29 replies to this topic

[Alex Wolfe]

Get used to the Catapult, it's likely the best mech in the game, can fire support, can brawl, can be fast, is always resilient, can torso twist to pretty much directly behind it with efficiencies, most variants can jump, has excellent hardpoints, can boat most weapons, it's symmetrical, and its only weakness is "it can be shot".

All in one, the strongest, the bestest, the superbuffed, pampered, broken-hitbox-armed, God-King mech of MWO.

What was that? Balance? Who cares about that?

You get a Catapult! And you get a Catapult! And YOU get a Catapult!



P.S. DON'T buy a Cataphract or a Dragon, the enemy will get a Catapult.

Edited by Alex Wolfe, 01 December 2012 - 02:19 AM.

[Stingz]

Alex Wolfe, on 01 December 2012 - 12:39 AM, said:

Get used to the Catapult, it's likely the best mech in the game, can fire support, can brawl, can be fast, is always resilient, can torso twist to pretty much directly behind it with efficiencies, most variants can jump, has excellent hardpoints, can boat most weapons, it's symmetrical, and its only weakness is "it can be shot".

All in one, the strongest, the bestest, the superbuffed, pampered, broken-hitbox-armed, God-King mech of MWO.

What was that? Balance? Who cares about that?

You get a Catapult! And you get a Catapult! And YOU get a Catapult!



P.S. DON'T buy a Cataphract or a Dragon, the enemy will get a Catapult.

Catapult has no arms, and gets torn up by faster mechs (Including my Dragon) easily. Slow torso twist, and torso only weapons, a very easy target to harass.

Made worse by the giant CT/Head zone, the other two have enough speed (81 k/ph) or firepower (AC/ rock) to ignore that (Tried a Catapult, still hate using them).

[Llamapocalypse]

I might try either the K2 or the C1 again now that I've got an XL295 from my Raven, the Dragon just died too quickly against anything bigger than an Hunchback. Probably partly my fault, oh well. Either that or the CN-AL, but I don't have a big engine to put in that at the moment.

[Redshift2k5]

Prosperity Park, on 30 November 2012 - 12:00 PM, said:

I love me some Fast Catapults... I think the Vlar 300XL is the best thing in the Inner Sphere... and ComStar would probably agree (*wink*)

The 300XL 3LL Catapult C1 is a blast at medium ranges, the A1 SRM boats are great for slaughtering Streak Boats and slow Assaults... but all the 300XL Cats are very expensive to repair. My motto is "Only use the 300XL if you either intend on surviving the Match, or you think it's worth losing money on this match."

My 300xl 4x LL K2 is dirt cheap to repair.

[Butane9000]

You could always go with a dreaded streak cat built (6 Streak SRM2 Catapult A1). Make sure you put in a large XL engine so you can move quickly with it and act as a hit and run. The other option is use a Catapult C4 variant and drop two Streak SRM2's to 2 medium lasers for a backup weapon so you don't get into weird situations where you cannot lock on.

[Alex Wolfe]

Stingz, on 01 December 2012 - 06:20 AM, said:

Catapult has no arms

It does have arms.

Stingz, on 01 December 2012 - 06:20 AM, said:

Slow torso twist, and torso only weapons

Torso twist speed depends of engine rating, catapult can pack a huge XL engine that you cannot blow off the side of, allowing for a fast torso twist. It does have arms for aiming up-down, and a gigantic torso twist range and good speed make it a nightmare to deal with at any range. Even with torsopults, unless you're up close and on slopes, it doesn't care - torso weapons only help with convergence, and it has way more angle to shoot than "properly armed" mechs. It can shoot almost directly behind itself, good luck doing that on any other mech, be it with lower arm actuators or not.

Stingz, on 01 December 2012 - 06:20 AM, said:

and gets torn up by faster mechs (Including my Dragon) easily (...) a very easy target to harass.

Oh wow. I guess you've only met Catapults of the garden variety, whose pilots mechlabbed with eyes closed, and held their joysticks with their elbows for play. Even pilotted like that, a streakboat would tear your... Dragon... in half under any circumstances.

Stingz, on 01 December 2012 - 06:20 AM, said:

Made worse by the giant CT/Head zone

Head hitbox has been reduced significantly. Big CT is more of a boon to the Catapult than anything else, since you can usually hit CT on any non-lagshielded mech, but you don't want to in this case. You want to shoot the side to blow out the XL/gauss, but you can't. You have to dig through well-armored CT (84 max) instead while the abomination keeps shooting at you.

Stingz, on 01 December 2012 - 06:20 AM, said:

the other two have enough speed (81 k/ph) or firepower (AC/ rock) to ignore that

You seem unaware that the most popular Catapult build nowadays runs at 81 kph PLUS jump jets, making it more mobile than your... Dragon. I can help .



Also, Catapults use no rocking weapons, huh. I'll tell that to the next MWO-raidboss I see (pictured above in a rare yet completely gamebreaking glitch that allows one than more to spawn), we'll have a laugh or two before it hits the enrage timer, unless the constant cockpit shake gives me an epilepsy fit before that.

Stingz, on 01 December 2012 - 06:20 AM, said:

Tried a Catapult, still hate using them

Same here. Just doesn't seem fair for others to use so blatantly OP mech. Still, PGI provides the tools for easy wins, so I guess it's human nature, can't blame the people so much fixitalreadyplease.

Thanks for chiming in on the subject, even though you were almost completely wrong on facts there . Good luck Catapult-slaying in your... Dragon... from now on, too!

Edited by Alex Wolfe, 01 December 2012 - 11:12 AM.

[Stingz]

Alex Wolfe, on 01 December 2012 - 11:08 AM, said:

Thanks for chiming in on the subject, even though you were almost completely wrong on facts there . Good luck Catapult-slaying in your... Dragon... from now on, too!

The "arms" on the Catapult only move vertically, and that's a real pain when not using streaks.

Getting an XL 360 for the Dragon (97.2 k/ph), and ECM for Raven (-180m disables locks). Can't wait till Dec 4, with ECM I can lock-down Streak-cats.

Edited by Stingz, 01 December 2012 - 12:49 PM.

[Alex Wolfe]

Stingz, on 01 December 2012 - 12:49 PM, said:

The "arms" on the Catapult only move vertically, and that's a real pain when not using streaks.

Again, how is that "a pain" when, coupled with fast and furthest-torso-twist in the game, it still means that Catapult can target enemies with ALL weapons better than most mechs with arm weapons? All it takes is avoiding steep slopes and you can keep firing at nearly any enemy indefinitely with minimal throttle control.

Stingz, on 01 December 2012 - 12:49 PM, said:

Getting an XL 360 for the Dragon (97.2 k/ph), and ECM for Raven (-180m disables locks).

Can't wait till Dec 4, with ECM I can lock-down Streak-cats.

That, however, is the future, however near. Catapults have reigned the heavy class ever since I joined CB, no inclination it'll change now. The torso twist itself makes the mech way out of the line.

Besides, even if ECM and promised nerfs "fix" streaks, and ECM may discourage the current INCOMING MISSILE spam, 2AC20 and 2gauss K2 is still a thing that exists.

[Stingz]

Alex Wolfe, on 01 December 2012 - 01:16 PM, said:

Again, how is that "a pain" when, coupled with fast and furthest-torso-twist in the game, it still means that Catapult can target enemies with ALL weapons better than most mechs with arm weapons? All it takes is avoiding steep slopes and you can keep firing at nearly any enemy indefinitely with minimal throttle control.


That, however, is the future, however near. Catapults have reigned the heavy class ever since I joined CB, no inclination it'll change now. The torso twist itself makes the mech way out of the line.

Besides, even if ECM and promised nerfs "fix" streaks, and ECM may discourage the current INCOMING MISSILE spam, 2AC20 and 2gauss K2 is still a thing that exists.

I can deal with AC/20, and Gauss. Either a quick death, or easy kill.

Chained streaks have shake, smoke, and always hit with lock. The nature of missises means a big armor repair bill on top of a slow death.

Edited by Stingz, 01 December 2012 - 02:47 PM.

[Elizander]

Stingz, on 01 December 2012 - 06:20 AM, said:

Catapult has no arms, and gets torn up by faster mechs (Including my Dragon) easily. Slow torso twist, and torso only weapons, a very easy target to harass.

Made worse by the giant CT/Head zone, the other two have enough speed (81 k/ph) or firepower (AC/ rock) to ignore that (Tried a Catapult, still hate using them).

A leveled Catapult with jump jets can hover-turn to face any mech and keep them in their sights or make a quick reverse turn. A lot of people just don't know how. I can keep circle-strafing lights in sight of lasers with my C1 and it's not even elite yet.