33 replies to this topic

[Tesunie]

Kareekoe, on 20 August 2025 - 08:20 PM, said:

If anyone has suggestions that aren't already on the list of owned mechs, please share them, and don't be afraid to share meme/fun mechs too, even if they're a little bad, Karee very much is a cultured meme mech loving degenerate, so gimme gimme gimme~!

The problem you are likely to find with this question is, it's going to be subjective and with a lot of people's personal favorites going into the suggestion pot, or what the current comp teams are using.

For example, I'd point right to a Huntsmen for it's flexible building options. I own like 8 of them, each with a different build on it. I could be reduced to just my Huntsmen, and never be bored from lack of building options and play styles.


Or I would point to my Crabs, which I love dearly. Sturdy shells on those mechs, and all energy loadouts aren't bad either. My best performer has 3 LLs and 3 ERMLs.

Or I could suggest the Arctic Wolf, as I have some of my Huntsmen builds on the smaller and faster chassis as well...

But these will be subjective to what the person likes to play. I feel the Vapor Eagle will be one to get a lot of call outs, as well as the Shadowcat, as those have each been used in comp play. The Vulcan was once a high demand mech in comp...

Overall, I'd rather tailor a mech selection to what your preferences are so it would be a ride you enjoy. Do you enjoy being faster and backstabbing, with a little more durability compared to a light? Do you like LRM support (though maybe not as boaty as you've done before)? Do you want to use ballistics, missiles or energy? Do you like intense close combat ranges, or like to pixel hunt mechs at extreme ranges? Each answer would make a different selection of mech options (except the Huntsmen, which can do most all of that because it's amazing like that ).

Otherwise, you are going to just keep getting mechs that are either the current favorites or often seen in comp play, which may not be mechs you enjoy or are good at. (Man, I hate the SPL spam I was told to do for some comp events I attempted to join. Was neither good with it, not was it fun for me. But I did well in a Jeagermech instead...)

[RickySpanish]

Quicksilver Aberration, on 24 August 2025 - 11:57 AM, said:

Yes, that's why they are used in comp

If that were honestly true, then they would be BETTER in QP because that's 90% of what QP is.


Zero fall damage and 2 LBX20 when you are one of the slowest mediums is not a good mixture. I'd say it's pretty well agreed amongst most that the Gorewing is pretty meh at best, and potentially one of the weaker if not weakest Vapor Eagles.


If you want double HPPC, run the VND-1AA, it is infinitely better for it than a Cicada.

Post me some comp builds, and I shall try them out.

[dwwolf]

Huntsman prime, Uac/20, 250XL, 5jj, 2 ER-ML, 2 Hvy-ML.

[epikt]

RickySpanish, on 24 August 2025 - 01:37 PM, said:

Post me some comp builds, and I shall try them out.

There are multiple, but a popular beam mech is the Shadow Cat.

dwwolf, on 24 August 2025 - 03:10 PM, said:

Huntsman prime, Uac/20, 250XL, 5jj, 2 ER-ML, 2 Hvy-ML.

I'm sorry, but no.

[RickySpanish]

Cheers, I'll give that a go. With that said, here's my concern with beam lasers vs say, HLL:

HLL does 18 damage in a 1.45 second burst, with a cooldown of 5.5 seconds. The total recycle time is 6.95 seconds.

Beam laser does 5.5 damage per second.

To equal the damage output per cycle of the HLL, you need to fire for about 3.27 seconds out of every 6.95 seconds. Or roughly just under half the recycle time of the HLL.

That's a lot of staring!

Edited by RickySpanish, 24 August 2025 - 04:17 PM.

[Tesunie]

dwwolf, on 24 August 2025 - 03:10 PM, said:

Huntsman prime, Uac/20, 250XL, 5jj, 2 ER-ML, 2 Hvy-ML.

I didn't think the Huntsman could fit an AC20... Not enough critical slots? Or am I mistaken.

I've got a 4 UAC2 Huntsmen, 1 LPL and 4 ERML, 4 ERML and two ALRM15s, UAC10/LBx10 and 3 ERML, LBx10 and two Plasma... One with ATMs, and I think one with PPCs, among others. I even have two of the Hero mechs, one set with double AMS and lasers. (These weapon configs are not specific, and I would want to confirm them with my in game versions for confirmations.)

[epikt]

Tesunie, on 24 August 2025 - 04:11 PM, said:

I didn't think the Huntsman could fit an AC20... Not enough critical slots? Or am I mistaken.

It can, on the arm.
Actually it's not that stupid on the HMN-prime So8, as it has a -40% jam chance quirk. And why not mounting medium lasers as backups - like this, or this. Not top tier or meta, not even among Hunstman builds, but good enough I guess.
But mixing ER and heavy lasers like dwwolf suggests, it makes not sense and is a massive fashion faux pas.

Edited by epikt, 24 August 2025 - 04:23 PM.

[Tesunie]

epikt, on 24 August 2025 - 04:22 PM, said:

It can, on the arm.
Actually it's not that stupid on the HMN-prime So8, as it has a -40% jam chance quirk. And why not mounting medium lasers as backups - like this, or this. Not top tier or meta, not even among Hunstman builds, but good enough I guess.
But mixing ER and heavy lasers like dwwolf suggests, it makes not sense and is a massive fashion faux pas.

I see what I was doing before hand, I was trying to place the LBx20 on it, which is one too many crit slots. Not sure how much the quirks have changed on the Huntsmen, as I had a 3 year gap where I basically couldn't play (life). I try to keep up with patch notes, but they don't always click. I believe it was the Huntsman B I was trying to do the LBx20 with, as it has quirks for that type of AC. Obviously, as I said, it didn't work back then. (And stupid me probably either never tried the UAC20, disliked it so I dismissed it from my memory, or thought it had the same crit count as the LBx counterpart. I never claimed to have a brain after all.)

[Tesunie]

epikt, on 24 August 2025 - 04:22 PM, said:

But mixing ER and heavy lasers like dwwolf suggests, it makes not sense and is a massive fashion faux pas.

I was dumb (again) and didn't notice this part. I commonly mix ERMLs and HLLs together, and they work well. I don't get the issue with mixing Heavy lasers and ER lasers? Or are you referring to how mixing HMLs and ERMLs will reduce the cap of MLs you can shoot without GH kicking?

However, I will comment, I always found that the Huntsmen does not like having tonnage light crit slot usage. It has more tonnage available than crit slots, so you normally need to balance the mech around a central heavy crit to tonnage weapon, supported by lighter weapons to add more damage potential. Like, making an ERML boat of the Huntsman doesn't work, as you run out of crit slots before you do tonnage. Can't boat too many DHS or similar issue. Not too much ammo because... well... you might not use it all, it's explosive, and same issue as above. (AKA: MG spam is not this mech's friend.)

I'll have to get the game up and post some of my many Huntsman builds. I... might be counted as slightly obsessed with the mech. It is my main ride after all.

[epikt]

Tesunie, on 24 August 2025 - 04:56 PM, said:

I was dumb (again) and didn't notice this part. I commonly mix ERMLs and HLLs together, and they work well. I don't get the issue with mixing Heavy lasers and ER lasers? Or are you referring to how mixing HMLs and ERMLs will reduce the cap of MLs you can shoot without GH kicking?

Heavy LARGE lasers pair well with ER MEDIUM lasers, I have no problem with that, it's actually a pretty effective combo.
I was indeed talking about mixing heavy and er MEDIUMS in the same build. Indeed it reduce the number of laser fired before ghost heat, but this does not apply to dwwolf's build that only packs 4 lasers. My main problem is the cohesion of the build, in terms of range, beam duration, etc.

[Tesunie]

epikt, on 24 August 2025 - 05:06 PM, said:

Heavy LARGE lasers pair well with ER MEDIUM lasers, I have no problem with that, it's actually a pretty effective combo.
I was indeed talking about mixing heavy and er MEDIUMS in the same build. Indeed it reduce the number of laser fired before ghost heat, but this does not apply to dwwolf's build that only packs 4 lasers. My main problem is the cohesion of the build, in terms of range, beam duration, etc.

Without looking at the mech itself, could the limits between HMLs and ERMLs be due to a crit slot issue? Not enough slots to place all HMLs, so compromised with a few ERMLs to maintain some extra damage, over all being ERMLs? But, I do get the range and beam duration issues with that. Those weapons don't mesh overly well at all uses.

[Tesunie]

So. With the game up, I do have 8 Huntsman mechs, with 8 different builds. I have:
- LBx10 and 2 Plasma Rifles.Was once an ERPPC, but I changed it to test Plasma out. Not a highly used mech, but it can be fun.
- 2 UAC5s and 2 ERSL. Not a highly used design, so it might see a change.
- 2 ATM9s, 4 ERMLs and a LCAP. An alternative to my LRM version, for when I feel like using ATMs (and was likely my test bed for them when ATMs came out).
- 2 SRM6 with 3 ERMLs. Based on the PA variant.
- 2 AMS, 2 LPLs and 2 ERMLs. Also housed in a PA variant. I like this one for team play, back in the day.
- 2 ALRM15s and 4 ERMLs. This is my bread and butter Huntsman. I use this the most out of all my mechs, as I do like my LRM and direct fire mix mechs.
- 2 LPLs and 4 ERMLs.
- 2 LBx2s. Good for just sand papering. Can be UAC2s in a pinch if desired.

Now, mind. A lot of these are OLD builds, might not match the quirks on the mechs anymore, and builds I tend to have fun with. Not claiming any of them are "optimized" or "meta". My favorite and best performing one certainly isn't meta, as LRMs have long since not been meta... and I know some mechs have received quirk changes over the years, like m Crab 27 now having PPC quirks compared to laser ones it use to have (last to my memory, which could be wrong).

Several of these builds don't have a single crit spot left to use, which limits some builds. Like the 2 SRM6 with 3 ERMLs, I might prefer it with HMLs instead as an option, but it has no more crit spaces left for such an attempt. Can't even try Artemis on the SRMs because... no slots left. (Which goes into my statement before about the Huntsman wanting some heavy weapon systems to eat some tonnage over crit slots.)

---

As for medium mech choices, I own and use more medium mechs than any other chassis. My favorites are the Huntsman, Crab, Arctic Wolf, Uziel, Nova, with runner ups of the Black Lanner (did some nasty work back in the day with ERPPCs on it, and using MASC to duck back into cover quickly), Enforcers, Hunchback (the 4J of note, as it was the first mech I owned/played in this game), and the Adder.

Okay. You got me. That last one isn't a medium mech... but my dual UAC2 build almost made it into the game as the Champion version over the current 5 ERML build... Second place!

[Quicksilver Aberration]

RickySpanish, on 24 August 2025 - 04:10 PM, said:

To equal the damage output per cycle of the HLL, you need to fire for about 3.27 seconds out of every 6.95 seconds. Or roughly just under half the recycle time of the HLL.

It's a lot of staring, but you have higher optimal range (600 vs 480) and for the situations it's built for (punishing mechs caught repositioning or moving through open ground/lanes) it can be an absolute menace because it doesn't have a cooldown so you also aren't also punished the same way for bad burns (if you miss part of your HLL burn, you have negligible firepower for 5s) and has pretty much double the DPS of HLLs (which when stacked with MGs can make quick work of light legs). Again, it's a different build. For reference we used a significant amount of beams in the championship last year (particularly on Bog).

Typically you are using it to deny caps (which isn't worth mentioning for QP), and to burn light legs without being too reliant on good burns/HSR. It can harass bigger mechs but that typically relies on someone drawing their attention why you just melt their armor from some off angle.



As for the Huntsman, it's one of those mechs that is solid, but not great/fantastic because speed is pretty important for mediums in the current meta.

Edited by Quicksilver Aberration, 24 August 2025 - 06:13 PM.

[Tesunie]

Quicksilver Aberration, on 24 August 2025 - 06:10 PM, said:

As for the Huntsman, it's one of those mechs that is solid, but not great/fantastic because speed is pretty important for mediums in the current meta.

Yup, yup. That sounds... DID YOU JUST BASH MY BEAUTIFUL HUNTSMAN?!?! I mean! Look at that mech! The sleek angular torso. Those elegant looking legs. That nice V shaped cockpit. Those wonderful JJ archs. The... What? I don't have a problem. You have a problem!

But, silliness aside. I can see that as an issue, though I feel it's often fast enough for my purposes. I have fast mediums and slow ones. I know I've been out of the game for a while. I haven't found a use for the Beam weapons, or XPulse... yet. First I got to get back into the swing of things again. Maybe get out of PSR T3 (I just need to play matches, honestly, and I was really close to T2 when life hit me).