8 replies to this topic

[Shad0wsFury]

2x PPCs, in each side torso
Gauss in the RA with 3 tons of ammo total
2x Medium Lasers, one in each arm
13 Double heat sinks
Endo-Steel structure
Max armor
Stock 280XL engine
Anti-Missile system (+1 ton ammo) for *teamwork* and survival.
1 JumpJet (for now)

Your most damage potential is when the target is 90-270m away, but honestly I'd reserve the medium lasers for shooting at fast-movers and targets under 90m, and for the occasional alpha, as this will help you manage heat better. That makes your optimal range between 90 and 540m, which is a pretty good engagement window. Besides that your PPCs and gauss will still do respectable damage out to 900+ meters (though you shouldn't waste too much gauss ammo at this range).

Use your jumpjets wisely to get some high ground when you can (without exposing yourself to enemy fire too much). The convergence on the PPCs in the torso mounts is pretty good, and with the gauss you can push out 35 damage alphas to one hit location consistently (plus more if you use your MLs too). If you find your heat getting too high, cycle off your PPCs for a volley or two of your gauss and your heat should normalize. Until the netcode issues get fixed or there is a more reliable way to kill light mechs, I would advise against wandering off alone, but once those issues get sorted out your arm-mounted gauss and MLs will make lights think twice about tangling with you.

[MustrumRidcully]

One tweak I would suggest is putting the Gauss RIfle also in the torso. I know you lose the movement range of the arm, but your convergence will be much better I think. Unfortunately that requires a downgrade from the XL Engine, and thus make overall your heat performance worse (as you now cannot rely on in-engine DHS:)

Edited by MustrumRidcully, 25 November 2012 - 10:47 AM.

[Shad0wsFury]

The Gauss converges perfectly with the PPCs from the arm, and the added range of motion lets you shoot at fast movers that get close in and circle you. Putting the gauss in the torso might marginally benefit convergence, but you lose range of motion and--more importantly--if your gauss takes a critical hit and detonates, you're dead because it'll take your side torso and your engine with it. Bad trade-offs IMO.

[Lefty Lucy]

I'd suggest dropping the gauss to an ultra 5 to add a few more heat sinks, if you have the room.

[MustrumRidcully]

Shad0wsFury, on 25 November 2012 - 10:49 AM, said:

The Gauss converges perfectly with the PPCs from the arm, and the added range of motion lets you shoot at fast movers that get close in and circle you. Putting the gauss in the torso might marginally benefit convergence, but you lose range of motion and--more importantly--if your gauss takes a critical hit and detonates, you're dead because it'll take your side torso and your engine with it. Bad trade-offs IMO.

Oh, if you want to equip the Gauss in the side torso, you can't equip an XL Engine. (At least not if you also want the PPC.) Maybe I'll give your approach a try, since it might give me more DHS in the XL Engine. That would be attractive.

Lefty Lucy, on 25 November 2012 - 10:58 AM, said:

I'd suggest dropping the gauss to an ultra 5 to add a few more heat sinks, if you have the room.

The appeal of combinging PPC and Gauss is that they have the same flight characteristic. SO they'll hit (or miss, unfortuantely) the target together at the same spot.

Edited by MustrumRidcully, 26 November 2012 - 04:52 AM.

[Slanski]

I would suggest running ER PPCs. I know this sounds crazy heat wise, but you will snipe one or two volleys on this mech and then move and cool down anyways. Run both variants for a few games and you will in fact see much higher damage output on the ER PPC due to less volleys fired, but much less damage degradation from fall off. Just make sure that you can still fire the MLasers and Gauss once you are high heat close range and cannot withdraw from battle.

[Tremendous Upside]

You don't lose a lot by dropping the PPCs for large lasers in this build - and the heat is so much more manageable. Your "optimal range" simply changes to 0-450ish meters (instead of 90-540).

[Shad0wsFury]

Honestly I would be more likely to go with switching the PPCs out for large lasers rather than ER-PPCs. The heat on ERs is just too high for the extra range and full damage under 90m. When firing the PPCs and gauss only on this build, you can off a good few volleys before you risk shutdown (I haven't tested the exact amount of volleys). Often I'll position myself in a spot where I have decent cover from the enemy team, but a good bead on one specific target, and I'll sit there and blast away 4-5 salvos or more, before I need to back off or change positions. I'd feel horribly limited if I could only fire two salvos before risking shutdown. The only good reason, IMO, to take ERs over standards would be if you're literally going to sit 600-ish meters away to snipe. Unfortunately there aren't many maps with those kind of engagement ranges (most fighting turns into brawling), so that good reason is out the window. The other good reason might be for more close range firepower, as ERs don't have the minimum range, but the heat is just too crippling without 20+ double heat sinks.

Still, I personally prefer the PPCs over the large lasers because as another user pointed out, gauss and PPC projectiles travel at the same exact speed, but are also impact weapons, while lasers are DPS weapons that require you to hold them on the target. Downgrading to larges though, if you like lasers, is a great way to save some tonnage and crit space, which might be more important when we actually need to start using four jumpjets instead of one. You lose some of that great alpha by switching down to Larges, but you don't lose much total damage potential, and your heat gets a bit more manageable.

[Tremendous Upside]

Well theoretically, there's a big fundamental difference in PPC vs LL - but I think it's less than huge. Most times if you're truly "sniping", the target of choice is going to be one that's either highly exposed (and relatively immobile), or one that's traveling on what looks to be a fairly predictable path. In those cases, holding the laser on target is a non-issue. In the other cases where you're having to lead a moving target, the beam duration is almost like "insurance". You can still afford to miss the gauss/PPC/AC shot and will still do damage thanks to being able to drag the beam across your target. Also, large lasers are really good for dealing with smaller, faster mechs for that very reason... You trade out a little of the "all or nothing" for a little more versatility and lower heat/tonnage.