and throw them against farm machines) this will A. only function in FP.. B. Result in IS NSR ruining matches (when even mild competence is involved). U cant beat numbers in this game.

Edited by Ignatius Audene, 04 October 2023 - 12:13 PM.

[martian]

crazytimes, on 30 September 2023 - 12:28 AM, said:

What works in tier 4 might not work for the majority of the population.

Duke Falcon, on 30 September 2023 - 10:50 AM, said:

You mean not work for T5s?

From what I have heard, Tiers 4 and 5 are the largest part of the player base.

[VeeOt Dragon]

sadly i think part of that is off set by the fact that there are many t1 so called "elites" that make alts just to club seals (yes i know there are other reason for creating an alt but really this feels like the main one). oh some games there are real good reasons to make alts but usually not in exclusively PvP games. thats mostly for things like MMORPGs and such.

Edited by VeeOt Dragon, 06 October 2023 - 12:36 AM.

[martian]

VeeOt Dragon, on 06 October 2023 - 12:35 AM, said:

sadly i think part of that is off set by the fact that there are many t1 so called "elites" that make alts just to club seals (yes i know there are other reason for creating an alt but really this feels like the main one).

If those alt T1s club T5 and T4 players, would not their extraordinary match scores catapult them quickly from those T5 and T4 games?

[Widowmaker1981]

martian, on 06 October 2023 - 05:46 AM, said:

If those alt T1s club T5 and T4 players, would not their extraordinary match scores catapult them quickly from those T5 and T4 games?

(Note this is just a workaround i thought up in response to your question)

Not if they had 2 alt accounts. 1 month, one of the accounts plays 10-20 games and gets insane stats for the leaderboard. The other one throws enough games to reset the progress it made last month. Then swap around each month.

Edit: The other way people can farm is to use the way tier is averaged over a group, so a T1 with 2 T5s will end up in T4-T5 games. That doesnt require use of alts at all. (Id fix this by making it so groups just take the highest tier, or at least giving higher tiers a much heavier weighting, so a T1 with 3 T5s still ends up in T3 games at least)

Edited by Widowmaker1981, 06 October 2023 - 06:01 AM.

[martian]

Widowmaker1981, on 06 October 2023 - 05:54 AM, said:

(Note this is just a workaround i thought up in response to your question)

Not if they had 2 alt accounts. 1 month, one of the accounts plays 10-20 games and gets insane stats for the leaderboard. The other one throws enough games to reset the progress it made last month. Then swap around each month.

Edit: The other way people can farm is to use the way tier is averaged over a group, so a T1 with 2 T5s will end up in T4-T5 games. That doesnt require use of alts at all. (Id fix this by making it so groups just take the highest tier, or at least giving higher tiers a much heavier weighting, so a T1 with 3 T5s still ends up in T3 games at least)

Well, I guess that it is theoretically possible. I wonder how often it really happens.

[Widowmaker1981]

martian, on 06 October 2023 - 06:11 AM, said:

Well, I guess that it is theoretically possible. I wonder how often it really happens.

Obviously no way to say for sure, but just check the leaderboards for any recent season and sort by K/D ratio or average match score. People who's names you don't recognize, with under 20 games and absurdly high KD / AMS are pretty suspect, id say.

[VeeOt Dragon]

both suggestions would work nicely in tandem. this game has a high enough learning curve as it is without seal clubbing. i do love MWO (there is a reason its the only PvP game i play). i just wish PGI would pay more attention to the New Player experience than coddling to the top 1% or so. we need ways to attract and retain new players. hell its new players that aren't already space rich and own 90+ mechs that are more likely to spend actual real money on the game. (i know i haven't spent a dime on it but thats mostly because i am on fixed income and find new mech packs far to expensive for what you are getting)

[Eider]

Bad decisions made by cauldren followed by a company tailoring a game to them.. what could go wrong? oh right.. thats why my wallets permanently closed now to this game.

[pbiggz]

Eider, on 23 October 2023 - 08:32 PM, said:

Bad decisions made by cauldren followed by a company tailoring a game to them.. what could go wrong? oh right.. thats why my wallets permanently closed now to this game.

ok buddy

[Lincoln Cross]

I just started playing this game full time (had the game for years, but never touched it for some reason) and I have to disagree with the OP. Yes the Clans have better tech than the IS. They are supposed to like others have stated. But my main mech is a MAD-5M with dual RAC2s, 2x MXPL, 2x ERML and a ERLL. I've also beefed it's engine to max so it has an 83.6 top speed and 3 JJs. It also has an AMS and maxed armor. I kill Clan mechs easily with this thing. My other favorite is my PXH--2(C) with a binary LC and 3MXPL. I outfitted it with stealth and it has a top speed of 116.1 and 5x JJs. I play it as a skirmisher and have no problems with it. I do die in them, as does everyone. But these two mechs are aways my go-to when I'm on a losing streak in other mechs.

Bottom line is that I yeah, I can play on my clan mechs (my SR-K with the 2 LBX-20s and 6 SRM 6s is the Contra cheat code), but I love my IS mechs more. I do better with them and can make more interesting builds that work for me over my Clan mechs.

[martian]

Lincoln Cross, on 24 October 2023 - 12:07 PM, said:

I just started playing this game full time (had the game for years, but never touched it for some reason) and I have to disagree with the OP. Yes the Clans have better tech than the IS. They are supposed to like others have stated. But my main mech is a MAD-5M with dual RAC2s, 2x MXPL, 2x ERML and a ERLL. I've also beefed it's engine to max so it has an 83.6 top speed and 3 JJs. It also has an AMS and maxed armor. I kill Clan mechs easily with this thing. My other favorite is my PXH--2(C) with a binary LC and 3MXPL. I outfitted it with stealth and it has a top speed of 116.1 and 5x JJs. I play it as a skirmisher and have no problems with it. I do die in them, as does everyone. But these two mechs are aways my go-to when I'm on a losing streak in other mechs.

Bottom line is that I yeah, I can play on my clan mechs (my SR-K with the 2 LBX-20s and 6 SRM 6s is the Contra cheat code), but I love my IS mechs more. I do better with them and can make more interesting builds that work for me over my Clan mechs.

The Inner Sphere has some reliable heavies: Warhammer, Marauder, Thunderbolt, Crusader and many others.

[Black Caiman]

IS has very good light mechs including some of the FLE, JVN, UM, and FS9 variants just to name a few. It also has pretty strong mediums like some of the VTs, PXHs, and SHDs among others. I think IS starts to fall behind with the heavies and assaults. Not to say some arent good, but in the comp scene youll find very few other than the CRD-6T and various STKs unless youre in ISC. Plenty more are definitely viable in QP and FP though.