256 replies to this topic

[AlbinoSlug]

Whats the point? Feeling cool for using a wholly inferior mech.

Thats it.

[hanitora]

Or saving money while actually getting salvage.

Commando is cheap and gains the bonuses of being an owned mech.

[Sen]

Check back again in 6 months and see what equipment has been added to the game. Sure, at the MOMENT it's [mostly] a complete pile of scrap, but maybe they'll add SOMETHING to make it viable. . .

it could be piloting, but I make a special point of going after Commandos in my Jenner. Sure, I have to slow down to keep on them, and most of them ineffectively try to out-circle me, or think they can turn tail and outdistance me. .

Oh, wait. . that's why I go after them in the first place.

On the other hand, I've run with one guy who pilots one, and he's really successful with the thing. Since it's so cheap and easy for the new player to attain, is it the mech that sucks, or the skill level of the majority of people playing it?

Either way, I'm not changing my typical tag line after roasting one. . "Commandos, breakfast of champions"

[Piotr]

I agree with most people, its a nice cheap mech, but not really better then any other. I have got at least 1 kill with one and i felt pretty accomplished.

Just wanted to add i took a atlas with it :-D!

Edited by Piotr, 12 November 2012 - 07:13 PM.

[hanitora]

Sen, on 12 November 2012 - 07:12 PM, said:

it could be piloting, but I make a special point of going after Commandos in my Jenner. Sure, I have to slow down to keep on them, and most of them ineffectively try to out-circle me, or think they can turn tail and outdistance me. .

I do the same thing with Jenners. Except the part about slowing down since they are usually as fast as I am.

[Trauglodyte]

The Commando is a solid mech, it is just outmatched in the current matching system of the game. With the way the game is designed now, if you don't go for the heaviest mech within your weight class, you're leaving yourself open to lose. A Jenner is better in every way shape and form than the Commando. And short of doing an extreme job of rebuilding it to adequate levels, you're always going to be slower, lighter on armor, and short a few guns versus the Jenner. With the weight of ECM and BAP, I'm not sure that you can even fit them in a Commando assuming that they're even beneficial. But, here is to waiting and just having fun in something that doens't look like a bad 70's spaceship with legs.

Now then, I like to use mine as a Scout/LRM boat (yes, you read that correctly). Get out and spot the enemies, soften them up a bit, and then high tail it to the back for clean up.

[Snapfishes]

The Commando is the bane of my existence when in my Atlas.

So definitively not useless lol.

[AlbinoSlug]

I bought a Commando as my first mech, tried to customize it, Mech lab said I had too few heatsinks, Sold it, started suicide grinding again,

Edited by AlbinoSlug, 12 November 2012 - 07:33 PM.

[Insidious Johnson]

Aedensin, on 12 November 2012 - 06:03 PM, said:

How the what? I tried launching with a PPC commando and it said invalid loadout.. then removed the mech from my mechlab and eventually crashed.

There can be only one ERPPC commando!

[Stormur Herra]

MWHawke, on 12 November 2012 - 05:54 PM, said:

3 missile slots?

Yeah. That's the first one I got, fit it with 2x SRM-6s back when there were more non-light running around. It's not terrible at harassing big mechs, but Jenner's eat it for breakfast. I did once kill an Atlas 1v1 at the cost of most of my missiles. I still think a Jenner would do the harassing of big mechs better without spending ammo while still owning my poor commando. Haven't tried the 3 SSRM build yet, but those seem to be hard to pin point where you hit. I have trouble seeing them not getting killed by a Jenner. The SSRMs are hard to use on a target that's not circling you in the open perfectly or fleeing. Any sort of bouncing over terrain will pretty much disrupt the lock (whereas with lasers I can just fire the second I pop around that corner and be on my way).

Yeah, I get the 40% more weight = more armor and weapons, but I don't get why the Jenner gets to be just as fast and possibly more maneuverable (I am of course still outclassed by some Jenner pilots which makes it worse still, but even guys that seem not all that great ultimately win 1v1). I mean, even with the arms and me hitting them more, they just make each hit count much more. I can put out 200-300 damage with the 3 laser, 1 missile one about half the time. I still don't really get all that many kills out of that. That's mostly me hitting every enemy in sight while running for my life. (So I guess the arms make it easy to hit people while fleeing for dear life, that's a plus. Lots of assists if the rest of my team doesn't suck.)

On the repair bill front, I made the mistake of putting Endo-steel, FF, and Artemis on my first Commando. Up to 50k in repair bills, and 54k more if I actually re-armed it over 75% (which I obviously don't). It's as bad as my less upgraded Catapult (which I don't play because being a PPC sniper is sub-optimal too, doubly so when my friends aren't online).

It seems like I keep choosing the subpar mechs/builds.

The trial Atlas is fun, but it will be awhile before I can afford an Atlas now

Quote

[color=#959595]I'm running an ERPPC commando for lulz. I get the occasional kill every now and then though.

[/color][color=#959595]I kind of wanted to do that, but that's too many more C-Bills to throw down the drain now. My third commando is a LRM-15 + LRM-5 boat that is utterly terrible. I inflict it upon pug groups because I'm saving up to buy a better mech now and I need a third commando to finish the mastery on the other two.[/color]

[Fooooo]

Comparing it in a 1v1 situation against a jenner is somewhat unfair.

The jenner eats it for breakfast as long as equal pilots are in both mechs. (basically imagine the jenner is you, and the commando is you also. The jenner wins in this situation.) So ALWAYS stay away from jenners, assist your heavys / assaults.

The thing the commando can do the jenner cant is stack 3 srm6's, which gives you a 40dmg alpha. Plenty enough to instantly core some mechs from behind....as long as they don't know your there and have dropped a little armor.....

You can't run 3 srm6 without either upgrades or an XL.........well.....you can, but you will only get about 2 alphas before you need to wait upwards of 20 seconds to cooldown and can only fit 1ton of ammo that way, which doesn't last long. (actually I don't think you can do it without upgrades or XL now, as you need to add sinks for the engine which take your 2tons or so you need )


As another poster stated, don't fight other lights in a commando unless your in a streak com, if your packing SRM's then assist the dps by either coring the main target from behind or any meds that are not watching you...

(I find a lot of hunchy's go POP from 1 alpha in the rear if you can get most missiles on...generally need to be right up their *** to do that )

Or

Assist on the front torso with 1 or 2 quick "strafing runs", each time you generally want to run and stay away for a second so anyone who DID change focus to you, ends up going back to their old target.....then you come back again.

Its not easy to do, and its even harder to do it well, thats why most will just pick a jenner instead. You will get a more consistant result imo with the jenner....so technically it is a better choice in most situations........but never discount a good commando.

Edited by Fooooo, 12 November 2012 - 07:39 PM.

[Soulscour]

The engine sounds cool.

[Jason1138]

currently all it has going for it is that it turns well and its the smallest target in the game

eventually when weight limits are introduced it will come into its own

[Grizley]

Orzorn, on 12 November 2012 - 06:03 PM, said:

3 missile hardpoint Commando is pretty much the only one that does something a Jenner doesn't.

And it does it very well.

Still, the arms of the Commando, no matter which variant, make it an absolute annoying pest (or in the case of the missile variant, a very dangerous opponent). It can run circles around even other light mechs and still get its shots to land because of its arms, whereas a Jenner has to rely on its torso twist alone.

Maybe, but a Jenner can carry 2 missile racks and torso twist nearly completely around. With the extra twist unlock and Elite doubling I have never wished my Jenner had lower arm actuators.

Also, a Jenner with 1 jump jet can tap space and do a 180 on the spot, at speed. There is simply no way for ANY mech to keep out of the firing arc of a Jenner. I'm actually surprised you don't see more Cats spinning with their JJs to face their light mech harassers. I guess it's a semi-advanced technique but it will spread.

[Der BruzZzler von Wiesndoof]

The COM-2D is one of my fav. mechs in MWO.
Upgraded with Endo Steel, Double Heat Sinks and XL Engine 180 + Speed Tweak (125 kph). I'm using 12 SRM's and a Medium Laser for hit 'n' run maneuvers against bigger targets. It's fun to knock out heavy or assault mechs with this evil midget. I agree, some light mechs are better, but Raven and Jenner weigh ten tons more. There is no comparison. Comparing a 40 ton medium Cicada with a 35 ton light Jenner would make more sense. For its weight, the Commando is a good mech. Firepower: 35, Heat Efficiency: 1,36, Armor: 157

Edited by The Birdeater, 12 November 2012 - 07:56 PM.

[Bleary]

What's the Commando has that the Jenner doesn't?

It can be hard to kill. As noted earlier a Jenner with a max standard engine and a Commando with a max standard engine have almost exactly the same amount of payload space. The Jenner only gets better if it takes an XL. And while XL is normally the engine of choice for lights, there are circumstances where opting for the standard might give you an edge. If you figure you're worth more to your team staying alive as a scout and a spotter than doing more damage with your own guns, then this build would make sense.

It's hard to hit. I think people are really underestimating how much more difficult a target a Commando can be. They're very short and have a very thin cross-section. They're noticeably harder to hit than a fatbelly Jenner, especially when they're passing to the side on an attack run.

It can carry more missiles. A missile boat Commando cored my Hunchback's rear torso in two shots once. Doing high burst damage is one area where point-blank missile strikes are superior to energy weapons.

So as I see it, that leaves two main roles for Commandos. One: take advantage of the missile slots and load up on the SRMs. You won't have as much total payload as a Jenner, and you'll lose in a 1-on-1 fight with a Jenner. But you'll be perfect for slipping behind heavier 'Mechs and ripping them up after your lancemates have engaged them. Don't treat it like a scout. You're vulnerable if you get caught out alone. Stick with main column and act as a backstabber.

Two: take advantage of a Commando's small profile and relative durability and make a pure scout. Stay at long range and run away from anything that targets you. The problem is that right now MWO lacks the equipment/game modes that really make a pure scout work. I expect Commandos will become much more useful for this (and useful in general) once Active Probes and ECM are introduced. Providing it can take them.

Edited by Bleary, 12 November 2012 - 07:47 PM.

[Elizander]

Stormur Herra, on 12 November 2012 - 05:48 PM, said:

So, what does a commando do that other lights and some mediums don't do better?

When I first bought one everyone was still running LRM boats and it seemed like a good way to get into a mech that could go harass them. Now every match is just full of Jenners and Cicadas that are just as fast as I am but have more guns and more armor than I do...

Am I missing something or is the commando just straight up worse in every way than a Jenner? (At least with like Jenner vs. Atlas vs. Missile boat each does something better than the other.)

They should up the turning, acceleration, and deceleration on the Commando to make it more nimble than the Jenner or Raven since it's 2/3 their size and probably thrust the Flea's maneuverability through the roof when it comes out since it's even smaller.

I'm planning on trying out the 3x Streak Commando sometime soon. Just finishing up my last Atlas first.

[Lokust Davion]

Commando is a junk mech, I always hunt for them first whenever I see them in game. Easy kill.

[MWHawke]

Jason1138, on 12 November 2012 - 07:39 PM, said:

currently all it has going for it is that it turns well and its the smallest target in the game

eventually when weight limits are introduced it will come into its own

Agreed

[Deedsie]

Coming from somebody who is actually able to shoot light mechs in an assault, I'll tell you that the Commando gives me more trouble when trying to hit than a Jenner does, and the triple SRM variety tends to do more damage to me.

Edited by Deedsie, 12 November 2012 - 08:31 PM.