58 replies to this topic

[Garuss Acine]

Tsen Shang, on 01 February 2012 - 05:12 PM, said:

I'm curious how many people would play a Charger as a scout. It can be done, it's a viable option!

The Charger is a Melee mech, it really relies on its 80tons for punching and kicking damage, using its high speed and 10 tons of armor to get up close, and knock a foe in the teeth till they fall over. it's meager five small lasers aren't going to be doing anything on their own, other than mess with paint jobs, or hit criticals on already crippled foes. so till they Devs decide to allow melee, they real do cripple some of the mechs from being to excel at what they are built to do.


as for my own rides, For the Commander role, I'll be taking a Battlemaster 1G, depending on what we can do to it will change its spread of weapons, to be honest though, the 1G on its own is a decent command Mech, with speed to keep up with most heavies of the time. 14.5 tons of armor to survive incoming fire, and the weapons to maul lighter mechs. its a damn fine work horse,that lets the command stay in the fight for a long time, keep up with his company, and deal some damage when needed.

Assault Class, this will be a hard one to nail down, a few mechs come to mind for this role, and I really can't pick till they show us all the mechs for the job. though something with decent movement, armor and a nice spread of weapons will be nice, so maybe a Thunderbolt, Grasshoper, Victor or a Wolverine. all these designs have a well balance of everything. giving me the speed, bite and staying power I would want for an assault role mech.

Defender, again this will be hard to know till they let us get a list of all the mechs, but runners up for the position, will be the Zeus, King Crab-0000, Banshee-3S, and to a lesser degree the Marauder and Warhammer. these mechs all center less on actually engaging the foe directly(other than that death toting King Crab). the mechs I have listed fail into two groups, brawlers, or support mechs. the two heavies are direct fire support mechs, meant to stay back and rip holes in their foes from a distance. The Zeus is a brawler/ indirect fire support mech, able to hit targets at all ranges, and even add its LRM 15 to indirect fire.the King Crab and Banshee are straight up brawlers, lacking the speed to move to their targets, they wait for the foe to close to them, where they can bring their death dealing spread of weapons to bare. in an urban enviroment, a King Crab and its twin AC/20's will absolutely clean out medium and light mechs in a single slavo, and cripple heavies, while putting the hurt on assault mechs. the Banshee is a nightmare, as it gets close the more of its weapons it can bring to bare, its twin PPCs vicious, but the AC/10, 4 Medium Lasers, SRM6 and 2 Small Lasers give it just as much bite up close as it does far away.

Scout, if they include the Spider, that will be my mech for this role, as fast as Locust, can out jump the Wasp and Stinger Mechs, and its weapons are mounted in the center torso.meaning till you core this mech out, it will keep shooting. it will be perfect for flanking enemy forces, hitting them, then slipping away.and seeing as it's weapons are energy, it can do this over and over again, till it or it's targets are down and out. it's the best support mech I can think of, they are the mech that opened my eyes up to how dangerous light mechs could be.

[Omigir]

I think he was talking about a roll/tactic more then the actual mech, Garuss... o__O

well : \ I could be wrong.

Edited by Omigir, 01 February 2012 - 06:15 PM.

[Tsen Shang]

Omigir, on 01 February 2012 - 06:15 PM, said:

I think he was talking about a roll/tactic more then the actual mech, Garuss... o__O

well : \ I could be wrong.

Actually, that's EXACTLY what I was hoping to see! You figure out playstyles, ideas, combinations...perfect!

[Shepherd]

I'll definitely be scouting. Which mech I'll be in? Well that's the question. I was spoiled in MW4 with all of it's bigger/better/faster touches. I'd routinely scout in a 'mech that was running somewhere above 120kph, and I'd still have a fair amount of firepower left over. But in this pre-clan era, I think that those mechs that run at 97kph will be considered the standard. Sure the Jenner runs at 118 and the Locust runs up at 130kph. But the Locust is junk for anything other than getting there fast, and the Jenner is over-used in my opinion. I'd rather take something that isn't seen as much - that's just me.

I'm leaning towards a Firestarter or a Javelin. Both run at 97kph, both jump. The Javelin is obviously the more traditional mech. Its paired SRM6 launchers can put down some pretty serious firepower when it needs to. As a scout I'm not concerned about running out of ammo - fighting is for the other members of the lance. My weapons are there to discourage enemies from getting too close, or for helping my lance run down a damaged opponent. They're bonus. I like the Firestarter because it's unconventional and opens up some really interesting options. With a Firestarter I could add "stealthy assassin" to my job description. See that Awesome laying waste? Cook it. Or, need to provide some cover for your retreating lance, that just got their butts handed to them? Can't dig that kind of firepower out of your scout mech? No troubles - burn down a city block and let the smoke interfere with enemy targetting as your fellows make a clean gettaway.

[Omigir]

Tsen Shang, on 01 February 2012 - 07:02 PM, said:

Actually, that's EXACTLY what I was hoping to see! You figure out playstyles, ideas, combinations...perfect!

yay XD did I earn a shout out on the podcast? scooby snack? good cookies? XD

EDIT: instead of calling it a Charger, call it an interceptor... Swift, heavy hitting. Gets where it needs to quick and puts a stop to any shanagans that is going on!

Edited by Omigir, 01 February 2012 - 07:30 PM.

[Bluemaxx]

Got to be the scout role for me...if information is king in this games then you'd better give me the crown

Mech choice would be a Falcon or Assasin. Falcon because it has okay armour and firepower but can run at 97kph and has jump jets as standard, enough to keep up/infront of most battles and collect that much needed info but i could also try to hunt down other scouts to make my enemy blind.
Assasin just because i like the design, is superfast and has the LRM so i can perform some harasing attacks from a good distant away.

Just my thoughts on this subject anyway

[BarHaid]

Omigir, on 01 February 2012 - 06:15 PM, said:

I think he was talking about a roll/tactic more then the actual mech, Garuss... o__O

well : \ I could be wrong.

I thought he meant the mech...

And I'd totally try the Charger, just so that I'd be comfortable in it when melee finally gets added in.

[80sGlamRockSensation David Bowie]

Oh, I can't wait to leg the Chargers trying to "scout" should they include them. Yeah, I'd be that guy, too.

But anyway, I hope you guys decide to go with the CGR-1A5 variant instead of the stock. Some serious firepower and armor with above average speed.

[Liam]

I will probably stick with medium / heavy mech depending on weapon damage + armor balance and customization degree.
Some enegry based mech design with couple of ERLL or ERPPC will do the job. Still hope for Warhammer, maybe nice redesign of Awesome, maybe Crab, or Black Knight.

Too sad PPC based mechs (or some energy based) were not introduced yet. 4 AC mechs 1 for missiles and a light one

Ehm and yeah my role will be long range fire support (and time to time brawler)

[Ian MacLeary]

Liam, on 02 February 2012 - 12:01 AM, said:

Too sad PPC based mechs (or some energy based) were not introduced yet. 4 AC mechs 1 for missiles and a light one

? PPCs have been around since the Star League. Most of the high-tech variants were LosTech during the Succession Wars, but baseline PPCs were around even in 3025.

Now, if you mean that the currently revealed 'mechs aren't PPC designs, okay, I'm with you on that. Some of the variants of those chassis (Catapult K2, H2, K2K, K3 for example) carry PPCs or ERPPCs, however. And various bits and pieces around the forums indicate that we'll be able to customize our 'mechs to a certain degree; I'd be very surprised if we couldn't at least make the historical variants. (All those variants are pre-3049.)

[RynCage]

Zervziel, on 01 February 2012 - 04:24 PM, said:

Actually, I'd rather prefer the limited MW4 Mechlab. Help give the different mechs some identity.

Think back to MW4 online [before mekpaks].. Was there ever a reason to take the hellspawn over any other medium mech?
IMO: the shape of a mech is identity enough. In any event, regardless of what Mechlab they decide to use, there are going to be ups and downs. That said, I would rather have a system that puts less limits on my creativity and imagination.

Back on topic, I dont get a stiffy over the whole "choose your play style" thing, so ill most likely play as whatever games are lacking once the metagame develops. Which if i had to guess, will be commanders.

[Kasiagora]

Tsen Shang, on 01 February 2012 - 05:12 PM, said:

I'm curious how many people would play a Charger as a scout. It can be done, it's a viable option!

If they put in the Charger I would totally give it my best shot at scouting. It doesn't have to be the fastest or hard hitting, it's got armor to get it though. I do agree though that in actual usage it's primarily a melee mech although I've wondered why it's got the small lasers in the arms since it's going to be too busy punching. I'm pretty sure most of the MW games have had collision damage in the past so even without melee, if some medium's not letting you get away just try ramming him and spam those small lasers some.

I've always been good at tabletop, but in video games commanding has never been for me unless I'm in the room with them or on a headset. It's because I can't just tell people what to do when things are going on. All of these games use weird interfaces. Hit F1 to bring up your basic command menu, press 1-6 to say what you want, press 1-6 again for what target... Press F3 to bring up the movement commands list, press 1-4 for lancemates, 6 for lights, 8 for mediums, or 5 to call an orbital strike on your own location... now click with both mouse buttons and drag the squirrely urbanmech cursor over where you want them to go. 'Why's my cursor a dancing urbanmech now?!' "You have chosen nuclear attack on yourself" 'Oh shiiii-!'

As such I'm going to start as a brawler. Give me a medium mech with jump capability, decent speed, some medium lasers, and an AC/10 and I'll go to town. Give me a Grasshopper and I'll do that in a heavy! I intend to make full use of terrain, speed, and larger mech's lack of speed to take off some rear armor or obliterate things in my own weight class. If they start using alternate fire-modes for specialized weapons you'd better believe I'm going to be slinging some autocannon buckshot in cities and forests.

On a side note; alt fire could also be sweet if fire-support mechs could lob out some minefields like back in the day.

[Maximilian Thorn]

Definitely an Assault Role with an Assault Mech. If all the Assault Mechs will be in game that existed during 3025 (as you say), then I choose an Atlas or a Marauder II to pilot. As I am playing a Lone Wolf, I will get to enjoy non-stop 'seek-and-destroy' with both Faction Planet matches and Border Planet matches (assuming there is an available slot).

It's gonna be awesome!

[Drakor]

Alrighty, lemme give this a go.

Assault:
Strangely enough, I'm thinking the Centurion for this role, lemme try and explain why... While it's speed isn't the best, and neither is it's firepower, armor, or... well, just about anything on it... It's a relatively versitile chassis... That is to say, I could use it for assault in a wide open field, sticking with my lance, and adding my LRM's at long range... AC at medium, and Medium lasers at close... So I can engage at any range.

Further, as one of the smaller targets, Either I would be singled out, by a mass of the enemies, to try and reduce the firepower quickly, thus drawing fire away from my heavier armed, and armored teamates, allowing them to get closer, and deal more damage... Or I would get completely ignored, as being the 'smallest threat'. Obviously, the AC/10 firing up at close range would quickly remind them otherwise... Again, even if the damage isn't enough for it, the pure effect of a close firing AC will probably pull some heads away from my team.

Then, add that it's around the same average speed of many heavies, and assaults, it can easily keep down with the main force. There's something to be said for quick firepower, certainly... but then again, there's something more to be said about Massed firepower. Quick firepower solves small problems. Massed firepower Makes big ones.

And finally, whether I'm concentrated on as a target or not, the general concensus seems to be assaults, or heavies for defensive work... The Centurion is a comparitively smaller mech. They have to aim down at me... So, they're going to be putting missed shots into the ground- rather then the friendly behind me.

Defense:
Personally... I'm thinking Marauder... That's right. MAD-3R. Why? It's mix of PPC's, Lasers, and an autocannon means it has, once again, striking power at all ranges. It's not AS slow as some other mechs which might be used defensively (IE, Atlas) but it's not exactly fast... All the more encouragement to stand and fight!

It's PPC's mean I can open up at a decent range, and it's odd, but relatively low profile means I'll be presenting a minimum profile for return fire, at long range. Sufficient speed means, well controled, I should be able to maintain this distance for a couple of shots, leading towards me coming into the melee with a slight, or noticeable advantage

The AC/5 also has a decent reach, meaning I'll likely be able to bring the brunt of my hard hitters to bear well out of range of theirs. In other words, I'll be able to play defense... defensively, rather then offensively.

By defensively, I mean I pull, give ground, and keep out of reach, basically screening the objective from a good distance, to soak up, and damage any incoming waves- NOT destroy them, but DELAY them long enough for the rest of the defense to converge, and get rid of the threat, Via destruction, or routing of the invading mech.

Defense simply means that your target is protected, it doesn't nessecarily mean that the enemy is destroyed... A heavily damaged limping Stalker coming back to the main force is worse then no Stalker- They have to slow down for him!

Edited by Drakor, 02 February 2012 - 03:46 AM.

[100mile]

Scout or defender...preference..fits my psychological profile...both are protective rolls...
Most people will probably disagree with me but i think the bushwacker in one of it's variants..possibly the BSW-L1...would make a good dual role mech...fast enough to get in n out and has enough punch n armor for survivability if cornered...also you could switch in a pinch to an assault role...
two problems...Not sure it's jj capable...and not sure you could put enough electronics in it to do the scout job...
Welcome any opinions...

[Pariah Devalis]

Heavy recon or command sounds fun to me. Again, I am aiming for a Hellbringer come clan invasion, so having something big enough to be a threat, fast enough to get away, and smart enough to see you before you see me fits me just fine. Since there will be about 6 months until the invasion proper, though, the DRG is an option, assuming I can mount sensors on it. It is fast, moderately armed, and decently armored. A Grand Dragon would be fantastic. Either that, or a WHM and hope I can cram in an active probe, even though it is rather slow.

The way I see it, recon and command share the need for sensor specializations. One to feed the commander, one for the commander to be better situation-ally aware from the mid-lines.

Edited by Pariah Devalis, 02 February 2012 - 04:37 AM.

[Caballo]

Defender or attacker. I'm a brawler, so my role will be the same.

Both cases it will be a mech with a decent firepower. If i'm attacking, i would pick a Victor, because it's speed let me keep up with the heavies and hi-mids who will be around me and it's jump jets give me a chance to close distances even a bit faster, and dominate city environments, or a Whammy, for the all around firepower.

If defending, i would use a Battleaxe, a Marauder or the Whammy. Both let me punish the nme while it's closing in, and finish it for good when they arrive.

Anyway, nothing like a Thor.

[Rayge]

Drakor, I have to say that I think versatility is overrated. Show me a mech with 2 missiles, 2 lasers, 2 cannons, and I'll show you a predictable mech that only excells when the enemy is caught by surprise. I say, pick something and do it well.

[Tsen Shang]

FinnMcKool, on 01 February 2012 - 05:54 PM, said:

I may be wrong But I think the vast majority want to be the commander?? LOL

stereo Typical Mechwarrior types , we all want to be in charge..

I said I'd be a commander only because I'll be playing with friends, and I usually run things. If I end up playing with another group, I'd much rather be Assault or Defense.

Omigir, on 01 February 2012 - 06:15 PM, said:

I think he was talking about a roll/tactic more then the actual mech, Garuss... o__O

well : \ I could be wrong.

No no no! Sorry! I was confused! I DID mean the Charger mech, I think it'd be hilarious to see a massive scout. Sorry Omigir, I thought you were talking about his post as a whole which listed mechs and roles and that's exactly what I wanted to talk about in the thread >.<

Garuss Acine, on 01 February 2012 - 06:11 PM, said:

Defender, again this will be hard to know till they let us get a list of all the mechs, but runners up for the position, will be the Zeus, King Crab-0000, Banshee-3S, and to a lesser degree the Marauder and Warhammer.

Oooooh didn't think about the Zeus, it'd be perfect for the Defender role. I think most Defender mechs are going to essentially be fire support, or have a way to provide fire support. King Crab...I LOVE this mech but I'm not actually sure where it'd fit in as a Defender, unless it's just traipsing around the city coring attackers.

[Tsen Shang]

100mile, on 02 February 2012 - 04:17 AM, said:

Scout or defender...preference..fits my psychological profile...both are protective rolls...
Most people will probably disagree with me but i think the bushwacker in one of it's variants..possibly the BSW-L1...would make a good dual role mech...fast enough to get in n out and has enough punch n armor for survivability if cornered...also you could switch in a pinch to an assault role...
two problems...Not sure it's jj capable...and not sure you could put enough electronics in it to do the scout job...
Welcome any opinions...

I like the Bushwacker, but you won't get it until 3058 =/

Rayge, on 02 February 2012 - 10:28 AM, said:

Drakor, I have to say that I think versatility is overrated. Show me a mech with 2 missiles, 2 lasers, 2 cannons, and I'll show you a predictable mech that only excells when the enemy is caught by surprise. I say, pick something and do it well.

I don't know, I disagree. The Vindicator is very versatile, and it's a great medium. I actually really hope they put it in the game, that mech is amazing.