13 replies to this topic

[Ghost Inc]

Hey guys,

Over the last weeks I farmed about 11 million C-Bills. I want to invest that in a Cataphract Chassis.
I would like to hear your personal experience and advice so far!

I actually do not need a missile slot, because I've had enough games with that by playing a HBK 4SP.

So, which of the four Chassis would YOU recommend and WHY ?

I was thinking of a mixture of 2 AC5 and Medium Pulse Lasers.

Note: I do not want to play the quad AC variants because of the costs and the lag i usually am confronted with

Edited by IncorporeaL GhosT, 21 November 2012 - 06:56 AM.

[Volts]

This what I had from another thread:

Just been playing about with variants for the CTF 3D

I kept the jumps, upgraded to Endo and popped in a 300XL. Maxed out armor to the mech (except legs, which sit at 51).

UAC5 (x2) to arm and chest. 15 SHS.

MPL (x2), 1 to each arm.

Moves at 69.4KPH, with jumps for additional mobility. No heat problems. Good armor (big head hit box though). UAC5 with the last changes are rocking everything. Using ammo like crazy. Upped to it 6 Tons of UAC5 ammo.

Overall, liking this mech.

Edited by Volts, 21 November 2012 - 07:20 AM.

[Volts]

So, I really like the cataphract atm (head hit box has been resolved), but I'm finding my damage output a little low.

This could be from misses (my accuracy seemed to be fairly terrible last night, possibly I am used to leading with gauss).

I love being able to line up 2 UAC5 on a center torso or cat ear and just unload holy hell. Much dakka-dakka satisfaction.

My only reservation is the mix of RT / RA for dual UAC5 can lead to some aiming issues for alphas if you end up in brawl range. I have the MPL in each arm to deal with fast movers.

[Volts]

This from the other thread (4X) looks very interesting.

Might pick this up tonight.

The Captain, on 21 November 2012 - 01:13 AM, said:

I concur. The UAC/5's give you a serious firepower upgrade over the quad AC/2's. I've tried quad AC/2, quad AC/5, 2x LB 10-X+2x AC/2 and 2xUAC/5+ 2x AC/2.

Here's my current build, reusing the XL255 I bought for my Cicada.


CTF-4X
70 Tons
XL255 (largest possible) 59 KPH
Endo Steel
DHS (12 heatsinks @ 16.8 effective, heat efficiency of 1.11)
Armor: 432

Center Torso:
Small Laser (for emergencies, and to use up the extra 1/2 ton)

Each Arm:
UAC/5
AC/2

Each Side Torso:
DHSx1
UAC/5 Ammo x3
AC/2 Ammo x1

Fire Groups:
1: UAC/5+AC/2 on left arm (LMB) Chain Fire
2: UAC/5+AC/2 on right arm (RMB) Chain Fire
3: Small Laser (MMB)
4: DAKKA (Both UAC/5 and both AC/2) (Group fire)

Total ammo: 75 rounds per gun (150 AC/2 and 150 UAC/5)


The idea with this build is to fire lazily with chain fire until you have the vulnerable bits of a tasty mech in your sights, then hammer your dakka fire group to finish the job. When you 'kickstart' the guns firing with your chain fire (hitting fire group 1 and 2 once), and then hit the dakka group, two of your guns will be on cooldown, and two will be ready to fire... so when you hold down the fire group you get a constant stream of 2 or 5 damage shells without having to let up. It hits you with a lot of heat, but with 12 DHS (10 in the engine, 1 in each torso), you have effective heatsinks of 16.8.... enough to core and kill an atlas from behind and take care of his friends.

The amount of screenshake this gives opponents is insane, as they're being hit with something like 4 rounds per second. The heat buildup is high, but anything you're facing basically melts when you hit them with this much firepower, which gives you time to cool down. The nice thing about combining the UAC/5 and AC/2 is that on chain fire, they have about the same ROF, so you can lay down a constant stream of fire from one arm, both arms, or all guns at the same time. Firing all guns on the group fire firegroup gives you about double the fire rate that firing both groups on chain fire does.... So you can basically fire at 1x (one arm chain), 2x (two arms chain), or 4x (all guns) intensity without really having to think about it, which helps with heat management.

The cat has enough armor to sit in engagements for a decent length of time before exploding. The XL engine makes it more likely you'll die on a side torso hit, but all your weapons are in the arms anyway... if you're losing side torsos, you're losing your arms, which means you're basically dead anyway. With quad AC/2's I have trouble coring a cat from the rear... with this build I can strip their rear armor in a few seconds. The AC/2's are also your jam protection, as you can just keep firing them on chain or group fire while you wait for the UAC/5 to unjam itself.

It has ammo and heat issues... but it's a lot of fun. I used to average about 200 damage per game... now I'm regularly hitting 500-600.

I wish I was happier with my dual LBX-10 build... I'll try to make that one work next.

[Red squirrel]

Volts, on 21 November 2012 - 07:19 AM, said:

This what I had from another thread:

Just been playing about with variants for the CTF 3D

I kept the jumps, upgraded to Endo and popped in a 300XL. Maxed out armor to the mech (except legs, which sit at 51).

UAC5 (x2) to arm and chest. 15 SHS.

MPL (x2), 1 to each arm.

Moves at 69.4KPH, with jumps for additional mobility. No heat problems. Good armor (big head hit box though). UAC5 with the last changes are rocking everything. Using ammo like crazy. Upped to it 6 Tons of UAC5 ammo.

Overall, liking this mech.

I currently use a 4X

255XL (60KPH) + ES
max armor but only 40 for legs and arms
2AC5 3 tons of ammo
2UAC5 5 tons of ammo
(usually the UAC5 ammo runs out first)

Crazy crazy super machine gun build ... cuts though Atlai like a warm knife through butter.
A decent Hunchback pilot can outmaneuver you and Jenners are your nemesis.
But besides that head on whateever there is.
2 Atlai at once? no prob!

Actually feels a bit OP but brings lots of fun.
Can overheat on caustic due to zero additional heat sinks. So I might update to DHS.
Also I might try to downgrad to 245XL and put another ton of UAC5 ammo in. But probably not a great idea

Edit: Usually I use all 4 guns on chainfire. But as soon as I got a sure shot I fire them simultaneously.
Due to the different reload time of the AC5 and UAC5 it results in an awesome: TA TAMM TA TAMM
doing 20dmg 10dmg 20dmg 10dmg and target is trash.
I love that sound TA TAMM TA TAMM

Edited by Red squirrel, 21 November 2012 - 12:16 PM.

[Ghost Inc]

Red squirrel, on 21 November 2012 - 12:12 PM, said:

I currently use a 4X

255XL (60KPH) + ES
max armor but only 40 for legs and arms
2AC5 3 tons of ammo
2UAC5 5 tons of ammo
(usually the UAC5 ammo runs out first)

Crazy crazy super machine gun build ... cuts though Atlai like a warm knife through butter.
A decent Hunchback pilot can outmaneuver you and Jenners are your nemesis.
But besides that head on whateever there is.
2 Atlai at once? no prob!

Actually feels a bit OP but brings lots of fun.
Can overheat on caustic due to zero additional heat sinks. So I might update to DHS.
Also I might try to downgrad to 245XL and put another ton of UAC5 ammo in. But probably not a great idea

Edit: Usually I use all 4 guns on chainfire. But as soon as I got a sure shot I fire them simultaneously.
Due to the different reload time of the AC5 and UAC5 it results in an awesome: TA TAMM TA TAMM
doing 20dmg 10dmg 20dmg 10dmg and target is trash.
I love that sound TA TAMM TA TAMM

Hm, I use AC2 and UAC5. How do you make the AC5 fit?!
I use DHS and CASE. I think DHS are worth the while because you will definetely not overheat. Never. Ever.


A problem I see, is the lack of AMS. One wrong step forward and the LRM Rain will tear you apart.
And I somehow think, that the Mech goes down very fast due to the lots of ammo.

But nonetheless it is great fun.


Edit:
I see, armor shaving and Single Heat Sinks seem to do the trick.
I am not sure about shaving the armor off your arms. Losing your arms means your dead!

Edited by IncorporeaL GhosT, 21 November 2012 - 03:51 PM.

[Sarah Dalrymple]

Have you checked at MechSpecs.com? I'm sure people have already theorycrafted and posted Phract builds over there.

[Bagheera]

Currently running the 4X with 4-AC5 and a Streak for backup. With Endo/DHS and the 255XL it doesn't need additional heat sinks and carries around 6 tons ac5 ammo and 1 ton streak ammo. 432 armor.

Doesn't have the suppression effect from the UAC5/AC2 combo, but can alpha strike all day long on caustic without breaking a sweat. 20 pts per thump, thumping every 1.7s works quite well.

Might be overkill on the ammo, considering dropping a ton of AC5 ammo, then dropping the streak/ammo in favor of a pair of ML and a BAP. The streaks are a nice compliment to the low speed though, since they target off the arm reticle it helps mitigate the "Jenner bait" issue that the 4X suffers a little bit. So, torn on that, lol. If I had better aim I could drop a ton of ammo, drop 16 pts of armor, keep the streaks, and then add BAP.

Choices ...

As far as other ones. Hoping the 3D lacks an actuator so I can rock dual AC20 in that, and the 5 energy hardpoint + 1 ballistic is just begging for a LL+Gauss layout. Well, and a 5ERLL comedy build for kicks.

Edited by Bagheera, 21 November 2012 - 04:03 PM.

[Exhaust]

The 3D has the actuator, no dice on dual AC20s.

I've been running a 3D with a pair of LBXs. I threw in an XL320, DHS and a few medium lasers. Top speed is 74. With the jump jets, it makes a nice hit and run mech. Run into a battle, bash a few people from behind/take out some limbs and you're out before they have time to spin around. Use your speed and approach from a different angle. Wash, rinse, repeat. There is enough extra room for AMS + one ton of ammo so it can cover you while you're running

[Ghost Inc]

Exhaust, on 21 November 2012 - 05:07 PM, said:

The 3D has the actuator, no dice on dual AC20s.

I've been running a 3D with a pair of LBXs. I threw in an XL320, DHS and a few medium lasers. Top speed is 74. With the jump jets, it makes a nice hit and run mech. Run into a battle, bash a few people from behind/take out some limbs and you're out before they have time to spin around. Use your speed and approach from a different angle. Wash, rinse, repeat. There is enough extra room for AMS + one ton of ammo so it can cover you while you're running

I might try this next, but it will take enormous time to grind the roughly 11 million c-bills for that mech. Hrm.

[BOOMLegShot]

I would not recommend the 4X. I bought it and am regretting it.4 ballistic hardpoints looks sexy but you really can't do the things you want with it. You don't have the tonnage or slots for quad UAC/5s, ANY AC/20s, and if you get dual guass you can't fit any other ballistics. You just never end up using all the ballistics hardpoints unless it's with sub-optimal weapons. Just go with any other model that gives you 2 hardpoints.Then there's the fact that you get no jump jets with that model.
AND, biggest drawback of all, the 4X cannot fit any engine larger than 255!!! That alone is a pretty BS drawback.
Go with any other model. Don't be a sucker like me tricked by a gimmick.

[p00k]

i have the 4x, 3d, and 1x
once i master them i'll probably never touch the 1x again, probably not the 3d either, and only rarely the 4x

the 1x, well, sucks. you can kit it out as a laser boat, but it lacks that punch; adding in a ballistic dramatically cuts what lasers you can bring, making you pretty mediocre all around. basically it feels like a heavier hunchback G/H

the 3d is ok if it's your main mech, makes for a solid brawler with good maneuverability and speed. imagine a hunchback with jumpjets. still, if it comes to brawling, i'd rather just take an atlas.

the 4x is the epitome of glass cannon; if you thought the gausscat was a glass cannon this thing takes the cake. you can load out any of a multitude of ballistic combinations for huge dps, but most of the heavy hitting builds are sustained damage, meaning you're open to return fire, and the cataphract drops like a rock to focus fire

since i already have a nice collection of atlases, i probably won't play the 3d much, but i can think of times where once they allow proper matchmaking, a team with a few 4x's can make a huge difference. at least until the jagermech comes around. 5 fewer tons, but fewer arm actuators and arms mounted higher up will give it a definite advantage as a ballistic boat

[Exhaust]

p00k, on 21 November 2012 - 09:19 PM, said:

i have the 4x, 3d, and 1x
once i master them i'll probably never touch the 1x again, probably not the 3d either, and only rarely the 4x

the 3d is ok if it's your main mech, makes for a solid brawler with good maneuverability and speed. imagine a hunchback with jumpjets. still, if it comes to brawling, i'd rather just take an atlas.

the 4x is the epitome of glass cannon; if you thought the gausscat was a glass cannon this thing takes the cake. you can load out any of a multitude of ballistic combinations for huge dps, but most of the heavy hitting builds are sustained damage, meaning you're open to return fire, and the cataphract drops like a rock to focus fire

Agreed. The 3D does make a good brawler and jump jets are a good time but at this point I get better results brawling with my Dragon. Higher top end and a faster torso twist. However I just started playing the Cataphract so time will tell...

The 4X though, quad AC2s. If there are two/three of these working together they can tear a team to pieces.

Edited by Exhaust, 21 November 2012 - 10:55 PM.

[Milkshaker]

Volts, on 21 November 2012 - 07:19 AM, said:

This what I had from another thread:

Just been playing about with variants for the CTF 3D

I kept the jumps, upgraded to Endo and popped in a 300XL. Maxed out armor to the mech (except legs, which sit at 51).

UAC5 (x2) to arm and chest. 15 SHS.

MPL (x2), 1 to each arm.

Moves at 69.4KPH, with jumps for additional mobility. No heat problems. Good armor (big head hit box though). UAC5 with the last changes are rocking everything. Using ammo like crazy. Upped to it 6 Tons of UAC5 ammo.

Overall, liking this mech.

I have almost the same mech ,but with DHS (2 extra on engine and 2 extra in torso somewhere), and 4 MPL;s. It heats up pretty rapidly, but usually I only fire them if one or more of my UAC's jam (or when I run out of ammo). And 1 Jumpjet in a leg.

Its a pretty deadly mech, I wish I was a better pilot

Edited by Milkshaker, 22 November 2012 - 02:50 AM.