55 replies to this topic

[CrayTrashfire]

gauss 40 rounds 3 ML 2 SSRM 200 rounds XL 300 can go toe to toe with most assault mechs

[Butane9000]

I'm currently using in my CTF-2X:

Standard 280 Engine
14 Heat Sinks (1 equipped inside the engine)
Firepower of 55
1.17 heat efficiency
400/434 Armor

armament is:
2x SRM4 w/ 2T ammo
AC20 w/ 3T ammo
3 Medium Lasers

Upgrades/Other:
CASE
Endo Steel


I find using the AC20 and SRM4 exclusively in combat helps deal with heat. I use the medium lasers to peck at does at long range.

[Icebound]

I hate this variant too, the best I could do was put on 3 large lasers and 2x SRM6.

[EmperorMyrf]

My loadout is pretty simple. Just swap out the AC/10 and LL for an AC/5 and a PPC. You still have the advantage of only having two range brackets for your weapons, except one of them now reaches farther. Your long range alpha is decreased from 19 to 15, but it's much more concentrated because of the behavior of the PPC. Muzzle velocity for the PPC and the AC/5 is roughly the same, meaning you can fire both at the same time at a moving target. It certainly takes some getting used to, as there is a healthy variety of weapon types, and because PPCs are notoriously hard to use. I must've spent 2 solid months in closed beta using a PPC awesome so, not to brag, I can consistently hit mediums mechs at 540m.

Primary use of this mech is taking down assaults and slow heavies at range. Simply run perpendicular to them and keep pounding on the same armor location with the AC/5 and PPC and you will drop them in no time. A main issue with this mech is that it's susceptible to light mech harassment. It may just be because of the hitbox-misalignment makes SRMs hard to hit with, but your main damage producer (the PPC) is not as effective within 90m. I'm considering dropping the SRM4 for a pair of SSRM2s until the netcode is reworked just so I can deal with them. But top damage is not unfamiliar territory with this mech if used properly.

[DragonsFire]

I initially wasn't sold on this variant until I tinkered with it quite a bit and found something that suited my play style, and as someone noted earlier, the longer you stay alive, the more damage you and kills you get. Sounds straightforward, but all too often I see people dive after a cored mech just to get the finishing shot, only to get killed themselves in the process and sometimes not even getting that kill they overpursued for.

Anyways, to my build:

XL 260
3 Medium Lasers
1 Guass (4 tons of ammo I believe)
2 Stream SRM's (2 tons)
10 HS

416/434 Armor (you could likely drop additional armor for more ammo/HS, again play style choice)

This build runs relatively cool and keeps you effective all the way into brawling range. However, I would not recommend closing to inside of 300 M unless it's to finish someone off, but the engine speed with piloting tweaks is sufficient to allow you to get in and do the damage while staying on the move. I also would recommend grouping the arm mounted laser apart from the torso mounted ones.

I also do not have any upgrades equipped here simply because I'm banking my cash right now for modules and new mechs, but I know I could increase the efficiency of this build with Endo or DHS. Either way, I was picking up an average of 450/round with this build and was quite happy with it.

[Sandra McCrow]

Hm... That's something I cannot comprehend. Streaks... we are not piloting A1 or any similar machines where your streaks are primary damage dealer because there is a hell lot of them. We are piloting CTF that is suppose to be punchy thing. May be it's because I started my way to heavies with centurions - but double SMR6 works MUCH better against heavier targets, and somehow I have little problems with hitting lights with it the as well. Wielding SSMRs is sort of easy way out of poor targeting issue that costs you your primary weapon...
Or is it only me as ex-jenner pilot who values ability "to-stab-im-hard-inda-back"? (that actually becomes stab-im-hard-inda-wherever-your-black-hart-wishes once you are no more light or medium pilot)
No really - what do you people think of ssmrs in knife fight against fellow CTF or Cat or omg-what-is-this?

Now to the other subject - anybody tried solid xl 320 with the red manace or any similar loaded ctf? With speed tweak she should obviously run as non-elite xl340... So the question is how's torso doing in terms of twist speed?
The idea is to find some more tonnage for ammo... As soon as you master staying alive for longer time you start to feel that you may use a bit more ammo...

Edited by Sandro Mc, 03 December 2012 - 01:52 PM.

[Kingdok]

I am partial to a double SRM6 in the left arm, LBX10 in the right torso, and a large laser in either torso. I think I pillaged the 300XL out of my Dragon to make it work, and it definitely brings the noise.

[DragonsFire]

Sandro Mc, on 03 December 2012 - 01:46 PM, said:

Hm... That's something I cannot comprehend. Streaks... we are not piloting A1 or any similar machines where your streaks are primary damage dealer because there is a hell lot of them. We are piloting CTF that is suppose to be punchy thing. May be it's because I started my way to heavies with centurions - but double SMR6 works MUCH better against heavier targets, and somehow I have little problems with hitting lights with it the as well. Wielding SSMRs is sort of easy way out of poor targeting issue that costs you your primary weapon...
Or is it only me as ex-jenner pilot who values ability "to-stab-im-hard-inda-back"? (that actually becomes stab-im-hard-inda-wherever-your-black-hart-wishes once you are no more light or medium pilot)
No really - what do you people think of ssmrs in knife fight against fellow CTF or Cat or omg-what-is-this?

Now to the other subject - anybody tried solid xl 320 with the red manace or any similar loaded ctf? With speed tweak she should obviously run as non-elite xl340... So the question is how's torso doing in terms of twist speed?
The idea is to find some more tonnage for ammo... As soon as you master staying alive for longer time you start to feel that you may use a bit more ammo...

As I noted, it's a preference thing and it clearly has not impacted me negatively by making that choice. And I may yet take SRM6's again, but for the time being it's just not something I felt I was all that effective with. I may just need more time using them in this particular build.

[Isidro]

EmperorMyrf, on 03 December 2012 - 01:32 PM, said:

Primary use of this mech is taking down assaults and slow heavies at range.

^ This. Been trying to pilot this for a few days now (as much time I could sqeeze out of my sched) and the most I 've had success with is the 3 LLas 2xSRM6 load like the other poster said.

This vairant is not really a "specialist" (it cannot go quad LLas | 2 Gauz | or quad daka ). Depending on the pilot's playstyle that can be an advantage or not. For me its more the latter. The spike damage on this is meh. Targeting with the "rocket" arm can be tricky, unless you go streak. And for some reason, the center torso gets damaged very easily.

[Nathan Xain]

I absolutely love my 2X. It is a fantastic machine and out of the 3 Cataphracts I have, (3D and 4X) it is by far the most deadly and most fun to use. My load out:

Std 280 (with speed tweak 69.7kph)
Endo
14 DHS: only 1.17 efficiency
Max armour everywhere except legs: 43 each (so still quite a lot)

Weapon Group 1 (660-675m range):
ER Large Laser (- yeah, honestly!),
Gauss Rifle (2 tonnes of ammo),

Weapon Group 2 (270m range):
2 Med Lasers,
2 SSRM (with 1 tonne of ammo).

The ER LL and gauss combo works brilliantly as a sniper (or perhaps a better term would be designated marksman?), and the ML and SSRM’s are great at tearing lights to shreds if they get too close. I have to stay back 350-650m or so generally as if I get to close to the enemy my fps will plummet (to 4-7 and I can’t really see anything) and considering I play with average 12 fps, I still manage 80% of the time to be at the top of the damage charts for my team.

[Isidro]

Nathan Xain, on 03 December 2012 - 02:46 PM, said:

Weapon Group 1 (660-675m range):
ER Large Laser (- yeah, honestly!),
Gauss Rifle (2 tonnes of ammo),

Weapon Group 2 (270m range):
2 Med Lasers,
2 SSRM (with 1 tonne of ammo).

Got to try this. Thanks for sharing.

[ebea51]

MY CTF-1X get about the same damage as my 2X above. They just play differently.
The 2X is more a close range brawler where the 1X is more a mid/long-range support AND brawler. I like it better than the 2X, just feels more versitile.

XL 315 Engine (72kph/78kph perked)
Ferro-armour
Double Heatsinks - 15 heat sinks, Heat Coefficient = 1.02 (can tell cuz ingame )

3x Medium Laser (2 Left Arm, 1 Right Arm) - FIRE GROUP 2
2x Large Laser (1 Left Torso, 1 Right Torso) - FIRE GROUP 1
1x AC10 (Left Torso) - FIRE GROUP 3

4 tonnes of AC10 ammo

394/434 Armour.
Head - MAX (18)
Arms - MAX (44)
FL - 50 RL - 10
FC - 78 RC - 10
FR - 50 RR - 10
Legs - 40 (each)

Theyre both good builds i recon (but im biased). I just prefer the this 1X over my above 2X build.

[Sandra McCrow]

Ah, thanks, may be my mistake was with xl340... will try something like that... though ac10 will be changed to UAC5...
The only thing that bothers me here is - it's running hot... Gauss-based 2x or even uac5 -both work well for me - first do not overheat at all, later just needs a bit of more accurate arm-group shooting to keep it on-n-going all day.

[ebea51]

Sandro Mc, on 03 December 2012 - 03:45 PM, said:

Ah, thanks, may be my mistake was with xl340... will try something like that... though ac10 will be changed to UAC5...
The only thing that bothers me here is - it's running hot... Gauss-based 2x or even uac5 -both work well for me - first do not overheat at all, later just needs a bit of more accurate arm-group shooting to keep it on-n-going all day.

I think so.
While the XL340 is very nice i think the CTF is currently speed-capped... so it wouldnt make that much of a difference. I certainly didnt get my 10% speed perk out of my engine... maybe 6-7% tops.

I found with the CTF, managing its heat is highly dependant apon its ballistics because ballistics dont generate that much heat. You fill the hardpoints up, theres not much left so the mech inherently runs hot. But if you keep firing your ballistic (no/little heat) and use your lasers to SUPPLIMENT the damage you will never overheat. Just make sure you have enough ballistic ammo.
I usually carry 60 rounds of ac10/20 ammo and about 250 rounds of ac2/5/uac5 and thats enough for a match.

Its also a fair bit heavy. The XL300 is where 2 internal HS come in, and the XL325 is where the 3 internal HS come in... so you would be better off going for one of those.
The only reason why i go with a XL315 is because it was my first XL engine and fits all my Catapult builds (had them first) sweetly so i just drag it around and share it over 6 or so mechs.

Edited by ebea51, 03 December 2012 - 03:57 PM.

[theDeimos]

I actually prefer firepower over mobility because due to my fps I cant handle high speeds very good. Heres my setup for the 2x:

Engine: Std 200

3x LL
1x UAC5 with 2 tons of ammo
2x SRM4 with one ton of ammo

Upgrades: Double Heat Sinks (stuffed in as many as would fit, had to strip half a ton of armor for that)

It is slow as an Atlas but hell, it sure hurts like one too. That thing is just brutal at medium to close ranges.

[Indoorsman]

I don't like it as a cataphract variant either really, but I bought one so I made it work. I used 2LL 2LRM15+Artemis 1TAG and lots of LRM ammo. I went 7-1 w/1156 damage one game, you can devastate things out in the open w/this loadout by pointing your TAG @ the target and unleashing your artemis LRMs and aiming the lasers where your missiles hit. If you do that, get your missiles and lasers hitting in the same spot you will blow components/cores up fast.