5 replies to this topic

[Ken Harkin]

I have been playing around with the Orion recently. With something like 300+ mechs it is surprising I haven't given this thing more time but better late than never.

There is nothing sexy about the Orion unless you idea of sexy is a Soviet era East German female Shot Put Champion on horse steroids. It is a clunky, brutal piece of machinery designed to punch stuff in the face and laugh at what is thrown back at it. on1-va

I have really fallen for this beast. 1 AC20, 2 SPPC (L & R Arms), SRM2 and SRM4 (Set of each in each arm). Throw in an LFE 270 and ammo.

The base quirks just say "BRAWL WITH ME!"

QUIRKS

• COOLDOWN-15%
  
• CRIT CHANCE RECEIVING-25%
  
• HEAT-10%
  
• RANGE+10%
  
• STD SRM VELOCITY+20%
  
• BASE ARMOR (CT)+53
  
• BASE ARMOR (RT)+46
  
• BASE ARMOR (LT)+46
  
• BASE ARMOR (RA)+27
  
• BASE ARMOR (LA)+27
  
• BASE ARMOR (RL)+31
  
• BASE ARMOR (LL)+31

Max out skills on the armor and you are rocking 122 points ON THE SIDE TORSO!

Typically I run it as shown but you can downgrade the engine and a little ammo to swap the 2SRM2 and 2SRM4 for 2 SRM6+A. I have found though that the reduced spread of the SRM4 and SRM2 is a nice trade off. It also give a little more resilience to a lost SRM. 58 kph isn't winning you any races except against larger assault and steep hills are you enemy but by staying with the pack and keeping out of easy sight until closed this thing simply rips through enemy mechs.

[w0qj]

Indeed!

Builds like this (both ON1 and ON1-IIC) very popular for that rare Solaris7 Event in the Mech Factory map!
At such (close) ranges, it is simply...devestating

[Void Angel]

The Orion plays like a pocket Atlas with most builds. That linked build is more of a trading build, though, and the Orion isn't well-suited for that. You want to be twisting, so fast-firing SRMs aren't going to server you well either.

I'd recommend Edward Missilehands; nearly the same dps, but with a slower alpha that allows you time to spread damage between shots.

[Ken Harkin]

Void Angel, on 31 January 2024 - 08:03 PM, said:

I'd recommend Edward Missilehands; nearly the same dps, but with a slower alpha that allows you time to spread damage between shots.

I actually tried something very similar with no energy but 4 ARM6+A.

I really love the synergy of the 2SPPC and AC20. Range and cooldown mesh well and the concentrated damage output is hard to argue with. That is the core of several of my Marauder builds as well. I went with the SRM2 and SRM4 combo not for the cool down but for the reduced spread and resilience. It gives me the same firepower in a tighter pattern as an SRM6 with the same tonnage and space requirements. I play the combo as you described, twist and shoot, not racing to get the SRMs off as quickly as possible but firing salvos of everything at once. Not firing the SRM2 and 4s at the max rate keeps heat from accumulating as quickly as well.

[Void Angel]

I wondered if that was the case - I actually use the MLasers to moderate heat buildup by using them as a component finisher or heat dump before retreating (or a kill.) SNAC builds are very powerful, but tend to be trading builds. I use my Bounty Hunter as a side-loaded SNAC platform, using its jump jets to move around - but it's not an in-your-face brawle - it can brawl, but gets hot pretty fast. Smaller SRM volleys will increase the proportion of your damage that lands where you aim, but they do it at the expense of overall damage output (which will hurt you especially when brawling with larger 'mechs.) Not firing your SRMs on cooldown also reduces your practical dps below what MechDB calculates. So, I mean, you can do it that way, but you're going to switch from that "max dps" number to "sustained DPS" much faster than I'd recommend for a brawler - and once you get there, even a pure Edward Missilehands build will have ~30% higher sustained dps.

I see what you're thinking here, but I don't think it's optimized as well as it could be.

[Meep Meep]

Not a VA but I was doing pretty well with this fit during the recent 4 vs 4 brawling event. Once you get the heat and cooldown nodes its manageable to fire/twist three or four times before maxing the heat bar depending on the map.

on1-m