62 replies to this topic

[Kivin]

Upgrades:


Ferro Fibrous Armor: No.
Endo-Steel Internal Structure: Yes.
Double Heat Sink: Yes.
Artemis: No.

Loadout:

Head: Empty.
Left Shoulder: SRM 6, Double Heat Sink.
Right Shoulder: SRM 6, Double Heat Sink.
Left Arm: Medium Laser (2), Double Heat Sink (2).
Right Arm: Medium Laser (2), Double Heat Sink (2).
Centre Torso: Standard Engine 245.
Left Leg: SRM Ammo (2).
Right Leg: SRM Ammo (2).

Armor:

Head: 18/18.
CT: 54/64.
CTR: 10/64.
RT: 38/48.
RTR: 10/48.
LT: 38/48.
LTR: 10/48.
RA: 32/32.
LA: 32/32.
RL: 47/48.
LL: 47/48.


Mech Info:

Speed (KPH): 79.3 (85 /w Speed Tweak).
Tonnage: 50/50.
Firepower (Alpha Strike): 50.
Heat Efficiency: 1.19.
Armor - Standard: 336/338.

Usage:

This mech makes an excellent medium brawler. I've been routinely getting 900+ damage with up to 4 kills per match in PUGs with this, assuming I don't lose half my team in the first two minutes of the match.

Play conservatively, at first. See which way the wind blows. Find the enemies' blind spots, get in and fire your six packs at near point blank range. Use your speed to duck in to cover and break locks. Several hit and run passes easily bust up a trial Atlas-K by focusing the hip gun. Other mediums absolutely melt.

Don't be afraid to use your arms and shoulders for HP buffer. I frequently finish matches with both my arms and shoulders blown out, but still top damage.

Heat is a little touch and go, but you should have no trouble dealing out high damage if you manage it carefully. While you cool down, switch to full SRM or full lasers, depending on which is more situationally (is that a word?) useful.

Piloting identical 'Mechs is a little trite, but a buddy and I have been running a pair of these and we find it fairly easy to get at least seven kills by using our speed to isolate 'Mechs and lighting them up from behind.

This is not a very beginner friendly 'Mech, but it does make good practice. The Hunchback has excellent torso twist and arm reach - It can shoot almost 180° behind it to get an extra laser cycle as you duck in to cover, or to give an annoying scout a poke.

Speed management is key. Use your top speed to get in to a heavy mech's blind spot, but throttle down and carefully manage your steering and speed to remain back there. If you're careful, you can stay out of reach of most 60-100 tonne pilots for quite a few weapon cycles. If you are in danger of being shot, throttle up and blow by them at max speed. Come around again from a different angle.

Good luck, friends.

edit November 17, 2012:

I've been reflecting on some of the suggestions/modifications that have been posted though this thread. I still feel that this build is the best one presented for the majority of situations. That's not to say that suggestions are completely without merrit; I simply feel that these options bring too little to the table for what you have to give up. The Hunchie is just fifty tonnes of Mech and we have to make the best of it, and that means prioritization. This is supposed to be a min/max build, it doesn't pretend to be anything less.

- Artemis:

Artemis is a valid and distinguished choice for upgrading SRMs. The tightened spread makes SRMs very capable of loping off arms or torso segments. However, given the range that this 'Mech operates in, I don't believe Artemis is efficacious.

Artemis also increases the cost of rearming ammo greatly. It no longer is financially feasible to rearm every match. And, given the following bullet, having 75% ammo is a Very Bad Thing™.

- Reduced SRM Ammo:

There isn't really any middle ground here. If you aren't using up your SRMs, pull some ammo. I do use it up - frequently, in fact. I can absolutely say that I've lost kills because I ran out of SRMs; and not because I wasted them. More SRM ammo actually makes me feel better than adding Artemis.

- Tag / Anti-Missile Systems:

If you're solo, why do you want a Tag anyways? If you're grouped, I'm sure there's someone better at it than you. You've got mighty acceleration and a decent top speed, let the natural rock formations be your AMS.

- XL Engine:

Are you crazy? If you've got an XL engine on your Hunchback, you have no business brawling. If I finish a match with both my shoulders intact, either the enemy team flopped or I didn't play to my potential.

- Up-sizing or Down-sizing the engine:

My team mates and pretty well clocked out the odometers on our 4SPs and we are of like mind- the speed is perfect right where it is. Down-sizing is totally out of the question and up-sizing requires you to sacrifice something... think carefully.

Edited by Kivin, 17 November 2012 - 05:38 PM.

[Belorion]

Actually Artemis is a good upgrade for the 4sp.

[Kivin]

Belorion, on 11 November 2012 - 03:04 PM, said:

Actually Artemis is a good upgrade for the 4sp.

That may be so, but you wont get a fit with this build. Either way, the speed of this build allows you to get well within the SRMs effective range quite easily.

[Aware]

Kivin, on 11 November 2012 - 03:07 PM, said:

That may be so, but you wont get a fit with this build. Either way, the speed of this build allows you to get well within the SRMs effective range quite easily.

Drop 2 DHS and some leg armor and it will. You won't really lose that much HE either. I run at 1.15 with Artemis, 4 ML, and 2 SRM6's plus a AMS. Not to mention you don't really need 4 tons of SRM ammo. There are fights where you do eventually run out but they are few and far between.

[Kivin]

Aware, on 11 November 2012 - 03:23 PM, said:

Drop 2 DHS and some leg armor and it will. You won't really lose that much HE either. I run at 1.15 with Artemis, 4 ML, and 2 SRM6's plus a AMS. Not to mention you don't really need 4 tons of SRM ammo. There are fights where you do eventually run out but they are few and far between.

I run out of ammo all the time. Seriously. I would be willing to accept another tonne of ammo, except by the time I run out, I'm usually almost stripped bare.

[Fussion166]

thanks you for the write up, ive been trying to find a way to use this hunch to better effect.

[One Medic Army]

Pretty much same thing I'm using, except I cut my legs down to 31, pulled out a heatsink, went to only 2 tons of SRM ammo. Picked up a TAG and an AMS. TAG's on an arm, one of the medium lasers went to the head for Zombie stylin'
Works great.

Edited by One Medic Army, 12 November 2012 - 03:16 AM.

[John MatriX82]

xl 260, 2x artemis SRM6, 5 medlas, only 3 tons of SRM ammo and as many DHS you can (no endo for this purpose).

Actually non-artemis SRM6's spread is too wide open, if you artemis them the spread isn't far from that of normal SRM4. 55 of alpha damage,it's an absolute wrecker, but chain mlasers on the arms and fire the head one only when you can place it for good.

[Cstriker]

I'm torn on the Artemis, and this build is almost identical to mine. I rock 5 Mlas though with one in the head and two each arm...the spread reduction is nice with the artemis, but the TAG may be better perhaps? Cost wise? I'm just so torn on the effectiveness of the Artemis vs cost and weight where without it I can put heat sinks back in and put armor back into my legs.

Artemis or not to Artemis.

[Kivin]

Fussion166, on 12 November 2012 - 02:37 AM, said:

thanks you for the write up, ive been trying to find a way to use this hunch to better effect.

You're welcome. Good luck.

One Medic Army, on 12 November 2012 - 03:16 AM, said:

Pretty much same thing I'm using, except I cut my legs down to 31, pulled out a heatsink, went to only 2 tons of SRM ammo. Picked up a TAG and an AMS. TAG's on an arm, one of the medium lasers went to the head for Zombie stylin'
Works great.

Interesting. I would like to find a way to fit an AMS but those two tonnes come at great expense. I don't think I'd use a TAG since I run groups a lot and there's a lot of happy Jenner pilots these days.

John MatriX82, on 12 November 2012 - 05:23 AM, said:

xl 260, 2x artemis SRM6, 5 medlas, only 3 tons of SRM ammo and as many DHS you can (no endo for this purpose).

Actually non-artemis SRM6's spread is too wide open, if you artemis them the spread isn't far from that of normal SRM4. 55 of alpha damage,it's an absolute wrecker, but chain mlasers on the arms and fire the head one only when you can place it for good.

You're a braver man than I if you truly fit an XL engine on your h-back. I am willing to gander that an excess of 75% of my matches include at least one of my shoulders getting sheared off. I cannot count how many times I've got a desperate kill (and sometimes two) with my last weapon hardpoint after all my other weapons have been blown out, and more than a couple times I've successfully fled to the cover of friendly assault mechs after having my arms and shoulders all blown off.

I own an Atlas D-DC in which I use Artemis enhanced SRMs, so I think I can objectively conclude that the cost of adding Artemis to my hunchback is too much. Most of my SRM hits are occurring between the ranges of 15 and 120 metres. The spread difference is minimal at these ranges, and I'm totally satisfied with the damage I'm putting out.

Cstriker, on 12 November 2012 - 08:02 AM, said:

I'm torn on the Artemis, and this build is almost identical to mine. I rock 5 Mlas though with one in the head and two each arm...the spread reduction is nice with the artemis, but the TAG may be better perhaps? Cost wise? I'm just so torn on the effectiveness of the Artemis vs cost and weight where without it I can put heat sinks back in and put armor back into my legs.

Artemis or not to Artemis.

Its a fair question and no one can call you wrong for putting Artemis on. But you have to decide if you want it badly enough to sacrifice other things.... that tonnage is going to cost you.

Once in a while, you put together a Mech that has a perfect zen of speed, hit points and damage. I feel like I've found it with this build. I wouldn't even consider changing it; I'll probably buy a second 4SP to toy around with.

[Raso]

Unless they help to cool the weapon better when placed next to them I would move all heatsinks out of my limbs because when (not if) you lose that limb your cooling ability goes down.

Over all, though, it's not much different than my 4SP, though I use the Artemis system with my dual SRM6s along with an AMS with 1 ton of ammo and a 200 STD engine with no double heat sinks yet.

I'm planning on upping my engine size when I also upgrade to double heat sinks. I really wish I could go back and forth between my load out and upgrades with out having to buy things, though. It's making figuring out what engine size I plan to upgrade to that much harder than it should be.

[Kivin]

Raso, on 12 November 2012 - 11:33 AM, said:

Unless they help to cool the weapon better when placed next to them I would move all heatsinks out of my limbs because when (not if) you lose that limb your cooling ability goes down.

Over all, though, it's not much different than my 4SP, though I use the Artemis system with my dual SRM6s along with an AMS with 1 ton of ammo and a 200 STD engine with no double heat sinks yet.

I'm planning on upping my engine size when I also upgrade to double heat sinks. I really wish I could go back and forth between my load out and upgrades with out having to buy things, though. It's making figuring out what engine size I plan to upgrade to that much harder than it should be.

I could move a HS in to each shoulder, though my line of thinking was along the lines of "if my lasers get blown off, I don't need those heat sinks anyways."

Sounds like your h-back is a fair bit different than mine, actually. The engine is what really brings this build to life. A buddy of mine tried it and agrees that I've found the perfect balance of speed and damage.

I agree that going back and forth would be cool. I am so happy with this build that I'm considering buying a second 4SP for tinkering.

[DeltaDagger]

Thanks for this write up. My build is almost identical, except less leg armour, less engine, and more ammo and heatsinks. I always thought I had a "secret" with this little guy, but obviously others have found this out too! As you say, it's all in how you use it/strategize. Go in their near the front, head on, and you'll die pretty quickly. Pick your battles, as in after they have started, and do what I call a little "clean up." You've hit on the role of this Hunchie perfectly. You've also inspired me to maybe put the speed back into this guy for quick escapes and manoeuvering to flank and get behind opponents. Good write up.

[Aware]

Kivin, on 11 November 2012 - 04:21 PM, said:

I run out of ammo all the time. Seriously. I would be willing to accept another tonne of ammo, except by the time I run out, I'm usually almost stripped bare.

Honestly try 3 tons and see how you feel.

I usually run out when in a 4 man group. I feel like I get focused a lot for some reason though.

[Raso]

Aware, on 12 November 2012 - 07:52 PM, said:

Honestly try 3 tons and see how you feel.

I usually run out when in a 4 man group. I feel like I get focused a lot for some reason though.

You probably are. I've noticed it a lot more in my Hunchback recently. I think that people are starting to respect them... and fear them!

[Aware]

Raso, on 12 November 2012 - 08:36 PM, said:

You probably are. I've noticed it a lot more in my Hunchback recently. I think that people are starting to respect them... and fear them!

With an alpha of 50 they should be feared. An Atlas with no support vs. me is a dead Atlas.

[John MatriX82]

Kivin, on 12 November 2012 - 10:33 AM, said:

You're a braver man than I if you truly fit an XL engine on your h-back. I am willing to gander that an excess of 75% of my matches include at least one of my shoulders getting sheared off. I cannot count how many times I've got a desperate kill (and sometimes two) with my last weapon hardpoint after all my other weapons have been blown out, and more than a couple times I've successfully fled to the cover of friendly assault mechs after having my arms and shoulders all blown off.

I (imho of course ) prefer mobility over resistance. Whenever I would be running a STD engine (a similar config can be done with a STD 250+ENDO, 15 DHS, 2xMlas in each arm and trading away the MLAS on the head); once one of my side torsoes gets popped out, I lose 50% of my firepower, since I'll miss also my arm that carries 2 MLAS. Or change by adding 1Mlas+1Smlas in each arm and add 1smlas in the head this should be easier to heat-manage.

Eliting the SP with my config grants you a 90 km/h harasser that can compensate with cover much of the incoming fire and once you'll be able to ram lights, they won't be a problem anymore, you can easily melt them with a SRM alpha and the extra DHS allow the use of the 5th medlas without too much heat hassle.

Of course it's risky to go around with the XL engine, but my CQB-only attack range exposes me more to headshots rather than side torso coring.. and that kills you the same even if you run the standard engine.

Edited by John MatriX82, 13 November 2012 - 08:27 AM.

[Kinjiro]

I've finished too many games with half my hunchie gone to consider running an XL. Just a couple of days ago a game came down to me and a cat; if I'd had XL it would have been a loss. I switch back and forth between ssrm2s with 4 mplas and srm6s with 4 mlas. The punch from the 12 srms is nice, but pulse/streak shreds lights.

[fo diggity]

This is similar to mine, but my engine is slower and I put in artemis. I might have to look at trying this instead.

Edit:

Tried it almost exact except i have less armor on my legs to make room for artemis. Heat is a little more touch-and-go than before, but that's what I'd expect going from 4SL to 4ML. I am worried with all the upgrades about repair costs, but with a medium sized mech I supposed I shouldn't complain compared to what the Assaults and Heavies get nailed with. I like it, thanks!

Edit 2:

Wow, the speed boost from a 220 to a 245 makes a big difference. I thought I had a speed advantage before, but now I can do true hit-and-runs and show all the Heavies my Jenner impression. Makes a huge difference in my survivability.

Edited by fo diggity, 13 November 2012 - 01:57 PM.

[John MatriX82]

fo diggity, on 13 November 2012 - 12:13 PM, said:

Wow, the speed boost from a 220 to a 245 makes a big difference. I thought I had a speed advantage before, but now I can do true hit-and-runs and show all the Heavies my Jenner impression. Makes a huge difference in my survivability.

If you make it, go for a std 250, it will save up 1 or 3 crits for an heatsink that can stay within the engine and not outside from it as with the 245.